Sigh. Tarte. Shape Tape. It's the foundation mess that keeps getting messier.
At this rate, I don't even need to remind you that the entirety of the beauty world is raging after the long-awaited foundation launch totally excluded people of color.
Day by day, more reviews of the product are uploaded (and removed) — and the most controversial one yet just hit YouTube.
Jeffree Star reviewed Shape Tape foundation and spent more than seven minutes chastising Tarte for totally excluding people of color.
He started by noting that Rihanna's launch of Fenty Beauty and its 40-shade foundation range changed the industry.
"It was such a beautiful launch… The brand definitely put things in perspective for a lot of people."
"If a brand does not have a big shade range, WHY BOTHER?" he said.
"If you can not create an all-inclusive shade range, why is the product even being put out?" he asked in the video. "It is literally 2018."
He continued by reading Tarte's apologetic statement from Instagram and chastised that, too. "Are women of color an afterthought to Tarte? Are they not good enough?"
He then criticized NikkieTutorials for not speaking about the shade range in her review, which she quickly removed and apologized for. "You saw the shade range, you didn't really acknowledge it. So here I am, I would love to acknowledge it and start the mother fucking conversation."
While many applauded Star for his brutal honesty...
Many people on Twitter were upset about Star suddenly wanting to be a voice for makeup lovers of color, given his documented history of racial insensitivity and hostility towards Black women.
They also found it awfully suspicious that THIS was the moment Star announced his upcoming concealer line — that, coincidentally, will offer over 30 shades.
But there's more to Star's apparent hypocrisy, and it lies in the products he promotes on his channel regularly.
If you've watched a single Jeffree Star video, you know his holy grail foundations are created by Armani, Dior, and YSL Beauty — all of which have shade ranges that are as bad (and sometimes worse) for people of color than Tarte's. Star has *never* mentioned any of these brand's lack of deep foundation shades, but continues to use them in his videos.
Additionally, Star has collaborated with Jouer Cosmetics, a brand that has been accused of ignoring deeper skin tones with its limited foundation and concealer lines. He has also collaborated with Benefit, a brand that people of color have been calling out for for their lack of inclusion since at least 2011.
Someone on Twitter pointed this out, and Star's response was surprising.
"I'm actually working with Dior to expand their Air Flash shade range in the spring, which isn't announced yet but since you wanna try me... I'm helping solve the problem. What are you doing?"
Revelist has reached out to Dior to confirm this. We have not yet heard back.
Once again, Star's fans rushed to applaud Star for contributing to the cause.
But many people are wondering why, if Dior wants to work with an influencer to make foundations for people with deeper skin tones, they didn't hire a person of color.
While we wait for Dior to respond to this claim, we can only look at Jeffree's behavior. Perhaps his new commitment to diversity is sincere, and we'll all be pleasantly surprised when his concealer line launches. Perhaps he'll use his platform to amplify the voices of people of color, and raise awareness of issues of racism and colorism in beauty.
Only time will tell.
