Women with severe skin conditions show how cosmetics can be empowering
A new cosmetics ad goes against the typical girl-power creed of embracing your natural look by showing how make-up can actually empower women.
In two videos for Dermablend, women with different skin conditions explain how they use make-up to present themselves to the world in a way that feels genuine, not as a means of hiding away.
One of the women is Cheri Lindsay, a volleyball coach with the skin depigmentation condition called vitiligo. By camouflaging her condition with make-up, 'people could look completely through it and see who I was as a person,' she explains. 'It made me a little bit more approachable.'
True self: Cheri Lindsay (pictured), a volleyball coach with a skin depigmentation condition called vitiligo, uses make-up to be 'a little bit more approachable'
Empowering: Cheri says when she wears make-up, it lets people look through her condition and see her for who she truly is
In the beginning of the video, Cheri appears, sitting in a chair, with what looks to be an even skin tone.
'My name is Cheri, and this is my Camo Confession,' she says before using a towel to rub the foundation off of half of her face, revealing a much lighter skin tone underneath.
She explains that the condition began manifesting itself in her sophomore year of college when she lived in Texas.
'I have been told that sun exposure just makes it spread that much faster,' she says. 'All of this came within the past three years or so, and it was shocking to me at first... It's not that easy to deal with.'
Cheri continues: 'When I first got vitiligo, I had to ask myself a couple different questions, the first being, does it hurt? No. Is it contagious? Not at all. And can I still live with this and be successful? Hell yes.'
Exposed: She adds that by putting herself out there, she hopes to inspire other women to do the same
Before: Model Cassandra Bankson (pictured), who is known for doing YouTube make-up tutorials, shares a similar message in her 'Camo Confession' video
She then explains how she uses make-up not to hide her imperfections, but to encourage people to see her for who she truly is instead of making assumptions based on her appearance.
'I don't want people to think that I would get offended,' she says. 'Don't hide, you know, there's something wrong with everybody. Nobody's 100per cent perfect.'
'It wasn't until I found make-up and a passion within myself that I found purpose to my life'
She adds that by putting herself out there in the commercial, she hopes to inspire other women to do the same.
Model Cassandra Bankson, who is known for doing YouTube make-up tutorials, shares a similar message in her 'Camo Confession' video, which sees her removing all her make-up to reveal her acne.
The 21-year-old opens up about how she has struggled with severe acne since the third grade, which led to other children calling her a 'freak of nature' and 'the exorcist'.
Low self-esteem: The 21-year-old opens up about how she has struggled with severe acne since the third grade, which led to other children calling her a 'freak of nature' and 'the exorcist'
Laid bare: After removing her foundation, she explains: 'It wasn't until I found make-up and cosmetics and a passion, really, within myself, that I found purpose to my own life'
'When you hear things like that on a daily basis, it becomes really, really hard to love yourself,' she explains.
'It wasn't until I found make-up and cosmetics and a passion, really, within myself, that I found purpose to my own life,' she adds.
'I used to use make-up to cover up and hide who I was,' she concludes. 'Now, I use it to express myself, and show the world who I truly am.'
Dermablend, which was created in 1981, is a 'camouflage' cosmetics brand designed specifically for women with mild to severe skin conditions.
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