Cocoa Swatches: A beauty app to show how make-up really looks like on different skin tones
When 26 year-old Ofunne Amaka decided to bring her A-game—by creating a revolutionary app to allow darker skin women to see swatches of various products, including red lipstick.
That’s right, Instagram’s the number one way for digital marketing in our age and era, and Amaka definitely caught it. Cocoa Swatches began as an Instagram account (@cocoaswatches), which has 30.2k followers now (press time).
After graduating from a Communications degree from Columbia University, Ofunne Amaka decided to use her educational background to create something useful. “I have a tech background and have done extensive research on the beauty industry, so I felt like an app was a best way to accomplish this goal. People use their phones and tablets more than they use their computers these days, so it only made sense that the solution would somehow be optimized for mobile platforms.”
Good going, Amaka!
Well, they said the only way to solve a problem is knowing the roots and Amaka does know the beauty industry’s issue by heart: that is fixing the industry’s exclusionary issues for women with colour.
Addressing a very valid issue may be the next best thing we could do to achieve equality. Though Amaka doesn’t create make-up, she knows her purpose, “I believe my role is to help amplify these brands and products that support underrepresented skin tones. I also want to support the great number of content creators with these underrepresented skin tones who are creating amazing videos, and tutorials and photographs. I hope to work with more brands to expand the Cocoa Swatches directory and create more original content showcasing a variety of complexions.”
The Cocoa Swatches app is available for download at App Store and Google Play.
Sharon Salim
Photos: @cocoaswatches
