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Like many millennials, my first foray into the beauty world happened through my computer screen, by way of YouTube. I was a child of the vlogger era: I learned how to shape my eyebrows and do a cut crease at the feet of OG beauty bloggers like Jeannie Jenkins and Patricia Bright. Before iPhones and TikTok, it was just me with my desktop computer and broadband internet connection, watching a step-by-step tutorial for a warm, smoky eye.
But unlike many millennials in the United States, I couldn’t rely on my local Sephora or drugstore to stock the same products those bloggers were using. I grew up in Barbados, where being a beauty girl was hard! In my teen years, circa 2010, there were simply not many places to buy makeup on the island. Back then, we had a few drugstores and supermarkets with makeup aisles, plus one singular M.A.C counter located in a department store. And since Barbados is a predominantly Black country, we were all fighting for the same very limited stock of very limited shades to accommodate brown skin tones.
Until of course, Fenty Beauty came along and completely changed the game—at least for those of us who were able to access it, either by purchasing it ourselves when we traveled abroad or getting it from visiting family and friends who were kind enough to pack products in their suitcases.
Now, about seven years after Fenty Beauty’s debut, Rihanna, the multi-hyphenate of all multi-hyphenates, is officially bringing the brand home to the Caribbean. Beginning October 24, Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin will be available at select retailers across nine different Caribbean territories, including Antigua, Aruba, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Trinidad and & Tobago, Grenada, Sint Maarten, and Rihanna’s home country, Barbados.
Like me, the Barbados-born billionaire’s beauty journey began in the islands. “My first experiences with beauty happened with my mother here in the Caribbean, so to be able to bring Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin to the beautiful people here is a full circle moment,” Rihanna tells Allure. “I hope everyone loves it and the little nods to my hometown throughout. We used ingredients like Barbados Cherry and Kalahari Melon and product names like Island Ting and Bajan Gyal—that’s all for you.”
Fenty Beauty’s arrival to our shores is an exciting development, because, while the Caribbean is home to a number of global brands—from Hallmark to Starbucks to Bulgari—by my experience, we’ve yet to see much investment in the beauty space.
The Caribbean consists of more than 30 countries and territories and is home to around 44 million people. The majority of those people live on larger islands like Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, whose populations are each around 11 million. Many of the smaller islands have significantly fewer inhabitants than that. Barbados, for instance, has a population under 300,000. Compared to the roughly 333 million people in the United States, it’s true that, as a region, we don’t have a large consumer base, but population sizes only tell half the story.
Caribbean consumers are, and have always been, very active participants in the beauty industry. It’s just harder to track. “A lot of the bigger brands don't venture into the Caribbean space, because they don't think we have any brand spend,” Shantal Martin, a Barbadian beauty influencer and content creator, tells Allure. That’s at least partially because beauty lovers in the Caribbean have had to get creative when it comes to acquiring the latest launches. Shipping beauty products directly to the Caribbean isn’t always available—for instance, neither Sephora nor Ulta ship to any of the islands that aren't U.S. territories. While large, multi-category retailers like Nordstrom and Macy’s do offer expansive global shipping options, shipping to the Caribbean takes longer and will likely incur incredibly high import fees and duties upon arrival, making it cost-prohibitive for many.
It then becomes a bit of self-fulfilling prophecy: The absence of brick and mortar stores, along with high shipping costs and import duties on products sent directly to the Caribbean, means that Caribbean consumers are more likely to make their purchases when they travel to areas where their favorite brands are more easily accessible. As a result, there’s no evidence that Caribbean-based consumers are indeed purchasing these products (and trust me, we are!) and so there’s little incentive for brands to set up shop here.
And it’s not just about your favorite brands or products simply being available on island; the lack of access in our markets means that many are missing out on career opportunities that the billion-dollar beauty industry provides.
“[In] beauty, everything is trending fast. And if you're not on it immediately, then you kind of miss out,” Martin says. “If [products] are just not accessible on the island, then I miss out completely on opportunities to be a part of trending topics within such [an] ever-changing social space. It definitely impacts me, as a creator, financially.”
That isn’t to say that the beauty retail market here is completely barren. There are plenty of accessible drugstore brands like Maybelline and L’Oréal, and you can access a range of high-end fragrances in our local duty-free department store. There is also an emerging resell market where enterprising individuals will bulk purchase products overseas and sell them locally. But brand new products, especially from non-drugstore lines, are still difficult to find. If I wanted to try a 2024 release from Allure’s Best of Beauty Awards, for instance, I’d likely still have to find a way to source most of them from abroad.
All of this is a part of inclusivity in beauty that isn't discussed as frequently as foundation shade ranges. Brands are often quick to tout themselves as both “global” and “inclusive,” but those terms feel less meaningful when entire regions of the world aren't able to try the products they're selling. When those companies introduce broader, more inclusive shade ranges, shouldn’t that inclusivity also extend to Black and brown people across the globe?
As someone who was born and raised in the Caribbean, but has spent a lot of time living outside of it, I’m frequently reminded of how small we are. By bringing Fenty Beauty to the islands, Rihanna and the rest of the brand's team are providing one more way that those who might have otherwise been overlooked can feel seen. While the Fenty Beauty launch definitely gives feel-good, full circle vibes, it is especially meaningful because we know that she knows the struggles of inclusivity and accessibility that the Caribbean faces.
I’m not above admitting that I am indeed excited to finally be able to stock up on my Fenty Beauty Gloss Bomb Lip Luminizer (Fu$$y Heat, specifically) from the comfort of my own country. But, this, in many ways, could be bigger than beauty. Folks located outside the global core should be able to participate more fully and access the opportunities that technology and globalization have made available, no matter the industry.
Now that Rihanna has kicked the door open (as is her custom), hopefully we’ll see more brands and companies decide to walk through it—not just in the Caribbean, but in those other often overlooked corners of the globe.
Read more from The Melanin Edit:
For Black Women, Traction Alopecia Costs Us More Than Our Hair
If Grants for Black-Owned Businesses Are Eliminated, Your Favorite Beauty Brands Could Be Too
My “Heat-Trained” Hair May Actually Be Heat-Damaged
Go behind the scenes of Rihanna's 2018 Allure cover shoot:
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