August Beauty Favorites! I’m going to do a roundup of everything that I used and loved last month, plus a review of the Dr. Barbara Strum skincare that I shared over on Instagram a couple weeks ago. To make it easy to navigate, I’ve broken the post down by category, so feel free to scroll and find what you are interested in seeing!
August Beauty Favorites: Makeup
Makeup for me is like candy land. I love to play and try new products and brands. I also love to keep my old faithfuls in stock and ready for use at any time. Here is what I tried that is NEW plus what I had to buy more of because I used it all last month.
Go-To Products
Newbies
August Beauty Favorites: Hair
Depending on how my hair is styled, my products will change. My hair is natural (meaning no relaxers or chemicals), so in it’s natural state it is very curly! I wear protective styles and currently have a sew-in, which means my natural hair is braided down and I have weave sewn into my hair! I tried a couple new products this month, some I loved, some I didn’t love so much … but here is a breakdown of all of that, plus what I had to restock.
Tools
Go-To Products
Newbies
August Beauty Favorites: Skincare
My skin is something that I take great pride in. I always want to make sure I’m using the best products that will deliver the best results. I have a mini arsenal of skincare goodies that I can pull from, no matter what’s going on with my face. I’ll show you my go-to products plus if you keep scrolling, I’ll give you a review of the Dr. Barbara Strum skincare that I told you about.
Dr. Barbara Strum
I received this product as a gift and was super curious about the product line for darker skin tones. Usually when I see skincare, it is one size fits all, so the attentiveness to the fact that melanin requires a different approach, was enough for me to say “let’s try this.”
I’ve been using the Darker Skin Tones Foam Cleanser for a couple weeks now and it does a nice job of cleaning my skin. I like that it doesn’t leave me feeling super dehydrated after use. I’ve used some cleansers that are awesome, but my face needs immediate moisture after because I’m so dried out. My face feels and looks refreshed after each use.
I follow the foam cleanser with Darker Skin Tones face cream. It is really hard to describe, but sometimes after using a product, my face is flushed/pale. I never thought anything of it until I put on the face cream and looked in the mirror and saw my skin looking brown and radiant.
Like I said, it’s really hard to explain, but it was almost as if the products were enriching my natural melanin skin tones as opposed to stripping them down with ingredients that were too harsh. I’ve never seen my face look like that (rich tone) after washing and moisturizing. I usually have to bring myself back to life with drops and starting my makeup routine.
I look forward to trying more products from the line. I used the hyaluronic serum sparingly because I couldn’t remember if it was safe for pregnancy, but I just looked and it’s okay to use. So I will start incorporating this more into my routine as well.
Overall, I am enjoying the products. They are gentle, yet effective! I’ll keep you posted as I try more things.
Shop Dr. Barbara Sturm
August Beauty Favorites: Body
Taking care of my total body skin, especially my belly has been more of a focus that ever now that I’m pregnant. I already have stretch marks from my previous two pregnancies, so my goal has been to prevent any additional marks and keep my skin very hydrated. I also linked the skin blur that I shared on Instagram a couple weeks ago. It works really well to minimize the appearance of my stretch marks. I use it when I’m going to swim or whenever I’ll be wearing something that would show my bum! Here is what I’ve been using:
Skin Blur - Great for Minimizing Stretch Mark Look
