Get To Know The Influencer That's Making K-Beauty Inclusive

Darcei Giles (Miss Darcei) || Credit: @missdarcei on Instagram

Darcei Giles, known online as Miss Darcei, has become one of the internet’s leading voices in K-Beauty. Best known for her Black Girl Tries series, she shares her honest thoughts on inclusivity, skincare, and makeup, amassing 2.5 million followers on TikTok alone.

She is now recognized as one of the 50 global creators to watch on TikTok’s 2026 Discover List. Grouped into five categories, educators, foodies, icons, innovators and originators, the list marks creators who are making a positive impact on and off the app. Darcei is featured as an “Innovator” “boldly chart[ing] their own course, turning fearless originality into a spark of inspiration.”

NAYLA sat down with Darcei to chat about this achievement, along with her thoughts on K-Beauty, online haters, and being seen.

NAYLA: Please introduce yourself? Who are you and who is Miss Darcei?

Darcei: [Miss Darcei] is definitely me and my brand. I feel like that’s why I wanted it have my name in it. I’m just a beauty content creator girl who likes sharing what she’s enjoying right now with whoever wants to watch.

NAYLA: What does it mean to you to be one of the 50 creators to watch on TikToks Discover list?

Darcei: Yeah, it’s such an honour, because they picked people who were making an impact on and off of the app, and it was just great to be recognized in that way.

NAYLA: You’ve been doing some incredible work, and you were nominated last year for the Okay Slay Awards.

Darcei: Yeah, [the] TikTok awards. That was crazy, too.

NAYLA: How does it feel for you to be recognized in that way? A lot of women who look like us sometimes struggle with being seen and receiving their flowers. How do you receive your flowers, and show up fully as yourself?

Darcei: It is so great because there are so few, especially in the beauty community, there are so few women of colour that are recognized for their achievements and what they’re doing in the space, outside the space, and so for me to have that kind of honour of actually being nominated for a TikTok award is just crazy to me.​

NAYLA: And how does it feel to take up space in an industry that hasn’t always celebrated or centred Black and brown women?

Darcei: I feel like I’m almost kind of lucky that I’m living in a time where things are starting to change, because I’ve also lived in a time where it was always a definite no. I heard a lot of no’s coming up, and now I’m starting to hear a lot more yeses, and I’m starting to see a lot more Black content creators coming up as well. Before, I would walk into a room, and it would just be me, and now I’m seeing a lot more of us. So I’m super excited about that.

NAYLA: A lot of your videos focus on Korean-focused content, and at some point you weren’t getting much traction on those videos at first, but you just really enjoyed making them, even though you weren’t seeing tangible results. What was it like to keep going?

Darcei: I think it really came down to that I’m very passionate about it, and my personality is the kind of person that doesn’t really give up. I’m like I’m gonna get this until I get it, kind of person, and I remember I was making videos for like, eight years before I was able to go full time, and that’s a really long time to do something with not a lot of payoff, so I think I just really genuinely enjoyed it.

NAYLA: What were you doing before? Were you working full-time?

Darcei: No, I was working part-time. Right before I went full-time, I was working at Sephora, so it was a really awesome place to learn about beauty, about makeup, and skincare. That’s how I got educated on all of those products, so whenever a girl comes up to me, and they’re like, how do I start being a content creator? I’m like, girl, get a job at Sephora!

NAYLA: More Korean brands are expanding their shade range. How does it feel for you to see that in real time, and also be part of that conversation?

Darcei: It’s honestly surreal. It was super unexpected, because I’ve been using K-Beauty, I think, since 2018, and again, at that time, it was, like, always a no, like, no, we’re not going to make more shades. No, we don’t really want to work with foreign creators and now things are totally changing. And I think it’s more of when I was making those videos, I kind of jumped into a time where things are opening up more, and I’m able to have these kinds of experiences and actually work with the brands now.

​NAYLA: Being online, there are people always making comments. In one of your videos you talked about, rage bait, how do you not internalize other people’s opinions?

Darcei: That’s so funny, yeah, I feel like rage bait is the term right now. Every time I upload a video, and it’s maybe a little bit controversial, or people don’t like it they’re like, is this rage bait? I think that’s so funny, but I feel like I don’t try to internalize it, because those people don’t even know me, and so why would I? Why would I listen to the opinions of somebody that doesn’t even know me? I listen to the opinions of my friends and my family, those are the people that are important to me.

​NAYLA: Which K-beauty products would you recommend for BIPOC women?

Darcei: Well, right now I’m super obsessed with Medicube, and they have their exfoliating pads, and they actually have a version that’s for hyperpigmentation. So I’ve been using that one too, and I get really bad hyperpigmentation. Whenever I get a pimple, I’ll have a huge dark spot on my head, and if I don’t do anything about it, it’s literally there for months, and so I’ve been using those pads, and it’ll get rid of it in three weeks.

NAYLA: Is there anything that you wanted to talk about that you didn’t get to talk about or you’d like to talk about more?

Darcei: I feel like I really want to talk about starting my own brand, because that’s something that I really want to do. I feel like through my experiences, I’ve learned about Korean innovation and about inclusivity and because of that, I want to start my own brand where I bring those two together, and I’ve been working with my team on it, so hopefully by next year, you’ll be able to see some stuff.

* Questions have been edited for length and clarity.