Previous installments in this series can be found here.
Here is a partial list of terrifying things I had to do while I was a beauty school student: apply cake liner to the inner lash line. Sit with a pound of clay on my face molded to make me look like a burn victim. Volunteer as a model for an aesthetician exam only to be told that my assigned student needed to perform a bikini wax to graduate. None of these experiences came close to matching the terror and apprehension I always felt about matching foundation shades.
There are a lot of really simple skills you learn at beauty school. They aren’t easy skills – they’re just straightforward. Your teacher will say, “If you apply red lipstick in exactly the manner I’m demonstrating, it will look good,” and then you’ll mimic her and the red lipstick will go on perfectly. Eye makeup for television, bullet wounds for film, contouring for brides – all of these are complicated techniques with step-by-step instructions practically guaranteeing their success. But matching makeup to skin color is a completely different beast. My teachers would tell us to “just use our eyes”, but they had taught us enough to know that we couldn’t trust our eyes. What about the lighting, if the person moves from inside to outside? How will the texture of the makeup interact with the texture of the skin if they start to, let’s say, sweat? I would apply a swatch of makeup on my model’s skin and just stand there, petrified to make another move.
As you can probably tell from previous articles, my absolute favorite thing in beauty is the appearance of clear, healthy skin. It’s probably not a coincidence that my favorite beauty thing is the most unobtainable. I’m always looking for that Holy Grail of a product that will magically blend into my skin, hiding all the weird imperfections that only I can see.
Cosmetics companies know this. Much like skin care products, foundation, tinted moisturizers, concealers, powders and BB creams are all marketed as miracle products destined to give you skin like Beyoncé (for a price). They promise to shield you from the sun, dose the skin with antioxidants, blur fine lines and wrinkles – they’ll promise basically anything, if they think it means you’ll pay extra for it.
And, of course, here comes Haley’s patented brand of beauty-centric harsh real talk: no one can do this. There is no foundation, tinted moisturizer, concealer, powder, or BB cream that can provide 100% coverage and still disguise itself as real skin. There’s a trade-off present in most “natural” makeup looks (an odious term I could write an entire article about): you can look natural, or you can look like you’re wearing makeup, but in real life, it is extremely difficult to achieve both. Properly covering every single blotch or dark spot would require wearing a very “made-up” look; the natural looks rarely provide enough coverage to fully mask anything.
On top of that, the majority of cosmetic companies do not provide an adequate range of shades for the majority of human beings out there. That’s a really politically correct way of saying major cosmetic companies are, by and large, not doing shit to make sure people with skin darker than “medium fair” have options for foundation, concealers, etc.
At beauty school, our teachers worked really hard to make sure we learned the skills to work with any and all skin tones – but the assumption was that we would almost always be working with white or pale skin. We had a “black model” day, where we were required to bring in a model with black skin, and an “Asian model” day, where we would be required to bring in a model of Asian descent, and then there was the “mature women” day, and so on and so forth. On the one hand, we were learning exactly what we needed to know, but on the other hand, by separating anything that wasn’t young, white skin into a separate day, they were just enforcing the idea of a “normal” model versus a “special” model.
At the end of every course we were given a free photo shoot with a photographer and proper studio lighting. The idea was to build a portfolio that we could bring to job interviews, to prove our range. When I look back at my portfolio, I have 15 photos – 14 of them feature white models, and all of them are under the age of 30. Our teachers would often weigh in and remind us when we were planning our looks if they thought we were lacking something (for example, a teacher once told me I hadn’t done a bridal look yet, so I should use my photo shoot to add that to my portfolio) but not once did someone point out that my book was lacking in proof that I could work with people of all ages and skin colours because no one thought that was a problem.
I do think this is the prevalent attitude in the cosmetics industry overall, particularly if you work as a television and film makeup artist, where the majority of characters are young and white. If I had pursued a career as a makeup artist, having a portfolio full of young white women would have been exactly what photographers and directors were expecting to see. And that’s why cosmetics companies by and large cater to the young and white. And that’s fucking bullshit.
I spoke with Chi-Chi Ezenwa and Arabelle Sicardi, two beautiful geniuses who run the beauty blog Powder Doom about this issue in the current cosmetics industry and their recommendations for people trying to find that perfect match. Their beautiful genius answers are below.
When it comes to matching foundation to your skin tone, what should people of colour be looking for? Are there any brands or products you can think of that work exceptionally well for non-white skin tones?
