Youthforia, What Happened Here? A Beauty Product Developers Perspective

Youthforia made me very very sad.😞 This is unacceptable. Period. Shade development is a huge part of a beauty product developers job. Personal and professional opinion, the beauty PD process was clearly not honored here.
Videos overlayed @golloria @javonford16
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WELCOME Beauty Queens! I'm so happy we found each other 💋
WE ARE ALEXIS & CHRISTINA!
✨Alexis is a beauty product development executive and beauty educator with about 20 years experience. Her goal is to help you make more informed, personalized decisions for yourself, your professional growth, or for your business.
✨ Christina is an award winning educator and doctor of education and technology. She's all about asking the right questions and is endlessly curious.
Together, we are The Lipstick Lesbians! Viral beauty educators sharing all things beauty deconstructed, and having fun. We are also married and in love, and share behind the scenes of our lives together.
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[@SnacksNapsCats]

This shade has the vibe of “ Fine. Here! You happy now?”

[@OrleidisLozada]

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

[@LorienzoDeGarcia]

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.

[@tonyaingram5336]

@@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?

[@priscillagarcia2252]

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

[@nopeninja9765]

@@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. 😒

[@genevarockeman9721]

I grew up in Africa. With really exceptionally dark-skinned women you can immediately and obviously notice their undertone. Like...I'm almost more impressed that they've somehow managed to bend space around not matching a single possible undertone on a human being. Just wild. Someone in STEM should research this.

[@PandoraBear357]

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.

[@caiii_i3512]

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

[@laur83]

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.

[@PandoraBear357]

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

[@3arlobesniffa]

Color Nerd has a great video of just how bad they did and gow they just truly disregarded how skin tone works kzbin.info/www/bejne/ioi5m41qq9qeq5osi=_Ue_N8RTadlcl6c1

[@OrleidisLozada]

I mean, I do believe there are people out there who have NEVER seen or interacted with a POC in their life, but as a COMPANY you can 100% hire models and different developers... This wasn't intended as inclusiveness at all! This message was "here, now shut up!"

[@TheMimmieb]

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!

[@laur83]

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.

[@deirdreevangelista856]

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

[@rimun5235]

@@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.

[@stephgreen3070]

Is this a case of “They want darker, do they!? Well I’ll give ‘em darker!” And then made almost a mockery of it? Or is it just them being SO out of touch with dark skin and its undertones that they genuinely thought that straight black paint pigment would work? Seems like, in this day and age, with several lines coming out with really realistic, very dark foundation tones, there is no excuse for this company to be so wildly off base.

[@ffmadari]

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

[@hellaSwankkyToo]

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

[@nopeninja9765]

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.

[@annacolombo3025]

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

[@Jasmine-in-my-mind]

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.

[@calico_queen8976]

Bruh, their first issue was how they basically lied about what their darkest shade looked like online vs real life and when they get called out, they basically just gave their customer straight up ink from the printer 😭 It's fine if your makeup shade doesn't have a shade for everyone but don't lie then double down.

[@ezotemua4434]

Take a page out of Tarte beauty book Youthforia- learn from their mistake. Can't believe as a WOC in her 50's our skin tone is still seen as an exception

[@ghoultooth]

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.

[@sumlem]

@@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

[@harrietxo2310]

@@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

[@PandoraBear357]

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.

[@ahaziahjoshua1397]

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

[@SnoodleDoot]

How can people be this tone deaf? Having a deeper skin tone does not mean just "dark". There are still undertones. There are still variations. It's human skin. That is the nature of human skin. Fair or deep, doesn't matter. This should never have happened and is just flat out wrong.

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

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.

[@Victoria-_]

The way I GASPED. Wtf were they thinking??

[@rmdebora]

As a black woman this makes me ignore this brand at all from now on.

[@DaniL-hr9xo]

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

[@Deltadivaix]

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.

