Sephora's Pantone Color IQ

On Monday, I got a chance to try the Color IQ system at Sephora. Working together with Pantone, Sephora now has a incredible tool to aid in one of makeup's most frustrating chores: getting the correct color match for foundation. According to Sephora:

SEPHORA, the leading beauty specialty retailer, and Pantone LLC, the global color authority, unveil SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ, the most advanced foundation matching tool available in North American beauty retail.   Powered by Pantone and based off the color matching technology developed by X-Rite, the SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ system is the first and only beauty device to scan the surface of the skin and assign an official Pantone skintone number, to find your scientifically precise foundation shade amongst our 1,000 foundations, brands and formulas.

“SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ POWERED BY PANTONE is an incredible tool that delivers a real benefit to our clients,” says Margarita Arriagada, SVP of Merchandising at Sephora. “We see this as the first application of this patented Sephora exclusive technology, and are excited to expand its capabilities for other uses in the color world.”

The SEPHORA+ PANTONE COLOR IQ is a hand held tool based off the Pantone X-Rite Spectrocolorimeter used in the design world.  As the first of its kind in cosmetics retail, the device works by taking an image of your skin, analyzing and assigning you an official Pantone skintone number.  With that number, Sephora beauty experts referenceSEPHORA’s Universal SkintoneGuide(via iPad) which holds over 1,000 foundation skus to determine what products are a precise match for your skintone. 

“SEPHORA + PANTONE COLOR IQ eliminates many of the variables that can affect shade selection, including pigment challenges, skin texture and undertones which can often distort the clients match,” added SEPHORA PRO Gilbert Soliz. “As an artist, I know the right foundation is essential to a great makeup look so this is an amazing resource to have for my consultations.  It allows me to pull the best matches across all our brand offerings for my clients personalized consultation.”

It's only available at the 5 Times Square location in NYC and the Powell Street location in San Francisco. Sephora has plans to roll out the system to other locations. Enough recap, onto my experience!