One of the fastest growing sectors of the retail economy is beauty, and it's pretty hard to overstate its popularity.
Just a few years back in 2018, the beauty space was valued at approximately $508 billion. Less than six years on, that figure has grown to $579 billion — a 14% uptick in growth.
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It's not really that one (or two, or even five) brands are so popular. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The rise of social media has contributed to the rise and fall of numerous makeup and cosmetics brands.
Sometimes, it seems like trends and in-fashion brands can change within months. Reliably growing an audience — and, importantly, sales — can be a difficult task when already fickle consumers resist using the same thing twice and expect to try new products often.
This can be a difficult puzzle to solve. Thanks to social media apps like TikTok and Instagram, nearly all cosmetics companies are on the same playing field. It's never been easier to reach a wide swath of people, since beauty tutorials, hauls, and swatches and try-ons are some of the most highly searched items on places like YouTube and social media.
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TikTok star calls out beauty brand
But social media can also act as a double-edged sword. Brands make and break their popularity online, and a handful of poor reviews by well-known influencers can destroy consumer trust.
One fast-growing beauty brand is Youthforia, which debuted on ABC's "Shark Tank" in 2023 and received a $400,000 investment from Mark Cuban.
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The brand bills itself as "a clean and sustainable makeup company with skin-friendly ingredients," and is available at mainstream shops like Ulta (ULTA) and beloved by Gen Z, who prizes lightweight, no-makeup looks over a heavy glam.
But Youthforia came under fire in September for not having a wide range of foundation shades, particularly to cater to a customer base with darker skin tones.
"This keeps happening because tone inclusivity is not something these beauty companies are worried about. They do not care," TikTok star Golloria George said upon reviewing the popular Date Night foundation.
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Youthforia founder Fiona Co Chan later apologized, saying "When I first started Youthforia two years ago, all I wanted to do was create a safe space where individual beauty could be celebrated. And unfortunately with our latest launch, we just fell short of that mission.”
So now, the beauty company is back with an extended range of shades in the Date Night foundation, but some creators and beauty enthusiasts say it did not solve the problem.
"This is the darkest shade, shade 600, and as you guys can see in the bottle [it's] literally jet black," Golloria George said in a follow up review video, posted Monday.
"In addition to that, when we go to the actual website and we look at the swatch, not only is the swatch online literally jet black, there's literally only four or five shades for people that actually have darker complexions."
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For reference, Golloria George tried the next lightest shade to compare against shade 600 and demonstrated it was far too light to match her skin tone.
Other TikTokers were quick to chime in. Javon Ford posted a TikTok reviewing the ingredients in Date Night foundation, pointing out the lighter shades had at least three different ingredients to make up its coloring.
"But then if we look at their darkest shade," Ford said, "the ingredient list tells a different story. Here there's only one pigment, CI 77499, which is just black iron oxide. No other colorants. This foundation only has pure black pigment."
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Youthforia has not issued a public comment on the matter, though Golloria George's TikTok has received 24.6 million views and Javon Ford's has gotten 6.1 million.
TheStreet has reached out to Youthforia for comment.
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