Brand dossier · United States · 2025
Colour written by a working makeup artist, for every shade of skin.
Danessa Myricks Beauty is one of the few colour lines built around a technique-first point of view — developed by an artist who spent two decades on set and backstage before she ever put a product on a shelf. This review looks at what the brand does well, who it genuinely suits, how it performs across U.S. retail channels, and where it sits next to the brands shoppers most often compare it with.
Read the full review ↓- Founder Danessa Myricks — makeup artist & photographer
- Founded 2018 · New York
- Retail Sephora U.S. · brand direct-to-consumer site
- Known for Layered, multi-use cream colour
01 — Foundation
Built by a working artist, rather than a focus group.
The order in which a brand is made tends to show up in how its products behave.
Danessa Myricks spent roughly twenty years painting faces before she founded the brand — in runway backstage, on editorial sets, and in the chair of clients who could not find a base shade that matched them without mixing two bottles together. That experience came first; the formulas followed.
The result is a line that reads more like a makeup artist's kit than a seasonal catalogue. A single Colorfix pot can serve as eyeshadow, liner, lip colour or blush depending on where it goes and what it is layered over. Yummy Skin products sit close to skincare. Nothing is designed to be used one way only, which is unusual at this price point.
“The kit came first. The shelf came later — and that order is visible in the formulas.” Editorial note
02 — Advantages
Five reasons the line holds up in everyday use.
These are the structural advantages — the things that stay true whether you are doing a five-minute morning face or building a look for a camera.
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01
Technique-led formulation
Products are built to respond to pressure, layering and blending, not to look finished the instant they touch skin. That means a beginner can build up gradually rather than commit on the first pass, and an experienced hand can push pigment exactly where they want it.
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02
One product, several placements
Colorfix, Twin Flames and the cream cheek and lip formats cross the usual boundaries between eye, cheek and lip. For a shopper it means a smaller bag and a shorter routine; for a professional it means fewer duplicates in the kit and faster transitions on set.
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03
Colour depth in the mid and deep ranges
The shade work goes well past the light-to-medium centre of the market. Deep tones are developed to keep their richness rather than turning ashy or chalky once they are blended — a detail that is easy to claim and harder to deliver consistently.
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04
Layering that sits on skincare
The Yummy Skin range is built to go over moisturiser and sunscreen without pill, sliding or separating. It treats makeup and skin prep as one continuous step, which suits the way most people actually get ready in the morning.
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05
Camera-ready durability
Products designed for photography and stage are formulated against harder conditions — heat, movement, high-resolution lighting. That durability carries over into ordinary use: longer wear, less transfer, and a finish that does not break down in an hour.
03 — The Line
Where most people start.
A short map of the pieces that carry the brand's reputation — useful if you are deciding what to try first.
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Vision Cream Cover
A cream foundation that can be sheered out or built up, and mixed between shades to match a skin tone precisely. The flexibility is the point — one pot covers more ground than a single fixed shade.
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Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder
A soft-focus balm that blurs texture and controls shine. It works under foundation as a smoothing layer, or over it on the t-zone later in the day.
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Colorfix
The clearest entry point into the brand. A cream pigment that works as eyeshadow, liner, lip colour or blush, and sets down without staying slippery.
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Infinite Chrome Flakes
A multi-chromatic flake that can be pressed over any base for a shifting, light-catching finish. Built for people who enjoy colour-play rather than natural looks.
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Lightwork palettes
Coordinated shadow palettes designed with camera lighting in mind — pigmented, blendable, and arranged so the shades work together without much planning.
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Twin Flames
A double-ended cream colour stick that pairs two coordinated tones in one component, making a fast cheek-and-lip pairing straightforward.
04 — Audience
Who actually buys it.
Four overlapping groups account for most of the brand's U.S. customer base. They are not the same shopper, but they tend to want the same thing: control over the finish.
01
Working makeup artists
The core audience. Artists buy for kit reliability — products that layer without fighting each other, hold under lights, and can be used across multiple placements. The multi-use formats reduce what has to be carried.
02
Deep and rich skin tones
Shoppers who have been underserved by the light-to-medium centre of the market. The shade depth and pigment density here are a practical answer to a long-standing gap, particularly in cream and balm formats.
03
Routine-minimisers
People who want fewer products that do more. A single pot replacing three items fits a small bathroom shelf, a carry-on bag, and a morning that has about six minutes of slack in it.
04
Creative and content-led users
Consumers who treat makeup as a craft — graphic liner, chrome finishes, editorial looks — and who film or photograph the result. The high-pigment, camera-friendly pieces speak directly to them.
05 — In Use
Where it earns its place in the bag.
A product line is only as useful as the moments it fits into. These are the five situations where the brand's formats make the most sense.
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Weddings and events
Long wear, low transfer, and shade accuracy under both daylight and ballroom lighting. The cream formats also mean a touch-up through the evening takes seconds rather than a full re-application.
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Studio and editorial
High-resolution lighting exposes every texture and patch of unevenness. Pigment that stays true and balm textures that blur instead of flatten are precisely what a photography set asks for.
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The five-minute morning
One cream colour for eyes and cheeks, a blurring balm on the t-zone, and a tinted base applied with fingers. The multi-use design is what makes a compressed routine possible without it looking compressed.
