Last May, in an attempt to expand its limited foundation range with its darkest shade yet, the Gen Z beauty brand Youthforia might have actually shown how not to run an inclusive business.
Influencers shared no-holds-barred criticism of Youthforia's Date Night foundation in shade 600, an ink-black formula that looks interchangeable with black paint when it's applied. Youthforia had released the shade roughly four months ago to address critics of its previously 15-shade-only lineup, which carried more light foundations than dark. Cosmetic chemists, creators, and everyday shoppers agreed the new version fell short by failing to take deep skins' undertones into account. They said it's not a wearable product—and that the brand's approach was ultimately offensive.
All these months later, Youthforia founder Fiona Co Chan released an apology video on the brand's Instagram account. In it, she admitted to "rushing" the development of the shade. "It snowballed into this huge mistake," she said.
For an up-to-date breakdown of everything that's happened since Youthforia released its 600 shade, including exactly why the foundation fails
@golloria the darkest shade of the youthforia date night foundation.
♬ original sound - golloria
Why did Youthforia’s Date Night foundation face backlash?
Shoppers had been demanding for months that Youthforia expand its 15-shade foundation range to include more options for deeper skin tones. In March 2024, the brand released ten more shades, including the shade 600, its darkest color—but videos by beauty influencers posted this week show that it looks more like jet black paint than a foundation for dark skin tones.
Beauty creator Golloria George first published a comparison of Youthforia’s new shade with plain black paint on Monday, April 29, that’s now been viewed more than 19.5 million times on TikTok. Applying both the paint and the foundation to her face in side-by-side swatches, they were nearly indistinguishable from one another. George concluded that the foundation was more like “tar in a bottle.”
“When we ask you guys to make shades for us, we don’t mean to go to the lab and ask for minstrel show black,” the influencer added. “What we mean is to take the browns that you have made, create undertones, and do what you need to do in the lab so it’s a darker shade of brown.”
Even more creators replied directly to George’s TikTok or posted reviews of their own to point out how the shade failed them. “This should be a crime,” Awoui Matiop said in a video that has 1.1 million likes. “There’s no way in 2024 that we are getting this. They just slap it in our face saying, ‘There you go. Here’s a black paint for your face.’”
Youthforia’s overall shade range also lacks the variety and nuance shoppers expect from brands in 2024. There are only six shades available at press time intended for medium-deep and deep skin tones—not enough to accurately service a diverse customer base. Meanwhile, brands including Fenty, Nars, and Uoma Beauty have between 30 and 50 options to choose from.
@awuoimatiop0 ♬ original sound - Awuoi Matiop
Why is Youthforia's darkest shade unwearable?
Foundation shades at every point on the skintone spectrum will typically mix a few pigments to reflect the natural undertones in users’ skin. As cosmetic chemist Javon Ford noted on TikTok, however, Youthforia made its darkest shade foundation with only one (1) pigment, black iron oxide.
This pigment alone is not chemically suited for use as a foundation because “it makes things gray and muddy,” Ford said. Read: It hides natural undertones rather than highlighting or enhancing them, causing the foundation to look more like tar or paint when creators applied it.
“This problem is so avoidable,” Ford added. “She [Youthforia’s founder] could have used NARS or Fenty foundation shades as a benchmark. This brand does not care about us.”
@javonford16 ♬ original sound - Javon Ford Beauty
@theesudani shade match with black face paint..
♬ original sound - Yar
Is this the first time Youthforia tried to extend its foundation range?
No, and the entire scandal feels a little like history repeating.
In fall 2023, Youthforia released its first 15-shade range of the Date Night foundation, which included only four medium-to-deep shades. Creators immediately noticed that the initial lineup barely provided options for diverse skin tones—and the darker shades gave users a gray cast.
Youthforia founder Fiona Co Chan defended the rollout in a video that has since been deleted, claiming that the limited shade range was “proof of concept” for the brand to launch a foundation.
Facing further backlash for that explanation—which creators thought implied darker foundation shades were a lesser priority for Youthforia—Co Chan later released an apology statement. “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,” she said.
Has Youthforia apologized for the current controversy?
Around four months after the Youthforia foundation scandal unfolded, the label's founder released an Instagram apology video on Wednesday, Sept. 25. "I wanted to take the necessary time to understand what happened," Chan said in her video. She described the controversy as "an issue," one in which she "rushed" Youthforia's labs to release more foundation shades before they were ready.
"A few things did slip through the cracks and for that I'm sorry," she said. "The whole thing made me sit back, and listen, and learn what it means to be a beauty brand in 2024."
Chan also said that she brought a new team member with "experience in makeup for diverse skintones" on to the Youthforia roster. You can listen to her full apology below.
