Natasha Denona Apologizes for "Asian Stereotypes"

A few days ago, Natasha Denona, the founder of the American professional makeup artist brand Natasha Denona Beauty, was accused of discriminating against Asians for a video of an eyeliner tutorial on an Asian woman.

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Recently, Natasha Denona Beauty, a famous makeup artist brand in the US, issued an apology on Instagram as well as Chinese social media platforms, Sina Weibo and Xiaohongshu, for the "racial stereotypes" of the brand founder Natasha Denona.

CHAILEEDO has learned that on June 11, Natasha was accused of discriminating against Asians for a video she posted on Instagram, which showed her eyeliner tutorial for Asians with single-fold eyelids. The video was made by the brand in collaboration with Sephora in 2021 and is titled "How to match your eyeliner to your face shape".

In the video, Natasha demonstrates how to apply eyeliner to girls who have single-fold eyelids in both heavy and everyday makeup. After the completion of the makeup, an Asian girl with infold double eyelids has two thick and long black eyeliners. Furthermore, almost half of her eyelids are painted black.

Once the video was released, it sparked the discontent of many Asian netizens. According to the observation from CHAILEEDO, there are two main reasons why netizens are disgusted with the video: firstly, the model in the video has a typical Asian face, but does not have single eyelids; secondly, the makeup artist drew thick eyeliner on the model's eyelids, which is said to be ugly and a "stereotype" of Asians.

It is worth mentioning that many netizens clearly pointed out that "Asians never draw eyeliner like this" and that this makeup is only her "stereotypical image of the Asians".

However, Natasha's response to these comments further intensified the discontent of the netizens and even triggered the attention of the famous beauty media "Estee Laundry". Natasha not only denied the problem with her makeup tutorial, but also argued that "the whole point is to inspire you because you don’t do it".

"The whole point of the video is to show what you COULD do if you want a bolder or different look than you are used to, otherwise if you know exactly how to do your makeup and don't need any inspiration, then there is no need to watch any tutorials," she added.

The Asian eyeliner controversy ended with an apology from the founder and the brand's official accounts. On June 14, Natasha deleted the controversial video. She then posted a video about five minutes in length to explain and apologize for the controversy on Instagram. At the same time, the brand also posted an apology onInstagramm and other social media platforms.

CHAILEEDO noted that Natasha said in the video that the controversial eyeliner was inspired by her own bold and exaggerated makeup creations. Meanwhile, she argued that she meant no disrespect to Asians and that the video was just meant to inspire people. "The reason why I removed the video is that I don't want any internet users to be hurt by this video." Subsequently, she added that English is not her native language, so she didn't clearly express her intention in response to netizens' comments.

But the apology not only failed to quell the anger of netizens, but even further amplified the conflict. In the Chinese market, for example, the apologies of the brand posted on Weibo and Xiaohongshu have generated some negative comments.

According to CHAILEEDO, Natasha Denona Beauty officially entered the Chinese market through Sephora in 2020 and subsequently opened an online overseas flagship store on Tmall and JD respectively. In December 2021, the brand opened its first offline counter in Xi'an., China.Natasha Denona Glam Eyeshadow Palette (priced at $88) sells more than 2,000 units per month on Tmall.

Actually, in recent years, the disputes caused by foreign cultural differences and aesthetics have received much attention in China. The features, including single eyelids, slanted eyes, flat noses, square and round face shapes, which are considered to be the appearance of Asian people, have long appeared in film and television works in Europe and America. Obviously, these so-called characteristics of Asian appearance are also shown in the makeup designed by Western brands. Last year, the renowned brand Dior was accused of scandalizing Asian women for an advertisement. It is reported that the Asian woman in the ad has "a very representative Asian face" - slanted eyes.

Although the aesthetics of different countries are very different, if Western brands do not change these stereotypes of Asian people. Not only will it be difficult for them to truly connect with Asian consumers, but will it be easy to be resisted by consumers by means of inappropriate advertising and marketing.