Allure

Last spring, Allure launched the Melanin Edit, an editorial destination that celebrates the highly melanated. We wanted to create a place to have meaningful conversations about skin color and culture. This year, we decided to extend that digital project to print. And to help bring this first-ever Melanin Edit issue to life, our team collaborated with guest editor Michaela angela Davis. Davis is an author, activist, fashion stylist, the former editor in chief of Honey magazine, and a personal mentor. Over the course of many months we had conversations about what these pages would represent. In the end, we landed on two crucial themes: legacy and liberation. For decades, Black and brown people were minimized in the beauty conversation, very similar to how we were (and in some places still are)…

Our favorite summertime makeup look requires only three things: 1. The brightest shade of yellow shadow you can get your hands on. Here, makeup artist Tiziana Raimondo grabbed Make Up For Ever Flash Color Palette Multi-Use Cream Color in 13 Yellow. 2. More yellow. Raimondo doubled down on the brilliance, hand-painting each lash in MAC Pigment in Primary Yellow. 3. Another layer of yellow! Kidding. A dewy cream blush is your final step—but a soft rose is a better bet than daffodil. Raimondo dabbed Glossier Cloud Paint in Haze from cheeks to temples for skin that truly beams. PHOTOGRAPHED BY DAVID FERRUA. STYLIST: KATERINA ZOLOTOTRUBOVA. HAIR: SEB BASCLE. MAKEUP: TIZIANA RAIMONDO. NAILS: MARIEKE BOUILLETTE. MODEL: GRACE @ NEXT PARIS.…

Ah-Shi Beauty AHSAKI LAFRANCE-CHACHERE Growing up on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, LaFrance-Chachere never saw herself represented in beauty campaigns. Instead, she looked to the women of her family, who mixed available base shades to match their skin. This memory is the bedrock of her brand. Using her family’s rich brown skin tones as a starting point, LaFrance-Chachere created the shade range of Ah-Shi Beauty’s Hi Def Foundation. She gave her brand a name in Diné, the Navajo language. “Ah-Shi Beauty means ‘this is me, this is my beauty,’” she says. Prados Beauty CECE MEADOWS “I love pops of color,” says Meadows, whose ancestors are from New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, and Mexico. “Culturally, we are vibrant and colorful people, shown in our art, jewelry, fashion, textiles, and makeup.” Watermelon blush, coral lipstick, and the punchy…

IDRIS: Self-care quickly became “us-care” when we were in lockdown [during the pandemic]. We realized that only when you’re really good with yourself, are you good with someone else. We’re a partnership, and skin care is something we can share. We are both on the same page about feeling good externally and it helps us approach our day. SABRINA: It’s become such an educational process for me to talk about skin care with my partner who, you know, only used Vaseline until very recently [laughs]. When we created the S’able Labs [Editor’s note: That’s Elba’s spelled backwards!] products [launching on July 12], we wanted it to be something we could use together. IDRIS: It’s not man or woman. It’s just human. We are both humans. SABRINA: Idris will use the [S’able Labs Black…

ROCK THIS WAY When they’re nestled among black gemstones and worn as dramatic winged liner, pearls can be punk, proved makeup artist Thomas de Kluyver at Simone Rocha’s fall 2022 show (right). There’s no need to reach inside your jewelry box because the crafts store has all the supplies you need. Stick on rhinestones and pearls with a dot of eyelash glue and later gently remove the gems to wear again. EN POINTE A classic double strand of pearls is, well, classic. But when it’s broken apart as a form of nail art, it becomes significantly more fun. Gluing pearls on top of a ballerina-pink manicure gives nails an Old Hollywood vibe, says nail artist Gina Edwards, who adorned stiletto-shaped press-ons with a pile of pearls cascading from cuticles to tips at Markarian’s…

1 NARINA CHAN @narinanails Chan’s private Manhattan studio has no name and its owner likes it that way. “People just find me on Instagram for an appointment and I’m booked [three months] out,” she says. “It’s insane, but I’ve been in this industry for [10 years].” This no-frills business model is perfectly suited to the Hong Kong–born, New York–raised nail artist—and like her masterful work, it’s based in practicality. “I was a musician in college, so I started doing nails on the side for money. I played guitar, so I always needed short nails,” Chan recalls. Her designs, which she describes as “detailed without being extravagant,” are often inspired by food (like sushi and sunny-side up eggs) and ’90s anime (she’s even created a custom gel palette with hard-to-find skin-tone shades…