Chi-Chi: I think that women of color should look for different undertones when looking for different foundations. Most foundations that come in a limited darker range in the drugstores are mostly yellow-based, which may work for some skin colors but definitely not all. In addition, a small portion of drugstore to mid-end foundations come in pink undertones, which again might work for some skin colors but definitely not all. Many women of color, especially in the darker skintones, have a red undertone to their skin, which is close to impossible to find in most foundation ranges. The one brand that comes to mind which has a good darker foundation range with various undertones is Illamasqua. Also, Bobbi Brown has a decent range of foundation shades, however most of her foundations run a tad yellow, making a perfect match difficult to find. Finally, if you can find where to purchase the products, Fashion Fair makes a great array of foundations for women of color, from the lightest to darkest skintones.
Arabelle: Definitely learn about undertones, as Chi-Chi said. That’s the most important factor when it comes to a shade, the wrong undertone can make you look sallow, ill…. it’s just not a good look if you miss the mark, really. You can sometimes negotiate around this by using a color correcting primer underneath a foundation that nearly matches you, but it more neutral. It’s all about the undertones. This is why it’s important to get samples when you can, so you can test out potential buys in the daylight and out of the fluorescence of a beauty store. You want to see what it looks like on your skin after it’s been lived in for awhile.
What sort of foundation/cover-up is available for people of colour? What would you say is missing from the majority of cosmetic shelves?
CC: Most of the foundations available for darker skintones are either liquid or cream foundations, leaning heavily towards the liquid side. As for concealers, the range of colors and undertones for women of color is even more limited. The powder, pressed powder, and mineral foundation ranges for women of color are severely lacking, and for the companies who do make those products, their shade ranges include one to three colors only. The main thing that is lacking from the majority of cosmetic shelves is a range of shades. If you go to a drugstore, the choices for foundation are limited, maybe including one or two shades that might match the skintone with blending and creative powdering and bronzing. Women of color cannot be generalized into two shades – and it’s absolutely ridiculous that companies, drugstore or high end continue to do this.
A: There’s a huge lack of depth in color for foundations in shades even (or especially in) mid-range and luxury brands. I’m often surprised if I see a high end brand with more than 4 shades of beige and ivory. Drugstores are better at shade ranges than mid range and high end brands, but there’s still a lot to do. For example, BB and CC creams are now a dime a dozen but the ones that come in any shade darker than a deep tan? I can count those on one hand. These are products that are constantly being hyped up in the media and everyone is launching them, but they’re only reaching a select few.
Do you think there are enough options for non-white skin tones on the current cosmetics shelves? Why or why not?
CC: I do not believe that there are enough options for non-white skin tones on the cosmetic shelves for a couple of reasons. First, there are a couple companies from the drugstore that just do not make foundation ranges darker than dark beige (Neutrogena and Rimmel come to mind first). Depending on the store, this is two parts of a makeup section that is already ruled out for women of color. Going towards mid-to-high end companies, there are two scenarios. As I previously mentioned, a couple companies either have a grand total of one to three dark shades that is somehow supposed to encompass all of women of color (it doesn’t) or they just don’t bother to make darker shades in their foundations or base products. Absolutely inexplicable – we have money, we would spend money, can we please have more choices?
A: Definitely not. Chi-Chi said it best.
When I was working as a makeup artist, my perception of what was wrong with the existing makeup for people of colour was that it lacked any depth. Makeup for white people always has yellow, blue, etc. undertones, but makeup for people of colour seemed to automatically turn to ash because it didn’t have those undertones. Is that something you’ve experienced as well? Do you think there’s a way to add depth to the existing ‘flat’ foundations on the market?
CC: I mentioned this briefly above, but the problem with most current foundations as they get into darker skintones is that they stick to one undertone for all of the foundations. Some women of color have yellow undertone, some pink, some olive and some red. Depth in foundations, in my opinion, comes from matching the right undertone or mixing colors to find the right undertone. However, through current foundation choices, there aren’t many options for choosing the right undertone(s) for women of color. Finally, many women of color may have to use two foundations because of the different shades of their complexion (the forehead and T-zone area is darker than the cheeks), one foundation for their forehead and T-zone area, and one for their cheeks. Even between those places, there might be different undertones so finding the correct balance to make the skin look like skin again through foundation is even more difficult.
A: I’ve seen that as well. I think MAC does a good job when it comes to serving multiple undertones across the skin tone spectrum. There are a few professional palettes for color correcting you can buy to ‘fix’ base makeup to suit your skin better, but honestly, most people aren’t going to do that when the foundation is already $45-55 dollars on average, and the correcting palettes are even more money and are harder to find. Consumers shouldn’t have to go to a professional beauty supply store to get something that other consumers can buy easily off the shelves. It’s not fair to them and it makes the journey of buying makeup a lot more difficult and frustrating for so many people.