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Performance and stage
Dancers, musicians and presenters work under heat and movement. Formulas built for camera durability hold through both, and the chrome and flake finishes read clearly from a distance.
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Travel and on-the-go
Multi-use components cut the number of items in a carry-on. Balm and cream formats survive cabin pressure better than liquids, and they can be applied without a brush.
06 — Signals
What the retail numbers suggest.
A snapshot of how the brand performs across U.S. channels — from Sephora's review base to direct-to-consumer fulfilment.
Figures are approximate and drawn from public retail reviews, third-party retail analytics summaries and brand channel information, compiled for editorial context only. Individual values shift with the reporting window and should not be read as audited sales data.
07 — U.S. Market
Why it fits the American shopper particularly well.
The U.S. is one of the most demographically varied beauty markets in the world. A brand built around shade depth and shade flexibility is not a niche here — it is the mainstream.
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A genuinely plural customer base
No single dominant skin tone defines the U.S. market. A line built around adjustable cream bases and deeper pigment density matches that reality instead of working around it.
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A retail structure that lowers the cost of trying
Sephora's store density and its returns policy mean a shopper can test a shade in person and change their mind with relatively little friction. That makes a slightly less familiar brand far easier to take a chance on.
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A tutorial-driven discovery culture
Much of the U.S. beauty audience learns through video. Products designed to be shown — layered, swatched, built up on camera — travel further in that environment than products that only read well in a flat-lay.
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A price position between mass and luxury
Pricing sits at the professional-leaning end of mid-market: above drugstore, well below prestige-luxury houses. For a shopper who wants artist-grade colour without a four-figure kit, that placement is workable.
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Restock behaviour that suits single-item buying
Fast domestic fulfilment and a direct site make it easy to replace one item at a time rather than committing to a full set — which is how most people actually buy makeup.
08 — Comparison
How it sits beside the usual alternatives.
These four brands come up most often in the same conversation. The differences are less about quality than about what each one is optimised to do.
| Brand | Core identity | Price band | Shade depth | Artist-tool feel | Suited to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Danessa Myricks Beauty | Artist-led colour and layered creams | $$ | Strong, with deliberate work in deep tones | High | Artists, creative users, deep-tone shoppers, routine-minimisers |
| Fenty Beauty | Large-scale inclusive base makeup | $$ | Very wide across foundations | Moderate | Shoppers who want the widest base-shade selection in one stop |
| Rare Beauty | Soft everyday looks and wellbeing messaging | $ | Wide, weighted toward accessible tones | Moderate | Younger and lighter-routine shoppers who want an easy, forgiving finish |
| Pat McGrath Labs | Couture luxury and runway drama | $$$$ | Stylised and more selective | High | Collectors and occasion looks where price is not the deciding factor |
| Milk Makeup | Minimal, stick-based convenience | $$ | Moderate | Low to moderate | Speed-first shoppers who want the fewest steps and the least fuss |
Against Fenty Beauty. Fenty solved the foundation-matching problem at scale, and it deserves the credit it gets for that. Danessa Myricks approaches the same customer from a different angle: fewer base shades, but far more flexibility within each one, plus a colour range built for layering. Fenty is the better single-stop base purchase; Danessa Myricks is the better add-on for someone who already has a base they trust.
Against Rare Beauty. Rare skews younger and positions makeup as part of a softer, lower-effort ritual, with an ethical framing that resonates strongly. Danessa Myricks asks a little more of the user — the pigments reward technique — which makes it less forgiving for a true beginner and considerably more expressive for anyone past that stage.
Against Pat McGrath Labs. Both are artist-founded and both treat makeup as craft. The split is price and volume: Pat McGrath operates at a luxury ceiling with fewer, more collectible pieces, while Danessa Myricks keeps the entry cost lower and the formats more workhorse-like. For someone building a kit rather than a collection, the second is easier to justify.
Against Milk Makeup. Milk's advantage is speed and simplicity — a stick you can swipe on in a moving car. Danessa Myricks gives up some of that simplicity in exchange for control. If the goal is literally the shortest possible routine, Milk wins; if the goal is a result that still looks considered, the trade goes the other way.
09 — Honest notes
Where it may not be the right fit.
- If you strongly prefer pump dispensers and sealed packaging over pots and pans, a good number of the cream formats will feel like a step backwards in convenience.
- Cream pigments reward a little technique. Someone who wants a product to look finished in one swipe may find the learning curve steeper than expected.
- The line leans toward colour and multi-use pieces rather than a complete full-coverage base wardrobe. Shoppers who want an extensive powder and concealer matrix will likely need a second brand alongside it.
- It is not a budget line. The cost per item sits above drugstore alternatives, though the multi-use formats offset some of that in practice.
10 — Getting started
If you are trying it for the first time.
Three pieces that give a fair sense of what the brand is like without committing to a whole routine.
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01
Colorfix
The most direct introduction — one pot, several placements, and an immediate sense of how the brand's pigment behaves.
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02
Yummy Skin Blurring Balm Powder
Sits comfortably in almost any existing routine, on almost any skin type, and answers the shine-and-texture question most people actually have.
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03
Vision Cream Cover
Worth considering if you are still mixing two shades to match your skin. The adjustable cream format is where the brand's shade philosophy is clearest.