16 Makeup Brands That Will Make You Say, "YES! They Have My Foundation Shade”
People of color know all too well the struggle of finding a foundation match. I own literally an entire shelf of foundations for this reason — and still, none of them feel quite right for my tan Filipino skin with reddish undertones. Far too often, the only bottle for me has an ambiguous "medium" label, and I pick it up with fingers crossed, only to be disappointed. It's even less promising for women with deeper skin tones — they're often left with only one or two options to pick from, even from brands with a large number of shades (and that's the best case scenario).
It's no wonder much of all the well-deserved hype surrounding Rihanna's Fenty Beauty is centered on the fact that she impressively debuted 40 foundation shades. While Rihanna is not the first to do this, many companies took time to gradually make shade additions. That said, heritage brands like Make Up For Ever, Lancome, and MAC have been carrying diverse options for years.
If we can learn anything from Rihanna's launch, it's that being inclusive totally sells: there have already been reports that all the darker foundation shades are quickly disappearing from shelves.
Consider this the rest of the beauty industry's long overdue cue to start catering to a wider group of people. It should be the standard, not the exception. The good news is that several companies are already meeting the demand for wider ranges. We rounded up 15 of them ahead.
Make Up For Ever Matte Velvet Skin Full Coverage Foundation
Foundation: Make Up For Ever Matte Velvet Skin Full Coverage Foundation ($38)
Total shades: 40 shades
Make Up For Ever just launched 40 diverse shades of full coverage matte foundation. The new Matte Velvet Skin formula covers blemishes, redness, and discoloration, all while remaining lightweight and breathable on your face. Use a makeup sponge for a diffused finish if you want, or use a dense brush for more coverage.
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Il Makiage
Foundation: Il Makiage Woke Up Like This Flawless Base
Total shades: 50 shades
Il Makiage is a new brand made for the beauty "maximalist". It features a range of fun color cosmetics for bold makeup lovers, but it's complexion category is impressive. The brand launched its Woke Up Like This Flawless Base foundation with 50 shades (yes, you read that right). It's lightweight in texture and provides medium to full coverage.
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Dior Backstage Face and Body Foundation ($40)
Foundation: Dior Backstage Face and Body Foundation ($
Total shades: 40 shades
Dior recently launched a new, more affordable line called Backstage, designed to simplify your beauty routine. Its first release includes 40 shades of face and body foundation that provides medium, skin-like coverage.
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Smashbox Studio Skin Hydrating Foundation
Foundation:Smashbox Studio Skin Hydrating Foundation ($36)
Total shades: 40
Smashbox will be adding 18 new colors to it's Studio Skin Foundation range on June 13, bringing its total to 40 shades.
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ColourPop
Foundation:ColourPop No Filter Foundation ($12)
Total shades: 42
ColourPop launched its first foundation and it's equally inclusive and affordable.
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Fenty Beauty
Foundation: Pro Filt'r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation ($34)
Total shades: 40
Again, this foundation is the talk of the beauty world right now. There's literally something — if not multiple matches — for everyone.
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Lancome
Foundation: Le Teint Idole Ultra Longwear Foundation ($47)
Total shades: 40
With Lupita Nyong'o as the face of this brand, you better believe Lancome can deliver shade range. On top of its Le Teint Idole, the brand also offers Le Teint Particulier ($80), a customizable foundation with 72,000 possibilities. You go in store at a Nordstrom and get your skin tone detected, pick your skin type and coverage, and then a bottle made just for you is ready in seconds — complete with your name on it and everything. With this kind of technology, no one could be left out.
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A.P.D.G.
Foundation: Nudes Liquid Pigment ($18)
Total shades: 33
This buzzy new vegan and cruelty-free brand created these pigments to be worn as foundation, concealer, or even mixed with a moisturizer for a DIY BB cream. What's more, instead of only offering the "token" couple of dark shades, the brand created 16 deep-toned ones. It also sells $10 sampler packs with eight shades so you can truly find your match — and they're quickly selling out.
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Danessa Myricks
Foundation:Vision Cream Cover ($28)
Total shades: 26
As a black woman herself, Danessa Myricks knows better than anyone the demand for more inclusive makeup collections. She started this line with a goal to "touch all faces equally," no matter their complexion. This foundation collection not only includes darker shades for a multitude of undertones, but also specialty hues for color-correcting and concealing.
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Maybelline
Foundation: Fit Me Matte Poreless Foundation ($8)
Total shades: 40
Shayla Mitchell (aka MakeupShayla) put it best when we spoke to her about her recent Maybelline collaboration: "For them to choose me, I'm a curvy woman of color, it shows that change is happening." It's true that drugstore brands have been notoriously slow to expand their shade ranges. However, this popular one, which added 17 shades in May 2017, shows it can be done.
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Cover FX
Foundation: Natural Finish Foundation ($40)
Total shades: 40
Beyond offering a ton of colors — which says it all, really — Cover FX recently launched its "nude is not beige" campaign. It's meant to start a conversation around the beauty industry's use of the word "nude," which is supposed to mean "flesh-toned" but which is often biased toward fair to medium skin. Clearly, the brand is prioritizing customers of all backgrounds.
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MAC
Foundation: Studio Fix Fluid ($29)
Total shades: 42
From the start, MAC has always been about celebrating individuality and inclusivity ("We are for ALL ages, ALL races, ALL sexes," as written on its website). It's also had incredibly diverse campaigns and collaborations, working with the likes of Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, and most recently, Taraji P.Henson. So it comes as no surprise that one of its foundation mainstays has such a wide range — the most of any on this list.
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Milk Makeup
Foundation: Blur Liquid Matte Foundation ($40)
Total shades: 16
While Milk's first full-coverage offering doesn't have as many shades as the rest, diversity is at the core of the brand's philosophy. One look at its Instagram feed — full of men and women of all races and sexual orientations — will tell you that.
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Bobbi Brown
Foundation: Skin Foundation ($50)
Total shades: 30
Beyond creating a solid offering of shades for people of color, Bobbi Brown has also dedicated campaigns to featuring not just models but everyday women. The whole reason Brown launched her collection in 1991 is because she had difficulty finding foundations to match black or mixed race models, so you know the commitment to inclusivity is solid.
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BareMinerals
Foundation: Barepro Performance Wear Pressed Powder Foundation ($30)
Total shades: 30
This one's for those who don't favor liquid foundation. It may be powder, but it is full coverage, and it initially launched with 30 shades to cater to all skin tones. More than half of them could work for people of color.
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Make Up For Ever
Foundation: Ultra HD Invisible Cover Foundation ($43)
Total shades: 40
This complexion-perfecting formula is beloved for the way it looks smooth on camera. What's even more impressive about this collection, however, is that its shade offerings are equal in number for fair, medium, and dark skin (13 alone for dark!).