We’re entering a golden era of ethnic diversity in fashion and beauty.
Rihanna’s Fenty line is going to cater for women of all colours. Kahmune’s brought out a range of nude shoes for every skin tone.
Both industries are slowly waking up to the fact that non-white women do occasionally wear makeup and want to wear nice clothes.
Everyone’s skin tone is nice and cool and deserves being catered for.
Except one brand seems to have taken that concept to a bizarre place.
The Meet Matt(e) Trimony matte eyeshadow palette comes in ‘nine versatile shades’, suitable for any occasion.
So far, so basic – if not a little random with the bloke on the cover.
But wait, the real magic is in the names they’ve assigned to each shade – all named after imaginary Matts.
There’s a Matt Lin for the palest shade, a Matt Lopez for a tan colour and a black for a Matt Ahmed.
Matt Moskowitz comes as alarmingly plum colour, while a Matt Reed is a sort of burnt umber hue.
Now…these colours aren’t innovative or spectacular. They’re not amazingly refreshing or wonderfully complex.
The whole gimmick around this palette is the God-awful marketing and packaging.
It’s not funny – we get that matte texture sounds like Matt the name. A 10-year-old could come up with that pun.
Who in their right mind would seriously create a product based on the stereotypical names of people they assume are of that colour?
Bizarrely, the palette is actually receiving good reviews online – despite their oddly racial branding.
But hey, maybe looking ‘fierce’ comes at any cost.
[“Source-metro”]