TikToker accused of “blackface” over video slamming Youthforia foundation

TikToker Kevin Leonardo is facing accusations of “blackface” after uploading a video of himself wearing Youthforia’s darkest shade of foundation while criticizing the beauty brand.

In March 2024, makeup brand Youthforia released ten new shades of its Date Night skin tint serum foundation after receiving criticism from the beauty community for not including darker colors for deeper skin tones.

However, the line’s deepest shade, ‘600 Deep Neutral,’ has resulted in even more backlash against the brand, with YouTuber Golloria George famously dubbing the color as “tar in a bottle.”

Now, another influencer has come out slamming the company… but his take on the ordeal is also resulting in backlash against him.

On May 8, TikToker Kevin Leonardo stunned audiences by covering his face in Youthforia’s 600 Deep Neutral, saying, “The darkest of blacks would get called out for cultural appropriation if they wore this Youthforia foundation shade.”

“This is like if a brand put out a purely orange shade or a purely yellow shade and were like, ‘Here you go, Asians,'” he continued.

While Youthforia’s foundation has faced its fair share of scrutiny, viewers were left fuming at Leonardo’s take on the ordeal and made their feelings clear in the comments section, accusing the TikToker of “blackface” and “racism.”

“Babe, this is blackface,” one viewer wrote.

“You didn’t have to put it on?” another said.

“This aint even rage bait, this is blatant racism and blackface,” another argued.

Kevin has since responded to the outrage in a follow-up video, claiming that he put on the foundation “not to perform blackface,” but to “agree with Black creators on TikTok and YouTube that this foundation is too dark and too problematic.”

“I wanted to see it on my skin and match it with my hair,” he continued. “…I would never walk outside with this. …Even the darkest of Black people would look actually crazy wearing this.”

It doesn’t appear as though his explanation is sitting well with viewers, who continue to accuse the content creator of racism.

“Bro tryna act clueless and innocent,” one commenter wrote.

“This is NOT how you take accountability,” another argued. “It isn’t your place to define what is and isn’t blackface, regardless of your intent.”

That’s not the end of this saga. Leonardo later uploaded a video addressing why he owns four durags, saying it’s not to “appropriate Black people” but that he got inspired by a character from the show Pretty Little Liars who wore a durag during a scene… something that left viewers gobsmacked.

“This has to be satire,” one netizen remarked, while another pleaded with the TikToker to “unplug your wifi box.”

While Youthforia hasn’t offered an official response outrage around their darkest shade, they did reply to a critical comment by resharing a video from March that showed the company’s founder, Fiona Chan, searching for models to wear the deep shade.

The backlash around Youthforia has spiraled into a major cultural moment within the beauty sphere — and even outside of it, as shown by Leonardo’s viral video saga.

This is far from the first time accusations of ‘blackface’ have gone viral in the beauty space on TikTok. In February, a group of teens came under fire after wearing dark foundation in a Sephora, causing the company to speak out about the situation in an official statement.