Since the launch of Fenty Beauty, Rihanna’s beauty empire has been synonymous with being inclusive of a variety of women, and now the brand seems to be taking baby steps into gender diversity too.
With the rise of male beauty bloggers and YouTubers such as Manny MUA, Jeffrey Star, James Charles and Patrick Starr who have all been a part of large makeup campaigns, it seemed apt Fenty Beauty would release an advert with a male celebrity and they picked online entertainer Blame It On Kway, albeit playing a female character, which has made him a controversial choice.
Blame It On Kway showcases five popular Fenty Beauty lipstick shades including the classic red Ma’Damn in the ‘mattemoiselle’ formula, bubble pink Candy Venom, Midnight Wasabi in a dark khaki green, One Of The Boyz in lilac and Shawty, a deep warm brick brown.
Since the release of the campaign on Wednesday 14 March, it has divided opinion, with some loving the humour and being pleased to see a man in a beauty campaign, while others have called out the brand for giving the campaign to a comedian rather than “a true black beauty blogger”.
While the majority of Fenty Beauty videos and images feature women, the brand did recently share that Daniel Kaluyaa achieved his ‘no make make up look’ at the Oscars in Pro Filt’r foundation in #480 and #490, while Ezra Miller wore the Fenty Beauty Cosmic Gloss lip gloss when on the red carpet for the Justice League premiere.
However, the brand was previously called out for the lack of transgender models in it’s imagery.
So is Fenty Beauty going to become more gender diverse? We are just going to have to take a seat, apply our gloss bomb and see who’s going to wear what next.