Fenty's forward home

AFTER establishing herself as a global brand, Barbadian singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty is now bringing her billion-dollar beauty brands to the Caribbean.

Nine countries will be authorised to carry the line of products, which have won acclaim for their focus on the nuanced shades of skin tone found in women of colour.

While Rihanna enjoys widespread recognition and popularity through her recording and performance career, her personal fortune is a direct result of her focus on solving the beauty problems she experienced as a young Caribbean woman.

Ms Fenty is listed as the founder and CEO of the global brand, which will add nine Caribbean countries to its impressive distribution list. The nations selected to represent the brand are Antigua, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Sint Maarten/Saint Martin, TT and, of course, Barbados.

The popular singer's choice to name her beauty brands using her familial name made it clear that not only did she consider her career in music and her career in beauty to be two separate but parallel paths, a strategic brand decision, but one that also suggests that despite her decades of fame in the metropoles, she remains a Caribbean girl.

Indeed, the brand names for new product lines and innovations often reflect the flirtatious sass of a confident Caribbean woman's wit.

And Rihanna doesn't miss an opportunity to market, pausing during her massive 2023 Super Bowl halftime show to refresh with make-up from her Pro Filt’r line.

Fenty Beauty, Fenty Hair and Fenty Skin started with global ambitions through a partnership with luxury brand Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy, which does business as LVMH.

From its launch in 2017, the brand emphasised an inclusive line of shades for women of colour, beginning with 40 distinct skin-tone matches which have since expanded to 50.

Rihanna may be a major music presence, with 60 million albums sold, but in terms of earnings, Fenty Beauty has outstripped that success.

The brand rocketed into prominence with sales of US$72 million in its first month, with its darker shades selling out in stores. Fenty Beauty is conservatively valued at US$2.8 billion, with Ms Fenty holding 50 per cent of the company.

The move brings the Fenty brand into competition with TT's home-grown Sacha Cosmetics, which has also built its reputation by addressing the specific needs of brown skin.

It isn’t a conflict, because both brands can only improve from direct competition to meet the needs of the local and international customers they target.

The result can only be more insightfully formulated shades, blends and styles that address the beauty needs of Caribbean women here and in the diaspora, and women of colour in the wider world.

Ultimately, Fenty Beauty is an inspiration, a Bajan girl who took her talent to the world, conquered it, and then brought it all back home to the Caribbean again.