The Duchess of Sussex has created a heartfelt video for International Day of the Girl and it’ll bring a tear to your eye.
The video, which was shared on the SussexRoyal Instagram account, features clips of young women all around the world, as well as footage of the Duchess when she was a young girl.
In the video, Meghan says;
“Today is International Day of the Girl.
“Every girl has potential, she has promise, she has the right to learn, the right to be heard, the right to play and to discover. The right to be exactly who she is.
“It is said that girls with dreams become women with vision.
“If you see something that you don’t like or that you’re offended by on television or any other place, write letters and send them to the right people and you can really make a difference, for not just yourself but for lots of other people.
"So to each one of you, keep asking questions, keep pushing forward, keep shining brightly. Know your worth and know that we are behind you, every step of the way.
We all know that girls run the world, because if Beyoncé said it, then by God it must be true.
Online fashion giant PrettyLittleThing have been doing their best to promote female empowerment and body positivity, and now they've majorly stepped up their inclusion game.
The brand have launched #everyBODYinPLT, a campaign to involve absolutely everyone in their clothing lines in honour of International Women's Day.
The new collection dropped today, and is set to be a sell-out hit; filled with a range of body types, abilities and ethnicities. We heart.
The clothes have got serious girl boss slogans on them, such as "Girl, you got this", "Girl Gang", "GRL PWR" and "Go Girl." All the things we need to hear when we're feelin' down in the dumps, despite our female badass-ery.
Better yet, the company are celebrating womankind by donating all proceeds to WAGGGS, the world's only movement for every girl and any girl. They believe that each of them deserves to be the best they can be.
WAGGGSrepresent 10 million girls in 150 countries, helping them to develop their leadership skills and empowering them to use their important voice for change in their communities and countries.
We support their ideal that all girls are valued, and have a place in this world.
Lauren Rose, Lauren Mahon, Mari Malek, Yasmin Jay, Giuliana Farfalla, Danielle Candray and Madison Lawson model the garments for the brand's cause, and look absolutely stunning while they're at it.
We’re starting with the first ever volunteers at Kusafiri, our only World Centre that isn’t fixed to the spot! This time round it was based in Uganda, and has been home to volunteers from the USA, Madagascar, the UK, Rwanda and Mexico! #WTD2019pic.twitter.com/GvqTXF4Pyd
Ah, Galentine's Day. Our saviour from the horrors of Valentine's Day, AKA the only day of the year where showing love and men being romantic is socially acceptable.
Whether companies are using female friendships as a marketing tool or not is a WHOLE other discussion.
For now, we're just gonna bring Leslie Knope vibes for 2019's Galentine's Day, which falls the day before Valentine's Day, and celebrates the power of galpals.
Of course, you don't need to be single to celebrate the special day that is Galentine's; You can snatch all them sexy roses from your boo and high five your ladypals at the same time.
1. Channelling the OG Renaissance Romantics:
Happy #GalentinesDay everyone! Don't forget the real meaning of the holiday, which is not only about uplifting your best girlfriends but coming together as women to drown men and have great hair pic.twitter.com/A7g06btUtw
“We’ve let our hair out, gone back to work and made our voices heard, so why are we still putting up with uncomfortable and painful sex?”
Now THAT, Durex, is a great question. One that we're SO glad advertisers are starting to ask, seeing as women make up the huge majority of consumers. It's hella dumb not to cater for our needs, if you ask us.
The renowned condom brand also have a range of lubricants, which they are marketing with a pretty great ad, if we do say so ourselves.
The ad uses examples of women fighting for our rights, using our voices to protest, to work, to rebel against societal norms, but yet many of us don't speak out against painful or uncomfortable sex.
Dryness down there is such a common aspect of our daily lives, and the ad points out that our body lubricates itself differently depending on our hormones and the time of the month.
