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Do you still buy from brands that don't cater towards your skin tone?
Do you still buy from brands that don’t cater towards your skin tone? (e.g. no foundation matches) Or do you find it difficult to purchase from them?
Yes, I definitely do. I don’t necessarily need foundation in every brand, so if they have something that works for me, whether it’s foundation or lipstick or mascara, that’s what I care about.
Thanks to Kysha for today’s question! Got a question idea? Submit yours here.
Sure I do! Otherwise I wouldn’t have an extremely limited range of brands, once a ghostly pale gril hardly finds a match! That’s why “democratic” products (aka products supposed to match everyone) are usually more popular and reviewed. By the way, I know you’re the swatches girl, but I miss foundations and concealers reviews around here… 🙁 Lovely job you do!
*Otherwise I WOULD have
what does this mean exactly? I haven’t really come into any contact with a brand that doesn’t cater to my skin tone. i mean I find the mac foundations to be not to my liking but i’m sure if i wore their lightest color, I wouldnt look completely awful. I think if you’re light skinned, you wont have a problem but sometimes i wonder what girls who are very deep-toned (like Alec Wek) do.
being dark skin is hard when using makeup. i buy all types of makeup
btw i love your site and how truthful you are
I’m a MAC NC40 and I have many difficulties to find a similar shade for my skintone in other brands.
This is because here in Italy are not distributed all shades of foundation of any brand and most are for me or too light, or too pinkish or too brownish and darker.
So for many years I only use MAC foundations and sometimes repurchase also Revlon Colostay.
For autumn/winter season I would try Givenchy Photo’Perfexion foundation becouse the shade 07 Perfect Gold seems good for my skintone..I hope! 😉
If I only bought from brands that catered to my skintone in foundation then I would be buying from very few brands! I’m pale and quite often the lightest shade of foundation isn’t light enough for me.
But, like you, I don’t need foundations from every brand. I can usually find something that catches my attention from most brands!
Absolutely not. I used to do it before I moved abroad for half a year, but I got kind of annoyed at how few women of color were represented in beauty ads and realized how many companies did not have women of color as a real customer base in mind (which was reflected in the way the employees who sold those brands reacted to me as a customer). After a while I figured that I could spend my money on brands that did not have me as a customer in mind and at stores that did not have me as a customer in mind, or I could take my money elsewhere. I was not only more satisfied with the products but also the shopping experience as a whole.
ITA
I always seem to find something from each brand that I like and that works for me.
Just Chanel. Their glossimers, mascaras and blushes are too awesome to pass up. Besides, mufe makes my HG foundations, so I don’t need to buy anywhere else.
No because I mostly just buy MAC. Once in a while I’ll buy Revlon, or maybe I’ll look at Nars.
Luckily all the brands I but from cater to my NC50 skintone. However once in a while I’ll buy from Urban Decay or Stila both companies don’t have foundations for skintones that deep.
I have my MAC foundation, and I’m not looking for anything else.
A lot of brands don’t cater to dark skin, and often don’t come out with shades that are flattering on darker skin. I don’t really consciously choose not to buy from those brands, but brands like MAC and MUFE (being brands that cater to the needs of makeup artists) tend to have many more flattering options for all skin tones, which is why I wind up going for them more than others.
I definitely have! I recently purchased Nars Sheer Glow foundation because I was so impressed with the finish even though the colour range available in Australia does not really cater for pink undertones (I am Mac NW15). I make it work by applying with my fingers to get a sheer coverage-still looks great!
absolutely not 🙂
Do you mean… Do I buy products that don’t cater to my ethnic group? Unsure of what this question means exactly?
It could be that they specifically don’t cater or they don’t do it well or certainly don’t have the right match for you (but doesn’t seemingly miss a particular grouping of skin tones).
I do if they have something similar that just doesn’t work. But if they have nowhere near my foundation color I steer clear. I figure if a makeup brand isn’t even trying to get me to buy foundation(the one constant in a makeup routine that doesn’t go away – unlike blue eyeshadow lol) then they clearly don’t want me as a customer.
