Read My Lips
As a Woman of Color (WOC), I've had a love/hate relationship with the term 'nude' in relationship to makeup and clothing. I loved the idea of wearing something without looking like I was wearing it. Nude lips with bold eye makeup, nude pantyhose that didn't look like I was wearing my Grandma's underpinnings. Wonderful concept right?
The hate came when I realized that 'nude' equaled a bisque or a very light beige. I am neither. I am a brown skinned girl, no ifs and or buts about it. Seeing the term 'nude' being tossed around in the fashion industry as if were universally flattering to all of us hit the same nerve as the 'flesh tone' crayon in my Crayola box when I was a little girl. It was painfully obvious that I was not the target audience. I still remember that first pair of horrible 'nude' pantyhose I got when I was 13. I looked teen version of Lady Frankenstein, like I'd had someone's powdery tan legs attached to my brown body. This might explain why I loathe hosiery so much, that, coupled with the fact that I've never be able to put on a pair properly. One leg always gets twisted and there is way too much room in the crotch, but I digress.
What I'm trying to say is that for a long time, I was left out of the 'nude' color wheel and it silently enraged me. Why didn't girls like me merit a product that we could wear?
Fast forward several years to when the Crayola company got 'woke' and debuted a multicultral box of crayons including a vast array of skin tones. Now a girl like me can actually find a nude lip color. Too bad my Grandma wasn't alive to see it. We could have done some real damage at the makeup counter!
Anyway. I stumbled upon the NYX Lingerie line of lippies and I love love love them!
Allow me to demonstrate.....
Okay, I admit that the last two of the colors aren't nude or even nude adjacent. I said I wanted a nude lip color, I didn't say that's all I would ever wear! I'm just so happy to have options. To paraphrase a line from a recent commercial, one is not a choice, so if one is not a choice, than none is an insult. I'd like to shout out NYX for being more inclusive. Finally companies are respecting the buying power of more than one group of people and it is beautiful!
