Thread by @blackvoices

When Diarrha N’Diaye-Mbaye began delving into foundation as a teen, she struggled to find product lines that carried her shade. The problem still persists today for dark-skinned Black women — and she decided to do something about it. huffpost.com/entry/ami-col%…

The 31-year-old created Ami Cole, an award-winning brand that focuses specifically on melanin-rich skin while amplifying A-beauty, merging African heritage and clean, natural ingredients in its products.

“As I’m growing up... nowhere to be found was a makeup brand where you could guilt-free walk to a counter and buy something,” she said. “It was just like, ‘This is not made for you.’ For me, it was a lot of mixing and matching. None of my white friends are going through this.”

K-Beauty and J-Beauty, shorthand terms for Korean and Japanese skin care products, have major “marketing machines” behind them, notes @DiarrhaXo, but the same cannot be said of A-Beauty’s deep roots. huffpost.com/entry/ami-col%…

She says the issue is that resources are often extracted from the African continent, but the soul of the materials and the story behind them are left behind. It was important to N’Diaye-Mbaye to incorporate history into these skin-loving ingredients.

“People can’t even wrap their fingers around what African beauty actually means,” N’Diaye-Mbaye said. “It’s too dynamic, it’s too diverse.”

Read @ruthesamuel’s full story about @byamicole and A-Beauty: huffpost.com/entry/ami-col%…