Skincare – ÉbèneNoire

Fall skincare edit

Published on November 4, 2018November 4, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

The change in weather means it’s time swap out the skincare products in my bathroom shelf just like I would my closet. Below are my picks for the Fall.

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Makeup remover- La Roche Posay Micellar water- I picked this up when I was on vacation three months ago and have loved it since! It takes off all my makeup and leaves my skin feeling soft.
Cleanser- La Roche Posay Purifying cleanser- This cleans my thoroughly and however doesn’t leave it feeling tight.
Toner – The ordinary glycolic toner- I’ve loved this toner for almost two years and raved it multiple times. It’s a great treatment for my hyper pigmentation and always keep it in my rotation
Vitamin C – The Ordinary ascorbic acid + alpha arbutin toner – This has been a life send for my skin. I went through a really bad phase of going to sleep with my makeup on and this reversed all the side effects. This is my favorite vitamin c serum that I’ve used so far.
Hydrating serum – Botanics hydration burst serum- I love this affordable serum from Target! It feels amazingly hydrating without feeling too greasy.
Moisturizer – Origins energy boosting ginzing moisturizer- i’m not crazy about this moisturizer but I find it perfect for sealing in all the layers of product that
SPF- Glossier invisible shield – This is the best SPF I’ve ever used. It doesn’t leave a white cast which for my ebony queens is a miracle to find in an SPF product! It also never leaves me feeling greasy and I love the neat and neon packaging.

What products have you added to your routine with the change in season?

Sun’s out Glow’s out!

Published on May 14, 2018May 14, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

New York’s still pretending we’ll never get summer with these drab 50 degree days but I choose to believe that any day now, I’ll be ready to get out my reformation summer dresses and all the straw bags I didn’t need to buy for the summer. To make the change from spring to summer official, below are five swaps I’m making to get my skin summer ready!

Primers, Primers, Primers!

This is the biggest change I make when it comes to my makeup! Since I’ve been cursed with the oiliest of T-zones, I always get the most mattifying primer when the weather starts heating up. The one I’ve been using is the Becca matte primer which doesn’t leave a dry white caste like most matttifying primers.(*ahem *ahem Makeup forever and Urban Decay primers *ahem *ahem). The Becca primer is amazing for both liquid and powder foundations and keeps me matte for the entire work day!

Holy Grail MUFE velvet matte foundation

When I die, kindly slather me in my holy grail foundation please. Not only does this give me the medium full coverage look I look for in foundations, it also has a velvet matte finish (just like the name suggest!) and has me feeling confident each time I leave my house. It doesn’t last alllllll day long, but I don’t mind blotting during the day as its finish is heavenly! Ladies, run don’t walk to your nearest Sephora to get yourself a 1 oz tube!

De-greasing toner

I love my skincare staples like any beauty junkie. However toners are an item which I always tend to forget!! I know I know, how can I forget my skincare ABCs aka cleanse, tone, serum, moisturize, eye cream. It’s not that I forget per say, it’s that I’m so excited for my serums that I skip right over toning. I’ve however been training myself and went ahead and switched over to the very summer appropriate Murad hydrating toner to prep my skin for my cosrx serum. Now you might be thinking, “Sameera, why on earth would you be using a hydrating toner when you’re trying to be matte?” Because lovely reader, adding hydration to the skin actually helps combats le grease. When I give my skin the moisture it so thirstily needs, it doesn’t work as hard to create “moisture” in the form of oil. If my words don’t convince you to grab a bottle of this toner, maybe a stamp of approval from the godmother of skincare Caroline Hirons might?

Anti-Clogging Clay Cleanser

While every Sunday Riley fan might be losing it over the brands new influencer foundation (review coming soon), I actually am losing it over her ceramic slip clay cleanser! Now the $45 price tag is nothing to laugh at so THANK YOU MACYS EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT! However, the cleanser is performing well above my expectations. I was a little skeptical after reading its rating on beautypedia, so I’ve been thoroughly and pleasantly surprised at how well I’m liking the cleanser. The reason why I forked out for this pricey 5oz cleanser was because of the fact that it contains clay which is great at deep cleaning and getting rid of clogged pores which is essential in these hot and muggy New York streets! My final opinion is that this cleaner is great for the summer when you need to keep those pores tight!

