Are Vegan Foundations Diverse?

Posted byNicole Whittle Posted onJanuary 5, 2020 Comments0
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Spoiler alert: no, not really. Some brands are doing pretty well, but many fail a simple, low bar diversity test. We’ll be checking through leading vegan foundations in this post and seeing how they perform.

This post was created for a couple of reasons;

  • to help my followers that struggle to find their foundation shade, particularly those with darker skin tones
  • to highlight to my white followers that – even if a foundation stocks your shade – you should check how inclusive it is and figure out if that’s something you want to support

What’s the issue?

Whilst I feel overwhelmed with beauty options on the high street, research shows that 70% of Black and Asian women feel the high street does not cater for their beauty needs [2016, #ShadesOfBeauty Campaign]. Limit these women to shopping vegan or cruelty-free and suddenly the already unwelcoming high street must feel near impossible to navigate.

image from @goshuk

Fortunately, I’m in a position where I can talk to brands. I can ask ‘are these all your shades?’ to which the reply is often ‘yes, darker shades don’t sell.’

What a load of bollocks. What they often mean is ‘No one bought our dark shades when we added two semi-dark shades to the end of our beige collection and named them after Starbucks drinks’. Really, who wants to support that attempt at diversity?

Not only is this frustrating for non-white shoppers, it’s telling women that they aren’t welcome in the cruelty-free movement. It’s not kind, it’s not clever and it’s not right. Beyond making everyone feel welcome, there’s clearly a lot of money to be made from catering to a fuller range of skin tones (cough Fenty) – so broadening your foundation range isn’t only the right thing to do, it’s also pretty profitable!

What Makes a Foundation Diverse?

There is no one easy way to determine if a brand is diverse. There are so many things to look at – how broad is their foundation range? And their concealers? Do they only hire white models and influencers? Do they have a shade named ‘nude’ and what colour is it? This is just the start of the conversation.

In August 2019 Superdrug announced that it would only continue to stock diverse foundations. With this announcement, they defined what they deemed to be an acceptable ‘diverse’ shade range. This is a huge step forward. Their #ShadesOfBeauty campaign has grown a lot over the last few years and it’s been incredible seeing it challenge and change the beauty industry.

Superdrug’s #ShadesOfBeauty campaign

The guidelines may seem a bit simplistic, but this is a great starting block. I’ll be measuring up leading vegan foundations to these guidelines in this post.

The Guidelines

According to their guidelines an inclusive foundation must;

  • offer a minimum of 20 shades
  • which ranges from pale to dark

Brands are also encouraged to offer both cool and warm tones and are encouraged to work this inclusive guide into concealers, powders and other base products.

Which Foundations are Diverse?

I’ve split leading vegan-friendly foundations into 2 lists; diverse and not diverse. A diverse range will offer at least 20 shades which range from pale to dark. Some of the brands below aren’t fully cruelty-free, due to parent companies (PC), so I’ve added links to more info where applicable.

DIVERSE ✓

  • PUR 4-IN-1 LOVE YOUR SELFIE – 100 shades
  • UOMA Say What?! Foundation – 51 shades
  • Revolution Conceal & Define – 50 shades
  • Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Flawless Foundation (PC Puig) – 44 shades
  • KVD Beauty Lock-It Foundation (PC Kendo) – 44 shades
  • Lush Slap Stick – 40 shades
  • ELF Flawless Finish – 40 shades
  • Fenty Pro Filt’r (PC Kendo, CF status ambiguous) – 40 shades
  • Barry M All Night Long – 38 shades
  • Milk Makeup Flex Foundation Stick – 36 shades
  • PUR 4-in-1 Pressed Mineral Powder Foundation – 26 shades
  • MUA PRO / BASE Long Wear Foundation – 24 shades
  • Milk Makeup Blur Liquid Matte Foundation – 24 Shades
  • Urban Decay All Nighter Liquid Foundation (PC L’Oreal) – 24 shades
  • The Ordinary Foundation (Estee Lauder partnership) – 21 shades
  • Charlotte Tilbury Magic Foundation (PC Puig) – 20 shades

NOT DIVERSE

  • The Body Shop Fresh Nude Foundation – 16 shades
  • PUR 4-in-1 Tinted Moisturiser – 16 shades
  • The Body Shop Matte Clay Foundation – 13 shades
  • Charlotte Tilbury Light Wonder (PC Puig) – 12 shades
  • Lily Lolo Cream Foundation – 10 shades
  • lottie london selfie ready – 10 shades
  • Inika Certified Organic Liquid Foundation – 8 shades
  • Inika Certified Organic BB Cream – 8 shades
  • PHB Bare Skin BB Cream – 7 shades
  • Pixi H2O SkinTint – 6 shades
  • Ere Perez Oat Milk Foundation – 6 shades
  • GOSH Foundation Drops – 5 shades
  • GOSH Dextreme Full Coverage Foundation – 4 shades
  • Ere Perez Quinoa Water Foundations – 3 shades
  • Lily Lolo BB Cream – 3 shades
  • Green People Age Defy Tinted Moisturiser – 2 shades

OTHER FACTORS PLAY A PART

This isn’t the only way to define a diverse foundation range, there’s plenty of other factors that could be taken into consideration;

  • what percentage of the range is darker shades
  • whether the marketing campaign reflects a diverse selection of models
  • whether their ‘dark’ shade is actually dark
  • which of their shades are actually stocked in store
  • whether they work with a diverse group of influencers

What Can We See?

Full Coverage Holds More Options

As I went through my favourite foundations to compare the lightest shades to the darkest, one consistency became clear; full coverage offered a larger and wider shade selection than low coverage. Whilst I appreciate that colour-matching doesn’t need to be so exact with low coverage options, there was a dramatic drop in both number and range of shades. It wasn’t long before I realised that BB creams and tinted foundations were a white woman’s luxury.

No Nasties? No Options!

As I veered away from high street foundations and further towards the natural beauty niche, it became very clear that this was not a welcoming space for darker tones. In fact, Lush is arguably the only diverse option for green beauty lovers.

What Can You do?

Do you have a favourite foundation? Get in touch with the brand that makes it and tell them either 1 or 2;

  1. [if they stock loads of inclusive shades] Just wanna let you know that I love your foundation and how inclusive your shades are
  2. [if they don’t stock your shade] I’d love to try your foundation but you don’t stock my shade. Are you looking to expand your shade range to be more inclusive?
  3. [if they stock your shade but aren’t inclusive] I love your foundation but I’m looking for an alternative that has a more inclusive shade range, let me know when you guys prioritise darker shades and I’ll be back.

We live in an age where we can communicate directly with brands. Use this power and let them know what we want to see on our shelves.

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