Five Beauty Truths From Allure US Editor in Chief Jessica Cruel
Here’s what the beauty veteran has learned from 15 years in the industry.
Albany, Georgia is a small town in the American South, and—to hear Allure US editor in chief Jessica Cruel put it—it is nowhere near as big as New York City, where she lives now.
Growing up in Albany as a curvy, black, and curly-haired individual had Cruel thinking that certain things were not for her, such as fashion, because, as she says, “I don’t look like a fashion girl.” But a topic like beauty—ah, well, that was different.
Stepping into the beauty closet for the first time, as an intern for a magazine later on in New York City, opened her eyes to the possibility of becoming a beauty journalist.
Beauty was more accessible to many different kinds of people, including the people in her small town, and more affordable to boot. Beauty, for her, felt like an opportunity to have a bigger voice, and to be seen in a different way. “It speaks to everyone,” Cruel says. “I tell people all the time, if you use toothpaste to brush your teeth, you’re doing beauty. If you take a shower, you’re doing beauty. And so that is why I fell in love with beauty. I just felt that I could make some really impactful change by working in this space to diversify it.”
It’s been 15 years since. Cruel has not only flourished in the beauty industry, but she’s affected that meaningful change she set out to make. Here, she shares with Allure Philippines five nuggets of beauty wisdom that she’s learned through the years:
1. Everyone who opens a beauty magazine should be able to see themselves in it.
“I grew up reading magazines that never had me in them. I wanted to make a magazine where I could be the editor in chief, and no one would bat an eyelash to see my face on that page with my curly hair and my glasses and my curves. Everyone who sees me is going to say, if she can be a beauty editor, then she must be beautiful, right? And if I’m beautiful, you’re beautiful. We have this opportunity to really send these subtle signals to people that you’re it, you’re beautiful, you’re what we should be representing.”
2. A good skin routine isn’t about more steps—it’s about the right ones.
“You don’t need a lot of skin care products. The two most important things you should have in your routine are, number one, sunscreen, and number two, retinol. We recommend a lot of products, but all you really need is a cleanser, a moisturizer, sunscreen in the day, and the same cleanser, same moisturizer, and retinol in the evening. Serums, exfoliants, they’re great additions. People are doing too much. Calm down.”
3. Trends come and go—personal beauty should stay.
“We’re always chasing after this trend, and that trend, this trend is taking off. There’s the tomato aesthetic, the clean girl aesthetic—it’s not even a thing, y’all made it up. The most important thing is that you find what works for your face. Don’t get caught up in what the girl next door does. Have someone do a personal assessment of your face, assess how you want to look, and then go from there. Focus on what you want and what you like.”
4. Beauty isn’t superficial—it’s science, politics, culture, and innovation.
“You know, I say all the time, everyone’s brushing their teeth—well at least, hopefully—and that means that they’re participating in beauty. Beauty is something that everyone does. Aside from this, it’s also self-expression. People are very impacted by the way that they look, and the way they look makes them feel a certain way. And that can’t be frivolous.
One thing we do is that we tell people about the science of beauty. There are scientists now working on products that won’t come out for five, six, seven years. That is fascinating to me. We talk about regulation, which means it has to go through politics and politicians. That’s government, right? But it’s also beauty. When we talk about music, when we talk about art, when we talk about culture—all of that has beauty involved.
It’s about highlighting the great people who are really innovating in the space. And it’s one of the most innovative categories. It’s quickly moving, it’s quickly growing, and it’s accessible to everyone.”
5. There are no rules—only what makes you feel like your best self.
“I don’t believe in beauty rules. I think you do whatever the heck you want. Do whatever makes you feel good. You do you.
I think the unfortunate truth of the matter is, no matter where you are in the world, for everyone, there is something about yourself that you don’t like.
So, there’s two ways we need to approach that fact. One, we give people tips to make them feel better about themselves, whether that’s as simple as adding a mascara or some brow product, or more evasive like getting a face lift. And we need to make sure that they’re fully educated on how to go about that, for safety, and to get the results they want.
But also, it’s our responsibility to make them realize that whatever it is you don’t like about yourself, it’s, in fact, normal. It’s normal for me to have bigger lips, and it’s beautiful. It’s normal for me to have dark circles under my eyes and that’s beautiful. Even if I want to change it, it’s still beautiful.”
