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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

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!

 

 

Beauty

Hijabi Beauty: Beautiful Hands

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Salaams my lovelies! As you know, the winter season is fast approaching. Which means there will be plenty of time for beautiful jackets, sweaters, and scarves. However, winter also means having to deal with dry chapped winter skin too. The part of the body that bears the brunt of winter’s harshness is your hands. From the cold whipping winds, and the dry harsh heat of indoor heating, the thin skin of your hands can get dry, scaly, and start to hurt. Since the hands and face are the parts of the body that practicing hijabis expose the most, it makes sense that those areas may need the most TLC. Here are some tips to keep those hands looking pretty year round:

Wear gloves when you can:

In the winter, there are still some crazy people (for example me) that sometimes refuse to wear gloves. However, gloves serve as the first barrier of protection for the sensitive skin on your hands from the elements. In fact, women up until the early 1900s used to wear gloves year round (even in the summer) because those ladies knew that the secret to youthful beautiful hands was to keep them out of the sun! Knowing myself, I still won’t wear gloves in the summer or spring, but I will most likely embrace them more this winter.

Use a hand cream:

Carry a hand cream that you know you will use regularly. I promise you that if you like using it, you will be more likely to use it when you need it. I used to adore the L’Occitane hand cream, but then I discovered this hand cream called Tocca Crema De Mano in Cleopatra. It is the freshest hand cream fragrance I have ever smelled! It’s a mix of pomegranate and cucumber and while that sounds like an odd combination, this smells like a garden after a refreshing rain shower. Just the smell alone gets rid of my winter blahs!

Shape nails weekly

It is recommended in Islam to clip your nails weekly. I prefer to actually shorten my nails by shaping them with a nail file because it prevents nails from getting fractured or broken.

I hope these tips keep your hands looking beautiful all season long! What are your tips for nice hands?

Beauty

How To: Pull Off Bright Lipstick

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A hot trend among the hijabi set has been bright lipstick. It is a very bold makeup choice, but it can look too jarring (or tacky) if it is paired with a lot of other colors. For readers who are more conservative, this is a nice look to wear at home for your hubby.

Here are my tips and tricks for making the bold lip work for you:

  • Keep It Simple: For such a statement lip color, it is best for you to keep the rest of your makeup simple and in neutral colors.
  • Use Blush Or Bronzer: A key trick to avoiding a vampire look is to make sure that you have some color on your face so that the bold lip color doesn’t suck the color out of your face and make you look like a ghost. I prefer to use a pale coral blush or a nice warm bronzer to balance the lip color.
  • Balance Your Eyes: Keeping it simple doesn’t mean you skip eye makeup completely. So you don’t look too cartoonish, make sure you have some simple neutral eye makeup on.

Make sure you have fun and smile! I think that the happiest girls make the prettiest girls so rock that lip color with a nice smile. What are your tricks for rocking this look? Let me know!

PS: Here is my hot mama friend Sana with her adorable baby boy rocking the bold lip look. She recommends keeping it matte so it is longer lasting and less messy. I have to agree!

Bold lips