This Week In Beauty: Purple Rain
Prince, NFTs, the film company A24, Lil Yachty, and Hillary Duff
Today (Saturday) at 8am PT/11am ET, I’m recording a pilot version of my Beauty Headlines news show through Clubhouse’s Creators First program. There will be special guests. I’d love to see you in the room. Tap in and listen.
Can a soul be captured within a makeup collection? No, but the pursuit is a noble one when it comes to Prince.
Urban Decay has collaborated with Prince’s Estate to create a makeup collection that celebrates his legacy. This is stunning news. They were able to work with model and artist Damaris Lewis, who was Prince’s dancer and muse when he passed. Urban Decay founder Wende Zomnir told Refinery29 that the line has been two years in the making with Prince’s Estate. Prince's creative director Trevor Guy worked on the line and his photographer Randee Saint Nicholas shot the campaign.
Prince is a man who exuded beauty. It was not just on his narrow, chiseled face, or around his almond eyes. Beauty was in him. You felt it when he saaang. The makeup was as essential as it was unnecessary, if that makes sense. As much as his eyeliner or reddish blush or smokey eye were part of his look, even if we saw him without those beauty signals, we still saw him. He made sure of that. This is ultimately why the collection is powerful. It has a point of view, and it is Prince’s: be different, and stand out. It’s one thing to create a campaign slogan encouraging people to “be themselves.” It’s another thing to lead by example.
I met Damaris in 2016 through a friend, Rhonesha Byng. Knowing Damaris means knowing someone so sure of the journey they’re on, holding tight to with a mission they are so clear about. It’s fitting that she was so involved with the creation of the line. She told Allure it’s all about “quality, intention, practice, and not fitting in,” all values Prince instilled in her. Damaris and Rhonesha grew up in Brooklyn together, and we’d sometimes all hang out, go to brunch together. We’d talk about our dreams, living in NYC forever (I moved!), and sometimes men. But it was always aspirational. Everything felt possible when I was with them. We were excited about the future and who we could be as women.
Damaris has a presence. She’s regal, warm, and perceptive of others. Throughout her career I’ve seen her stick to her values in the modeling world, and stick close to Prince. She didn’t talk about him much. Maybe a mention here or there about going to meet up with him, but he’s a person she held close. That’s what I know about the woman who worked behind this line, and what I can share with you.
The full vault is available on May 27 at UrbanDecay.com. You can sign up to pre-order the collection on May 21. Items in the line will be sold in online retailers on June 6.
PAYING ATTENTION
E.l.f. Cosmetics has become the first beauty brand to launch a Twitch channel. They’ve also launched E.L.F. You, which is geared toward empowering females gamers.
A24, the production company behind Euphoria on HBO, is creating its own beauty brand. It will be “a new A24 portfolio company focusing on the beauty space.”
A24 is notorious for making cool products in tandem with their film and TV projects. I remember the small magazine they ran in tandem with Ramy. To me, A24 is more of a modern-day media company.
Australian Big Brother contestant Tilly Whitfield says she had to go to the hospital after a TikTok beauty hack involving needles went wrong; possibly involving dermarolling or microneedling. The location of her Instagram post is, “idiot.”
“Leave it to the professionals,” Whitfield told her Instagram audience. 🙏🏾
Starting this weekend, Jo Malone London and Origins can be bought on Uber. This is part of a deal with Estée Lauder.
Model Adwoa Aboah is Rimmel London’s global brand activist. Adwoa is the founder of Gurls Talk, a community-led non-profit that’s been promoting the mental health and wellbeing of adolescent girls and young women. They received their 501(c)(3) during the pandemic. Aboah is recently on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar.
In March, Colourpop released an entire Lizzie McGuire-themed makeup line. This week, Hillary Duff (you know, the actress who played The Lizzie McGuire) replied back to an Instagram story saying she hasn’t tried the line. It was in response to a tag from "Game of Thrones" star Sophie Turner, who posted a photo on the line to her Stories.
Duff called this out that she never received the line herself, but didn’t make a negative stink about it. "Hook Lizzie up… would you.” 💀 But for real, hook her up!
Rapper Lil’ Yachty is releasing a nail polish line on May 21.
We know men have been wearing nail polish since ancient times. It almost feels weird to phrase it that way in 2021; gender norms are being redefined in real-time every day. Of course men across the gender spectrum are wearing nail polish. Yachty, born Miles Parks McCollum, says the brand is unisex but geared toward making men feel like they can confidently use it, and feel comfortable in their own skin.
Camille Rose Founder Janell Stephens has partnered with sustainability consultant and activist Dr. Tanya Rawal to develop a sustainability plan that is attainable, accessible, and can hopefully serve as an example for other small BIPOC-owned businesses looking to make similar changes. It’s called the One Step Matters program.
Glossier announced that it's taking applications for its 2021 Grant Program for Black-Owned Beauty Businesses.
Back in 2020, Glossier started this grant program after global uproar over the murder of George Floyd, and a call for brands to uplift Black communities and Black-owned businesses.
A James Charles lawsuit has become public knowledge after his former creative director shared her experience of working with him.
MEDIA DROPS
I’ve always thought watching J. Cole grow out his freestyle dreads over the years was a sign of him searching for something, trying to figure some ish out. And truly, that is what J.Cole talks about in this story by writer and homie Brandon Jenkins for SLAM Magazine. I mean, J. Cole did once say he does a lot of thinking. Not too much reading, he admits, but it’s been a year and people change. This man has always been on a journey.
NFTs Make Their Way To Beauty — Liz Flora
How Anti-Asian Discrimination Is Disguised In Beauty Trends — Yasmine Summan
The Joy of Black Hair in T Magazine's May 16 Beauty & Luxury Issue — Sandra E. Garcia
Lisa Eldridge’s Slow Road to Stardom — Samantha Conti
Talking Beauty With Bree Runway — Jihan Forbes . This is when I fell in love with Bree Runway’s approach to beauty 👇🏾
✌🏾 @darian