Walk into nearly any department store beauty hall in Britain and the stands of foundation present a similar picture – a sea of beige with a hefty dose of ivory on the side. What’s wrong with this picture? It may work for me and my Anglo-Saxon skin, but it so often leaves about 40% of my friendship circle spinning on their heels and heading straight out the door again, dissatisfied and left out in the cold.

Britain is becoming ever-more multicultural, but our colour cosmetics offerings, save for a few brands like MAC that make it their mission to cover all skin-tone bases, are lagging woefully behind. But there are signs of change afoot. EX1 formulate their foundations specifically for ‘Asian, Middle/Far-Eastern, Mediterranean or South American’ complexions, basically anyone with an olive-based skin tone that’s ever been left excluded by a Northern European palette of ‘buffs’ and ‘biscuits.’

Formulated in Milan by Farah Naz, a British-Asian biochemist who was so frustrated with the lack of suitable shades already on the market she decided to create her own, the range features five shades of 'Invisiwear' foundation blended to match fair, right through to deep olive complexions. 'As a British Asian woman I struggled to find high street make-up brands that matched my skin tone. I always felt it was a bit like wanting to buy a pair of jeans on the high street, but being told that nobody made them in my size. The only choice would be to shop at department stores for designer brands, just to get a good fit.' Naz and team also took into account the biophysical differences of olive skin, which tends to be oilier and more prone to post-blemish scars because of higher levels of pigment in the skin, and tweaked the formulas accordingly adding ingredients to both mattify and speed up skin healing. 

@Thandie_Kay, the collaborative twitter mouthpiece of Thandie Newton and make-up artist Kay Montano rate it, while fellow MUA Millie Kendall says that in her 25 year career, ‘EX1 is hands down the most amazing foundation I’ve found for olive skin.’ Praise indeed. So if you’re not a classic ‘nude’ and you’re sick of trying to match your skin to a swatch book three shades too light, it might, just might, be worth a whirl.