L'Oreal Paris

Makeup artist Gary Thomson

L’Oréal Paris has launched #YoursTruly, its first mass market cosmetics campaign to feature a man.

The push for the True Match foundation range stars 23 of the UK’s ‘most influential and inspirational ambassadors for diversity’, each representing a different shade in the 23-strong range. The people include makeup artist Gary Thomson – aka blogger The Plastic Boy – as well as model and campaigner Katie Piper, fitness instructor and TV presenter Onatejiro ‘AJ’ Odudu, and L’Oréal Paris’s longstanding spokeswoman Cheryl Fernandez-Versini.

Each shares a story about finding the perfect shade of foundation, ahead of the ad’s end line, “We’re all worth it.”

The drive – running across TV, cinema, social media and a dedicated online hub – comes after the brand found that 61% of women in the UK have not been able to find their ideal foundation match, while people of colour often pay 70% more because they need to switch from mainstream to luxury products to find the right shade. True Match suits 98% of skin tones across all ethnicities, according to L’Oréal Paris.

“With each true story being as unique as the shade that they represent, the #YoursTruly campaign is a declaration of equality and diversity,” said the brand’s UK general manager, Adrien Koskas.