Preach.
On top of everything Arabelle and Chi-Chi said, here are a few beauty school dropout tips when you’re trying to find a shade to cover or conceal your skin:
Texture is the most important thing. Skin has to look like skin. You need a texture that matches – or corrects – whatever is going on with your skin. If you have oily skin, you’re going to want a matte formula and a light dusting of powder; if you have dry skin, you’re going to want a liquid or cream formula and the absolute minimum of powder you can get away with. Different parts of your skin might need different kinds of texture. Most people have oily T-zones and dry cheeks and chins, so, take not and adjust accordingly. Often, even if the colour itself doesn’t match 100%, you can get away with it as long as it blends into your skin texture.
Scratch that, blending is the most important thing. Tied with texture is proper blending. One of my teachers used to always talk about lines – like you should never see the line where the makeup ends and your skin begins. Too often, people stop blending the foundation when it gets close to your ear. You have to keep blending until you can’t tell where the product begins and ends. If you’re applying a foundation all over your face, you have to blend it all the way down your chin and into your neck and up into your ears and hairline if you want to really trick all those people looking at you. This rule applies to bronzer, blush, highlighter, and eye makeup as well, unless you’re going for a Demi Moore-in-St. Elmo’s Fire-look (which would be a great choice, if anyone out there does this on a regular basis please send pics).
Depth is also really really important. If you have a pimple, it’s three-dimensional. A pimple lifts right off your face, putting it front and centre for everyone else’s eye line. This means that any product applied to the pimple will be much more obvious than anything else on the flat surface of your face, so a light hand with concealer is really important. I like to apply a healthy dollop concealer to the very centre of the pimple with a pointed concealer brush; then I take a slightly bigger, flat concealer brush and blend the colour to the outer rim of the pimple, blending the shade into the skin surrounding the raised part of the pimple. I apply tinted moisturizer over concealer because I think it looks more natural, but as long as you’re using a light hand and the proper shades of makeup, there’s no reason you can’t apply the overall colour first and concealer second.
Watch your lighting. How could I not mention this? You know how I feel about good lighting. Most bathrooms have really flattering lighting, which means you could under-apply, particularly when it comes to undereye concealer. It’s best to get as close to natural sunlight as you can when you’re applying foundation.
Colour doesn’t matter. I mean, obviously it does. You need to have a colour that matches your skin. But as we’ve already discussed in great detail, the chances of you finding that one perfect colour that blends into your face seamlessly is like winning the lottery – there just aren’t enough shades out there to properly accommodate all our beautiful faces. So don’t make my mistake and stand there paralyzed with fear. Try to get a colour as close as you can to your skin, and then keep trying everything, ask your friends, ask makeup artists working at counters, blend different shades to create custom colours – just go for it. As long as the texture is correct, it’s properly blended, and it’s close enough that there isn’t a huge difference in colour between the jawline and your neck, you should be fine. Go forth and experiment!
Are there are Toast readers out there who have more suggestions for matching foundation shades? Favourite brands or products? Tell me in the comments!
Haley Mlotek is the publisher of WORN Fashion Journal. Her writing has appeared in WORN (obviously), as well as Hazlitt and The Hairpin. She believes in reading, writing, and red lipstick.
Tags: concealer, haley mlotek, loose threads, race, worn fashion journal
coloUr!!! <3
I don’t wear concealer or foundation or anything like it, I just wear eye makeup and MAYBE a bit of lip color – I’m lucky enough to have decent skin BUT I have noticed a lot of fine lines, I’m always planning to get a tinted sunscreen or moisturizer but never actually get around to it. I’m assuming for something with less coverage the matching doesn’t have to be as good?
Also I was doing an ad for a makeup company that shall remain nameless which boasted of their many shades of foundation, but literally NONE of them were for dark skin. Like, maybe a VERY light-skinned black lady could use the darkest one.
COMMONWEALTH CONTENT.
Concealer blending issues here. Whenever I have a raised pimple to cover, blending seems to remove the concealer entirely, leaving me with a cakey red splotch instead of a regular red splotch. What am I doing wrong? Bad technique? Bad product? I use a tiny little brush but it seems to pull the makeup off entirely instead of just smoothing it out.
maybe give the ol’ “dab it on with your ring finger” approach a try–works for me with a thick concealer.
Might work if I let it set a little first–I’m not confident in the delicacy of my ring finger blending techniques.
