Boldhue Review: The Best Foundation Is The One You Print

In 2022, I watched a video of excavation and wanted to hide nether a rock. My tegument looked sallow, nan acheronian circles nether my eyes pronounced. Loved ones reassured maine I was seeing things, but commenters confirmed my worst insecurities. While relating my woes to a friend, she interrupted my pity connection to opportunity I was utilizing nan incorrect instauration color. Did I cognize my undertone? Choosing nan incorrect color, she warned, could make maine look acold overmuch jaundiced connected camera than successful existent life.

About 3 years later, I yet recovered nan correct shadiness of foundation. I didn’t find it astatine Sephora, Ulta, aliases nan K-beauty antagonistic astatine my conception H Mart. I custom-printed it utilizing nan $295 BoldHue.

BoldHue is simply a instauration printer that pairs pinch your phone. The backmost expanse hides six cartridges: 5 for pigments (red, blue, yellow, white, and black), and a sixth containing a guidelines pinch skincare ingredients, including glycerin, propanediol, vitamin E, vegan squalane, and antioxidants for illustration tremella mushroom and atom bran extract. These are celebrated ingredients to hydrate and protect nan skin. Unlike astir commercialized foundations, which usage 4 pigments, BoldHue adds bluish to nan mix, expanding nan number of imaginable shades.

The beforehand contains a detachable wand that shines ray onto your skin. You return readings from your forehead, chin, and neck, past celebrated nan wand backmost onto nan machine. A mini drawer pops open, you instrumentality a jar successful it, and nan instrumentality whirrs. About a infinitesimal later, it spits retired goo, and you tin spot each nan colors that spell into your skin. You cognition it each up pinch a spatula, and then, bada bing, bada boom. You should personification your cleanable shadiness match.

Why spell done nan effort and disbursal if you tin conscionable stroll into a CVS and bargain instauration for $20? The short of it is nan constitution manufacture hasn’t ever been inclusive, peculiarly for group pinch darker skin. Rihanna rocked nan afloat cosmetic manufacture erstwhile she launched 40 instauration shades for her Fenty constitution line. In 2017, launching pinch specified an extended shadiness scope was unheard of, but while different brands personification since jumped connected nan bandwagon, it’s not a solved problem. Last year, indie constitution marque Youthforia sparked outrage online erstwhile it released a pitch-black instauration shade. Some influencers dubbed it “tar successful a bottle.” Even among “inclusive” brands, location are galore overmuch options successful nan light-and-medium scope and perchance 3 aliases 4 darker shades. It tin too beryllium difficult for nan highly ray aliases group pinch albinism to find shades that activity for them.

All tegument has undertones that make instauration buying tricky. I spent 34 years reasoning I was warm-toned because my tegument has yellowish overtones. It wasn’t until I went to 2 individual colour analysts that I discovered my tegument has neutral to cool undertones. Even then, knowing your undertones doesn’t guarantee you’ll personification an easy clip uncovering your shade. Foundations tin oxidize, meaning they first look for illustration a lucifer and past move orangish arsenic nan clip progresses. I’ve had problem uncovering a neutral shadiness that doesn’t look excessively beige aliases a cooler shadiness that doesn’t move maine into a ghost.

Considering each that, BoldHue — a instrumentality that promises to ever group nan correct shadiness — starts to make overmuch sense.

BoldHue’s premise is alternatively bold. But does it work, and is it worthy nan cost?

In 2 weeks of testing, I’ve scanned and printed my shadiness 3 times. The first was successful a demo pinch nan device’s cofounder, Rachel Wilson, and creator caput Sir John, who too happens to beryllium Beyoncé’s constitution artist. This scan had each 5 pigments — though overmuch overmuch red, yellow, and white, pinch immoderate achromatic and a hint of blue. Perhaps it was nan magic of getting my constitution applied by hands that personification too touched Beyoncé, but to my eye, it was a cleanable shadiness match.

I did my 2nd scan astatine nan agency and a 3rd astatine home, immoderate nether different lighting conditions. For nan second, I had nary bluish successful nan mix, but a smidge overmuch black. At home, nan bluish reappeared. The differences successful nan past merchandise were negligible and could easy beryllium attributed to maine scanning somewhat different areas of my chin, forehead, and cervix each time. It proved nan scans are accordant sloppy of lighting conditions. (You don’t person to scan each clip you petition overmuch foundation; while it’s astir apt bully to rescan erstwhile nan seasons change, you tin too prevention 1 to nan app and reprint that way. I rescanned for testing.)

I scanned a workfellow pinch a overmuch darker complexion. She was skeptical erstwhile we swatched it connected her characteristic for these photos, arsenic it appeared darker than her existent tegument tone. However, erstwhile it was blended out, it was an fantabulous match.

The look is mean coverage, lightweight, and has a dewy finish. That makes it versatile for minimalist and fuller-coverage constitution looks. I too scanned a friend pinch rosacea and barren skin. She had to usage a spot overmuch than I would, but a azygous instauration furnishings covered astir of her redness.

So based connected my testing truthful acold — yes, it does work. Is it worthy nan cost? That depends.

BoldHue reminds maine of nan YSL Rouge Sur Mesure, a lipstick printer that lets you custom-print 4,000 shades. It too uses cartridges to cognition and lucifer nan shadiness of lipstick you want and allows you to return it connected nan go. Every personification connected world has their ain hue, truthful why not usage tech to guarantee you ever personification a cleanable colour match? Mass-produced constitution will ever beryllium constricted successful nan aforesaid measurement that a garment from H&M will ne'er caller you alternatively arsenic nicely arsenic a tailored one.

Custom constitution requires cartridges. Cartridges tally out. BoldHue’s cartridges costs $15–20 to replace. That’s not terrible. I don’t deterioration constitution each day, but I’ve gone done 2 of nan 3 jars I printed for myself successful 2 weeks. All my pigment cartridges are still full, while nan guidelines is astatine astir 80 percent. (In fairness, arsenic I noted, I’ve too been printing foundations for my coworkers while testing.)

The cartridges are too proprietary. If BoldHue goes retired of business, you’re adjacent pinch a bricked device, and nan hunt for nan cleanable shadiness originates each complete again.

Professional constitution artists would usage astir from BoldHue. Instead of buying dozens of foundations for your clientele, you could bargain 1 $295 machine. You’d prevention a batch of money and wouldn’t personification to liking overmuch astir expiration dates. It’s easy to ideate this instrumentality successful a Hollywood dressing room.

But nan costs is difficult to swallow unless you do your constitution regular — aliases personification a difficult clip uncovering a shade. I tin locomotion $50 for a alloy of not-as-perfect instauration that’ll past maine months. Am I irritated that my existent instauration often oxidizes? Yeah, but it’s not truthful mismatched that anyone would deliberation I’m doing nan Republican constitution trend. Still, BoldHue is onto something. Trial and correction sucks. This eliminates that. It’ll beryllium a while earlier everyone replaces half-filled constitution bottles pinch a constitution printer. But my wallet and I are caller for that future.