Category Archives: Beauty

Beauty, Style

Sondos Alqattan Proves Racism Does Exist in Gulf Countries

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Sondos Alqattan
This week, a very popular Kuwaiti vlogger named Sondos Alqattan decided to go on Instagram and vent about Kuwait’s new law that allows Filipino workers one day off a week. The new law also allows workers to retain control over their passports. Please keep in mind that she has 2.3 million followers on Instagram alone. This means that her words influence how many young and impressionable minds will view this world. Her actions have a consequence whether she likes it or not.

The only way to describe how out of touch Sondos is with reality is to explain that she is from a Gulf country. These countries have massive amounts of wealth among a small elite who sit sequestered away from the rest of the world. These wealthy individuals abuse a system of sponsoring workers called kafala. This system allows employers the power to take away workers’ passports, withhold their salaries, and subject them to abuse. Sondos even mentions in her video how she doesn’t want a maid from the Philippines​ because the maid would have access to her passport and she doesn’t know if the maid will run off without doing her work. It is clear that Sondos feel entitled to restrict her maid’s passport and movement even if she has the day off as if the maid is her property.

She is not alone. The Gulf is notorious for its abuse of workers. Workers are lured from extremely impoverished countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines with lies of good wages and living conditions in Gulf countries. They are usually tricked into slave-like conditions.

Recently in Qatar, more than 4,000 workers died in horrible work conditions. You can read this report in 2014 about the kafala system and how Qatar’s abuse of domestic workers is rampant.

The idea that Sondos views her maid as property versus as a human being is just part of the larger picture of the rampant racism in Gulf countries.

As Muslims, we should be better than this. Muhammad (peace be upon him) in his last sermon said, “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black, nor a black has any superiority over a white- except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim, which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not therefore, do injustice to yourselves.”

Muslims should be the first to treat workers well. The Messenger (peace be upon him) also said: “Pay the laborer his wages before his sweat dries.” How can we expect to be respected as an Ummah when we don’t even honor our Prophetic traditions? As a Muslim blogger, I condemn the racism and entitlement shared by Sondos Alqattan. I pray that she takes the time to visit countries like the Philippines so she can see the poverty that exists in the world. Perhaps that will give her some compassion and humanity.

Beauty

The Lowdown on ipsy Gen Beauty

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This past weekend I decided to attend ipsy Gen Beauty in San Francisco. As a marketing professional, I have attended countless conferences, but I have never attended a beauty conference before. Since this conference was literally in my backyard (plus their targeted Facebook ads kept tempting me with a nice $75 price tag), I decided to attend Generation Beauty.

I have divided this blog post into useful headers so you can skip to what you want to know about (We all know you want to read about the goodies 😉

Beauty Swag

The goody bag was well worth the ticket price. Expect to receive about $200 worth of beauty products. I will say that based on other reviews online about Ipsy Gen goody bags, I was expecting a lot of discarded shades I would never use. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see that a lot of brands put in the effort to share full-sized or quality sample sized products.

Some standouts: MAC Cosmetics gave you a choice of five different shades of lipstick when you visited their booth. It was a full-sized lipstick. In the actual goody bag, they gave you a greige colored lip in their Retro Matte lip collection.

Soo Ae deserves a shoutout for giving me enough masks to survive an apocalypse​. They gave about 15 sheet masks in the goody bag PLUS two sheet masks when you visited their booth. While attendees were shivering in the cold waiting for their favorite beauty influencers, Sooae was running around making us smile by giving us even MORE sheet masks. I have more than enough to get sheet faced, thank you very much.

Luxie, which is a Bay Area beauty company gave each attendee a brush cleaner that looked like a plastic loofah. They make vegan-friendly​ beauty brushes. If you visited their booth, they gave you a choice of about 4-5 brushes to pick from. I really enjoyed speaking with the people at the Luxie booth that is for sure. Speaking of brushes, Moda Brushes also gave each attendee a brush.

