Share

Brooklyn native, Loraine R. Dowdy is a Carribbean-descent beauty that shook the beauty industry with the release of her beauty powerhouse brand, Coloured Raine. After leaving her job in the financial industry, Dowdy took a leap of faith and pursued her dream of releasing a cosmetics line that stands for diversity and includes people of all different aspects of life. We caught up with Loraine to discuss the brand’s overall mission, what it’s like being a black woman in business, and much more.

What made you decide to leave your job in the financial industry to pursue your dream of launching a cosmetics line?

I’ve always had a deep, intense love for color. I love colorful, bright, bold makeup or just colors in general. One day I was sitting down at my desk and I was having a conversation with a friend. We brainstormed on business that we could pursue so that we could gain our own financial independence. I mentioned to her that I was interested in bringing out colorful makeup. From that conversation, it was the start of the brainstorming for Coloured Raine Cosmetics and the next year, Coloured Raine was born.

What is Coloured Raine’s overall mission?

Our overall mission is to celebrate all things beautiful. Everything beauty, no matter your walk of life, your race, your sexual orientation, preference, or gender. We want to celebrate beauty through diversity and unity. There are so many cosmetic brands out there today but as you can see, there aren’t a lot of brands that practice diversity. They practice being inclusive, but they are not diverse. When we say diverse, we’re talking about no discrimination against age. Ageism is real and it exists. There are a lot of women and men in their late 40s, 50s, and 60s that are color fanatics. We love to celebrate beauty through all walks of life no matter age, race, gender, we all deserve to be beautiful and to enhance our beauty with color cosmetics or with your everyday makeup beauty.

How would you describe being a black woman in business?

I know for a fact that it is challenging in the eight years that I have been doing this. It hasn’t been an easy road. As women of color, we have to work ten times harder to get the notoriety. We’re oftentimes doubted and not taken seriously even though we are the number ones to most likely start a business. We don’t have the opportunities readily available to us like many other individuals may have. As women of color business owners, we have to work that much harder to gain that notoriety or to build a name for ourselves. Would I change that? Absolutely not because I think in the growing process of owning a brand, you develop thick skin and you learn a lot along the way. I would rather run the marathon than take the easy path to get to the finish line. There is so much to learn and so much to adapt to. I’m certainly learning a lot in this industry.

What is your favorite product from the line?

That’s such a hard question to answer (laughs). Honestly, I fall in love with everything that I put out honestly. This is because we put a lot of energy and time into our product development. A lot of people don’t know that I am the head of our product development. I am heavily involved in the products that we put out. Anytime a new product comes out or we introduce a new product, just know that the CEO is heavily involved in the creative process of it all. I’m the one that is in charge of putting together the color stories, I’ll also get others involved to get feedback and a second or third pair of eyes on the product that we are putting out. I would have to say that if I did have to pick, I would say the Safari Raine collection. It is my number one love. All Coloured Raine products are loved equally and just the same (laughs).

What can we expect from Loraine R. Dowdy and Coloured Raine in the future?

We are stepping into the skin category so you can expect to see more skin products over time. There will be foundation, primers, contour powders, and more. We’re already in the skin category with foundation but you can expect to see this all happening relatively soon.

For more on Coloured Raine, click here.

Follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter.

 

 

Featured Image courtesy of Coloured Raine