black beauty
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Jackie Aina: YouTube Style Warrior
Beauty vlogger Jackie Aina, 30, is a member of the U.S. Army Reserve and has 2 million YouTube subscribers and counting. Averaging around 600,000 views per post, her funny and frank videos, like “Bougie and Bad on a Budget” and “Edges Slaughtered,” bring the real on the makeup tip, touching on issues of race and…
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Before She Was 2nd: Daphne Maxwell-Reid Broke Beauty Barriers
Actress Daphne Maxwell-Reid is arguably best known for being second. Most remember her as Janet Hubert’s replacement in the role of Vivian Banks on the hit TV show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But Maxwell-Reid had groundbreaking firsts as a black woman: the 1969 cover of Glamour magazine, and homecoming queen at the prestigious Northwestern…
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Come Through, 30! Rihanna Celebrates 3 Decades of Bad Gyal Magic
How do we solve a problem like Rihanna? Truth is, we don’t want to. Sometimes we hate how much we love her, but what can we say? We found love in a hopeless place, and this Barbadian “rebelle fleur” remains a constant fave, shining bright like a diamond, always giving us wild thoughts and never…
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BNYFW: Nigerian Label Maki Oh Made This Fashion Week #BlackGirlMagical
We really didn’t think last week could get any better—or blacker—as we prepared ourselves for the hype-worthy phenomenon that is Black Panther while also stalking New York Fashion Week 2018 to see what—and who—our best and brightest were sending down the runways in their Fall/Winter collections. So imagine our surprise that one of the most…
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#WCW: The Women of Wakanda Have Our Hearts!
Y’all. We are now less than 48 hours out from what will undoubtedly be the greatest cinematic triumph since The Wiz (yes, all films), and it is safe to say that along with the flu, Wakanda fever has officially hit The Root’s office this February. Among our staff, outfits were purchased even before tickets, and…
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Lupita Nyong’o Takes Us on Her Hair Journey in Allure
Lupita Nyong’o has undoubtedly been one of the pioneers of the rising popularity of natural hair on the red carpet. But as she tells Allure in its March issue, her own journey to choosing to wear her hair in its natural state was a very different one from the almost instantaneous success she enjoyed after…
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She Is Not Her Hair: Why We Love the Many Styles of Michaela Coel
Michaela Coel first came to our attention through her award-winning and unapologetically irreverent Netflix series Chewing Gum. Even as the chronically awkward yet hilarious shopgirl Tracey Gordon, the gorgeous and multitalented Anglo-Ghanaian actress and screenwriter proved herself a skilled shape-shifter, making the character of Tracey as elastic as a rubber band as she tries to…
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NYFW: Christian Siriano Celebrates 10 Years of Loving Us Unconditionally
Fashion designer Christian Siriano is one of America’s most beloved fashion designers. He first won our hearts with his memorable performances on Project Runway, where he threw shade like no other and cut his way to the top, one fierce and fabulous frock at a time. Now in his 10th year as head of his…
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Real Beauty: Is Truth in Advertising Finally Here?
“For my entire life, I’ve been sold the seduction of my inadequacy.” —Lupita Nyong’o Those are the words of a woman many consider one of the most beautiful in the world, who grew up, like many black and brown girls everywhere, not seeing images in the media that reflected herself and validated her beauty. Seth…
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She Got That Glow: Danai Gurira Was a Work of Art at Black Panther’s European Premiere
Danai, Danai, Danai … from The Walking Dead to Wakanda, Danai Gurira has slayed her way into our hearts, and does no less on the red carpet. At Thursday night’s European premiere of Marvel’s Black Panther, she wowed in black and emerald, rising like the beaded phoenix gracing her gown by Jean-Louis Sabaji—who notably also…