People have different skin types, skin tones, likes, dislikes and the list goes on. Products in the makeup industry aren’t usually made for everyone from what consumers have been seeing. Cosmetics usually come in a smaller range of shades, like foundation and concealer, for example. It becomes a problem, to the point where a big number of consumers are left out and excluded from the products. What changed?

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Fenty Beauty is one of the changes that transformed diversity in the makeup industry. The brand is made by the one and only Rihanna. The extremely successful cosmetic brand launched on September 8th, 2017. The first launch had one product in particular that drew so many consumers to it: the foundation. What is so unique about the foundation? The shade range. On the very first launch of this huge brand, Fenty Beauty released 40 foundation shades. Finally, consumers everywhere where able to have a staple foundation that matched their skin tone almost perfectly.

   

In 2017 the color of one’s skin had become a huge political and societal topic. After the huge amount of hate in 2017 towards people of color arose, many had begun to show their appreciation and love of diversity in the makeup community on social media. Consumers and influencers showed their praise and appreciation for brands that are Black, Latina, and/or women owned. These brands had begun to be heavily recognized on the various platforms of social media, mainly due to influencers in the community. They praised these brands for coming out with spectacular, diverse products and the stories behind the brands. Some of these highly-praised brands include Juvias Place, Reina Rebelde, and Bahi Cosmetics, just to name a few.

     

Chichi Eburu is the magical mind behind the brand Juvias Place. Chichi Eburu is from Nigeria, a mother of two, and she wanted to show everybody in the makeup industry what was missing. Black Culture Chichi started her brand around 2 years ago and ever since then it has been growing very rapidly. She claims that the main growth of her big brand has happened within the last year, and it has grown even more with the rise of social media. She has two very unique aspects to her cosmetics, which is what the whole brand is about: the packaging of the products and the incredibly pigmented eyeshadows. All the packaging has one thing in common, which is the beautiful woman on the outside. The beautiful woman on the outside packaging is the Egyptian Queen Nefertiti. Chichi Eburu wanted a Nubian queen to represent gorgeous black women and men as well as what her brand stands for. Her beautiful pigmented eyeshadows also have made her brand stand out to many consumers. The eyeshadows in the creation process are always tested on the darkest of skin tones to ensure that they show up beautifully on every single person. Not many brands do what Juvias place has been doing.

     

Reina Rebelde was made by Regina Merson. The brand launched in August of 2016 and has gained major attention for giving the world what we haven’t seen, Mexican Culture in cosmetics. Regina Merson, from Guadalajara, Jalisco in Mexico, built a brand to showcase the culture she has been raised with and that she represents. Her brand is about showing everyone the fierceness Latinas do and will have, cue the name Reina Rebelde, Rebel Queen. Many of her products like her lipsticks are named with stories behind them and what they mean for Latinas. For example, one of their lip products is called Brava, which means brave, rough, wild, courageous, etc. Brava is a hot fiery red lipstick that makes a bold statement with its insane pigmentation, just like Latinas.

     

Danielle Bahi was tired of the lack of diversity and dark women of color being put last in the cosmetic industry, therefore she took it into her own hands to create products that suited everybody. Danielle Bahi created Bahi Cosmetics in 2016 but it has gained tremendous growth and publicity in 2017. This is all thanks to their best-selling sunflower serum which has healed many consumers acne and is the story behind the brands creation. She has created a brand that not only has affordable cosmetic products that suit everyone no matter the skin tone, but has also made her products acidic free and cruelty free. Bahi cosmetics continues to make products that will work for any and everyone. It will change the normality one sees in the cosmetic industry. The makeup industry in 2017 has had many ups, like the unbelievable amount of love, support, and diversity brought into the spotlight. From these tremendous actions made and successes in, the makeup community will only go up from where the industry is right now.