The US Influence On International Beauty
Many women eagerly open the newest edition of a fashion or beauty magazine and read up on all the lastest style tips and tricks. What's in and what's out is dictated on those glossy pages. From Milan, Paris, London and New York fashion trends and movements are detailed. Women want to know every product, color or style that is popular. However, there is one distinct missing component.
Usability
In the fashion and beauty industry there are a great many products and choices available. And if the average consumer is Caucasian those choices can be overwhelming. Women of different skintones have a different struggle when choosing beauty products. They are often relegated to the same palette of colors in the same tones year after year because it is assumed their skin is not as versatile as Caucasian skin and can carry off only a limited color or style range.
This is untrue. Look at Asian skin. There is a huge difference between Japanese skin and Filipino skin. There is a great difference between Korean skin and Cambodian skin. And within each of these categories lie a greater variety of skintones all waiting for the colors that bring out their natural radiance and their own unique beauty. Even face and eye shapes differ within Asian regions.
To possess your soul in patience, with all the skin and some of the flesh burnt off your face and hands, is a job for a boy compared with the pains of a man who has lived pretty long in the exhilarating world that drugs or strong waters seem to create and is trying to live now in the first bald desolation created by knocking them off.
—C. E. (Charles Edward)
With so much of the focus on beauty and style trends that come from Europe and America it's not hard to see why Asian skin can be overlooked. In general there is not a predominance of Asian people in those areas and the need is not fully realized.
It seems that pale skin is still the ideal skin color. That thought is perpetuated, often unknowingly through beauty trends, and women with different skintones may go to great lengths to achieve that perfect alabaster skintone. The problem is they don't look natural with skin that color. The skin color that does look good on them often goes unnoticed by designers or by the women themselves.
Things Are Changing
Here's the most exciting part. The United States, over the past decade or so, has begun to recognize all skintones and their intrinsic beauty. And even better, American companies and fashion icons and style magazines are starting to focus more on them. There are more diverse models and fashion icons than ever before and it's not unusual to open any beauty or style magazine and see a variety of skintones. Companies like Sheer Aqua (www.sheeraqua.com) are dedicated to developing products specifically for Asian skin.
This is wonderful because the United States is opening the door for women to experiment with their natural skintones and really enhance the beauty they already have. For some women it's an option they may have never considered before, preferring to cover up their golden skin with peach or pink foundation because that was the only choice offered or because they desired to look like a highly publicized person.
The night is a skin pulled over the head of day that the day may be in torment.
—Djuna Barnes (1892–1982)
America is really bringing the value of different skintones to the public and sharing the beauty that was there all along but never really maximized. As these publications, blogs, products and ideas reach out many women will see beauty in a whole new way. Not only are color palettes changing but formulas are changing to provide better products for skin that is prone to premature aging or wrinkles, skin that is very smooth with few or no pores, skin that is high in melanin or skin that is extremely oily. Each skintone has a unique trait that companies are focusing on and developing products specific to that trait.
While the US influence on international beauty trends may have been narrow in the past, it's only getting better for the future. For instance, Sheer Aqua (www.com) is opening their first store in China to better serve the Asian clientele they are specializing in. As companies like Sheer Aqua grow, the result is more specialized products available directly to specific cultures. Women everywhere are starting to embrace their skin now that it's becoming easier to find suitable products, colors and style techniques.
I am a partner in an import/export company. We develop our own product lines as well as help others start, license, or expand their business internationally. We have a popular cosmetic and skincare line in another country and a private labeling business which will enable others to make, brand, and market their own makeup (traditional and mineral) as well as skin care lines.