- There is absolutely a need to design makeup
specifically for black women.
- It was almost as if black women
didn't exist to the beauty industry.
- If you can't find your shade, you're buying
one, two, three, four shades.
A white women's probably just buying one.
- If I'm at the top of your shade range,
how am I one of your darkest colors?
That's not real.
- [John Doe] You don't have a strategy
unless you have a strategy that looks at
and appreciates African American women.
- Everyone wants to be woke.
Everybody wants the woke stamp of approval,
but you have to do the work.
- What white women have access to for makeup
versus what black women have access to,
the shades are definitely different.
It's just been so hard to figure out
how to walk into a space with makeup
and figure out what's going to look neutral on you,
because it's not just the foundation.
It's also the lip colors.
It's how everything is played together
for your skin tone.
- It was almost as if black women didn't exist
to the beauty industry.
And so, as a black women, naturally I'm frustrated,
because I don't see myself.
I don't see representation of people who look like me,
my sister, my mother, and I'm questioning it.
I'm questioning everything about the beauty industry,
the media, and ultimately, my self worth.
- As I've grown up and I've grown in this industry
I think it's been really interesting to see that
I'm on the fairer side of things
when it comes to the spectrum,
the beautiful spectrum of black women.
And if I can't even find something,
or if I'm at the top of your shade range,
how am I one of your darkest colors?
That's not real.
- I look back at photos from prom or big dances
and I definitely don't look amazing.
Even thinking back to finding a makeup artist.
If I wanted to find someone, we'd go to the mall,
and you'd go to the makeup counters,
but also a white women's likely doing your makeup.
So they're kinda guessing and they're not really
getting color theory, maybe the shades are there
but they're not blending it correctly.
- One thing I will say, as a girl who doesn't
come into Ulta a lot, I don't feel overwhelmed.
I feel very satisfied that they have MAC, Mario Bedescu.
Oh my God, I'm so excited.
- Black women are amazing in that we spend about
233 million dollars a year, total,
in the cosmetic industry category.
That's about 11% of the total industry.
So considering that we make up 14% of the population
and we're spending about 11% for this category,
is pretty significant.
- Right now, I am wearing foundation, concealer, blush,
probably highlighter, eyeshadow, mascara,
eyeliner, lip liner, and lipstick.
So I'd say probably close to, be like $250 to $300
worth of makeup on my face.
- I actually don't know exactly every single thing
that's on my face, but there's a lot of foundation,
powder, concealer, fake eyelashes, lip gloss,
lip stick, all the things.
But I'm sure there's at least $700 or $800
worth of products on my face right now.
- I'm obsessed with everything Fenty.
So I'm using that.
I'm using Bobbi Brown,
and that's just makeup.
We haven't even gotten to the skincare.
- I would say the average women, on the conservative side,
probably spends $100 a month on a product
that she's seen and really loves.
So that's like $1,200 a year,
maybe $1,500 a year if you're buying something
a little extra too.
I think for women of color,
it's maybe can go even higher.
- I feel that black women are buying makeup
more than anyone else because we have to do
more trial and error to find products
that actually look good on us.
- When it comes to lipsticks, African Americans
are spending about 15% of all
of the lipsticks that are purchased,
so that brings us to about 43 million dollars
worth of lipstick that blacks are buying every year.
- It's a tough battle.
So I personally probably spent $300 trying to find
nude colors that worked on me.
Ultimately, I decided I don't like them,
and maybe I don't like nudes because I felt
like I never was able to find my perfect nude.
And I think a lot of black women are in that similar boat,
where it's like, I don't do lipstick at all
because I can't find this color that works on me.
So we gravitated towards lip gloss.
Like I remember lip gloss being such a huge thing
for our community, and now that lipstick has taken over
we're still in that, I'm willing to play with lipstick
a little bit, but I'm still a gloss girl.
- Essence did a study about black women
and their spending patters as it relates to cosmetics,
and they said that it's like nine times more
than what people buy.
Black women buy up to 80% more makeup,
because think about it,
if you can't find your shade,
you're buying one, two, three, four, shades.
A white women's probably just buying one.
So it's like your basically spending
four times more on foundation.
Same thing with lipstick.
You can't find your nude, so you're mixing them together,
so ultimately you're becoming this chemist of sorts.
Just blending things together
in hopes for the one shade that doesn't quite exist.
- Because we are such a wide variety and range
of skin tones and hair textures and all of that,
we're constantly trying to concoct things
for our needs, and so we have to buy more.
- Black women, for years, have been underserved,
but it's not even just black women.
When you look at beauty campaigns,
you never see plus size women,
you never see Indian women,
you never see Asian women,
it's only really been white women,
and so white women have largely become the standard.
And it's the standard that unfortunately
black women have tried to aspire too,
and we're seeing with plastic surgery,
and just following makeup and beauty trends over the years,
we've always tried to go after the European standard
that we'll ultimately never achieve.
- I think I probably didn't notice the injustices
until later on.
My mom was a huge Fashion Fair fan.
I think for her demographic and her age group,
that was a pivotal moment, because it's like,
if I think I'm struggling,
can you imagine what my 65 year old mom was experiencing,
or even my grandmother.