It's perfectly normal that a lot of us would need a little help sometimes with the 'ol lube. Especially during sex, when most heterosexual men don't seem to realise that we need water for the slide to be fun, so to speak.
btw, using lube is great.
it is NOT TRUE that if you need lube you are not aroused enough, lazy, or dysfunctional (actual examples)
An advert which shows a protester, female body hair and a working mum is refreshing, so we're even more chuffed that they brought painful sex into the equation.
Millions of women face this issue in their lives, and it can be incredibly frustrating. We all deserve to enjoy sex and have as many (multiple) orgasms as physically possible, and lube is a tool in our armoury to help us achieve that.
We, on the other hand, roll out of bed and can only pray that we manage to look semi-decent instead of the apocalyptic zombie which was passed out in bed only moments earlier…
If I can remember to put toothpaste on my toothbrush instead of moisturiser, I think I’m winning.
These celebrity gals, however, are often expected to look #RedCarpetReady 24 hours a day, which sounds exhausting, to be honest.
We decided it was time to watch these notorious Vogue Vids to study the movements and cosmetic habits of faces such as Bad Gal Riri (she doesn’t need make-up, make-up needs her), Emily Ratajkowski, Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid to see just how relatable these ladies are.
We were inspired by the hilarious Maddison Bush, who uploaded parody version of a make-up tutorial while attempting to imitate Vogue's famous faces.
Hint: not relatable in the slightest. Not even close to it.
1. First up, Bella Hadid.
As we all know, Bella is one half of the supermodel sister duo of herself and Gigi Hadid, AKA: two of the most ridiculously stunning human beings on the planet. We actually doubt if they’re human… they look like they were made in a laboratory for beautiful people. No fair.
From the very start of these videos, it’s already hard to find anything in common with these women. They are all doing their beauty regime in unnaturally aesthetic bathrooms in luxurious hotels or mansions, whereas we’re struggling to find a mirror that isn’t covered in foundation smudge marks, or are possibly in the queue for the house bathroom for the last 35 minutes.
From the second models such as Bella face the camera, it’s difficult to choke down the fact that they aren’t wearing any make-up because they already look damn FLAWLESS.
Like, wig = snatched from the beginning. *sigh*
The videos are also alarmingly short, considering most of us take at least 15 minutes to put our faces on. The fact that famous faces only take 5 minutes to look that good is frankly both disturbing and insulting to my pale palour.
(I’ve been asked if I am anaemic countless times, I’ve just started saying yes now, it’s easier).
Bella begins by saying “models can do their own make-up too!” Good to know, Bella. Good to know. You’re very normal.
She continues by saying, “I look really tired because I’ve been travelling for two months straight.” You poor gal Bella, travelling the world in private jets and glamorous clothing must be devastating to your complexion.
Bella uses concealer, a contour stick, highlighter, brow pencil, lash primer and mascara to complete her look in five minutes.
By the end of the video, she’s essentially ready for the Victoria’s Secret carpet, minus the wings. It’s offensive. *cries in poor*
Relatability level: 2/5.
2. Kendall Jenner. Also known as ‘KANDALL JANNARRR’.
She’s already using products we can’t even dream of affording without selling our organs illegally online, so the relatability factor is null from the beginning.
She claims that she “learns a lot from being on set.” Us too, Kendall. We frequent photoshoots on the reg constantly, it’s the cross we bear.
Relatability level: 1/5. Sorry Kendall, but your bathroom alone is next level boujee.
3. Lili Reinhart.
Our third gal is Riverdale’s gorgeous Betty Cooper herself, Lili Reinhart. We have high hopes for this one, seeing as her social media presence is all about positivity and female empowerment, as well as Cole Sprouse, AKA Coal Sprouts, Jughead Jones.
Lili also begins her video by eating food on camera, it seems to be a common ‘relatability’ tactic. This time, it’s Chinese food. She has us hooked.
She also admits from the beginning that she already has foundation on, thank God. If that was her natural complexion I think I’d have had to tell her to stay in her lane.
