My 'Nude' isn't Your 'Nude'

Skin colour discrimination is one of the topics that gets me really riled up. And there are plenty of reminders all around. TV commercials for bleaches and whitening creams, matrimonial ads wanting 'fair' brides, adjectives describing brown skin from 'wheatish' to 'dusky' to 'dark' and the thousands of words, many of them pejoratives, in regional languages that describe the multitude of brown shades we have, the SA at the makeup counter who insists that the shimmery blush is 'skin colour' - I ask her whose skin colour? as it is neither her skin colour, nor mine. The beautician who insists I need to bleach my skin in order to "remove my tan". I tell her that is the skin colour I have - she is perplexed.  I know, I know, I am ranting.

But you get my drift. We all have heard of that major crayon brand which carries the shade 'Skin' - it looks nothing like mine. Nude undergarments are always beige in colour. Nude makeup is always ashy on me. Nude lipsticks make me look sick. Obviously, my 'nude' is not the same as what these companies are selling. Its obvious that the cosmetics and fashion industry have so far catered to only one kind of 'nude' and that 'nude' is not mine.

Well, lucky for us non-white people, some big companies are looking to change the way the colour 'nude' has been perceived so far.

In the cosmetics industry, Maybelline launched its 'Buffs' collection of lipsticks in January this year. It has nude shades for women of colour. I have been dying to try them out.

Image Courtesy: www.beautyzine.com 

And I came across this article today - Nude Colour - about this company called 'Nubian Skin' which is redefining 'nude'. It has launched nude lingerie for women of colour. Do read the piece - its heartening to know that 'women of colour' do not have to limit themselves to the perceived 'normal' anymore.