I end up putting… um… lipstick primer on the spot. Or maybe eyeshadow primer. And then thick concealer. And then tinted moisturizer and blend like hell. Because I have the same issue- concealer just sits there looking like concealer on a zit. I tend to get only PMS ones that eventually go whitehead volcano, though. Not sure how a face full of eyeshadow primer would look on that more red-but-not-pussy-grossness kind of acne. I know that kind sucks to have, too, but I always think of it as a more gentle (weird, I know) kind of acne, and so that sort of industrial cover up operation might not work.
Yeah.
Ooh, great idea. I will try extra sticky primer on the spot. I have sensitive skin that looooves turning bright red, so while I don’t get pussy acne, I do have to work overtime to tone down the big red spots.
Try putting some yellow-toned primer/concealer on. Just a tiny bit, under the normal stuff you use. It might help bring down the brightness of the red.
I actually use a flat brush, like Shiseido’s foundation brush because of the way the lady at that counter did my make-up one time. Dab it on with the ring finger and then pat at it with the brush so it’s more stippling then blending, and then set it with translucent powder. Works amazingly well.
Use your ring finger to dab the concealer in. If you want to use a primer to help cover the redness and then cover with your skin tone one, go with green as it helps conceal redness (yellow covers purple-bruises, under eye circles, etc). If you’re going that route just get one of those cheap sticks, and then cover with your normal skin tone concealer. I have a concealer brush (exactly the same as a gel/cream eyeshadow brush), and use that to apply the concealer to my skin, then very lightly tap around the edges with your finger to get it to blend. That way there’s a good bit covering what needs to be covered, and then it blends. Keep doing it until you get it how you want to. If you’re still tapping too hard to smudge it, try using your ring finger on your non-dominant hand, it’ll give a lighter touch. Play around with it one day or evening until you get it how you want it. That’s what a lot of successful makeup application is-practice. 🙂
Are there any suggestions on how to pressure on cosmetic companies to broaden their product options? As someone who laughably falls within the “medium beige” section of the foundation world but is definitely not in the medium range in the wider world of skin tones, I’m really curious about this.
Also, is there any sense that with the growing presence of youtube makeup tutorials, especially by women of color, there might be some effort to change this? That being said, it seems like a lot of them are by women of East and SE Asian descent (not sure if that’s just observer bias on my part) and I don’t know if that’s enough to really create a paradigm shift.
There are some amazing makeup artists of color on YouTube, and I have no idea why more companies don’t HIRE THEM (I have some ideas, and they bum me out). Franchesca Ramsey is a natural hair/beauty expert/comedian who did the incredible “Shit White Girls Say to Black Girls” has talked extensively on Twitter about her frustration dealing with major beauty companies. She has a huge following, and she’s insanely talented, and someone should put her in charge of something.
I have heard of one being hired out by a makeup company, but that was on an article about the significant presence of people of color on youtube and twitter. (“significant” being relative to the overall presence in TV/movies/etc.) I will have to peek into Franchesca Ramsey though.. I don’t use twitter, but maybe I should start?
I remember being a preteen and noticing a new rotating rack that had just been put in at the drugstore with makeup specifically geared toward Black women. And it blew my mind, because a) previously there had been none, and b) as a white girl I hadn’t noticed, and c) how had I not noticed that all the makeup was for light-skinned people? Oh god, was I racist?!
And that was one of my first introductions to privilege.
With that in mind, I would like a list of companies that don’t offer shades for a wide range of skins, so that I can avoid giving them my money. From this article, it seems like Neutrogena and Rimmel should be avoided on that basis, and MAC celebrated? Anyone have additional ideas?
“There’s a trade-off present in most ‘natural’ makeup looks (an odious term I could write an entire article about) … ”
I’d read the shit out of an entire article about the odiousness of natural makeup.
Good God, me too. I would read that for DAYS. Bonus points if it touches on the idea of how people (mostly guys) will go on about “I like girls who don’t wear makeup!” when they actually mean “I like girls who wear makeup very subtly and in colours akin to their natural skin tones and who have glowing skin and groomed brows and nicely-done hair.” Because no makeup is not the same as “thoroughly made-up but subtly so.” AND I want to know why “natural makeup” simultaneously plays on our fears of “our natural selves are not good enough” AND at the same time, makes us believe that we don’t have to look like a glammed-up movie star to be beautiful! EVEN THOUGH some kinds of superglam makeup are EASIER to achieve than “no-makeup makeup!” AND I WANT TO KNOW why natural makeup is so often tied up in issues of class and economics! MAN I would read that.
When a guy says “I like women who don’t wear makeup,” I hear “I like to judge women based on things they can’t control, instead of things they can.”
