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Mbulelo Mpofu, Showbiz Reporter
LOCAL make-up artists have welcomed Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin care products which are set to flood the African market from May 27.

Rihanna, who established a skin product brand Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin in 2017 is broadening her scope to Africa and announced her desire to do so through a social media post on Tuesday.

Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Zimbabwe were selected to be launch pads. The company offers an extensive range of skin products including cleansers, toners, moisturisers, eye creams, and scrubs.

A day after the announcement of the launch of the products in the country, locals, who include media personality MisRed, model Hillary Makaya and musicians Ammara Brown and Tammy Moyo were invited to attend a masterclass on how to use the products in Harare.

It seems these personalities have been shortlisted to be part of the rollout of the brand, a huge endorsement on their part.

Started by Rihanna in 2017 with the mission to make products for people with all skin types, Fenty Beauty has been available on shelves across the United States of America, Canada, Mexico, France, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore, and the Middle East, as well as online for shipping to more than 150 countries, according to its the Fenty Beauty website.

Commenting on the announcement of the forthcoming launch of Fenty in Zimbabwe, self-taught make-up artist, Elinah Mangena said having Riri’s products available locally will be a relief for both make-up artists and the general public.

“Having Riri’s skin products locally is a good thing. Everyone will benefit from this since these products will be more accessible, cutting the cost of shipping. This kind of competition ensures a pool to choose from,” she said.

Singer and Ini Skin Care owner, Plaxedes Wenyika was buoyant with the development saying this means “more products for us”.

“I think this is good news. This means more products for us. The market will be flooded with more and more means better,” said Plaki.

Bulawayo makeup artist, Praise Richardson said Fenty Beauty and Skin will bring with it, economic development.

“My perspective on this is there’s a lot of business and economic growth to be achieved. There’ll be product availability as we used to order the products from the UK.

“Now, we’ll be spoilt for choice in terms of shades on the product (foundation) and new clients. It’s always nice to try something new, especially coming from a celebrity who’s a crowd puller.

Some people will actually come for makeovers if one has Fenty products so yeah, we can’t wait,” said the make-up artist.

The announcement of the premiere of Rihanna’s skin and beauty products blew the roof off social media with many showing interest. However, some showed reservations as they feared that the products might be overpriced.

A Pumula South resident, Snenhlanhla Khumalo said she is excited that Rihanna’s products will soon be available in Zimbabwe but she is wary of exorbitant pricing.

“We’re proud to hear that Rihanna’s makeup products will be available to us soon, but we’re also worried about the pricing.

These things tend to be costly, but we hope that they’ll be affordable,” Khumalo said. – @eMKlass_49