NextJenBeauty: The woman behind the screen

Hi there! Welcome to nextjenbeauty, a blog centered around diversity, inclusivity, and representation. Each blog post will be dedicated to a different perspective within the beauty community, and each perspective will inspire a different makeup video! I'll attach videos to their corresponding blog post, or you can click here to check out the rest of my Youtube channel! If you want to be featured on my blog and Youtube channel, please complete this survey to tell your story. Here's this post's corresponding video:

In this post, I would like to introduce myself by telling my personal story. I’ll be answering my own interview questions and telling you a little bit about what inspired me to do this project. By the way, this is me!

Let's jump right into the interview questions.

How do you identify?

I identify as female and Argentinian-American.

What role does your identity play in your makeup use? Do you feel that there are stereotypes/biases associated with your identity in the beauty community/industry?

I think I’m heavily influenced by American beauty standards and trends for women. The only reason I can do winged eyeliner in under a minute is because they’re such a popular staple in American makeup. If I lived in another country, I bet my makeup routine would be totally different, even though I’d like to think I’m doing my own thing. That belief in and of itself is Americanized! #individualism

Anyways, there’s definitely an expectation of what kind of makeup people “should” wear depending on social context (school vs work vs night out). I don’t like that people judge you if you don’t adhere to those weird unspoken makeup boundaries, especially considering how subjective they are! It also irritates me that when women put effort into their appearance, it’s assumed that it’s for someone else. Why do I have to be "trying to look good" for someone besides myself?

How do you feel that your identity is represented in the beauty community/industry?

I don’t like how women are represented in the beauty community. I feel like there’s a narrow view on what kind of makeup is “pretty” or “popular.” I believe our community should encourage personal expression over what’s socially acceptable or typical. One of the first Youtubers that introduced me to the makeup world was NikkieTutorials, and she's always inspired me to try new looks not to be practical, but just to experiment and have fun.

I also wish there was more Latinx representation in the beauty community and industry. People tend to be shocked when I tell them I’m Hispanic and part of that stems from the limited representation of the different races that exist within the Hispanic background. More diversity in models and influencers promotes more awareness and eventually more acceptance.

What changes would you like to see in the beauty community/industry?

I would love to see more identity-based discussion in the beauty community. Makeup is an art form and I believe that as artists, we need to take pride in who we are if we want to express ourselves!

That also means we desperately need more representation of all kinds of artists on all beauty platforms. Hey, beauty brands - if your shade range for a product is five shades, that’s not a range. If your advertisements have nine white models and one light-skinned black model, that’s not diversity. If you claim to be inclusive but you don’t feature models that are more than a size 4, that’s not inclusivity. It’s 2020. Do better.

what is this???

What is your favorite thing about makeup?

Makeup is therapeutic for me. Doing my makeup in the morning is my me-time - my time to really get comfortable with myself and create freely. That unrestricted creativity is something I feel like I rarely get to indulge in (thanks to organic chemistry).

What makeup skill would you like to develop or improve?

I want more practice doing colorful looks! It’s so easy for me to get into a slump of doing neutral looks, so sometimes I forget how fun it is to work with color and be really bold.

Part of my project is a Youtube channel, nextjenbeauty! Is there any specific content that you would like to see?

Be creative and have fun! (I’m not giving myself suggestions because that defeats the entire purpose of doing looks inspired by OTHER PEOPLE)

That’s just a little bit about me, but you (yes, you!) and your experiences are the true focus of this project. My project’s purpose is to give a voice to individuals who have been minimized and underrepresented in the beauty industry. The world needs to see that there are people of all genders, sexualities, shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds that share a passion for makeup. Our generation has to be the one that advocates for inclusivity and the representation people deserve - that’s what defines the next generation of beauty.

Thank you so much for checking out my blog and joining me on this journey! Let me know what you think so far or if you have any tips for me. See you again in the next post! :)