Yes. I have ready established MUFE as a brand that has my color foundation, and Mat
Velvet as my choice formula. I used to you MAC and they have my color too. After that, if I like a product from a brand I’ll purchase it.
It’s not so much that I purposely try not to buy from makeup companies that don’t match my skintone, it’s more that the other stuff available doesn’t really appeal to me. For example, Benefit and Stila. They don’t make foundation shades for skin as dark as mine, and the colours of eyeshadow and lip stuff aren’t really the bright, vibrant shades that I like wearing.
Benefit’s only claim to fame is their ditzy retro-wannabe packaging anyway.
I try to stay away from brands that don’t feel the need to carry my shade of foundation. Theorectically speaking in makeup, you are supposed to start with an even skintone and then build ur lip,eye,cheek area from there. So…if this brand doesn’t feel the need to provide the proper building blocks for my look, why should I consider their lipsticks, blushes, or eyeshadows? I can’t say I’m 100% faithful to this concept but it is something that is always in the back of my mind when I pass the Dior or Chanel counters; as an example. Is the Chanel Glossimer really worth me purchasing? Clearly, Chanel doesn’t feel that my dollar is worth anything to them if they dont even want to carry my shade in foundation (NC50 for reference). Just food for thought. And sorry to my pale friends out there, there are SO many companies to choose from if you are of a medium to light skintone, you probably don’t even realize that for us darker beauties, it’s rough out there.
It doesn’t bother me- I’ll usually have no more than six foundations I rotate through. I’m more interested in new lipsticks and eye shadows, and most companies will have shades in those that work for me.
MAC doesn’t match my skin colour and I still buy from them, just nothing like foundation and concealer!
I usually avoid Bobbi Brown counters since their foundation is too yellow for me– it looks downright orange on my skin. But I have been known to buy eyeshadows from BB every now and then.
MAC and Clinique give me a grey tone, so I stay away from their foundations/pressed powders but I like MAC’s brushes, lipsticks and eyeshadows and I love All Abiut Eyes form Clinique, all the otehr skincare products give me milia. I stick to Estee Lauder Doublewear light and Lancome Mineral Powder bc they are oil free, have a nice range and never break me out. I would love tp try Chanel foundation but I’m afraid to get hooked becasue of the $$ 🙁
No, I don’t. If you don’t have the time nor money to make shades for women of color then I do not have the time or money for your products.
Mhm! Make up Forever doesn’t have my perfect match but I still buy from them.
I admit it! I shy away from brands that don’t cater to my skin tone. Over the years, I’ve found that if brands that don’t carry at least foundation that matches my coloring, chances are that a good portion of their products don’t suit me. Often, the color palettes or formulations look very ashy or awkward on me.
Let me see. I normally buy from NARS, MAC, Laura Mercier, Urban Decay and Bare Escentuals. Out of those, only NARS, LM and BE cater to my skin tone. The rest I just go to for blushes and eyeshadows. So I guess I kinda do…it depends whether the brands that don’t have other things I want. It’s really hard for me to find a matching foundation though so I can kinda see why not a lot of foundations work on me.
Yes! Too dark for Benefit, but I like their cream shadows and eyeshadow primer.
I haven’t ever thought about it, mainly because I don’t wear foundation and I rarely wear concealer (yay good skin). I don’t think my skin tone is difficult to match up to, though (NW25 normally, except when I choose to tan during the summer). If they didn’t make it in my skin tone, though, I wouldn’t.
Yes; Chanel and Dior are examples of companies that do not carry a foundation I would use, but I like their eyeshadows. Not every line has everything for everyone. Bobbi Brown can’t do eye pencils; for a long time she didn’t have my foundation color so I used MAC or MUFE. Now she has Cool Beige which IS my skin.
Blushes from some lines are very superior to others. I guess that’s why makeup shopping is a lot more complicated nowadays, but it is also more fun.
If a makeup line isn’t even *attempting* to provide foundation in shades for darker skin tones then I figure that they don’t want my business and I steer clear of the line all-together.