Yes. When a guy says “I like women who don’t wear makeup,” I hear “I like to judge women and presume I’m entitled to do so.”
A guy making blanket statements of how he prefers women-in-general to present themselves (with the unstated assumption that we are presenting for his gratification) is a big red flag to me. The difference between “I like women without makeup” and “NICE KNOCKERS!” is a difference of degree, not of kind.
When a guy says “I like women who don’t wear makeup,” I say, “I like men who do.”
And then I just look at them. Expectantly.
Yeah, totally. That’s one of the more annoying things guys say. That, plus, things like, “you don’t know you’re beautiful, that’s what makes you beautiful.” Does anyone actually understand the quantum physics of that statement?
Yup. And “I have no idea that this is how I like to judge women.”
Same with “I like a girl who can go from blue jeans to ball gown in 10 minutes!” Protip, dudes of internet dating profile clichees: that would be Disney heroines and rom com girls. Unless you like your blue jeans women wearing a full face of makeup and hair with their jeans.
It’s… amazing.
aravisthequeen said perfectly what I didn’t say perfectly back at the Pin ages ago when some dude said “women! don’t do anything to your brows, we like them natural” and posted a photo of Madonna ca. 1986. Which is that… “natural” “looking natural” “made up” and “looking made up” get conflated into a big mess and that mess is hard to pick apart. And that maybe what you ought to do is say not “this process is sexy” but “this outcome/presentation is what is sexy to me.” Because you don’t probably actually know what women are doing to their bodies when you like the body you see in front of you.
Also, it masks the truth that conventionally attractive women tend to be conventionally attractive no matter what they have done to modify their appearance. The modifications tend to be more about presenting ones-self in a particular context for particular reasons. They have less to do with fundamentally, radically changing the way you look. Especially not according to social standards of the acceptable body.
I feel this way about Spanx, too. Shapewear doesn’t make you thin. It makes whatever body you have look more acceptable under whatever you are wearing by bringing that body closer to conventional norms. Basically, in Spanx you are mimicking a thin body, is what I mean.
No judgment on if this is a good thing or a bad thing. Any individual gets to choose and that’s okay. I just think the difference between what we are doing and what we say we are doing is interesting.
Hold on, now. I think that there are pros and cons to shape wear, but so many of the “down with Spanx!” I see online read suspiciously akin to the whole, “women in makeup look like clowns! Go natural ladeeez!” rants upon which I thought we had come here to rag. Spanx don’t make your body thin, but they do sometimes make formal clothes fit less awkwardly, and until Obama gives me the free personal tailor I was promised, and until women’s fancy clothes achieve the same armor-like structure as a good men’s suit, shapewear’s kind of where it’s at.
Yes, shapewear changes the appearance of your body, and there are complex reasons why a society that privileges the appearance of a non-lumpy body over a lumpy one is kind of a sick society. That said, move the line and see if the argument still holds: if you’re banging too hard on the drum of presenting the “natural” body, you move quickly into sketchy gender territory.
I… basically said that. Do I want my bridesmaid’s dress to look like it fits and isn’t pulling across my spare tire and then gathering and bunching above it? Well, I can have it altered (as if… I’ll save that money for hemming things I wear all the time). Or… I can wear Spanx. And when I buy those super-highwaisted Spanx, I’ve bought a garment that aligns my body with a shape that thin bodies are more inclined to be, seeing as how they haven’t got spare tires. Basically I went from apple-shaped to slightly-less-apple-shaped-and-more-hour-glass.
I am not lying when I say I don’t really have an opinion on whether that’s good or bad, or if there is a judgment on individual women in that observation. There isn’t, from me.
I crib my personal style philosophy from an episode of the late lamented Islamophonic podcast, in which a beauty editor for a magazine commented about men weighing in on wearing or not wearing of hijab. Unless invited in, “stay out of [other] womens’ closets.”
Besides, I need clothes that fit and look professional/appropriate, too. I want them to be pretty. I am just saying, while I think “well, damn, I need clothes that fit” the designers of clothes are saying “in order for this to fit, you must modify your body to be more like conventional standards of the acceptable body.”
It is what it is.
Oh, sorry, I misread your meaning! Sometimes the old comprehension, she ain’t what she could be.
In general, the Spanx debate is not super relevant to me, because I’ve worked out a “kooky aunt” style that doesn’t require a lot of polish, but when I need to dress up, foundation garments (not usually Spanx brand because they are both weak and expensive) make my lower end fancy clothes look fancier.
Not to worry.
The Auntie Mame look is a great look.
I have benefited from the fashion that is a waist line slightly higher than a “natural” waist and slightly lower than an empire waist. Mostly because my natural waist hits that slightly higher spot.
