There is no way to hide the fact that white people are put as a priority when it comes to the makeup industry. People on social media have been questioning some cosmetics lines, particularly on their extreme lack of diversity in ads/swatch pictures. Black models and makeup artists are rarely given a shot at being the spokesperson for big brands and on top of that, the brands are knowingly giving non-black people a very dark complexion on their campaign, when they could’ve just simply hired a black model; One brand notorious for this mistreatment is Colourpop. Recently, they have been accused of editing a model’s arm to appear black for a swatch picture:
Now, this came as a surprise to many people, considering this brand has always catered to people of color and has had black women model their cosmetics in the past. That does not excuse them in any way shape or form to edit an arm to look black just because they didn’t like how their products performed on actual black skin. Many black customers stated that they bought the set after seeing swatches, but when the makeup was put on, it looked “washed out” and looked nothing like the swatches pictured on the site. If people would just take their money and support black owned brands, big brands would stop with this foolishness and hire black models.
To make matters worse, Jeffree Star Cosmetics has been put through the ringer once again. When he revealed the ads for his new Androgyny Palette, lots of people began to notice how dark the model was in comparison to how she usually is.
When controversy sparked, Nikita Dragun (model above) spoke out in her own defense, stating “I’m half Mexican & half South East Asian and normally get extremely tan…let’s not trip over a spray tan.” Jeffree then followed her lead:
But what’s disgusting about having an opinion, Jeffree? Why should we leave our mouths closed about your brand when you continue to bash others? If you want to use the beauty of dark skin, hire people who actually have it. Are black people not “Jeffree Star Approved”?
There are plenty of black models looking for work in the beauty industry. Its important for the beauty industry to support the black community through hiring people who are actually from it.
Since big-brand makeup companies seem to have trouble finding adequate sponsors of color, here are some black models/beauty influencers that brands should hire:
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