Cosmetic Companies Take Multi-Cultural Approach To Beauty, Make-Up

From its reboot in 2000, when the brand changed hands and re-emerged with a focus on high-impact color, Milani consciously sought a wide customer base. “We always try to keep it as inclusive as possible even though it was specifically designed for women of color,” stated Laurie Minc, co-owner of Jordana Cosmetics, which produces the Milani line, adding it’s beneficial that the name doesn’t allude to any group in particular. “We really looked at being a MAC for the masses. MAC has done a nice job of including every demographic and women of every color. And that’s what we’re doing now.”

Being inclusive also means showing up where these women shop. Lafayette Jones, president and CEO of SMSi-Urban Call Marketing, said emerging and smaller companies are making successful bids for the ethnic market based on their alternative distribution model. While stores like Walgreens, CVS and Sally Beauty Supply blanket the country, he said even they don’t have a lock on this demographic.

“There has been a seismic retail shift. OTC stores—Korean-owned stores that chiefly offer wigs, hair pieces and extensions—are increasingly moving into cosmetics,” Jones said, adding that there are 11,000 locations nationwide, concentrated in African-American areas. “OTC stores have the largest amount of consumer traffic looking for products for women of color. These stores are seen as the emerging convenience stores. Already, hair care companies do about 60 percent of their volume there.”

Jones admits that while these proprietors are willing to devote space to this new product category, they often lack expertise in the product. This could be a drawback. As Mintel stated in its Beauty Retailing Study, African-American women, more so than women of other races, want help and suggestions from sales associates.

Boone sees that as an advantage for Flori Roberts. “It’s convenient, but what you’re not going to get in the Korean market is education,” she said. “You have to read the label and hope it works because they’re certainly not going to give you a refund,” she said. Her line, which exited department stores in 2002, is now sold through a network of entrepreneurs who have the option of throwing home parties, setting up mall kiosks or opening freestanding locations. “We train [our sales people] to train the consumers.”

Laying a Foundation

Unfortunately, no matter where customers are shopping, there’s no guarantee that she’ll find shades to complement her skin tone. Patrick Tumey, a makeup artist for Celestine Agency who counts Anita Baker, Sara Ramirez and Jordin Sparks among his celebrity clientele, recognizes that more brands are attempting to address women of color, but he said many of them lack the fundamentals in color matching. “Most companies do not seem to know skin tone in America. They are so busy selling color like lipstick, eye shadow, and highlighter when the most important, top-selling thing is foundation because most woman want to look like they have flawless skin and don’t have makeup on.”

The problem, experts agree, is the lack of products that address the breadth of undertones present in our society, which include golds, reds, oranges, yellows and blues. While even Caucasian women may feel that the quest for the perfect foundation requires a bit of trial and error, for women of color, it can also require an art school degree.

Frustrated by the lack of products that address their complexions, many of these women take matters into their own hands, mixing colors to make a flattering shade. The issue is of special concern for consumers with darker skin tones because often even if a color looks dark enough in the bottle, it leaves the skin looking ashy or gray because the undertone is incorrect. Even with lines that were originally designed for black women, understanding undertones has been a learning curve.

“The most significant change [in our products] has been in the foundations and powders because at the time Flori Roberts launched, it was about reds and oranges in the foundations,” said Boone, explaining that in the 1960s the product was designed for women with mid to deep skin tones, since they were the market that was most underserved. “So the change has been going from red to orange to picking up the golden tones and yellow bases that are in our skin.”

Saisha Beecham, an African-American woman who is a makeup artist for the Mark Edward agency, has seen the evolution in the market firsthand. ”[Makeup companies] are starting to make really dark colors, when before the darkest color was a tan or if it was darker, it had too much red in it,” she said. “I remember my mom would always wear Fashion Fair, and that’s what I wore when I started wearing makeup but I always felt like I was orange. But now even Fashion Fair has great colors.”

Despite all of the advances though, Beecham—who counts Kelly Rowland, Fantasia Barrino and Usher among her clients—still sees gaps in the offerings. “One thing we’re missing for sure is a bronzer that looks really good on darker toned women,” she said. “If you have really dark skin, they have gold that looks too sparkly and glittery or too ashy.”

Generally, Beecham is able to find what she needs by cherrypicking from different brands like MAC, Bobbi Brown, Iman and Black Opal, which she says a lot of celebrity makeup artists use thanks to its color range and affordable price. She’s also had success with foundations from the Queen Collection, though she only tried it after receiving free samples. “I wouldn’t have thought to try it, because when I buy drug store makeup it’s never been the match I’m looking for,” she said. “But I was happy to see that there is inexpensive makeup that works just as well.”

Going Skin Deep

More so even than color cosmetics, experts say that skin care products designed to enhance the appearance and slow the effects of aging are often top sellers. “We index very high in lightening and evening products for African-Americans,” confirmed Boone. The primary concern for Black women is uneven skin tones caused by hyperpigmentation, or dark spots that result from an overproduction of melanine, and a general darkening around the perimeter of the face as we age, she said.

For this reason, products that promise to reduce or cover discoloration—which is of greater concern than wrinkles in this group—are found in all lines targeting Black women. Black Opal, for instance, offers its Fade System, a treatment designed to reduce spots and generally brighten skin tone. The company also folds treatment into some of its color cosmetics. “We offer some unique multitasking products such as our Fade & Conceal Concealer, which not only covers unwanted marks and hyperpigmentation but also helps fade discoloration,” said Hutson.

One thing that consumers often misunderstand is the role melanine plays in our skin. Though the mainstream beauty market has been aggressively touting the virtues of solutions with sun protection, many women of color haven’t taken that message to heart, according to Rolanda Johnson, Ph.D., a senior scientist for P&G Beauty, which offers the Cover Girl, SK-II and Olay brands, among others. “We don’t wrinkle or burn as fast because of the melanine protection in our skin but we can start to see the effects down the road as we age,” she said. P&G addresses this problem with its Olay Total Effects product, which includes ingredients that even skin tone.

Expanding Opportunities

P&G credits the breadth of its products for women of all skin types to the focus groups that allow them to hear their concerns firsthand, according to Vince Hudson, general manager of North American Cosmetics. For its part, L’Oreal corporate—the beauty behemoth behind brands such as SoftSheen-Carson, Maybelline, Kiehl’s and Lancome—opened the L’Oreal Institute for Ethnic Hair & Skin Research in Chicago in 2003 to gain an edge in developing products for women of color here and all over the world.

Efforts and expenditures such as these are guaranteed to produce dividends because although only about half of African-American women wear makeup, those that do often spend a substantial amount on beauty products in general. “The major brands cater to the needs of African-American women and also market to them,” stated Carolyn Holba, senior vice president of marketing for Maybelline New York. “Everyone recognizes women of color have significant purchasing power, set trends and like to wear the latest trends.”

Kisha Mitchell Williams, multicultural brand manager for P&G’s My Black is Beautiful initiative, described the buying power of this group as “phenomenal” given that Black women spend three times more of their disposable income in the beauty category than the general market consumer.

Moreover this focus on beauty products for women of color has not only helped consumers but raised the profile of African-American women within the industry. “There has also been a shift in these companies as more Black women are running these operations,” stated Jones of SMSi-Urban Call Marketing.

Boone has witnessed this during her tenure at Flori Roberts, where she said many of the Black executives that currently hold positions at mainstream companies got their start. And increasingly more products and marketing might means more lucrative beauty contracts for black actresses and models, according to Wallner. “Fifteen years ago, you never saw a woman of color modeling for the majors in any consequential way.”