It's the holy grail of makeup: What if, at the touch of a button, you could get a fresh, clean, made-just-for-you foundation that matched your skin perfectly?
The answer was clear when BoldHue’s brand founders posted an early model of their custom at-home foundation device on TikTok asking if people would buy it and they were inundated with pleas and had a 40,000 person waitlist. “We felt like we’d opened Pandora’s box. So many people shared emotional stories of feeling left out [because brands didn’t make foundations for them],” says BoldHue CEO Rachel Wilson. “We realized the need was way bigger than we had ever imagined, and it lit a fire in us to keep working until we solved the problem.”
Heading the technical innovation was Wilson’s co-founder, Karin Layton, an ex-aerospace engineer who had worked on contract for NASA. She had her lightbulb moment after buying yet another fifty-dollar bottle of foundation that didn’t match her skin. She’s also a painter, so she thought, What if I could merge what I know about color theory with engineering? Five years and five iterations later, the team had done it.
How the BoldHue Smart Device Makes Your Custom Foundation
BoldHue’s countertop device has been dubbed the Keurig of makeup because it only takes one minute—and one press of a button—to mix up a fresh batch of foundation. “The breakthrough science is in the wand that scans your skin; that’s where our proprietary skin typing algorithm is housed,” Wilson says. Once you download the app and turn on the device, you’ll remove the wand and hold it to your forehead, chin, and neck so it can scan and analyze your skin tone in each area (unlike a camera, the wand blocks out all other light to capture your true skin color). The computer aggregates the three measurements for your unique shade. “None of us is one flat color all over, and I think that’s especially true for melanated communities,” says Sir John, a celebrity makeup artist and BoldHue’s artistic director. “We're always brighter in the center of our face and pick up a lot of color around our hairline. Typically, the neck, which gets the least amount of sun exposure, is lighter, so that’s why we need to take all three measurements.”
“I've fallen in love with this formula—and the fact that I found my shade in one minute.”
The app then shows you a photo of your shade; once you accept it, the machine begins to mix, drawing from six cartridges housed inside. “Typically, the industry benchmark is using three pigments—red, yellow, and black—to formulate sixty shades. We’ve added a blue cartridge as well,” Wilson says. “Blue is a good neutralizer and helps us get really deep rich tones and very fair tones so we can make millions of shades.” The other two cartridges contain base formulas that include snow mushroom for hydration and rice bran for luminosity as well as a preservative system. “I've fallen in love with this formula—and the fact that I found my shade in one minute,” Sir John says.
The device emits a one-week supply of your shade with the idea being that everyone likes a fresh formula and people’s skin tones shift—one day in the sun is enough to change your complexion color, Sir John says. Still, the product does last a year. “You may find that your summer shade works as a contour; your winter shade acts as a highlight,” he adds. The app alerts you when pigment starts to run low and helps you order replacement cartridges. Also, note that you can add as many users as you want to the app, so an entire household (or, in our case, a bunch of co-workers) can share one device.
How to Apply BoldHue Foundation
Your unique formula flows into a little glass jar, which pops out of the device’s swinging drawer. You use the included spatula to mix it up (while being utterly fascinated by seeing your skin color broken down into four hues) and then tap it onto your skin with the included BeautyBlender. Always dampen the BeautyBlender and then bounce it across skin as you apply for the most airbrush-like finish. “The result is what I call spa skin,” Sir John says. "The formula offers medium coverage, but it’s such a good match and so undetectable that people say it feels more like a tinted moisturizer. Or actually, people usually say, ‘Are you sure I’m wearing anything!?’”
Our Reviews
“Here I was walking through life thinking I was wearing the right shade of foundation—and then this custom blend came along and opened my eyes. At first, looking at it in the jar I thought, this can't be my color. But that proves how much we settle and get used to what we use. This matches SO well that I truly can't see it on my skin, except that my complexion looks more even. It's no-makeup makeup at an entirely new level.” -Kate Sandoval Box, beauty director
“This takes me back to Easy Bake Oven days—magic! Watching this machine pump out a foundation that actually works for my complexion was fascinating. I was skeptical when I saw the pigments, but the mixed up formula matched my skin tone pretty well. It gave me sheer-ish coverage and while I typically wear a little more, I paired it with concealer and liked the result. Now I want to whip up foundation for all my friends—and I can; this one device allows you to add as many users as you want.” -Holly Carter, contributing lifestyle editor
“I'm beyond impressed by BoldHue's ability to match your foundation to your skin tone. It's super easy to use (the app tells you step-by-step how to set it up) and the entire process, from set-up to face scan, takes minutes. When I mixed my shade, I originally thought it looked a little too warm, but lo and behold, once I applied it, it was the perfect shade for my light to medium skin. If you're someone who isn't sure of your undertones (as I apparently wasn't!), this is a game-changer. In fact, you won't have to think about your undertones again!” -Genesis Rivas, beauty editor
Kate Sandoval Box
Kate Sandoval Box (she/her) is the Beauty Director at Oprah Daily. She has over 18 years of experience at national women’s media brands; and, in fact, started her publishing career at O, The Oprah Magazine. She’s also held beauty editor roles at Shape, Self, Latina, and Cosmopolitan. Kate tests hundreds and hundreds of beauty products that cross her desk each year and interviews many top experts, celebrities, and indie brand founders to bring you the best in beauty. Follow her on Instagram.
