Selma Blair has been open about the realities of living with multiple sclerosis.
Four years after receiving an MS diagnosis, the actress gracefully shares the daily challenges and wins she experiences via her Instagram account.
It’s here her followers can see the excitement and enjoyment Blair gets from a great pair of high heels, a beautiful dress or a new ‘do.
Now, given her equal enthusiasm for makeup, Blair has signed on to become Chief Creative Officer of ability-inclusive makeup tool brand Guide Beauty.
“I’ve never thought of fashion, makeup — really, any of our ways of self-care and presenting ourselves — as frivolous,” Blair told InStyle.
Early on in her diagnosis, however, finding enjoyment in those rituals was harder to come by. Multiple sclerosis is a chronic autoimmune condition that causes fatigue, neurological symptoms, vision impairment and mobility issues and Blair underwent chemotherapy and a stem-cell transplant.
“After I had treatment, I’d honestly, like, stopped looking in the mirror,” she says. “My hair was short, I was bloated, I had alopecia on my lashes and my face. And it was all so much effort — I sometimes don’t see well — so I just stopped, and I didn’t think I missed it.”
Eventually though, the enjoyment around self-care and beauty routines returned, the actress crediting Guide Beauty’s products as key.
“It was a real turning point for me,” says Blair of discovering the brand. “It was like, ‘OK, let’s start waking up again.'”
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The actress says the brand’s products have given her the opportunity to create a wider range of makeup looks than was previously possible, given the need for precision.
She demonstrates a quick application of winged eyeliner in an Instagram post, using Guide’s eyeliner wand and pot liner.
Since launch in 2020, Guide Beauty’s aim has been to make achieving makeup application easier for everyone, from a beginner learning new techniques, to those who have challenges with movement or strength, and even the professional makeup artist on set. Tools and packaging are designed with mobility, visibility and ease of use in mind.
Celebrity makeup artist Terri Bryant created the brand after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s.
Blair’s new role with Guide Beauty means she is now part of the development process, and tests new products herself. This includes three new releases, an eyeshadow palette, eyeshadow brushes and a fan brush.
“It’s not that people deny the fact that people with disabilities have lives and want to enjoy the same things anyone else might, it’s just that there are not a lot of [disabled people’s] voices [being heard when it comes to what they also want in a product],” Blair told Allure of her role in creating the new arrivals that she says are designed to suit everyone, not just a select few.
Image: (top): @SelmaBlair
