A system and method determine color of skin of a subject and produce a customized cosmetic based at least in part on the determined color of skin. A region of skin is covered with a chamber having an open area facing the skin. The skin is illuminated with light caused to enter the chamber. The light is caused to be dispersed within the chamber. A camera is used to record an image of a portion of the dispersed light in the chamber and the recorded image is processed to characterize the color of the skin. The recorded image includes a plurality of colors which are mapped to the closest color recipe. The color recipe is used to calculate actuator displacements for a portioning machine that includes a cartridge having cosmetic additives that produce the customized cosmetic.