Not JUST Another Pretty Face

Before The LipBar, Mented, Juvia's Place, The Crayon Case, and Fenty there was Iman Cosmetics. Iman cosmetics was started by the supermodel Iman Mohamed Abdulmajid . According to Washington Post writer Robin Givhan "She (Iman) broadened the definition of beauty. She made earthiness sensual. She helped to transform fashion into entertainment and models into personalities." But Iman was more than just a pretty face. She was also enterprising, proving the old adage true, "Necessity is the mother of invention."

In 1994, Iman launched her own line of cosmetics for women of color. She had long been frustrated by the paucity of products for Black skin. In an interview for Black Enterprise, she said "I would go to cosmetics counters and buy two or three foundations and powders, and then go home and mix them before I came up with something suitable for my undertones." She saw a hole in the market and teamed up with Byron Barnes, a one-time makeup artist who had helped create a previous line of cosmetics to fill it. Iman came up with an innovative product line and packaged it with her own name. The Iman Collection was aimed at all women of color — Black, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian. Iman was a pioneer in making the beauty industry see women of color.