Not to be dramatic but Fenty Beauty may just be the greatest thing to have ever happened

I fucking love makeup. I’m one of those people that will sit on YouTube for hours trying to understand how to master a smokey eye; will read page-long reviews before splurging on an Urban Decay palette; will start getting ready four hours before I need to just because it’s so much fun.

This particular look took 3 hours

The only issue is, in my small, conservative English town, there aren’t many people of colour. So, I suppose it’s sort of understandable that there are hardly ever POC-friendly shades of foundation or concealer in my local Boots, but at the same time, I mean, what the fuck? This "nude" lipstick would be great if this was Halloween and I wanted to go as a ghost, but I just want to look cute right now. And none of these shades make me look cute.

I’m aware that this is a first world problem, and that there are bigger issues than middle-class me trying to mix one brand’s token "person of colour!" shade – wow, great effort, one shade – with some BB cream until it matches my skin. But the fact remains, I shouldn’t have to do that. And to be honest, the old "it’s because you’re a minority demographic" doesn’t really cut it for me. Sorry.

It’s always been infuriating seeing line after line of "ivory", "porcelain", "bone china", with one "honey beige" (lol wtf) tacked on at the end. But I didn’t want to swap all those paler shades out with darker ones – that would have been counter-productive. I just wanted the line to keep going. At both ends, too: I have pale friends who’ve struggled to find a shade white enough for them.

This is where Rihanna steps in and officially becomes My Literal Queen and Champion of Diversity™. 40 shades of foundation – 40! And a lip colour that is described as – and actually is – universal. Aside from this, the makeup quality is said to be amazing, and it isn’t even that expensive, so basically, she’s killing it.

Rihanna does a better job of articulating why this diversity in makeup is so important, but personally, I’m just so glad that someone has realised skin shades go further than "light", "medium", and "dark". Especially as with some brands, "dark" isn’t even dark enough for me. And I’m not even a true "dark".

My heart felt full whilst browsing her website today, and I noticed the foundation shades that had sold out first were the darker ones. It’s painful to think that so many people out there have had the same problem as me, but then it’s beautiful to see that they have apparently turned to Fenty Beauty and immediately snapped up their true shades as soon as they became available. Everyone should have the freedom to look bomb af and have a foundation that matches their neck; so thank you, makeup gods, for delivering Rihanna to us POC in our time of need.