I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Buying black is easier said than done, especially when it comes to makeup. Since I started my @dupeBLACK Instagram page dedicated to highlighting from black-owned brands, I’ve bought from several, and still, sometimes I feel guilty when I do a NYX haul or drop $50 on Anastasia Beverly Hills. When a company f**ks up, like ColourPop, our first solution is to tell people to cut these brands off and buy black.
But price, availability, and lack of reviews hinder many of us from supporting these brands. A direct example of this is when one compares an inexpensive brand to a black-owned brand that isn’t even in the same price realm. Say, a $6 lipstick compared to a $20 one from a BoB. Sometimes I don’t even think I should do shade comparisons on these brands. Not everyone wants to drop $20 on a lipstick. A rebuttal to this is that plenty of people spend that much on other luxury brands, but I don’t think analyzing how others spend their money is the solution. They may be more comfortable spending the money on brands they are already familiar with, or they can buy them locally and swatch the product before they buy it. Even with indie brands I support, I know that I tend to buy multiple times from a brand I trust rather than constantly buying new brands because I don’t want to waste my money if I don’t like it. We flock to what we are familiar with, that’s human nature.
However, there are ways to support black-owned brands without breaking the bank. Support does not necessarily need to be monetary. Let’s go over them!
Share pictures from BoB on your social media – even if you don’t buy a product, one of your friends may see something you share and purchase. That’s one of the biggest goals with my page – I’d go broke placing orders with every brand I find appealing! But at least I can share the goods – sharing is caring. If you’re on Twitter, a retweet takes half a second and you may put someone on.
If you have purchased from a brand, make sure you leave a review on their site if it’s available. Lack of reviews are a huge hurdle for BoBs – I mean, have you ever looked at the reviews on Sephora? There are often thousands of reviews, and even more if you head to YouTube. I know that everyone isn’t going to hop on camera, but using the review function or even leaving a review on their Facebook page helps.
Be reasonable. Don’t freak out if something isn’t the exact color that you thought it would be unless the difference is extreme. Skin tone, computer resolution, lighting, etc. all affect the color of a product. I know something won’t look the same on me as it will on someone with lighter or darker skin. If a brand doesn’t have swatches with a variety of skin tones, consider that a lot of small brands cannot afford swatch models and many of their pictures shared are fan photos. Buying online is a gamble, period. I can find five different swatches of the same product and it will look totally different on each one, especially thanks to filters. Of course, some brands are a little iffy about this, but I think a lack of resources is more of an issue than it being deliberate. Don’t make crazy requests because you know that the product isn’t mass produced. I remember a lot of people requesting hair/beauty products be a specific scent or scent free when that option was not offered by the brand. Unless you’re calling Dove and doing the same thing, just don’t (actually don’t anyway).
And please, if you know of any black-owned brands, leave them in the comments here!
Thanks Elle for all that your doing. It is so helpful and I have ordered from some of the places you have researched and your right, people are lazy(me included) and having someone do the research makes it that much easier. The customer service is also WAY better than it is when contacting bigger companys, and you receive a certain good feeling when developing a relationship with a real business owner who wants to sell quality products and who truly appreciate your business and your reviews. It feels nice to not be just a number. These 2 companys have really great natural products and will always get back to you if you have any issues.
Some BoB (makeup wise) that I have discovered are Coloured raine (AWESOME EYESHADOWS and lip colors), juvias place, beautybakerie lip whips, aya beauty.
Adding Aya to my IG – I love those other brands, the highlighters from Beauty Bakerie are also amazing!
We seem to be bigger critics when it’s our own. Thanks for these ideas I will start doing a couple of these immediately. Sharing and getting the word out is important.