-or-
(Why Does my Makeup make me look like an Oompa Loompa?)
(Printed with permission By: D. Swanick)
(Why Does my Makeup make me look like an Oompa Loompa?)
(Printed with permission By: D. Swanick)
I’ve worked in the cosmetics industry since 1987 working for many cosmetic companies on hundreds of products. My specialty is with color cosmetics and as such I’ve had the opportunity to not only become an expert eye in creating new colors, but I’ve also learned how and why colors look differently on different people. Anyone with a skin tone darker than dark Caucasian knows how hard it is to find a foundation that doesn’t make you look ‘ashy’. Even people who wear the standard light, medium and dark shades sometimes deal with the dreaded ‘orange mask’. We’ve become so accustomed as consumers to accept what is given to us, that we never really learn, why things are the way they are and that we don’t have to accept what we don’t want.
Over the years I’ve listened to a lot of different pitches describing why makeup makes some people look ashy and others look like oompa loompa’s, but no one has really gotten it right. The truth is that few companies develop and manufacture their own products and many companies rely on contract manufacturers to develop and produce their products, that being the case, almost all foundations are developed using the following colors, iron oxide(s), red, yellow, black and titanium dioxide. I’m sure some companies will read this and say, oh no, we use umber or brown, when in reality, umber and brown are made with iron oxide red, yellow and black. The iron oxides are very earthy colors, being more variations of muted, muddy browns than actually red and yellow. The brown nature of iron oxides lends themselves to the basic beige that most skin tones look like and by using titanium dioxide (white) to control the opacity or reflectance of the color, we can generally mimic the lightness and darkness of skin colors.
The problem arises because even though the used colors sort of look like the color of skin, they aren’t. True skin tones are a combination of opacity/reflectance (white) and red, yellow and blue: Black, if used at all is strictly used to control tone. Since almost all of the foundations on the market use iron oxides and no blue, to get a darker color the white is reduced and the black is increased and that is where the ashy-ness comes from; not from white but from black, because black, not being a color that really makes up skin color will make skin appear ashy when used. Likewise with lighter colors, since blue is not used in most foundations, if you are not lucky enough to fit into the exact color that you are wearing, you will tend to get a yellow or orange cast to your foundation.
The reason companies use iron oxides and white is because blue is a difficult color to work with in foundations. The use of this pigment costs more and requires skill on the part of the formulators and manufacturers. The use of purple or green in foundations also requires skill in formulating/manufacturing and drives up the cost so companies generally use the pigments they are used to using and hope that the consumers will just accept a product that doesn’t really work for them.
Another trick companies use, is to create very shear makeup formulas and claim that the colors will match up to 90 or 95% of their users. This method shows itself every few years and people will flock to try the new product, only to sadly discover that the color matches their skin color “sort of”, because the makeup is so transparent, most of their skin color shows through as does the color variations they are trying to equalize with the foundation in the first place. The cycle of trying to find the right product can be maddening. But solutions are beginning to become available.
When I worked on a reformulation of Bare Minerals in the late 90’s I began to incorporate some of the lessons I learned about skin color from prior companies I worked for such as Revlon, Max Factor and Cover Girl; into the new shades, and the success of that brand over the last decade has shown that my ideas did help to make a difference in the quality of choice that consumers have available to them. More recently I was given the complete freedom to create a formula for By Jove Cosmetics, which completely incorporated my ideas of skin colors based on the red, yellow, blue principles of color matching and the result was By Jove’s TRU2U foundation and especially their Ultra Matrix 3000 custom cosmetic kits. For consumers looking for true color matches companies like By Jove will ultimately provide for them what so many mass market companies have been unable to.
When you search for a foundation, never feel rushed in your decision. Try the shade on your hand using a tester at the store and if you can’t find a sample there, request one from the brands website, usually samples are available from manufacturers for a minimal cost (usually shipping & handling). When you look at the color try to do so in natural light. Store fluorescent lights tend to cast blue tones and will make a makeup look better on your skin than it really does; that’s why so often a color looks great in the store and looks off when you wear it later.
