“We never really had products that suited Black skin, so it was very hard for Black girls with darker skin to achieve that easy, breezy, you know, ‘I’m going to apply my foundation with my fingers on the train’ type look that maybe the white girls could do. We couldn’t do that, because there were no products for our skin tone. But now we can. And so we’re embracing that. And we’re showing different layers of our beauty.”
Beauty activist, expert, and founder of Ami Cole’ Beauty Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye is intent on moving the conversation forward and spreading the community across the globe. “We haven’t been included in a lot of makeup trends or beauty brands,” Diarrha says, commenting on the general lack of representation within the industry. “We’ve had to work with what was available to us.” As Black women have been continuously underserved in this space, she credits social media for “allowing us to tell our stories in real-time.” Speaking to its massive reach, Mela said, “Why not use it to hype each other up when others haven’t for so long?”
Hanifah recommends using the Nars Soft Matte foundation, Fenty Beauty lip paint, Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Freeze, Tom Ford Eye Colour Quads, Charlotte Tilbury Airbrush Setting Powder, and Kiko Milano lip gloss if you want to take a stab at the look.
Overall, the camaraderie of the ‘UK Black Girl’ aesthetic has sprung within creators and audiences during its growth is what stands out the most, and if the comments, follower counts, and millions of views are indicative of anything, it’s that a sisterhood that goes the distance has formed between Black beauty-lovers. That alone is worth the click.
Victoria Goldiee is a freelance writer and editor with a keen focus on headlining the untold stories of underrepresented communities through her platform. Her work has been featured in Business Insider, Architectural Digest, The Telegraph UK, The Metro UK and more as she cuts across issues focusing on women, culture and lifestyle.