By Devon Abelman, Allure
As a former VJ, Monika Deol spent a lot of time in the makeup chair. Makeup artists often told her they didn't have her foundation shade. With Stellar, her new makeup line at Sephora, people like Deol with medium skin tones are sure to find their perfect match. A range of foundations and concealers, as well as several color cosmetics, launched exclusively at Sephora this week. We caught up with Deol yesterday to find out more about Stellar and how she's catering to all skin tones, but mostly the middle.
[post_ads]The name has two meanings. "The word Stellar, to me, means something set apart from the rest," she says. "It means excellence. It also is about the constellations and stars. My theory on beauty is that no two women are alike, and no two stars are alike. Also, stars are actually made up of energy. That's what stars actually are—balls of energy. I've been asked a lot, 'What is beauty to you?' You know what it is? It's energy. That is beauty."
The inspiration for the foundation also came from a visit to Sephora. Two years ago, Deol noticed that a lot of the foundations available at her favorite makeup store had a ton of shades for fair skin and a lot for super deep skin tones. (BTW she's a VIB Rouge member, obvs.) For all the people in the middle, she saw almost nothing. "I started to think, 'Is it just my imagination or is there actually something to this?'" she says. To prove it, Deol charted every single shade of foundation that Sephora sells on the Pantone SkinTone Guide, which includes 110 shades based off of real people. She found that the left side of the chart, where all the fair tones are, was saturated.
[post_ads]The name has two meanings. "The word Stellar, to me, means something set apart from the rest," she says. "It means excellence. It also is about the constellations and stars. My theory on beauty is that no two women are alike, and no two stars are alike. Also, stars are actually made up of energy. That's what stars actually are—balls of energy. I've been asked a lot, 'What is beauty to you?' You know what it is? It's energy. That is beauty."
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"Every square was checked off, and there was multiple checks in almost all the squares," Deol explains. "There were some shades with 30 in that one square. There was 50 of one square." On the right side, most of the squares were checked off, too. Then, she noticed the middle section was underserved. That's when she realized she wasn't imaging things. With often-midtone complected Latina, Hispanic, Middle Eastern, biracial, and Indian (like Deol) ethnicities making up two-thirds of the world's population, and holding the title of the fastest growing demographic in North America, she thought something had to be done.
Deol based Stellar's foundation shades on real people. In an effort to be as inclusive as possible, "I looked at the most common skin tones on real people, and came up with colors based on them," she tells Allure. Sure, color theory and yellow and red undertones were taken into consideration, but she was more concerned about creating shades that truly match people like her.
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The foundation is pretty affordable, too. With 22 shades to choose from, you'll only have to shell out $38 for the Limitless Foundation. It has medium coverage that could be adjusted to a more sheer finish using a damp Beautyblender or built up to a more full coverage by blending in more product. No matter what, it won't cake up and feel heavy on your skin. The Limitless Concealer, on the other hand, comes in six versatile shades (for the moment), and it's $27.The metallic lipsticks are out of this world. With glitter being a top spring lip trend—thank you Pat McGrath—Stellar has five Metallic Moon Lipsticks to choose from.
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The foundation is pretty affordable, too. With 22 shades to choose from, you'll only have to shell out $38 for the Limitless Foundation. It has medium coverage that could be adjusted to a more sheer finish using a damp Beautyblender or built up to a more full coverage by blending in more product. No matter what, it won't cake up and feel heavy on your skin. The Limitless Concealer, on the other hand, comes in six versatile shades (for the moment), and it's $27.The metallic lipsticks are out of this world. With glitter being a top spring lip trend—thank you Pat McGrath—Stellar has five Metallic Moon Lipsticks to choose from.
Here's Deol wearing Disco Moon 02 (a shimmery crimson). Back in the '80s, she was a club DJ, so she's no stranger to bold makeup.As for the formula, it's so intensely pigmented that you get just the right amount of color with just one swipe. Plus, it won't dry out your lips like a lot of metallic lipsticks. There's also 14 satin lipsticks to choose from in the red, neutral, pink families. Deol was sure to make the nudes true to the tube, and they won't wash out medium skin tones.You can shop the complete Stellar cosmetics line, including blush, finishing powder, and mascara, now on sephora.com.
More beauty products people are loving at Sephora:
More beauty products people are loving at Sephora:
