It’s 2016, and YouTube has changed. A significant boom of beauty influencers and beauty brands have entered the scene, and new techniques that are still popular to this day change the way people now see in makeup. People like James Charles, Jeffree Star, and Jaclyn Hill have reached a level of celebrity status that is even greater than some of the modern actors and actresses. There is finally a significant interest in makeup, and it became a billion-dollar industry in just a few months. There was even a rise of men being interested in the beauty scene. People had perfectly sculpted eyebrows, blinding highlight, and don’t forget that dark matte lipstick! The beauty industry has changed over the course of 4 years, but there was one makeup giant that shook the game completely. That giant, of course, was Fenty Beauty.
If you are unaware of what Fenty Beauty is, it is a cosmetics company owned by pop and r&b artist, Rihanna whose mission was to make makeup for everyone. Around this time before Rihanna, there were barely any celebrities trying to profit off of starting a makeup line besides Kylie Jenner. Launching in September of 2017, Fenty Beauty seemed to make an appearance at the right time. Not only did they release one item, but she released several products. Some of which are still making an impact on darker skin tones.
One of the lines of products (and most popular) Rihanna has released is her foundation. We all remember where we were when the swatches for these came out. The foundation catered to all women (and men), with deep skin tones and albinos alike. This wasn’t your typical launch, where they launched some light shades and the rest of the shades later. Fenty came out with 40 shades right off the bat. It was revolutionary and became a movement. Soon after Fenty’s launch, many other different came out with far deeper shades and lighter shades, following the Fenty print. Having more than 25-30 shades became an industry standard, and the beauty lovers were living for it.
Fenty Beauty was always a brand that likes to make itself better and listen to customer concerns. Rihanna, as a brand owner, is very engaging with her brand and is involved with every step of the process. She consistently posts videos of makeup tutorials on YouTube, and Fenty Beauty’s Instagram is very satisfying to look at with its smart social media strategies. If you’re lucky, you might even be able to get glammed up by her at Fenty Beauty VIP events. She holds these events often, especially around the time a makeup launch happens. She evens invites beauty influencers of all colors to exclusive events to announce products and try some of her stuff on.
As we all know, Rihanna loves to top herself. Every new launch gets better and more inclusive. Her concealer line corresponds with the foundation line so as long as you know your foundation shade you already have a set concealer to go along with it. From a marketing standpoint, this is genius! She also recently released a hydrating version of her original foundation (which is matte BTW) to be even more inclusive for people with dry skin.
Fenty has proved that you don’t have to wait for a product to be popular to start releasing more shades. She made other brands understand that POC actually do buy makeup and that it should be a given to serve shades that gives diversity. Fenty screams, “we care about you” and that’s what makes them extra special.