Naomi Osaka has officially joined the beauty industry. On Tuesday (Sept. 7), the tennis player announced the launch of her brand new skin care line for melanin-rich skin tones. The brand name KINLÒ — a combination of the Japanese and Creole translations for the word “gold” — pays homage to her roots, while the idea for the line itself came after her bad experience with a sunburn.
After getting burnt in Australia, Osaka started using sunscreen, but she found it difficult to find a product that wouldn’t leave behind “a white, pasty residue.” She subsequently teamed up with dermatologists and set out to create a line that would blend with melanin-rich skin while bringing awareness to the importance of skin care, especially in the prevention of skin cancer.
“I was shocked when I learned about the statistics of skin cancer in the POC community, particularly about how much higher the mortality rate is for those of us who are diagnosed with skin cancer,” she told Refinery29. “That really opened my eyes to the fact that protection for melanin-rich skin is a real public health need. I immediately wanted to facilitate conversation and help debunk the myths about us not needing to wear sunscreen because we have natural melanin — that’s really not true.”
Osaka’s skin care line consists of skin-care products, including a sunscreen made with a brown tint for melanin-rich skin tones, a Hydrating Golden Mist and an eye cream for sensitive eyelids and under-eye areas.
“It’s been a really surreal experience this past year working on this and having an incredible team with so much knowledge teaching me along the way,” she penned on her launch day. “So happy with how everything turned out, and I’m excited to see what you guys think.”
See Naomi Osaka’s post below.