My thoughts exactly! This wasn't inclusivity, this was "shut up now"

Absolutely. We have a lot of these black influencers whose content are just the same. Just buy brands' foundations and complain they're not dark enough. And this creator has been known to have skin so perfect that commenters consistently tell her what's the point on putting on makeup lol. I am mot saying what everyone said or did was right, but I can get why a brand might get ticked off.

@@LorienzoDeGarciathey make all of the effort on shade range for lighter skin tones. Fenty is successful because they listen. POC women spend money on makeup. They can’t put any effort into it for POC women as much as they would for white women?

Wow in shock a company did this -- either super racist or super stupid -- I would think first since it' has to go thru a team of people

@@LorienzoDeGarcia Absolutely none of what you said made since. She has nice skin so why would she need makeup? Like that couldn’t apply to other women of a lighter shade with nice skin so why make shade RANGES for them. And for your racist take on black beauty creators no actually they do not make all the same content where they only try foundation to complain it’s not dark enough. Considering black people come in a variety of shades the darker ranges have a harder time finding brands that work of their skin. Your just ONLY looking at that. 😒

I paint, and painting skin both light and dark requires many layers of different colors. You can't paint dark skin with just black. I often start with a yellow or red ochre base because yes you can definitely see undertones on dark skin.

@@PandoraBear357 exactly! artists are often discouraged from using STRAIGHT black, even for mixing, because it makes everything look dead

same. nobody here is just flat black with no depth. we’re all human beings with undertones. it’s wild that this product even made it to market.

@caiii_i3512 yup. I was taught you never really want to use straight black or any bright white, especially opaque ones.

Color Nerd has a great video of just how bad they did and gow they just truly disregarded how skin tone works kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ir2Gnb1l29vPpWw.htmlsi=_Ue_N8RTadlcl6c1

I thought the same thing. Looks like mockery to me.

exactly. it feels like they’re trolling. it’s _that_ unreal. WTF.

It’s pure mockery. I would never give them the benifit of the doubt because I know they wouldn’t make pure white for a very fair person.

I agree. No excuse. We know it can be done and done well.

Either way, it is because of a lack of respect for people with darker skin tones. Like they couldn't be bothered to make an effort. They would rather spend money and put their name on a bad product than make a decent effort to learn about people different from themselves.

Exactly! Couldn’t have said it better myself. This angers me so much! I’m so sorry to any people of color having to witness this. It’s so pathetic it hurts my insides!

they even flew over to dubai to scout for models for their deeper shades. but they fucked up by doing that AFTER the black foundation was already made.

Why not go to Africa? There are all types of skin tones there. From light brown to the darkest midnight skincolor.

@@deirdreevangelista856 I am African and East African at that. Even the "midnight dark" people are just dark brown. Lighting plays a huge role in why people appear dark in photos or even midnight dark. Just like how a pale person can appear very white but no one actually believes there are paper white people... This is ridiculous. I am almost puzzled by the internet that genuinely thinks midnight dark people actually exist. My country is home to the nilotic population who are considered the darkest people on earth. Heck, I lived in a region predominantly nilotic people and I've never come across a midnight dark person.

Right?? And to be THIS clueless in 2024, when we've had so many other makeup brands succeeding in extending their shades ranges to be more inclusive or just having a large variety of shade ranges from the jump (Fenty Beauty, Lancôme, Clinique, Bobbi Brown, MAC, ABH, Estée Lauder, Hourglass, Juvia's Place, Beauty Bakerie when they were still around, even indie brand Rituel de Fille while not having a lot of shades, they offer more than "50 Shades of Bisque and then like five or six darker shades off to the side"... their 3-Drop Weightless Foundation serum in the shade Potion #215 is made for very dark skin with a rich blue undertone)! Point being, there is no excuse for this kind of laziness (if I'm being charitable) or complete indifference (if I'm being honest) especially in 2024! I can't speak for the CEO or whoever is running the company, but this choice definitely felt like someone was hoping to get the praise and hyping up as an ally, while trying to get away with doing the bare-fucking-minimum.

I'm a white woman and this makes me ignore the brand from now on too. It's so ridiculous what they did😡

I'm a black woman and I'm not even near this shade and I would NEVER buy a single product from this company in solidarity for my darker skin sisters. I do this with other companies as well.

