I used to HATE makeup. So much. I’d hate on my best friend for always wearing it everyday. Yet somehow, I’ve managed to morph into a VIB Rouge at Sephora (and a Play! by Sephora subscriber), a Platinum member at Ulta, and a Tarte-loving beauty junkie. (I still don’t know how the hell that happened, but it did.)
Basically, I used to think makeup was the devil because why should I depend on makeup to make me look better when I’m already beautiful? But after realizing how much fun it is and just how much of an art it can be, I’ve become absolutely obsessed. I rarely leave the house without at least CC cream, concealer, blush and mascara to make me look bright and refreshed.
I frequently wonder, when did this start? I believe my interest in beauty began when I decided I wanted to learn how to do my own makeup for fancy events. My friends all knew how to apply their makeup flawlessly. They were practically professionals. It eventually grew to an everyday thing when I developed this awful hormonal acne that’s been ongoing for the past 7 months or so, and so my jawline on both sides of my face is covered with acne and scarring that blends up into my face. I used to have super clear skin, so I find these blemishes embarrassing. I wanted to learn how to cover them up (thank you, CC cream).
But the more I shopped in the makeup industry, the more I realized there’s a huge problem buried inside of it, and I don’t think it’s talked about nearly enough. I’m a medium-toned, oily-faced, blemish-covered, HUGE-pored girl living in a world of beauty products geared toward the average, fair-skinned, smooth-faced, unblemished, tiny-pored, normal-skin-type girl. What about the rest of us? The ones who need darker colors, who aren’t looking to cover redness, but instead awful dark spots and scarring, trying to cover large pores (only because the industry tells us large pores are bad–even though pore-size is totally genetic), who have to use blotting sheets every 2 hours even when wearing setting powder?
Where’s the makeup geared outside of the normal beauty standard? Where’s the makeup geared towards me?
I personally live for free makeup. When I see the words “free gift with purchase,” I am all over that. Free gifts from Ulta are my jam. (Sorry, Sephora, but Ulta’s free gifts and Platinum rewards are WAY better than VIB Rouge, as you guys are kind of a huge rip-off in comparison.) In truth, a large portion of my makeup consists of samples I’ve gotten as free gifts from Ulta and from items in Sephora’s subscription box, and I’ve found some of my favorite products through them.
Through this though, I’ve found the problem. The biggest drawback? Almost all of these samples are geared towards the average, fair-skinned, normal-beauty-standard girl.
Even my drugstore Garnier concealer only comes in a light shade (which blends out to match my skin color, but again, would not go with deeper skin tones.) I’ve even had to give away some of my Play! by Sephora products (mostly lipsticks) to my lighter-skinned best friend because the colors chosen for me did not take my darker skin color into consideration, even though Sephora claims to use my profile to create my “personalized” subscription box.
Beauty stores (I’m talking to you, Ulta, Sephora) and brands (hey Garnier), why don’t you take diverse shoppers into consideration when offering “free gifts” and creating products? Do you not think the diverse populations will spend $50 or $60 to get a gift? Do you not think deeper-skinned girls are interested in your products? Or is it that you think darker skinned girls don’t wear makeup? I can’t figure out what kind of discrimination game you’re playing, but it needs to stop.
I used to be ashamed of my medium-deep skin, but it’s beautiful. It tells the story of my family’s rich heritage. Though my family hails from Egypt, I’m not considered African American. I’m considered white by ethnic guidelines, but I’m really not white, and though I’m not quite dark enough to be black, I am darker skinned than most of my Middle Eastern counterparts (and not that pretty, Mediterranean, olive-tone either). If you’ve ever seen Egyptians, you know we, as most people, come in a really wide variety of skin tones, even if makeup products do not.
Some of the light/medium products I find DO match me, but many are too light. If they’re too light for me, what about the rest of the diversity scale? I go to an HBCU, so what about my strong, beautiful, black female counterparts? They deserve to try samples and use products that complement their skin tone just as much as fair-skinned individuals.
And another thing, why are all of these magazine covers trying to tell me to cover my pores? I have HUGE pores, like, I’ve never seen pores so large on anyone but my mom (because as I said earlier, pores are genetic). Yet there are so many products designed to make pores appear smaller. I own many of these products, even the Benefit Cosmetics POREfessionals primer. And it does make my pores look SLIGHTLY smaller (there’s only so much you can do with pores as large as mine), but not entirely. But today, I suddenly asked myself, why am I trying to cover my pores? Who said my pores can’t be beautiful? Why am I trying to make my face look like all these perfect, small-pored people littering pictures and articles on magazine stands and in my emails (where again, the people are mostly fair-skinned)?
So I decided today: we WILL find the makeup for the beauty outcasts, with or without the beauty industry’s help. The ones who are too dark, too blemished, too oily, and too diverse for the beauty industry.
And we’ll do it on our own, apparently, without the sample products and full-sized products to help guide our way.
Until the Beauty Industry steps up and recognizes that we don’t live in a white-washed America, we are on our own. We deserve the right products because, my dear, biased, basic, and discriminatory beauty industry:
we are beautiful, too.
Love Always,
Madeline
madeline's mischief 