Brilliant post!!! It is so bloody hard to find my foundation colour and so I am forced to buy 2 shades and mix them together!
Really hope cosmetic brands make a change soon. Have to say it's particularly more difficult to find a foundation on the high street, the range tends to be rather limited. When I read the amazing reviews of the latest High Street foundation like Bourjois Healthy Mix my heart sinks when I see the shade range.
Great post, I work for a big cosmetic company that sells foundations for every skin tone. I am constantly amazed by the amount of ladies (from both ends of the shades) that really struggle to find a foundation that matches their skin tone, especially within cheaper ranges and especially in the UK! Cosmetic companies really need to get a grip on this situation.
Brilliant post!! It can get very depressing for a WOC living in UK when trying to buy cosmetics, the range is just so limited and when it comes to drugstore the always seems to be that one shade that meant to be a one shade first all
And to answer your question, no there are no bb cream available for the ladies at the darker shade of the skin spectrum.
I totally love this post! i find it hard finding a foundation to fit my skin. MAC had to mix two to get it to the same tone for me. Hopefully this changes soon. Love your blog.
Interesting post, finding the right foundation color for warm toned is indeed hard to find. I go through a lot of brands and shade to blend in order for me to find the right one.
Hallelujah! Thank you for writing this, because it does seem that it doesn't matter how many black and Asian women complain about the exclusionary nature of most makeup ranges, unless we have a concerted effort to raise awareness, it just isn't listened to.
It's absolutely dismaying to hear of Iman's experiences, but not surprising. If you consider that even Sleek (the one groundbreaking range that caters for a wide range of skin tones at affordable prices) doesn't sell its full foundation range in Superdrugs, it should indicate the range of the problem.
Whilst the commenter above who works for the big cosmetics company is well-meaning, I think the whole statement that a range can cater for "every skin tone" is misleading. Even MAC doesn't - it doesn't cater for super-pale, and it doesn't cater for yellow toned dark skins like South Asian skintones - its darker ranges focus on cool and orange toned dark skins. I miss Prescriptives which was the only brand to recognise the complexity of skin tone and to offer a product that could be custom-matched.
That said, offering two or even six shades of a product that you want to be accessible to a whole market is unacceptable. And, if you think that in a few years, Britain will be coming up to 50% mixed race, it'll just be plain stupid, economically.
As an aside, I've found that the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB is the only one that comes in a shade that I can work with as an NC35. The Garnier Medium is ok for me in winter - as you recommended, it does work on darker skins (but not the darkest).
It is also really strange that the shade range for foundation of the same brand varies from country to country. Where I currently live, for example, we usually get even fewer shades than in neighbouring countries. The shades missing are often the lightest and the darkest. I've asked why this is in stores and am always told that these shades don't sell well enough. How can they tell, though, if these shades have never been available?
So what people like me do is to order the lighter or darker shade online from a different country, but that means that everyone who does not fit the prescribed shade range has to go the extra mile, take the risk of buying sight unseen and pay p&p, tax etc. Discrimination, much?
Thank you for writing this post. I saw a similar story in the Stylist a few weeks ago and what your saying is absolutely key. If more colours were available, more products would be sold. I have noticed though, that there has been an improvement in colour choices for women of colour. In terms of foundations and coverage, there are a selection of brands that now cater for all tones, but there is still some way to go for many.
Very well said. I'm white and think this is an issue which needs to be addressed for women of colour, wherever they live.
When a company doesn't carry a shade to suit EVERYONE it's as good as saying 'You don't belong!' and that sucks arse, quite frankly.
Far from stores wanting to put Iman's make up at the back of stores, it's a no-brainer it should be put at the front. Were a store ballsy enough to do this, I'm sure WOC would vote with their wallets.
I'm a plus size woman and if stores don't carry clothes that fit me, I refuse to buy accessories or shoes from them, instead shopping with people who cater to me and deserve my £££. The same could well be applied to WOC and make up to suit them - if a store or brand doesn't take you into consideration, they don't deserve your hard-earned moolah!
The excuse that we wouldn't make enough money for them is garbage and these companies know it. The reason behind a lack of sales is probably down to the fact that the bulk of cosmetics advertising doesn't feature WOC. If nobody is aware then of course there will be hardly any sales. 2012 and Boots and Superdrug self selection stands still have little to no shades of foundations for WOC. Its pretty sad. The majority of women I know are forced to purchase from higher priced brands such as MAC/Nars/Bobbi Brown because their local high street doesn't cater to them. We are interested and we're willing to part with our money but first you need to recognise that yes, we do exist.
It's much better in higer priced ranges but drug store is still lacking. If you go to the states you can find a much better selection for the lower end. In the past I have resorted to using cosmetics ala carte custom bend makeup which is fab but costly. I have also found if you venture in to the "ethnic" stores, while they stock makeup for WOC the some of the formulations are not as good as those available in Boots and Superdrugs for the lighter shades.
12 comments:
Brilliant post!!! It is so bloody hard to find my foundation colour and so I am forced to buy 2 shades and mix them together!
