From foundations too orange or blushes to bright, people with albinism are quite often forgotten about when brands curate their inclusive makeup ranges and I wanted to see which brands are doing it right and how to formulate them.
Inclusivity in the beauty community is something people have been advocating for years and with brands slowly listening and providing wider shade ranges as someone with albinism myself this is a struggle very familiar to me as during my teenage years when everyone around me began to get into makeup, I felt quite isolated as I could never find the right products for me. I talked to Amelia Walhout who is a makeup TikTok influencer who shares her struggle with makeup and albinism and her experiences with testing new makeup products. She alps told me that when she began to gain interest in wearing makeup at age 13, she immediately noticed how limited the options were for people like us and she knew it was going to be struggle throughout her whole life.
The main products which seem to be the main issue are concealers, mascara eyebrow pencils and foundation. Foundations and concealers often lack variety in undertones as the lightest options usually run too orange or too yellow. Even if a shade is light enough it matters if the under tones aren’t correct. A brand which does this well is Elf cosmetics with their cameo concealer as for every shade they have different undertone options. For example I find the shade ‘fair rose’ to match my skin tone as it has more pink undertones, but they also have ones such as ‘fair beige’ which is more orange or ‘fair neutral’ which is more yellow so it’s easy for you to find an exact match that works.
Inclusivity is important for obvious reasons but one of them that isn’t talked about is the negative affects it can have on your mental health to not have a place in the beauty community. Personally, my teenage years were ones where I was extremely insecure on how I looked already due to having albinism then also having the issue of finding makeup products that work for me added to the anxiety. When talking to other people with albinism I found that wasn’t only an issue I dealt with as they told me that at that age, they faced the same thing. Not having access to products that matched our skin tone or hair colour made me feel like there was something wrong with us, like we should be embarrassed for having albinism.
Even if a brand does have wide shade ranges, we still aren’t able to have in person shopping experiences as some makeup shops wont stock the whole range and with the fairest shades not being that popular, its likely for them to not have our shades in stock. This really does diminish our shopping experience as for makeup products you’ve never nought before, it’s always best to first try them on against your skin to see if a product works for you. Having this kind of shopping experience can also be extremely damaging to your mental health as it puts you off shopping.
Speaking to other people with the same condition as me was really reassuring and made me realise that even though it can sometimes feel isolating, there are so many people out there facing the same problems and it isn’t your fault! However it is up to us to raise awareness to grab brands attention.
What options are available?
Shopping for makeup can sometimes be stressful searching for the right match so ive listed brands and products I have found to work well for people with albinism.
For foundation it’s still quite hard to find an option with the right undertone as most of them do tend to oxidise and turn quite orange. A good option available is the Haus Labs ‘Triclone skin’ medium coverage foundation. However this isn’t the most affordable option retailing at £42 and so it would be nice to see more foundation options in drugstore brands.
As I mentioned before the Elf ‘Cameo concealer’ is a perfect option for people with albinism and fair skin tones as they have many shades with different undertones so you can find your perfect match. The one I find works best for me is the shade ‘fair rose’ which has a pink undertone and is more of a cool toned concealer.
Fent Beauty as a whole has wonderful options for people with fair skin tones across their whole brand and you can really see the effort they’ve put into inclusivity as they even showcase albino models wearing their products. I personally love their ‘Sun stalk’r warm bronzer’ in the lightest shade.
In terms of blush, I’ve found the best shades to get are cool toned pinks for natural makeup days but otherwise any blush shads would work as long as they aren’t too pigmented and vibrant as these will be harsh on our skin tones. Blushes that are easy to blend are normally the ones that would work the best. For example I would avoid super pigmented blushes like the rare beauty blush and instead opt or more muted options. Some that I have found work well for me are the milk makeup and refy beauty cream blushes. Cream blushes are often a safe option as they are quite easy to control and blend on the face and ive found that these two brands have the best muted options for my skin tone. I use the shade ‘Dash’ In the Milk Makeup lip and cheek stick and the shade ‘rose’ in the REFY cream blush.
We also need to remember that makeup leaves space for so much creativity and expression and no matter what your skin tone, you deserve to have this fully available to you. So don’t be afraid to experiment with products and go out of your comfort zone just because some items might not work for me, doesn’t mean it won’t for you.
Dealing with albinism can sometimes make you feel insecure, and makeup should be a way for us to build up our confidence and enhance our beauty rather than hide it away with an orange tone foundation. So it would be nice to see more brands become more educated and aware of why we need wider shade ranges whether this be lighter or darker and why it is truly so important to the beauty community.
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