Skin tone - Our columnist Eryca Freemantle gives us top tips for succeeding in the make-up industry

It’s the 21st century and you might expect that the beauty and fashion industries would have caught on to the idea that people of all skin tones have an interest in beauty and fashion.

It has been estimated that women with darker skin tones alone spend around $7.5billion each year on products, spending almost twice as much on skincare and over three quarters as much on cosmetics as buyers of any other skin tones. Yet despite this enormous demand, beauty and fashion companies are still struggling to reach this audience.

A lack of cosmetics

One of the most significant problems is the basic lack of beauty products available for any women of colour. Foundations, and other beauty products designed to perfect the skin tone, tend to be designed for lighter skins and the options for women of colour tend to be limited to one or two. Gift packages also tend to be tailored to lighter skin tones specifically, and many women of colour feel they have limited choice.

Double standards

Women of colour tell me they think they get more criticism of their fashion and beauty choices. They tell me that if they adhere to traditional or cultural styling they are labelled “too ethnic”. At the same time, white women adopting traditionally ethnic hairstyles and clothing tend to be seen as edgy or challenging the
norms. This means that women of colour are regularly criticised for being natural, while those with lighter skin tones adopting the same look are perceived as innovative and stylish! As a woman, regardless of our skin tone, we need to be fighting this double standard.

Beauty features tend to focus upon paler skin tones

Open up any fashion or beauty magazine and the models shown inside are almost exclusively white. Any women of colour that are shown in the magazine will be light-skinned. Models who are women of colour have reported that runway shows and photo shoots don’t have make-up artists who are equipped to deal with their skin or hair, meaning that they often have to manage on their own. Models have been known to bring their own make up onto the set in order to ensure that make-up artists are able to work with them. Working with some photographers means accepting that your skin tone, as a women of colour will be lightened, and your hair made to appear smoother than normal in order to meet the demands of the photographic session or the magazine buying the pictures.

Dubai is multicultural society and your clients will hail from a variety of different backgrounds. To be successful in this marketing a beauty business should cater for women of all ethnicities and skin tones. Does yours?

For further conversations with Eryca, whether you are a make-up or skincare brand or interested in her courses please email [email protected] or visit www.erycafreemantle.com Twitter: @erycafreemantle