Beauty blogger with acne dropped from L’Oréal campaign due to ‘skin issues’ in casting mix-up

'It did put me in a dark place'

A beauty blogger who regularly documents her struggles with acne online was left feeling humiliated after she was booked and subsequently dropped by L’Oréal due to her “skin issues”.

Kadeeja Khan has 124,000 followers on her Instagram account @emeraldxbeauty, where she shares candid selfies revealing the extent of her condition while also sampling the latest beauty products.

She was thrilled when L’Oréal asked to work with her, however, after getting her hopes up she soon received an email from the beauty giants retracting their offer because they “can’t be involved with people with skin issues.”

L’Oréal has since issued an apology, explaining that a misunderstanding led their casting agents to wrongly cast bloggers with skin conditions for this particular photo shoot.

“This resulted in the wrong profile being cast, which was then poorly and insensitively communicated to the individuals concerned,” they said.

“We do not have regulations in place that restrict us from working with people with skin conditions.”

Khan was devastated upon hearing the news, taking to Instagram to explain how the incident left her feeling frustrated and discriminated against as someone who doesn’t have “perfect” skin.

“It did put me in a dark place,” she wrote, adding that the rejection “really hurt”.

“It honestly made me feel like their really isn’t any room in the industry for people like me. It made me feel that ‘your worth it’...ONLY if your perfect [sic]”.

However, Khan went on to explain that this has only given her “fuel” to stand up for what she believes in and to continue to confront the beauty industry’s restrictive standards.

“Fuel to continue to show you that your beautiful no matter what ANYONE says [sic],” she wrote.

“That even if it’s someone so huge & big. It still means NOTHING. Never stop loving yourself for who you are & NEVER change.”

Her post has already been liked more than 7,800 times, generating a flurry of supportive comments from Khan’s loyal followers.

“You are beautiful and I'm sorry so many ppl have negative things to say to you. I had acne so bad it hurt to lay my head down on my pillow. Ppl always commented on my acne and hurt my feelings,” wrote one commenter.

“You are beautiful! You know what you are, and let people talk, that aren’t matter but let me tell you that you are gorgeous, I admire you!” added another.