Beauty Archives - The Right Style

Kerri Estella Grinnage August 25, 2020

This Black-Owned Brand Has the Perfect Nude for Brown-Skin Girls—No Lip Liner Required!

Products were gifted for review consideration, but of course, all opinions are my own.

Like so many of you, I’m spending more time on camera than ever. These days, I’m trying to find a balance between trying to look like my usual self but not doing too much. A bold red lip doesn’t quite hit the same when you’re always in the house!

Propa Beauty may be a new kid on the block—they launched in April of this year, right in the thick of the pandemic!—but has already found its way onto the lips of girls like me. This Black-owned beauty brand is starting with a collection of 12 creamy lipsticks, and you can find a nude that perfectly fits your skin tone and mood.

All 12 shades available at Propa Beauty

I am a real groupie for a deep, dark, chocolate brown lipstick—always have been. When I uncapped the shade, “Driven,” baby! I knew I had found a winner.

Lips are “Driven,” courtesy of Propa Beauty

The PowerPouts Luminous Satin Lipstick collection lives up to its name: the lipsticks slide against my lips and leave a shining coat of color behind. A smooth, nourishing lipstick kinda feels like a bit of a luxury these days, definitely more so than the matte lipsticks I tended to favor pre-COVID.

In a world with few pleasures, Propa Beauty‘s new lipsticks have become one of mine. Will you be picking up any of these shades?

You can shop Propa Beauty and take a look at more swatches here.

Propa Beauty PowerPout in “Driven”

All 12 shades available at Propa Beauty

Kerri Estella Grinnage

kerriestella.com

Kerri Estella Grinnage February 11, 2017

Hide Hyperpigmentation: The Brown Girl’s Guide

Raise your hand if you were blessed with perfect skin! No hands? Yeah, I thought so. Even those among us who have “pretty good skin” tend to have some things that they’d like to refine and polish. I, like so many other women of color, deal with a bit of hyperpigmentation. Hyperpigmentation occurs when too much melanin, the very essence of #BlackGirlMagic, gathers in the skin. Hyperpigmentation occurs for any number of reasons– hormonal changes, heredity, acne, sun exposure– lots of things. When you have to hide hyperpigmentation, here are the steps you should take.

1. Skincare– Don’t you DARE skip the sunscreen!

The best way to combat hyperpigmentation is prevention, no doubt about that. Your skin is your largest organ and is regenerating all of the time. That, my friends, is good news. With careful– aka not aggressive– exfoliation, you can slough your way to new, fresh baby skin. All that fresh skin only stays that way if you protect it, though. Melanin, the pigment that caused those dark spots in the first place, is activated by sun exposure. So if you’re trying to hide hyperpigmentation and banish it for good, you best be dodging those UVA and UVB rays and slathering on the sunscreen.

2. Spot Treatment

You’re impatient, I get it. You want to hide that hyperpigmentation and you want to hide it NOW. But yes, you could go straight to the dermatologist and have them annihilate your face with a laser or you could exercise a bit of patience and try some topical solutions. When you’re looking to fix those dark spots, look for the “lightening” and “brightening” and occasionally, especially when you’re diving into the world of Korean beauty, “whitening”. I know, I know. Though those words can feel straight disrespectful to the beauty of your melanated skin, these are the keywords that will lead you to the products that will treat your hyperpigmentation issue.

3. Color Correction

While you may be taking care of your skin, practically rolling in serums and spot treatments and slathering yourself thoroughly in sunscreen, you might still desire an immediate solution to your hyperpigmentation problem. That solution? Color correction.

Color correction can be used to combat a variety of skin woes but when it comes to dark spots, think peach. The deeper your skin, the deeper your peach corrector should be– on my tone, a nice orange (seriously, it’s ORANGE) corrector will do the trick.

There’s basically no better way to explain this magic, so I’ll show you instead!

Dark under-eye circles are my thing. I was born looking wan and tired.

I use the corrector under my eyes, primarily, and spot treat other areas. Notice how the orange corrector balances with my skin tone? This is the goal.

No one will catch me out here with crusty lips!

Makeup done. Skin even. Hyperpigmentation conquered.

Kerri Estella Grinnage

kerriestella.com

Kerri Estella Grinnage August 15, 2016

You Glow! Review: Marc Jacobs Glow Stick on Dark Skin

Glow. Glow. Glow. Word on the street is that if you say it three times you can make it so. I personally believe that my highlight is the foremost way in which I win friends and influence people, so you need to know that I am treating this review like SERIOUS BUSINESS. Thankfully, the Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Illuminator is worth it.

Product received courtesy of Influenster. All opinions, of course, are my own.

I’ll admit it, I was highly skeptical when I first opened up this illuminator. I received the color “Spotlight”– Marc Jacob’s universal shade. As a brown skinned lady, I always meet the word “Universal” with a healthy bit of side-eye. When I saw this beautiful, bright white pearlized stick, I was nearly positive that this highlighter was going to make me look like Casper with a tan.

