Beauty Tip
Up until only recently it was indeed difficult for women of color to find acceptable makeup and skincare products. They were pretty much left to their own devices and making expensive purchasing mistakes because companies weren't providing suitable products.
No longer true! Cosmetic and skin care lines are now coming full circle and superb products in any price range can be easily found in CVS, Nordstrom and everywhere in between.
The good news is you don't need to spend a fortune to look terrific. If you happen to be on a budget (and who isn't nowadays?) you can totally replace everything in your makeup collection for under $100 and get excellent quality, excellent results, and have products made with your skin in mind.
Most ethnic skin is very oily and sensitive at the same time. This means no harsh toners laden with alcohol. Use toners specifically for sensitive skin. A very effective alternative is witch hazel. It provides astringent properties without drying.
Use a gel cleanser morning and evening. If you are actually one of the many women who don't use a foundation during the day, you can even gently wash your face at mid day as well.
Uneven skin tone can be a problem. A good foundation in the right shade can correct the problem for a while, but to reduce the patches and splotches you will need a correcting night cream that has alpha or beta hydroxy. Don't use products that promise "fading". They work. And you could end up with faded patches which will only cause more problems than you had to begin with.
Get a good clay based mask and use it twice a week. Stay away from masks made for acne prone or teenage skin.
Exfoliate. Your skin will let you know how often.
Don't waste your money on any product to reduce "the appearance of" pores. Oily skin comes with large pores and nothing short of a professional chemical peel is going to change that.
The trick with pores is to learn how to apply foundation to actually fill in the pores and achieve a smooth flawless complexion. Tricky, but with practice, you too can look like a supermodel!
Oily skin doesn't do well with liquid foundation, even a matte solution. After a few hours the oil comes through. Add some heat and humidity and your flawless makeup application of 7 AM becomes a danger zone by lunch time. If this is your problem, mineral makeup was made for you! Unlike powder, mineral foundation has no talcum. This is the ingredient that causes powder to "cake" and build up in tiny lines and, of course, pores. The talcum mixes with facial oils and turns into something that resembles wet clay. This does nothing to make us look good or feel good. A good quality mineral foundation (yes, it looks like powder), when applied correctly, will last for hours. Not only will it not cake, it will stay fresh, won't change color, and you won't need to keep "powdering" your nose all day long.
Nowadays you have foundations that are formulated to counter the common yellow underlying tones in dark skin. One of the major issues dark skin has always presented is that most foundations have a yellow base – the worst base possible for a skin tone that already has yellow in it. Dark skin needs foundation that has a neutral or even a pink base. If you aren't sure what your underlying tone is, go to a large department store and have a free makeup consult or even a makeover. The makeup artist is trained in how determine your tone and suggest the perfect foundation for you.
