A new online retailer aimed specifically at women of colour has launched in the UK. Melariche offers a mixture of prestige and budget brands to women in the UK and the EU.
The site includes both skin care and make-up, with top brands listed including IMAN Cosmetics, PHB Ethical Beauty and 3107 Skincare.
Melariche also has two exclusive brands: Maréna Beauté, a Swedish cosmetics brand for darker skin, and Biolissime, a plant-based range of skin care said to help treat hyperpigmentation without damaging the skin.
Launched by former lawyer, Jackie Taiwo, the site was created to bring a better selection of brands to women in the UK. Taiwo was born in New York but was frustrated to notice the smaller range of products available in London when she moved there for work.
I visited all the main high street stores from Boots to Selfridges. After hours of walking, I only found one foundation that I thought could work, but as there were no tester bottles available I wasn’t even able to check the colour.
Taiwo explained: “When I went shopping for a new foundation in London, I visited all the main high street stores from Boots to Selfridges. After hours of walking, I only found one foundation that I thought could work, but as there were no tester bottles available I wasn’t even able to check the colour.
“When I asked a shop assistant for help, she had to rummage in the bottom of a drawer to find a shade she thought might suit me. It was not the service I was hoping for and it made me realise that what was missing was a store that would just focus on make-up and skin care for women with darker complexions.”
Taiwo is now hoping to offer women of colour in the UK an “exciting” experience when they shop for new beauty products. She added: “At our store, women of colour are not neglected as they are elsewhere. Instead, we celebrate diversity, offer choice and show that beauty is not a one-size-fits-all concept.”
