The Radical Joy of Beauty

Growing up, I was devoted to watching makeup tutorials on YouTube. I’d perch my computer on a sliver of counter space in my bathroom so I’d have easy access to pause and rewind as I tried to re-create the looks myself. This was the early 2010s and my makeup was defined by overdrawn cat eyes, sparkly smoky eye shadow, and dark lipstick. 

Every time I’d leave the house, I was told a different variation of the same thing: "You’d look so much prettier with less makeup.” "I wish you wouldn’t hide your natural features.” And the worst insult, "How insecure are you?” 

To me, playing with makeup was never about hiding my insecurities. I always thought makeup was fun. I could be my own canvas and start with a blank slate every day. As I got older, I stopped experimenting with makeup and started using it in a more traditional way, sticking with neutral colors, small eyeliner strokes, and nude lipsticks. 

My struggle with expressing myself through makeup is only one tiny slice of the pie. Many people have faced far harsher criticisms—natural Black hair has been frowned on and heavily politicized, tattoos have long been considered a surefire way to not get hired for a job, and if you’re a woman with body hair, you might as well be a social pariah. 

Essentially, for a long time, if you were not white, hairless, tattoo-free, or willing to fit into the minuscule box of accepted beauty standards, you couldn’t be considered "beautiful”—at least by society’s standards. 

Today, beauty standards are being flipped on their head. We’re starting to think about beauty as a tool to express ourselves and our joy rather than a weapon to hide our flaws and mask imperfections. We still have a long way to go (and a lot of beauty standards to unlearn), but it’s the pioneers in the industry that we can look to for guidance that will lead the way. 

These trailblazers are teaching us that all hair is beautiful, tattoos are pieces of forever art, and makeup is something to have fun with. We talked to our favorite industry disruptors to learn about how they use beauty as a tool for radical joy and the brands that are making beauty funner for the masses. 

Mira Mariah, Tattoo Artist and Creator of Girl Knew York

Mira Mariah, better known by her brand name and Instagram handle, @girlknewyork, has dedicated her life to beauty. If you visit her website, you’re met with a poem titled "Who TF Is Girl Knew York,” which describes her as "cool like expecting someone to light your cigarette,” "surrealist like Schiaparelli,” and "a little terrifying but never spooky,” among other curious descriptors—and it only makes you want to get to know her more.

The artist has tattooed the likes of Ariana Grande and a slew of other resident cool people. "My artistic style is graphic line work and black shapes that interpret beautiful things,” she explains. Her tattoos have an almost visceral quality to them—and each one is unmistakably Girl Knew York. 

Mariah initially found tattooing because she wanted to be an artist and a fashion designer, and tattoos are a way for her to do both. "My art as a tattoo is a tiny (or not so tiny) forever fashion for someone to decorate themselves with,” she says. "I love sharing my favorite beautiful items with people through the imagery in my tattoos.” Her tattoos are peppered with elements that bring her joy—like seashells, swans, plants, and beautiful women. 

It’s fun to think about tattoos the way Mariah does—as living, breathing art that decorates a body. She thinks this art is the perfect vehicle for self-expression. "I think every single decision women make about how to care for and style their bodies is the highest, most original form of artistic expression,” she says. 

As for tattoos becoming less taboo? She thinks it’s fabulous because everyone should feel total freedom to do what they wish with their own bodies. But it’s also a bit bittersweet, because as so many of us intimately know, "rebellion is fun.”

Danessa Myricks, Celebrity Makeup Artist and Founder of Danessa Myricks Beauty

Danessa Myricks is a juggernaut in the makeup industry. Her bold, playful looks are instantly recognizable—the makeup artist and brand founder has made a name for herself creating looks and products that elevate makeup to high art. 

Myricks didn’t start her makeup career until she was 30 years old, and she refers to herself as an "accidental makeup artist.” While working at a publishing house, she knew she wanted to dabble in makeup when she watched makeup artists work. She was excited by makeup and knew she had to do it herself. 

"I began mixing pigments in my basement, creating unique color stories and finishes for innovative highlighters suitable for all skin tones,” she says. From there, Danessa Myricks Beauty was born. The products are like bottled joy—multifaceted chrome flakes, electric shocks of cream colors, and dewy complexion balms. 

"Beauty, to me, means fully accepting, embracing, and loving who we are, how we are uniquely designed and confidently expressing how we choose to present ourselves to the world,” Myricks says. This kind of radical love makes people happy, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Myricks is over beauty that fits neatly into boxes. She wants people to grab beauty and twist it into a definition that they can fit into. "The beauty conversation for so long has been inundated with tons of rules,” she says. "‘Dos and don’ts,’ guidelines for what is appropriate, and when it’s appropriate. Who created these rules anyway? I know I was never invited in for that conversation, and neither was anyone I know.”

Shelby Swain, Celebrity Hairstylist

As her Instagram bio so aptly puts it, Shelby Swain is the Beyoncé of baby hairs. She started off by doing her own hair in high school, and it snowballed from there—the hairstylist is now the mastermind behind Lizzo’s hair. 

"There's no limit to hair,” Swain says. If you look at any of the looks she’s created for Lizzo, it’s not hard to agree with her—flossy pink pigtail buns, a perfectly fluffed afro, and the most impressive finger waves you’ve ever seen. Finger waves are Swain’s specialty, actually. "Any finger wave I've ever done is my favorite hairstyle to do,” she says. "That actually was why I went to hair school.”

Even though hair is her bread and butter, Swain will be the first person to tell you that beauty comes from within. For her, it’s confidence first and hair second. Swain thinks if you’re confident, you’re beautiful—full stop. 

