Sam Fine: Women of color make big beauty mistake by not wearing make-up

CLUTCH - With it being so hard to find your perfect shade in an industry catering to white beauty without spending big bucks, most black women do opt to forgo makeup altogether.

alexisgarrettstodghill

Jun 14, 2012

From Clutch: Sam Fine may ruffle a few feathers with his brutal honesty, but trust us, he means no harm.

Fashion Bomb Daily landed an exclusive interview with the celebrity makeup artist and Fashion Fair Creative Makeup Director and when they asked the beauty guru the one area where black women need to step their game up he didn’t hold his tongue:

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

Let him explain. “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.”

That’s a good point. With it being so hard to find your perfect shade in an industry catering to white beauty without spending big bucks, most black women do opt to forgo makeup altogether. They also tend to think they’re going to look too made up or overdone and if their mother’s don’t wear makeup, they’re usually slow to dabble into it later down the line.

The good thing is Sam doesn’t believe it takes a face full of makeup to enhance your natural beauty. In fact, he can narrow down just five key things women should have in their makeup bags to put their best face forward, and they’re not overpowering.

“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.”