Beauty Influencer Line Up

Ipsy Gen SF had a really stellar line up of beauty influencers. Here is what sucked: waiting in line for hours while in the cold. If you wanted to meet any of the influencers, Ipsy Gen forced you outside to wait. They had security guards who practically manhandled​ you and as you waited, they would ignore anyone who would cut the line. When I waited to see Tamanna Roashan aka Dress Your Face, literally a group of SEVEN girls cut people in front of me. THIS part of the conference was POORLY handled.

Once you got to meet the influencer you wanted to see, you were literally shoved in front of a ring light tripod with an inexperienced teenager taking your picture. PLEASE review your photo before you leave because when I met Tamanna, the person taking the picture had taken unflattering pictures of BOTH of us with our eyes closed. I don’t even know how anyone can take a bad picture of Tamanna. Tamanna was nice enough to retake a selfie with me which came out much better. So if you want that flattering photo, please CHECK. You don’t want to waste all that time to get a bad photo.

I got to meet Jackie Aina (who is very supportive of Muslim bloggers and Muslim brands). She was the NICEST human being and took the moment to appreciate all of her fans who waited for her. Her fanbase was also the NICEST. We all sat and chatted as old friends while we waited to meet her. So now, I have some local Bay Area fam. Thank you Jackie!

Beauty Schedule

The programming for this conference was just awful. It was bare bones and really wasn’t as engaging as it could be. The one STAND OUT for this was that all of the panels were hosted by Daniel Musto who managed to crack jokes, stay empathetic and was always engaged. He moderated a panel I wasn’t even planning on attending about Beauty by You. The panel was made up of regular ipsy subscribers who were getting makeovers. But they each had a story that would make you want to cry or be inspired. My biggest lesson is that the attendees of Ipsy wowed me more than anything else.

I would have liked to see more makeup how-tos, more brand people to talk to, and panels on the latest makeup trends. Even break out sessions on brand building, how to edit photos, or even how to write a pitch would have been nice. A lot of the attendees are passionate makeup lovers who blog too.

Also, don’t cheap out on chargers at the charging stations Ipsy! I am lucky I brought my own charger because I would have been waiting for my phone to charge for hours.

The Haves and Have Nots

I have been to conferences that are blogger-centric. But Ipsy Gen SF was by far one where you literally feel like a peasant. If you are a “creator,” you get to go upstairs to a lounge where they serve food that most of the creators don’t eat, serve watermelon water, and other fun perks. They literally are on a balcony where they look “down” on everyone else before their meet and greet OR panel starts. Their swag bag is insanely upgraded with FULL-SIZE everything.

My friend was invited to the lounge and left her bags, and when I tried to go with her, the security guard almost tackled me! It’s not that serious, I won’t try to sneak in for your snacks (mainly because I had packed my own, I am a mom). It literally makes you feel like a high school outcast where the mean girls say “you can’t sit with us.”

Tricks

Here are some tips to have a great experience.

Pack a phone charger
THIS is the most important tip. You don’t want to run out of battery juice before meeting your favorite blogger. Or before you need to order an Uber to get back to your hotel room or home. Pack a charger.

Pack Poo-pourri.
As beautiful as the attendees are, some left real stinkers in the loo. I was so glad I packed this and Clorox wipes.

Pack Snacks
I also packed snacks and water. You are going to be running around booths ALL day. The food trucks are outside the venue where it is cold since you are on the pier near water. Just pack your own snacks.

Leave Behind the Swag Bag on Day 2
That swag bag is like a small baby. You don’t want to be carrying around that baby for too long.

Be Nice

As much as I wanted to call out those line cutters, I just kept it to myself because I am at a MAKEUP conference. It is not that serious. Say thank you to all those people working the booths too. Saying please and having manners always works out best. Even when the security guard was about to tackle me, I was nice and didn’t make a fuss. It’s cool. Just be cool.

If you love makeup, I recommend going to Ipsy Gen SF at least once. However, I think I may just do Beauty Con LA next year. Have you gone to either events before? What do you think?

Beauty, Islam, Life, Style

Diversity in Modest Fashion?