Alas, eShakt dresses are really long waisted, so I have trouble ordering from them. 🙁
And yeah. Spanx. They are such a ripoff.
I occasionally wear Spanx (I am a trans* dude) because if I don’t, my thigh chub rubs itself bloody and that’s no fun. Especially if I plan on walking long distances that day, or riding a bike. At all.
Let me tell you, very little makes me feel manlier than fumbling with my Spanx tension in the stall in a men’s bathroom to recombobulate myself … *pose* *flex*
I wish I could find some shorter-waisted ones. Control-top panty hose (with the legs cut off) just don’t have enough thigh-oomph to do much for me, but smoothing spandex all the way up my ribcage to just-below-moob range is kind of constricting. And hot. In summer. Ick.
This thread reminds me of this cartoon I saw on tumblr. I think it sums up the “natural makeup” problem pretty well but I would still enjoy reading a rant on the topic.
Editing in an attempt to link properly.
I’m just going to paste it in because I can’t html, apparently. 🙁
http://24.media.tumblr.com/431055c28676e93395a3ca…
Ha! Once I called a (relatively well-intentioned if oblivious) dude out on this phenomenon, and got “But you do look fine without makeup, just really, really hungover.”
Would you write that? Because you sound like you’re ready.
Very beginner(stupid) question: do you match your undertone to foundation? I have a yellow undertone, should I look for foundation with a yellow undertone, or something else to try to balance it? Should I use a color corrector (what even is this?)?
i believe the conventional wisdom is that you match to your undertone, because–think about it–otherwise your face would contrast wildly with your ears, neck, etc. color correctors are to get non-matching areas to match the overall color, like: green to cover up irritated red areas (like zits or rosacea) and i think yellow/orange to counteract the purple in dark circles.
You can’t be that beginner if you know your undertone color, because I certainly do not.
I dunno, sallow is a pretty easy color to spot!
themegnapkin = Meghan, at least in this instance. Wasn’t logged in when I first posted.
Wait but how are you supposed to tell what your “undertones” are? Everybody says look at your undertones but my skin just looks sort of peach to me. Helppppp
(I realize i am a white lady hijacking this conversation about ladies of color, pls flog me now)
seems like the internet makeup-obsessed do this by getting color-matched by MAC (which categories people by coolness and warmness and so on). my quick-and-dirty way of doing this that requires only a $1 Wet N Wild lipstick in 911D: do pinky reds look like red or like pink on you? if they look red, you are cool undertoned (pink/blue); if they look like magenta, you are warm undertoned.
Wow, that is a lot simpler than what I suggested. I almost want to try this out now just to see if I’m right. (I’ve been color-matched by MAC too, but… I kind of like seeing how I match up to things?)
Without actually seeing you, I would assume that if you think it looks “peach” then the undertones are probably on the yellow side? Just thinking of my colors here.
It’s kind of hard to describe, but it requires a lot of staring at your own skin in varying lights. For instance, my husband’s red undertones (he’s Black, and is actually medium-to-dark complexioned, not the pretend “medium-to-dark” of makeup companies) are really obvious in sunlight.
Yanno, I had a whole thing typed out about how this is so not a good thing (we all know this) and something something commodification and access to products. But really, it all boils down to “I wonder what Eunice Johnson had to say about all this when she was editing Ebony.
So a little bit of googling turned up the totally unsurprising answer of “Johnson started her own cosmetics line. Just like she started her own runway fashion shows.” Of course she did.
http://beautifulbrowngirls.com/2011/11/28/what-ha… http://shop.fashionfair.com/v/pxd/ff.html
Which is awesome. But you know, that’s no excuse for Rimmel and Neutrogena not to provide widely available colors in their mainstream lines. Especially since there are more non-white colors than Black. C’mon guys. Get your acts together.
Also, if you live in Chicago and have an afternoon free (or, make one free, it is worth it, I promise), can I urge you to go see this at the Chicago City History Museum?
http://chicagohistory.org/inspiringbeauty/about-5…
It is absolutely fantastic.
I was thinking of responding to BlushingFlower below with something along these lines. I was also thinking about how at least one of the first black female millionaires in the US made her fortune creating a line of hair products specifically for Black women. Thanks for all of those links, I haven’t seen the Fashion Fair line. (Of course, it’s not geared for me either but I like to know what’s out there!)
At the same time though, on a purely financial standpoint it seems absolutely ludicrous that more of the mainstream cosmetic companies aren’t looking at the US Census, thinking “huh, the future of this country is going to be majority people of color soon AND there is a growing number of people who identify as multiracial, maybe we should try to capture more of this market?”
