"Be patient," they said. 

"They will probably release more shades soon." they said.

"Give them a chance," they said. 

"Stop complaining, it's just makeup." they said. 

Do any of these phrases sounds familiar? 

I don't know about you, but I can never get enough of a warm eye shadow palette. Matte oranges, metallic bronzes, and deep browns are right up my alley. The OG Morphe 35O palette (does anyone remember when they would sell out every week?) and Nubian Juvia's Place palettes have solidified themselves as go-tos for us warm toned lovers, but over the past month, they have run into some MAJOR competition. 

While the term "WOC" aka Women of Color is an easy way of referring to minority women across the United States, more often than not, it's used as a nice and tidy PC way of saying black women. Just take a look at these headlines. 

A few of you (on different platforms might I add), have called us out for not posting or supporting enough black owned beauty brands. At first listen, I found that accusation preposterous. We post and promote black owned brands ALL THE TIME! Often unsolicited, for free or at a discount.  

In a previous survey, we asked you, the Cocoa Collective, which beauty retailer you preferred to shop at. The majority of you gave your vote to Sephora, however, in a personal study of the brand about a year ago, I explored the current climate of the beauty retailer industry and who is *actually* winning. Surprise Surprise. It is not Sephora. 

Cult makeup brand, The Balm, just revealed face swatches of the latest addition to their product suite - a whip foundation. Known for their cute vintage packaging, clever shade names, and ode to the 50s and 60s, The Balm has gained a massive following with over 1 million devoted fans on Instagram, but this time did they take it too far?

You get creative with it. You beat that face with it. You spend hours on it. Sometimes you wear it, other times you don’t. You spend hella money on it. You wear it how you want to.  You love it. It’s yours.

What is it?

To be frank, buying foundation online can be a b*tch. It's especially frustrating when beauty retailers like Sephora and Ulta only carry the lighter shades of certain foundation formulas, leaving those of us with darker complexions to play the guessing game. Side effects of this phenomenon might include: 1. Wasted Time 2. Wasted $$ 3.Hella Frustration.

Reggae music playing in the background. A number of makeup artists (dressed in all black BTW,) buzzing around a small room working to create "the look." Models running in and out, some half dressed, some that need a lip touch up here or a hair slicked back there. Chaos. A beautiful chaos. 

Picture this: You walk out of the hair stylist's feeling bomb AF after getting your new 24" ombrè weave slayed. You go home and start putting on your makeup for a night out with the girls. You complete your look only to find that deep orchid colored liquid matte lippie doesn't quite pop as much as it did before. 

On February 23rd 2016, the New York Times published an article entitled “The Model Whose Lips Spurred Racist Comments Speaks Out,” referring to the infamous Instagram post of a black, MAC Cosmetics’ model’s lips, that was met with discriminatory, racist comments. Perhaps 500 years from now, a title like this might make absolutely no sense to the people reading it, but unfortunately, in 2016, it’s not that hard to believe. 

"Welcome to the new war on cultural appropriation," Cathy Young wrote for  At one time, such critiques were leveled against truly offensive art — work that trafficked in demeaning caricatures, such as blackface, 19th-century minstrel shows or ethnological expositions, which literally put indigenous people on display, often in cages. But these accusations have become a common attack against any artist or artwork that incorporates ideas from another culture, no matter how thoughtfully or positively. A work can reinvent the material or even serve as a tribute, but no matter. If artists dabble outside their own cultural experiences, they’ve committed a creative sin.