Open letter to Whole Foods & their mineral makeup

I have a question for you? I am a black woman. Although I have children, I still have the sought after "expendable" cash. Can you please tell me why you don't carry mineral makeup that caters to tan, brown and black skin?

It's ridiculous to think that all mineral makeup is the same. I have tried a good number of mineral lines and less then three lines offer color ranges that make us brown women look beautiful and natural. According to a post on "Hispanic Spending" the buying power of hispanics in the US is expected to reach more than $1 trillion dollars by 2010.  Additionally black American spending power, according to New America Media is projected to hit the $1 trillion dollar mark by 2011. Two trillion dollars! People who want to spend their money on products that will work.

Just today I was speaking with the owner of a mineral makeup line that caters to asian, hispanic and black women. She was considered for retail in your stores but was told that you already carry mineral makeup. Yes, that much is true. You do offer mineral makeup; but not one foundation you sell fits my skin tone. Are the buyers

Do you honestly still believe that a few shades will work across the color spectrum? Is it not feasible to grasp that there's a need to offers lines for this market because your buyers don't have a clue about the people who shop at your stores? I don't know about you, but it might be something to consider.

And I'd love to hear from other women. Obviously, retailers are making assumptions. Would you buy foundations that were created to work with your unique skin tones? Am I the only one sick of "making do" with the crap that's out there, looking ashy and dry because stores keep thinking all makeup is the same?

Comments

[dansconstellar]

does anyone else get tired of having to complain all the time? and its never easy. they tell you to go online to the website, then look up contact , then write a letter or email to the corporate headquarters. its exhausting being brown and trying to stay healthy and having an interest in beauty. instead i spend my time online scouring websites for independent makeup companies that will send out samples..

[Susan]

I forgot to add the website for Ada Cosmetics - http://www.adacosmetics.com

[Susan]

Check out ADA Cosmetics. This line was designed by an African American Woman. Their line is clean and simple. She offers 39 colors from the lightest of lights to the darkest of darks. It is a complete line of mineral makeup. Customer Service is wonderful. If you don't find your color with the first sample set they will help you find your color! You will be so glad that you did. They are slowly working their way into stores now.

[Andrea]

Geez... where do I start with the feedback? Thank you "Insider" for letting me know what I assumed to be the case. That brown people have to question why the colors aren't there. I find that sad in itself. Brown people shop and it shouldn't take complaints for stores to remember that.

My post stemmed from conversation with Valerie, my own observations, emails from Asian women, light skinned women, the list goes on. I take Whole Foods to task because they claim to offer the best in natural care are located in central urban areas, yet somehow don't realize that makeup lines need to address the shoppers within.

I guess I could spend more time that I don't have cranking out my own mineral makeup, scouring the websites looking for lines that cater to me, but damn, Cover Girl and Revlon can do it, why the hell can't these "natural" companies get a clue?

Is it just ignorance or do they assume that only white middle class customers are building their profits? Since I first discovered the natural scene in the 90s, I have always seen other brown men and women putting their hard earned money down.

Of course OBE is not the New York Times, but I know that people from Whole Foods read this blog and it's curious that the PR chick hasn't emailed me. Either to say it's nonsense or they're working on it.

So all you entrepreneurs who are looking for a market, if you want to tap into a couple billion dollars worth of people, this might be the route.

Thanks for the suggestions, as well, ya'll. I'll def check into them and contact the lines you've recommended to see what they have to offer.
AK

[Valerie]

I know this isn't what this post was intended to address but I must disagree with the statements, "Have you thought about blending your own colors?" and "They're shockingly easy to make.They're shockingly easy to make." I think the point is that most of those with lighter skintones and pink undertones have countless choices as to where they can purchase foundation products that actually work for them. However, the choices for women with deep brown skin are relegated to a handful of online retailers or a couple of storefronts (it's worse with natural color cosmetics). Blending your own colors may solve a personal challenge but it doesn't help the over overall issue that retailers are sending the message that these consumers are not a valued part of the market.

Regarding the ease of formulating foundation for women of color, it is NOT easy to formulate natural color cosmetics for that niche market. Once you figure out how it gets easier but if it were easy I think more companies would create such products. I've spoken with experienced formulators who say it's too time consuming and too expensive. the base ingredients must be processed differently than when formulating for lighter skintones otherwise you get the "ashy" look. The ingredients used for color are more expensive than filler ingredients and more color is used when creating deeper tones. The same is true when formulating blush, eye color or lip color. The needs are different.

