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Beauty Beyond Limits: Why Beauty is so Important

Words Adeola Gboyega

When I think about beauty and what it means to me, it is more than just indulging in fancy makeup and expensive creams. It’s made me who I am today and holds great meaning. 

It is part of my daily ritual to provide me with the confidence to face the world, and it helps me to practice self-care as a means to relax and reset. Whether it is wearing my favourite mood boosting lipstick or treating my skin to a little bit of TLC, beauty has always been my constant source of comfort and has allowed me to break down barriers and achieve things beyond my wildest dreams.

I can’t remember the exact moment that I fell in love with beauty because it feels as though it’s always been a part of my life. I remember when I was in secondary school, I would always sport a clear lip-gloss, brow pencil and the wrong shade of Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse Foundation. This was the most that I could get away with wearing at school, without getting told off by the teachers. I look back and cringe at photos of myself with painfully thin eyebrows, that had been over plucked to within an inch of their lives and foundation way too light for my complexion. 

No one ever sat me down and told me how to do my makeup or how to take care of my skin. I just knew that indulging in beauty helped me to feel better about myself because I had a real lack of self-esteem and issues with my weight. 

Nevertheless, I would save whatever money I had to buy makeup and the latest magazines. I would rush straight to the beauty section of said magazines to find out about the current beauty trends and makeup tips.

Looking back now I never used to think about the lack of representation on the pages of those magazines. I was so enamoured by the escapism of the beauty pages that I never stopped to think of the effect of the eurocentric standards of beauty being thrust upon me, page after page. I was too young and naive to understand the complexities of not being able to buy a foundation that matches my skin tone or seeing a lack of images of models in magazines that looked like me.

Fast-forward to when I finished my degree and decided to give my dream career a shot. I wanted to be many things when I was younger, a paediatric nurse, a midwife, a TV presenter and even a beauty journalist. Even though I had never met a professional makeup artist before, I just knew that I wanted to learn to become my own beauty expert and share my knowledge of how to look and feel good with others. I have been super fortunate to work for Bobbi Brown who taught us how to ‘be who you are’ and to use makeup to enhance and celebrate your features and Pat McGrath, an incredible black female who is the most influential makeup artist in the world. It was because of these incredible women in beauty that paved the way for me to push boundaries and achieve beyond limitation.

I often feel that the importance of the beauty industry and beauty as a whole is overlooked. You can see this quite clearly in the way that Boris Johnson has delayed the re-opening of close contact services since lockdown, due to the pandemic. Leaving many beauty professionals feeling frustrated after months of not being able to work. Yet pubs, bars and gyms are allowed to re-open? Misogyny is so clear in this decision. Sadly, many hold this negative view that the beauty industry is only filed with superficial women with no clue, when in reality that couldn’t be further from the truth. Beauty is for everyone, with each having their own personal relationship to beauty and what it means to them.

Social media highlighted just how much joy beauty brought to so many at a time of nationwide depression. There wasn’t a day during lockdown, where I didn’t see an Instagram Live on how to treat yourself to an at home facial, learn how to do your own makeup for that Friday night Zoom party, or discuss beauty with my followers online. We have seen a huge rise in the sales of beauty gadgets and at home DIY hair dye kits, which only goes to show us the importance of beauty and how intrinsic it is in our lives. 

Whilst being in lockdown I really reflected on my personal journey with beauty and my 10 years working in the beauty industry. As much as I love my job and the industry that I work for, like most things in life it’s not without its downfalls. I remember when I first started out, I worked for a brand who didn’t even stock foundation shades for my skin tone or darker and I vowed never again to work for a company who didn’t cater to or include me in their range. This is why representation is so important to me especially within the beauty industry because when you don’t feel seen or heard it can be crippling. I get asked all the time how I became successful in beauty when I had the odds stacked against me being a young black female. Honestly, it was my drive and passion for what I do and my wanting to excel at all costs. At times I felt like I had to work twice as hard but where many may have given up because of prejudice and discrimination it only made me want to go after opportunities even more, so I could be in those positions that would make a difference.

Just like the misogynistic views held by those in government that have hindered and excluded so many, there is also the long-standing issue of a lack of diversity and representation within beauty that has excluded a huge demographic of people from reaching their limits. The Black Lives Matter Movement, which came to the forefront after the violent murder of George Floyd highlighted the systematic racism that fails so many black people and people of colour in many sectors. Whilst it is fantastic that all these conversations are happening now and some much-needed change is on the horizon, it saddens me that it took such a horrific situation for us to bring about an urgent call for change. 

Since beauty is such an important part of our lives, it is even more important to ensure that it reflects the diverse range of people in it. I think representation is so important because when I see someone like myself being truly celebrated for who they are, it sends out a really important message. Beauty is all about feeling like you belong, are accepted and included. 

I can't wait for the day where I feel like beauty is truly diverse and fully represented, the day that beauty breaks the outdated and limited system and is truly beauty beyond limits.