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SHADES OF BEAUTY: The Twitter debate hopes to expand black beauty into the mainstream market

A DISCUSSION to promote the spending power and beauty needs of black and Asian women will take place on Twitter this Sunday.

The first ever #brownbeauty debate will take place between 8pm and 9pm and will tackle issues including finding the right foundation as well as celebrating women of colour who work in sector.

Its aim is to get bloggers, PRs, distributors and brands talking and become a weekly feature on the popular social networking site.

The initiative is the brainchild of marketing professional Ronke Adeyemi, who runs the award-winning Ondo Lady blog, and natural hair blogger Gina Knight.

They are urging people to get involved because they feel women of colour are being overlooked by beauty industry particularly in the UK, despite being big consumers.

Adeyemi said: “We both love beauty, we love make up and hair but feel we are being ignored by mainstream brands, whether it be the lack of shades for darker skin tones at affordable prices or seeing our likeness in campaigns and ads.

“We hope that we make the cosmetics industry aware that we are here and we have the desire and the spending power to be included more widely in the mainstream cosmetics industry.”

According to a Mintel report, published in 2009, the market for black and Asian beauty products in the UK is valued at £70 million, or just 2 per cent of the total market for women’s haircare, skincare and makeup – well below their percentage of the population.

Although the mainstream beauty industry as a whole is not seen as being diverse, a handful of big name brands are starting to expand their lines.

Companies like Lancôme, Benefit and Chanel recently expanded their ranges of foundation to appeal to women with a darker skin tone.

The first session of #brownbeauty will kick off by talking about black and Asian women who run their own brands.

Adeyemi added: “It is an open discussion and we would love everyone to get involved. We hope it will run indefinitely or for as long it is needed. You can all tune in this Sunday at 8pm.”