E.l.f. Cosmetics Partners with Pinterest to Create Color Analysis Tool

E.l.f. Cosmetics aims to remove the guesswork out of the viral beauty craze of consumers using color analysis to find colors of makeup and clothes.

The beauty brand created a microsite, “color e.l.f.nalysis,” in collaboration with Pinterest. To use it, users can either take a selfie through a webcam or upload a selfie to the site. The tool first assigns users’ selfies a hue (warm or cool), value (light or deep contrast), and chroma (bright or muted). The tool then sorts users into their “color season,” a categorization of colors that matches with complimentary makeup colors. Users are then matched with a custom Pinterest board of corresponding E.l.f. products. For example, someone whose undertones are identified as “soft autumn” will be recommended E.l.f.’s Camo Liquid Blush in Peach Perfect and Smoky Kohl Eyeliner in Vintage Denim. Consumers can shop E.l.f. products on its website by clicking through Pinterest pins.

The tool takes advantage of the growing interest in seasonal color analysis, a method of determining what color makeup and clothing to wear. Seasonal color analysis originally went viral on TikTok in 2023. 

The trend first gained widespread popularity in 1980 with the publication of Carole Jackson’s Color Me Beautiful, which categorizes readers into winter, spring, summer, and fall seasons based on hair color, eye color, and undertones of their skin. As part of the color analysis process, people are recommended colors to wear based on those categorizations. Additionally, some people work with beauty consultants to find their colors.

Unlike its predecessor, the modern version of color analysis revolves around social media recommendations, filters, and digital tools. Pinterest had 1.6 billion makeup-related searches, and a 22-times increase in “color season analysis” searches in the last year, said Katie Dombrowksi, VP of CPG at Pinterest in a press release.

“It’s clear consumers are craving personalized beauty experiences,” said Dombrowksi.

This partnership comes as Pinterest attempts to scale its ad business and become a bigger commerce player. This year, Pinterest has hired former Meta and Amazon leaders to build out its ad business into a performance marketing channel for brands.