Yep, I never just stick to one makeup brand.
Being a “light skined Africanamerican” MAC NC45 I dont really have a hard time finding foundations to match my skin tone….but if a make-up line dose not cater to my darker skin sisters then I dont have interest in that line…..beauty come in all shades
I most certainly do.
A foundation selection of a brand doesn’t have anything to do with its mascaras eg.
And the shade doesn’t do anything if the formula sucks.
I won’t buy foundation but other products that work for me or I want to try I’ll buy. For example NARS foundation doesn’t have a shade that matches me but I still love their lipsticks, blush and eyeshadow.
I definitely don’t. I’ve got olive skin, and I would never buy anything from Clinique (which is for pink undertones).
thats very true most makeup brands dont cater to dark skin gals. i dont usually have a problem i buy from all brands but i dont search for many foundation im a mac nc 25 and i stick with my mineralized skinfinish natural,
If I didn’t buy from brands that did not cater my skintone I would end up with nothing. I’m very, very pale but not a rosy pale, and very, very few carter that. The only foundation I’ve found that suits my skintone is the Illamasqua 115, all other brands pale foundations look either pink or if one step darker, orange. One thing that really irritates me is that when brands say they will do new foundations and concealers for ALL skin tones, it usually means dark. Hey, I get it, dark foundation tones are hard to find to, but they forget those of us who are very pale. Same with products for summer, like bronzer. Very few make a bronzer that actually doesnt look like smudged dirt on me. Again, the only brand I’ve found is Illamasquas Bebhionn. Thank godness for those pasty brits!
I wouldn’t say that I wouldn’t buy from brands with a diverse range of foundations, but I do notice it. (Burberry for instance) I think it’s very telling about who they are marketing to. I don’t know, but I think it means something…
YES, YES AND MORE YES!! LOL One of my favorite brands is Urban Decay.
Would I do that, I could not buy anything anymore, because I`m NC5. I could wear NC15 if they’d would not oxidise all the time, but most of MAC’s formulas tend to do it (Mineralize, Sculpt etc), only Select did not and it was d/ced in this colour.
There are some brands with very light foundation colours, like NARS or MUFE and also drugstore brands offering light shades (some of Maybelline), ONLY that this is not sold in Germany, either completely not, like NARS and MUFE, or it is sold, but without the wide colour range that is presented in the US; we only get the “medium” shades. This is inexplicable, since here are a lot of pale people.
So I still buy make-up from brands that currently offer nothing for my colouring, foundationwise, since they might still have other make-up products which suit me well. However, there are a couple of brands where in general the colour-palette is not so interesting for me, such as Chanel or Dior, or also Revlon, so I do not buy from them.
As you can see, it does not have to do directly with the foundation-shades but more with the general range.
definitly nooooooooooooooooo, i hate brown tone skinfinisk or blushes too strong for me because i’m fair skin
Sometimes. For example I buy DiorShow from Dior cosmetics and I have purchased 2 lipglosses and a nail polish form Chanel. Neither one of these have foundations or concealers anywhere near my skintone.
Usually not. I don’t wear foundation, but its a pretty good guide that if a company doesn’t offer a range of shades for darker skin, I’m not going to be looking for their collections. I may buy something on occasion not related to skintone like mascara, but that may be it. I navigate toward lines that at least try to operate as if women of darker (or very light) complexions existed.
No. The MAIN reason why MAC is so popular and makes money is cos they consider ALL ranges of skin tone..I was surprised when I was able to get the F&B in N12 when I thought N9 was last option and it didnt work for me. Im actually upset I missed Francisco Nars’ facebook chat, else I would have asked him why he doesnt feature black models especially in the tutorial videos like Mac does. Im just glad Nars at least has foundation and such for dark tone women.
Companies like Almay and the like dont get a dime from me. If they cant consider the fact that there are many of us who arent Halle berry’s shade that wear makeup(they dont even carry for her shade), then they dont deserve my money.