Billy Porter is casting himself in the beauty ensemble with a brand-new makeup and skin care line called Black Mona Lisa, named after his fifth studio album. This new collection will include a variety of lightweight, easy-to-use products such as collagen and retinol serum, kale face cleanser, eye cream, liquid lipstick and liquid eye shimmers. Prices range from $9.99 to $66.99.
“I feel like this first outing [of the brand] is about exploration. It’s about people who want to just simply explore,” Porter told WWD over a phone call. “It is about identifying who you really are and understanding deep within one’s soul that you are worthy and having no fear to proclaim that yourself.”
Billy Porter ventures into beauty with his first makeup and skin care brand called Black Mona Lisa.
Porter’s own unique relationship with beauty was a key catalyst in this endeavor. It all started when he was 14. “I got my first job, I went down to Kaufmann’s in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was the big department store, and I went to the Clinique counter. I don’t know why I knew about Clinique, but I walked right up to the Clinique counter and I said, ‘I need a full face regime.’ And they were like, ‘You don’t have any pimples.’ I was like, ‘We’re doing some preventative work here,’” Porter recalled.
As a kid, the first skin care tip he was taught was to moisturize. “As a Black person, anytime soap and water hits my body, lotion goes on. So that’s sort of ingrained in us from the beginning. In the winter, it was Vaseline on my face,” he said. “That has always been a part of me as I’ve grown and come out of the closet, too.”
The brand will include a wide variety of products, including cleanser, serums, shimmers and lipsticks.
Porter has since made a career out of assuming different personas and characters for public consumption, and while he’s worn makeup for so many of those faces, exploring beauty amid his own self-actualization journey hasn’t been as straightforward and simple. The Tony-, Emmy- and Grammy award-winning artist explained: “I had some trepidation about how I wanted to express myself sometimes. There were days when I wanted to wear some lipstick, and I wouldn’t do it because of whatever the status quo was.”
He continued: “It’s been a lot of the work that I’ve done where I have really been exploring how I present myself beauty-wise to the public, and it’s been really magical.”
Porter’s ability to be as playful and expressive off-stage as he is on-stage was also inspired by younger generations blurring the lines and deleting the constructs around identity and gender, as well as his experience dressing in drag. “What I’ve learned from being out with my younger friends is that there are no letters; there are no rules. It’s freeing and it’s fun; it’s authentic. This is my authentic self, and I didn’t even know it,” Porter said. “That’s what I want this brand to be. I want it to free people, and to be whatever they want to be.”
All of Black Mona Lisa’s products are designed to be lightweight and easy to use.
For interested consumers wondering why Black Mona Lisa isn’t offering foundation, Porter explained that he wanted to be sure he had a wide range of shades first before launching his own version of the makeup. “As a Black man, I’m going to be having shades for all Black people and all different people. I want to create the magical colors that are opaque enough to show up on darker skin. I know that’s going to be a focus for me as we expand and move forward,” Porter explained.
Out of the existing products available, Porter believes the eye shimmers are “the hero product.” Of course, as Black Mona Lisa expands, who’s to say what will come out as a top seller. He has big plans to grow the business into somewhat of an empire one day. “Black Mona Lisa to me is ever-present. It’s classic forever and doesn’t go out of style. This is just Black Mona Lisa beyond the music. But I also want Black Mona Lisa clothes, shoes and cookware,” he cheekily added.
All products are available now on blackmonalisabeauty.com.