If you’re anything like me shopping for makeup is an absolute NIGHTMARE. It gets especially hard as a woman of color; products that look good on lighter skin tones look completely different on my skin. Enter Cocoa Swatches:
Developed by beauty blogger Ofunne Amaka, Cocoa Swatches is a new app that takes the latest and most popular brands of makeup and tests them on darker complexions. As a self proclaimed makeup junkie you can imagine my excitement in discovering this app. Too often I order a product online and end up sending it back because it looks terrible on me.
Not only is Cocoa Swatches making shopping easier; it’s got a pretty great message that goes along with it. Part of Cocoa Swatches mission statement is to “focus on complexions that are underrepresented in the beauty industry.” Women of color are discounted in the beauty industry due largely to the myth that they don’t invest in high-end make up. In reality, women of color spend $7.5 million annually on…you guessed it…high-end make up.
From blush to lipstick, Cocoa Swatches has a variety of pictures depicting how the makeup looks on dark skin. I especially love the M.A.C. highlighter swatches, because I’ve only been searching for the perfect highlighter for about four months now.
With Cocoa Swatches you can also watch tutorials, check out some of the featured makeup artists, access product comparisons and even join in on discussions with others using the app. I’m so in love with this app and even though it’s in the early stages I can’t wait to see how it develops. Cocoa Swatches is currently available on iOS and in the Google Play store.