The brand that changed the rules of inclusive makeup in 2017 is scrapping its signature foundation and starting over. Here’s what’s behind the move.
Beauty brands almost never retire the product that built their name. They refresh packaging, extend a line or tweak a formula, but they seldom start over. Fenty Beauty is doing exactly that.
On Sept. 4, the 9-year-old brand released its Pro Filt’r Fluid Flex Natural Matte Longwear Foundation in 50 entirely new shades with a reworked numbering system. The formula took roughly three years and more than 30 prototypes to perfect. The Soft Matte foundation that launched the company in 2017 is being phased out.
How Fenty Rewrote the Rules in 2017
When Fenty debuted with 40 foundation shades, half that number was considered generous, and competitors scrambled to catch up. Danika Berry, a beauty strategist and founder of Black Beauty Founders, said the brand reset what shoppers expected from the entire industry.
A 2018 analysis by The Pudding, which measured the lightness of every shade across a dozen brands, found Fenty served both the fairest and deepest complexions well, while other best-selling U.S. lines leaned lighter. Beauty writer Stixx Mathews credited the brand with recognizing that undertones vary widely and that subtones are real, a nuance the market had long ignored.
Berry framed the lesson bluntly: Black and brown shoppers were never a niche audience but major spenders who had been overlooked for years.
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Why the Original Formula Fell Out of Step
Roshini Greenwald, Fenty’s general manager and senior vice president for North America, said customers repeatedly described the original as heavy and too warm on many skin tones, with neutral shades hard to find. The most revealing complaint was that people had started saving it for special occasions rather than everyday wear.
Nanette Wong, the brand’s head of global marketing, tied the shift to changing tastes. The polished look of the 2016 Instagram era has given way to modern minimalism, she said, and the new foundation needed to fit how people actually live.
Leilah Mundt, founder and CEO of Crème Collective, agreed, noting that consumers now want to see real skin texture and are tired of filtered perfection.
A New Shade System Built on Undertones
The range still totals 50 shades, but Greenwald stressed that the number was never the goal, even though the industry fixated on it in 2017. The old numbering is gone, with no one-to-one replacements. Instead, letter codes identify cool, warm and neutral undertones, and the lineup includes more neutrals than before. Depth tells shoppers how light or deep they are, but undertone is usually where matching goes wrong.
Turning Customers Into Collaborators
Fenty also wants shoppers to shape what comes next. Its website now hosts the Unfilt’rd Inbox, where customers can flag shade gaps. Wong said the long-term aim is to release shades the community helped identify. Virtual shade matching is also rolling out online and on TikTok.
The brand has tried this before, inviting Roblox users to design and vote on Gloss Bomb shades, with Rihanna picking the winner. It is also exploring artificial intelligence to sort through feedback, though Wong said the technology is meant to organize the conversation, not lead it.
Fenty’s Next Chapter Amid Shifting Stakes
In October 2025, Reuters reported that LVMH, Fenty‘s partner through Kendo Brands, was exploring a sale of its 50% stake with investment bank Evercore. The brand was valued at an estimated $1 billion to $2 billion, with about $450 million in 2024 net sales. In June, MarcyPen Capital Partners, the private equity firm co-founded by Jay-Z, was reportedly in talks to buy that stake.
The broader market is growing but getting pickier. U.S. prestige beauty rose 7% to $17.1 billion in the first half of 2026, while prestige makeup grew just 3% as unit demand softened.
Mundt called the relaunch a bold answer to the relevance question, arguing that no brand can coast on one big move forever. Mathews added that inclusivity now means speaking to men who wear complexion products, not just women.
Rihanna remains closely involved. She approves every product, enjoys brainstorming shade names and has worn Fluid Flex for a year. Berry said Fenty has built equity that stands on its own, not only on its founder’s fame.
Greenwald said the company has never considered its work finished. For Berry, the next decade is a test of whether Fenty can keep listening and make personalized inclusion part of every decision, not just the launch.
Source: Byrdie
