Beauty bloggers and makeup artists on Instagram rarely show a full before and after picture of their face–but not Shalom Nchom. She’s only 20 years old, originally from Nigeria and now living in Maryland and has already set herself apart from other bloggers by using one simple tool: honesty. When you look at her Instagram, you’ll probably become obsessed with her too as quickly as we did.
When she was 9, she was left with severe burns on her face, head and chest after an accident with frying oil at her family’s store. Her Power of Makeup Collab with Runnie Rose, she vulnerably demonstrates how she covers her burns and embraces her skin.
As if we didn’t already love her, she makes a point to show how “ “women can not only learn how to do makeup, but learn to live and love themselves for who they truly are” and doesn’t let the haters bother her. Also note that we love the shade she casts towards the beauty industry for not being more open to women of color.
She’s fierce, hilarious and does magic tricks with a brushes and contouring that we can’t even begin to describe. But it’s nice to see how adamant she is about encouraging her followers to think highly of themselves and not let society tell you any different. With a lot of things in life, especially the beauty and fashion industry, it takes time for people to accept change like this, to accept a beauty role model who’s not perfect and cookie cutter. Women like Shalom give us a tinge of hope and a ton of beauty advice so feel free to spend hours scrolling down her feed.