Part of finding confidence means not taking yourself too seriously, and unblushingly taking risks just because you can. "I want everybody to be as authentic as they possibly can be,” Swain says. "Who cares about the haters? Honestly, live your best life. On TikTok, people look crazy as hell, but they look phenomenal.”

Hang Nguyen, Nail Artist

If you’ve ever thought that the term nail "artist” felt like a stretch, you’ve clearly never spent any time scrolling through Hang Nguyen’s Instagram. Represented by Nailing Hollywood, Nguyen uses her own nails (and occasionally, her children’s) as a canvas for her playful, whimsical designs—whether that’s an intricate bouquet of flowers or her own spin on a classic painting. 

For Nguyen, nails are anything but boring. She finds joy in creating "nails that spark happiness,” and she lets the world around her guide her designs. "From fashion to fine art, pop culture, nature, and my kids’ creativity, all of it translates into my art,” she says. It’s impressive to see big ideas translated into bite-size nail designs (Nguyen has re-created Picasso and Matisse paintings, which feel too grand to be made into nail art) before you see her work, that is. Being a classically trained painter might have something to do with it, of course.

Nyugen was a massage therapist before she decided to switch to being a nail technician after she got pregnant with her first child, and she’s never looked back. If you look at her Instagram, though, you’d think she’s been doing nails her entire life—the artist has amassed 234,000 followers and has worked with heavy-hitting brands like Essie and CND. 

For Nyugen, beauty doesn’t stop and start at nails. She finds happiness in the clothes she wears, the scents she sprays, and the makeup she puts on her face. And whatever it is that makes her happy might just wiggle its way into her next nail design—she never knows when inspiration might strike.

Ghinko, Tattoo Artist

Picture a drawing of a hand so realistic that it looks like you could reach out and hold it, a sword so convincing you might catch a glimpse of yourself in the metal, or a human eye so lifelike you swear it’s attached to a brain. Now, take these drawings and turn them into tattoos. This is the space where Ghinko’s tattoos live.

As a tattoo artist who specializes in hyperrealism and fine line work at Bang Bang Tattoo, Ghinko creates tattoos that jump to life. It’s no accident, either, as she takes her work at Bang Bang incredibly seriously. "I think tattoos are an incredibly courageous form of self-expression,” Ghinko says. "The combination of permanence, pain, and commitment is such a personal journey, and working with a tattoo artist to guide you happily is vital to a positive experience. My job is to make one-of-a-kind art for one-of-a-kind people.”

To Ghinko, beauty is anything that makes someone feel confident and love themselves, and tattoos fit right in. Unlike most forms of beauty, tattoos allow you to take your joy and permanently etch it onto your skin. "It’s a forever piece of art that hangs in the gallery of one person’s body,” Ghinko says. 

Ghinko is optimistic about the future of tattooing and where tattoos might fit into the beauty industry as a whole as the world continues to accept them more. "Coming from an immigrant family whose parents’ generation grew up with tattoos being illegal and taboo, I think tattoos have evolved from symbols of intimidation to personal accessories and spellbinding art,” she says. And while she’s at it, she hopes more women join her in the tattoo world—it’s evident that she’d make a great role model.

Bread Beauty Supply

For a long time, Black hair was not considered beautiful in mainstream beauty. Racism has always been so pervasive in our society that it permeated hair, and because of that, there weren’t as many big-name brands catering to natural textures. In recent years, however, the natural-hair movement has helped spark tons of creativity in the space. Bread Beauty Supply is all about making haircare essentials for 3a to 4c curls—whether you want to let your curls cascade or rock a protective style.

"Our intention with Bread has always been to remove perceived burdens,” explains founder Maeva Heim. "The burden of having to spend hours on your hair, the burden of having to do hair and beauty a certain way because people tell you that you have to.” When you no longer consider your haircare a burden, you have more time to focus on things that bring you joy—and what’s more radical than that?

Pat McGrath Labs

If you know anything about makeup, you know Pat McGrath. The mogul has been one of the most influential makeup artists in the world, and her makeup line has transformed the way we think about makeup. In years past, dark, sculpted eye shadow and glittery lips may have fit squarely in the "runway only” category of makeup, but McGrath has brought runway sensibility mainstream. With Pat McGrath Labs, anyone can experiment with putting jewels on their lips, using glitter pigments, and patting chrome colors onto their eyelids.

Fur

In the world of beauty, nothing is more stigmatized than body hair. The beauty industry would have you believe that if you want to be beautiful, you need to be hairless from the eyebrows down. Most brands centered around body hair are focused on the best way to get rid of it with an effective razor, a cushiony shaving cream, or a hair-removing cream. Fur, however, is different. "We want to move away from feeling forced to take care of our body hair in a certain way and instead approach it from the idea that you deserve not only to choose how you groom but that your grooming process should have comfort and care at the forefront,” a brand spokesperson for Fur says. Sure, it makes shaving cream for those who would prefer to get rid of their body hair, but the brand also has products like Fur Oil that cater to keeping your body hair natural.

Byredo

Byredo is a brand made for beauty fanatics. Ben Gorham, the brand’s founder, creates products based on memories and emotions. Any beauty lover lives for Byredo fragrances because they’re intensely different than anything else you’ve smelled. Take the scent Blanche, for example, which is Gorham’s attempt to odorize the color white. When Byredo launched makeup in 2020, it was an instant home run. Byredo’s makeup is not your average makeup line; the brand is not here for you to hide your flaws—it’s here for you to turn your face into a work of art.