Changes in facial impressions by controlling the color of surface reflection from cosmetic foundations: Appearance evaluation and formulation technique

Abstract

An attractive new series of foundations that vary in the glossy color originating in pearlescent pigments and are capable of changing facial impressions was developed. The color of the reflection of pearlescent pigments was attributed to additive mixing of interfering light. A brightly colored foundation film was obtained by mixing a sufficient amount of medium‐sized pearlescent pigments into foundations. Five foundation films containing pearlescent pigments of different glossy colour (red, gold, green, blue and white) were prepared. Gonio‐spectrophotometry was employed to determine the angle dependence of the reflected spectra, and the approximate optical characteristics of the films were derived. Using the approximations as input parameters in a made‐up face simulation system, five images of a woman's facial skin with different glossy colors were processed by a computer graphics technique. Thirty‐nine women assessed the facial impressions for glossy color using a semantic differential method with 69 descriptive words. Results of the subsequent statistical analysis showed that different glossy colors provide different impressions of facial appearance.