Part 5 – An Update & Some Thoughts

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Please donate to these Native American causes: Masks for Pine Ridge, Havasupai Tribe COVID-19 Relief Fund, Pueblo Relief Fund, Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund, Native Youth Suicide Prevention Program, Navajo Water Program.

Edit: originally written 13/06/20 and updated 28/06/20

It has been three weeks since I shared my experiences with racism in the beauty industry (article here), but it honestly feels like much more than that. So much has happened within this short period of time including the murder of Rashard Brooks, at least five probable lynchings and the murder of activist Oluwatoyin Salau. We have now found out about Elijah McClain, three Black trans women (Brayla Stone, Riah Milton and Dominique Fells) were murdered (and now more) and white supremacists tried to set Althea Bernstein on fire.  Continue reading →

Part 4 – Making Space For Change

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Before reading please consider supporting these vital causes: Justice for Belly Mujinga, Justice for Breonna Taylor, Justice for George Floyd, Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Justice for Tony McDade, Justice for David McAtee, Bail Project, Black Visions Collective, Black Lives Matter US, Black Lives Matter UK and The Cut – Where to Donate, Sign, Follow.

As I said in the first post of this series, George Floyd’s murder did not happen in a vacuum. It happened after years and years of Black people being treated as worthless and “othered” by every industry out there, especially this one. This one that says “sorry no shades for you”, or “nope no invitation for you” or “oops no budget to pay you”. Black people and some allies in the industry have been calling this out for so long (cc Jackie Aina and lots of Estee Laundry posts and highlights) and in the UK virtually nothing has changed. Continue reading →

Part 3: The Oskia Incident

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Before reading please consider supporting these vital causes: Justice for Belly Mujinga, Justice for Breonna Taylor, Justice for George Floyd, Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Justice for Tony McDade, Justice for David McAtee, Bail Project, Black Visions Collective, Black Lives Matter US, Black Lives Matter UK and The Cut – Where to Donate, Sign, Follow.

Edit – I originally wrote this in October 2018. Any edits for further information will be in blue. Updated 06/06/20 with Oskia’s PR manager’s response.

I originally wrote this article (here) back in February, but ended up shelving it for a number of reasons. One of them is my health (both physical and mental, which you can read more about here – my articles are no longer on the VH site), which has taken up most of my energy this year and left me very little time for Instagram or blogging. I always intended to share it at some point, but had no specific timeframe in mind until this past weekend (now 5 weeks ago edit now almost two years ago). What happened left me feeling so upset, frustrated and angry that I just had to share it now because I cannot stay quiet on this issue any longer. Continue reading →

Part 2: Original 2018 Article

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Before reading please consider supporting these vital causes: Justice for Belly Mujinga, Justice for Breonna Taylor, Justice for George Floyd, Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Justice for Tony McDade, Justice for David McAtee, Bail Project, Black Visions Collective, Black Lives Matter US, Black Lives Matter UK and The Cut – Where to Donate, Sign, Follow.

Edit: This was written in February 2018. It is the original, unedited version so some references will be out of date, but I thought it was important to share it exactly as I wrote it back then.

This is a topic I have wanted to write about for quite some time now because it has been on my mind for a good couple of years. Thanks to social media we now see more of brands than ever before and that has proven to be both positive and negative. Since becoming a blogger I have become increasingly aware of the pervasive lack of inclusion in the skincare world and I feel it’s time to share my thoughts and experiences. This is not an easy subject to discuss, but I think it is an important one considering the current racial climate we are living in. Continue reading →

Part 1: My Experience With Racism In The Industry

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Before reading please consider supporting these vital causes: Justice for Belly Mujinga, Justice for Breonna Taylor, Justice for George Floyd, Justice for Ahmaud Arbery, Justice for Tony McDade, Justice for David McAtee, Bail Project, Black Visions Collective, Black Lives Matter US, Black Lives Matter UK and The Cut – Where to Donate, Sign, Follow.

Edit: Written on 03/05/20

This is extremely hard for me to write about at a time like this but I cannot stay silent anymore.  It seems like the whole world is protesting yet another series of murders by the police on innocent Black men and women (all while a pandemic that disproportionately kills Black people rages) and a lot of people are finally waking up to the racism in the world, but when it comes to the beauty community and industry, we cannot pretend like this a new issue.  Continue reading →

The Debate: The Boring Truth About My Skin (And Probably Yours)

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Ever notice how when your skin is freaking out, you pare back your routine to the bare minimum? Like me, you probably cut out strong actives such as acids and retinol, up the hydration and stick to only three-five products (or less) in a routine. Sound familiar? It is something I think almost everyone does instinctively and there’s a good reason for it – this just might be what our skin really wants from us. While it has become increasingly popular to acquire lots of products and perform up to ten steps per routine, most of us could very easily use way less and have better skin for it. Boring, I know, but it’s a truth I have finally accepted about my skin and it has made such a big difference. Continue reading →

Copper Amino Isolate Serum 2:1 Review & Comparison

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(This post is not an ad, sponsored or paid for. The product was sent for review purposes. No affiliate links.)
Ingredients: (COPPER CONCENTRATE) Aqua (Water), Copper Gluconate, Isoceteth-20, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin. (ACTIVATOR) Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Tripeptide-29, Tripeptide-1, Myristoyl Nonapeptide-3, Trifluoroacetyl Tripeptide-2, Acetyl Tetrapeptide-2, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Glycogen, Propanediol, Pentylene Glycol, Dextran, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Ethoxydiglycol, Isoceteth-20, Leuconostoc/Radish Root Ferment Filtrate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin. 

After being insanely excited about this NIOD launch for months, of course it would finally happen during my unplanned and longer than expected Insta-break in November. I had initially planned to write about it in time for launch, but that sadly didn’t happen and I am very sorry because I know how many of you were waiting to hear more about it. I got a lot of DMs and emails about CAIS2 while I was away, so in this post I want to address the questions that were asked, share my experience with the new formula and give a comparison to the 1% and 5%. Continue reading →

The Debate: What Does “Self-Care” Mean To You?

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As we swiftly approach the penultimate month of the year, I think it is safe to say that 2017 has been tough on all of us in some way or another. For me it has primarily been the global events that have taken a toll. Between successive record breaking, once in a lifetime natural disaster events, the rise in white supremacy and police brutality, multiple mass shootings, frequent terror attacks, a legitimate threat of nuclear war and now the Harvey Weinstein scandal to name just a few of them, I just feel like the world is descending into actual and total madness. Continue reading →

NIOD – The Complete Review

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(Disclaimer: This review is not an ad or sponsored and all opinions are my own. No affiliate links. )

April 2020 Update: I will be launching my Personalized Skincare Routine Program shortly. To register your interest, please leave a comment here.

Even though when The Ordinary had its surprise debut last year and caused a major commotion in the industry, NIOD have always been the original game changer in my books. I was already very familiar with DECIEM when NIOD arrived, having used Fountain since it first launched back in 2013, as well as Hand Chemistry (now The Chemistry Brand) and then HIF when that came along, so when Brandon Truaxe finally introduced his very first official skincare line I was more than ready to get on board. Continue reading →

The Ordinary – How To Create A Skincare Routine

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After writing my article The Ordinary – The Definitive Review, I knew there were going to be lots of questions asking for recommendations due to the sheer number of products. With so many options available I realized many of you would (and did) find it confusing and overwhelming when it came to picking the ingredients that would suit your needs. This is why I also wrote The Ordinary – A Recommended Routine For Every Skin Type as I wanted that article to serve as a general guide to help you find the best products for each skin type and while that helped, a new question started being asked, which lead to me writing this one. Continue reading →