National No Makeup Day: 7 Black Celebs Who Aren’t Afraid To Show Off Their Natural Beauty - Page 3

3. Alicia Keys, 44

R&B singer Alicia Keys infamously decided to put the makeup brushes down back in 2016. This was just as she was preparing to release her album Here. She wrote a letter on the website The Lenny Letter, where she expressed her frustrations with how society places beauty standards on women. She then talked about a candid moment she had with her photographer who wanted to take a picture of Keys just as she was coming out of the gym. Keys wrote that she was sweaty, and wearing a scarf, so it was an uncomfortable moment for her at first. But her photographer wanted to capture her “real and raw.”

After the shoot, Keys said, “I swear it is the strongest, most empowered, most free, and most honestly beautiful that I have ever felt … I don’t want to cover up anymore. Not my face, not my mind, not my soul, not my thoughts, not my dreams, not my struggles, not my emotional growth. Nothing.”

The “Girl on Fire” singer has since started wearing makeup again, but appears to embrace her true skin more. She told Allure in 2017, “I’m not a slave to makeup. I’m not a slave to not wearing makeup either. I get to choose at [any] given moment. That’s my right.”