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Over the past month, no fewer than four makeup companies have announced they’re releasing new foundation ranges featuring 40 shades. Sound familiar? It should, because ever since Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty launched 40 shades of foundation last fall, brands have been scrambling to match her — and more importantly, match its customers, whose skin comes in a lot more than 12 to 20 shades, which for a long time had been the usual offering.
The so-called Fenty effect has been well documented. After Fenty’s Pro Filt’r foundation launched, other brands rushed to release line extensions to beef up their color offerings. It wasn’t the first brand to offer a wide range of shades. Some brands, like Make Up For Ever, even said, “Hey, wait a minute we’ve had this many shades for a long time,” to which Rihanna replied, “LOL. Still ashy. Shook.” (Which may have been slightly awkward since both brands are owned by LVMH.)
But a shade revolution was set in motion. Fenty was several years in the making, and the brand did extensive research to make sure the foundations worked on most skin tones. To prove her point, Rihanna launched her brand in 17 countries all at once, which is somewhat unprecedented for a new brand.
Several very big names in makeup have followed suit this month. Dior, a designer heritage brand facing competition from less expensive brands, just announced a new foundation range in 40 shades called Dior Backstage. It also has a lower price point to boot. At $40, it’s about $12 less than its other foundations.
“I wanted 16 different levels of intensity but above all, six different skin undertones: rosy, olive, yellow, beige, etc. … allowing every woman to find the shade that best matches her complexion,” Dior creative director Peter Phillips said in a press release.
Then there’s a new brand about to hit Ulta called Flesh (note: hmm), which will also include 40 foundation shades. It was developed as a sort of startup brand by Revlon and Linda Wells, the former editor-in-chief and founding editor of Allure magazine.
“It’s really focused on the idea of flesh being all flesh colors — we’re redefining the notion of what flesh color really is and having it be inclusive on every level,” she told WWD. (Prices haven’t been revealed yet, but expect them to be more than Revlon and less than Dior, based on other brands Ulta sells.)
CoverGirl just launched TruBlend Matte Made Foundation, which it touts as “its most inclusive foundation ever!” according to an effusive press release. Then there’s CoverFX, which has several foundation formulations in 40 shades. It recently launched another formula called Power Play, also in 40 shades.
(Just a week after Fenty launched last year, CoverFX kicked off a campaign called #NudeIsNotBeige on social media.”We are passionate about offering a perfect shade for every woman which is why we expanded our foundation shade range in 2015 with 40 diverse shades in three undertones, developed to match real skin,” a brand representative said in a press release at the time.)
Brands that don’t offer a wide shade range do so at their peril. Tarte faced an enormous amount of backlash after it released swatches of the 15 shades of its highly anticipated Shape Tape foundation, 13 of which were only suitable for light-skinned people. There was also speculation that Ulta held off on carrying it until more shades were released.
It’s admirable that brands are putting in the work in the lab to develop a wide range of shades, but I have a question: Why offer only 40 shades? Why not try to one-up Fenty and offer 43?
Is it a biblical thing? The number 40 has a lot of religious symbolic meaning. According to this Bible study site, 40 “symbolizes a period of testing, trial or probation.” Seems apt! (A notable exception here is that Instagram-famous brand Jouer offered 50 shades in April, so okay.)
One could be cynical and say these brands are doing it for the sales. One wouldn’t be wrong, but in this case, the end justifies the means a little bit. More shades is a good thing.