[@nya2823]

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

[@cannibalisticrequiem]

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! 💗

[@NamasteSammie]

There's a major learning curve with these manufacturers. Thank you for sharing your insight. Im Indian-Jamaican with some Chinese and German also. I feel like no product actually matches my shade and undertone. I have to use 3 to 4 different foundations and concealers to get the overall makeup look right.

[@lindadelorme4259]

Holy heck...who approved this? I mean, come ON...How did they not know?

[@thelipsticklesbians]

It’s wild

[@michaelmiller867]

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.

[@Latte-dq1tb]

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

[@laur83]

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???

[@Latte-dq1tb]

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

[@CircumstancesNeverMatter]

It’s the Kingsford charcoal as a shade for me. Insane 🤣🤦🏽‍♀️

[@harrietxo2310]

😭

[@MagnaCR45]

This insight is amazing. My question is how much of this mess came from trying to one up brands like Fenty and Haus Labs who’ve been applauded for their shade range, rushing to market to be a hit brand, the amount of money invested and getting that ROI as quickly as possible, combined with unconscious bias. So many missteps here it’s appalling.

[@hellaSwankkyToo]

……..was……..was this a troll? ‘cause…. there’s no way. there’s absolutely no way.

[@Anindeterminateamountofbees]

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

[@emeral311]

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

[@coco604]

This is an insane, and frankly insulting, move from the brand. I don’t know if they genuinely thought this was a good idea, or if this was the beauty industry equivalent of trolling but either way it’s infuriating. I am also so annoyed at the commenters under the original two creators’ videos (some of them people of color themselves!) being seemingly deliberately obtuse and accusing the creators of colorism because “there are people that dark!”. , Even if there are people that matched the overtone of the foundation ( that still wouldn’t happen because no one is literally iron oxide black), their undertones would not match that foundation because the foundation has no undertones and people are humans with veins!

[@thelipsticklesbians]

Agreed it’s absolutely wild.

[@coco604]

@@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!

[@auntlynnie]

It’s screaming, “malicious compliance.”

[@th1926]

Is it truly more difficult to mix undertones for the further lighter/paler and darker complexions? It seems to be the tale told, but why is it such when regular paint can have such range? I truly do not understand why and would be grateful for an in-depth explanation with maybe factory tours and such to give detail to why this is so hard. I'd truly be grateful to understand what the actual issues are for the process. Maybe this is too much of an ask? Its especially frustrating when those searching for the palest colors and those searching for the darker colors are just told to use other brands, yet more often than not even the other brands leave people looking red or orange at their base before they oxidize which really makes the red/orange apparent. There truly aren't many brands that these groups can use, and not everyone has access to funding to cover the cost or stores that have those products. The ask for inclusion is not seemingly unreasonable and yet events like this make the brands that get it right or close to right appear to have done a herculean task...so, is it really that difficult or is it actually laziness that people are just supposed to accept?

[@gracesull78756]

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

[@maddieb.4282]

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

[@maddieb.4282]

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

[@Nina-hz9vv]

How did so many people fail in the manufacturing process and allowed this to hit market is beyond me

[@Joy35]

Thank you Christina and Alexis

[@mimigrabner4486]

When I saw the shade being swatched with face paint called "Jet Black" and it was the same exact color as black face paint. I was thinking... Really you guys? It's 2024 and we still can't get ALL shade range thing correct yet??? Thats embarrassing!!!

[@annhodge9952]

The owner went to a mall, in the area where people with the darkest toned skin live. She picked 2 guys and tried to put as little as she could on and blend it in. It did not match their skin tone. You could see that she knew immediately that the shade didn't match and tried to pass it off as if it did. Then when the foundation was analyzed and it only had the black shade in it, I could only think the ball was definitely dropped. They had cut their production time down to 5 months and rushed out foundation for darker skin tones without testing and matching it to humans. Sad.

[@thepiggiediaries2605]

Your job is so fascinating! Can you create a video about how you became a product developer and what day to day life entailed in that profession?

