Photo credit: Fenty Beauty, Murals Wallpaper
With the launch of Fenty Beauty, it’s safe to say that Rihanna showed up and made a statement to the beauty industry in 2017.
Being a long time fan of make up before her days as the BadGalRiRi we know her to be today, she noticed a gap in the market for beauty products that catered to all skin tones. So, she decided to start her own line in a partnership with Kendo Beauty (known for Marc Jacobs Beauty and Kat Von D Beauty) “so that women everywhere would be included”. She produced a wide range of foundation shades that catered to those with the inclusion of albino skin tones to darker skin tones alongside several palettes, lip products, highlighters, eye products and make up brushes.
Inclusivity remained top of the agenda in the design process with her saying “In every product, I was like, ‘There needs to be something for a dark skin girl. There needs to be something for a really pale girl. There’s needs to be something for someone in-between'”. She elaborates below of the importance of creating a make up line that everyone could beat their face to the gods with.
It was a move that definitely impacted the make up game with brands such as Marc Jacobs starting to noticeably post more content featuring darker skinned models on their Instagram feed and Kylie Cosmetics shortly after the launch posted a black model on their Twitter account which led to critics commenting that the image was only posted to display they had some shades in their line catered to darker skinned women, to which the post has been deleted ever since.
With the ethos to inspire, Rihanna says “Makeup is there for you to have fun with, it should never feel like pressure. It should never feel like a uniform. Feel free to take chances, and take risks, and dare to do something new or different.”
And that statement proved to be nothing less of a true reflection on Fenty Beauty’s groundbreaking success. In September, it was reported to have made a whopping $72 million (£54 million) in media value solely from social media, partly thanks to 132 million YouTube views on Fenty Beauty related content on the YouTube. Also, her taking on creating foundation shades widely available for those of darker complexions proved to be a hit.
What we can learn from the infamous Good Girl Gone Bad is that we shouldn’t held back if there is a lack of something out there. Take it as an opportunity to step in and make a change and capitalise on it. Because if something isn’t out there that you feel needs to be, it’s a blessing that is waiting to happen. Maybe you have something that can be of service to create a change in this world and it could lead to one of the greatest successes in your life. You’ll never know unless you try.
Espire21 