I don't think anyone should buy from that brand. They're tone deaf. As if this shade controversy wasn't enough, there's also so much more that's awful about the brand

Agreed! White Latinx femme here, and I definitely will not be buying anything from Youthforia for this mess! Solidarity for my melanated sisters, cisters, and niblings! 💗

Brands daren’t step out of their beige comfort range. I’m a very pale olive and there are NEVER shades for my skin, let alone deep shades that aren’t just awfully red-toned every time for POC. They think pale and darker folk are all one undertone respectively. Pale people are either pink, yellow or orange to them and POC are either dark red or dark orange. They don’t think olive or neutral exists other than in mildly tan skin. They have no idea how many different undertones POC can have.

@@ghoultooth it's a systemic issue when it comes to darker skin tones because of hiring practices. BIPOC aren't hired in any aspect of development for some brands and it shows. Not having light shades is an oversight, but it's not the same. Deep olive foundations rarely exist

@@ghoultoothI see that and it’s sad! it’s like 1 or 2 shades for the “palest” and “darkest” it’s a mockery of sorts

Tarte is terrible with foundation shade ranges in general imo. 20 shades of peachy beige with 3 or 4 "dark" shades. I have never found a match in their foundation, and I'm light. Either too light, too dark, or my face looks pink or orange in natural lighting. They essentially have no olive or yellow undertones even in their lighter shades. Their darker shades always looked so orange to me too.

The issue is tarte has an older client base built up who are fair skinned women and are very well established. Youthforia made the same mistake while microscopic in comparison to tarte

It’s wild

If you take into account that 75 percent of whytes self segregate. Meaning have no meaningful relationship with non whites this black face fiasco makes PERFECT sense. Acting like racism is a mystery is cruel to your non white followers. Mystery solved.

They knew. This isn’t anything new or uncommon. These people aren’t dumb or newbies

what’s crazy to me is that it takes many different people and many different steps to get a product from concept to market. so this had to be approved by SEVERAL different people over a period of time. can understand one person fumbling, but an entire company???

Right? This isn’t some small company trying to get off the ground being clueless. I hate how people are pretending otherwise

😭

Yea this looks like a mean joke to me. Literally WHAT person in any of those rooms could have possibly approved that genuinely

I had the same thought. Outrage marketing is a thing.

Agreed it’s absolutely wild.

@@thelipsticklesbians Aaah I was so pleaseantly surprised to get a response!! Alexis and Christina, you two are some of my favorite creators on the platform, especially in the beauty space; thank you for making us all feel like we know what we're doing when it comes to makeup and skincare!

truly i may be wrong but i have a theory that they just don't care. like i feel like its probably not even all that much harder, its just laziness. or at least enough that they'd rather try skating by as they always have, idk. unacceptable honestly like there's no way in 2024 this should still be a problem. i could be maybe possibly slightly get if it were 20-30 years ago, but there is no reasonable explanation imo, with all the formulas and technologies now, that these manufacturers don't know how to do it, especially when its been proven possible because some brands do have a full range. again, no expert, but i think they just do not care which is gross

I think in the past with limited resources a brand could only develop a few shades at a time and they often went with what they felt were the most COMMON shades. It’s a bell curve- the people with VERY dark and VERY light skin are actually rarer, although of course in these types of online discussions we dominate and it makes us look more common than we are

But yes I agree- the resources and technology is there now, especially the better funded large companies have zero excuse for developing a complete shade range with multiple undertones

How are you doing beautiful woman

It’s sad to see, and it’s definitely baffling

It seems like an exaggeration to say this. People can be rightfully upset about a lack of inclusivity, makeup being one aspect of that, and also be doing many other meaningful things with their lives. I don't think anyone is committing their lives to nothing outside of being outraged about foundation.

For some people, especially those with physical scars or whatnot that they wish to cover, makeup can be a lifesaver. So I think people have every right to be outraged over a foundation shade, especially if they’re limited in the shades they’re able to wear.

Are u black? I question that identity...because if so you will totally get it. Clueless

Thing is, they don’t even provide realistic tones for incredibly pale skin either! So I don’t even understand what these companies are trying to do. I imagine they’re pulling the typical “only supply for the majority of our consumers” i.e light/medium folk. It’s not acceptable anymore

Yeah they know what they were dong. It's a micoraggression fo sho.

That seems like a deathnail for a small indie brand like theirs. It was probably just genuine oversight, incompetence, laziness, and trying to rush the product launch, not malice or racism.

@@theprousteffect9717 you should google outrage marketing. Turns out trolling, blk women in business is very lucrative, because most people think it’s funny, and will make excuses for the brand like you’re doing right now.

