Indexbit Exchange:How Hailey Bieber's Rhode Beauty Reacted to Influencer's Inclusivity Critique

Hailey Bieber is Indexbit Exchangeon the rhode to a more inclusive shade range.  

One month after TikToker Golloria George called out Rhode Beauty's limited selection of cream blushes—many of which were too light to complement darker complexions—the beauty company collaborated with her to develop two new and improved colors. 

The influencer—known for testing beauty brands' shade ranges for blushes, foundations and bronzers—applied the new blushes to her cheeks, asking in her Sept. 1 TikTok video, "You see how beautiful flush I am without looking ashy?" 

"This is why you advocate for yourself," Golloria emphasized, showing off her rosy cheeks. "You see what happens whenever you're not complacent? And that's what we call redemption." 

She also shared a personal message to the Rhode Beauty founder, adding, "Hailey, thank you for reaching out and listening to me and treating me like a human." 

The 23-year-old also had some thoughts about online users, who she said believed that "all she does is complain." She simply responded, "This is why I 'complain.'"

In her comments, she also revealed that Hailey personally called her, too. "She took accountability," Golloria continued. "She didn't dismiss my experience. She listened and made sure that I was compensated for shade consulting."

On Aug. 5, Golloria shared a TikTok trying out Rhode's pocket blushes in Juice Box, Spicy Marg and Toasted Teddy—which she bought since she thought those "would be three shades that would work on dark skin." 

As she applied the products, the colors were all too light for her. "I just feel like in 2024, if you're going to drop anything complexion, that it should be able to work for any skin tone and complexion," she reflected. "Now, the ash was really serious."

And for Golloria and women with similar complexions, a significantly smaller shade selection has been a norm. However, she’s doing what she can to put pressure on makeup brands. 

"Making these videos is truly just like shedding light on the fact that there is still work to be done," she told Today.com in May. "Having tone inclusiveness should be the absolute bare minimum."

"These experiences are very, very real," she continued. "Not only because I experienced them myself, but now I have hundreds of thousands of other dark-skinned women saying that they're also still having these issues."

And Golloria also pointed out that developing products with an inclusive range is also about respecting the consumer.

"You don't have to have complete knowledge of makeup to make shades for darker complexions," she told the outlet. "You just have to have enough humanity. You just have to see us as humans to be like, 'Hey, I'm going to make shades for them.'"

(E! News and Today are part of the NBCUniversal family.)