Critical Beauty

The Miss India beauty pageant has faced criticism over a lack of diversity in its finalists.  The organisation came under fire after a newspaper published headshots of all 30 women competing to take  home  the crown.  Twitter user LeBrown James shared a photo of the collage, asking: 'What's wrong with this picture?' The question sparked dozens of responses from social media users who pointed out that all the women have 'fair skin', with one saying simply: 'This is so white!'  Colourism in India pre-dates colonialism to the 1600s, when social hierarchy was based on a caste system and manual labourers often had darker from spending days outside working. This made it more desirable to have lighter skin.  The issue was compounded during the colonial era and eventually became so ingrained that in the 1970s India's first 'fairness' cream, Fair and Lovely, was launched.  The market is expected to be worth 50bn rupees ($716m; £566

  Critical Beauty has recently launched its official YouTube Channel, Critical Beauty Salon. Click the banner above to go directly to the site. The channel is run by CB director, Rafa Delfin. For the first vlog, Rafa featured the King & Queen of Boston Pride 2019 Pageant which he judged. What better way to start the channel by celebrating Pride Month! 

CREDIT: HECTOR JOAQUIN COLON GONZALEZ Nyah Bandelier , 18, representing the district of Eleuthera, was crowned Miss World Bahamas 2019 at the Atlantis Paradise Island Theatre in Nassau on Sunday night, May 26. She will now represent the Bahamas at the Miss World 2019 pageant to be held in Thailand later this year.  The First Princess is Shakera Hall of Balmoral Island and the Second Princess is La'tiquah Smith of Crystal Cay. Rounding up the top six were Rotalya Williams of Ocean Cay, Jerchovia Moxey of New Providence, and Lydia Cooper from the University of the Bahamas who was voted in by the public. CREDIT: MISS BAHAMAS ORGANIZATION

      Sushmita Sen celebrated her twenty-fifth coronation anniversary as Miss Universe 1994. Sushmita was crowned on May 21, 1994 in Manila, Philippines. On her Instagram account, she posted a couple of photos - one showing her wearing a costume crown and gleefully admiring a cake topped with a crown and decorated with images from her Miss Universe experience - and another showing her mother, two daughters, her younger brother, and her fiancé, Roman Shawl.      In her lengthy comment, she expresses her pride being the first Indian to be crowned Miss Universe, thanks the Philippines which she considers as her second home, and acknowledges the then staff of the Miss Universe Organization for helping her in her personal growth.      Of course, we at Critical Beauty wishes to congratulate Sushmita on her coronation anniversary as we love her dearly; she is definitely one of our favorite Miss Universes!      Here's to you, Sush! #CriticallyBeautiful sushmi

CREDIT: INSTAGRAM Model Gabriela Mendes Viegas , crowned Miss Ilhéus 2018, was found dead on Saturday, May 4, in Bahia. According to family members, she was struggling with depression. Several online Brazilian sites are reporting that Viegas had committed suicide. She was studying medicine at the Federal University of Bahia.  The university issued a note of regret (translation in English from the original Portuguese): "Today is a sad day. In this moment of extreme grief, words and even breathlessness are lacking. With great pain, AAAACVL reports the death of their colleague Gabriela Alexandre Mendes Viegas, of the 253rd class of FMB-UFBA. We wish all comfort and strength for friends and family. The loss of a person so affable and full of goodness is distressing. The various expressions of affection and the impact of the news only reinforce the immeasurable loss of an incredible human being." On Instagram, Ricardo Mello, a pageant expert, lamented the death of

Janjep Carlos (center) with 2nd runner-up Oliver Pusztan of Hungary (left) and 1st runner-up Francisco Alvarado of Spain (right) MANILA - John Jeffrey "Janjep" Carlos became the second Filipino and Asian to win the Mr. Gay World crown after winning this year's pageant in South Africa.  Carlos, who hails from Cavite, bested 21 other candidates in the final round of the pageant in Cape Town, South Africa on May 4 (May 5 in Manila).  He joins fellow Filipino John Fernandez Raspado took the crown in 2017.  Carlos succeeded Mr. Gay World 2018 Jordan Bruno, an Australian national, for the crown.  Spain's Francisco Alvarado was crowned 1st runner up, followed by Hungary's Oliver Pusztan (2nd runner up), Thailand's Cjayudhom Samibat (3rd runner up) and Belgium's Nick Van Vooren (4th runner up)  In his introduction video posted on the Mr Gay World 2019 Youtube channel, Carlos said mental health awareness was one of his main advocacies, par

For the first time in American history, three Black women have been crowned as winners of the country’s top beauty  pageants ,  Because of Them We Can  reports. On Thursday, North Carolina lawyer Cheslie Kryst won the  Miss USA  title. She is a civil litigation attorney who works on behalf of prison inmates. During her last question in the final round, she addressed the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. “What #MeToo and #TimesUp are about are making sure that we foster safe and inclusive workplaces in our country, ” she said. “As an attorney, that’s exactly what I want to hear and that’s exactly what I want for this country. i think they’re good movements.” Kryst is slated to appear in the forthcoming Miss Universe pageant, where only five Black women have ever been crowned winner. Miss Universe ✔ @MissUniverse Welcome to the sisterhood, @ MissUSA 2019 Cheslie Kryst. # RenoTahoe 2,387 12:01 AM - May 3, 2019 373 people are talking a

CHESLIE KRYST, 28, IS MISS USA 2019 / CREDIT: MISS UNIVERSE ORGANIZATION      So it seems that Cheslie Kryst , at 28, is the oldest contestant to be crowned as Miss USA.  The North Carolina native won the coveted title on May 2nd in Reno, Nevada.      The average age of Top 15 semi-finalists is 24. The youngest semi-finalist is Hawaii at 20 years of age. The average age of the top 5 is 26. It seems that crowning “older” girls (to me, anyone above 24) has been the trend since Olivia Jordan won in 2015 at 26. Deshauna Barber in 2016 at 26. And Kara Cullough In 2017 at 25.      Raising the age limit to 28 allows for “more accomplished” wome n to compete. But the question is, how could an 18-year old compete with 28-year old when the former hasn’t accomplished much? Could this be the reason why no contestant under the age of 20 cracked the semifinals? Will the next Miss Universe be 25 or over? Top 15   Florida - Nicolette Jennings. 22 New Mexico - Alejandra Gon