Selena Gomez Says Unrealistic Beauty Standards Make Her “Sad for My Generation”

Selena Gomez has been open about her approach to beauty and how passionate she is about linking her cosmetics brand, Rare Beauty, with mental health initiatives. During yesterday's TIME100 Summit in New York City, however, Gomez touched on how far the beauty industry has to go, saying that people everywhere are still surrounded by a "very unrealistic standard"— something she's hoping to "break down" with Rare Beauty. Gomez, who is 31, launched the brand in 2020 with the mission to "break down unrealistic standards of perfection."

“Personally, I felt that there's a very unrealistic standard when it comes to the cosmetic world and it makes me a little sad for my generation,” she said. “And for anyone to look at something that's probably touched up and made to look nice is...I just wanted to break that down. I don’t know how to do makeup and I have a makeup line.”

She added that Rare Beauty hopes to make products that don't make its fans "feel like they had to look a certain way."

Gomez also mentioned the names of her products, which have always been positive and uplifting. It's a detail that fans have appreciated and rallied around online.

“I wanted it to feel good when they're using my products,” she continued. “And all of our products are named based on uplifting things, from our Find Comfort line to anything that comes to mind, body, and soul, we try to be very conscious of even naming the products to be reminders of joy or just finding yourself. So I genuinely just wanted to make makeup that was fun for people. I don't believe in having to look a certain way. I spent years trying to do that and it's draining. Waste of time."

Gomez also touched on the continued efforts of the brand in the mental health space. Rare Beauty continues to donate 1% of sales to support the Rare Impact Fund, an organization that provides young people with access to mental health services.

“I didn't want to really enter the cosmetics world without a mission,” Gomez finished. “It was actually a dream that kind of happened within this brand, and on top of it we were able to make hopefully decent products.”