Blush has always been my spiritual desert island product. I love the way it oozes and screams joy, health, vitality, fun and playfulness – all in a delicious pop of colour.
When I was 15, as a beauty-obsessed teen, I went to a beauty counter in a big department store. I had worked hard, saved my money and was excited to make my precious purchase.
I asked the beauty consultant for a pink blush, and she said, “Black girls don’t blush and black girls don’t do pink”. She ushered me away from the counter and told me to try the back of the beauty store, as Fashion Fair may have something for me. She then cleaned the counter where I had touched it as if I was unclean and dirty – to sanitise me away.
That was 30 years ago, and my heart broke. I felt I was told to go to the back of the beauty bus in some strange act of beauty apartheid. It was a microaggression, but I didn’t have the words to describe it at the time – I just felt the sting of the shame and pain of being told I wasn’t allowed to play. I wasn’t invited to the party of luxury, opulence and fun that that brand had represented to me.
As I looked around the posters and ad campaigns in the beauty hall, I didn’t see anyone who looked like me with my juicy West African body, 4C coils and deep skin tone. I read the message loud and clear that I didn’t belong.
I knew back then, in the '90s, that this lady was wrong in telling me I should know my place and not even aspire to wear pink blush – such an optimistic and joyful colour. Today, the stats back me up. According to 2022's Black British Pound report, up to £ 4.5 billion of disposable income from Black, Asian and Multi-Ethnic consumer groups is being “ignored.” These consumers are spending £230 million every month on health and beauty, but nearly four in 10 black women shoppers still find it difficult to buy cosmetics and skin care. Mintel also reports that black consumers spend 8 times more on beauty than their white counterparts.
My Blushgate experience as a teen really impacted my career. I had fallen in love with beauty, so after doing my history degree, I worked on makeup counters at Estée Lauder, Clinique, Creme de la Mer, Bobbi Brown and many others. I broke all those ingrained beauty rules and loved giving makeovers and lending an ear to those who were brave enough to share their insecurities and internalised racist stereotypes. I heard it all: “I’m too old for sheen,” “I can’t wear brights on my deeper skin tone, I'll look like a clown” – so much negative talk that had been accepted by themselves.
I knew I wanted to be part of the change and politely pressed my way into a career in magazines – I called one publication every day until I was given a shot – though I eventually went freelance at 23 because I knew my body type, melanin and coily hair would mean I would never be made Beauty Director.
I have pushed for more diversity in the beauty industry throughout my 22-year career as a freelance writer and broadcaster. Demanding more shades, making space to talk about beauty and hair care for all skin tones, ages and hair types – because seeing is believing.
That’s why 30 years later, it brings me such great joy and pride to say I have spent over five years developing my beauty brand Ateh Jewel Beauty, which has launched in Harrods. My first product? Blush.
It’s a total political statement for me to say, through my products, that you belong, you are the centre, and you are the default setting.
It was such a journey to get here. For years factories didn’t want to work with me, telling me it wasn’t worth the research and development in creating a bespoke formula which would also look great on for deeper skin tones. I was asked – and told – could consumers with deeper skin tones even afford a luxury price point; were they interested in natural, skin-loving ingredients? It was so offensive it made my eyes water.
I flew to factories in Italy (the heart of colour cosmetics), and what I found astonished me. There was not one black formulator or chemist with a deeper skin tone in any of the teams creating makeup for all the biggest brands in the world. When I asked if they were tested on darker skin, I was told no. It was the same story in every factory I visited and spoke to in Europe and the US. It blew my mind – as my deep skin reflects, absorbs and makes colours look different.
Post Black Lives Matter, Trinny Woodall of Trinny London was my fairy godmother – herself a total disruptor and incredible businesswoman – by introducing me to a factory who could help. It was the first time I wasn’t hit with a wall of misogyny or racism, when the entire female team said they were willing to learn and have a go.
Raising funding has been challenging, with major Venture Capitalists all the same old gatekeepers – offering exploitative deals or not seeing the worth or point in backing a Black female-owned brand. I have self-funded for years, had support from my online community and also angel investment from true champions of change who believe in me.
Most blushes have white in the base and use talc – it’s a cheap filler and how blushes have been made for many years. The problem is it looks ashy on deeper skin tones, tin-like and doll-like, as if it’s stuck onto the skin. I have packed my blush full of pigment, to give a buildable effect with skin-loving ingredients.
I’ve launched with what I call the ‘fundamentals of blush’, with three shades of my Blush Of Dreams – a popping cool-toned pink called ‘Watson Watermelon’, named after my love of ballet and Ed Watson, Principal Dancer with the Royal Ballet. I have a coral, ‘Radiant Rav’, which I developed and named after one of my best friends Ravinder – who has a beautiful South Asian skin tone. Finally, there's Love Plum Plum – so good I named it twice! A rich juicy berry which looks amazing on all skin tones with a just-bitten, you’ve-been-nibbling-on-cherries look and warms and glows on deep skin tones.
Throughout my journey of people telling me I can't do it, I've had a vision of people lighting up with joy and self love by using my products, which has kept me going. I launched on July 5 into Harrods Knightsbridge and across the country with H Beauty and my website www.atehjewelbeauty.com.
I have had people gasp in disbelief that pinks, corals and plums sing and shine on their skin tones. Seeing influencers and so many people post and wear my Blush Of Dreams with a launch reach of over 19 million, has been healing and overwhelming. It’s pure beauty activism that a blush can say – your place is anywhere you want it to be, you are centre, you are enough, and this black girl can wear blush and wear pink… and so can you.
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