The first foundation I ever bought was L’Oreal’s True Match Foundation. I was 17 years old, and I not only knew nothing about foundation, I barely knew what shade to buy. All I knew was that the L’Oreal foundation match test had told me that I was Cappuccino, and I trusted that the test was right. By now most of us know that the True Match line has not only the best shade range in drugstore foundations, but it caters to cool, neural and warm toned skin. It was almost impossible not to find the right shade. Over the years, that foundation became my guideline for every other foundation that I bought. If it didn’t come close to my True Match foundation, I wasn’t interested no matter what.
Fast forward to 2015, the much anticipated L’oreal Infallible Pro-Matte foundation came out. This foundation was said to be perfect for anyone with oily skin, and would keep you matte all day. Beauty bloggers and YouTubers across the country were raving about how great this foundation was and how everyone needed to try it out. Like most people, if I see enough good reviews on a product, I am more than likely to try it out, and it didn’t hurt that this foundation was pretty inexpensive. I walked into the beauty section of my Walmart a few days later, and I was very confused. I saw Classic Ivory, Shell Beige, Golden Beige, Natural Beige, Sun Beige, Fresh Beige… Oh and we can’t forget Caramel Beige. At this point I’m wondering where my brown shades are. We got two. Soft Sable and Cocoa. I couldn’t even consider Creme Cafe a shade we could use. So thinking Soft Sable would work out for me, I bought my foundation and went home excited to test it out and have this perfect foundation. The amount of disappointment I felt when I put that first dot of foundation on my face was crippling. It was too light. I wasn’t even that light in the winter time. So I went back the next day and bought Cocoa…..not only was it slightly to dark, I looked orange. When did makeup companies decide every person of color has golden undertones? Newsflash: we are not all the same shade and undertone of brown.
Months go by and my infallible foundations are collecting dust because I got tired of having to mix foundations every single time I wanted to use it. I had my true match foundation, and several others I used. It is now 2016. By that point we are all tired of the lack of shade range in many brands. We have ranted and ranted about how we felt like we weren’t important to these brands that we were spending our money on. L’Oreal announced that they would be releasing a Infallible Pro-Glow foundation for people with dry skin. Once again, the lack of diversity showed. We had 7 shades of beige, and one shade for black men and women. They had gotten rid of Soft Sable, so it was either Creme Cafe, or Cocoa. The same thing happened yet again with their Infallible Total Cover Foundation. After all the disappointment from the first two releases, we still had a lack of shades darker than caramel beige. Why were we being ignored? How long do we have to rant for before brands realize we matter too?
Black women alone spend an estimated $7.5 billion on cosmetics annually. That’s not including black men and all the other POC who spend loads of money on beauty products. Yet we continue to be forgotten by brands when it comes to foundations, neutral shadow palettes, “nude” lipsticks, and the list goes on. We are deserving of more than just two shades of brown that border on making us look like we accidentally grabbed a bottle of tanning lotion. How long will it take before we get the recognition we deserve? And I don’t want to hear the argument “oh why don’t you just use the brands that are made for you guys?”. Yes, those brands are great and I fully support any brand that caters to black men and women, but I shouldn’t be limited to those two or three brands. I want to be able to go to the L’Oreal section and find my shade in whatever foundation I choose to buy. I don’t want to have to mix two different foundations together to get a shade that works for me. I shouldn’t have to spend $40 or more just to have a foundation that matches my skin. I have two drugstore foundations that match my skin. Two. I have yet to find another drugstore foundation like the L’Oreal True Match or Maybelline Fit Me that fits my skin tone. I don’t feel like I have that dark of skin, yet most drugstore brands’ darkest shade is either close to my skin tone, or lighter.
Being able to walk confidently into a makeup section and grab a foundation that works for me it so important to me. As a black women, I and many others already struggle with feeling like we don’t fit the beauty standards society has unfairly placed on us. We constantly have to look at social media posts and makeup collaborations filled with the same faces and none of them look like us. I’m tired of struggling to find foundations to match my friends that want to get into makeup. I’m tired of being let down by brands after waiting in excitement for products to be released. And I’m tired of feeling like my brown skin isn’t worth a bottle of foundation. We are worth so much more than that. So I urge L’Oreal and all other drugstore brands for that matter, to give us as many shades of caramel and cafe as you give beige and ivory. Because our skin matters too.
