When it comes to the most-loved beauty brands by millennials, there’s one that consistently stands above the rest because of its stellar marketing, truly excellent products, and innate inclusivity. And now, Glossier is becoming even more accessible, thanks to a fan-fueled Glossier Brown Instagram account. As described in the first-ever post on the account, “ This page was created to celebrate a community of women of color that adore @glossier products. 💖 As an avid Glossier user, I receive frequent messages about shades, color matching, and swatches for brown girls. 👸🏾👸🏽👸🏿 Now, we all have a dedicated place to share, reference, and create a sense of community!”
Glossier Brown was started by Devin McGhee, a graduate student studying film and television at Savannah College of Art and Design. When she first heard about Glossier, she was impressed by the brand's diverse campaigns (the brand celebrates women of all ages, skin tones, and body types) but wanted to do her due diligence and look into product reviews on social media. "Glossier does a great job remaining inclusive with their campaigns and advertisements, but regardless of which brand and products, I always conduct my own research prior to making my first purchase," explained McGhee in an interview with Teen Vogue.
"At the time, I only found a handful of black and brown YouTubers showcasing how they use Glossier products, but I knew there were more women of color out there using them, and it was important that the world got to see that."
So, McGhee took matters into her own hands. After making her first pink bubble wrapped purchase a little over a year ago, she was immediately hooked on the brand, and started posting about it on her personal Instagram page. “I genuinely believe when it comes to beauty, sharing is caring! Why keep all the goods to yourself?" she told Teen Vogue. Soon, Glossier took notice of McGhee's posts and recruited her to become a rep. Naturally, DMs started sliding in, asking questions about the brand and giving MCGhee product recommendations. "It was amazing to see all of these women of color interested in a brand that I adore so much, but I needed a better way to field their questions, manage the load, and show women of all complexions using Glossier products. That's how Glossier Brown was born," she told Teen Vogue.
The page is a space where men and women of color can share their favorite Glossier products and beauty hacks like how to blend various Glossier Skin Tints to achieve the perfect shade, or which Cloud Paint cheek stain looks best with which Haloscope highlighter. "There aren't just two or three shades of brown, and Glossier understands that. As much as I love Glossier, I didn't want women of color to believe this was just another brand excluding us because the shade range is low [five shades]," she explains.
"As a chocolate woman, my skin's undertones change with the seasons. Therefore, in the winter, I mix Glossier Perfecting Skin Tint in Deep and Rich for the perfect shade. Whereas in the summer, Rich is my perfect shade alone. But no one knows that unless we share that information with each other, like girlfriends. Ultimately, I want the Glossier Brown Instagram page to be the go-to for women of color interested in trying Glossier products or that are already obsessed with Glossier products. Like a picture. Comment. Say hi! We're all sisters here!"
McGhee has never communicated with Glossier directly about the account, but both the official Glossier account and Glossier founder Emily Weiss follow the page, so they’re clearly fans of what she’s doing. In an industry with a history of overlooking people of color, Glossier Brown is joining the ranks of Fenty Beauty in helping to progress things in a new (and much-needed) direction.
Women are just happy that the space simply exists and they have another woman of color to ask for suggestions. It truly makes me proud to have created that space for other women like myself. I love to see women commenting [on] the photos we repost saying things like, 'YAAAASSSSSSS!' or 'Perfection!' We should always be rooting for each other that way. It costs absolutely nothing to pay another woman a compliment.
How true is that? I'll go first: McGhee is goals.
