Glossier knows how to market a product. From its Cloud Paint gel-cream blush to its Lash Slick Mascara, every launch the millennial-favorite brand churns out is met with extreme fanfare—with one glaring exception. Where the brand excels in its pink packaging and "your skin but better" formulations, the shade range has long left women of color wanting more.
But this morning Glossier took a page out of Beyoncé's book by announcing an unexpected expansion of its most popular complexion products. As part of the rollout, the company is doubling the number of shades of its Perfecting Skin Tint (which gives coverage somewhere in between a foundation and a BB cream) along with its Stretch Concealer (both will now have 12). While Wowder, its loose blurring powder that previously came in only Light, Medium, and Rich, now comes in five shades. The brand's also doing away with its naming conventions and instead is now labeling shades from G1 to G12—starting with the richest shades, a practice first started by black-owned beauty brands like Beauty Bakerie.
Unsurprisingly, the brand credits the launch to the feedback it got from women of color—most specifically, the concerns raised on Glossier Brown, an Instagram account created by blogger Devin McGhee with a mission to provide a platform and community for people of color. Last year the account (which showcases the brand's products on "brown-skinned beauties") even got the attention of founder Emily Weiss.
McGhee, for her part, is glad the brand finally took feedback into consideration. After all, as Fenty Beauty has proven, any brand that isn't catering to a larger range of skin tones is getting left in the dust. Your brand can be buzzy, sure, but not catering to diverse women is a definite way to miss out on profit—or perhaps worse in the social media age, face backlash. "Women of color, black women specifically, spend more money than any other demographic on cosmetics,"she says. "I believe this is mainly because we are constantly having to purchase multiple shades and mix our own to find a match. It can be discouraging and slightly taxing on our pockets. But until there are more women of color in leadership positions at beauty companies, it will continue to affect what is or is not produced for us. If women of color are not amongst the people included in the conversations at the top, it will always show, as it directly affects who is fighting for diversity and inclusion within the beauty industry."
As brands continue to look inward at their leadership, she says it's also on execs to foster "simple conversations" around diversity and inclusion. "Glossier has opened the door for the ongoing conversation with me continuously," she says, adding that the brand has been "genuinely interested" in learning more about what she and her followers have to say.
Given that Glossier Brown has become such a resource for people of color to share hacks and product recs, it only made sense that McGhee was the first to break the news and share a first look of the products on. "@devinkielle wearing Perfecting Skin Tint in G3, Stretch Concealer in G3, Cloud Paint in Storm, and Haloscope in Topaz. TOMORROW," she wrote on Instagram. Many Glossier Brown members rushed to the comments with questions about her cryptic caption. "Is G3 a new color range of skin tint/concealer? I have the skin tint in Rich and I think it’s a little too dark and the concealer in skin tint is my skin shade," one user wrote.
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McGhee, who says she previously had to mix two of the original Skin Tints and Stretch Concealers (Deep and Rich) during the winter months for a match, now says her perfect shade is G3: "I definitely feel the new shades provide a truer match to actual skin tone—no more mixing!"
Although it's been less than 12 hours since Glossier dropped its newest products, women of color are for once pretty pleased with the news. "The response has been overwhelmingly positive," says McGhee. "One follower direct messaged me and said, 'I never really thought Glossier was for me until I saw this page.' Girl, I cried. It is impossible to comprehend the true meaning of inclusivity until someone makes you feel their exclusion. The amount of gratitude I receive from the Glossier Brown page is nothing short of a blessing. This page gives a voice to people of color who may be too afraid to challenge their favorite brands."
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Glossier's taking in the opinions and concerns of their customers, especially women of color, is a step in the right direction toward genuine inclusivity. Since The Fenty Effect, many brands believe that releasing 40+ shades is the answer to inadequate matches. But let's be honest, if you haven't taken the time to address the needs of women of color and test on a range of complexions, then does the quantity really matter? It'll be interesting to see how more brands improve this year.
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