‘I was afraid to speak up when my skin got lightened on shoots’

TV cook Nadiya Hussain talks beauty, diversity and finally finding confidence from within

You’d normally associate blending, sponges and cream with Nadiya Hussain’s culinary skills, but she’s got a different recipe for us today. The Great British Bake Off star is taking a spoonful of confidence, a swirl of fun and a dollop of honesty for her latest slice of success, as the face of IT Cosmetics skincare and make-up.

Nadiya, 37, has all the requisite glow of a beauty ambassador. Yet it’s taken her seven years in the spotlight to sign up as one – and there’s a deeply personal reason why.

“I didn’t get into make-up until my late twenties because I couldn’t ever find the right shade of foundation,” she tells us. “For those of us who cannot find a foundation colour, you feel excluded. For me, it’s so important to work with a make-up brand that supports diversity.”

She recalls getting tearful the first time she found make-up that matched her skin. “I’d spent my whole life feeling like I didn’t fit. So it was a big moment to be able to go to a shop, just swipe a foundation on and say, ‘YES! That’s what it’s supposed to feel like.’”

FEELING EXCLUDED

However, even since becoming famous she’s had moments when she’s felt like an outsider. “Early on, I’ve had magazine shoots and felt my skin was lighter [afterwards],” she says.

“I’ve also had instances where I’ve sat in a make-up artist’s chair and they’ve visibly made my skin lighter. Early on, I remember hearing a lot of tutting, like ‘oh I can’t get the right shade’ and then my skin being lighter in the pictures. If somebody did that to me now, I would say, ‘Absolutely no way. That’s not okay.’ But back then I was scared to rock the boat.”

Nadiya says she still works hard on overcoming anxiety. “If I don’t feel confident on the inside, I just ask myself, ‘What am I going to do to make myself feel good today?’ And that could be as simple as going for a walk in the woods, or doing a bit of self-care.”

It was her husband, Abdal, who persuaded Nadiya to apply for Bake Off in 2015, and he remains her biggest cheerleader. “He always says, ‘You look lovely’ and it helps to have somebody who boosts me,” she says. “But ultimately I’m the only one that can make myself feel confident. It has to come from within, only then will it stay.”

KEEPING IT REAL

It’s a philosophy that fits nicely with both her IT Cosmetics campaign and how she brings up her three kids, especially 12-year-old daughter Maryam.

“The message is you are beautiful with [make-up] and you are beautiful without it.

Make-up is a confidence booster, not a mask,” she says. “We are living in the Kardashian era and it scares me as I don’t want my daughter to grow up with this unrealistic idea of beauty. I think it’s really important to talk to her about what is real and what isn’t.”

Nadiya is reaping the rewards of steering Maryam towards the more positive side of social media. “She loves make-up tutorials, she knows every technique. I’ll let her do my make-up when I’m going out. She can do a winged eyeliner like you wouldn’t believe!”

She adds it’s “wonderful” that her daughter is enjoying a more diverse beauty industry. “She’ll feel exclusion in other areas, it’s a part of growing up in an ethnic minority. But the fact that she doesn’t have to feel it within beauty is, for me, is one less battle she has to fight.”

“I don’t want my daughter to have this unrealistic idea of beauty”