Makeup brand YouthForia is facing criticism from beauty influencers for releasing a foundation shade they believe is too dark and unwearable, a shade the company’s CEO said led her to travel to “the other side of the world” to find models whose skin tones matched.
Beauty brand YouthForia extended its Date Night Skin Tint Serum Foundation line—which previously only had five darker shades—in March to include seven more medium deep to deep shades.
But its darkest shade, 600 Deep, has gone viral on social media as beauty influencers and other users have criticized the color, claiming it’s just black paint and lacked undertones that its other shades had.
Cosmetic chemist and influencer Javon Ford made a TikTok video comparing the ingredients in 600 Deep to the ingredients in one of YouthForia’s lightest shades, and he noted the lighter shade contains three color pigments while 600 Deep only has a pigment called black iron oxide—or CI 77499—something Ford describes as “pure black pigment.”
In a video with over 26.5 million views, TikToker Golloria swatched 600 Deep on one side of her face and black paint on the other side and stated “you can’t tell” the difference between the two, going on to say the foundation was “tar in a bottle” and noting the brand could’ve made around 10 more shades between 600 Deep and the next lightest shade.
Some TikTok users have recommended mixing 600 Deep with a lighter shade, but several TikTokers like SeanSVV have done this and gotten a gray color, something he said doesn’t have “any dimensionality when it comes to recognizing undertone.”
Fiona Chan—the brand’s CEO and founder—made several TikTok videos stating she found a model for every shade of the brand’s foundation but had a hard time finding one for 600 Deep, so she traveled to “the other side of the world” and eventually met two men who agreed to model the shade for her.
Forbes has reached out to YouthForia for comment.
YouthForia first released its Date Night Skin Tint Serum Foundation in September, and the brand was met with criticism from beauty influencers who felt the 15-shade line didn’t offer enough shades for darker skin. In a since-deleted video, Chan said the launch was a “proof of concept,” and was only used as a test to see whether the product would be successful, NBC News reported. The beauty industry has had a long history of excluding darker skin tones, and many believe Rihanna’s brand Fenty Beauty was the stepping stone for inclusivity. Launched in 2017, Fenty Beauty had a 40-shade foundation line, which has now extended to 50 shades, that ranged from fair colors to deep complexions—something that wasn’t the norm for beauty brands at the time. After Fenty Beauty’s launch, several other brands began offering more inclusive shade ranges, something the Institute for Gender and the Economy calls the “Fenty Effect.” Other brands with notable shade ranges include Pür with 89 foundation shades, MAC Cosmetics with 60 shades, Ariana Grande’s R.E.M. Beauty with 60 shades and Clinique with 56 shades.
Chan pitched YouthForia on Shark Tank in 2023, highlighting the company’s viral blush. She marketed the makeup as something you can sleep in, noting she slept in the makeup she had on. Chan said the products are different from other brands because she uses ingredients that are “great for your skin, and good for the planet.” She accepted a $400,000 investment for 5% of the company from billionaire Mark Cuban.
