Beauty Blender just put out their new Bounce Liquid Whip Long Wear Foundation and to be honest the swatches of the 32 shades is sad, but honestly not surprising. Time and time again companies put out foundations with 90% of the shades catering to Caucasian complexions and the 10% left for the rest of us. It happened with the Tarte Shape Tape Foundation, and here it is again, a shade range that is in no way inclusive and says a lot about how the beauty world sees people of color.
The continual launching of shade ranges of foundations that forget so much of the population shows the world that the beauty world many time is only focused on Caucasian complexions. Now I am not an expert in the manufacturing of makeup, but what I have come to understand is that at the end of the day making makeup for Latinx, Black, and other underrepresented populations are not so much harder or more expensive than other shades. Given that is just further emphasizes that companies who make these lackluster shade ranges aren't doing it because of monetary issues, but rather because they choose not to.
After Fenty Beauty came out with the PRO FILT'R Soft Matte Longwear Foundation that had 40 different shades, they showed not only other beauty companies that a diversity of shades could be done but also how profitable it is. According to an article in Paper Magazine in the first 40 days, the brand made $100 million in sales. Now when you look at the numbers, Beauty Blender's 32 shades compared to Fenty Beauty's 40 shades is only an 8 shade difference, but it's not only the number of shades but rather the diversity of shades within the line. A Twitter user explained it perfectly by saying, "Why did Beauty Blender feel the need to make 23 foundation shades for white people? You know people of color come in just as many shades as we do. HAVE WE LEARNED NOTHING?! Jesus Christ, get your shit together. #beautyblender."
Now regardless of whether or not this foundation is good (which supposedly it is), it is going to be impossible for the majority of people to find a shade that fits them. Personally, I can have a difficult time finding foundation shades that are tan enough but not orange, but it doesn't come anywhere near what others have to go through. Many people have foundations with zero shades that work for them or have to mix several different ones to get the "perfect" match. At the end of the day, people should be able to find their shade straight out of the bottle, not have to be a chemist and mix it to make one.
At the end of the day, this launch was disappointing, but the reactions to it make me believe that the beauty world is changing. We are living in a time that is beginning to understand that all colors are beautiful, so why can't we have makeup that fits that.