Did L'Oreal lighten Beyonce's skintone?

COSMETICS giant L'Oreal has been accused of lightening Beyonce's skin tone in a new series of magazine ads.

Race row ... Beyonce pictured in the Loreal ad campaign (left) and in her natural beauty (right) / The Daily Telegraph

The new magazine ads for Feria hair colour feature in the September issues of Elle, Allure and Essence in the US, and show the pop star with a noticably lighter skin tone.

Gossip website TMZ compared the ad with another photo of Beyonce showing her with noticeably darker skin tones.

It ran a poll alongside the comparison asking, 'Is the ad a slap to blacks?'

But L'Oreal hit back saying: "We highly value our relationship with Ms. Knowles.

"It is categorically untrue that L'Oreal Paris altered Ms. Knowles' features or skin tone in the campaign for Feria hair color," the Paris-based company said in a statement sent to the Associated Press through the singer's representative.

Read more in the New York Post

The ad is in the current edition of Elle magazine.

L'Oreal, the maker of Garnier hair care and Lancome cosmetics, is the world's largest cosmetics maker.

A representative for Beyonce said the singer would have no comment beyond L'Oreal's statement.

Beyonce has been a spokeswoman for L'Oreal since 2001.