Libby
“This spectrophotometer will analyze how your skin reflects or absorbs light, okay? You won’t feel anything.”
“Ah, good, as I suspected,” Eunice said as she put the spectrophotometer away.
“Our advanced, personalized program has a prediction for your color palette. Nevertheless, we will try several so that you can see for yourself and we can decide together. Technology is not always right, you know, and we need to include a human touch. That is why we recommend in-person consultations at Myeongdong Color Experts, instead of trying to do this at home by yourself with an app.”
“Whoa,” Jacob said. “That’s crazy what a difference it makes.”
Eunice beamed. “Surprising, isn’t it? Now, how about this?” She flipped both color swatches to a shade of pink—on the left, a very pale rose, and on the right, a strong fuchsia.
“I had no idea I could wear colors so strong. Wow. I’ve always chosen what I wear based on how it looks on the model online, or whether I liked the color itself.
I hadn’t realized there could be such a huge difference when the color was matched to me.
” These lines had, of course, been scripted ahead of time to make sure that the company got what it paid for with Libby and Jacob; that’s how their industry was run.
However, she and Jacob had a core principle that they would only take on jobs where they were interested in or curious about the product or experience.
They didn’t want to become shills who hawked infomercial-quality junk that no one needed.
And while they couldn’t control whether the end result of their gigs would be things they loved (for example, they had done a partnership with a sweater company where they got to try their hand at shearing sheep—it had sounded fun but ended up smellier than expected because damp wool on live animals could be, uh, pungent), they at least knew they weren’t compromising their own values for money.
Right now, Libby was legitimately surprised and pleased with the results of the color matching.
Eunice flipped through other colors in both swatches—oranges, greens, blues, and purples. The fabric on the right won every time.
“Now let us compare to a third color profile.” She removed the pale fabrics on the left and replaced them with a new stack, these more saturated than their predecessors but not as vivid as the ones still on Libby’s right.
“These colors on the left are actually the ones that the computer assigned to you. What do you think?”
Eunice flipped through both sides simultaneously, comparing the rich blue on the left to the bright blue on the right.
“Huh,” Libby said. “I actually think the new blue is better.”
“Me, too,” Jacob said.
“How about this?” Eunice flipped to the reds. The one on the left was like a deep-red wine held up to the light. The one on the right was a purer, bolder cardinal red.
Libby looked back and forth between the two.
“Remember,” Eunice said, “it’s not about which color you think is prettier on its own. Look at your skin. What does each shade do for you?”
“Ah, right.” Libby looked at her reflection. On her laptop screen, her audience’s vote was also coming in rapidly in floating comment bubbles.
“I think this time, the one on the right is the winner,” Libby said. “It makes my skin all glowy like I’ve put on a nice blush. On the other hand, the new one on the left makes my face look fine, but more neutral, you know?”
Jacob leaned over so his face appeared in the camera, and he addressed their audience. “Looks like most of you agree with Libby’s assessment.”
Immediately, thumbs-up and heart emojis popped up on the screen.
Eunice smiled. The indicator on the top of the live stream feed indicated that there were currently twenty-three million viewers tuned in. And many more would watch the recording of this event later.
Libby and Eunice went through the remaining colors together, and it was an interesting split between the left and right.
“This is why we do not automatically trust the computer result,” Eunice said. “When we see the colors in person, we find that you will sometimes have matches in different palettes. And, sometimes you have colors that no matter what the palette is, they are never right for you.”
She held up a dark tobacco brown to Libby’s face, as well as a rich chestnut one. Both made her skin look flat. Libby wrinkled her nose. “Okay, good to know. Not a brown person!”
Eunice then went on to recommend makeup colors for Libby, with specific foundation, eyeshadow, and lipstick. They were again not products Libby ever would have picked up on her own, but they really enhanced the natural glow of her skin.
When they were finished, Libby stood up so that Jacob could take a seat. As they were switching places, though, Jacob put his hands around Libby’s waist and joked to Eunice, “Can you do predictive color matching so we know the best color clothes to buy for our baby?”
Libby’s jaw dropped. Her face wasn’t on camera, because she was standing and the webcam had been trained on the chair, but her stomach was on display smack-dab in the center of the screen.
Comment bubbles started flurrying in the live stream feed faster than she could read them all.
OMG OMG OMG Libby ur preggers?
Please tell me ur gonna do a livestream baby shower!
im so happy 4 u Jacob and Libby i feel like i know u so it’s like im gonna b ur baby’s auntie omg
Eunice clapped her hands. “Congratulations! I did not know you were going to be parents!”
Shit, I’m sorry, Jacob mouthed to Libby, eyes wide.
She knew he hadn’t meant to let it slip. She was lucky that she had a husband who was so genuinely excited about being a daddy.
But fuck. Not only had they not figured out what to do about their business with a baby on the way, but now twenty-three million strangers knew.
And Libby hadn’t even told her parents or Talia yet.