Florence Adepoju Injects a Little Color into the Makeup Industry

When Florence Adepoju was a student at the London School of Fashion, she noticed a troubling makeup trend: she couldn’t find any colorful lipstick that complemented her skin tone. Upon realizing that the makeup industry didn’t cater to women with darker skin tones, Adepoju, who was studying cosmetic science, decided to take matters into her own hands.

Armed with a keen understanding of science, color and the beauty industry, Adepoju set up a lab in her parent’s garden shed. There she experimented with pigments and oils, and eventually created a formula that suited her tastes and makeup needs. Her garden shed experiments eventually grew into her fashionable, in-demand line known as MDM Flow.

As a student, Adepoju did a dissertation on the science behind bright lipstick color. Her interest in creating a lipstick line that complements darker skin tones was not only inspired by her studies, however. Before she created her own lipstick line, she worked at the Benefit Cosmetics makeup counter. While helping customers, she realized that few luxury makeup brands catered to women of color.

MDM Flow was aided in the beginning by a grant from the London School of Fashion. Adepoju used these funds to set up a fully functioning cosmetics lab and to create her own line of richly pigmented lipsticks. These lipsticks range in color from black to orange, and they are inspired by a range of influences. The Mas Marina lipstick, for example, a bright blue hue, takes inspiration from the Mas Museum Antwerp. Milkshake, a light pink pigment, is inspired by the famous Kelis song. Many of the lipsticks have a distinctly ’90s flavor and would look at home on any of the decade’s R&B stars.

Today MDM Flow is available in a number or retailers. People interested in the brand can find it in the trendy French retailer Colette and the flagship Topshop store in London. It can also be purchased on the brand’s website. As the brand has grown, it has accumulated a number of celebrity fans, including writer and actress Lena Dunham.

Thanks to Florence Adepoju’s innovation, women of color have a lipstick line crafted just for them. Her line of cruelty-free lipsticks is becoming increasingly popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

Photos edited with PicMonkey

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