When you find a color that works for you and that product is discontinued try to save a portion of the discontinued makeup you have and research companies that do custom blending. With a specific shade name or better yet a portion of your foundation, any capable color chemist will be able to match your shade perfectly, a search on the Internet for custom blended makeup , custom blend cosmetics or custom blended foundation will yield results for a number of companies. Typical custom blending usually costs between $45.00 to $75.00 per ounce of makeup and the By Jove Cosmetics foundation kits start at $29.95 for enough materials to produce up to 2 ounces of finished makeup.
Over the years I’ve listened to a lot of different pitches describing why makeup makes some people look ashy and others look like oompa loompa’s, but no one has really gotten it right. The truth is that few companies develop and manufacture their own products and many companies rely on contract manufacturers to develop and produce their products, that being the case, almost all foundations are developed using the following colors, iron oxide(s), red, yellow, black and titanium dioxide. I’m sure some companies will read this and say, oh no, we use umber or brown, when in reality, umber and brown are made with iron oxide red, yellow and black. The iron oxides are very earthy colors, being more variations of muted, muddy browns than actually red and yellow. The brown nature of iron oxides lends themselves to the basic beige that most skin tones look like and by using titanium dioxide (white) to control the opacity or reflectance of the color, we can generally mimic the lightness and darkness of skin colors.
The problem arises because even though the used colors sort of look like the color of skin, they aren’t. True skin tones are a combination of opacity/reflectance (white) and red, yellow and blue: Black, if used at all is strictly used to control tone. Since almost all of the foundations on the market use iron oxides and no blue, to get a darker color the white is reduced and the black is increased and that is where the ashy-ness comes from; not from white but from black, because black, not being a color that really makes up skin color will make skin appear ashy when used. Likewise with lighter colors, since blue is not used in most foundations, if you are not lucky enough to fit into the exact color that you are wearing, you will tend to get a yellow or orange cast to your foundation.
The reason companies use iron oxides and white is because blue is a difficult color to work with in foundations. The use of this pigment costs more and requires skill on the part of the formulators and manufacturers. The use of purple or green in foundations also requires skill in formulating/manufacturing and drives up the cost so companies generally use the pigments they are used to using and hope that the consumers will just accept a product that doesn’t really work for them.
Another trick companies use, is to create very shear makeup formulas and claim that the colors will match up to 90 or 95% of their users. This method shows itself every few years and people will flock to try the new product, only to sadly discover that the color matches their skin color “sort of”, because the makeup is so transparent, most of their skin color shows through as does the color variations they are trying to equalize with the foundation in the first place. The cycle of trying to find the right product can be maddening. But solutions are beginning to become available.
When I worked on a reformulation of Bare Minerals in the late 90’s I began to incorporate some of the lessons I learned about skin color from prior companies I worked for such as Revlon, Max Factor and Cover Girl; into the new shades, and the success of that brand over the last decade has shown that my ideas did help to make a difference in the quality of choice that consumers have available to them. More recently I was given the complete freedom to create a formula for By Jove Cosmetics, which completely incorporated my ideas of skin colors based on the red, yellow, blue principles of color matching and the result was By Jove’s TRU2U foundation and especially their Ultra Matrix 3000 custom cosmetic kits. For consumers looking for true color matches companies like By Jove will ultimately provide for them what so many mass market companies have been unable to.
When you search for a foundation, never feel rushed in your decision. Try the shade on your hand using a tester at the store and if you can’t find a sample there, request one from the brands website, usually samples are available from manufacturers for a minimal cost (usually shipping & handling). When you look at the color try to do so in natural light. Store fluorescent lights tend to cast blue tones and will make a makeup look better on your skin than it really does; that’s why so often a color looks great in the store and looks off when you wear it later.
When you find a color that works for you and that product is discontinued try to save a portion of the discontinued makeup you have and research companies that do custom blending. With a specific shade name or better yet a portion of your foundation, any capable color chemist will be able to match your shade perfectly, a search on the Internet for custom blended makeup , custom blend cosmetics or custom blended foundation will yield results for a number of companies. Typical custom blending usually costs between $45.00 to $75.00 per ounce of makeup and the By Jove Cosmetics foundation kits start at $29.95 for enough materials to produce up to 2 ounces of finished makeup.
