For the last few years, the humble beautyblender has become an important tool in many a beauty arsenal. You may already know that Latina makeup artist Rea Ann Silva created the transformative product, but did you know we have the cast of Girlfriends to thank for the spongy makeup applicator?
In a recent video by Insider – which was retweeted onto my timeline thanks to April Reign, the creator of #OscarsSoWhite – Silva talks about how the beautyblender got its start in the early aughts.
“So on Girlfriends, I had a unique challenge,” she said. “It was the first show shot in high-def, and suddenly, in HD, you were able to see every pore, you were able to see every bump. You saw everything on the skin, as opposed to film, where you blast a lot of light and you know, you wear, you wear 5,000 pounds of makeup.”
While airbrushing was the most natural way to “accomplish corrective makeup,” it wasn’t very practical to lug a compressor to set. So Silva found another way: She cut up triangular wedges into a round shape. These first versions of the beautyblender became so popular that the actors took them.
“It was like they sprouted legs and walked away off of set, and I realized people were stealing them,” she said. “And when I realized people were stealing with them, I was like, I have an opportunity here.”
So in short, bless Tracee Ellis Ross, Golden Brooks, Persia White, Jill Marie Jones and others (Silva didn’t name names, so this is our best guess) for stealing beautyblenders.