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Modanisa Offers A Look Into the Lack of Diversity in Modest Fashion
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Salaam my lovelies! I hope that you kicked off the New Year with some new resolutions. I started with one of my own: to keep on blogging. Here is why:

The recent Dubai Fashion Week sponsored by Turkish modest fashion line Modanisa was exciting, but also puzzling. Hijabi fashion blogger Manal aka Chinutay shared how she was disappointed to see that there was a lack of diversity on the runway and among the modest fashion influencers asked to attend the show. Here is what she had to say:

“First off, what was obvious was not who was flown out but who wasn’t! I myself (apologies if I missed any influencer), was the only black woman to be flown out and participate out of MANY beautiful influential black women. Whilst there, I’ve had our sisters (WOC who live in Dubai and purchased tickets) come up to me anbd ask me what was very apparent…’Where are all the other black bloggers/influencers?'”

The struggle for diversity in the Muslim fashion world is very real. It seems that the ideal Muslim fashion blogger is thin, light-skinned and very much like an actual fashion blogger with a hijab on top of her head. While these bloggers work very hard to create beautiful content, there are so many more of us who attempt to shed light on the fact that Muslims are a billion-plus deep population with so many more faces and bodies.

For me, it has always been a struggle to find modest fashion clothing that will actually fit and flatter a curvy body type. Admit it, how many of you even follow a plus-size or curvy modest fashon blogger? Yet, we have countless women who wear hijab that fall into this category! How important is it to see a valid representation of the runway of what the actual Muslim population looks like?

This is why I am starting back up on blogging. We NEED diversity. We need more women of color modest fashion influencers. We need more body positivity in the Muslim fashion world. This is my personal truth and I hope that it speaks to your personal truth too. For far too long, we have been silent, but I hope that my blog inspires you to embrace who you are too. I hope that you embrace my personal journey and start your own to love yourself the way that you were made.

Love to you all.

Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Flower Cosmetics Review

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Flower Cosmetics is an affordable makeup line you can buy at Walmart.

I know I wrote about Flower Cosmetics before, but there are even more things to love about the brand.

Glisten Up Highlighter
First, we all know that strobing is a big trend. For those of you who don’t know, strobing is when you take a highlighter and use it to highlight the focal points of your face (versus contouring where you carve out your features with dark powder). Flower Cosmetics offers a highlighter that comes in a chubby stick that makes strobing goof proof. In fact, the Flower Cosmetics Glisten Up highlighter won the CEW Beauty award for Mass Face Product! I tried the color Honey out. When I went to pick up my kid from daycare, the teacher told me I looked “radiant.” And this was after spending the night tending to TWO sick babies. Trust me, after that compliment, that highlighter is in heavy rotation. It is finely milled sparkle versus chunky sparkles in a highlighter so it is a subtle sheen versus an obvious highlight.

Lip Butter

This is a translucent lip color versus a highly pigmented lipstick. I would compare it to L’Oreal’s Colour Riche Balm. It is very pretty and subtle. However, I will say that the packaging drives me crazy! The cap always comes off in my bag.

Eye Shadow Quad
This eyeshadow quad is the softest shadow I have ever used. I loved the soft texture and the pigmentation is rich. However, I will caution that you need to be careful when applying it since it is so powdery. Use tape if you want to do cut creases and the like. I recommend using eyeshadow primer if you want the shadows to last because the powdery texture also means it wears off quicker. I would recommend these quads for day wear; especially at the office or while running errands. The colors are so pretty and wearable.

Brushes
I really love THESE Flower Cosmetics brushes!The handles are really nice to hold and the bristles are soft yet hold enough pigment. I am one of those weird people who really don’t like many popular brush brands. I have used and broken many MAC brushes, Bare Minerals brushes actually hurt my skin with it’s stiff bristles, etc. Even my brushes from Sonia Kashuk are just OKAY. And let’s be real, brushes are what allow you to get that airbrushed/blended look that is so popular now. I actually really like Morphe brushes and Eco Tools but for now, these are my new favorite brushes!

Overall, it is nice to see a makeup line that is sold at Walmart that is affordable, yet high quality. I appreciate that it is a line that doesn’t waste money into advertising, but focuses its dollars into creating prestige quality makeup instead. As a Muslim woman, I love that she makes her makeup cruelty-free too. Check out your local Walmart and let me know what you think about Flower Cosmetics. Have you tried any of their products? Let me know in the comments below.

