British Trans DJ Is The Face Of New L'Oreal Campaign

As the right wing continues to fan the flames of anti-trans hatred, we just keep blazing trails and handling our business.

Meet British model DJ and activist Munroe Bergdorf.   The 30 year old girl like us  is breaking ground as the first out trans woman to appear in a L'Oreal Paris campaign in the UK.

The beauty brand is adding five new faces to their #allworthit campaign for their True Match Foundation, that matches 98% of the UK's skin tones.

And Bergdorf is excited about the opportunity to do so.

"If I can't relate to anybody that's in the media that's transgender, then hopefully someone can relate to me," she explains in the commercial. "I definitely set out to empower girls like me. I think that our history definitely wasn't being told. Not that many people know that it was trans women of color that fought for gay rights that started the Stonewall riots, which eventually led to the gay rights movement."

You can check out the commercial here.




TransGriot Update: I woke up a few hours later to find out that due to fragile white tears grousing from right wingers stoked by the Daily Mail tabloid L'Oreal Paris yanked her contract.

Very interesting to note that a gay white male can make a blatantly racist comment but still keep his contract, but a Black trans woman telling the truth about racism is grounds to yank hers and prove the point she made about racism in the first place.  .


 

Selena MAC Collection Is A Hit!

If you don't think the Latinx community still doesn't have mad love for all things Selena, here's more evidence they do.

Was checking out a picture from my homegirl Chelsea Noriega posted on her Facebook page of the line in a Boston store where she and countless other people are waiting to purchase items from the MAC Selena Collection which went on sale in the stores that sell MAC Cosmetics stores today

The MAC Selena Collection lunched September 30 in Selena's hometown of Corpus Christi, TX, and went on sale online the next day.   I'm not surprised about hearing it sold out online in its first day of availability.

The MAC Selena collection was a collaborative effort of MAC and Selena's sister Suzette Quintanilla, who wanted the collection to reflect the bold makeup choices her sister made and effortlessly pulled off.

The three lipsticks in the collection are named after Selena songs.  The dark red one is Dreaming Of You, the light red is Como La Flor, and the dark brown is Amor Prohibido  

 It includes two eyeshadows, a purple one named Selena. and a pink one called Fotos Y Recuerdos, and the Techno Cumbio.blush duo that's part of the collection comes in Ven Conmingo and Blunt

"I wanted the colors to be about her personality, what she wore on and off stage," said Suzette Quintanilla about the collection.

MAC is working now to restock to satisfy the customers disappointed that they couldn't get the collection when they attempted to purchase it online.

And judging by the line from the location where Chelsea took the picture, MAC will probably have to do some major restocking of stores across the country over the next few days as well..

H/T Chelsea Noriega for the photo.  And yes, Chelsea got her Selena MAC collection items 

Apparently, Black Women Are Making a Mistake Not Wearing Makeup

From my Timmy's Ice Capp drinking homegirl at Womanist Musings who is all that and four bags of ketchup flavored chips.

I don't know about you, but I am not particularly happy about men deciding what I should look like.  Sam Fine is a makeup artist and Fashion Fair Creative Makeup Director. He recently did an interview with Fashion Bomb Daily.  Fashion Fair's makeup is specifically targeted to WOC, which means that it is one of the few lines where you don't have to struggle to find a product that matches your skin tone. Considering that many makeup companies are hard pressed to cater to our needs, Fashion Fair is important. I do however reject the idea that I must wear makeup to be beautiful.

“I think the biggest beauty mistake is really not wearing makeup.”

I know that it is his job to sell this product, but seriously, who does this man think he is? With his explanation, he only manages to put his foot, even deeper down his throat.

“I think the biggest beauty mistake is not understanding how to enhance your beauty,” Sam added. “And I think a lot of [women of color] are scared that makeup is going to make [them] look fake, ‘It’s not gonna look like me, they’re not going to have my color.’ I think that they just tend to step away from the category when a brand like Fashion Fair, is releasing a liquid foundation in July to add to the range of colors. Nineteen shades! There will be 17 shades in liquid! And if you look at that, that’s not a range that’s broken up for general market vs. African Americans. So you really are getting a wealth of coverage options and colors. I think the biggest mistake is not participating in the game at all.”