Really hope cosmetic brands make a change soon. Have to say it's particularly more difficult to find a foundation on the high street, the range tends to be rather limited. When I read the amazing reviews of the latest High Street foundation like Bourjois Healthy Mix my heart sinks when I see the shade range.
Great post, I work for a big cosmetic company that sells foundations for every skin tone. I am constantly amazed by the amount of ladies (from both ends of the shades) that really struggle to find a foundation that matches their skin tone, especially within cheaper ranges and especially in the UK! Cosmetic companies really need to get a grip on this situation.
Brilliant post!! It can get very depressing for a WOC living in UK when trying to buy cosmetics, the range is just so limited and when it comes to drugstore the always seems to be that one shade that meant to be a one shade first all
And to answer your question, no there are no bb cream available for the ladies at the darker shade of the skin spectrum.
I totally love this post! i find it hard finding a foundation to fit my skin. MAC had to mix two to get it to the same tone for me. Hopefully this changes soon. Love your blog.
Nafisah xo
Interesting post, finding the right foundation color for warm toned is indeed hard to find. I go through a lot of brands and shade to blend in order for me to find the right one.
Hallelujah! Thank you for writing this, because it does seem that it doesn't matter how many black and Asian women complain about the exclusionary nature of most makeup ranges, unless we have a concerted effort to raise awareness, it just isn't listened to.
It's absolutely dismaying to hear of Iman's experiences, but not surprising. If you consider that even Sleek (the one groundbreaking range that caters for a wide range of skin tones at affordable prices) doesn't sell its full foundation range in Superdrugs, it should indicate the range of the problem.
Whilst the commenter above who works for the big cosmetics company is well-meaning, I think the whole statement that a range can cater for "every skin tone" is misleading. Even MAC doesn't - it doesn't cater for super-pale, and it doesn't cater for yellow toned dark skins like South Asian skintones - its darker ranges focus on cool and orange toned dark skins. I miss Prescriptives which was the only brand to recognise the complexity of skin tone and to offer a product that could be custom-matched.
That said, offering two or even six shades of a product that you want to be accessible to a whole market is unacceptable. And, if you think that in a few years, Britain will be coming up to 50% mixed race, it'll just be plain stupid, economically.
As an aside, I've found that the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB is the only one that comes in a shade that I can work with as an NC35. The Garnier Medium is ok for me in winter - as you recommended, it does work on darker skins (but not the darkest).
I still have 2 foundations I bought from Prescriptive over 15 years ago. I give them a good shake every now and again. And a dusting.
It's very poor and quite shocking; the situation seems to have not improved at all.
It is also really strange that the shade range for foundation of the same brand varies from country to country. Where I currently live, for example, we usually get even fewer shades than in neighbouring countries. The shades missing are often the lightest and the darkest. I've asked why this is in stores and am always told that these shades don't sell well enough. How can they tell, though, if these shades have never been available?
So what people like me do is to order the lighter or darker shade online from a different country, but that means that everyone who does not fit the prescribed shade range has to go the extra mile, take the risk of buying sight unseen and pay p&p, tax etc. Discrimination, much?
Thank you for writing this post. I saw a similar story in the Stylist a few weeks ago and what your saying is absolutely key. If more colours were available, more products would be sold. I have noticed though, that there has been an improvement in colour choices for women of colour. In terms of foundations and coverage, there are a selection of brands that now cater for all tones, but there is still some way to go for many.
Very well said. I'm white and think this is an issue which needs to be addressed for women of colour, wherever they live.
When a company doesn't carry a shade to suit EVERYONE it's as good as saying 'You don't belong!' and that sucks arse, quite frankly.
Far from stores wanting to put Iman's make up at the back of stores, it's a no-brainer it should be put at the front. Were a store ballsy enough to do this, I'm sure WOC would vote with their wallets.
I'm a plus size woman and if stores don't carry clothes that fit me, I refuse to buy accessories or shoes from them, instead shopping with people who cater to me and deserve my £££. The same could well be applied to WOC and make up to suit them - if a store or brand doesn't take you into consideration, they don't deserve your hard-earned moolah!
The excuse that we wouldn't make enough money for them is garbage and these companies know it. The reason behind a lack of sales is probably down to the fact that the bulk of cosmetics advertising doesn't feature WOC. If nobody is aware then of course there will be hardly any sales. 2012 and Boots and Superdrug self selection stands still have little to no shades of foundations for WOC. Its pretty sad. The majority of women I know are forced to purchase from higher priced brands such as MAC/Nars/Bobbi Brown because their local high street doesn't cater to them. We are interested and we're willing to part with our money but first you need to recognise that yes, we do exist.
It's much better in higer priced ranges but drug store is still lacking. If you go to the states you can find a much better selection for the lower end. In the past I have resorted to using cosmetics ala carte custom bend makeup which is fab but costly. I have also found if you venture in to the "ethnic" stores, while they stock makeup for WOC the some of the formulations are not as good as those available in Boots and Superdrugs for the lighter shades.
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