Featuring: Chelsea
Summary
Chelsea embraces the Clean Girl make-up aesthetic, prioritising complexion products that deliver a natural-looking, radiant finish. Her routine includes Huda Beauty, Haus Labs and Benefit Cosmetics, with accurate shade matching playing a central role in her purchasing decisions. Frustrated by foundations that appear too pale or too orange on her skin, Chelsea wants a full-coverage foundation that delivers a healthy glow without feeling heavy.
Meet Chelsea: The Clean Girl Aesthetic
Chelsea’s approach to make-up centres on creating a polished complexion with products that complement her natural skin tone.
Her preferred aesthetic is Clean Girl, with an emphasis on smooth-looking skin, flattering coverage and a radiant finish.
Rather than focusing on elaborate techniques, Chelsea’s priorities are finding products that match her complexion and feel comfortable throughout the day.
A Routine Built Around Complexion Products
Chelsea’s make-up routine features products from several established beauty brands.
She begins with Huda Beauty Easy Blur Primer, creating a base for her foundation.
Her foundation of choice is from Haus Labs, Lady Gaga’s beauty brand, which she says is the only foundation she has found that accurately matches her skin tone.
She completes her look with Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Mascara.
Her routine includes:
- Huda Beauty Easy Blur Primer – for preparing the complexion
- Haus Labs Foundation – for a more accurate skin tone match
- Benefit Cosmetics They’re Real! Mascara – for defining the lashes
For Chelsea, the right foundation shade is essential to achieving her preferred look.
Shade Matching Remains a Major Challenge
One of Chelsea’s biggest frustrations is finding foundation that complements her natural complexion.
She explains that many foundations she has tried leave her looking either too pale or too orange.
Her experience highlights the difficulties consumers can face when navigating foundation shade ranges and undertones.
Pull quote: “That’s the only one that I could find my shade match with. Every other one either makes me too white or too orange.”
For Chelsea, the right shade match is more important than simply choosing a familiar brand.
Her preference for Haus Labs demonstrates how finding a suitable complexion product can influence brand choice.
Shopping Habits: In-Store Testing Is Essential
Chelsea prefers purchasing make-up in-store, where she can test products before buying.
She visits retailers such as Superdrug and Sephora, particularly when shopping for products that need to match her skin or lip colour.
Being able to see how a product looks against her complexion helps reduce the risk of choosing an unsuitable shade.
Pull quote: “I have to test if it matches my skin or my lips.”
Her shopping habits reinforce the importance of physical retail for complexion products, where colour accuracy can be difficult to judge through online images alone.
What She Wants From Make-Up
Chelsea’s dream product is a foundation that combines substantial coverage with a lightweight, radiant finish.
She wants a formula that provides the coverage she needs without creating a heavy sensation on the skin.
Her ideal foundation would:
- Deliver full coverage
- Create a glowing, radiant finish
- Feel lightweight on the skin
- Avoid a heavy or uncomfortable texture
- Offer a flattering shade match for her complexion
Pull quote: “I would like a full-coverage, glowy foundation. I want it to feel not too heavy, like feel light in a way.”
For Chelsea, full coverage and a natural-looking finish are not mutually exclusive.
The Opportunity for Lightweight, Full-Coverage Foundations
Chelsea’s preferences highlight an opportunity for colour cosmetics brands to combine coverage, comfort and radiance in a single complexion product.
Consumers seeking a Clean Girl aesthetic do not necessarily want minimal coverage. Instead, they may want foundations that conceal imperfections while maintaining the appearance and feel of naturally radiant skin.
Her experience also reinforces the importance of inclusive shade development.
A broad foundation range must go beyond offering different depths of colour to include undertones that accurately reflect consumers’ complexions.
For brands, the opportunity lies in delivering high-performance complexion products that combine:
- Accurate shade matching
- Diverse undertone options
- Full coverage
- Lightweight textures
- Radiant finishes
Key Takeaways for NPD
- Clean Girl consumers may still want full-coverage complexion products, provided the finish remains natural-looking and radiant.
- Accurate foundation shade matching is a significant factor influencing brand choice and consumer satisfaction.
- Undertone accuracy is essential, with foundations that appear too pale or orange creating frustration.
- Physical beauty retail remains important for consumers who want to test complexion and lip products before purchasing.
- Lightweight, full-coverage foundations with a glowing finish represent an opportunity for product innovation.
- A successful shade match can encourage consumers to favour one brand over competing alternatives.