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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 ❤️

[@TheJazzy1980]

this is my first time hearing about this, and hopefully my last, but as a forty-something dark-skinned bw who has been wearing foundation since high school, I'm baffled both by how incredibly wasteful it seems that a brand would release a foundation shade so dark that apparently no one can wear 😂 and also that people have nothing better to do with their lives than be outraged over a foundation shade. Very strange times we're living in.

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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

[@linseylinsey]

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.

[@JessieDubois8]

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.

[@pazo321]

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

[@amy_janedoe2486]

I don't wear a lot of makeup just a tad bit. I'm not great at it, But, you guys have helped me at the not great at it part. Hence the saying knowledge is power. I appreciate it. I really enjoy watching you 2

[@AutumnSwatches]

Part of the problem is the audacity. I don’t know why they would think they are capable of this without outside help why don’t they realize their limitations. I’m not a make up artist I know I do not see the nuances in fair shades as well as someone who is and who has worked with those skin tones. If I were going to develop complexion products for them, I would not assume I could do that by myself, it takes a little humility and introspection. Their actions are giving that they have pre-existing biases.

[@AngelaJeanBTW]

Yikes Youthforia. Very disappointing.

[@Roy_Golyar2]

How are you doing beautiful woman

[@DeeL-u1c]

I appreciate this background. It was bound to happen. Now they will say: you can't make these people happy. We gave them the darkest shade and they are still complaining. Laugh now, but for real that will be the vibe in these all yt companies.

[@ghoultooth]

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

[@noneyabiz2574]

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

[@aname8719]

I feel this so hard, but I’m on the other side of it. There are hardly any foundations light enough for me, and the undertone is consistently and absurdly wrong. They are usually bright pink, orange, or yellow, and they lack the grey and green tones in my skin. So I have a question for you. Is it also a base-formula problem? Is that why even huge brands seem to have no problem at all making 100 shades of beige but can’t seem to actually make anything else consistently?

[@sumlem]

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.

[@aname8719]

@@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.

[@LPno.9]

Every time. Every. Single. Time.

[@stxrshiine6205]

try fenty or juvias place

[@yvonnel1942]

Youthforia releasing black face paint feels hateful. Especially since it was supposed to be the thing they came up with after the backlash to their initial shade range.

[@maddieb.4282]

This is a better summary of the issue with more professional input and said more quickly and articulately than the 40 minute long video I just saw breaking this issue down. You are literally a hero lol

[@maddieb.4282]

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

[@sleepyartist6065]

They should've added some kind of blue pigment in their formula😮

[@sumlem]

Literally any other pigment besides black

[@sinndymorr6358]

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. ❤

[@elettramia6380]

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.

[@RedneckBeautywithDebra]

Once again, I could listen to you all day long👋 Adore you and C❤ You would think it would be tested on skin🙄.....we unfortunately do not all have common sense

[@smeag9280]

I’m blown away that even after swatching a sample or batch, they would think it’s actually anyone’s shade.. wtf

[@lilsneeze9741]

i love hearing your takes and talks! please make longer form content to tickle my brain I NEEEED MOREEEE

[@shhhperry9852]

They weren’t trying to be inclusive, they were trolling black women as a marketing strategy.

[@theprousteffect9717]

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.

[@shhhperry9852]

@@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.

[@th1926]

What do we as regular people/consumers need to do to stop this nonsense?

[@glitteringmaze]

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.

[@Deltadivaix]

Don't buy their products and boycott them.

[@sasandbernard7862]

If they really wanted to release a pure black product for virality, they could’ve done that. REM made a black concealer that Gloria used as a contour shade. They could’ve just called it a mixing pigment like how Haus Labs has a pure white foundation to be used as a mixer. But no, they actually thought this is want dark skinned consumers wanted.

[@lemonjennie]

I don't wear foundation because where I just don't like the feeling and can't get it to match my skin tone. However, I am also a graphic designer so I can see the undertones in foundation ranges, this Youthforia is just black, there is no cool tone or warm tone, it is just #FFFFFF. It's insane how they can just be so blind to these things because they have money, they can afford to get other people to look into this things, yet they will literally ignore that choice.

