Most people pick up a gloss, try it on their hand, and decide pretty quickly whether they like it.
That part takes a few seconds; what comes before takes a lot longer.
Shade development sounds simple when you say it like that. It isn’t. And it’s actually quite hard to explain properly, because a lot of it isn’t something you can write down clearly. You just get used to seeing when something feels off.
It usually starts with an idea, but not a very precise one.
More like a colour you have in mind but can’t fully describe. You know roughly what you’re looking for, but not exactly how to get there.
The first versions are almost always wrong. Not in a dramatic way. It is either slightly off or too warm or too cold. Sometimes too visible for a gloss, sometimes so light it disappears on certain lips.
Then it becomes a lot of small changes.
You adjust something, try again, compare, and send it back. Sometimes you think you’re close, only to realise you’re not. That happens quite often.
You get used to saying “not yet”.
Undertones make everything more complicated.
The same shade can look completely different depending on how it’s built. A pink can suddenly look too cold. A nude can lean too orange. Something that works on one person doesn’t work at all on someone else.
That’s where most of the time goes. Because it’s not enough for a shade to look good once. It has to work in different situations. Different skin tones. Different lighting. Daylight, indoor lighting, bad lighting.
Real life, basically.
If it only looks good in one condition, it doesn’t really work.
Truth be told, the nude shade was the hardest one.
It sounds simple, but it wasn’t.
I didn’t want something too pink or too brown. Just something in between that feels natural on the lips.
The first ones didn’t work. The pink ones felt too obvious. The brown ones felt too heavy. The ones in the middle just looked flat.I kept sending them back.
At some point, one version felt different. Less noticeable, but better overall. It didn’t stand out on its own, but it made the lips look right.
That one became Bissou.
It’s probably the most used shade now, which makes sense because it took the longest to get there.
At the end, the only thing that matters when choosing a gloss and its color, is wearing it.
Not testing it for five minutes, but actually wearing it during the day. Forgetting about it. Reapplying it without thinking. Seeing how it feels after a few hours.
If it becomes uncomfortable, it doesn’t stay. If I feel like removing it, it doesn’t stay. It has to feel easy.
Clearly, it’s not a fast process. But it’s the only way that makes sense to me.
Because in the end, someone will try the gloss for a few seconds and decide if they like it.
That part is quick. Everything before isn’t.