Summer Scent

I love my deep, musky spicy winter scents but even I put them on the shelf once the highlighters and rompers come out. Changing my scent to a lighter, fruitier version always gets me in the mood for rooftop happy hours and park picnics. My summer scent during my high school days consisted of victoria secret and pink body splashes but I’ve since graduated to longer lasting perfumes. This summer, my go to flirty summery scent is none other than Chanel’s Chance au Tendre. It’s the perfect blend of fruity and sweet without being too sickly. I always get the 1oz bottle and it lasts me exactly all summer long!

What are the swaps you make for the summer?

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Getting back to basics

Published on February 23, 2018February 20, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

Over the past couple of months, I’ve neglected my skincare routine. I know, shameful. Y’all are free to drag me. It wasn’t something that happened suddenly but slowly over the winter months. I wasn’t wearing much makeup or going out much so I kept convincing my self that going to bed without washing my face was no big deal (*** insert GoT shame gif)

After really looking at my face over the weekend, and seeing the damage my laziness has done, I’m slowly trying to get myself back to a semblance of a skincare routine. Below are a few tricks I’ve used to motivate myself to go through my routine, when I’d literally rather be doing anything else. 😥

Play a Youtube video while doing your skincare routine.

I recently got a pop socket for my phone and it’s been a game changer. It helps me watch videos while doing chores and especially while washing my face. My favorite people to watch at night while going through my bedtime routine are Fleur, Estee, and Amelia. They’re so chill and inspirational in terms of skincare routines, that I have no choice but to plow on with mine

Facetime a friend who’s also into skincare

This is a little unusual but it has helped me so much! My friend and I have the same schedule and love catching up before bed. This way, we also get to see what we each use during our routine. We tend to face time on Sundays as we both have more time to chat and catch up on all things fun, like the thirst levels produced by the box office hit that is Black Panther 😛

Do it right after walking through the door

I tend to have ~~a lot of~~ more energy as soon as I get home compared to at 10 pm when it’s time to go to bed. For that reason, I immediately walk myself to the bathroom when I know I don’t have to leave my apartment for the night and take off my makeup. It makes the rest of my night feel like a Sunday.

Use multipurpose products to make the process go by faster

I’ve found I get exhausted just thinking of the 4-5 serums or the 10 steps in my routine, so I’ve tried cutting down the process. One way I did this was in using products that are muilti-functional. For e.g. my beloved toner which has 7% glycolic is already a treatment because of the high % of glycolic acid. Therefore I feel satisfied to use a basic serum afterwards and then a moisturizer instead of using two serums (one to prevent oiliness and one to target hyper-pigmentation) so my routine goes by much more quickly.

The current steps in my routine consist of the below

Makeup remover-Bioderma
Cleanser: M-61 Glycolic cleanser
Toner: The Ordinary 7% GA
Serum: The Ordinary Buffet
Moisturizer: Glossier priming moisturizer

P.S, I ditched using a separate eye cream recently and instead take my already potent night cream and take it up high.

What are some tricks you use to motivate yourself to go through your skincare routine.

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Worth the hype? Glossier’s NEW solution

Published on February 21, 2018February 20, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

Now I’m here for brands snatching my edges every once in a while, and a brand that I will let take my wig along with my edges, is none other than Glossier. The brand once again proved they know their customer base and its needs when they dropped a brand new product called SOLUTION, with nary a peep to the general populace.

Girls went crazy as you’d expect, and the launch in a manner very similar to their fragrance launch, has drawn a wide range of reviews (eye emoji, eye emoji, eye emoji). I took myself to their showroom once again and picked up a brand spanking $24 bottle, in the hopes of giving my own two cents.

The toner claims to transform skin in four weeks by

Gently sloughing dead cells away through chemical exfoliation, dissolving the bonds gluing problematic dead cells to the healthy skin beneath.

With daily use, expect cleared acne and blackheads, smaller pores, and reduced redness. Skin’s texture will be smoother and softer, and the fabled glow of balanced, healthy skin will be in full force.

They honestly had me at “smaller pores” and the rest of the things it does sounds mighty great. My my main excitement however was on the beautiful list of key ingredients. Y’all know how I feel about glycolic acid so guess how excited I was to see the below.

