Members and fans of YouTube’s beauty community know that the market is saturated. There are only so many times you can hear, “Hey guys, welcome to my channel!” before feeling like you’re watching the same series on an infinite loop. But, every once in a while, a diamond in the rough appears, a content creator that seems to be more colorful than the rest. Makeup artist Rocio Cervantes has done just that, using her remarkable blending skills and colorful looks to take the beauty community by storm.
With 187,000 followers on Instagram and 40,000 followers on Twitter, Cervantes has constructed a vibrant army of her own, as she continues to break barriers with color and makeup experimentation.
Until now, makeup looks were surprisingly neutral. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with a classy brown smokey eye, but there’s a point where everything seems repetitive, and makeup enthusiasts crave some variety in their routine. So how can they switch things up?
Playing with color can be intimidating. The fear of looking like a toddler that got into their mother’s makeup kit always lingers. There’s also the fear of standing out too much, causing strangers to stare at you in shock, believing that color should be saved for performers and not worn on the street. Cervantes helps erase that stigma by being a self-taught artist and embracing the traits of a unique look. She helps others by marveling in the beauty and artistic aspect of the makeup, bringing lovers of beauty and art together as one in a fashionable fan base.
Her rainbow-cut creases and signature inner-corner stars have shown a level of skill that ranks up with professional makeup artists. Her social media followers have claimed her to be the “queen of blending,” a title that is well-earned. From greens to blues, Cervantes has seamlessly mastered every color on the wheel. With the help of James Charles’ Artistry palette with Morphe, her looks suddenly exploded with even more color variety and the beauty world was living for it.
Something that sets Cervantes apart from other YouTube artists is her complete transparency with her audience, which is something the beauty community struggles with. Advertisements for beauty products falsely glamorize both the product and the model. Consumers see models with perfectly photo-shopped skin and edited white teeth, and compare them to their own natural bodies. Models are models though, right? They’re an unattainable type of person to compare yourself to.
But when consumers open their phone and see YouTube beauty gurus and social-media influencers doing the same thing, it becomes a serious problem. Now average people are convincing themselves that they should not be flawed — that they are the problem. If your favorite makeup artist can attain the same level of beauty as the person on the cover of Vogue, why can’t you?
This is where Cervante’s radiant personality and honesty shines through. The down-to-earth artist has been known for being transparent about her struggles with acne and openly discusses it on all of her social media platforms. Despite receiving rude comments on her Instagram posts about how her skin is supposedly “distracting from the makeup,” she fights past the hate to be the spokesperson for the beauty community that the world didn’t know they needed.
Struggling with acne is something that anyone can feel embarrassed about, especially as they transition into adulthood, where there is a misconstrued idea that acne suddenly disappears once your teenage years are over. The simple solution to “just put makeup on it” never completely works. Texture will show through, and people can still find themselves under backlash. It doesn’t seem to be a win-win for anyone.
Cervantes empathizes with her viewers in both good times and bad. She tells her viewers when she feels like her skin is weighing her down, and in other times, she feels just right in her own skin. She never fails to let her humor shine through every video, post and tweet, never hesitating to share her true emotions.
An Instagram post from Cervantes that received a stellar amount of recognition was her rainbow star look, where she formed stars out of her acne instead of covering it all up with foundation and concealer.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn0QZDsnaSo/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet
“My acne hinders my ability to do anything,” she said in her Instagram post revealing the look. “Last night I was thinking how it would be if I didn’t have acne, what I would look like and afterwards I was so ashamed of myself for thinking that because I am beautiful.”
This look sparked a revolution for fans and newcomers alike, prompting other creators to embrace their flaws and replicate similar looks. Cervantes has also launched an “Acne vs. Foundation” series where she reviews new foundations and concealers. Unlike the typical YouTube product reviews, Cervantes is able to paint a transparent picture for her viewers who also struggle with acne. Her journey with her skin has given her a unique niche for her audience and the experience to guide her viewers on which products will make them feel the most confident in their own skin.
So even if you’re not a fan of covering yourself in green eyeshadow, this makeup artist’s videos are absolutely entertaining to watch. As she has progressed throughout her artistry and career, she only continues to open up and become more down to earth with her viewers, forming the foundation for what I believe will make her one of the most popular makeup enthusiasts and YouTubers of the decade.
I’ll bet that Cervantes will continue to brush and blend until her hand gets stiff. Viewers will watch and laugh along with her, her audience will grow and her looks will become even more beautiful. Cervantes has created a canvas with her platform and produces a masterpiece on it every single time.
