Beauty Tips & Tricks | Miss Lulu Blogs

14 articles Articles posted in Beauty Tips & Tricks

Women of Color: Drugstores’ Makeup Selection Just Isn’t That Into You

by Lua on February 15, 2013, 2 comments

I rarely buy drugstore cosmetics. My experiences with drugstore makeup has been disappointing. The eyeshadows typically have a chalky texture and appearance, and so does the blush. Generally the only cosmetics I buy at drugstores are nail polish, mascara and occasionally I might purchase a lipstick.

I purchase a majority of my makeup from the counter at a department store, from makeup retailers like Sephora and Ulta, or online directly from the manufacturer.

As a woman of color, I have always had an issue primarily with drugstore foundation. Finding a color that suits me is nearly impossible. When I browse drugstore shelves for foundation I see 8 to 10 shades for lighter skin and 3 or 4 shades for darker skin (if I’m lucky). Living in San Diego (especially in beach-cities), I realize the lack of a large number of women of color is most likely the reason most drugstores don’t have my shade, but it is incredibly frustrating!

In order to find my perfect shade, I opt to buy my foundation from the department store counter so that I can make sure the shade is right for me before leaving with the product. A lot of women do this for various reasons, but my issue is with the fact that I do not have the option to purchase my makeup anywhere else! Purchasing a drugstore foundation in a pinch for $10 is not an option for women of my complexion, we have to buy at the makeup counter and each time pay upwards of $25.

Neutrogena, Maybelline, L’Oreal…they all advertise a wide range of colors on television and print, but when one looks at their websites there isn’t much of a range for women of color. Most of them carry between 12 and 18 shades, and most of those shades are not appropriate for women with darker complexions. The shades that are darker are quite inappropriate for all. They generally tend to have reddish undertones that don’t suit everyone and women of color come in more than just 4 shades. It honestly almost seems like an afterthought to these brands.

Just yesterday I thought to check my local CVS for a foundation in my shade. I was really hoping to find something that would suit me since I just threw my son a birthday party and didn’t especially want to go and spend nearly $30 (with tax) on new foundation. As I suspected, I didn’t find anything in my shade and started Tweeting about it. A few beauty bloggers (who are women of color) started Tweeting back and suggesting a few brands for me to look into. Those brands were: Black Opal, IMAN Cosmetics, Covergirl Queen Collection and Black Radiance.

Here’s what I found out about those brands after a bit of research (using each website’s respective product locators):

Black Opal cosmetics are only carried at 5 locations in San Diego County and all of those locations are in South San Diego, so those of you in Northern San Diego cities will have to drive 45+ minutes.
Cover Girl Queen Collection is not carried in ANY San Diego locations.
IMAN Cosmetics is not carried in ANY San Diego locations.
Black Radiance IS carried in Walgreens stores across San Diego County, but they only have 4 shades of foundation.

So…what is a girl to do? I just don’t know. The truth is this, even if a company’s website displays a variety of shades for darker skin tones, there’s just no guarantee that you’ll find that shade when you show up to a store. This honestly is NOT just a San Diego problem. I’ve spent this evening reading countless blog posts and articles by women of color all over the country who have problems finding their shade in drugstore cosmetics. It’s 2013! One would think these companies would create a more diverse range of shades to cater to everyone!

I suppose I could take it personally, or I can just realize…they’re just not that into me.

xoxo,

San Diego Ladies of color: Where do you buy your foundation? Have you encountered this same issue?

Also, HERE is a great post regarding IMAN and her makeup line for Women of Color (at Huffington Post). Many women see the need, and it’s definitely not just a San Diego problem!

RUSK Anti-Curl Keratin Treatment Re-Application Technique and Questions Answered [VIDEO]

by Lua on January 18, 2013, 0 comments

It’s a brand NEW YEAR and how have I been spending my time? SICK, that’s how. Ugh…it’s cold and flu season and although usually I’m able to avoid the sickness, this year hasn’t been so kind to me so far.

We are half-way through January now, and my cold is finally subsiding in time for me to start planning my son’s 6th birthday party!

In ‘celebration’ of Friday, I’ve decided to finally post my video on the RUSK Anti-Curl Kerashine Treatment. I did the re-application myself which was very involved, but since doing it I’ve been very happy with the process once again and I’m sure that I’ll continue with this product for as long as it’s on the shelves.

For a while I felt guilty about letting my natural hair go and returning to chemicals, but I still make sure to do a weekly coconut oil deep conditioning and my hair feels incredibly healthy!