Lili doesn’t mention the products which she uses, which we translate to mean that we probably cannot afford them…
She uses pink eyeshadow, lip gloss, a basic nude foundation and of course, concealer and highlighter. Voila, she’s ready for her close-up.
Relatability level: 3/5. She’s the winner so far, mainly due to her Chinese wontons. They just look so tasty.
4. Emily Ratajkowski.
Ah, the notorious sexy selfie queen.We have serious doubts about the relatability level of this gal, she’s got cheekbones for days and an enviable glowing tan.
Plus she could look sexy even if she went to Coppers until 6am the night before and had an absolute ‘mare when those jägerbombs came back to haunt her. The hardest look to pull off, arguably.
She comments that “I do my own make-up for red carpets a lot”. Same, tbh…
All this girl needs is Pat McGrath lipgloss, her blush which she confesses to be addicted to, and a bit of concealer. Wait… that’s it? That’s all it takes? Seriously?
We quit. We are the weakest link, goodbye.
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Relatability level: 0/5. Sorry Emily, but you took a duck-face selfie when you were done, and DIDN’T delete it or take a second take. That’s downright blasphemy in our books, we need at least 13 photos before we can find one we don’t hate.
5. Rihanna
Last, but not least, BAD GAL RIRI. An icon. A sass queen. Fenty Beauty extraordinaire, we have high hopes for this one.
From the beginning of the ten minute long gift, RiRi shows off her bubbly personality without plugging her own products at all, which is a miracle in itself.
If you haven’t tried using Fenty Beauty products, girl you are MISSING OUT. They’re flawless.
Some of Rihanna’s best quotes from this video include:
“Everyone knows concealer is made for hiding bags and dark circles, and hangovers and bad decisions.” YAS queen, she’s in the know. Riri gets the struggle.
“You’ve got to have powder for when you get greasy on the fly, honey.” Preach it.
“Pink eyeshadow says summer, sunset, love, drama, BITCHES.” We would pray to the church of Rihanna, honestly.
“The key to highlighter is not to be afraid, make-up is fun. It’s there to play with.” She hits the nail on the head, so many of us can find make-up intensely frustrating when we are expected to follow certain trends and look a certain way.
At the end of the day, beauty products should be used for our own enjoyment and empowerment, and if make-up doesn’t empower you, your natural beauty is all you need.
Riri claims that she learned how to contour when she gained weight and wanted to hide her ‘double chin’ and forehead, which was hugely surprising to us. Superstar celebrities have insecurities too, gals.
“The best teacher is yourself.” Say it louder for the people in the back, Rihanna. Everyone has their own unique look, individual face and preferred beauty regimens. You don’t have to look to famous people to understand your own complexion, all you need is you.
Riri relatability level: 4/5. Her personality is down-to-earth, her tips are one of a kind and her products are gold star standard.
We have to remind ourselves that these celebrities have picked up countless tips from the top make-up artists in the business, whereas we got free eyeshadows from magazines as 11-year-olds back when YouTube make-up tutorials didn’t exist (yes, there was a time, believe it or not) and gave ourselves pinkeye.
I lost count of how many allergic reactions I had to dodgy make-up after my 3827th eye infection from cheap “make-up”.
I wouldn’t even call it make-up honestly, I suspect that magazine eyeshadows were essentially homemade concoctions of flour and food dye.
Fast forward a few years, and YouTube beauty accounts have blown up across the internet, courtesy of teenagers who are DYING to know how to contour.
The word contour genuinely did not exist until recently in Ireland, we were simple folk back then.
There was eyeshadow (roughly 4 colours), orange foundation, mascara and lip gloss which was just Vaseline that had notions about itself.
In 2018, the cosmetic industry is bigger than ever, and is only beginning to include minorities in its world, thanks to brands such as Fenty Beauty creating more foundation shades.
It can be difficult to relate to any models in the beauty industry, no matter who they are. However you mould your own look in the mirror, imitate Rihanna and declare “I look cute!”
Always finish your look by feeling yo’self, it matters that you are feeling good, not just looking good.
