Let’s talk about my foundation collection. I think this warranted a whole post because I really am trying to approach my blog without being performative, but also trying to balance what I have always had to balance, drugstore finds and people IRL asking me for a cheap foundation, as well as wanting to continue to provide accessible options for Canadians (we all know the exchange and shipping is impossible) and I don’t want to ever have my blog not be accessible, whether that be price wise or shade wise or literal geographic accessibility wise.
Now, my foundation collection is one of those parts of my collection that I have had to take a hard look at in light of pull up or shut up. Several brands, including Burt’s Bees and Physicians Formula have failed the Black Community, and I have not let this affect my buying habits before but that stops here, and I will not be purchasing from brands that offer a crap shade range. There are not enough shades or undertones in so many drugstore and high end ranges.
For me, sharing products that I like has always been the basis of my blog, but I think far too long like other white bloggers, I have used products anyway, without real consideration for what my sharing of the product was doing and what my love for a brand was doing in the grand scheme of things.
As a hobbyist with makeup, I want to ensure that I am still sharing things that align with my values and I will be looking deeper into these aspects of a brand before I share as well as consider what people who follow me ask for. Now, I did a bunch of polls on my Instagram (shameless plug) and for foundations in particular, I noticed that the majority of people are willing to spend more than $30 on a foundation, which means that I can safely recommend my following foundations that actually have more than 10 shades.
To combat this issue in makeup, there are basically only a few drugstore priced brands that I will be shopping from when looking for mainstream/affordable options. These are NYX, Maybelline, Colourpop and L’Oreal because these are the four most accessible brands for regular consumers of makeup, aka people I work with, family, friends, those are not into the beauty community and don’t want to pay duties to order from brands online. The brand I’m waiting to order foundation from: Cheekbone Beauty! I think I saw a teaser on their instagram that they were coming out with one that fills my beauty blogger heart with joy. In that same vein, I have ordered a few NYX Foundations and the Range Beauty foundation. I also want to say, my recommendations of certain foundations still stand as in yes I did like them and still, but again the reigning issue is that I tend to acknowledge the shade range and continue recommending these brands that clearly see Black People as an afterthought which is not ok.
A big example is Kosas. As an average consumer – I am not going to lie, I really like the brand. They expanded their tinted face oil line and their concealer line, and I follow some Black influencers who enjoyed their skin tint, but then Kosas decided to just three shades of bronzer which feels like a giant step back. However, I am also not here to tell BIPOC what to wear on their faces, because ultimately my place as a white blogger is to amplify voices and vote with my dollar on brands who think before they release.
Two stellar examples of brands that rebranded are Tarte and ELF Cosmetics. I think we all remember when Tarte released the shape tape foundation with 14 shades, 3 of which were dark. This is a trend that I have seen in a lot of brands ‘ foundation ranges; it’s a 40 shades of beige situation and 10 or less dark skin friendly options. It took Tarte 3 years to realize this was BS and at that, their powder bronzer has two shades… Their response to that was abominable, saying that people are usually lighter in the winter so they will release darker shades in the summer (like what).
ELF is another example of a brand that for as long as I could remember had 3 or 4 shades of foundation and concealer, but FINALLY released more shades of their concealer and foundations. What a time to be alive. For now, as I am moving soon, and as I should not be using too many expired products on my face, I will likely declutter some foundations before moving and using the ones up that are old from brands I have a shred of respect for (looking at you Becca cosmetics Aqua luminous that has a shitty shade range but I like the finish better than some of my foundations so I will use up and not repurchase since it’s not expired yet).
That’s it for now, a rant with me. A rant that can be extended to more blog posts but for now this is what I’m feeling in regards to foundations.
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