Beauty, Islam, Life, Style

Has Hijabi Fashion Gone Too Far?

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Hijab Fashion

Does modest fashion have to be so serious?

Salaam my lovelies! I hope you are all doing well inshallah. I know I haven’t posted in a long time. It is not because I don’t love to write; I really do. I LOVE that my writing has resonated with so many readers and that I get the most lovely comments on my posts. However, the divisiveness in our little hijabi blogger community has left me shaken. As you remember, I viewed being a hijabi blogger as a chance for Muslim women to regain our narrative back. Modest fashion is a part of that, but I also wanted to blog about other Muslim American topics such as raising good Muslim children, having a healthy Islamic marriage and even where to get good halal food.

However, it seems that there are a lot of trolls who persist in tearing hijabi bloggers to shreds. I have written about this before, but I will actually share an incident that has bothered me immensely. We all know how I have my Follow Friday posts on Hijabi Life. I actually posted a Follow Friday post on a sister named Imaan Ali who used to blog on a blog called The Hijablog. We all know hijab is an extremely personal experience and that there are ups and downs in everyone’s faith. So for hijabi bloggers to document our lives is very hard to begin with. So you can imagine how much backlash Imaan got for making the very personal decision to take her hijab off.

Here is the thing: She is still the same person. She is still a human being. Do you really think trolling her or any bloggers who admired her will really change the situation? I know she is not the first hijabi blogger to take her hijab off (Winnie Detwa also received backlash for taking her hijab off too). However, I don’t expect her to be the last. How terrible is it that we are so quick to bash the bloggers we so ardently adored? Personally, I don’t want to be adored. I want to be able to share my own thoughts and feelings in the hopes that it provides some souls a little comfort in their own lives. I think it is wrong how we have quickly made hijabi bloggers the end all be all. Please avoid taking bloggers on as idols. I don’t think a single blogger wants to be idol worshipped like a celebrity is in Western culture. And if there is a shred of pride from cult status, then we as bloggers need to be aware that showing off is so dangerous that it’s like the black ant on the black rock in the night with no moon. It can sneak up on you like this.

And here is my quandary: Should I keep blogging about hijabi fashion? I feel like it has taken on more baggage than I was aware of. It also limits my writing. I want to be able to write and help others. With the situation in Gaza, I can’t help but feel silly to write about just modest fashion. I would like to share more Islamic/DIY/political posts though. If you agree or disagree, please let me know. I am not asking you readers to all agree with me, but I do think that we need to have some more tolerance and forgiveness in our own hearts. The way we treat others in this world is how God will treat us when we meet him. Let us have more mercy.

Beauty, Style

Follow Friday: Ascia AKF

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Ascia AKF

Ascia AKF is a Kuwaiti blogger who shows us you can have great style all the time…even pregnant!

Salaams my lovelies! I hope you are having a good day today inshallah. Well even if you aren’t, the bright spot is that today is Follow Friday on Hijabi Life! The hijabi blogger for today’s Follow Friday lives in Kuwait and is a masterful mix of bold, bright and beautiful ensembles. Ascia AKF, aka Ascia Al-Faraj exploded onto the blogger scene and is credited with bringing the turban style into a mainstream staple. Ascia AKF’s blog, The Hybrids follow the fashion diary of not only herself, but her husband Ahmad too. The couple calls themselves “hybrids” since they are both of mixed heritage. The results are just stunning mashallah.

An expert at deftly layering clothes, Ascia AKF’s look is more of a citizen of the world. She combines high low fashion in a way that is not only accessible, but transcends age, ethnicity and even gender. Even during her recent pregnancy with her newborn son Adam, we never saw the lovely hijabi blogger ever resort to scrubby looking sweatpants (which makes me love, yet hate her haha!) even during her last trimester. A big believer in the idea that your mood affects your style, Ascia AKF has said, “When I don’t want to talk to anyone I wear black clothes and black dark eyeliner so no one would enter my world of thoughts. On the other hand, “sometimes I would wear colors with the best accessory and bright colors to express my mood.”

