The beauty world exploded on September 8th with the launch of Rihanna's brand new makeup line, Fenty Beauty. Holding nothing back for the initial launch, the brand brought out a foundation primer, six highlighters, 30 cream contour/conceal/highlight sticks, a blotting powder, a variety of tools and brushes, a lip gloss, AND to top it all off...drum roll please... 40 (YES, F-O-R-T-Y) shades of foundation.

Can we just take a moment? Forty. Shades. Do we understand how unheard of that is? I've been doing a little research, and an average foundation line usually contains somewhere between 10-20 shades. Of course, there are exceptions, such as MAC's Studio Fix Fluid (42 shades) and L'Oreal's True Match Super Blendable Makeup (33 shades). But let one thing be known: inclusive foundation ranges are not the standard.

Just ask Physican's Formula, whose two foundation lines on Ulta's website both contain only five shades going no deeper than "natural beige."

Or It Cosmetics, whose cult-favorite Your Skin But Better CC+ Cream only comes in seven (previously five) exclusive shades.

It is unfortunately far more common for beauty companies to have limited shade selections than to have extensive ones. Brands like Benefit, Rimmel London, and Almay are also guilty of incredibly selective shade ranges that only cater to very specific complexions. This narrow-mindedness completely neglects the diversity of the consumer population and just how unique and varied every skin tone is. Everyone doesn't simply fall into "light," "medium," or "dark."

Rihanna understood the need for inclusivity in makeup lines — specifically in complexion products — and thus Fenty Beauty was born, the brand's website stating: "She launched a makeup line 'so that women everywhere would be included,' focusing on a wide range of traditionally hard-to-match skin tones, creating formulas that work for all skin types, and pinpointing universal shades."

The already highly-coveted Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation doesn't just cater to a whole spectrum of shades often left out of foundation lines, but to numerous undertones as well. Every skin color has a distinct undertone of warm, cool, or neutral. When a company only releases one deep shade of foundation, that shade won't work on every deep-skinned person. It will look too red on some, too golden on some, too gray on others, or simply not be deep enough to come anywhere close to matching the darkest of complexions.

This problem is seen across the board in makeup lines and recognizing that, Rihanna created a range that makes it possible for people to find shades that work for them, explaining in this viral video just how important it was for her to create products that could be worn by everyone.

"You just 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.'"

No, there is not a perfect foundation match for every skin tone in the world. And no, the formula - which claims to have a "pore-diffused, shine-free, soft-matte" finish - won't work on every skin type. There's still work to be done, but for an initial launch, Rihanna surpassed all expectations. Her confidence in her brand and its undeniable emphasis on inclusivity is what's making her line so revolutionary. It's standard for brands to start out with a limited shade range, then over time trickle in other shades after seeing how a foundation sells (as seen with It Cosmetics). But "standard" has never been RiRi's style.

You shouldn't have to go on a scavenger hunt to find a foundation that matches you, and Fenty Beauty is one of the few mainstream beauty brands taking strides to make sure this never has to be the case for anyone shopping for makeup.

With more brands jumping on the inclusivity train, it's going to become more imperative than ever for all companies to step up their shade ranges. It's time to stop viewing the makeup-buying population as all being a various shade of beige. Gross misconceptions such as the idea that "dark-skinned girls don't buy makeup" is perverted by the fact that brands don't offer products for dark-skinned girls. When they do, as Fenty Beauty has, it becomes obvious how big of a hole there is in the market and how much work there's left to be done to fill it.

It's time for inclusive makeup lines to stop being the exceptions and to start being the standard. By excluding diverse shade selections from their products, beauty companies are deliberately discriminating against anyone who doesn't match their brand's image of what the American woman looks like. In refusing to see that there are consumers who are deeper than "natural beige," brands deny the existence of entire populations of people and actively choose who should and shoudn't have access to their products.

Makeup shouldn't have to be political, but until this industry recognizes and changes its problem of inequity among people of color, makeup will remain a power struggle between excluded consumers and discriminatory companies. Brands like Fenty Beauty are shedding light on this long history of inequity and now are actively forging new paths to change it. No more excuses: if an entirely new-to-the-scene, underdog brand can create 40 foundation shades on their first launch, so can veteran brands.