Printouts For My Face May Be 3-D But The End Result Is Just The Opposite

I’m a beautyphile.  Is that the right word?  Or is it beautyophile?  I’m not sure.  Either way, it means that I have about seven million beauty products lining cabinets, drawers, makeup bags and closets…and I keep buying more and more.  You name it, I’ve either got it or tried it and returned it.  =)

The other day I caught a clip on the Today show about a Harvard B-school grad who came up with the idea to print makeup using a 3-D printer for the bargain price of $300 (cost of the device).  The entrepreneur behind this idea believes the selling point behind this product is to replicate any possible color/shade/hue from the device.

But there’s an issue, which I’ll illustrate with a little anecdote of my own.

I have a girlfriend who lives in Fort Lauderdale.  Another beauty(o)phile.  She found a company that can match lipstick colors for about $30 per tube.  Now, I never had a need for this kind of service in the past because I always had a stash of thousands waiting to be used.  I never committed to one single color…EVER.  Until one day I stopped into Saks Fifth Avenue.  The Armani Beauty counter called to me and what the hell?  It was my birthday so why not go and get a lunchtime makeover?

The makeup artist who worked on me pulled out all the stops, sensing I was about to drop some serious coin.  And she was right. I looked freaking fabulous!  So when she held up THE lipstick and told me to trust her, that it’s not as pink as it looks especially if you fill in your lips with THIS complimentary lipliner, I believed her.

I bought the tube and proceeded to wear it EVERY DAY.  When it finally ran out, I went back to replenish my supply.  Nooooo!  It was a seasonal color and no longer available…ANYWHERE.  I searched online, but no dice.  My signature color was gone, just like that.  It was heartbreaking.  And even though I had so many replacements begging to take on the role of my next favorite shade, I never found one that quite measured up (still looking, sad to say).

Until my friend took my empty tube and had a new tube created.

The color was right on target, but the SHIMMER, the essential part of the original formula, was missing. It was completely matte and when applied, the result was much different from that of its beloved predecessor.

Bottom line?  It’s not always about the color.  Ironically, you can use a 3-D printed to print makeup that basically has zero dimensionality.  It will just be about color.  No shimmer, no frost, no sheen…no depth.

Not for me.  =)