Mielle Organics has been on my long list of brands that I needed to try but I never got around to it. When I heard that they were coming out with the Mielle Organics Pomegranate & Honey collection that was specially made for people with kinky hair, or who need intense hydration, I was sold! I went to my local Sally’s Beauty to take a look. By the way, this particular collection is exclusive to Sally’s and also the Mielle Organics website.
Mielle Organics has been around since 2014 and it was founded by a woman of colour who was looking for products for her natural hair with quality, wholesome ingredients. There are other lines from this brand that are great for curly hair, but this was specifically made for folks like me! I picked up two products – the Leave-In Conditioner and the Twisting Souffle. Both products conditions, hydrates and seals the hair. As far as I can tell, all the ingredients are naturally based, and most of them are organic. There are no parabens, sulphates, paraffins, mineral oil, artificial colours, DEA and it is not tested on animals.
Mielle Organics – Pomegranate & Honey Review: Some of the Science
Pomegranate is a well-known ingredient that is used in many beauty products for its anti-aging/antioxidant properties as it is a natural source of Vitamin C. The oil also contains punicic acid which helps strengthen hair follicles and encourages healthy hair growth and aids in detangling. Honey is a humectant, which means it draws water into itself and helps maintain moisture levels in hair. It is also anti-bacterial and encourages healthy follicles and hair growth.
Mielle Organics – Pomegranate & Honey Review: The Video
Before I continue, if you just want to see what I thought about this line, check out my video! Otherwise keep scrollin 🙂
The brand that shook up the beauty world! Fenty Beauty By Rihanna. I have been in the beauty game for a long time. I have been obsessed with beauty products for an even longer time. There were times that I spent all day online refreshing the comments on my favourite makeup forums waiting for the latest leaked news on upcoming collections. I don’t think I remember this much hype and this much excitement and this much anticipation for the release of a new beauty line or product. But Rihanna’s new entry into the beauty game garnered just that. Particularly amongst women of colour. Once the promo images started coming in and word came out that the initial launch will include 40 shades of Fenty Beauty foundation, myself and pretty much every medium to dark skin women of colour started saving our pennies. People with noticeable amounts of melanin still continue to struggle to find a sufficient variety of options when it comes to foundations. And I have heard all the excuses, none of them acceptable.
This a long post, and I have a lot to say. If you want to skip to different sections, use the links below:
Background information on Fenty Beauty, click here
Tips on buying the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation, click here
Fenty Beauty launched on September 9th in the US and 17 other countries. It is available online and in some stores. There was a massive launch party at the Sephora Times Square in New York at midnight and the Bajan Princess was there! Based on the Instagram live feeds, it was pure bacchanal and chaos! I went to the Sephora a little later in the morning (about 8 am) after the initial crowds died down. Anyone that was in the store was at the Fenty Beauty display. The entire collection is gorgeous and well done. I’m just going to let you know right now that this hype is real. This is a legitimately good quality line. I was so excited and I was excited looking at other dark skin women being excited about makeup.
This is a permanent, complexion collection with the focus being on the skin and enhancing the colour and the glow. It was more recently announced that there will be a limited edition colour release for the holidays – eye shadow palette, lip glosses etc. But the core collection is going to be around.
Top: 490, Middle: 480, Bottom: 470
I picked up two samples of the Fenty Beauty By Rihanna Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation in shades #470 and 480. The darkest shade is #490. There are a lot of options for medium to deep dark skintones. The South Sudanese/Australian model Duckie is one of the faces of the brand. And the more interesting thing about the shade selection is the inclusion of the subtlities in undertones. Warm, cool, neutral, less red, more blue, less yellow, more green. This makes FB one of the more unique compared to other brands that offer that wide of a range.
My search for person of colour sunscreens continues. A few months ago, Glossier came out with a new sunscreen that promises to be a game changer. There were ads all over the subway and billboards in New York. The Glossier Invisible Shield Daily Sunscreen SPF 35 is touted as a broad-spectrum sunscreen that goes on invisible on all skin tones. This got my attention. As I have discussed in previous posts and videos, one of my biggest pet peeves with sunscreens available in the US is that they often leave an ashy cast on the skin. This is partially because sunscreens are regulated as drugs (by the FDA) as opposed to just cosmetics. The E.U., Asia (especially South Korea and Japan) and Australia have access to a wider variety of sun-protecting filters. So I paid another visit to the showroom on Lafayette and picked this up, crossing my fingers. And by the way, check out my other Glossier reviews.
Glossier Invisible Shield Review – Video
For those who like the visuals, here’s my video review.
Glossier Invisible Shield Review – General Product Details
The Glossier Invisible Shield is descibed as “a clear watergel formula filled with active microcapsules that instantly absorbed into the skin with no greasy residue and zero white cast”.
It is vegan, cruelty-free, paraben-free and non-comedogenic and suitable for all skintypes and skintones.
The active sunscreen ingredients are: avobenzone, homosalate and octisalate. These are well known and used chemical sunscreen commonly used in the US. It does not contain octinoxate, which I *think* is the ingredient that gives me problems. These filters are contained in microspheres which bust as your rub this onto the skin to release these ingredients.
The other active ingredients are:
Water – yes. Water is a main ingredient and the formula is a thin gel. This makes it great for both dry and oily skin types. Water also helps the product to sink into the skin quickly. Also it contains no alcohol, which is a good solvent but can be drying on the skin.
