Kiehl’s x Pride

So for this Pride Season Kiehls’s invited me to partner on their Pride campaign with Just Like Us, an LGBT charity that focuses on younger generation inclusivity. I was delighted and I was really optimistic about how I would tackle a project like this because there was so much creativity going on including illustrator Lucy Kirk who had created a sketch for Kiehl’s. They don’t use people in their adverts but on special occasions and holidays they have cartoons or digital paintings and so I asked if I could combine the two, and I came up with a simple image to. share my skincare tips and use the beautiful rainbow.

I’ve always loved skincare and I think it’s my specialism, I love creative makeup but I have a lived experience of turning bad skin good, so this was an opportunity for me to show my bare skin and how hard I’ve worked to get here! I’ve always been insecure about my freckles and my beard, so to show both of those things in a skincare focus was a big moment, and it also felt like as a trans person, I can share an image that is a conventional, traditional beauty advert that isn’t highlighting my differences. I embrace my facial hair even though it’s not what I want, but that’s not why I’m in the image. I’m in the image because the skin is beautiful and I wanted to nod to my auntie in my head, Linda Evangelista. The products I used are the Ultra Facial Cream and they have a special Pride addition for Just Like Us!