I already love my AHA + BHA mask and my 7% Glycolic acid toner from The Ordinary so I’m super excited to see what this does for my skin. Fingers crossed it DOES NOT unseat my current HG toner from The Ordinary because I’ll take $7 > $24 any day!!

Have you guys tried the solution from Glossier? Did you like it, love it, want to marry it?

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The Ordinary: top picks

Published on February 20, 2018February 20, 2018 by Sameera2 Comments

The ordinary recently opened a location in Soho and while browsing in their Uber cool space, I made a list of what to try if you’re new to the infamous brand.

1) Glycolic acid toner

This is my HG toner. I’ve been on a mission to find the best toner and I’ve found it in this toner with a 7% glycolic acid content. We all know how much I love glycolic acid so this isn’t a surprise. This toner doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin and helps gently exfoliate while helping all my other products penetrate deeper into the skin.

2) Coverage foundation

This $7 foundation that broke records for the longest waitlist in the beauty industry was indeed worth the wait. It gives me the perfect amount of coverage while not being too heavy. It comes with a pump and has beaten out all my other drugstore foundation favorites.

3) AHA + BHA peel

I was late to this peel party. The main reason I was skeptical was due to the purple content and I’ll be honest, because of the word “peel”. I’ve seen too many YouTube videos of women with recovering faces who had peels which made me run in the other direction the first time I saw this. I’ve completely changed my tune though as this peels isn’t anything to be scared of. It felt slightly tingly the first time I put it on but after I rinsed it off after the recommended 10 minutes, my skin was glowing!

4) Buffet

For all my girls out there who can’t be bothered to slather on a cocktail of serums each night, this one’s for you! The store associate claimed this serum like the name suggests is a buffet of all the best skincare ingredients. I use it in the mornings and have been loving the results.

5) 2% Retinoid

This is another HG in my skincare cupboard. As a skincare junkie, retinol has been something I’ve been dying to incorporate into my routine. It’s one of the few things that actually works on the skin but my skin always had adverse reactions to any kind of retinol I tried. That was until the beautiful people at Deciem created the retinoid which does everything a retinol does, without any of the irritation. I use it religiously and love how smooth it keeps my skin.

What are some of the products you guys love from the brand?

Byrdie Beauty Lab

Published on December 10, 2017February 20, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

So today was kind of a great day. Not only did I get to meet two women who I deeply admire within the beauty industry, I also got so many great luxury deluxe beauty samples!

So Byrdie.com, the online destination for all beauty trends and news, has a collaboration with Nordstrom in the form of a pop up beauty lab!

This was such an innovative idea and leave it to the fabulous gals at Byrdie to execute such a stunning pop up. You walk in to a “lab”, curated with the best of the best brands, laid out to be played with on beautiful tables. They are merchandised by hair, fragrance and makeup and you get tons of space to move around and try out brands you won’t normally find in stores.

Continue reading “Byrdie Beauty Lab” →

Top 5- September

Published on October 8, 2017 by Sameera1 Comment

September was a pretty stressful month with moving out and into a new place. These were my five favorite beauty products that I reached for during the very hectic days when everything was in boxes, and all I had was five minutes to get ready.

Bare minerals bare pro foundation
Benefit roller lash mascara
Chanel lipgloss
Glossier priming moisturizer
Chevrefeuille by Annick Goutal

What were your favorite products for the month?

The Ordinary- Review Update

Published on June 26, 2017February 20, 2018 by SameeraLeave a comment

Ir’s been over three months since I reviewed a wide selection of items from The Ordinary. I’ve since fallen out of love with some of products and more deeply in love with others. Check out below which made the cut and which you shouldn’t add to cart.

Continue reading “The Ordinary- Review Update” →

DE SLICK! Best Mattifying Primers

Published on May 18, 2017February 20, 2018 by Sameera1 Comment

As summer is right around the corner, I’ve had a clear out of my makeup drawer and have since put away all the hydrating products and replaced them with mattifying ones. Post clear out, I went on a mission to find the best mattifying primer and I’m glad to report that I have found the one! Continue reading “DE SLICK! Best Mattifying Primers” →

The Ordinary-initial review

Published on March 26, 2017February 20, 2018 by Sameera2 Comments

I’m sure by now you must’ve heard of The Ordinary brand. For those of you who haven’t, let me introduce you to the very famous skincare brand that’s been blowing up on Instagram over these past couple of months. The Ordinary is under the Deciem umbrella of brands and is meant to be a solution for all those skincare aficionados or enthusiasts who want their skincare ingredients and don’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for them.

