Confined indoors with few social events, the quarantine period has seen many relax their usual beauty routines – but not without a degree of insecurity when it comes to video calls. But Billie is calling on people to stop apologising for the way they look and embrace their natural selves. We explore the insights behind this, and how brands are encouraging self-acceptance.
From hairdressers and barbers to brow bars and nail salons, lockdown has forced the closure of many important destinations for the upkeep of people’s appearances. While greying roots, un-manicured nails, and bushy brows might go unnoticed in the confines of people’s homes, when it comes to video calls, many people have been apologising for their appearance. Beauty brand Billie is addressing these self-deprecating remarks in an ad spot that asks “What if we stopped apologising for looking like ourselves?” Featuring a diverse range of people discussing their appearance on Zoom, the ad draws attention to the futility of apologising for our natural appearance, suggesting that we instead embrace it and learn to love our most authentic forms.
Without access to beauty services, quarantine has been a period of reckoning for many people when it comes to confronting their natural looks. Without the ability to get lip fillers or dye their roots, some people are even questioning the role that these treatments played in their lives in the first place. A number of celebrities – Marina Diamandis, for example – have showcased their own quarantine journeys towards self-acceptance on Instagram. Billie’s message of embracing natural beauty chimes with this movement, a refreshing departure from more traditional beauty marketing, which focuses on correcting flaws and imperfections. And with eight in ten Gen Yers and Zers saying that ‘being yourself’ is the phrase that best fits their definition of beauty, it’s likely to resonate.
Lottie Hanwell is a junior behavioural analyst. She loves travelling, reading novels, cuddling dogs and hosting dinner parties. A graduate of English Literature and Spanish, she’s adventured through South and Central America where she developed a taste for Argentine Malbec and dodgy Reggaeton. Now settled back in London, she hopes to translate her fondness of people-watching to her role at Canvas8.
