by Jackie Stiff
The Reflect Beauty Award season is in full swing! It’s a first-of-its-kind celebration honoring the best in makeup, haircare, and skincare products that meet the unique beauty needs of multicultural women. This week: makeup!
For many years we have seen Latina makeup looks represented in mainstream media as the traditional sculpted face, fierce cat eye, and bold red lips. Just do a Google Image or YouTube search for “Latina-inspired” looks, and the results will provide all the necessary receipts.
The reality is that with so many ethnicities, tones and shades in the Latin culture, we are hard to put in a box. Many are realizing that Latinas are more than just dark hair and olive skin tones — or the novela depictions of us with fair skin and long hair. With many Afro-Latina beauties now celebrating and embracing their roots and darker skin tones, we are starting to see more Latina beauty influencers representing us on social media and showing us how to highlight some of our most desired features.
In Latin culture, women have been known to take great pride in their appearance, which is why the Latino community is one of the highest spenders when it comes to the beauty industry. For many of us in generation Latinx, it is no longer enough to just be a consumer. As we all know, representation matters — and us Latinas are taking the beauty world by storm and making our mark by creating products that are changing the game and infusing our culture even in the makeup brands we wear.
For example, most of us are familiar and own one, if not more, of the teardrop-shaped Beautyblender created by one of our fellow Latinas, Rea Ann Silva. This product concept, used to help makeup blend smoothly and evenly into the skin, has become a staple for any lover of makeup! Latinas are out here showing us que si se puede!
So the next time you’re beating your face, in addition to reaching for that Beauty Blender, I’ve highlighted (pun absolutely intended!) some fresh looks for you to try. In the demos below, Leslie Alvarado (@itslesliealvarado) and Ada Rojas (@allthingsada) expertly execute these looks using Reflect Beauty Award-winning products, paving the way for inclusive beauty for women of color across the board.
Brow Perfection
For Latinas with darker or brunette hair, it can be difficult to find an eyebrow pencil that doesn’t leave your eyebrows looking too red. Leslie recommends using the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Black. And I concur! As a Latina with natural jet-black hair, most dark pencils leave me looking like I rubbed charcoal into my brows. It’s hard to find an eyebrow pencil that’s a close match to your natural eyebrow hair color, and NYX seems to get it across the board! #IssaWin
[wpvideo dP1gAfBl]
Cheekbones That Slay
If you are into a minimal makeup look, but love to accentuate and define your cheekbones like Ada, try using a bronzer that will add some soft definition to your cheeks and then finishing off with a warm blush to add a nice peachy finish if you have an olive skin tone. For lighter shades, consider using a darker bronzer and a blush with more red in the pigment of the blush.
[wpvideo OHDmyx7X]
Your Fresh Face Forward
Both Ada and Leslie found two common products to work well for them: Clinique Even Better Foundation and MAC Prolongwear concealer. On Latinas with warm skin tones, a foundation and concealer with yellow and red undertones can be really helpful in reducing the appearance of dark circles and redness in the skin.
There is no single makeup look for Latinas that is one-size-fits-all, so always try to choose your shade of foundation and shadows to highlight your own skin complexion — and remember to rock it confidently y con mucho orgullo!
The Reflect Beauty Award season is in full swing! It’s a first-of-its-kind celebration honoring the best in makeup, haircare, and skincare products that meet the unique beauty needs of multicultural women. This week: makeup!
For many years we have seen Latina makeup looks represented in mainstream media as the traditional sculpted face, fierce cat eye, and bold red lips. Just do a Google Image or YouTube search for “Latina-inspired” looks, and the results will provide all the necessary receipts.
The reality is that with so many ethnicities, tones and shades in the Latin culture, we are hard to put in a box. Many are realizing that Latinas are more than just dark hair and olive skin tones — or the novela depictions of us with fair skin and long hair. With many Afro-Latina beauties now celebrating and embracing their roots and darker skin tones, we are starting to see more Latina beauty influencers representing us on social media and showing us how to highlight some of our most desired features.
In Latin culture, women have been known to take great pride in their appearance, which is why the Latino community is one of the highest spenders when it comes to the beauty industry. For many of us in generation Latinx, it is no longer enough to just be a consumer. As we all know, representation matters — and us Latinas are taking the beauty world by storm and making our mark by creating products that are changing the game and infusing our culture even in the makeup brands we wear.
For example, most of us are familiar and own one, if not more, of the teardrop-shaped Beautyblender created by one of our fellow Latinas, Rea Ann Silva. This product concept, used to help makeup blend smoothly and evenly into the skin, has become a staple for any lover of makeup! Latinas are out here showing us que si se puede!
So the next time you’re beating your face, in addition to reaching for that Beauty Blender, I’ve highlighted (pun absolutely intended!) some fresh looks for you to try. In the demos below, Leslie Alvarado (@itslesliealvarado) and Ada Rojas (@allthingsada) expertly execute these looks using Reflect Beauty Award-winning products, paving the way for inclusive beauty for women of color across the board.
Brow Perfection
For Latinas with darker or brunette hair, it can be difficult to find an eyebrow pencil that doesn’t leave your eyebrows looking too red. Leslie recommends using the NYX Micro Brow Pencil in Black. And I concur! As a Latina with natural jet-black hair, most dark pencils leave me looking like I rubbed charcoal into my brows. It’s hard to find an eyebrow pencil that’s a close match to your natural eyebrow hair color, and NYX seems to get it across the board! #IssaWin
[wpvideo dP1gAfBl]
Cheekbones That Slay
If you are into a minimal makeup look, but love to accentuate and define your cheekbones like Ada, try using a bronzer that will add some soft definition to your cheeks and then finishing off with a warm blush to add a nice peachy finish if you have an olive skin tone. For lighter shades, consider using a darker bronzer and a blush with more red in the pigment of the blush.
[wpvideo OHDmyx7X]
Your Fresh Face Forward
Both Ada and Leslie found two common products to work well for them: Clinique Even Better Foundation and MAC Prolongwear concealer. On Latinas with warm skin tones, a foundation and concealer with yellow and red undertones can be really helpful in reducing the appearance of dark circles and redness in the skin.
There is no single makeup look for Latinas that is one-size-fits-all, so always try to choose your shade of foundation and shadows to highlight your own skin complexion — and remember to rock it confidently y con mucho orgullo!