#NoMakeUp Movement

I have always thought that being unable to leave your house without make-up was ridiculous but I find the #NoMakeUp Movement even more ridiculous!

Why must everything these days be a damn movement?! Wear make-up or don't, what's the big deal? By shaming women who wear make-up aren't you causing the same low self-esteem and division you are fighting against?

Is this really necessary?!

I have mentioned in a previous post that I'm not a make-up person (Side bar: I have recently become obsessed with lipsticks and now have an impressive collection if I do say so myself! I might even do a post on it lol.), other than the fact that I prefer a fresh face to a 'beat' face, I'm too lazy to create the time to apply and remove make-up every day so I stick to the occasional wear. Having said that, I am aware that I have the luxury of being lazy because I'm lucky enough to have clear skin. Cue Alicia Keys.

I'm sure that those of us who are old enough to know the 'pre-home wrecking' Alicia Keys (yeah I said it!) will remember that Ms Keys had really troublesome skin and that make-up didn't do much to cover up her frequent break-outs. This didn't stop us from buying her music or being fans, in fact we couldn't get enough of her and her canerows (cornrows for my Americans)!

Circa 2002

So flash forward a decade or so, Alicia Keys decides to ANNOUNCE that she will no longer be wearing make-up. I found it mildly irritating. I mean, who cares? Do you. Why not just step out with no make-up, why the announcement? But you know, celebrities do as celebrities do. THEN this whole #NoMakeUp nonsense started to circulate and people were being accused of hating themselves because they wore make-up. Now I was really irritated.

There are women that have deep rooted insecurities and use make-up to mask that, but to accuse all women of having this issue? C'mon son!

In the words of Tami Roman (Instagram: @officialbonnetchronicles):

"My truth, I need some motherfucking lipgloss. When I go out my house I bring my got-damn lipgloss ...because I know my lips are always motherfucking dry! I need it and some of y'all need some shit too!"

I luh me some Tami!

She uses some very decorative language but she's right, some people need make-up/cosmetics. Not everyone has the luxury of going au naturel, some people need to cover what they deem to be imperfections. Would you condemn people for using deodorant just because 'powder fresh' isn't their natural scent? I didn't think so.

And this is the issue I have with Alicia's announcement. She states that part of the reason for her new make-up free approach is that she has now learned to love herself and that her wearing make-up was her not embracing herself, but how much embracing did she have to do when she has gotten rid of the imperfections that make-up helped her cover? Her skin is now smooth and even, her eyebrows and lashes look like they've had a year's worth of castor oil treatment and she is now a married woman which means she has the attention of the only man she should be concerned with, if those aren't confidence boosters I don't know what are.

2016

Let me be clear, Alicia has every right to wear or not wear make-up but implying that make-up's sole purpose was to cover up insecurities is unfair to the countless women who are drunk in love with themselves but prefer to use concealer to look awake in the morning or foundation to even out their skin tone.

This is what a little concealer can do

It's really tiring to go on social media and see women bashing each other for their choice of style, it's bad enough that men are calling women 'decepticons' (Google it! Lol!) but to see a woman with a similar struggle and a padded bra joining in is really emotionally draining. Don't get me wrong, some women do need new friends and a cochlear implant so that they can get some sound advice but in general, everyone is just trying to get by so why not leave them to it? Why create a movement that will only further divide women?

This is where real friends step in.

My cynical side believes that this is all a PR stunt and that the announcement was a way for Alicia Keys to re-introduce herself in the hopes that we will all forget that she is a home wrecking heifer the part she played in the dissolution of Swizz Beatz and Mashonda's marriage.

Make-up or no make-up, self love should be everyone's goal and how each person chooses to display that should be nobody else's business. Let a sistah live!

I am my sisters' keeper

My Top 3 Foundations

Let me start by saying that I am NOT a beauty blogger or a make-up expert, quite the contrary actually, until quite recently I've never cared about anything beyond a good mascara.

Over the summer I realised that I was a grown woman that didn't own a real foundation (I have a tinted moisturiser) and I decided that by my birthday (shout out to all my November babies!) I would rectify that. I had no clue about foundations so I did what any sensible person would have done, I went to MAC! Lol!

I'm sure you can imagine how overwhelmed I felt when I walked into MAC and discovered they had a huge range of foundations and shades! 

The sales assistant took one look at me and said "I think you should probably try samples first". She saved my life. 'The Foundation Hunt' became my personal project and I spent the summer sampling foundations, learning about skin types and undertones, watching Youtube videos, reading blogs and combing through reviews. I sampled a lot of popular brands including MAC, NARS, Estée Lauder, Giorgio Armani and Fashion Fair to name a few. I tried all types of finishes (dewy, satin, semi-matte, matte), consistencies (liquid, powder, gel, stick) and application tools (fingers, beauty blender and foundation/buffing/stippling brushes). 

