HAVING TROUBLE FINDING the perfect blend for your skin tone? For years, women of colour have being sharing their stories about the difficulty they have finding the right shade of foundation that matches their undertone.
One make-up artist has heard those cries and has launched a new make-up line to fix that problem.
D’borah Blenman, the owner of Zotbelle cosmetics, says Ublend, which was launched last October, allows women of varying ethnicities to make up their own special mixture of foundation.
In the comfort of her salon in Worthing, Christ Church, D’borah explained how her success story unravelled. A budding career in beauty was far from her expectations, she said.
When she left Ellerslie Secondary School she was intent on becoming a lawyer.
“After school my dad introduced me to my cousin, Polichet Carter, who owned a make-up salon and that is where I received my first training,” Blenman said.
The interest in law was shelved.
She rented a station in Chattel Plaza, Hastings, and in four years’ time, she had opened her own salon at No.17 Pine Road.
D’borah wanted to stand out among other make-up artists and so she focused not only on excelling at beauty make-up but make-up for film as well. She branched out into film and theatre and worked for Film Barbados for approximately seven years.
With the wealth of knowledge and experience she was adding to her portfolio, D’borah decided to share some of her secrets with young aspiring make-up artists. For a while she taught at the Barbados Vocational Training Board and then she conducted her own private classes.
Always on the lookout for opportunities for growth, a stroke of luck landed her a job in Boston, United States, that opened several life-changing doors.
She said: “For three years I was able to operate and manage a Kryolan make-up store under the Zotbelle brand and became the Caribbean representative of the Kryolan make-up brand. I also trained to be a cosmetic custom blend specialist and that’s when I decided to create my new make-up line Ublend.
“Working on different customers for years, I realised you always had to mix and match foundation and I didn’t like the idea of doing that. So now with my product Ublend I can mix the perfect blend of foundation for customers with darker shades and varying undertones and I can also mix lipsticks, eye shadow and blush to their preference. So I offer this new line of make-up cosmetics in addition to the ready-made Zotbelle line.
Reflecting on her journey D’borah said she was extremely proud of herself.
“I did not plan for any of this. I didn’t even want to be a make-up artist at first but this is an opportunity that God gave me. It did not come easy, it was hard not having a lot of money and education when I started my business 20 years ago; I just saw opportunities and grabbed hold of them.
“I was very happy to operate the store in Boston because it opened a whole different realm for me. As a Bajan I was able to advance our local make-up industry and I got to meet and work with renowned actors and work on movie sets such as Ted 2.”
D’borah said that she was able to get this far with the support of her family.
“My mum supported me tremendously. She would send me a text message when I was overseas and this motivated me. A simple text means so much when you are thousands of miles from home. And I am grateful to my dad for introducing me into the world of beauty.
“The support of friends and family went a long way when I had to deal with people who deem what I do as “playing up in people’s hair and face”. But sometimes in life you need that opposition because it gives you that extra drive and commitment to push forward.”
The entrepreneur has more plans for the future. She wants to launch a website and sell her products online to the Canadian, US and European markets.
