Jackie Aina Criticises Kylie Cosmetics For Leaving Out Dark Skinned Vloggers In Her Product Promotion
3 January 2018, 12:59
"I feel like you did all that work for nothing."
Kylie Cosmetics' foray into the world of concealers and beauty accessories hasn't gone as smoothly as the young mogul might have liked.
First, people took her to task over the practicality of swatching a concealer they'd never seen in real life. Then, there was the debacle of her overpriced brush set, which retails for $360.
Kylie has been roundly criticised over her most recent beauty releases, and it looks like the criticism might extend beyond the quality and price of her products.
Well known YouTube beauty guru, Jackie Aina, recently tried the new Kylie Concealers, in a bid to see how similar the products were to ColourPop's own concealer range.
Jackie determined that the Kylie Concealers' pinkish undertones were not ideal for her own skin colour.
However, Jackie also had some serious critiques about Kylie Cosmetics' outreach to darker skinned creators.
"Why did you go out of your way to make all of those shades and you didn't bother to send them to anybody to review," Jackie asks at one point in the video.
Kylie, of course, released 32 concealer shades in December, prompting some to applaud her for taking a step toward being more inclusive. However, it is telling that very few POC creators were sent these products to try.
"I feel like you did all that work for nothing by making all those dark colours and then not bothering to send them to any dark skinned vloggers who could have reviewed them."
Beauty influencers are often given free or priority released products when companies do large launches. In a world that makes any sense, Jackie (who has nearly 2 million YouTube subscribers) would have received products to review prior to the concealer launch.
Fast forward to around 19:00 to hear Jackie's thoughts on Kylie Cosmetics' outreach.
Kylie Concealers vs Colourpop? | Jackie Aina
Jackie has a point here. A company's PR and outreach efforts tend to reflect where their priorities really lie. Jackie is a beauty insider, so we're sure she has more insight into the conversations other beauty gurus are having about Kylie Cosmetics.
It is odd that an "inclusive" concealer range would not do more to reflect how brown skinned women can wear the product. If Fenty Beauty's incredibly diverse range has taught us anything, it's that black women are powerful consumers.
Not doing adequate outreach in this case is disingenuous to the moment of inclusivity that Kylie Cosmetics was clearly trying to tap into.