Beauty Blast #10
Nancy Johnson-Hunt is a former advertising suit and strategist turned Ph.D. Candidate and popular culture scholar. She also happens to be that friend you turn to for all your makeup and skincare recs.
Here is her first ever beauty blast for Sauce!
Melanated folks unite because this beauty blast, to quote Beyoncé, is for our brown skin girls with skin just like pearls (and everyone in between).
If you look like me, your cosmetic shelf probably comprises of products bearing names froma boujee café menu. From ginger biscuit to pecan pie and every caffeinated beverage in between, the thing with melanated skin is that there’s not one sad nude beige about it. Our complexion is nuanced, every shade sunkissed, every undertone multi-dimensional. Although our skin is touted to be resilient, and generally youthful, it can still be delicate to treat when needing a little TLC, just don’t let it go chasing waterfalls you know?
SKIN
Having had one foot in the beauty camp for over 15 years, I’ve had my fingers in every jar, both literally and figuratively. Since having a child myself, however, my skin has never quite managed to look as perky as it used to. Multiple factors are to blame, from post-partum hormones to sleep deprivation to the world throwing us every curve ball in the last few years. I can’t even blame generational trauma for this; this is all due to excessive use of chemical exfoliation, not quite getting the ratio between retinol and AHA’s right, and, let’s face it…doing too much. But three products have gone above and beyond to both nourish, protect, and restore what was once a (very) damaged skin barrier. So I’ve put together a guide for stressed, tired, and lack-lustre skin, just in time for the saucy season.
Barrier
I really didn’t want to share this, but I’m not one to gatekeep so have at the Dr Andrew Weil for Origins, Mega-Mushroom Relief & Resilience Fortifying Emulsion. Like every yuppie in Grey Lynn, this emulsion is also powered by both reishi and fermented chaga mushrooms, hence the name, which really helps to aid the skin and calm it the fuck down. Which is more than what most products claim to do, if I’m being completely honest. I use this in lieu of a daily moisturiser, under my sunscreen, and alongside a primer if I’m wearing a full face of makeup. It’s light, it’s soothing if you suffer from perioral dermatitis flares, then this will help it recover immensely. Zero sting, 100 per cent chill. Easy to find at Mecca, I buy two bottles each time because I actually use this religiously. I even apply this lightly on top of makeup if my skin becomes a little dry from the use of aircon.
Thank me later, just don’t let it get TikTok famous.
Boundaries
Next up we have the Bioderma Cicabio Crème. It’s not the most appealing colour, it’s greige so it’s still on trend, but it definitely blends out and leaves zero cast on brown skin. What it DOES do, however, is it replenishes any dehydrated skin; you can use it on your lips should you need it. Think of it as a light tonic, which can be mixed in with foundation and concealer for added hydration and comfort. And for parents out there, this works so well on babies and toddlers with eczema or rashes. Double duty.
Sleep it off
The third and only product I use intermittently to help keep my skin supple, especially when travelling, is the Tatcha Indigo Overnight Repair, designed to comfort and soothe redness, replenish the skin’s microbiome (code for the diverse community of bacteria just partying on the skin’s surface) and the bonus is that it softens while you’re asleep. Personally, I apply this whenever I’m having a makeup-free day.
That brown skin is now giving GLOW. It’s giving HEALING. It’s giving LIBERATION.
My signature look has now become the glossy lid, I wear it with a nude lip, a berry lip, a crimson lip. But it’s the most low-key way to flex on how beautiful brown eyes and our skin can be. I know a lot of us can be conscious of dark circles or pigmentation in general. I like to lean into it, I just add this on my lids as a way to enhance the beauty and the pigment that already exists. Every time I wear this combination in particular, I am asked what’s on your eyelids. Behold the Jillian Dempsey Lid Tint in Dew. I tend to pair this alongside the Kevyn Aucoin Glass Glow Face in Crystal Clear – the two together are as seamless as Michelle Williams voicing Britney Spears’s new memoir. Magic.
Cheeks and Lips
Blush is by far my most used product, and I never leave the house without it, even when I’m bare-faced. This cheek/lip carrot colour pot from Ere Perez is my go-to. I wear the shade Holy, a rich neutral berry colour. It’s matte but still hydrating, works beautifully on the cheeks, and is buildable, so you can try to do the “Strawberry girl aesthetic” if you really want, or you can just be an elder millennial like myself and not name your makeup look after fruit. Whatever you decide, Ere Perez is there to support you on your journey.
Set and Forget It
Look, I’m a PhD student; apart from spending my money on things that give me a false sense of confidence and security, I like to look like I’m writing my thesis in a haze of dewy-eyed innocence. Which is why the Keep it Perfect setting spray by Essence is both inexpensive, readily available at your local ‘Warewhare’ and cruelty-free.
HAIR
I’m a more is more person when it comes to hoarding skincare and makeup, but I’m a minimalist when it comes to hair. Less is definitely more, and with curly locks, that mantra has stuck. After trying everything, I’ve settled on three products that have helped me with postpartum shedding, scalp health, and overall density and moisture.
Secure the Scalp
The first is the Briogeo Scalp Revival™ Stimulating Therapy Massager, which I tend to use after I oil my scalp with a few warmed drops of Neem oil (by Native Neem). Neem oil has been used in my motherland, India, where it is regarded as something of a cure-all and used in Ayurveda, a natural system of medicine cultivated thousands of years ago. It’s anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and even anti-viral. We’ve come a long way to end up with “turmeric lattes” folks, but us brown women have been doing it for centuries with little credit, so don’t mind if I do.
Once I wash it out thoroughly, using the scalp massager in the shower too, I always always apply the Revitalising Hair Tonic by Weleda. It has ingredients like the universally touted rosemary oil, and spicy horseradish, but has been diluted down by alcohol and water, making it cleansing tonic that acts as a leave-in product. Unlike other oils, this doesn’t grow mould like some rosemary products have been known to, and I swear it’s made my thinning temples (a post-partum mare!), back in action. Which is all you want when you begin to look like a Chris Rock punchline (not literally though).
SCENT
I will forever be dark on Tom Ford for discontinuing my favourite scent of all time, Sahara Noir, a heady blend of Egyptian jasmine and Moroccan rose. An ode to the Middle East, something I really resonate with, especially today. But I digress; I haven’t been able to find anything quite like it, so I’ve pivoted entirely to two new scents I mix together to form a Victoria and David Beckham kind of love. That is the D.S. & Durga “I Don’t Know What”, with Aesop’s Marrakech Intense, a perfume I’ve been wearing for almost a decade. I layer it with Comme Des Garçons’s Incense Kyoto. Whenever I wear this trio, I am transported spiritually to my favourite Cathedral. But Catholic guilt aside, I just wish I could baptise myself in this and conjure the kind of spiritual awakening we all need right now. Until then, this little duo of cardamom and sandalwood is what I carry on my skin.
Well that’s my beauty blast, brown girl edition, I hope you enjoyed it and I’ll be back with more tips, tricks and hacks in the future. Until then…stay saucy!
