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This pen lets you mix your own makeup

This pen lets you mix your own makeup

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Take that, Kylie Jenner Lip Kit

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Sometimes I see a color in the world and think, "that would be fun to wear on my face." But I can't just whip up lipstick in my house and I also can't follow through on every makeup shopping whim. Yesterday, though, I discovered a company that might help me live out my lipstick fantasies.

Mink released its digital pen product in December, which lets users create makeup at home. The whole process — from finding a color to actually making the makeup — is so simple that it really makes me be like, "dang, Ashley, why didn't you invent this thing?!"

Why didn't i invent this??

Users can take a photo of their desired makeup color and load it onto the pen's iOS companion app, which then breaks it down into exact levels of cyan, magenta, and yellow. In addition to the pen, every user has makeup base powder. So they just pour out some powder, set their pen to whatever color level they need for each, and dye the base. That's it. They'll also need an extra "mixing medium" to turn the powder into lipstick, lipgloss, or blush. It's CMYK printing but without the black, and by hand, and for makeup.

Ok so this pen is cool. Like, really, really cool. But I'm skeptical at how well it works. While yes, you can dye the makeup base any color you want, part of the allure of expensive lipstick is how long they last before needing to be reapplied. The gloss in the company's YouTube video looks like it'll rub off easily.

What up, neon green lipstick

The pen's starter kit costs $295 and doesn't even come with a base powder. It's also sold out for at least the next few weeks. Maybe we could DIY this at home with printer ink? Lol jk bad and maybe poisonous idea. I can get a whole lot of really great lipstick for $295, so I'd have to test this pen out to know if it's worth the money. Still, though, great job Mink because now you got me dreaming about some crazy lipstick colors. (I'm looking at you, sea foam blue.)