There are different kinds of product developers! And this changes if you work at a brand or manufacturing facility. We should cover this more in future content ❤️

Just saw another hour long one…. What the heck are these people yapping about that takes an hour

It's an oversight for pale skin tones to have undertones be off. It's systemic racism for deeper skin tones because of the exclusionary practices in the beauty industry.

@@sumlem Oh I definitely agree with that. My question was if it was a similar manufacturing problem with the base formulas having to be changed.

Every time. Every. Single. Time.

try fenty or juvias place

Literally any other pigment besides black

Correct. Nearly all the "beauty" products we apply also have some white, yellow, red, blue, and black. Humans, in essence, are made of primary colors. ❤

That I agree with, I have met actual Black skinned people where their skin is so dark it has a blue tint, this color would actually work for their skin, tone wise, but it would still need the blue tint to it.

I think Youthforia in particular made it obvious that they don’t care to actually be inclusive, so I think for those of us who care about true inclusivity, we should just take our money somewhere else. She/the brand has limited comments to their pages and only responds to the positive comments and ignores the ones that call the brand out for their shade ranges, so I think that speaks volumes about how she really sees those darker than tan. This *quite literally black* foundation is a slap in the face imho.

Don't buy their products and boycott them.

Tbh I wish they sent these shades out before launching. Surround sound would have said it’s a bad idea 🤦‍♀️

It's by the brand Topicals - Sealed active scar primer. 😊

Topicals Sealed primer. It's amazing

Whatever it is, the pd process wasn’t followed through for sure. My guess is a rush to fix their last mistake mixed with carelessness

Yes. First time *could* have been an oversight, but the second time is a CHOICE, and it speaks volumes!!

It might be kinda ashy... On the bright side, it's the biggest pot of black liquid eyeshadow for the price.

There are better brands to buy straight black pigment from. REM beauty came out with a black concealer for people to use to mix with stuff so u could use that and not have to support a brand that does stuff like this lol

Black pigments overtake all other colors. So it will make other shades ashy or flatten the nuance of undertones. It was never advertised as an artistry shade.

Many shades of ash.

It becomes gray

Javon Ford, one of the creators/cosmetic chemists featured in this video, also pointed out how this is likely not meant for mixing due to how black even as a paint is notoriously difficult to use to change shades because it makes colors muddy and ashy rather than changing tone like white pigments do. While I would normally appreciate the Lipstick Lesbians trying to give the benefit of the doubt, in this case, I have serious doubts that Youthforia were interested in actually listening to their community about darker tones of foundation.

Black as a pigment overtakes all other colors when mixing, from a makeup and art stand point. Even artists avoid using true black and use deep shades of browns, blues, and greens when painting realism. It was also never advertised as an artistry shade.

It matches no one.

Pretty sure that would be a question for her hairdresser

I would say most if not all US based brands have pressure when launching foundation to be inclusive. Around the world no so much i.e. cushion foundations in Korea for example. But the shiseidos and Lauder companies of the world (and other conglomerates) follow the correct product development procedures.

The exclusion of pale skin tones is an oversight. The exclusion of darker skin tones is due to systemic issues in the beauty industry. The conversation is about the lack of undertone depth for melanin rich skin. There are more pale olive options than there are deep rich olive options. Most brands don't even try to have variation in undertones for deeper skin tones. I'm saying this because it's my job to color match people. I myself have an olive undertone, but I can still find shades for fair, light to medium skin tones of any undertone due to availability. The prevalent undertone in tan, deep, deep rich foundations is red. Just... RED.

@@sumlem I get what you're saying but so far any olive tone option for me is too expensive. I don't have the money to afford sephora type products. Not even L'Oreal at times. And all I see is just orange orange orange for everyone. And for light skin it's either orange or pink.

​@@nikitatavernitilitvynovaYou're correct. My SIL is practically transparent she's so pale....and pink undertone. No matching foundations out there. It's not systematic racism. It's the fact that manufacturers want to sell to the masses....and if you're extremely light or extremely dark you're out of luck.

Never said this was an accident. A professional opinion on what happened here, how wrong this was, and the extent to which the product development lifecycle was not honored is definitely not an excuse or justification. Please don’t mistake it as one. This is for sure not acceptable and to be clear this should have never launched.

​@@thelipsticklesbiansYou said that you believed this could be a botched attempt to have the darkest foundation shade, which would mean that they made a mistake but had good intentions, and going into the complications of manufacturing makes it seem even more "understandable" that they might make this "mistake". You're basically running defense for this brand while pretending to criticize them and never even mentioned the reason why people are offended, which is racism.

