Rihanna's new Fenty Beauty passes the test with flying colors


Oct. 10, 2017, 2:27 p.m. | By Arthi Thyagarajan | 6 years, 5 months ago

A look into what may be the most inclusive makeup line in the beauty industry


After Fenty Beauty's debut earlier this month, Rihanna's cosmetics line has received praise not only from a wide range of customers, but also from beauty gurus from all around the makeup world. Her makeup line champions diversity, offering 40 all-inclusive foundation shades and 30 different contour/highlighting sticks. It was an instant hit, selling out in multiple Sephora stores across the nation. The best part? The megastar didn't just stamp her name on a product to make a few millions, she addressed an issue that women just like herself have to deal with everyday - finding the right shade.

A display of Fenty Beauty's 40 different foundation shades at Sephora. Photo courtesy of The Fuss.


Most women of color can agree that finding the perfect foundation can be a daunting task. Many women have to settle for a shade that is "close enough," or even mix formulas to get the right shade match. This is because beauty companies have done a poor job of catering to women of darker colors.

RiRi's Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation is being praised for its instantly smooth, shine-free finish. It better suits oily skin than dry skin, so a word of warning here: the formula sets quickly, so you will need to work fast to get the flawless matte finish. Rihanna's foundations also replace those ambiguous color names like "beige" and "terracotta" with numbers that better represent the entire spectrum, starting at 100 (the lightest shade) and ending at 490 (the darkest shade). Her coverage of some of the lightest and darkest shades ever found on the market in combination with the makeup's high quality is unlike anything other beauty companies have offered before. It's no surprise that Fenty Beauty's darkest foundations are flying off the shelves.

Rihanna hopes that Fenty Beauty can serve as a new standard for the amount of shades offered in her line. "There needs to be something for a dark-skinned girl; there needs to be something for a really pale girl; there needs to be something in-between. There's red undertones, green undertones, blue undertones, pink undertones, yellow undertones—you never know, so you want people to appreciate the product and not feel like: 'Oh that's cute, but it only looks good on her,'" she told Refinery29.

Rihanna applying one of her renowned Kilowatt freestyle highlighters on a fan. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.


Lovers of Fenty Beauty have also raved about the Kilowatt freestyle highlighters for their intense pigments and wearable tones that suit a wide range of skin colors. Blair senior Iyuna Bishop has the gold Trophy Wife highlighter and feels that it was definitely worth her money. "I have yellow undertones and the highlighter perfectly matches my yellow skin tone. It lasts long and adds just the right amount of shimmer," Bishop said. Another student, Avery Brooks, a junior at Blair, has the white-gold Metal Moon highlighter and enjoys how this specific shade is one of the more subdued options in the range. "I love how it glows lightly on my skin and doesn't look chalky at all," Brooks said. Rihanna's highlighters are ultra versatile and can be used for almost any occasion—MM, in particularly, is good for everyday use while Trophy Wife is for those rare glow days when you really want your highlight to be poppin'.

Rihanna let people know from the start that her line was going to include makeup for women of all skin colors. Her goal was to prove that creating darker skin tones isn't as simple as darkening the lighter shades by a couple notches. Darker skin covers a whole spectrum of colors, not just three or four shades. Though it may be an impossible task to cater to the entire 36.3 percent of the country's population that make up women of color, Rihanna's new Fenty Beauty makes a solid effort. Beauty industries: take note.

Editor's note: Avery Brooks is a Silver Chips photographer.



Tags: Rihanna diversity cosmetics Fenty Beauty Makeup Makeup line

Arthi Thyagarajan. Hi I'm Arthi Thyagarajan! I am super excited to be writing for Silver Chips Online this year. I also enjoy playing soccer on my school team and watching Game of Thrones. More »

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