Ascia AKF doesn’t purport to live a charmed life even with all of her successes as a fashion designer and blogger. Ascia is very open about sharing her own struggles as well as her style. She shared her troubles of fertility with her fans last year as well as the sadness she felt with losses in her life. However, she still continued and continues to inspire us all. If there was ever a blogger who was proof of how there is ease after hardship, it is Ascia. She lives up to her namesake’s name.

While I am not a devotee of the turban style for my own personal hijab style, I think @ascia_akf (her account on Instagram) is just a wonderful account to follow for modest fashion ideas. What are your thoughts? Do you have a hijabi blogger you would like me to cover in the next Follow Friday post? Let me know.

Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Flower Cosmetics Review

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FLOWERBEAUTY

FLOWER BEAUTY is an accessible luxury beauty line that you can buy at Walmart!

Salaams my lovelies! If you follow me on Instagram @hijabilife, you may have noticed that I went on a major organization spree a few weeks back. One of the major overhauls I did was my makeup bag. I had to cull through all my old lipsticks, eyeliners, and other makeup. While I was doing this, I noticed a major trend: I tend to buy the same colors over and over again! I promise you, there is a good reason for this. Since I tend to invest in a few good quality products, I always get colors that I know will look flattering. However, this means that my makeup look is the same day in and day out. It also means that I am literally wasting money because I am buying products I already have. However, I just can’t bring myself to fork over $20+ on one tube of an outrageous lipstick color I may wear once in a while!

So what is a makeup junkie like me to do? Head over to her local Walmart with coupons in hand (yes I still clip coupons).

Walmart launched Flower Beauty with Drew Barrymore about a year ago. Since it was on sale that week (with coupons too!), I decided to give it a go. I bought two lip butters and a lipgloss. Here are my thoughts:

  • Cost: For what you get, I am duly impressed. Without my coupon, it was under $10 for each item. However, after coupons and the weekly promo price, it was a little over $5 each!
  • Packaging: The packaging is very elegant with a lot of cream/gold finishes. However, the lip butters were an odd tube shape where the cap never fully closed! So beware that you can ruin your purse with those. I solved that issue by actually keeping my lip butters upright in a side pocket in my diaper bag.
  • Quality:The lip butters were so great! It was glossy yet not greasy, and the color pay off was just right too. If you love the L’Oreal Colour Riche Lip Balms, you will fall in love with Flower Beauty lip butters. I bought the Wispy Wisteria (a vibrant fuschia) and Princess and the Peony (a classic rose). They applied well with no patches or streaks. I personally did not like the lipgloss as much because I felt like it was too oily and the color came on a bit streaky. However, it was definitely more on par with department store brands versus a drugstore brand!

Final Verdict:  This is definitely a brand that is a keeper. I am just itching to head back to Walmart and try the eye makeup but I need to use up my old eye makeup first! Have any of you tried and loved this brand?

Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Review of Harvey Prince Cherie Blossom

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Harvey Prince Cherie Blossom

Harvey Prince Cherie Blossom is the perfect fragrance for spring.

Cherry blossoms are iconic in Japanese culture not only for their beauty, but also for the transient nature of the blooms. When I see cherry blossoms, it personally reminds me of the beautiful tree that used to bloom every spring in front of my home. When the cherry blossoms first started to bloom the whole tree looked so airy; like it could fly away on the frothy plumes of branches. Then the petals would shower down on you like a lovely fragrant snowfall as you would enter or leave our house when the cherry blossoms started to wither away. So for me, I will forever associate cherry blossoms with my youth and with spring.

Birchbox was kind enough to send me a full sized bottle of Harvey Prince’s Cherie Blossom to review. I was ecstatic since it brought back that childhood nostalgia of being showered with snowy pale pink petals. Personally, I also love the French nod to the term “cherie” which means “dear” in French too. So here I am with this gorgeous “dear” blossom fragrance to review. First off, if you love florals, you will love this perfume. Personally, I am only a fan of light florals (think Aqua Di Parma’s Iris Nobile). Here is my take on the Harvey Prince Cherie Blossom perfume:

Top Note: Cherry blossom (somei sakura) which is a light floral note.

