June 22nd, 2016 @ 1:50 am

every night, i fall asleep watching frasier on the hallmark channel.  every once in a blue moon, a commercial for smart cover will grace me with its presence between frasier segments.  the quality of the commercial SCREAMS “the 90’s” (view it here), just as the backdrop and setting of where flori roberts (creator of smart cover) is demonstrating how her product works.  it struck my curiosity, so i googled to see why the hell this commercial is still running, bc it’s clearly from that era…  i mean, obviously i didn’t find an answer regarding that question, but i did discover a few things about flori.

firstly, flori invented dermablend… which i shouldn’t be surprised about, seeing as that’s pretty much what smart cover was/is.  i think it was just more surprising because i actually *KNOW* the brand (it’s the makeup/coverup people use mostly to temporarily cover tattoos).

secondly, flori roberts (self-titled) was the first brand of cosmetics for women of color to be sold in major department stores.

as quoted from the website:

“In 1992, Flori Roberts launched My Everything Créme, the first upscale multi-purpose facial treatment specifically formulated to address the unique aging process of black women 30+. It was an instant success.

Today, despite Flori Roberts’ department store heritage and name recognition, it is sold almost exclusively through Color Me Beautiful’s direct selling and mall kiosk entrepreneurs. Flori Roberts has a comprehensive range of quality color cosmetics that include foundations, face powders, blush, eye and lip makeup. Flori Roberts is recognized as the premier cosmetic brand for African American women. The brand is also synonymous with serious skin care and recently launched the first-ever skin care, Enlighten , using Emblica (a plant extract) which is a dramatically effective and natural way to even-out skin tone, fade discolorations and brighten the skin.”

honestly, the fact that flori made that move back then for WOC makes me happy.  she did a wonderful thing, and she was a pioneer.  she wanted to help women, and she succeeded.  nowadays, there are 97292798739873 brands of makeup, so her products probably no longer stand out.  i checked out their instagram, and on average, about 10-30 likes on pictures… kinda sad, but i’m glad she had her moment to shine.  on the facebook page, there are 100k+ likes…

#themoreyouknow