Last Wednesday CoverGirl announced another fresh face to their new lineup: Muslim beauty blogger Nura Afia. The announcement of her addition came shortly after Covergirl announced makeup artist James Charles as its first male spokesmodel. Both announcements have fans of the beauty brand praising the huge win for diversity.
The YouTube star told Glamour that her addition to the #LashEquality campaign, “…feels so surreal…I never thought I would see Muslim women represented on such a large scale.”
Afia’s 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and 300,000 Instagram followers prove that fear to be anything but true. On her channel she posts everything from date night makeup looks to styling a turban hijab which turns out to be her most popular, racking up over 300,000 views.
According to CNN, “Afia said CoverGirl reached out to her in early October about potentially being in a commercial for the company, but she didn’t realize the extent to which she would be representing the brand.”
“It’s huge,” Afia told CNN writer Harmeet Kaur. “It means we’re being represented in a good light for once.”
And being one of the new brand ambassadors comes with serious perks. Afia, her hijab and her stellar makeup skills will soon her plastered on a huge billboard in Times Square in New York City and will grace television screen across the country.
“It shows that we’re average Americans,” Afia told CNN. “We’re just girls that love to play with makeup and do every day stuff.”