Mid Note: Sparkling Pink Grapefruit which cuts through the sweetness of the floral top note.

Base Note: A lovely vanilla that warms the whole fragrance and really makes it sweet but not cloyingly so. Musk makes the whole fragrance a little more sensuous and edgy.

Another plus is that all Harvey Prince fragrances are hypoallergenic and cruelty-free.

Verdict: Buy it and love it if you want to feel youthful and carefree.

PS: Thank you to Birchbloggers for sharing such a wonderful perfume with me!

Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Best Foundations For Women of Color

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Foundation swatches

Picking a foundation can be tricky, but Hijabilife can help!

We all dream of finding the One. The One makeup base that will take away our worry lines, erase our dark spots, and help us glow with happiness. Much like finding the One we ultimately marry, finding the One foundation you love takes time (and trial and error at times). No matter where you are from, if you are a woman, you probably dream of having smooth, flawless looking skin. It is a standard of beauty that transcends cultures, religions, and even time. If you look at descriptions of beauties from the past, there is always some mention of smooth beautiful skin that glows. Which is exactly why cosmetic companies make a fortune by selling us the promise of radiant skin in a bottle or jar.

One of the challenges that women of color face is that most foundation colors are not exactly suited for them. Women of color will find that some foundations end up looking ashy or muddy. It really is a struggle to find the right foundation for women of color. Here are some tips and tricks that I have for you so that you can get right match for you.

Since it is so hard to find the perfect color match, a lot of women of color focus so much on the color, that they neglect to think about their coverage needs. Do you need a sheer coverage formula? Do you need a heavier coverage? Are you an active person who has a lot of shine? Are you an older woman who wants to bring back some radiance? Personally, I tend to have oily skin so I prefer a powder finish even to my liquid foundation in order to combat that T-zone oily shine. Here are my picks for whatever your skin care needs are:

Heavy Coverage

For women who are looking to cover large scars, birthmarks, or even tatoos, I highly recommend Dermablend. It really covers hard to cover hyperpigmentation that women of color sometimes get from acne scarring. You can buy this line of foundations from Ulta.  Another great range of foundations for women of color that provide heavy coverage is MAC. I personally don’t use MAC, but I know a lot of women of color who swear by it. I would say as a caveat for anyone using these heavy coverage foundations is that if you wear it for too long and you don’t wash your face, you will break out. So try to save this for special occasions only. Lastly, for my drugstore mavens, L’Oreal True Match really does work wonders. If you are worried about not finding an absolute match for your skin color, make sure to buy it from a store that has a good return policy.</p>

Medium Coverage

Medium coverage foundations are not quite as heavy as the foundations I listed above. They can cover smaller imperfections and age spots pretty well but still allows the natural skin tone to peek through. I highly recommend Lorac since its light but offers a good range of shades. The line is never too heavy, but still evens out skin tone beautifully. This line’s color range is especially good for Southeast Asian women. I would have recommended Bare Minerals in this category, but I have not had any luck finding the right shade. I feel like their range is either really light or really dark. Another issue I have with Bare Minerals is that while it initially works well, it ultimately makes my skin itch and so I had to give up wearing it. If you can find the right shade and it does not make your skin itch, it really does give you a natural finish that covers a lot of dark spots or undereye shadows.

Light Coverage

I highly recommend using a BB cream if you want a very sheer coverage that allows your natural skin’s beauty to shine through. Since BB creams are newer, their color range is a bit limited. However, I highly recommend Smashbox’s Camera Ready BB Cream. It gives you a nice every day coverage that helps you look bright eyed and bushy tailed even if you didn’t go back to sleep after Fajr (the pre-sunrise prayer). Another drugstore recommendation is the Maybelline Dream Fresh BB Cream.

Whatever your skincare needs are, my best advice is to try things out. A lot of times what works for your friend, sister, or even your mom may not work so well for you. So take my recommendations with a grain of salt and let me know what your top foundation picks are!