If you know me or have just even seen me, then you know I wear a lot of bright bold makeup. I love the colors, glitter, and boldness, but what people don't know is that I'm usually conflicted when it comes to buying makeup.
Something that has always done me wrong is going down the makeup aisles almost anywhere. I would hunt through the aisles looking for a foundation shade in drugstores. That never went well. The darkest shade available was still always too light. Every time I sulk out of the aisle knowing that they had nothing for me. Then, surprise! A brand extends its shade range, but local stores never carry the darkest shades deliberately. Sulk again. Oh, a new foundation line with 23 shades! I would check in vain each time knowing that stores wouldn't carry my shade. "Well, fuck the stores then," I would say triumphantly every time.
Before I know it, I'm in my room squishing my face against my laptop asking friends "does this match?" I order it and wait 5-10 business days only to find out that it's undertone is the color of red brick or gray. I'm not gray, and I'm not red. If anything, I'm this hard to find dark olive shade which doesn't exist for most foundations unless I'm willing to pay $60. I don't wanna pay $60 on books I actually need, let alone pay it on an overpriced foundation.
That's just my struggle with foundation. If we go on to contour, which apparently doesn't exist for anyone a shade darker than me, then we're truly stuck. I've noticed some people doing reverse contouring to make up for the lack of darker contour shades. Some use brow powder. Some people use eye shadow. I tried it, that didn't work for me (made me look like Dracula's black daughter). Then there's setting powders which tend to leave this awful ashiness. By the end of it all, I look terrifying. Queue the shrieking screams at my entrance of walking into anywhere.
I know, people. I don't need makeup to begin with, but it's not really about whether I need it or not. I don't really use foundation on a daily basis anyway. However, the excuse that it's not needed, doesn't justify the beauty industry's tendencies to exclude millions of people that spent $7.5 billion and spend on average 8 percent more than the general market. Why is it ok to leave us out? Black people spend so much money and so much more time looking for products that don't have us in mind to begin with.
That brings us to the very few, kind of expensive black-owned makeup brands, like BOMB, that have black populations in mind, but if you're anything like me, which is broke, then, you know that these brands can be really expensive. Now you're stuck between wanting to spend money you don't have to support Black brands and spending very little with brands that don't even care about you or anyone with your skin tone. However, if you have some coins and wanna spend money to support black owned makeup brands, there's a link to an article discussing that alone.
With the support of black-owned makeup brands, I'm also linking some of my favorite black makeup gurus because they deserve more love. I've noticed that black beauty gurus don't get much love especially from other races. This lack of interest in black beauty gurus leads to a couple of things: they are less likely to be recognized by brands and companies, they obviously don't make as much money, they don't get promo gifts which means they are buying all of this makeup themselves, and they get less recognition in general. One thing I have noticed is that black beauty gurus tend to make more social statements than other races which I personally love. It shows that they have opinions, integrity and are relatable. By the way, Afro-Latinx beauty gurus are included in my list.
Favorite Black Beauty YouTubers (listed alphabetically):
Andria Childress - She played Kendrick Lamar's love interest in his song and video "Poetic Justice".
Destiny Godley - A favorite of mine. I have been watching her for years.
Ellarie - Also, a favorite. Her daughter, Yoshi, is the cutest!
RayeRaye - She's always been a favorite. She brings up mental health as well.
Tara - Found her a couple of weeks ago, but she's amazing at giving makeup products multiple tasks.
Jackie Aina - Just can't be a good list without mentioning Jackie.
Shayla - She recently signed with Maybelline.
Nene - She also talks about plus-size clothes and spills tea on the regular.
Patricia Bright - She's from the UK so if you're moving there pr from there and wondering what to do, she's the one.
TooMuchMouth - Gives the most honest foundation reviews. I cannot stress how great and well informed her reviews are.
Check out this list of black-owned beauty brands.