[@2nicnag2]

I just watched the tottle short and immediately subscribed and came to your videos, sorry for lots of comments ahead of time as I binge your channel today!

[@Officalsarahlister]

It's just gross. I've never tried the brand, but even as a very fair skinned white women, makes me want to stay far away from the brand. They need to be held accountable.

[@AutumnSwatches]

I heard that the company said they couldn’t even find anyone in the US to test on so they put it on models in Dubai after it was already developed (it doesn’t look like it matched them either), but if very few people in the match that tone I don’t understand why they didn’t just go with the models they could find in the country in which they plan to sell the product

[@nakeshaplayer5409]

Thank you so much for shedding light on this issue. As a woman of color it's abit frustrated to find the correct shade of foundation and it's even harder to find ones in the beauty community who want to be apart of finding a solution instead of ignoring the problem. Many blessings to you, your beautiful family and all your endeavors ✌️❤️💪

[@benjib0yyy]

I truly think she actually did it on purpose and thought we would be too dumb to notice which says even more about her and her intensions. you said yourself product development is INTENTIONAL. I'd like to point that out and let yall draw your own conclusions but.......

[@CleoGravel]

Omg 😳 so sad 😞 thanks for sharing 😊

[@emmawelsh7972]

They actually did make the shade first before finding someone that could match it…they made a bunch of tik tok videos on how they made the foundation shade first and how difficult it was to find a model for that shade (wow I wonder why).

[@emixze]

I think what makes it even worse is the creator (I believe) even made a video saying they couldn't find a model for this shade.... biggest facepalm

[@daruleos]

their range is still atrocious. and launching that shade was a disrespectful way of trying to make up for it

[@AugiBee]

I love you guys so muchhhhh I work at Sephora and I learn sooo much from you both !!!!!❤❤❤❤❤

[@127deku]

its just crazy how little they care. and if it was GENUINELY a mistake (😒) then how could u run a cosmetic brand with zero understanding of color.. a 6th grade art class can show u how to make darker skin tones

[@anavaleriasant]

Racism. Clearly.

[@DeniSoars]

They just posted a “comment” to this mess. Weirdest PR clean up. No apology what so ever. Bizarre. I will never buy from them :(

[@muadhnate]

Girl. Go help them. 😂😂😂

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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

[@Jess1013]

2:45 well we know they developed the shade without first matching it to human skin because they documented themselves running around a dang mall in another country looking for the blackest people they could find to be their shade model. To be an afterthought is insulting enough as it is, but this was next level bs.

[@CGKittenz]

This feels like they’re making a joke out of dark skin.

[@faithm4897]

This is absolutely not acceptable...

[@bsummers1386]

This needs to be pulled off the shelves

[@montananerd8244]

They did this on purpose to be nasty. Don't buy youthforia!

[@ariana9yc]

Cringey- I cannot support a brand that repeatedly does this crap.

[@OrleidisLozada]

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

[@MsBNoodle]

How many bottles of that shade have they ordered in?

[@Ryanneey]

This is why representation matters! Not just in makeup but in everything we do. Different people have different perspectives and lived experiences.

[@Latte-dq1tb]

They knew exactly what they were doing and people need to stop pretending otherwise.

[@JayeEllis]

If they were flying to Dubai to try to find at least ONE model so close to launch, there's NO WAY they had ever tested it on human skin. If they had, they'd already have people with a shade match. Simple as.

[@chloeanaisblanchard2158]

I had to look if the shade range changed on her site/ if there has been ANY improvement… NOTHING has been changed at all, her comment sections on her TikTok have all been switched off…….

[@Pls_tell_me_to_do_my_homework]

Honestly that’s just straight up laziness

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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

[@ChasingCrispyCrunchASMR]

My friend uses this as a mixer, she's really, very deep. She liked it as do her sisters.. But I get what people are saying, sure...

