What does the color ‘nude’ mean now in an increasingly diverse world?
They join new and legacy beauty lines dedicated to women with deeper and multiethnic complexions, including Iman Cosmetics, black|Up Cosmetics (If you try it, consider the brand’s Nude Nail Lacquer and Perfect Nude Lip Balm, $12.50 and $27 respectively), Fashion Fair and Mixed Chicks, which sells makeup and hair-care products.
Last year, actress Eva Mendes introduced Circa Beauty makeup because she found it difficult to find a foundation color to match her skin, particularly during the early days of her career.
“I’m Cuban American,” Mendes says. “And under the Latin umbrella, a lot of people don’t realize the diversity among us.” She says it was important for her to be able to have beauty products to serve this diverse community.
Romanowski cites Lancôme’s line of foundations including foundation sticks, creams and liquids such as the brand’s Nude Miracle Weightless Foundation and L’Oréal Paris True Match makeup as standouts from larger brands for their color range and the brands themselves for using diverse spokesmodels in their marketing campaigns.
Cosmetic chemist Balanda Atis, manager of L’Oréal’s Women of Color Lab, also has been examining color and the expanding beauty landscape.
“As a woman of color myself – and speaking for friends and family … for many years we were challenged with finding the right foundation shade,” says Atis, who has collected skin-tone data from more than 57 countries of origin. L’Oréal’s products are available in more than 140 countries.
“Almost everyone has their own unique skin-tone [identification],” says Atis, mentioning an October 2013 National Geographic article about the growing U.S. multiethnic demographics and what Americans will look like in 2050.
“Every day new skin tones are born,” she says.
