1. Foundation Shade Selection
If you go to the drug store and look for the basic 10-15$ foundation, there's not a lot of choice if you don't have a rather "common" skin tone. For example, this is the range of foundations for Covergirl (and this isn't just for one type, this is basically for all their different types)
See the problem? Most drugstore brands only market toward people who have more "common" skin tones. I have yet to see brands like this make a foundation pale enough for my alabaster, pasty, Irish complexion, but you can see the bigger gap is for anyone darker than what they have. And I'm talking about a lot of African-American people who don't fit this chart. So instead of being able to buy a low-priced foundation from Revlon etc. a lot of people will have to shell out big bucks for a foundation.
Like I mean big bucks (and I cannot lie).
Those are all brands that I know for a fact carry shades that get pretty dark. So the problem with this is that the average person who wants to wear foundation but isn't willing to pay buttloads for it might not be able to find their shade because their skin is too dark or too light. I have two foundations that I really like; one was 44$, one was 34$ because I can't match drugstore brands. I look orange. This is fine for me because I am the kind of person who spends that much on makeup, but I can totally understand why someone else wouldn't.
And this kind of brings me to the next problem, tied to the first.
#1.5 Ads and Skin Tone
Look at Sophia Vergara
And now look at Drew Barrymore
It seems I'm picking on Covergirl. No reason, really.
Basically what they're portraying is that Vergara is whiter than Barrymore. And Barrymore is more "sunkissed" than her real skin.
I hope I don't have to explain the problem with this.
#2. "The Taboo of Age"
Here is where I praise something. But not yet.
God forbid women age, right? How dare people get wrinkles! Better use this miracle-cure serum to erase those wrinkles and pile on the makeup to fill in the extra gaps. Most anti-aging creams are crap. They can and do work to some extent, but you would have to be going through a lot more than one unit gives you, and the difference would not be much. I believe you should always take good care of your skin, which includes washing twice a day and using toner and moisturizer. Your skin is a part of your body, it's good to take care of it. Really, all the anti-aging stuff does is intensively moisturize your skin because wrinkles partially come from your skin drying out when you get older. Also in account is cell production, but unless you're using stem cells, you can only do things about the moisture in your skin.
Pro-tip: use moisturizer. Seriously. As you get older, you might want a kind that's more intensive, but that's all you can really do about it.
That being said, now is the time I praise someone for challenging the view that age is a bad thing.
My favourite brand in the world, Illamasqua.
Seriously, how many beauty companies use models like this? And the best part is that they aren't even models; the company picked real people who submitted pictures.
This line of makeup was just released today, and it's probably my favourite campagne in beauty ever. To quote them: "Generation Q is a clear message to everybody, everywhere that beauty is not young, old, black, white, male or female, but anything, everything and everyone."
I really hope this is seen elsewhere down the road.
#3. The fact that so many companies still test on animals.
If you want to really know who still does animal testing, you will need more than a quick Google search or a page on tumblr. Things change all the time, and many companies have switched only recently, so information on them may be outdated. I'm not going to post any info because what I find could be false. If you're really against testing on animals, it's probably best to stick with brands that explicitly say they don't. I just can't believe with all the stigma against animal testing that beauty companies still do it. There is no need for it; technology is good enough to not need it. It's cruel and outdated, simple as.
And that's all I have. Your thoughts are appreciated. c: