As a woman who has been addicted to YouTube for the past several years, I must give credit to the amazing YouTube gurus for teaching me how to do my own box braids, faux locs, search and destroy trim method, a wide array of makeup looks and giving me a ton of vegan and vegetarian meal ideas. Not to mention teaching me how to make some bomb vegan nacho cheese!
While I've always looked to YouTube for hair and makeup styling tips, I must say there are hundreds and thousands of YouTubers out there that have amazing content, we just probably haven't heard of them. With YouTube often offering suggestions to watch beauty bloggers with well over 50K views per video, it's no wonder why so many talented, quirky, and informal beauty bloggers go unnoticed.
After realizing that I was literally watching the same people day in and out, I decided to start searching for less-known YouTube beauty gurus and I'm glad I did because I came across some gems (and some ladies who aren't quite so green, but deserve a shoutout too.) If you too have never heard of these ladies, it's time you did! Click through the gallery below to check out 20 of my new favorite black beauty gurus.
1.Chante Jackson
Ohio native, professional makeup artist and beauty vlogger Chante Jackson has been making a splash in Los Angeles with photoshoots, fashion shows, and giveaways. Though she's only been in LA for a few short years, she already has a few celebrity clients under her belt and is consistently growing her YouTube channel to include hair reviews, styling, and makeup looks.
2.Jai Marii
Beauty lover, wife, and mother Jai Marii takes us along the ride with her as she explores ways to keep her natural hair protected through styling, letting us know the best weaves and wigs for protective hair styles along with makeup looks and mommy confessions.
3.Amy Coker
This gorgeous beauty vlogger promotes being your own kind of beautiful as she shows subscribers how to slay wigs from $20 to $200, lets subbies know the best foundations for dark skin, and tries on the latest fashions from online retailers.
4.Chrissy Brown
Beauty, fashion, and wigs, wigs, wiggggssss is this gorgeous vlogger's topics of choice on her channel. With only a year in the YouTube game, Chrissy Brown (aka dizastrousbeauty), who is also a wife, mother, and nurse, has over 500,000 views and is constantly making her subbies spend their last coins on wigs to try and mimic this fashionista's effortless style.
5.Sheba
From weight loss challenges and motivation to wig and weave styling, giveaways, and reviews, xoxoSheba consistently shells out quality content to her subbies and leaves them all wanting more!
6.AshecaLee
Fellow cat hater, writing lover, makeup enthusiast, and proud Jamaican AshecaLee shares her beauty and hair secrets, gives holiday looks, reviews, and try-ons on her channel devoted to all things beauty.
7.Chagi Malith
Sudanese beauty Chagi Malith does it all! From DIY to travel blogs, to her relationship with God along with all things hair, makeup, and beauty, Chagi takes her subbies on trips across the globe during her travels and brings them back home where she discusses, life, love, and beauty!
8.Ashley Claire
New York beauty blogger/vlogger and nursing major, Ashley Claire makes beauty look easy with tons of makeup tutorials that glam up the everyday look as she teaches her subbies to enhance their natural beauty.
9.Dyan Tucker
Hair reviews, giveaways, Get Ready With Me chit chats, wig styling, and nipple piercings?! This beauty blogger is not shy when it comes to letting her subbies in on her life and teaching them how to lay their edges while doing so.
10. Slim Reshae
Model, YouTuber, and all around beauty, Slim Reshae shares her natural hair styling and maintaining tips, her secrets to making money on YouTube, does try-on hauls, and showcases her loving family, all while looking gorgeous.
11. Bri Hall
This natural hair cutie doesn't mind switching her hair up at a moment's notice and lets us all in on exactly how she colored, styled, straightened, or cut it each time. In addition to hair and makeup looks, Bri is always a talented artist who gives her viewers a firsthand look at her amazing drawings.
12. Jayla Koriyan
Weekend adventures, luxurious shopping, and exotic vacations, Jayla invites her subscribers into her glamorous life with her vlog channel dedicated to fun, beauty, and her adventures. In addition to lifestyle, Jayla also has a channel dedicated to fashion try-hauls, makeup reviews, and wig reviews.
13. Ambrosia Malbrough
From messy buns to groomed brows, Ambrosia Malbrough keeps her viewers looking just as fly as she does with tons of natural styling tips and tricks to keep your curls looking good even on day 4! In addition to hair styling, Ambrosia also lets us in on all of her skincare secrets that keep her gorgeous skin glowing.
14. Jaleesa Moses
Jaleesa Moses just seems like the type of friend you can talk to for hours with no judgement, only understanding. This beautiful spirit keeps her viewers updated with her natural hair styles, exotic trips, makeup looks, and skincare routines.
15. Laila-Jean
If you want to know how to cut and shape your natural hair, the best clay masks to try or how to unlock your full growth potential, Fusion of Cultures has got you covered. In addition to hairstyling tips, this natural beauty also takes her viewers along the ride on her exotic trips.
16. AlwaysAmeera
From reviews of HBO's insecure to gym day routines and drugstore hauls, AlwaysAmeera teaches her subbies to slay wigs while maintaining and toning their figures, and I'm all the way here for it!
17. Chamar Moore
Easily one of my favorite YouTubers, Chamar Moore gives off best friend vibes in all of her videos. From breakup stories and 90's R&B playlists, to her cutting off her gorgeous long hair and dying her short hair pink and blonde, this beauty definitely keeps things interesting in all of her videos!
18. Diamond Candy TV
Diamond Candy TV is definitely hair-crush worthy. This natural beauty gives overnight hair care tips, wash day routines, and various styling methods to her loyal subbies.
19. Miss Erin Yvette
College girl and wig, weave and braid slayer, Miss Erin Yvette gives her subbies hair and beauty advice while letting them know the best places to shop with her try-on hauls.
20. Angwi Tacho
If you live for fashion like Angwi Tacho, you will definitely get your life the moment you visit her channel. This fashion lover does tons of try-on hauls from swimsuits to clubwear and closet essentials. Angwi is definitely one to watch if you're ever looking for fashion inspo.
Who are some beauty YouTubers on your radar? Share them below.
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak