Tag Archives: hijabi beauty tips

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, Islam

Hijabi Beauty: Smokey Eyes

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smokey eyes

Smokey eyes are a great way to dress up your look for evening.

The eyes have it! While some hijabis are all about the bright lippy, I am and always will be devoted to my eye makeup for a dramatic look. Beautiful eyes enhanced with kohl have been a quintessential part of Muslim women’s beauty routines for years. In fact, the Prophet (saws) used to use kohl himself. Aisha (ra), the Prophet’s wife once said: “I used to pack Allah’s Messenger’s things for him. I would pack some oil lotion, a mirror, a pair of scissors, a kohl jar and a tooth stick.” It was also said that the Prophet also took with him a kohl jar as part of his toiletry. Back then, kohl used to protect the eyes from sand and the sun’s glare as well as enhance the beauty of your eyes by emphasizing your eyes’ brightness.

While you have to be careful of kohl that may contain lead, you can always recreate the smokey eye look with a few products from your local drugstore. It is the perfect way to transform tired eyes from a hard day’s work into sparkling eyes! I recommend keeping the rest of your face clean and simple. I actually take off any makeup and just soften my skin using rose water. I then add a gray shadow all over the lid coupled with a darker black shadow to contour my crease. I finished with liquid gel eyeliner and mascara.

What is your go to look? Are you a lippy hijabi or a smokey eye hijabi?

Beauty

Hijabi Obsession: Angels On Bare Skin By Lush

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AngelsonBareSkin

Get glowy skin with Lush

Salaam my lovelies! I hope that you had a wonderful weekend inshallah. I know that I mentioned how I moved, but did I tell you how it ruined my skin in the process? With the move, I happened to lose my Clarisonic charger. (For those of you who don’t know, Clarisonic is a skin brush that helps you clean your face and I don’t know what I did before I owned this beauty tool.). So anyhow, without my Clarisonic, I noticed that my skin started getting blackheads and I started to break out again!

I was resigned to riding out my breakouts, but then I walked in to Lush Cosmetics. Personally, I avoid Lush because I feel like the smell in the store is overpowering, and I just don’t know a thing about what to use. While I was in there, a customer kept raving about something called Angels on Bare Skin. So I asked for a sample. Angels on Bare Skin is a gentle skin cleanser and exfoliator that contains kaolin, ground almonds, glycerine, rose, lavender oil, lavender flowers, and chamomile oil. It looks sort of like wet sand with flowers sprinkled throughout. Here is my take on this skin cleanser:

It’s Natural

I liked the concept of using an all natural cleansing method. You may have read about my oil cleansing method review, and I mentioned there that one of the things I loved about the oil cleansing method is that it is all natural.

It’s Gentle

As a hijabi in her thirties, I noticed that I can not just tug my skin around. I have to be gentle and careful with my skin. I avoid anything with harsh chemicals or detergents. Angels on Bare Skin is very gentle. I used to use St. Ive’s Apricot scrub, but the scrubbing particles were too jagged and harsh for my skin at this age. The ground almonds are just the right amount of exfoliant for skin that can’t take a harsh scrubbing.

It’s Mid Priced

I can’t deny the fact that this cleanser may be a bit pricey for some readers. However, I find that when I invest in skin care, I can cheap out a bit more with my beauty products or skip some products all together. Your skin is something you should take care of since its an amana (trust) from God. If you feel like this price point is still too high, I would recommend using a DIY version of this product. Here is an Angels on Bare Skin recipe that seems promising. I personally think its more affordable than some cleansers I adored and used in the past (ahem Chantecaille Foaming Rice Geranium cleanser).

It It Perfect for Dry Climates

Since this cleanser has kaolin clay, it draws out impurities, but still has a nice lavender oil which not only acts like an antiseptic, but soothes as well. The combination has definitely helped me since I moved to a drier climate and my skin has dried out to the point where I look like a ghost. (Not a good look if you ask me. Though some desi aunties like that geisha look haha.)

All in all, I love how Angels on Bare Skin calmed my breakouts and helps me achieve a nice glow like I used to get with the oil cleansing method. So if you ask me, I may still hate how the Lush store smells, but I will brave it to try more new things. Are there any Lush product that you recommend I try? Let me know in the comment section!

Beauty, Style

Hijabi Beauty Trend: Wine Lips

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Wine Lips

Wine Lips

With New York Fashion Week wrapping up for Fall 2013, one of the major beauty trends I noticed was berry or wine stained lips reigning the runways. From Laura Mercier to Stila, all the major makeup brands pushed out a dark lip to go with the fall looks.

After so many seasons of a glossy nude lip, it may seem a little scary to embrace an almost gothic look. However, if you pick the right shade, wine stained lips can be a pretty way to update your hijabi beauty routine when fall comes around.

Here are my recommendations:

  • Newbies Can Go Sheer: If you are truly terrified of a dark lip, there are options out there that go on sheer and very pretty. My absolute favorite sheer wine color is Clinique’s Almost Lipstick in Black Honey. It is a beautiful shade that truly looks amazing on everyone. In fact, its such a cult classic, that Clinique extended Black Honey to other makeup products like eye makeup in 2011.
  • Try Layering: Adding the color on by layers and blotting can help you achieve a look that is more pretty than messy.
  • Pick the Right Shade: Fair skinned hijabis should try berry based shades, medium toned hijabis can try a nice burgundy, and dark skinned hijabis should embrace a as dark a lip as they want. In the end, it is all about how much confidence you have to pull off this look.
  • Pick a Finish: Pick a finish that is complementary to your face’s finish. If you have a dewy makeup base, rocking a matte lip looks striking. However, a glossy lip with a powdered matte face is also stunning. Take your pick!

What do you think about this lip color trend?

Beauty

Smoky Eyes Tutorial

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I know that holiday season is over, but seeing the parade of smoky eyes on the red carpet at the Golden Globes inspired me to revisit the smoky eye. The smoky eye is always a favorite for me. I wanted to share this easy pictorial that you can use to recreate your own smoky eyes. It’s interesting to note that the smoky look is timeless. In fact, ancient Egyptians used kohl around their eyes to keep away flies that could cause blindness! Granted, we are lucky enough to not have to worry about that, but the look is still as stunning now as it was back then.