‘Cocoa Swatches’ App, Instagram Account Shows Makeup Colors On Dark Skin

As every makeup fiend knows, buying cosmetics online can be very helpful when the company selling the cosmetics adds photos of the colors on actual skin. For example, someone shopping for “The Rabbit” pink-colored lip gloss from ColourPop would see three different skin tones on which to compare the shades. Such color swatches help customers figure out how the colors might look on their own skin prior to buying the makeup. Not all makeup sellers include such helpful color swatches — and not all of them use the variety of color swatches that ColourPop or other cosmetic sellers use.

Enter the Instagram account and app named Cocoa Swatches, which provides a variety of skin tones and makeup colors drawn onto skin to fill in the missing gap.

“Showcasing the latest makeup swatches on various complexions underrepresented by the industry. #cocoaswatches cocoaswatches.com“

With more than 1,000 Instagram posts and nearly 30,000 followers, Cocoa Swatches provides photos and videos of lipsticks, lip glosses, eye shadows, and more — all featured on a range of skin tones. Plenty of the photos are reposted from other Instagram accounts, so Cocoa Swatches represents a gathering place of makeup colors — with the names of many shades — to help give a great indication of how the shades will appear on darker skin.

Not only does Cocoa Swatches feature the shades on real skin, but lots of tips are also included as well, such as the photo pictured next, showing the whole Jouer Cosmetics lippie collection. The Lip Creme Liquid lipsticks apparently aren’t just pretty — but they smell like cupcakes, reports the original poster Jackie Aina.

On the iTunes App Store, customers are reviewing the Cocoa Swatches app and raving about how much they love the app due to the way it helps save them time and money.

“As a woman of color I feel like this is the perfect app for me. Instead of wasting time searching for shades that look good on my skin tone…this app already has everything laid out. I love the different categories based on the type of lip color you’re searching for. It’s also great that there’s high cost and low cost brands displayed. Keep up the good work and keep up the swatches :)”

Others are writing that the Cocoa Swatches app could be improved even further by offering more hues of a plethora of skin tones.

“This is app is a good start but there is a MAJOR improvement that could be made. Show the same lipstick shades on various shades of skin tone. I mean the whole point of an app like this for woman of color is to see how it might look on them. If I’m still looking at a picture of a person who doesn’t look like me, that’s not much help. Have several shades of models show off the products. Then perhaps I’ll redownload.”

As reported by Allure, Cocoa Swatches was started by Ofunne Amaka, who began her Instagram account and app when she bought makeup that ended up disappointing her when she saw how the cosmetic appeared on her skin. Amaka knew that if she was having problems buying the right shades for her darker skin tone, others had the same issue, too.

Amaka explained that it’s frustrating to see a new shade of lipstick come out — but to learn that the color looks different on darker skin tones. Cocoa Swatches seeks to address those issues, or represent a place to vent and share tips when a new foundation may appear — but not in darker tones. The Cocoa Swatches app allows users to search for products and Cocoa Swatches Instagram posts to find the swatches of makeup colors on the face or the arm on a dark complexion.

As seen in the above photo, Rihanna sports the popular super-dark lipstick color.

[Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for WESTBURY ROAD ENTERTAINMENT LLC]