‘No Makeup Movement’ Backlash: Acne, Dark Spots, And Hyperpigmentation — Oh, My! [Video]


There is a fascinating video going viral from the YouTube account of lovelyti2002. Titled “Alicia Keys’ #NoMakeup Movement Apparently Doesn’t Apply to All Natural Beauties,” the video, which has nearly 500,000 views, describes first and foremost why certain media outlets should not credit Keys with the #NoMakeupMovement that has been around since 2010.

Alicia has been praised for her beauty and unique style for years. Keys was seen at the 2003 Costume Institute Gala in the first photo below still rocking the cornrow style of braids that she burst onto the scene with in 2001. Although Keys’ intricate cornrow braids were not unique to her, Alicia did help bring the style to the forefront of the general public in a way that made it memorable, the same way Bo Derek did in the 1979 movie 10.

Alicia Keys
[Photo by Stephen Trupp STAR MAX, Inc.]

Keys can be seen posing in New York on June 28, 2001, in the following photo, looking fresh-faced and pretty natural.

Alicia Keys
[Photo by Jim Cooper/AP Images]

Back then, Alicia was a 20-year-old burning up the Billboard charts with her debut album, Songs in A Minor. Key’s song “Fallin’” from that album included lyrics that spoke of a woman falling in and out of love with a man. Alicia represented something fresh and new when she refused to put on the dresses that record executives wanted her to don for the video. Instead, Keys stuck with her cornrow style, replete with beads and a sort of mannish attitude for the video.

Keys found success with the help of music legend Clive Davis, who hyped the songs Keys wrote, played, and produced. The combination was miraculous magic, as seen in the below video, with Alicia opening her proverbial veins of emotions and letting her lyrics spill out onto her piano. The person Alicia kept falling in and out of love with was an imprisoned man who caused her so much pleasure and pain.

Now, almost 15 years later to the day since Alicia Keys posed for the above photo with her leaning against her piano keys, the singer is still making news — but due to the #NoMakeupMovement controversy.

The controversy stems from the fact that Alicia is now embracing the #NoMakeupMovement, which has more than 1,700 posts on Instagram. As seen in the top video above, some wonder aloud if Keys is truly wanting to go without makeup or if Alicia is trying to find a way to remain relevant after all these years.

Keys recently had a prominent role in Empire, so it’s not like Alicia has disappeared from the scene altogether. As noted in comments displayed in the video, some folks are still “salty” with Keys for allegedly breaking up her husband’s former marriage. However, as reported by Wet Paint, the love triangle between Alicia, Swizz Beats, and his ex-wife has healed, and the trio even vacationed together.

The main concern of the #NoMakeupMovement being embraced by Keys now comes from folks who wish Alicia would have embraced the #NoMakeupMovement when she still suffered from acne. Plenty of searches for “Alicia Keys acne” in Google Images reveal Keys’ struggle with acne over the years, as many women have endured.

However, with the glycolic acid trend helping many women do away with acne marks, hyperpigmentation, and dark spots that can result when acne marks are healed, there is hope that many women will feel more comfortable and look better without makeup. As defined by the American Osteopathic College of Dermatology, hyperpigmentation is a darkening of certain spots on the skin, which is oftentimes covered up by foundation.

“Hyperpigmentation is a common, usually harmless condition in which patches of skin become darker in color than the normal surrounding skin. This darkening occurs when an excess of melanin, the brown pigment that produces normal skin color, forms deposits in the skin.”

Various treatments shown on social media and products like Bliss That’s Incredi-Peel pads from Ulta Beauty win raves for the positive effects that the glycolic acid 10 percent solution pads can have on skin.

Therefore, with more exposure in the ways that women like Alicia Keys might be using to help make their skin looking gorgeous when makeup-free and camera-ready would be greatly appreciated by her fans, instead of merely a stance on being without cosmetics.

[Photo by Luca Bruno/AP Images]

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