This week I am pleased to feature Aina from the Cosmetic Connection Product Panel with her review of Real Cosmetics. Here is a little about Aina:

Aina is from New York City, and a recent graduate of City College of New York with a degree in teaching. She is a 25 year old African American with light brown skin that is normal and normal-oily in the summer. Aina considers herself a lipstick and nail polish freak who is always searching for a great new color.

Real Cosmetics
In my never-ending search to find good quality cosmetics that accommodate women of color, I came upon Real Cosmetics. This very new company was founded by Lubna Khalid, a Pakistani-American former model, who felt the need for cosmetics for all women. The line is fairly small at the moment, with foundations, pressed powders and lipsticks in the collection. The company plans to add more colors (to reach ALL women of color) as well as adding eye shadows, pencils - all the usual cosmetic products.

I was given the opportunity to try the foundation, pressed powder and the lipsticks and I think this line actually has promise.

Foundation ($28)
There are only 6 foundation colors to choose from at the moment. I received the color "Lahore". All the foundations are named after cities such as Karachi, Cairo etc. I tried the "Lahore" foundation and thought it matched my skin well, until my husband took one look at me and said, "Honey, that foundation is too light". I thought it looked fine, but after trying my usual foundation I realized the color was a bit too light for me. All the colors are more olive based than yellow based, with definitely no pink. I have more yellow undertones in my skin and it does tend to look pinkish when irritated. Another factor was the approaching warm weather and extra sun exposure, which does turn my skin noticeably darker than in the winter. This obviously didn't help the color match my face. The days I did wear this foundation, the color lasted well throughout the workday and caused no reactions. The coverage is a little more intense than sheer. The active ingredient in all these cosmetics is titanium dioxide.

Pressed Powder ($28)
I had a feeling this powder, also in "Lahore", was going to be too dark for me, and I was right. I'm not a big fan of pressed powders because they tend to look like pancake makeup on me. I definitely like sheer coverage. When I do use pressed powder, I usually apply with a powder brush instead of a sponge to ensure sheerer coverage and less blotchiness. I found that this powder worked best for me using a powder brush like I always do. No matter how many times I used the sponge to apply the powder, it came out blotchy and the fact that the color was too dark didn't help. My face looked army-green in many places. The first time it happened, I blamed it on my moisturizer and used a different one. It still didn't help. I used the powder with and without the foundation and got the same result. This particular color was definitely made for a more olive-toned woman in mind. I did like the feel of the powder and, when used with the brush, the color looked more natural while still providing good coverage.

Lipsticks ($12)
I must say that I really do like these lipsticks. Like the foundations and powders, there are 6 lip colors to choose from. I tried three from the line: "Uzma", "Saba" and "Tanya". The lip colors are named after real-life women. "Saba" and "Tanya" are so similar that just for fun I applied "Saba" to my lower lip and "Tanya" to my upper lip and I couldn't tell the difference. They are both deep browns, with Saba having just a little more burgundy in it. Those two are definitely my favorite. Uzma is a typical classic milk chocolate brown that looked more neutral and nice for everyday. The colors lasted well throughout the day and feel good on. The lipsticks do have a slight lipstick smell to them, very similar to the way MAC lipsticks smell. But that is definitely not a deal breaker in my opinion.

Overall I think Real Cosmetics has the makings of a great cosmetics company. I think it is important for more olive-toned women to be able to get the colors they need. I expect nothing but positive additions to the line and can't wait to see what they come up with next! Real Cosmetics can be purchased at RealCosmetics.com.