ETA: I mean, come on, the RNC is even starting to openly raise this question, even if it’s in a halfassed way and trying to dodge any explicit mention of “race.”
Wait but how are you supposed to tell what your “undertones” are? Everybody says look at your undertones but my skin just looks sort of peach to me. Helppppp
(I realize i am a white lady hijacking this conversation about ladies of color, pls flog me now)
I’ve been using mineral make-up in the lightest pale-as-fuck shades available for years. Mostly Bare Minerals or Physicians Formula. I hate the caked-on feeling you get with most make-up, like my skin can’t breathe, and I am not too perfectionist about concealing “imperfections” because I straight up don’t really care? But I have enjoyed adding a BB cream as a base for my mineral foundation now and then and it is quite nice.
This is a super-interesting article and it’s awesome to see it’s here.
I do want to be a pedantic buzzkill for a sec and say “politically correct” is not the same as “restrained or coded or euphemistic so I don’t piss you off or sound harsh.” PC in the 90’s meant “making language mindful of diversity and privilege.” More or less, I just made that up, but as far as I remember that is what it meant when it was a term in the control of progressives thinking/talking about language. These days PC gets used by people who feel PC means “things I say/do instead of the things I am not allowed to say/do because some super-sensitive liberal pinko will get butthurt if I don’t.”
I personally would like politically correct as a term to die a quiet, peaceful death. But since that doesn’t seem to be likely any time soon, I’d like it to be used only by the “if I call you Miss you’ll get butthurt” crowd.
Um… yeah. So that’s irrelevant, except in the most general way.
Now, back to reading the article! About which I am excited!
RELEVANT.
Or, relevant. Yup. (Oh Stewart Lee!) Also… holy shit. Wow.
How does concealer even work because every time I try and use it it just looks like a weird splotch on my face
Um… I put on lipstick or eyeshadow primer on the spot before putting on concealer. I think it’s… I dunno. I know that sounds weird and industrial, but I find the concealer needs something better to stick to, and the primer helps smooth out the zit area without making it scaly or flaky. And then I blend like hell.
But I only do that when it is important to me not to have really obvious spots, because I can’t imagine it’s good for healing skin to have that gunk up in there for a whole day.
There doesn’t seem to be any colors for mixed race people like me. I’m olive-toned, but pale. So, fair colors look too pink and chalky on me. But medium tones look dark peachy on me. I basically end up mixing two different shades of Bare Minerals powders, and trying to adjust it as I tan or lose color with the seasons. But even they’re not quite right, just a little too pink. And yet the yellowy shades are way to yellow. I have no idea what color I am! It just means I have to apply my color very lightly. Which is probably just as well, because the heavier it goes on, the more it sticks in creases and wrinkles, and then I just look old. I try not to think too much about it, or it drives me nuts. I figure most people actually see what they want to see, and are not looking as closely as I am, and leave it at that.
Exact same issue here! My skin is just dark enough for most shades to give me what I call the “dusty shelf” look, but just light enough for “medium” and “olive” shades to sit like an awkward shadow. I have no advice for you, since I have yet to find an answer myself, but certainly a nod of commiseration.
My solution is just not to wear foundation. I will use tinted moisturizer, but I have to buy the absolute lightest shade they make. I was never very good at blending when I did use foundation, and a lot of the ones available in my skin tone definitely have the wrong undertone.
But I also have pretty decent skin and care more about having more time in the morning than I do about hiding any pimples or other blemishes I might have.
I notice that there do seem to be a lot of products in the drugstores aimed at women of color, but that may be a) because I live in DC and b) I notice them because they aren’t brands I’m familiar with growing up as a white girl in a very white community.
They are mostly aimed at Black women. I can’t really speak to whether or not they have really comprehensive range of shades there, but I know that as a SE Asian woman, I usually end up sticking to the mainstream cosmetic section.
I think the bigger issue that the post was trying to get at is that the cosmetic needs of Black women (in particular) tends to be largely overlook by the larger cosmetics industry, and particularly by higher end manufacturers.
This is what I get for trying to finish comments when I’m supposed to be in a meeting.
I live in a market that has a lot of African-American women in it, so of course anyone would be a fool not to sell to that market. However, I have no idea about the quality of the products offered at my local CVS or whether or not they carry a range of shades wide enough to work for the broad spectrum of skintones we call “black”. I would suspect not, since I know many white women who can’t find foundations/concealers (myself included) on drugstore shelves, and that’s a market that is generally better served. Add into that the number of women who are of mixed ethnic heritages and therefore don’t have skin tones that the industry expects them to have, and you have a huge number of women who don’t see themselves reflected in the products that are being marketed to them.
