I felt so pretty! It was the perfect neutral shade that complimented my skin tone and I could wear it every day. The gloss was called ‘Cheeky,’ a Fenty Beauty New Years’ limited-edition gloss. The first time I found my perfect shade was my sophomore year in college. That’s kinda stuck with me even now because that’s all I will wear on my lips. When I reached my pre-teens, I was only allowed to wear lip glosses to school. I tried lipstick because I wanted to mimic her confidence and beauty. My mother is a gorgeous woman, and I wanted to be just like her. Growing up, she would let me play in her makeup and try on all her lipstick shades.
#COLOR LIP GLOSS FOR DARK SKIN MAC#
“Since I was able to walk, I’ve watched my mother dabble in Mac lipsticks. When I am shopping in-store, the photos displayed are never dark skin tones.” I noticed that people with my skin tone were second thoughts in the beauty industry because of my difficulty finding colors that cater to darker skin, purples, deep red. I usually just buy a lot of colors and hope for the best-hence why swatchcandy and having swatches of people who are my color would save me time and money. It’s long-lasting, remains vibrant, and it smells amazing! When I’m shopping for lipsticks, I don’t like to try them on in-store. My favorite lip color is their ‘Sangria’ color. Since then, I’ve experimented with different brands, but my most trusted brand is Milani. The experience boosted my confidence and the rest, as they say, is history. Growing up, I used to be self-conscious about the size and dark color of my lips until I wore lipstick to prom. My grandmother wouldn’t leave the house without her red lipstick. “My introduction to lipstick happened early on. They offered insight into their in-store experiences, spoke about their favorite brands, and gave advice on what some retailers can do to make the lipstick shopping experience more fun for everyone. To bring attention to the myriad of lipstick firsts, several of Complex’s women of color spoke candidly about their history with lipsticks. “We were working out of the Barnes & Noble bookstore on Georgia Tech’s campus and throwing out words we could pair with ‘swatch.’ swatchcandy was the one that stuck.”ĭabbling in makeup can be exciting, but it can also be nerve-wracking. In Summer 2019, we wanted to pivot from ‘myshadow’ because of its reference to eyeshadow,” Moin recalls. “I remember this conversation really clearly.
So after committing to taking this idea further, both women, during an impromptu brainstorming session, ideated on the company name. After further research, we discovered that people had more trouble finding products that suit their skin tone more than they had finding dupes, which is why we decided to develop an app that shows makeup users which color products would look good on their skin tones.”
“The original idea for the project was to create an app that helps makeup shoppers find dupes of high-end products. “swatchcandy started out as a class project in a mobile app development course at Georgia Tech, where Sabrina and I met,” Matharu says. After meeting at Georgia Tech, Matharu and Moin admit they never intended to create this business, yet what started out as a class project, eventually became something much bigger. Giving brands an opportunity to advertise their lip products on a richer group of models, the digital, photo-based platform is single-handedly helping to streamline the consumer experience for minority shoppers, while providing brands with a much-needed service. Since 2019, Anisha Matharu, 24, and Sabrina Moin, 26, have met that challenge head-on with the creation of swatchcandy. Though there’s a lot of work to be done within the beauty space, there are those trying to create an inclusive environment for a more diverse audience. For people of color, knowing what a shade looks like on a cool tone versus a warm tone model is the difference between looking bomb or looking ashy. Even though more brands are showcasing women of color in their ads, they rarely offer the consumer a wide array of undertones within their swatches. This is partly due to a lack of representation of skin tones in campaigns, swatches, and makeup influencers, which causes many buyers to hesitate when trying new lip products. Still, many people of color leave their favorite beauty retailer deflated and empty-handed. With countless shades and brands to choose from, the biggest hurdle should be stopping yourself from buying them all.
Finding the perfect lip color should be simple.