Human skin color is more diverse than it may appear at first glance.
Two skin colors that look similar in brightness can still differ in their red or yellow direction, and colors that appear close to the eye may occupy different positions when measured.
COCORY has accumulated more than 50,000 skin color measurements and has used this data to educate professionals on how to understand individual skin color through measurement.
This has been the focus of COCORY Cube Education A.
In Cube Education A, participants learn to measure an individual’s skin color with the COCORY Cube, interpret the data, and connect those findings to Personal Color and makeup analysis.
Now, COCORY is extending the same approach from skin to product.
Cube Education B focuses on foundation colorimetry.
From Skin Measurement to Product Measurement
Knowing a client’s skin color is only one side of base makeup analysis.
To compare that skin data with foundation products, professionals also need to understand the actual colors of the products they use.
Shade labels such as No. 21 or No. 23 can be useful within a brand, but they are not necessarily standardized across different cosmetic companies.
Even foundations with similar shade names may differ in lightness and color direction.
In Cube Education B, participants apply foundation products to standardized test sheets, allow the products to dry, and measure them with the COCORY Cube.
L*, a*, and b* values are recorded so that the actual color characteristics of each product can be compared.
During this session, participants measured multiple foundation and cushion shades, including a broad range of cushion colors, as well as products used in their own professional kits.
Building a Foundation Data Library
After measurement, each shade is positioned and compared according to its data.
Participants examine:
how light or deep each shade is,
whether its color direction is relatively red or yellow,
how closely neighboring shades are positioned,
and how products from different brands relate to one another.
The purpose is not to memorize one manufacturer’s shade system.
Instead, professionals learn how to measure a newly launched product, record its characteristics, and add it to their own foundation reference library.
This makes the method applicable even as products and shade ranges continue to change.
Connecting More Than 50,000 Skin Measurements with Product Data
Cube Education A focuses on human skin color data.
Cube Education B focuses on foundation product data.
When both can be viewed within the same measurement framework, new questions become possible.
How well does a brand’s current foundation range reflect the skin colors found among consumers?
Are multiple shades concentrated within a similar lightness or color area?
Are neighboring shades meaningfully separated?
Are there skin color areas represented in consumer data but not sufficiently covered by the current product range?
This is where COCORY’s accumulated skin data and foundation measurements can be viewed together.
Why Foundation Shade Validation Matters for Beauty Brands
Developing a foundation shade range is only the beginning.
Once products are formulated and produced, brands may also need to examine whether the finished shades reflect the intended color architecture.
Measurement can help review:
- the lightness distribution of the full shade range
- the color direction of individual products
- the distance between neighboring shades
- potential areas of overlap
- gaps within the overall range
- the relationship between consumer skin data and product shade data
This turns color measurement into more than a consumer-facing shade recommendation tool.
It can also become a way for beauty brands to review and understand the colors they have created.
A Practical Tool for Makeup Professionals
For makeup artists and beauty educators, Cube Education B provides another practical application.
By measuring the foundations in their own kits, professionals can create a reference library that allows products from different brands to be compared using the same framework.
When a new product is launched, it can be measured and added to the existing data.
The foundation library can then be viewed alongside the client’s skin measurement when considering different makeup results, from a natural skin match to a brighter or calmer base expression.
The COCORY Perspective
Measurement does not replace the judgment of a makeup professional.
At COCORY, data is used as a reference that helps make observation, comparison, and professional decisions more structured.
Cube Education A asks:
“What colors exist in human skin?”
Cube Education B adds another question:
“What colors have cosmetic products created for that skin?”
Skin Data → Foundation Data
Connecting these two areas is the central idea behind COCORY Cube Education B.
COCORY Cube Education
Cube Education A
Individual skin color measurement and skin data analysis
Cube Education B
Foundation colorimetry and product shade data analysis
Professional Education Inquiry
COCORY Cube Education is designed for makeup artists, beauty educators, and professionals who want to develop a structured approach to skin and base makeup color.
For curriculum, schedules, language options, and professional education inquiries, please contact COCORY.
Beauty Brand / B2B Collaboration
COCORY also works with beauty and cosmetic brands that want to examine their foundation shades through measured color data.
Potential project scopes may include:
- measurement of existing or newly developed foundation shades
- analysis of lightness and color direction across a full shade range
- review of shade spacing and areas of overlap
- comparison between skin color data and product shade data
- customized professional education and brand color programs
Project scope can be discussed according to the number of products, shade range, target market, and analysis objective.
For professional education or Beauty Brand B2B collaboration inquiries, please contact COCORY through our official channels.
Email: cocory1@cocory.kr
