Kim Kardashian’s KKW Beauty Concealer Kits Are Being Criticized For Limited Shade Range

Kim Kardashian West’s new concealer line isn’t even out yet, and it’s already getting dragged on social media for not being inclusive enough. On Friday, the reality TV star took to Instagram and Twitter to debut a preview of KKW Beauty’s full range of concealers, which will be hitting her website next week.

The campaign features a diverse cast of models (women of different ages, skin tones, and sizes were featured) but the range itself promises only 16 shades — the vast majority of which are for lighter skin tones. As soon as Kim uploaded the pics, fans took to Twitter and Instagram to call out the lack of inclusivity; according to many reactions, out of all the shades, only three or four would work for dark skin tones, with some calling out that the formulas don’t appear to be dark enough for some of the models posing in her campaign.

“Not sure why KKW beauty has dark skinned models when you know full well your trash shade range isn’t going to be any good for them,” wrote one person, while another commented on Instagram, “They don’t have a shade nearly close enough to [the dark-skinned model’s] skin tone. She’s just using her in her campaign to pretend that she’s diverse but then not actually providing makeup in shades for people like her to wear.”

Meanwhile, Mouna Fadiga, one of the models in Kim’s campaign, has responded to claims that none of the concealers would work on her. “To end the conversation because you are taking about me ( : I am the « dark black model ),” Mouna commented on Instagram. “I can tell you that they did not chose me only to pretend; I had the make up on and It fits perfectly my skin color. I am not wearing any make up usually so I know when I have it on if it’s good or not and here it was the case, I even keep it on me and went have diner a friend.”

KKW Beauty isn’t the only brand that has received backlash recently for a lack of diversity. In January, Tarte Cosmetics was called out on social media after the brand uploaded a photo of swatches of Shape Tape foundation on a dark-skinned model’s arm, showing that most of the shades were for light skin tones and the darker skin tones had little variation. Tarte has since issued a public apology via Instagram Stories, adding that it would expand the shade range by 10 more skin tones.

However, that’s not to say that more inclusive shade ranges aren’t readily available; Brands like Bobbi Brown, Fenty Beauty, IMAN, and Nars are a handful of brands that offer an inclusive selection to choose from, and at a variety of price points. And what’s more, social media has sparked a wider conversation around representation in beauty, with brands like Tarte’s responding to feedback accordingly. As disappointing as a limited shade range can be, it’s also an opportunity for brands to do better.

Neither Kim nor KKW Beauty have responded to the criticisms about her concealer line, but we’ll be sure to update this post as more information becomes available.

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