Growing up in Texas, Golloria George didn’t consider herself to be “different,” but when she old enough to experiment with beauty products, she couldn’t ever find makeup that matched her skin tone.

“I knew I wasn’t the only one that existed who was as dark as me — my whole family is dark-skinned,” she told In The Know. “I felt like the beauty industry just didn’t care, or they just didn’t want dark-skinned women to be included. And it made me really sad.”

From an early age, George realized that makeup brands didn’t see her as “the beauty standard.”

“And because of that, I feel like I got a lot of hate. I got bullied all the time. It was just not a good place to be, growing up being dark-skinned.”

Now 21, George has seen some improvement in the beauty industry, but it hasn’t been quite enough to impress her. She felt insecure about her dark complexion and it’s taken years for her to overcome it.

“There were no shades for me in the store,” George said. “There were no shades for me online. When I say complexion was lacking growing up, complexion was lacking.”

George blew up on TikTok in 2022 after recording herself researching, testing and introducing her followers to inclusive beauty brands that are finally making things right. She also calls out those companies that still have some work to do.

It’s all part of George’s “Darkest Shades” video series — which was inspired in part by YouTuber Nyma Tang — which has earned her a loyal following on both TikTok and Instagram. Much of that is due to her frankness and honesty as she brings viewers behind the scenes of a typical shopping trip.

“I wanted my creators to see me actually go