Antioxidant Complex – These are Vitamin E and P, Broccoli and Aloe Leaf Extracts. These provide extra protection against free radicals and oxidants that are found in the air that we breathe and that surround us. Breaking up the effects of UV radiation also can pass that released energy to oxidants which can contribute to aging and cancers. The antioxidants counteract that.
Fermented Yeast and Vegetal Extracts – Fermented ingredients are very popular in Asian, especially Korean and Japanese, skincare routines for many years, even centuries. These fermented ingredients help form a physical barrier on the skin to block out pollutants.
This product also contains Sweet Orange Oil as a fragrance. It gives it a very fresh, citrus scent. For some people, this may cause irritation to some.
Mascara. One beauty product that I cannot live without. Just giving my lashes some definition is all I want on some days. I have been wearing one of L’Oreal’s newest mascara offerings, the L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara. This is part of the Voluminous line, which is a favourite of many, so I had high expectations for this one. In general, I really like the L’Oreal mascaras, I think they make some of the best at the drugstore/inexpensive level.
The obvious comparison being made is with the Too Faced Better Than Sex Mascara. The packaging and the brush are very similar! Not sure if this was intentional by L’Oreal but…. here we are. So is this a drugstore dupe? Can it stand up to its more expensive doppleganger? Lehwe go!
L’Oreal Voluminous Lash Paradise Mascara Review – Video
Here’s my video review and demo. Take a look and subscribe to my channel so that you don’t miss out! If you prefer to read…keep scrolling.
This comes in a number of shades and in both washable and waterproof versions. This review will focus on the washable version in the shade ‘Blackest Black’. According to L’Oreal Paris, this mascara promises “voluptuous volume, intense length, full fringe lashes and feathery softness”. Also it touts its no flaking, no smudging, no clumping properties. It contains your typical ingredients that are found in mascaras, but it is not natural/organic or anything like that. The formula is very rich and creamy, has a ‘heft’ to it and the I like the pigmentation. It’s is quite black but not the blackest formula that I have ever used. But it is black and does not have a grey tone to it.
The one product that I have used for years to protect my skin…..La Roche-Posay Anthelios SX Daily Moisturizing Cream with Sunscreen with Mexoryl SX SPF 15
I grew up in the southernmost part of the Caribbean. Trinidad and Tobago. Two islands surrounded by deep blue seas, beaches and hot blazing sun. The last thing on anyone’s mind was sun protect. What is that? We black…..Unfortunately we did not understand the need to protect our skin for the future.
As I grow older, I became wiser and set off looking for a suitable product. Being a dark skinned person, this proved to be quite difficult. As with cosmetics, many companies have not brought out sun protection products that are acceptable or suitable for folks with some melanin. I have two main requirements when selecting a sunscreen:
It does not leave an ashy/white residue on the skin
I do not get an allergic reaction to it
This makes an already small selection even smaller. About 90-95% of the sunscreens that I try, fail one or both of these criteria. Including mineral “natural” sunscreens. I get contact dermatitis with just one application. Starts around the eyes and temples and spreads across the fact. Itching, then rash, then burning. I want to bust a myth that I see peddled out there a lot. For some reason, people have this idea that mineral or physical sunscreens are safer and better than chemical ones. The US FDA regulates sunscreens as they are considered ‘drugs’ and therefore they are more closely regulated that other cosmetics. The US is very slow in approving new sunscreen ingredients – much slower than in the E.U. and Asian countries, so that there is a small pool of approved ingredients that everyone uses. The main ingredients in minerals sunscreens are titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. They are both chemicals. They are all chemicals….different types of chemicals, but all chemicals. This is a review of a sunscreen that I have been using for years…pretty much since it came out on the US market – La Roche-Posay Anthelios SX Daily Moisturizing Cream with Sunscreen with Mexoryl SX SPF 15
La Roche-Posay Anthelios Mexoryl moisturizer review
If you want to skip straight to the video review, click here.
General Product Details
This is an opaque thick, white cream that is meant to be used as a daily moisturiser that provides broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection at an SPF of 15. Fragrance-free, paraben-free PABA-free, tested for sensitive skin and allergies and supposed to provide 24 hour hydration. NOT vegan/natural/organic. The active sun protection ingredients are Avobenzone 2%, Ecamsule 2%, Octocrylene 10%.
Actives
Avobenzone – appears as other trademarked names including Parsol 1789. This is an oil-soluble compound that provides full spectrum protection against UVA rays, by absorbing rays and converting to another form of less harmful energy. UVA rays penetrate the deeper layers of the skin and are the responsible for skin cancer, premature aging and wrinkling.
Ecamsule – L’Oreal-exclusive ingredient in the US. Effective and provides additional protection from UVA radiation.
Octocrylene – Used to stabilise Avobenzone, and make it not degrade quickly, therefore making it a lot effective. It also has some emollient properties and helps the skin retain moisture. Octocrylene also absorbs UVA and UVB rays. UVB rays affect the top/outer layer of skin and is responsible for sunburns and is the biggest implicator for melanomas and other skin cancers.
Basically, all three of these ingredients provide an umbrella-like protection from UVA, UVB and free radical protection.
