Any of us who have ever experimented with the use of makeup have discovered certain setbacks: eye allergies and facial breakouts, poor wearability, lack of pigmentation and disappointing tone matching.
But this TikTok video of one black woman's excellent makeup adds to the pile of reasons why people of color have it the worst when it comes to finding the makeup they need.
What began as a simple video of an attractive woman putting her makeup on for the day quickly turned into a negative commentary on the lack of diversity that still exists in the makeup industry.
The woman in the video, TikTok user "imnotbijou," began her video with some typical steps: applying eyebrows and priming her face.
But when everyone saw what she chose to contour with, that's when the conversation exploded.
You can watch the video here:
In the video, the woman contours with a black liquid eyeliner to create a deep enough color to actually contour against her skin tone.
After receiving confused and critical comments about her use of the eyeliner, the TikTok user also posted a photo of her completed look.
In the caption, she wrote:
"I wouldn't use eyeliner for contour if I didn't have to."
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter and @imnotbijou / TikTok
The video has been shared nearly sixty-thousand times on Twitter and has more than 350-thousand likes. Even the follow-up photo from the TikTok user has nearly nine-thousand likes, which is modest in comparison, but still viral-worthy.
What makes this so eye-opening is the number of people who are personally identifying with the less-than-forty second video.
People of color from all across the globe are sharing their own stories of woe and frustration, as they attempt to express themselves in what is a highly-beige-exclusive industry.
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
Some have been extremely helpful and shared some products they've discovered that worked for them or they believe might work for the TikTok user.
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
But the problem remains that these solutions are only a small handful of products.
They barely touch on the wide array of brands out there who have done little to challenge the diversity standard. Not to mention the fact that many of the current product options are only available online or are extremely expensive, making them inaccessible to most consumers.
@makeupiztherapy / Twitter
Though some brands are beginning to step forward and create more colors in other products, beyond concealers and contouring products, for a wider array of people of color, there is still an extensive road ahead.
Yellows are still few and far between and either translate to orange or a bright banana on the skin and darker shades are still far too rare of a find and often lack pigmentation or lasting power.
It's important to have conversations like this, to continue to push beauty product companies to look beyond a beige palette.
@LeeMerrittesq/X
@bob_moss/X
@jelanijones/Bluesky
@Aurkayne/X
@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky