A woman shows that three foundations in the darkest shades available look lighter on her skin than they do online.
In a video posted on Monday, TikToker and influencer Golloria (@golloria) swatches three foundations on her face—one from Giorgio Armani and two from Hourglass Beauty—and shows that they are too light for her skin tone. The problem? They looked a shade match for her online.
“This should not be your darkest shade in 2023,” Golloria says. “This is not inclusion.”
She goes on to say that beauty companies market their foundation shades to appear darker when being sold online than they actually are. And when Golloria swatches the foundation on a sheet of white paper, all three shades are noticeably lighter than they do on the companies’ websites.
“It’s already hard to find shades whenever you have a dark complexion,” Golloria says. “The bare minimum is to make sure that the shades that you guys are representing online and marketing online actually look like the models in the swatches.”
On Wednesday, Golloria’s video had over 3 million views on TikTok.
@golloria Replying to @liv ♬ original sound – golloria
As mentioned by Golloria in her video, some brands don’t even carry their darkest foundation shades in stores, making it even more difficult for people with darker skin tones to access makeup that matches their skin. And to make matters worse, a woman says that some retailers upcharge for darker foundation shades.
Commenters on Golloria’s video shared in her disappointment concerning the seemingly false advertising of foundation shades online.
“How is this STILL happening?!” one commenter said.
“I genuinely get so angry that makeup companies still don’t have inclusive ranges,” another commenter wrote. “They’re fully capable of making them they just don’t want to.”
One commenter even said she makes her own foundation because finding makeup that matches her skin tone has been so difficult.
“And the darker shades are SO RED!” another shared. “I have to make my own foundation as a light-skinned Latina with yellow undertones.”
Even though makeup brands like Fenty Beauty and Tarte offer over 50 shades of foundation, a wide shade range still isn’t standard in the beauty industry. And many brands that do have a large amount of shades—like Armani, which Golloria mentioned—don’t have an inclusive shade range.
“Take it back to the laboratory!” Golloria wrote of one of an Hourglass foundation’s darkest shades, as it wasn’t a match for her skin tone.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Golloria via email.
