Danessa Myricks, Reimagining What Makeup Can Be

DANESSA MYRICKS BEAUTY

Danessa Myricks is the queen of making something from nothing. Like the miraculous, daily act of sun breaking through dawn, Myricks, too, wills her own world of light and beauty from a supernatural source — imagination. “I grew up really poor. We didn’t have the Barbies, the cars, and the things that everybody else had,” the Queens native told HelloBeautiful.

“Anything that we had, was essentially something that we made.” Myricks said her creative process has served her both professionally and personally as a survival tool and a gift. She recalls moments in her youth roaming the wide halls of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in her hometown of New York City (on selected, resident free days) and being captivated by colored origami crane art she saw on display. “Seeing people take a square and turn it into a giraffe, a dragon — I was just so fascinated by that. And the paper itself was so fascinating because there were so many bold colors and metallic finishes. Just a square piece of paper with a little color and texture can turn into something magical.” 

Abstract Beauty

Myricks said this thread of creative, abstract beauty shows up in the design and product line deliverables of the Danessa Myricks Beauty (DMB) empire. The Yummy Skin Flushed Essential Kit, for example, provides pretty pink balm pigment in varied shades for both cheeks and lips — which is just as much about beauty as it is about economic sensitivity. Myricks said back in her early start-up days as an amateur make-up artist, she could only afford to buy a few items for her kit, so sometimes her eyeliner would be crushed into a shadow and a smudged lipstick would moonlight as a blush. “It’s like the same things that I’ve learned in my childhood: take what you have, what’s in front of you, dream up something special,” she said.

Myrick’s phone conversation with HB comes fresh off the heels of her European “innovation tour” that flew her and her DMB team to cities in both France and Italy. “We search the world looking for beautiful textures, new technology, and new ingredients,” she said. This practice of curiosity and exploration is how the brand stays on the cutting-edge of what’s next in beauty, Myricks said. One beauty ingredient the TikTok science-girlies have been eating up lately is upsalite, a derived mineral known for its ability to absorb oil and sweat without compromising moisture, and a staple in Danessa Myrick yummy skin blurring balm powder. “It’s important to stay  deep in the science,” Myricks said. “It’s important to stay close to the customer trends and to understand what they’re going to be looking for, future forward.” She describes each Danessa Myricks Beauty product as its own special pot of “beauty gumbo,” which makes Myricks as much of a chemist as she is a boss.

The Danessa Myricks Beauty formulas and diverse product offerings are a generational prayer answered for Myricks, who said the beauty industry of yesteryears historically excluded shades for darker skin women, so her mom and grandma relied on the basics. “When it came to skincare, it was like, do you have a warm rag and water? That’s your skincare, and you may throw in a little Ponds’ cold cream.” she said. Her mom’s make-up go-to? A big powder puff pat and a bright red lip that was also used to flush her cheeks. Myricks said figuring out her own beauty rituals growing up wasn’t easy. The media didn’t feature Black girls that looked like her on screen, and she also suffered from cystic acne and rocked a drippy, greasy jerry curl. She said despite her insecurities, her mom encouraged her to just focus on what she could control. “You have the most beautiful brown eyes,” Myricks said her mom told her. “And she was like, ‘You know, the trick is, if you use blue eyeliner, then everyone’s just going to focus on your eyes because the blue is going to bring out the brown in your eyes, and nobody’s going to even notice anything else on your face.” Myrick’s mom’s advice encouraged her to see beauty everywhere, a meditation she is now passing on to her own two children. “I have a daughter who’s 25, and a son who’s 32, and I just think about how I want them to feel,” she said. “What I’m doing right now is not just building a makeup company, I’m telling the story of what I feel beauty is.” 

Loving The Skin She’s In

Danessa Myricks’ story is an inclusive one where each character feels “comfortable in their own skin” and where “people see the beauty in everything and everyone.” The CEO is clearly painting the world she wants to live in; DMB is her business canvas, and the world right in front of her nose serves as muse. When asked what in nature inspires her the most, Myricks mentions the green of forests, the sound of running water, and sunrises and sunsets. But don’t ask her to pick a favorite spot on Earth to watch the day end or begin. Her answer is expansive: everywhere. “A sunset and a sunrise looks different wherever you are in the world. So I think it’s just beautiful watching that transition,” she said. “I live in New York, and I’ve been driving to work and seeing so many beautiful sunrises. I’m like, where am I?” Myricks is surely alive in a dream she manifested with her own heart and hands, and we get the pleasure of enjoying it with her.