 Silly women, with all of these choices, how dare you walk around with no makeup on your face.  Just look at what Fashion Fair has done for you.  How dare you be so ungrateful.  It's not really about your comfort level.  Don't you know that as a woman, it's your job to be beautifully made up everyday.  That's right ladies, fake it until you believe it.  Look how generous he is,  he's not even asking that you wear a lot of makeup.

“Pressed powder, mascara, and lip gloss, because I think those things aren’t intimidating,” he said. “Once you get past the shade of powder, I think that becomes easy to apply. But if I had to go two steps further, I always start out with some kind of a coverage product. A concealer, or a foundation that you can use as a concealer. Underneath the eyes is the thinnest area of skin, so you really want to make sure that any redness or discoloration can be covered.  Also powder. Powder’s going to set the foundation or the concealer so it can stay on longer. I always say powder is to foundation what topcoat is to nail polish. It really holds it in place and keeps it from rubbing off and settling in fine lines.”

With the application of these products, you can be fit to leave the house.   No one wants to see your make up free face. As a woman, beauty is your job and you are shirking your responsibilities by avoiding it and not supporting Black business.   

Yeah, I am simply not impressed by this shit at all.  Fashion Fair is great, but it's also damn expensive compared to drug store brands.  Make up as a requirement means women who already earn less than men have yet another unnecessary expense.  Please keep in mind that on average, Black women earn less than White women.  We are in the lucky position of negotiating both a gender and race based income gap. As women, we already pay more to get our hair done and more for clothing.  How far does this man think a dollar stretches? When phrased as Sam Fine did, makeup becomes a female tax.  Black women already spend a ton of money on hair due to a Eurocentric beauty ideal, and the idea of then being pressured by a man to conform more is beyond distasteful.  A WOC could spend her entire paycheck on makeup, but as long as we live in a White supremacist world, we are always going to be seen as unwomen.

Makeup should be a choice for all women, not something we need to wear to be acceptable to appear in public.  It is worth noting that men have no such requirements on their appearance. I am thankful that Fashion Fair exists, but I refuse to feel duty bound to purchase or utilize their products based in my race and gender.  As far as I am concerned, Sam Fine can have a big cup of shut the fuck up.

Gettin' Our Girl On

Was in the middle of a deep philosophical conversations with Renee a few nights ago when it shifted into both of us talking about how we'd been in blah parallel moods at the time for different reasons.

After listening to Renee talk, it struck me that both of us had a similar problem in that neither of us had been 'gettin' our girl on' as frequently as we were both used to doing for various reasons.    After I pointed that out, the conversation shifted to what we both needed to do to address the situation.

When you're considered the 'unwoman' as Black women are and vilified by society for it on a regular basis, combined with the demands of being a significant other or a mother, it's easy to fall into the trap of just dressing comfortably for the demands of your day and constantly doing for others instead of taking some time to express your femininity and let that inner diva out.

The reason you have that 'F' on your license is because you are an estrogen based lifeform that has curves, lips, bust and hips. You get to play with makeup and a rainbow variety of colors for your nails, eyes, and lips.

You have foundations created for you to enhance your beauty and apply the mascara to enhance the allure of your eyes.  You get to wear the heels and lacy underwear and shop for both at regular intervals.

You are woman, and you need to let that femininity roar at times.   It's also important to recognize that we need to take time to focus on ourselves, recharge those spiritual batteries and do what we need to do to help us tap into that inner diva.

For transwomen of color gettin' our girl on is not only a survival tool, it does wonders for us to help boost our self esteem and fight the shame and guilt issues that we constantly battle against.  The slings and arrows we suffer from being attacked inside and outside the community about our feminine journey can be a pain at times.

But when we put on our sexiest outfit or clothes that flatter our figures, do our hair and nails, and take the  time to put our other faces on, that melts away for a moment when we take one look in the mirror and like the beautiful visage staring back at us.

Yep, we need to get our girl on for a lot of reasons.  Many of them are culturally based, some are rooted in how we express femininity.

But many of the reasons why we regularly engage in 'gettin' our girl on' are deeply personal.

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