[@nikkikoz4720]

It's giving Tarte. Sorry guys but you don't need my money. You don't get to treat people like this, if you can't tell that black face paint is not the color of human skin, then you probably shouldn't have a makeup brand.

[@tracihawley33]

U showed a primer with silicone and I have lupus and got cystic acne...I tied to see the name of the primer that helped but I couldn't. Can u please answer this or someone..u and Robert are the only two I listen too. I'm gonna laugh when Mikaela has no tik tok or market because she is so fake. At least u talk chemistry and with a nursing back ground I can understand ehat ur saying..u and ROBERT HAVE NO BS. When we get lied too time and time again it makes me mad. I spent 50 on Laura merice foundation and it looks patchy .. plan on returning it and trying tom Ford or Natasha deona. My clinque foundation is ten times better. But please I would love the name of the primer

[@phenomenalwoman6111]

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

[@sumlem]

Topicals Sealed primer. It's amazing

[@MrsVanB]

You would think that after its heyday, the makeup landscape would have changed by now. Apparently, there are still companies that believe 1 or 2 shades are enough for poc with different undertones. 🤦🏾‍♀️

[@chittyluv2651]

I love that egg salad recipe. Do you put onion powder in yours? Mine never turns out like the picture.

[@meggiemoo931]

imagine if a brand launched a “lightest shade” and it was just pure white. like wtf that’s so ridiculous it’s laughable lmao … so why would you think putting out a product that’s just pure black and calling it the “darkest shade” would be taken seriously??

[@Mad420-00]

Other than making the money off consumers, companies just do not care. They do the least they can and say, here you go. It sucks anymore and products are so cheap and poorly made or simply half assed.

[@patb2582]

Ain’t no way, ain’t no fucking way

[@hulapineapple]

They were trolling with all of their might. I hope they’re bankrupt by the end of the year.

[@janinebean4276]

This feels like something someone would have worn as blackface back in the day when they did the actual like blackface clown makeup on white actors with the big drawn on lips and everything…horrifying.

[@nikitatavernitilitvynova]

I can tell most foundations haven't been tried on human skin as none of them include my pale ass. I feel as though I'm not the palest person out there but the fact I am most of the times the lightest shade worries me. Expecially as I've seen paler people that me out there. Also it worries me that there are two groups of people that get always excluded mine included. Dark skinned people and fair olives. The entire media likes to push the idea that pale olive skin not only doesn't exist but is impossible to achieve. I don't know how but my face doesn't like to tan one bit. I got tanlines from sitting 3 or so hours in the sun only once. I was wearing spf 50 on my body and burned my shoulders a bit. But my face? As white as snow. And all foundations still remain either extremely orange or extremely pink. No inbetween. And it sucks even more when your concealer says it's light neutral but it's literally peach or straight up orange. No catrice. That isn't neutral. That's the orangest thing I've ever seen.

[@sumlem]

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.

[@nikitatavernitilitvynova]

@@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.

[@queenbunnyfoofoo6112]

​@@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.

[@HaydeeSophia]

Hi 😊👋 I'm a new subscriber. What advice do you have for a fresh out of highschool young adult who's interested in becoming a beauty product developer ?

[@redblaquegolden]

Thank you! This is so ridiculously silly.

[@lowans971]

Developpers and R&D team : "how dark do you want this foundation?" Marketing : "yes"

[@LorienzoDeGarcia]

I would want to buy that just to mix with the foundations I have to see what comes out of it.

[@Iquey]

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

[@Anindeterminateamountofbees]

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

[@sumlem]

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.

[@LPno.9]

Many shades of ash.

[@thelipsticklesbians]

It becomes gray

[@gerardoarenasss]

I said the same thing you said on an instagram post and got shredded 😂 Is it a bad product? No, but it’s non nuanced enough to be a real shade, there’s people that are/look this black, I’ve seen them, but with undertones and complexities in their skin colour, thats why brands can launch 100 shades and still there will be people in any end of the colour spectrum left out, cause there’s more to warm, neutral and cold tones in real life, that’s when the artistry of makeup come in place imo

[@pazo321]

This says they have no regard for black customers so they dont deserve the dollars too. Case closed signed delivered.

