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Nadia Gray, 26, wrote a blog post called, "Why is Maybelline Ignoring Women of Colour?" to protest against the restricted shades available to U.K. shoppers, after she saw the U.S. advert for Dream Velvet foundation featured 12 colours.
In the U.K. only the six lighter shades are available, the darkest being "Sun Beige".
After searching for Maybelline's Dream Velvet range on Boots.com, Gray wrote that only "white people shades" (Nude, Sun Beige, Ivory, Beige, Fawn and Natural Ivory) were available. The same six shades were featured on Maybelline's U.K. website.
"Even though I am annoyed by this I am not surprised, this is an issue that plagues any woman who is not white," Gray wrote. "Getting anything to suit your skin tone from global beauty brands is almost impossible."
The blogger revealed that she is forced into buying high-end foundation and concealer as mainstream beauty companies ignore the needs of black British women. "They always make the same excuses saying there is no market for the product, which is just not true," she wrote. "There is a huge population of black women in the United Kingdom."
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Ironically supermodel Jourdan Dunn is the face of Maybelline's Dream Velvet range in the U.K. but Dunn herself could not walk into a shop on the British high street and purchase the shade most suitable for her skin colour.
After Gray shared her blog post on Twitter other users also expressed their frustration.
Felicia Sullivan wrote: "Can I throw major shade over Maybelline's lack of shades for women of colour in the UK?"
In another blog post, Gray said her issue wasn't only with Maybelline and that "other brands are actually far far worse than Maybelline in terms of product range and advertising." She said she highlighted Maybelline because she "was particularly angry at the fact they used a Black British model to sell a product that black women could not buy in the U.K."
A Maybelline U.K. spokesperson told MailOnline: "We continually review our product ranges to ensure we are keeping up with and responding to demand from consumers in the U.K. This includes, for example, introducing new shades of products into the market.
"In the case of Dream Velvet Soft Matte foundation, we currently offer and advertise six shades of the product but we are looking forward to introducing an additional shade — Jourdan's shade — into U.K. stores within the next few months."
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