Golloria George is an absolutely gorgeous 21-year-old beauty blogger in Austin, Texas. And recently, she's been making TikToks that shed light on how ridiculously non-inclusive affordable drugstore makeup brands still are in the year 2022.
In her TikTok series "The Darkest Shade" inspired by YouTuber Nyma Tang, Golloria visits big box stores like Walmart, Target, and Walgreens to show how few makeup shades they carry for people with darker skin. She goes through the darkest shades of various makeup brands that are available in the stores and holds them up beside her face to show how wildly far off they are from her skin tone.
At the end of one video, she sends a message to the beauty industry, saying, "Dark-skinned women are literally so underrepresented in this industry that finding shades is impossible. Ulta and Sephora are not always accessible to people. Get it together." And she really has a point. To be able to walk into a drugstore and buy products that match you for less than $10 is so much more accessible than having to go to a specialty shop and spend closer to $40.
Some folks in the comments pointed out that many of these brands do offer a wider variety of options online. However, others rightly noted that if these shades aren't stocked in stores, then they aren't really accessible or inclusive on a practical level.
She's also posted a video where she attempts to do a full face of makeup using the darkest shades she could find at a drugstore, and as you might have guessed, it does not go well.
In another clip, she shows the powder foundation she previously used side-by-side with a Fenty Beauty product that actually blends in to her complexion — and the difference is shocking!
Golloria said she has felt the negative effects of racism and colorism since she was a child, but creating beauty content has helped her find her confidence. "Society treated me differently, and it was hard to fully conceptualize that at such a young age. Thus, I adapted to my circumstances and environment by being more closed off and really just staying out of people's way to avoid harsh colorist/racist remarks about my darker complexion."
"When I was 13 or 14 years old, my parents bought me a camera. I knew this was way out of their means, and I used it to drive my creativity. I started taking photos and creating YouTube videos of myself slowly regaining the confidence that was diminished due to colorism. As I fell in love with photography and videography, my love for makeup came with it, but I soon realized there were no shades for me."
"I stumbled across one of Nyma Tang's YouTube videos. And for the first time in my life, I felt understood and I was inspired. Nyma was the first South Sudanese beauty content creator that immersed herself in the beauty world despite the adversity. Moreover, she looked like me and we shared the same cultural background. When Nyma created 'The Darkest Shade' series, it was almost as if I could feel my inner child heal."
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And she says the response to her videos has been uplifting, but sometimes painful. "It's hard to see dark-skinned women share their same struggles in the beauty industry and society itself. However, to be able to share my knowledge about products and brands that are inclusive to people with darker complexions has been lighthearted. There is a lot of work that needs to be done in the beauty industry, and I feel like 'The Darkest Shade' series has shed light on the reality of what it is like to be of deeper complexion."