[@shanonb8921]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@xoluciaxo_3721]

No offence but how is this not pure racism. Cuz it feels like you’re trying to explain how Youthforia could have made this “mistake” when in reality, no one in their right mind would actually think people are literally BLACK-colored and this release feels very intentional. I cannot emphazise this enough, this “foundation” is just BLACK facepaint. When someone mixed it with another color it turned GRAY, no way no one didn’t think twice when testing this.

[@wwondertwin]

Does that work for mixing a custom shade? When I couldn't find a light enough tone I would just mix white foundation to a shade darker than my skin and would get the one I needed. I recall seeing these mixers in various colours some years ago. Like blue, red, green, white and a super dark shade that I can't recall if it was brown or black.

[@glitteringmaze]

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.

[@sumlem]

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.

[@nina531]

So not only is youthforia tone deaf, but apparently they're tone blind as well

[@diaryofanislandgirl]

This is trying to be inclusive? 😂 Tf, there’s no excuse for this 🥴

[@wkt2506]

Kinda like if they brought out a bright yellow in the name of skin tone inclusion.

[@saltoftheegg]

Nah I'm sorry no amount of flexing your factory knowledge is going to make me believe this was an accident. This was clearly an intentional insult.

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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.

[@saltoftheegg]

​@@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.

[@Dashomin]

Wow….

[@mistyaqua]

Face Atelier had both a white and black foundation. I think Mac also did this with the OG Face and Body. They are mixer shades. If it truly is pure black, it is unfortunate that Youthforia would match it to someone it doesn’t match. I have met folks that have very deep skintones so I am curious if this is actually a decent shade match for someone out there, or if it is only black pigment.

[@harriet1190]

It matches no one.

[@jennyg6881]

Just gross.

[@andreav2175]

Ouch!

[@lamazahra5248]

Completely off topic, can we get a full breakdown of your hair color?😍🤭

[@efolinsky]

Pretty sure that would be a question for her hairdresser

[@elizabetheaton3882]

They really missed it! I love how you call people of color "Melanated Queens", too. Thank you for bringing attention to the awful faux pas 😢

[@luvbug1416]

Has this ever happened to larger brands like shiseido or Estée Lauder? Do these companies ever face pressure for more inclusive shade range?

[@thelipsticklesbians]

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.

[@jo4vt]

🤎

[@harriet1190]

Certain people in the comments clearly on youthforia payroll 😒

[@maryarmstrong2231]

👍👍👍

[@kayp9318]

BW need to stop complaining about brands who don’t include us. So many other brands out there. I wouldn’t even give these brands the free marketing by making a video on them. Black women….STOP COMPLAINING! And take your dollars to a brand that actually cares and wants our business.

[@ednaellis6047]

Amen

[@nopeninja9765]

Shut the hell up. That so many other brands your talking about tend to only ship to North America. They aren’t as easily available everywhere and most black owned brands tend to have a short life span. And no it’s not because of lack of support from other black people it’s because of how it works to be a indie brand (which most black owned brands are) to a major brand that can survive in a global market. This shut up and just be happy with what little you have is such a internalized racist thing to say. Black people do not ‘complain’ all the time. It’s just people don’t care when we’re not entertaining them.

[@GabriellahItaly]

Can you name those brands please?

[@kayp9318]

@@GabriellahItaly look it up! Fenty is a big one. Pat Mc Garth , Estée Lauder and many more

[@pinkiepiereincarnate2291]

We can do that and call out racism at the same time. It really isn't that hard and they sent the woman who made the first video the foundation, so why would she not say something about the disrespect??

[@ashleylala4293]

This hyper PC era has everyone feeling butthurt all the time and I don’t think it’s healthy. Would this product have a potential application as a contour type product for extremely dark skin tones? I’m extremely pale and I have used white products for highlighter purposes.

[@EmL-kg5gn]

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

[@stxrshiine6205]

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