There's nothing for them.
- Makeup isn't just for one person anymore,
and the person that wears it,
isn't going to look like everyone else,
and everyone doesn't want to achieve the same thing
from what they put on.
- There is absolutely a need to design makeup
specifically for black women.
I don't want my skin to be ashy in color.
I don't want it to be gray or too yellow or too orange,
and when you get it right,
I'm gonna stick with you forever.
And brand loyalty is what any company's going after.
- The reality is, my nude is not the same
as even my mother's nude.
My mother's nude is certainly not the same nude
as my sister's nude, so even within our very small
community like our family,
we all require very different things.
And I think it's the responsibility of the beauty industry
and just like a financial responsibility
if you want your actual company to grow,
and we're seeing that happen a little bit right now,
to cater to that sort of women.
- It just doesn't makes sense to me,
because it's like, this is for a darker complexation,
but this blush is so light.
It's not gonna look good on me.
- There's just people in board room
who aren't thinking about this.
So they're not thinking what does this look
like across an array of skin tones.
They're only thinking is this a pretty color,
does this last long, but there's so many other factors.
For example, African American women tend to have
oilier skin, which is great
because we have less wrinkles in the end,
but things are sliding off of me.
There's so many other factors
other than a beautiful shade
that women of color have to think about.
- I mean, everything could take a looking at, at this point,
because historically we haven't been considered,
so we know that there's holes in every single product range.
And I think obviously, that goes beyond foundation.
It's not only a good thing to do morally and ethically,
it's just good business.
- You don't have a strategy unless you have a strategy
that looks at and appreciates African American women.
Cause here's the interesting stat that I love,
in black households, African American women
control the lion's share of all of our money.
African American women influence the decision of
where to buy the house, do we buy a house,
what car are we gonna buy,
and so when people are trying to engage for growth,
or people are trying to sell products or services
there's no way you can do it without really understanding
and being intentional about black women.
- A lot of companies will put out something
for black people and just put a jungle to it
and say "they'll eat it up, they'll love this",
but foundation isn't something
that you can just put a song to
and expect that women will buy.
Black women need proof because we haven't trusted
this industry for so long,
we need to know that these colors are going to work for us.
- I'm just curious as to why that inclusion diversity piece
has not been the forefront of their story telling.
"Hi white women, we have all of these shades for you,
" they're so amazing."
Meanwhile, black women are struggling to find their shades,
but you have those products for them.
But it's like we're not gonna pay the advertising
and marketing money to tell them that we have that.
We want all the white women in the world
to wear what we have.
Then Fenty came along and said
"We have everything for everyone,
"But we're gonna lead with the fact that we have it for
"the darker skinned women",
and like blew it outta the water.
Then everyone was like oh wait, wait, we have it too.
It's like, well why didn't you say that?
Why aren't we a part of the conversation from the get go?
We shouldn't be an after thought,
especially when you consider how much money we spend.
- I think the market for black women was ignored
because you would then have to acknowledge
that black women are beautiful,
and so if you started producing foundation for black women,
that meant that black women
had to be the forefront of a campaign.
You would then have to put marketing dollars
into this black female.
Four years ago, the retail world was completely ignoring
black women, but now with the rise of the Fenty Beauty's
of the world, and they made like 72 million dollars
their first month, and so today, it's super easy
to get in front of a retailer.
They're like "you're gonna bring me black women,
"all right cool, come on."
Five years ago they were like
"Do black women need lipstick?"
"Do black women need foundation?"
So it's interesting to see it play out,
and while I'm happy that inclusion is at the forefront,
I'm hoping that it's sincerely not a trend.
- We see these capsule collections
from some of the makeup brands,
some of the drugstore brands,
that'll be focused around a Janelle Monae,
a Queen Latifah, a Lupita.
We as a community, we get so excited
about that type of effort.
I'm like oh Janelle Monae is on it,
I'm going to buy me five,
but, I might fall in love with a shade in that capsule
collection and it might become my favorite shade
and when I go back three months to replace it, it's gone.
And that can erode trust in that particular brand.
- I think it's unfortunate that people are just hopping
on the band wagon without thinking
about the formulation and who they're serving.
I think diversity inclusion is amazing and important,
but you also have to question why are these brands
so interested in you automatically.
It can't just be the Fenty effect.
- Right now, I think it's the best possible time
to be a black women, and I think we're in this place
where we're uniting and we're starting to understand
our power and our influence on every single part of culture.
- If you've ever wanted to start a beauty brand
or contribute to this conversation, now's the time.
Look at Supa Cent, she made a million dollars in 90 minutes.
What is that?
She's not part of Este Lauder, or L'Oreal,
or any of those big corporations,
she's a black women who found a hole in the market
of finding color cosmetics that worked for our skin tones,
created them, and sold them to our community,
and made a million dollars in less time
than I'm sitting here on this couch.
Like it's crazy.
That is the power, not only of our community,
but of this moment right now in beauty.
I think the industry is waking up,
and I think that they need to start to take notice,
and it's just better for their bottom line,
if not just morally and ethically,
and everyone wants to be woke.
Everybody wants the woke stamp of approval,
but you have to do the work.