In June 2013, Rihanna trademarked her surname, Fenty, for use on various and more products, leading to speculation that she would begin working on endeavors other than her music.

In the United Kingdom, Fenty Beauty was exclusive to Harvey Nichols department stores[14] until May 2019, where the line would also become available in the high street chemist Boots UK.

[29] On November 23, 2017, the first Stunna Lip Paint, a red long-wear liquid lipstick, was released, drawing broad enthusiasm.

[37] Taken from the line's popular Killawatt Freestyle Highlighter "Trophy Wife" (metallic gold),[38] "Dirty Thirty" was packaged with XXX (the Roman numerals for 30) instead of the brand's FB logo.

[42] On October 4, 2018, Fenty Beauty launched their winter collection "ChillOwt",[43] which included a variety of winter-themed and cool-toned products.

[49] On May 10, 2022, Rihanna announced that Fenty Beauty would be available in 8 African countries, Ghana, Kenya, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Zambia, and Zimbabwe on May 27, 2022.

[59] In February 2018, Fenty Beauty released an ad featuring rapper Saweetie that showed a group of women getting ready to attend the Super Bowl.

[60] The spot drew enthusiasm for its send-up of the award-winning 1990s Budweiser ad campaign "Whassup" (in which a group of men acknowledged one another only by repeating an intoxicatedly slurred "What's up?"

[56] Faces of the initial Fenty Beauty campaign included Slick Woods, Halima Aden, Leomie Anderson, Indyamarie Jean, Paloma Elsesser, Selena Forrest, Camila Costa, and Duckie Thot.

[64] Soon after Rihanna released the line, other brands such as Make Up For Ever and L'Oréal started ad campaigns aimed at women of color.

[67][68] Also in March 2018, Daniel Kaluuya, nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his starring role in Get Out, appeared on the Oscar red carpet wearing Fenty Beauty's Pro Filt'R Foundation (specifically, shades 480 and 490).

[69] Time magazine described him as looking "luminous";[70] in the UK edition of The Huffington Post, Patricia Ekall said his "dewy glow brought the "no-makeup-makeup look" to another level.

[68] In response, she invoked a desire to avoid tokenism and respect privacy, stating: "...worked with many gifted trans women throughout the years.

[75] Within one month of release, Fenty Beauty's sales were valued at $72 million,[76] and sold-out products were widely reported, with darker shades of foundation particularly in demand (shoppers noted even testers were often gone from stores).

[82] Fenty Beauty was named to Time magazine's list of the 25 best inventions of 2017,[83] alongside NASA's Martian spacecraft InSight,[84] Apple's iPhone X,[85] Nike's Pro Hijab,[86] and the Tesla Model 3.