So the trend is popularizing a very specific standard of beauty, and even though it may be unintentional, people of color are getting left out yet again. Simply the name of the trend itself, “vanilla,” excludes anyone with a darker complexion.
The difference between the vanilla girl trend and other beauty trends, like cold girl makeup, is that the word vanilla is associated with whiteness.
Words like “chocolate” and “caramel” have been used to describe darker skin tones. So you can see how giving a trend a name like “vanilla” might not sit well with a lot of people.
The beauty community has had a history of lacking diversity. Whether it’s makeup companies failing to add darker foundation shades or white influencers denouncing curly hair, women of color have had to learn to love their ethnic features without much representation in mainstream media.
And now that the vanilla girl aesthetic has gone viral, it’s hard not to feel like you don’t fit the mold.
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