When I was in high school back home in Jamaica we used to use regular baby powder on our face to ensure that we had not even a hint of oil on our skin.
I’m not sure what we were thinking but I felt a little sigh of relief when Pat Mcgrath recently shared that her mother used to use Cocoa Powder on her skin as a foundation.
She did not definitively share that she did the same thing but if I were to guess, I think she probably did, following her mom.
The billion-dollar makeup mogul also shared with BBC’s Desert Island Podcast that in her early days she did DIY because there were no products for dark skin tones and her mom did the same thing.
“She even used cocoa powder,” McGrath explained. “She came in from the kitchen with cocoa powder all over her face and she was like, ‘This is the right tone of powder.’ She dusted it on her face and looked amazing.”
Soon after, McGrath started making her own DIY products, starting with a moisturizer for herself and her toy dolls.
“I mixed oil and water together, whipped it, put it in the fridge, and it looked like a cream. I celebrated for months with my own cream that I had made. I packed that over my face, and I was shining like a Belisha beacon for months,” she says.
“I am so happy to see the changes that I’m seeing now,” McGrath said. “We have models from all different social backgrounds, different weights, body types, different religious backgrounds, shows that are over 50 percent women of color, and it wasn’t there for such a long time. And now it’s just so fantastic to see.”
Pat Mcgrath is very appreciated for her work as well. Recently in an interview with Allure Magazine Naomi Campbell shared what it was like to meet the makeup veteran for the first time.
She shared: “For me, in my career, up until that point, I think I’d only worked with two other makeup artists of color. One was Reggie Wells, and the other was Frank Cooper, so I was so happy for so many reasons.
Not only just to finally get to work with someone that didn’t make me bring my own foundation and explain anything, but also to sit in the chair and just feel safe and trust.
On top of it, she has this incredible personality — a nurturing mother spirit. That’s why we call her Mother. So I did, and I very much wanted to be. I consider Pat my chosen family.
Listen to Pat’s entire interview where she shares her mother’s story here.