So yes, absolutely, it is a huge disservice to women who want to wear make-up, and it’s a foolish mistake on the part of businesses. Why are you trying to invent markets for products that don’t really work, instead of developing products for markets that already exist?
I LOVE THIS! LOVE! <3
People of all colors, in the U.S. and Canada, check out Face Atelier. They sell foundation and concealer in a wide variety of colors along with darkening, lightening, and “warming” liquids that you can add to each color to match your skin perfectly. It’s pricey, but you can order super-cheap samples online to try things out before you buy. ALSO, and here’s my favorite part: totally cruelty-free!
http://www.faceatelier.com
People of all colors, in the U.S. and Canada, check out Face Atelier. They sell foundation and concealer in a wide variety of colors along with darkening, lightening, and “warming” liquids that you can add to each color to match your skin perfectly. It’s pricey, but you can order super-cheap samples online to try things out before you buy. ALSO, and here’s my favorite part: totally cruelty-free!
http://www.faceatelier.com
People of all colors, in the U.S. and Canada, check out Face Atelier (www.faceatelier.com). They sell foundation and concealer in a wide variety of colors along with darkening, lightening, and “warming” liquids that you can add to each color to match your skin perfectly. It’s pricey, but you can order super-cheap samples online to try things out before you buy. ALSO, and here’s my favorite part: totally cruelty-free!
The insistence on marketing to a hypothetical middle ground is the worst. I’m pale and sallow and most drugstore foundation is too dark or too pink for me, and I’m only the tiniest bit off from the assumed “norm,” so I can only imagine how frustrating it is for someone looking for a dark shade with a red undertone, for example.
My current makeup love is Meow Cosmetics foundation. Their website is terrible, but down at the bottom of that page are foundation families organized by undertone and available from Lightest to Very Dark. It’s where I was finally able to find a light, light yellow-based foundation (after a misguided young life spent wearing L’Oreal’s lightest shade and looking like a weird statue).
First comment, and I hope this isn’t spam, but this sounds like the perfect time to plug/complain about LaurEss, the company I buy my mineral foundation from. The color system used to be so perfect and an awesome model on how to combat this problem. The foundation shades were classified first according to underlying hue, so there would be one category for people with deep pink/red undertones, one for slightly pink/red, one for neutral, one for olive, one for slightly yellow, and one for deep yellow. And all of these hues came in a wide range of both light and dark — and if you were an in-betweenie on either of those scales, they would custom-blend for you. It was so perfect as a model for how to do business selling makeup while not being racist. UNFORTUNATELY, the darker shades aren’t shown on the website anymore (you can still request and purchase them) because apparently not enough people were ordering them? So the company decided the solution was to stop advertising them at all and just cater to the white people like every other company in the country??? *incoherent cry of frustration* Why do makeup companies do this?
First comment, and also hoping this doesn’t sound spam-y. I am an independent beauty consultant from Mary Kay, and while I’m white myself, non-white skin tones, especially darker ones, often require a lot of tries to get right. The company has (in my opinion anyway) a decent range of shades and undertones, but even then there might be a chance you have to blend two shades to get them right for your skin. However, one thing the company prides itself on is matching foundation. We have cards, charts with undertones and what colors will work for you, and so many materials we can use to find that, plus if you schedule a skin-matching facial or makeover (which is totally free), you get to try the product on your skin and see how it feels, what it covers, does this color work, in addition to having someone guide you. There are a lot of different types of foundations and colors as well. And if you purchase foundation and then realize it’s not the right shade, you can return it (even opened!) until you get a shade you’re happy with. Most of my makeup my whole life has been from here, so I can’t speak for other brands, but as someone with olive toned dark (really just perpetually tan) skin I’ve been able to find what’s right for me (generally other places my foundation has been yellow not olive. Way to look like I’m sick!). If you go on the Mary Kay website you can enter your zip code and find someone to help you find a great makeup shade in whatever amount of coverage you want. Try before you buy is seriously the best thing, wherever you go.
I just recently found this site and love it by the way!
For my foundations, I really like Mary Kay. They do seem to have more shades out side of Ivory and Beige than I usually see, and with the consultants I can try their wares before I buy. Unfortunately I’m kinda cheep and it can be a bit pricy, but I like it.
This is high level wizardry as far as my purposes are concerned, but at least now I’ve confirmed the fancy concealer I bought looks off b/c I do, indeed, have red undertones, and not b/c I’m using it incorrectly. Thanks, Toast.
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