Chrissy Rutherford on the Perfect Foundation & Changing Careers

I have a lot to be grateful for. Things definitely started out very uncertain — I left my job at Bazaar after 8.5 years just one month before the pandemic escalated and we went into lockdown. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next, but I was able to use the time in quarantine to think about my purpose and passion. I moved home with my parents and was really thankful for family time to help me decompress after feeling really burnt out from my career. It really felt like things just fell into place during the summer and I started a consulting agency with Danielle Prescod.

I’m so proud of the anti-racism workshop Danielle and I created. I think it provides a lot of value to the industry because it puts all of this anti-racism work in context of how it shows up in the fashion and beauty space — and how companies and content creators can course-correct. Obviously, formal diversity trainings have been around — but those people don’t necessarily speak this language. Danielle and I have both been in the industry for over a decade, so we are able to provide personal experiences that give color to how people like us have been directly affected by racism in the fashion and beauty industries.

There were a lot of different factors, but at the end of the day, I was extremely burnt out by the pace of working in fashion media. In addition to that, the landscape has changed so much and now what resonates with audiences isn’t the same…

I just didn't feel fulfilled by writing about celebrities, and truthfully that’s the entry point of fashion for younger readers today. I am a true fashion fanatic; I grew up obsessed with fashion magazines and studying every designer's show on [now defunct] Style.com. On top of that I was also getting opportunities to monetize my Instagram, which is highly frowned upon within publishing companies. It was getting harder and harder to turn down opportunities. I was at a place in my career where I was taking a calculated risk; I had really weighed up the pros and cons and ultimately, I had to really take a look at myself and what I wanted out of life. 

The process of leaving Bazaar was one of the biggest evolutions for me. I really connected with my own self-worth; I no longer had to constantly question myself because of the corporate setting I was existing in. We get so attached to the brands we work with and think that’s what makes us who we are, and I had to spend some time untangling my self-worth from the work that I was doing.

I had decided two years prior that I was ready to leave—it’s not an overnight thought! I did worry if people were still going to care about me once my name was no longer attached to a publication. I definitely had discussions with my therapist on this and weighed up the options as well as tried to find myself again in the process. Who am I as a person? Who am I as a creative? What value do I bring as a Black woman in this predominantly white industry? So, I think I have truly come out the other side feeling extremely confident in my own abilities.

I think I’ve always really believed in myself, and that has helped me so much, especially in times when others didn’t believe in me. So I think knowing your value and believing in yourself are great defenses to help you persevere through difficult times, or when you need to walk away from a toxic situation. Believe in your capabilities, what you want, who you are—and pursue your dreams wholeheartedly.

In some ways my routine has become much more simple because I’m not out and about like I used to be. In the past year I’ve certainly received more products to try and review but I try to be mindful about what I accept because I can’t use every beauty product and I don’t need a new outfit every day of the week. I also currently live with my parents and my mom gets easily stressed out by all the boxes that pile up. So I always have to ask myself, ‘am I actually going to use this?’ 

I've definitely been experimenting more since I've been at home this last year, but I have to be careful because I have acne-prone skin. I have to say, I just started constantly using Dr. Barbara Sturm’s Darker Skin Tone Range and I'm like, ‘what kind of magic is in these products!?’ I had a lot of hyperpigmentation from hormonal breakouts, and I use the Cleanser and Enzyme Cleanser, followed by the Hyaluronic Serum and Face Mask and Face Cream. I also like Dr Sturm’s approach, she recognized the special needs of melanated skin and created this line years before the black squares. Now so many beauty brands are trying to play catch up to win over Black consumers. I’ve also recently become obsessed with Biossance, its Squalane + Lactic Acid Resurfacing Night Serum has really helped to combat my cystic acne. 

I love Fenty Beauty! I use the Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Concealer. I’m pretty minimal with makeup and prefer the no-makeup makeup look. Ami Cole, which just launched in May, and caters to Black women has the perfect foundation that really enhances your skin. If I want more coverage, I’ll reach for Giorgio Armani Luminous Silk Foundation. I always love to play up my eyes, and I use Pat McGrath’s Precision Liquid Eyeliner and her Fetisheyes Mascara. I also really like Mented Cosmetics Lip Glosses and Gucci Westman’s blushes and highlighters.

These are all tools I use for self-discovery and self-improvement. I’ve always loved astrology since I was a teen; it was something that I was just naturally drawn to, but my meditation and self-care practices are how I manage my anxiety that I’ve dealt with since I was 13.

Through both my own exploration and the help of my therapist I [have] searched for things that bring me peace of mind and comfort. Often self-care gets tied to the external, but at the end of the day, self-care is really about nourishing the inner-self, your inner-world, your soul. We all know you can be in your hottest outfit with nails and hair done and feel completely inadequate inside. I know I can feel great about myself even with my hair out of place and skin in a complete mess. It’s about peace of mind.

It’s a newsletter that I share with my community, often further discussing the topics we openly speak about on my platform. The idea originally came about as a podcast but then I decided to create a newsletter and just write like I often do in my own journal. I always get a lot of questions outside of fashion from mental health and astrology to therapy, and how to overcome life’s hurdles, so I use my newsletter as a way to expand upon these topics and have more space to write something longer than an Instagram caption. It’s essentially about examining ourselves on a deeper level, self-discovery, and self-investment.

I think it’s important to stay curious about why we are the way we are and think the way we do. How can you be the best version of yourself? Bettering yourself is not only beneficial to you but those you come in contact with on a daily basis. One manifestation practice I love is writing down a narrative for what you want your year or the next six months to look like. Write it in present tense as though it is currently happening, and then leave it and forget about it and come back to it when you’re ready and see how much you actually did accomplish through the intention of your narration.