They call themselves the abnormal beauty company and state on their website, their main aims-“The Ordinary exists to communicate with integrity and bring to market effective, more familiar technologies at honorable prices.” This immediately caught my attention and I went online to purchase some of their products that could help even my skin tone. They have physical locations in Canada and the U.K but have yet to open stores in the U.S.

The items I was most intrigued and excited to pick up after watching a review by beauty vlogger FleurDeForce were:

I waited quite a bit before placing my order due to the marula oil and primer being out of stock for some time. I finally went ahead and placed my order a week ago and received my box a quick seven days later. I was very excited when i got the box as I’m on a healthy skin state of mind. I was however a bit disappointed when I realized a whole 24hrs after playing with all seven of the products that I’d received that there was a problem with my order. They accidentally sent me the Alpha Arbutin serum instead of the Marula oil which I was really looking forward to using. I emailed them about the mistake as they don;t have a helpful customer service phone contact and I’m currently waiting for a response.

I have however gone on to use the rest of the products that I’d intentionally ordered and have great first impressions of all of them.

Advance Retinoid 2%

Retinol, which is one of the very few ingredients in skincare products that have been proven effective to work has long been an ingredient that I’ve wanted to incorporate in my regime. Having seen The ordinary’s modern version of the ingredient, I was very excited to try this. After a couple of uses I can definitely say there have been no reactions and I will be keeping it as a staple part of my once weekly treatment part of my regime. 8/10, $9.80

Vitamin C suspension

This is a product I was very excited about since regular vitamin C serums go for $90+ in the current market. After watching Gothamista‘s review however, I was very apprehensive to put it on my skin. She reported i stinging and having to wash it off. I tried a bit to test if it would burn and went ahead to spread it once no stinging occurred. I will need about four weeks to give a full review but so far I’ll give it a 7/10 only owing to the fact that there are granules in the product that make its application not the smoothest.$5.80

Glycolic Acid toner

This I was very excited to get out of the box. As I’m sure you know, glycolic acid is a direct acid that helps even skin tone. A product in the market that I use continuously and would call holy grail is the Pixi gycolic toner toner for it’s glycolic acid. I however run out quite quickly and have been on the market for an alternative. I therefore jumped when I saw this on their site with 7% glycolic acid compared to Pixi’s 5% and at more that 50% less the price. I felt no stinging or irritation and give the toner a 9/10! $8.70 for 8oz

High adherence silicone primer

I found this primer quite easy to spread and a good substitute for my regular winter primer. It’s not too slippery and although it’s not as mattifying as I would like, it kept my makeup on for the majority of the workday. 7.5/10 $4.90.

Caffeine Solution 5%

I searched for an eye cream on the site and this came up! I was getting tired of my kiehl’s creamy avocado eye treatment and decided to pick this up as a more potent replacement. I am so far enjoying it. Its main ingredient of 5% of concentrated caffeine helps to reduce the appearance of puffiness and darkness in the eye contours. I haven;t seen any major changes yet but will keep y ou updated in the 6 week update. 7/10

Niacinamide 10% + Zinc 1%

This I admit was a product/ingredient I was unfamiliar with. It was suggested to me on their regimen guide for pigmentation issues and I therefore decided to give it a shot . I have since read up more on this ingredient and have learned that it’s very a an effective skin-restoring ingredient that offers multiple benefits for aging skin. Among these benefits is the ability to visibly improve the appearance of enlarged pores, uneven skin tone, fine lines, dullness, and a weakened skin surface. I found it applied quite easily and I’m definitely keeping it in my rotation skincare products. $5.90

Overall, I found the ordering and receipt process to be quite easy. The website was very easy to navigate and I’ve been educated on so many skincare ingredients. I am still waiting on an answer on my marula oil /alpha arbutin shipment mishap but I’m quite happy with the products I received.

Update to come in 6 weeks!