“Blind girl makeup”: A masterly art and self-care ritual

Beauty matters to many of us. Our aspiration to look beautiful is natural and often impacts our well-being. The World Health Organisation reports that, globally, at least 2.2 billion people live with some form of visual impairment. However, the needs of blind and low vision (BLV) people for making themselves look beautiful and/or express themselves via makeup have often been ignored by society. This study explores how BLV people apply makeup and their motivations using a qualitative content analysis of ten selected makeup YouTube video tutorials produced by BLV vloggers. For a BLV person using makeup is an iterative process of exploring, learning and practising. “Mirrorless” makeup involves not only memorising and technique mastering, but also aesthetic and social approval from sighted people. Key motivations for BLV people are the desire to express their personality, to feel confident and to simply enjoy it as a form of self-care. By demonstrating their skills and talking about their motivation, the BLV vloggers also hoped to inspire and empower others with a vision to change the way the world views disability. This study contributes to raising awareness and tackling social disability barriers faced by some blind people in their quest for mastering makeup application as a form of self-care and self-expression.