Black creators on TikTok have expressed their disappointment with Youthforia’s very first foundation, Date Night. The brand launched in 2021 and co-founder Fiona Chan stated that Date Night would contain its most innovative formula yet.
“This was the foundation I wished I had on the night I met my husband,” said Chan. “For Date Night, I really focused on texture that sinks into your skin like quicksand and a light-reflecting glass-skin finish. The type of foundation that gives you a main character glow that’s hard to look away from.”
The foundation boasts medium buildable coverage that can be used by those with sensitive skin. Even though Date Night comes in a total of 15 shades, it only contains four medium deep to deep shades.
After Youthforia was dragged heavily on social media for not being inclusive, Chan’s excuse was the shades provided were part of the initial launch and served as a “proof of concept,” or a restricted test to see if the product could be successful.
However, why would you provide dark-skinned makeup influencers samples of your makeup knowing it wouldn’t match their skin tone?
“You already created the product,” said Christina Abiola, one of the influencers who addressed Youthforia’s exclusion. “You knew exactly who you were selling it to. And then, once people actually spoke up and realized, ‘This product wasn’t made for me,’ and they came out and spoke about it, [Youthforia’s] first response was to make excuses and not even acknowledge anything that we said.”
Chan ultimately issued an apology in a a second video.
“I just wanted to come on and say I’m extremely sorry,” Chan stated. “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.”
The beauty industry is notorious for leaving out Black people with their products. Chan didn’t “just fall short”—we were never on her radar in the first place.