No it doesn’t. The black pigment used doesn’t function the same way as white pigments, so it can’t be used as a mixing product. The only pigment this foundation contains is not suitable for complexion products because it just turns everything grey!! Unfortunately this was a very clear slap in the face

no it won't becuase even those mixing shades you use are not just paper white. look in the list and you'll see a mix of colors. also that pitch black js would make everything black

Hello, 1. It’s not advertised as a mixer contour, it’s a foundation. 2. What shade would you mix black with? If you add white to dark brown you get light brown, if you add black you get a muddy mess… 3. It’s a problem for people who look like me because I cannot just walk to any brand and get a foundation. Why should I mix? Haus labs, fenty, Dior, revolution? L’Oréal, nars all have darker shades… copy them 4. I’ve looked on the website, they have about 10-12 light to medium shades and 5 deep/dark shades. So when you say decent amount of shades…. It’s not decent. It’s offence to say to people who are saying it’s not good enough that it is. Im not sure it was your intention to be offence… but it is. Make up artist, product designers, industry experts are all rubbishing this product.

@@harriet1190 Hi! So, I'm medium with an olive complexion and I have to mix every single time I sit down to do my makeup, because olive complexions are far more under represented than even dark complexions, very few people get a "perfect match" straight out of the bottle. Hopefully we'll get there, and there are brands now that will custom make your shade, if you want that. Also there are PLENTY of shades that need deep yes even (black) neutral pigment added to them. Like I said all of them that are too warm, and too light, which is MOST! What's even better is such a small amount of this would cancel the warmth and deepen it up simultaneously. This brand is trying, while there are plenty that don't even do that, and I think to drag the brands that are willing to learn and grow may back fire. It's showing them their damned if they do, and damned if they don't. The only reason anyone is "rubbishing" this product online is because it's typical mob mentality that we see time and time again, and everyone is too afraid to say how they really feel for fear of being "canceled" Everyone I've spoke to in real life about this is just as baffled as I am. The white foundations, also werent advertised as mixers, and again we didnt all lose our minds over it. We literally have brands that solely cater to dark skin tones, Blk opl, fashion fair, black Radiance, etc... Like you said there's plenty of brands that do it right. All of those you mentioned btw, are huge well established brands. Youthforia is a newer brand with a much smaller budget, they're working with what they have, I'm sure and it's not for lack of trying. That's pretty apparent if you do any amount of research on what the brand owner has gone through trying to be inclusive. Maybe they don't have the funds to just "copy" them? Again though, crucifying the brands that are trying isn't the answer. Sure tell them where you think they can improve, but no I don't think this was some type of attack. That really just sounds ridiculous, yet that's what I keep hearing the internet making it out to be. That was my point, and no I'm not trying to be offensive. That would just be weird and childish. 😕🤔

@@BeautyAndHerBeasts thanks. I’m sure this small company didn’t have the funds. So tell me, is it cheaper to made almost double the lighter shades than dark? There is funding and then intention. If you want to test the market, why not 3/4 shades within each category? That black pigment could have been swapped for a shade that people could actually wear. Or a video online showing how to use the “mixer” with their foundations to deepen it. Hey if you don’t have the money - fine but show that inclusivity is your intention. This is the fury that exists within a market they chose to step into. If they had actually done the research, this would not have been the roll out.

@@BeautyAndHerBeasts but you make a fair point about the brands I listed

@@BeautyAndHerBeasts check out range beauty. Also mango people, did not have money for lots of products so focused on lipsticks and is branching out. But through my own mini research - rather that spending money and time on brands such as this, I should be celebrating the brands who have actually achieved inclusivity… or have been creative within their budget. Thanks for the chat.

It’s not hard to know straight black pigment in a bottle isn’t the way to create a dark foundation, though. They have google. Even just a cursory search would bring up SO MANY brands’ darkest foundations and they could look at those brands to find a shade they could mimic. Anything would be more suitable than straight black pigment in a bottle. It just seems at best very lazy, at worst a mockery.

That makes it even stranger considering the the diverse shade range Asian people have.

@@nopeninja9765The problem is, in many Asian countries/cultures (and I’m saying this as one as well), colorism is still prevalent. K and C beauty brands especially are well aware that we come in many shades, but they still insist on putting out typically 3 shades of cushion foundations with “tone up” formulations that whiten the face with zinc oxide. Idols and actresses tend to have their photos with the skin lightened up from their real life shades still, or you can find photos where the face is drastically white compared to the neck down because of the aforementioned tone up foundations.

its not a small bussiness tho? this girl's brand is in ulta!! thats not a small bussiness