Celebrity makeup and skincare brands are nothing new. From Rihanna and Ariana Grande to Selena Gomez and Gwen Stefani, celebrity beauty brands are highly profitable ventures. These brands are so common that it almost seems like a rite of passage for a celebrity to launch their own cosmetic line at some point in their careers. The bigger the celebrity, the more attention it attracts. It’s a gamble and many beauty brands have failed in regards to inclusivity and quality. Furthermore, with so many celebrity beauty brands, what makes a brand stand out? Besides their celebrity names attached to the products, these beauty brands rely on flawless marketing campaigns to attract a customers eye. Social media is one of the main tools marketers use to advertise the brands, and one day while scrolling through Instagram I came across a post by Millie Bobby Brown. She was making a video about her skincare routine using products from her beauty brand Florence by Mills. However, what caught my attention was not the products she was using but the fact that her skin was obviously going through a breakout. The best part: she didn’t try to hide it.
Like most celebrities, Brown advertises her beauty brand on her personal social media, and in multiple of her posts I was less intrigued by the products she was using and more interested in Millie’s skin. She had acne, she had breakouts, but she had not edited them out. In fact, she deliberately pointed it out. In a post made March 3rd and captioned “embracing the imperfections with @florencebymills”, Brown began the video by stating she was having a “pretty rough night with [her] skin”. I could immediately relate. I, like many people, have struggled with acne since I was twelve, and although my skin has improved with age and a good skincare routine, that does not erase the insecurities. Sometimes I still feel like the embarrassed teenager scared to go to school because of a breakout. However, seeing Brown show her completely unfiltered skin and acknowledging that she was struggling made me feel less alone. It also confirmed that skincare is an ever evolving journey. When I was younger I always imagined that one day I would wake up and my skin would suddenly be perfect. Now, at twenty years old, I am coming to terms with the fact that I will probably always struggle with my skin, but that is okay.
More recently Brown posted a close-up selfie of her skin going through a bad breakout. In doing so Brown is helping to normalize something that happens to everyone, and emphasize that acne is nothing to be embarrassed about or ashamed of. We all struggle with it to some degree. In this digital age where social media is largely used to show extremely edited and hyper-perfected photos, it is so refreshing to see a celebrity using there platform to show there authentic skin. Brown was also just named one of Glamour’s Global Women of the Year and during her interview she opened up about her acne saying “I have a huge pimple on my face…and I’m going to go on Instagram, and I’m going to see five different girls that look beautiful” (Singer 2023). So many of us compare ourselves to what we see on social media. Social media should not be a measuring stick for how we look and by talking about her real skin Brown showed that she understands what it is to struggle with acne while also seeing seemingly flawless skin all over Instagram.
As I mentioned before when I was a teenager I hoped that by the time I was in my 20s my skin would be perfect. It is not, and more often than not that is a struggle for me, but seeing others acknowledge and share their skin struggles has made me feel less insecure. Sometimes my skin is good, other times not so much, but my goal for my skin has changed. As long as I feel healthy and hydrated then I can deal with a little acne, just like Millie.