According to Fenty Beauty’s website, the lack of makeup products for women with “hard to match” skin tones inspired Rihanna to create her own makeup line. Fenty Beauty’s site says it focuses on providing lightweight products with buildable, yet natural coverage for women with all skin tones.
“Makeup is there for you to have fun with,” Rihanna said, according to the Fenty Beauty website. “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.”
Senior Rupali Sujan explained that Rihanna’s wide range of foundation shades appeals to a variety of people, as it is more inclusive of people with different skin tones.
“I mean we have seen 40 shade ranges before in Make Up For Ever, but a lot of times the undertone doesn’t work for everybody and the price point is a little bit higher normally,” Sujan said. “The fact that she made the foundation affordable, but high end quality [is what makes it so popular].”
Sophomore Neha Balusu can also attest to Sujan’s claim, as she herself has faced the challenge of finding a foundation that fit her skin tone well.
“I like how she has a variety, especially for me because I’m darker,” Balusu said. “A lot of makeup brands only have one shade for dark people, but that’s not really how it works. Not every single dark person is the same.”
While the shade range plays a large factor in Fenty Beauty’s popularity, it is not the only reason why people have been so attracted to the makeup brand. Senior Stacy Park believes that Rihanna’s status in the entertainment industry and media contributed to the success of the collection.
“I think it’s super popular because, well it’s Rihanna and she’s pretty hot,” Park said. “She’s famous, so obviously everyone is going to want to try it.”
While it is mostly the foundations that have been receiving attention, Park shared her praise of the highlighters in the collection.
“I usually go for the more white highlighters because my skin tone is more yellow. But since I have so many of those, I [decided] to try the gold one,” Park said. “It [is] really really really good. It’s not blinding, but it’s subtle.”
Despite the popularity, the price of the products can be on the more expensive end for some students.
“The price is kind of expensive for how much you get, but I think it’s worth it because she’s a celebrity,” Park said. “Makeup prices range around $20 to $70, so it’s a really big range, but her foundations are like $30-something, so I think they’re [a good price]. I don’t think you get so much [product], but it’s good [quality].”
While Rihanna’s popularity may seem to make the real quality of Fenty beauty ambiguous, according to Sujan, this popularity is beneficial to the beauty community and industry as a whole.
“The amount of attention [Fenty Beauty is] getting [is good] just because a lot of other beauty influencers and a lot of other brands can take from this and see, ‘Oh, this is getting so popular. We need to be more inclusive with our shades,’ because that’s something that is still kind of lacking,” Sujan said. “I’ve only tried the foundation so far, but I want to get the highlighters soon [because] I think it’s worth the hype.”
See below for a look at some of the products in the collection.
