Happy February! In addition to being the month of love and most importantly, February is Black History Month. While African American history is foundational to American history, it still doesn't receive anywhere near the attention it deserves in our education system or our cultural landscape. Unfortunately, the same can be said about the beauty and fashion industries.
We're just starting to see more diversity reflected in magazines and on runways, but there is still a long way to go. For decades, makeup companies have failed to provide options for darker skin tones. Thankfully, commercial beauty brands now offer many more options, but as a clean beauty makeup artist, stocking my kit with the right products for all skin tones has been my biggest challenge.
See the more from this photoshoot here! Photos by @jdthecombo
Makeup by me + @therealcmichael
When I started swapping my commercial products over to cleaner alternatives, I was disappointed to find there were major color gaps in the "skin" makeup categories (foundation, concealer and powder). For awhile, I had to do a lot of mixing and improvising to get the shades I needed for women of color.
I am happy to report this has improved over the past few years, with new clean beauty brands launching with a fuller range of skin tones, as well as more established brands expanding on their collection. While there are definitely still some shades and products to be desired, I'm thrilled to be able to show up to any job with the confidence that I can match just about any skin tone with clean beauty. Every woman deserves to have their pick of healthy makeup options!
I was excited to showcase some of my favorite product picks for beautiful brown skin on the photoshoot above. I thought this would be a good time to share and acknowledge the brands who are making the effort to be inclusive and diverse in their collections. It's so important, for so many reasons. Here are a few of my favorite products and brands for black and brown skin tones:
Alima Pure Cream Concealer, $28 (also see their Silk and Pressed Powder Foundations)
Au Naturale Zero Gravity C2P Foundation, $38 (also see their Completely Covered Cream Concealer)
Clove + Hallow Conceal + Correct, $18 (also see their Pressed Mineral Foundation)
Have you recently discovered a product that perfectly matches your skin tone? I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below or here.
Do you struggle to find the right clean beauty makeup shades? I would love to help you in my one-on-one makeup lesson or virtual consultation!