I stepped into a color lab to recreate my favorite discontinued lip tint

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I stepped into a color lab to recreate my favorite discontinued lip tint

Published: 18 Jul. 2025, 07:00 Updated: 18 Jul. 2025, 11:45

PARK EUN-JEE
[email protected]

Audio report: written by reporters, read by AI

I check the final sample at a section with standard light source. [PARK SANG-MOON]

[GIVE IT A GO]

“Under the sky, no shade is truly alike” is a line Korean beauty influencers often use to emphasize the uniqueness of each color. It may sound hyperbolic to some, but I found myself relating to it after repeatedly failing to find the exact same shade of a discontinued Peripera lip tint, despite scouring Olive Young stores and countless online malls.

When encountered with an opportunity to experience a color-mixing lab run by cosmetic manufacturer Kolmar for its clients, my priority was to replicate the color.

I immediately turned to the Pantone color finder to use it as a reference, and there “Coralessence,” a coral hue suspended somewhere between peach and rose.

But soon, anxiety crept in. I had barely any knowledge of color theory or formulation after spending more than a decade in the media industry.

Left with no choice, however, I put forward the Pantone color anyway to the two on-site color specialists, and the venture kicked off.

They presented me with a waxlike formula that serves as a base element for glow lip and blush products and six colorants — white, yellow, crimson red, classic true red, black and blue.

One of them suggested that I mix in white first — because the overall tone of the coral was the soft and light version of standard color — then add the crimson red, since it could make it pinkish.

The formula quickly turned reddish pink only with a few dips of the pigments, looking a bit distant from the Coralessence-like mood.

I mix colorants to make the coral shade I looked for at Chroma Kolmar Studio in southern Seoul. [PARK SANG-MOON]

The solution was yellow, as guided by the specialists. Unaccustomed to this kind of task, I happened to add more yellow than necessary, which shifted it to an orange hue I didn’t like.

The Pantone shade dubbed ‘Coralessence.’ [PANTONE]

The colorist stepped in to rescue me, blending in the blue colorant based on color complementary rules to balance out the overly orange tone.

With a flat spatula resembling a jam knife, I kept blending and trying to evenly disperse them after learning that the process is essential to ensuring consistent coloring.

It took me less than an hour to get the final sample that can be used on an actual lip. The next step involved selecting specific ingredients for functionality, which could be done in the same lab.

After countless failures, I finally landed on the perfect coral I'd sought for a long time and was tempted to advance into the next stage for specification — and even production.

But my journey had to end there, as someone who lacks the business instincts to take it further. I had to be content with having the sample that functions exactly as a glowing version of my favorite lip product.

And yet, for a person with an entrepreneurial drive for the beauty world, the so-called K-beauty ecosystem, combined with modern technology, could take them further, even when their knowledge or expertise is still in its early stages.

That said, one must be prepared to face the intense competition shaped by tens of thousands of players already built under the integrated system.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [[email protected]]