As you can imagine, one of the best perks of being a beauty editor is the amount of exposure I have to all of the new products on the market. On an average day, I am introduced to anywhere between 30 to 40 products a day, ten of which I often receive by mail. By far, my favorite products of the moment are Korean-inspired: from cushion foundations to sheet masks.
Every once in a while a makeup product comes across my desk that is so innovative, so exciting and so beautifully packaged that I can’t help but share it with everyone in the ESSENCE office. However, more often than not that excitement is met with disappointment when I discover that the brand created an entire line of products without acknowledging the exisitence of someone my complexion (a rich chocolate hue) — or anything close to it.
The beauty market is flooded with products made for fair or olive colored skinned beauties, with products coming in soft hues like “beige,” “bisque” or “tan.” Meanwhile, women of African and Indian descent, with red or yellow undertones, are often overlooked in the beauty-sphere. Women of color are left to find a place within an industry that on a whole is still only beginning to acknowledge their existence. Ultimately we’re forced to become beauty alchemists, mixing and matching various concealers and foundations until we concoct a hue that “almost” works.
So, as a call to action for the multitude of brands that subject us to the land of “almost there” beauty, we’ve rounded up a list of products that we’d love, love, love to the very last drop if only they came in a wider and more inclusive range of shades. Fingers crossed!