I’ve now joined the ranks of really good looking black women (yes, I just said I’m really good looking, deal with it!) who end up looking cray cray with poorly matched makeup. My compadres include Uzo Aduba, Rihanna, pre-mogul Oprah, and our favorite sister girl Taraji P. Henson. How did I get here? I had the privilege of being invited by Au Naturale by Dark and Lovely to model in Texture on the Runway, a NYFW show to celebrate textured hair put together by Texture Media and Target. My hair was on fleek, but unfortunately, my makeup was NOT.
Here’s what happened. I happily go luckedly arrived to prep on the day of the show with a fresh face and my hair in twists, as instructed. Once my hair was done, I was excited to see that Milani was providing makeup for all the models – I love their baked blushes and eyeshadows and generally think of them as a WOC friendly makeup brand. I sat in the chair and had a pleasant encounter with my makeup artist (who I believe was of East Asian descent), who proceeded to recreate Dark and Lovely’s pink inspired makeup look on my face. To be honest, by the time I left the chair I thought my face looked ok – I was so concerned with how pink eyeshadow looked on me that I didn’t fully scrutinize the foundation match (errr, mismatch). I should have had the intuition to more closely inspect my face because I did have to request that my eyebrows be done (have you seen my brows? they always need to be done) and eyeliner be added, but I wasn’t expecting a full beat in 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, once pictures of the show came out, I became embarrassed to share them because MY MAKEUP LOOKS SO BAD. Whatever mix of cream foundations that my makeup artist chose to use on my face oxidized to a yellow/olive that starkly contrasted with my more neutral undertones.

Now the plight of a black women cursed with bad makeup isn’t new, not for celebrities or even for real models. For some reason though, I associated makeup mishaps with darker skinned women, and thought that my medium skin tone would absolve me from makeup drama. I mean, I look GOOD when my makeup is done correctly.

I blame makeup brands for not training artists on melanated skin, and for clearly not having artists demonstrate they can do makeup on people of color before getting hired – even when they themselves are people of color *rolls eyes*. If I do get invited back to an event like this, I’ll be sure to bring my own makeup bag so I can focus on not tripping down the runway, rather than stressing about whether or not my face will look crazy.
Damn….I’m so sorry that happened to you!! As a freelance makeuo artist myself it’s always a shame to see a horribly done job. especially from someone who calls themselves a professional and has a pair of eyes -__-
on a brighter note, you make up looks amazing in the last photo!
xo
lipstickvillain.com
Thanks so much for understanding!
The second pic with the side view looks much better than the other two pics which is probably because of the lighting difference. The second pic actually looks like makeup for a magazine ad. In the celebrity pics you listed, I was half-way down when I started wondering about the third pic with Eartha Kitt. Please forgive me Oprah. Please forgive me, ghost of Eartha.
I can’t!!! You’re wrong for that LOL
Errr. Am I the only one who doesnt see anything wrong with the foundation colour? You look great to me…
And trust me, living in a society with a white/fair skin obsession, ive had the ghostly look numerous times (on my wedding too! Despite my vigilance)
But you look great girl. Congrats!
Omg if someone messed up my makeup at my wedding I’m NOT walking down the aisle! And the foundation is the wrong undertone, it’s a slight difference, but I think unfortunately black women are used to having “off” makeup we don’t realize it’s supposed to be completely seamless.
Even though you had a makeup flaw,you still shine,slayed and showed out. Nothing can’t stop beauty.
Your hair looks fierce, yes! And super cool of you to hit the runway at NYFW.
Model Leomie ranted about this makeup thing a while ago, it’s sad.
You still look cute sha. Your “fine girl” shines through
🙂
my dear thank you o
You still look cute tho! 😉 But I feel your pain! I once had my makeup done for this B&A thing and was like how did I get so pale…I’m hella dark! LOL
I kinda wanna see pics lol ?