There have been plenty of blackface makeup tutorials that have received backlash, which is why it’s hard to believe one beauty vlogger didn’t get the memo before sharing her slave-inspired makeup.
Turkish makeup artist Percem Akin shared a photo of her “black beauty” transformation on Instagram, using questionable hashtags such as #slave, #blackwoman and #sadmakeup. Not only was the look comprised of blackface, but also included facial scars and a headscarf.
Naturally, Akin received a major reaction for her insensitive post, which led to her immediately deleting her Instagram photo and YouTube tutorial. She also set her Instagram account to private.
On social media, a number of people are criticising the makeup artist for her offensive makeup look, calling it “racist” and “ignorant.”
To make matters worse, Akin is an affiliate artist for NYX Cosmetics. As a result, social media users have reached out to the brand to cut ties with Akin and issue a statement, Babe reports.
Good. If NYX condones ANY of this, even a single like, I’m done buying. Their my absolute fav makeup brand but. FUCK that.
— rhi 🌹🥀🌻🌼🌷🌸🌺💐 (@idk_rhi) September 24, 2017
Blackface has always been an issue in the makeup community. This is a result of many people not fully understanding what blackface is, such as one blogger who created a beauty challenge to transform her pale skin to “deep chocolate skin tones.”
In addition to this, Akin is being further criticised because her tutorial makes light of slavery.
“At this point, it has been thoroughly established on nearly every corner of the internet that blackface is bad.”
Halloween season always prompts a number of blackface controversies. But as HuffPost writer Zeba Blay noted in a blog, there is no excuse for claiming you didn’t know blackface is wrong.
“At this point, it has been thoroughly established on nearly every corner of the internet that blackface is bad,” Blay wrote. “The information is out there. It’s all over Facebook timelines and Twitter feeds. Therefore, anyone who willfully chooses to don blackface this Halloween is making a concerted effort to be stubbornly ignorant.”
This article first appeared on the Canadian edition of HuffPost.