EXCLUSIVE: Youthforia Taps New Product Developer, Talks Strategy Shift Following Backlash for Darkest Foundation Shade
Youthforia is embarking on a turnaround effort — starting with the appointment of a new product developer.
The makeup brand, which was founded in 2021 by Fiona Co Chan and secured a $400,000 investment from Mark Cuban in a “Shark Tank” episode that aired last year, has tapped Uoma Beauty alum Oby Jemedafe as its new product development director.
More from WWD
In addition to codeveloping the 51-shade foundation range that became Uoma’s calling card upon the makeup brand’s debut in 2019, Jemedafe more recently served as a marketing and product development consultant for Beyoncé’s hair care brand, Cécred, which caters to all hair types.
In an interview with WWD, Jemedafe said what drew her to join the Youthforia team was “the chance to be part of a solution.”
Last May, Youthforia became the subject of widespread controversy shortly after launching 10 additional shades of its $48 Date Night Serum Foundation, the darkest of which many consumers felt resembled black face paint. In a video which has since garnered more than 43 million views, one beauty influencer, Texas-based Golloria George (@golloria), purchased a jar of black face paint to swatch alongside the now-discontinued shade to showcase their similarity.
Others, including TikTok’s resident beauty chemist Javon Ford (@javonford16), dissected the formulation itself, pointing out that while other shades in the range feature multiple pigments, shade 600 — the darkest shade — listed just one pigment, CI 77499, or pure black iron oxide — making it unsuitable for human skin with undertones.
When Date Night first debuted in September 2023, consumers were quick to point out that its 15-shade range, billed as being adaptive to one’s skin tone, didn’t fully cater to dark-skinned consumers. The 10 additional shades rolled out in March of this year, and shade 600 was discontinued in May shortly after the viral fallout.
“We had rushed the shade expansion process in order for it to align with another planned launch, and there were missteps in the process — both on our end as well as just how fast we were making our labs move,” said Co Chan, who is also chief executive officer of Youthforia, when asked what informed the decision to include just one colorant in shade 600. “It was a mistake…both as a brand and as a brand founder, this has been a very pivotal moment.”
Credo Beauty and Revolve both dropped Youthforia amid the backlash, though Ulta Beauty has maintained the brand’s presence in more than 500 doors. While Co Chan did not comment on the impact of the controversy on Youthforia’s sales, she shared that, prior to May, the brand was experiencing triple-digit growth. Since then, direct-to-consumer website traffic has dropped 30 percent and the brand has lost roughly 3,000 social media followers. Mark Cuban has remained on board as an investor.
Co Chan and Jemedafe said they are working to inaugurate a host of changes to the brand’s testing and development processes in an aim to ensure inclusive formulation is at Youthforia’s forefront.
“We’re putting processes in place to ensure that we never have a situation like this again, where a product wasn’t tested properly on skin tones,” said Jemedafe, adding that, moving forward, Youthforia products will be tested on all skin tones, ages and skin types for the first time. “We now have consultants; we’re working with makeup artists, beauty veterans, influencers, every step of the way — from product ideation to launch — to ensure we’re representing people both in terms of skin color, but also representing them in the way they want to be represented.”
The brand is also conducting an “audit” of its complexion category, which presently only includes the Date Night foundation, though Jemedafe hinted that more is on the way.
Shade range inclusivity continues to be a prevalent issue among makeup brands, evidenced most recently by YSL’s new range of blurring liquid blushes, which launched this month and, despite being billed as “universally flattering,” appear chalky on darker skin tones, according to many viral TikTok videos.
“One of our priorities is to rebuild the trust of our community,” said Co Chan. “We’ve learned a lot from this process. We’re a brand that has always peeled back the curtain for consumers and let them see what it’s like to start and grow a brand, and as we continue to learn and make commitments to improvement, we will continue to share those with our community.”
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