So, without further ado, here are my two videos. The first describes the process with a little explanation of the product and the second is my application process filmed in all it’s glory…or whatever you want to call it. ;)

Happy 2013 Y’all!

Part 1: In this video I describe the product, unbox it, go through a brief explanation of the directions and the results and address some important notes and tips.

Part 2: In this video I do the reapplication technique on my hair and film the entire process.

xoxo,

Listen Up “Blatinas”, We Need to #ChooseSkinHealth!

by Lua on June 13, 2012, 0 comments

As a dark-complected woman, I honestly never thought about sunscreen until adulthood. (I remember my mother slathering it on me as a child, but in my teen years I never gave it a thought.) In the Summer I’ve always loved getting darker and spending most of my days on the beach or in the sun wearing minimal to no sunscreen at all. Now I cringe at that thought…

When I heard about it, I was excited to be a part of spreading the word about the Choose Skin Health Campaign. The Choose Skin Health campaign is promoting awareness of skin cancer prevention and providing the public with the opportunity to get a free skin cancer screening with a dermatologist in their town.

The idea that women of color don’t need sun protection is a huge misconception! What’s worse, because of our dark skin it skin cancer is often not detected until the late stages. Skin cancer however, is one of the most preventable cancers, and with early detection most are curable. Early detection is definitely KEY!

Even if you like getting a little darker, you should at least be wearing SPF 30. A product with an SPF of 30 will protect you and still allow you to get the color you so crave.

But “…if you under apply your SPF 30 sunscreen by half, you may only get the protection level of an SPF 15 or lower. In this case, higher SPF sunscreens can help compensate for the fact that people usually do not apply enough.” (quote)

It’s important that we all are armed with the knowledge we need to stay healthy and of course having healthy skin is essential to looking your best! Education, Early Detection and Empowerment are the main focus of Neutrogena’s Choose Skin Health Campaign. On the website you can find a wealth of information and downloadable information kits for at-home skin assessments as well. The same way we check our breasts, we should be keeping an eye on changes in our skin as well.

Support the Choose Skin Health campaign on Facebook.

Enjoy the sun safely! <3

xoxo,

P.S. – The term “Blatina” or “Black Latina” was one I heard first at BlogHer ’12. It totally makes me giggle. Love it!

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Neutrogena and Latina Bloggers Connect

TRIED IT! : RUSK Anti Curl Keratin Smoothing Treatment

by Lua on May 18, 2012, 3 comments

Sooo…a friend of mine is a hair dresser and wanted to try out the RUSK Anti Curl Kerashine Conditioning Formula #1 on my hair. I was excited to try it since it’s very similar to the Brazilian Blowout but without the formaldehyde and as she described it, much better for my hair than a relaxer.

The whole process took about 5 hours from start to finish.

Here are the basic steps:

Wash hair with clarifying shampoo.
Apply 1st product to hair (this requires that you follow the application technique to a T! you can do this yourself but I’d recommend getting it done by a professional or at the least have someone else do it for you at home).
Let product sit for approx. 15 minutes.
Rinse out first product.
Blow dry and flat iron hair.
Apply second product to hair and let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Wash 2nd product out of hair.
Blow dry and flat iron.

Blow drying and flat ironing twice in one day is a daunting thought, but at the end of the process I was definitely happy with the results.

I haven’t done any in-depth research to compare ingredients between the RUSK Anti-Curl and a traditional relaxer, but the truth is…when I used to relax my hair I never asked the stylists what brand or whether the relaxer had lye or not. I will do some research soon, and ultimately time will tell how well my hair maintains this manageability.

When I first decided to “go natural” I read SO many blogs and watched SO many YouTube videos that got me excited but I really don’t have the time (or discipline) to go through all the processes I see women do to keep their natural hair manageable. I have recently found some healthy relaxed hair blogs and that’s made me feel a bit better about chemically treating my hair again. I’m going to try to keep it as healthy as possible as I’ve been doing with weekly coconut oil deep conditioning and I have a list of other products I’ll be trying in the near future.

When it comes to maintaining this RUSK Anti-Curl, I’m currently using the RUSK DeepShine Smooth Keratin Care shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner. Once that runs out, I have some Paul Mitchell Awapuhi Wild Ginger shampoo, conditioner and deep conditioner set I’d like to use and see how that fares. I am a big fan of Paul Mitchell products, but the RUSK set has been working nicely as well.

Have any of you tried a Brazilian Blowout or other keratin smoothing treatments? How do you like them?

xoxo,

P.S. - (I got this done 2 weeks ago, so this video is a week old, but I’m going to do weekly updates since this is supposed to last about 8 weeks or so.)