Some details about my skin:

• Skin type - Normal
• Undertone - Yellow/Golden (Warm)
• Complexion - My complexion varies slightly depending on how much sun I'm exposed to but at my lightest I'm a MAC (most popular reference) NC45 and at my darkest I'm an NC50, my average is between the two shades.

I was looking for a light to medium coverage foundation that wouldn't look 'cakey' (the main reason I've avoided foundation for so long) and would just give me a nice natural finish. The foundation had to look good on its own because I had no intention of contouring or highlighting, I just wanted to feel like a grown up lol. 

My biggest challenge, which I'm sure many women of colour can relate to, was finding the correct shade. Considering how many different skin shades there are, I was quite surprised that many brands had a very narrow spectrum of shades.  The other challenges I faced were the oxidising of foundation (MAC is the biggest culprit of this, I'd leave home with a perfect finish and return with an orange face! Yuck!) and the heavy/clogged feeling certain foundations gave to my skin.

So after all of that, here are my top 3 foundations:  

1.   YSL Le Teint Touche Éclat 

      Shade: B80

      Finish: Satin

      Coverage: Light to medium

      Price: £31.50/$57

This is my absolute favourite foundation because it makes my skin look ah-mazing! I can barely feel it on my skin and its illuminating properties are very subtle yet noticeable. This is definitely the 'my skin but better' foundation for me. This foundation comes in 22 shades and 3 different undertones so it definitely caters to a variety of complexions.

2.   DiorSkin Forever 

      Shade: 060 - Light Mocha

      Finish: Semi-matte

      Coverage: Medium to full

      Price: £32.50/$50

This foundation is so beautiful! The finish is the most natural looking and long lasting of the three. It gives you a very flawless look but doesn't give you that I-have-the-whole-make-up-counter-on-my-face look. As I stated above, I don't contour or highlight but this foundation doesn't take away your face's dimensions nor does it look flat or dull. This isn't a popular foundation amongst women of colour probably because their shade range is so limited, this is their darkest shade.

3.  MAC Studio Face & Body

     Shade: C7

     Finish: Dewy

     Coverage: Sheer to Light

     Price: £22/$27

This foundation sits perfectly between foundation and tinted moisturiser and because it's so sheer, it is the most lightweight product I have tried. It gives me the sun kissed look that I love and although it has a dewy finish it doesn't make me look greasy.

All three of my chosen foundations are easy to work with, have beautifully natural finishes and are very lightweight on the skin. I would recommend all of these foundations and although their price tags are pretty steep in the world of make-up, I think they are worth every penny. Another foundation that I liked but didn't make my top 3 was MAC Matchmaster Foundation in shade 7.5. It has a semi-matte finish and was a great match for my complexion however, it was detectable on my skin which I didn't like, I like to look like I have nothing on. If I ever upgrade to 'face sculpting' I will definitely be purchasing it.

The queen of face sculpting

I have learned a lot about foundation over the summer and I'm glad I embarked on this journey, 'The Foundation Hunt' was really fun and it was definitely worth it. I don't think I'll ever be the kind of girl that wears foundation every day, I'm just glad I've found foundations that I can reach for without the fear of 'cake face'. 

A lot of the widely praised foundations didn't work for me so I would highly recommend sampling your chosen foundation for at least a full day before making a purchase. It was blog posts like this one that helped me with my search so I hope this post helps make the search for a good foundation easier for other make-up newbies like myself.

Happy sampling!


P.S.

Marc Jacobs recently released new shades of its popular 'Re(marc)able Full Cover Foundation Concentrate' and you can imagine how disappointed women of colour all over the globe were when they discovered that they only had 3 (4 if you want to be generous) of the 22 shades to choose from. 

I'm not one to throw the 'r' word around willy nilly but it's hard not to when designers as big as Marc Jacobs enforce segregation. Yes I said it, enforce!  #NotRudeHonest

Although this is the most current example, many make-up and beauty brands display this form of discrimination, not only to darker women but also, less commonly, to women on the very light side of the spectrum. In this instance, Marc Jacobs seems to have considered very pale skin tones.

Considering that the majority of the world is 'coloured' (I hate that word!) and how many different shades of brown skin exist, it is quite ridiculous that in 2015 beauty brands haven't woken up and smelt the coffee. Put simply, they need to do better. That is all.

What is "real" hair?

A follow up to my last post:

Documentaries like 'Good Hair' by Chris Rock and Tyra Banks' talk show episodes based on the subject of hair have highlighted the impact of hair in the black community and the lengths people will go to have 'good hair'. But what is 'good hair'?

Sadly what I learned from these shows is that the majority of black people associate good hair with silkiness, straightness and  'the white girl flow'. Now I don't know about you guys but I have never met a black person who doesn't have a mixed heritage with any of these qualities!

On the same topic, there is a huge debate on what is considered to be 'real' hair. Is it the hair that grows out of your scalp? Does your hair stop being 'real' when you add chemicals? If you are wearing a weave made from human hair is that 'real hair'? Is it acceptable to wear another human's hair on your head?

I'd like to know your thoughts and feelings on the matter so please leave a comment.