Shades of Beauty

July 2016 saw the launch of Superdrug’s #ShadesOfBeauty campaign, which was established to give a voice to women of colour, taking positive steps as a retailer to help everyone find the products they need on the high street.

We commissioned an independent research focusing on the views from women of colour on high street beauty shopping. The research revealed that two thirds (70%) of black and Asian women feel the high street does not cater for their beauty needs, and over a third (36%) feel there isn’t enough guidance and advice available in high street beauty stores.

To tackle this issue Superdrug launched the #ShadesofBeauty campaign. Since then we have introduced over 110 products on the #ShadesofBeauty microsite, launched 55 new darker toned foundations and now offer 80 specialist hair products in over 200 stores.

We have also held meetings with the UK’s largest makeup brands and are delighted to say that Maybelline, L’Oreal and Revlon have already launched an additional 23 shades in response to our challenge, and we are hoping this pushes other brands to follow suit.

Superdrug is in no doubt that there is still a long way to go in the beauty industry to make products for women of colour truly accessible and now looks to the next steps in the campaign.