This year, I'm dedicated to expanding the shade ranges of my top selling Gossamer and Dewdrop foundation formulas. The expansion will roll out in several phases, throughout the remainder of 2026.
Mineral Foundation sales are increasing, due to my raising awareness of these products through my socials, as well as customers of now-defunct brands such as Everyday Minerals, Meow Cosmetics and Alima Pure seeking out potential product matches to suit their needs. I've written up ballpark shade comparables for both Everyday Minerals and Alima Pure.
Phase 1 of the shade expansion is now complete.
This first phase involved expanding Levels 2 (light) and 3 (medium) Gossamer and Dewdrop formulas with six new undertones to provide more precision color matching around some of the most popular existing undertones- neutral, cool and warm.
The new undertones include:
Light and Medium Warm Olive (2WO/3WO), a shade which bridges the gap between the yellow/olive tones of Y and YL and the warm tones of W and WL
Peach Pink (2CP/3CP), a shade which bridges the gap between the peachy cool tones of C and CL, and the pink/rose tones of P and PL.
2N and 3N are the historical top selling undertones across all foundation formulas. In addition to the N (neutral) tone, you can now fine-tune your match even more with the introduction of NO-Neutral Olive, NB-Neutral Beige, NC-Neutral Cool and NW-Neutral Warm.
Below are the new shade charts for the Level 2-Light and Level 3-Medium Ranges:
Phase 2 of the Shade expansion involves Level 4 - Deep:
Aromaleigh has always been known for offering a wide range of undertones for paler skin tones, which have been historically underserved. During Aromaleigh v.1 (pre-2010), I offered a wider range of Level 4 shades (as well as three Level 5 shades) than are available at this time. I'm dedicated to expanding the Level 4 range during Phase 2, to better serve both my current customer base, as well as customers coming from other brands seeking a match.
Level 4's expansion will involve expanding the current shade range (4N, 4WL, 4L, 4P and 4PL) to include the full range of neutral, warm, yellow/olive, cool and expanded neutral shades.
Phase 3 of the Shade expansion involves the addition of a Level 3.5 - Medium/Deep:
The jump between Aromaleigh's Level 3 Medium and Level 4 Deep has always been a larger incremental tonal range jump than exists between Levels 1-2, and 2-3. This jump has resulted in many customers requiring a custom blend between the two levels, or doing the mixing on their own. While this isn't difficult with loose powders, it's extra steps that I hope to help customers to avoid.
The 3.5 Medium-Deep range will include the same 16 Undertones found at this time in Levels 2 and 3.
Here's an example showing an example of a Level 3.5 Medium Neutral, in between 3N and 4N:
Phase 4 of the expansion involves exploring Level 5- Dark shades:
At this time, Level 5 shades aren't available. They haven't existed since 2010, and at that time were available in 5C cool, 5W warm and 5N neutral. At this time, the full extent of the Level 5 range isn't known- the final results will depend upon research which will be done once other phases are complete. If you wear a mineral foundation in a darker shade, I'm always curious to hear about what works for you and even potentially to receive a small sample of the shade in the mail, so I can physically compare it during my research phase. Thank you!
Parting Notes:
At this time, I won't be expanding Level 1- Ivory shades. This is because the paler shades contain less colored pigment, so most very pale customers will find that they are able to wear several different undertones without noticeable issues. The deeper in tone you get, the more important it is to have more available undertones. So unless the need arises in the future, Level 1 will stay at 10 shades.
What about Pashmina heavy coverage/concealer formula? Pashmina is based on a pre-2010 product called "Pure Cover", which came in 8 or 9 shades. It was a concealer, but some customers began using it as a foundation and the desire for expanded shades came about. Because of the heavier nature of Pashmina, it's the slower seller of my three formulas, and I've been keeping it around so as to continue serving those customers who use it. Unfortunately at this time, I don't sell enough of this formula to devote all of the time and shelf space required to formulate and stock an expanded shade range. The current expansion plan will involve only Gossamer and Dewdrop.
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