If you’re like us, you swipe a lipstick on your hand or forearm to test the shade against your skin tone. And, while some websites like Maybelline and Lancôme showcase women in three different hues (typically fair, olive and a toffee brown hue) sporting the lipstick or eye shadow being sold, you can never be certain that the lipstick will look like it does on the model—particularly if you a woman of color.
If you’re a brown girl on the beauty hunt, then you know that the struggle—on all fronts— is very real. Enter Ofunne Amaka, beauty girl after our own hearts, who stared the Instagram page CocoaSwatches, which according to the bio, “[Showcases] the latest makeup swatches on various complexions underrepresented by the industry.” And, unsurprisingly, brown girls are taking notice—Cocoa Swatches has 20.2K followers in counting.
In an interview with Popsugar, Amaka stated, “When I started the Instagram page, I just wanted to see makeup product swatches on someone who looked like me.” Cocoa Swatches now has an app for women of color to share their favorite products as well as find images of women of various complexions wearing various makeup products. As advertising and beauty industries continue to overlook women of color, it is refreshing to see that we are taking beauty into our own hands and collectively forming our own cosmetic communities. #BlackGirlMagic indeed.
The Cocoa Swatches app is available for free on iOS. You can also follow their Instagram page, here.
