Finding the right shades of foundation for women of colour has never been an easy task. But with more brands producing a variety of shades to accommodate the diversified skin tones of black women, professional makeup artist should have no excuse to be unprepared when working with models.
And besides the various colour palettes that are now available to women of colour, there are even several tricks for mixing different shades of foundation to get the perfect tone. As such, one would think professional makeup artists have mastered the art of getting the right makeup tone for models of colours. But that seems to not be the case.
In a post expressing her frustration and the way white makeup artist are mostly unprepared when working with black models, South Sudanese model Nykhor Paul puts white makeup artists on blast in an Instagram post. In the post, the very dark model questions the logic behind the reason she’s often made to bring her own makeup to a professional show while white models are not made to do the same. Read her post below.
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“Dear white people in the fashion world!” she wrote. “Please don’t take this the wrong way but it’s time you people get your shit right when it comes to our complexion! Why do I have to bring my own makeup to a professional show when all the other white girls don’t have to do anything but show up wtf! Don’t try to make me feel bad because I am blue black its 2015 go to Mac, Bobbi Brown, Makeup forever, Iman cosmetic, black opal, even Lancôme and Clinique carried them plus so much more. there’s so much options our there for dark skin tones today. A good makeup artist would come prepare and do there research before coming to work because often time you know what to expect especially at a show! Stop apologizing it’s insulting and disrespectful to me and my race it doesn’t help, seriously! Make an effort at least! That goes for NYC, London, Milan, Paris and Cape Town plus everywhere else that have issues with black skin tones.
“Just because you only book a few of us doesn’t mean you have the right to make us look ratchet. I’m tired of complaining about not getting book as a black model and I’m definitely super tired of apologizing for my blackness!!!! Fashion is art, art is never racist it should be inclusive of all not only white people, shit we started fashion in Africa and you modernize and copy it! Why can’t we be part of fashion fully and equally?”
