Fashion Fair
The Story
The story of Fashion Fair starts, as the name suggests, with the glitz and glamour of the runway. Mrs Eunice W. Johnson and her husband John H. Johnson, publisher of Ebony and Jet magazine, noticed that models in the Ebony Fashion Fair show were mixing foundations together to get a perfect match to their skin tones, as a full range of colours was simply not available.
After recognising this problem, Eunice decided to approach existing cosmetic brands, asking them to cater to the needs of black women, and when they didn't listen, Eunice and John decided to take the DIY concoctions the models had mixed to the lab and get them mass produced. Their mail order Capsule Collection launched in 1969 to great success and Fashion Fair was born in 1973, retaining the name of the fashion show.
Product Range
Today, Fashion Fair's huge product range reflects the pioneering spirit of Eunice and John. With 18 medium to dark shades available just in their Mineral Foundation, Fashion Fair is an firm favourite for many. The Creative Director is also a celebrity make up artist Sam Fine, who shares his tips for using Fashion Fair make up and why he loves it so much here.
In terms of price, Fashion Fair foundations range from £12 for lipsticks to £40 for capsule collections, this is one of the mid-range brands on the market.
Availability
Fashion Fair make up and skincare products are available in the UK from selected Debenhams and Boots stores and online as well as Sai Pharma in East Ham, James Shelby on Holloway Road, Morleys on Brixton High Road, Ridgeway Chemist on Walworth Road, Juliet's Afro in Peckham and Perfumania in Walthamstow.
fashionfair.com
Bobbi Brown
The Story
Successful make up artist Bobbi Brown, like many other founders, discovered a gap in the market and decided to do something about it. Finding all the products available to her artificial and not at all natural looking, Bobbi decided to create a lipstick that didn't smell, wasn't dry or greasy, and actually looked like a natural pair of lips, only better. With the help of a chemist, Bobbi created a range of 10 brown based lipstick shades, selling 100 lipsticks in one day at the Bergdorf Goodman in 1991.
Bobbi's love of the natural look might seem common now, but at the time women were not able to find make up which didn't make them look artificial. Bobbi's yellow based foundations revolutionised the beauty industry and created a huge buzz, leading to its acquisition by Estée Lauder in 1995. Bobbi retains creative control.
Product Range
Bobbi Brown offers 20 shades in their basic long wearing foundation which range from Alabaster to Expresso. As well as a number of tinted moisturisers, colour correctors and powders. With prices from £18.50 to £37 for foundations, this is a brand for those are prepared to spend a bit more on looking good.
Availability
Bobbi Brown products can be purchased from Duty Free outlets, Selfridges, Bentalls, House of Fraser, Peter Jones, Fenwick and John Lewis.
bobbibrown.co.uk
MAC
The Story
Surprisingly, the MAC brand started with a young hairdresser called Angelo and his friend Toskan. Like so many other founders, the brand came into being from a frustration with commercial cosmetics. Toskan enlisted the help of his future brother in law Vic Casale and they worked on a range of lipsticks, eye pencils and powders.
It's hard to believe, but the product started out being distributed among friends in the fashion industry. Word soon got out about the product though, with the dense pigment, non-oily finish and, most importantly the vast range of skin tones catered to. Toskan and Angelo decided to put some serious money behind the brand and take MAC out of the kitchen and into a 10,000- foot manufacturing plant.
Product Range
With 18 different shades in their popular 'Mineralise Foundation' (not to mention the divinely sleek and simplistic packing) for £27/30ml this is quite an expensive brand. One of the reasons this brand is so popular is because of it's celebrity make-up lines (including Nicki Minaj) and because like Bobbi Brown, some of the colours are yellow based as well as pink.
A MAC consultant advised me to choose a foundation with the opposite base tone to the one my skin possesses, i.e. I have yellow tones to my skin, so I should choose a pink based foundation to even it out, and it seems to be working.
Availability
MAC can be purchased from House of Fraser, Selfridges, Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Morleys in Brixton, Fenwick, Bentalls, Heathrow Airport and exclusive MAC stores.
maccosmetics.co.uk
Mary Kay
The Story
Unlike most of the other founders featured in this piece, the story behind Mary Kay cosmetics starts with the end of a career. Mary Kay Ash retired from a successful career in direct sales in 1963. As many people who have retired do, she decided to reflect on her experiences throughout her career and write book which was designed to help women survive in the business world, which at the time was completely male-dominated and orientated.
The cosmetics company was created as a result of Mary making two lists: one contained all the things the businesses she had worked for over the time had done right, and the second contained all the things they had done wrong, and the direct selling business was born. Mary Kay now operates as with more than 2.5 million Independent Beauty Consultants, and offers more than 200 premium products in more than 35 countries around the world.
With her life savings of $5,000 and the help of her 20-year-old son Richard Rogers, Mary Kay launched her dream company on Friday, Sept. 13, 1963.
Product Range
Mary Kay offers 21 different shades in their Timewise Matte-Wear Liquid Foundation and neatly avoids linking skin tones to cliched food stuffs such as honey, chocolate and coffee by using only 3 terms: Ivory 1-5, Beige 1-8 and Bronze 1-8. While this isn't the best system I've seen for classifying skin tones (I much prefer MAC's letter and number system) at least the range of colours is broad. The price of this foundation is £16/29ml, a lower price point than many of its competitors.
Availability
Unlike the other brands we've looked at, Mary Kay operates a direct selling model. Companies such as Mary Kay, Avon and Swedish company Oriflame employ sellers who work on a commission basis and sell the products to their friends and work colleagues via a catalogue. Mary Kay products are also available at marykay.co.uk
I recently attended the launch of Mary Kay's new collection targeted at teenagers called Mary Kay @ Play which took place in a ping pong hall in Holburn, and I have to say I probably had more fun playing with the crayon inspired cosmetics than any teenager will.
Opinion
Retail assistant Grace says: "I like MAC and Sleek because of the variety of shades for black skin and the way it feels on my skin"
The girls at urban magazine Pappzd say: "We love Mary Kay because of the range of different colours and the fact that it's not heavy on the skin or damaging"
MTV Digital media coordinator Chloe says: "I love MAC because it has perfect natural shades for my skin-tone and isn't too excessive"
Twitter user Jay says: "I find it hard to find products for my shade, they are either too dark or make my skin look ashy, but Fashion Fair is perfect for my skin tone"
Tumblr blogger Hannah says: "MAC powder foundation is the only one I've ever used and it does the job"
Further reading:
Branded Beauty by Mark Tungate
The Changing Face of Beauty by Anita Bhagwandas: http://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/the-changing-face-of-beauty
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