For example, I have conducted focus groups to assess customer needs and I've done hundreds of makeovers. I have never met an African American, African, Latina, Middle Eastern, Pacific Islander or Asian customer who wanted "lip plumpers" in their gloss or lipstick (doesn't mean there aren't any as the statement is based on my experience). But it's difficult to find anything on the market today that doesn't have lip plumping ingredients. The message is that the needs of those groups (listed above) are not important.

[Anne-Marie]

Have you thought about blending your own colors? They're shockingly easy to make. If you email me, I'll toss a mineral eye make up kit in the mail to you (gratis) for you to try. I'm betting you can quickly customize amazing colors for yourself in 15 minutes or less.

[Emily Headen]

Part of the problem is that Whole Foods is a large company and sort of sucks in the ways that all large companies do- centralized buying decisions, ignorance of local market needs, incentive to drive down wholesale prices that pressures manufacturers to only make "best sellers", etc.

Have you checked out Alima cosmetics? It is a small mineral cosmetics company in Portland, OR that recently received BDIH certification in Europe. Their color range is extensive, offering at least four or five different tones and various shades of dark foundation colors. You can order small tester sizes from their web site. The product itself is a very fine, lovely powder with no extra junk added. Minerals only, and also very reasonably priced at $19 for the foundation.

As a side note, I carry several lines of natural makeup in my boutique, but most companies that make "organic" simply don't make a large color range. I have one German line that literally has two different shades which don't even match most light colored people, with only one very cool and light liquid concealer. Someday the natural cosmetics industry will mature and EVERYBODY will be able to find a clean product that matches their skin tone. In the mean time, I find it embarrassing to tell some of my customers that I have nothing for them.

[Valerie]

I agree that it is difficult to meet all the requirements needed to get into some of these mass retailers. However, my company has met those requirements and has made it through several stages of evaluation but ultimately the response is either, "Not a huge demand for this right now," or "Category is over represented at this time" (ie. we already have mineral makeup), or "We'd like to carry three of the dark shades. Which dark shades sell best?" These are direct quotes from correspondence with mass market retailers.

Evidently the demand that I see in my sales and in telephone calls from my customers regarding retail locations that sell my products isn't getting to the buyers.

I think they don't recognize the demand because women who want such products have literally given up asking. Adding a little brown coloring to an existing cosmetic base simply isn't enough when formulating and it doesn't work. I know I got tired of asking to the extent that I started my own company.

I believe that some retailers have difficulty seeing the diversity among people of color (maybe it's part of our culture). This is how I feel when a retailer says they want three of the best selling "dark" colors. Well, when compared to their existing lines I have 14 top selling "dark" shades of foundation.

Of course having the products isn't enough either so further investment is needed in marketing. Maybe they think it's easier and cheaper to maintain a sure thing than take a risk on something new. I'm not giving up though.

[Insider]

So...I used to be the Body Care Buyer at a Whole Foods here in the Midwest. As soon as I was offered the position, my goal was to bring in a mineral makeup line that catered to ethnic women (being a black woman myself). At the time the only brand of mineral makeup we had was Mineral Fusion, but we only carried the display for the top sellers, which does not include any warmer shades past Olive 2. Store leadership seemed receptive and even excited about bringing in a new line, but the issue came deep within the company. Because WFM has such strict body care standards, any new line must be submitted for review, then third party tested, and I believe they might actually have to pay a fee to get their products approved for sale. It's not as easy as finding a line, placing an order, and getting the product on the shelf. In the time I worked there, the higher ups in the company had never approved any of the suggestions I put forward, although I doubt that they even contacted the companies to begin talks in the first place. WFM is a wonderful company, but like any large and extremely successful company it is all about the bottom line. A large portion of my customers were white, and Dr. Hauschka (which offers NO warm shades, much less shades for women of color) and Mineral Fusion flew off the shelves. In my time there I only had 3 or 4 woman actively complain or inquire about special ordering a more complete color pallet. I believe that if there were more complaints, something will be done. Otherwise the higher ups will not deem this a hole profitable enough to fill. As long as there remains two or three voices every few months, there will never be changes.

[Jane]

I think their minerals are very over-priced and not-so great (Glo Minerals is the manufacturer). Have you tried Jenulence? I love their formula and the colors go not only VERY dark, but very light, too (another problem with MMU, if you're super-fair!) Jenulence is also cheap- 20.00 for a 30 gm. jar with several sizes to choose from and several coverages plus samples.