See what I mean? This is one swipe, applied directly from the stick to the back of my hand. The color is bright but beautiful, a silverish goldish pearl that catches the light of the back of my hand. But still. There was no way that this color was going to work for me. Right?

I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong. I blended the swipe in with my fingers and the stark shade melted into my skin and left a lovely soft gold highlight behind. No sign of ghostliness, no obvious chunks of glitter, just a really nice soft glow. If I was able to achieve these results with one thick swipe and rudimentary finger blending, how would this translate onto my face?

VERDICT

The Marc Jacobs Beauty Glow Stick Illuminator is a win in my book. The formula is easily blendable and leaves skin with a very natural and very dewy “lit from within” type of glow. You won’t find a trace of chunky glitter here. The packaging is…different…but its generous size and oblong shape do serve their purpose– I can see you swiping this stick straight on the skin and patting it in with your fingers. And yes, the color “Spotlight” tells no lies– the universal shade lets you and your glow be the star of the show.

Watch the video and see how the shade looks in action!

Kerri Estella Grinnage

kerriestella.com

Kerri Estella Grinnage June 22, 2016

Review: CoverGirl Queen Collection= Black Girl Magic

CoverGirl Queen Collection. These three words add up to unending possibilities for Black Girl Magic. CoverGirl’s line of lipsticks, bronzers, foundations, eyeliners and mascaras are specifically marketed to all of us brown girls; a group of women who are often overlooked when it comes to beauty.

She’s Your Queen To Be!

When I walk down the aisle of the drugstore, sometimes it feels like I’m invisible. There’s 12 shades of beige, from porcelain to sand, but only one or two that could even touch my skin’s chocolate brown. CoverGirl’s Queen Collection fills that gap with a wide shade range for all women with dark skin.

Though I was sent these products for free for review, as always, all of the opinions are my own.

I, like every human being alive, love receiving packages in the Mail. So when I got this package from CoverGirl, naturally I was curious. I had used some CoverGirl products in the past but they were never my first stop when it came to picking up makeup in the drugstore.

The Foundation: Natural Hue Liquid Makeup in “Spicy Brown”

The Natural Hue Liquid Foundation in “Spicy Brown” was a pretty spot-on color match and the formula, when applied with a damp BeautyBlender, went on smoothly with medium coverage. It took about two squeezes of product to get my desired level of coverage– though it was a excellent match, the formula was a bit sheer for my liking.

Pick it up: CoverGirl Queen Collection Natural Hue Liquid Makeup

The Lipstick: CoverGirl Queen Collection Stay Luscious Lipstick in “Duchess”

The lipstick was a nice surprise. I am slightly addicted to liquid lipsticks at the moment and though I had seen these Queen Collection lipsticks in the store, I had never bothered to actually pick one up. I was missing out.

The lipsticks have a smooth formula and apply with a semi-opaque satin finish. The lipsticks are moisturizing and the color payout is bold, if slightly sheer. The color is build able so if yo really want to amp the color you can. The lippie is formulated to be long-lasting: even though you’re not going to get the staying power of a liquid lip, you’ll be left with a moisturized pout for at least a couple of hours.

Pick it up: CoverGirl Queen Collection Stay Luscious Lipstick

The Mascara: CoverGirl Queen Collection False Lash Drama

SO. MUCH. WIN. Out of all of the products in this collection, this is the one that I will definitely be picking up again. The short, firm bristles on the wand manage to wrap every single lash in mascara, providing an undeniable boost in fullness after one coat. This is the first drugstore mascara that I’ve found to be comparable to my OG favorite, Beauticontrol’s Dramatic Lash Mascara.

My lashes are short, fine and brown. (Brown skin, brown lashes. ::Shakes fist at the sky.::) Once I applied this mascara, my lashes were still short but they were curved upward and fanned out and deliciously dark. This mascara really struts its stuff when it comes to my bottom lashes– beautiful black fringe abounds.

Pick it up: CoverGirl Queen Collection False Lash Drama Mascara

All in all, I think CoverGirl has a winner on it’s hands when it comes to the Queen Collection. These products are worthy of Brown-skinned beauties everywhere.

Tell me, will you be picking up anything from the Queen Collection?

Kerri Estella Grinnage

kerriestella.com

Kerri Estella Grinnage March 31, 2016

5 Lipsticks That SLAY On Brown Skin

Certified, unabashed lipstick addict here. If I am out of the house– ok, if I’m awake– then I am wearing something on my lips. I’ve been a lipstick addict since I was a young teen. Back in the day, I was a fan of this really amazing frosted bronze-nude Beauticontrol shade called “Nude Icing”. It made me feel sophisticated and grown up and perfectly polished. I, never having been one to stick with just one thing, counted the color “Diva” as my other favorite.

Diva was all that the name implied and more– the vampy, deep wine color brought the same drama to my lips that being a teenager brought to my life.

It’s practically my life’s work, you know, the collecting and documenting lipsticks that look incredible on brown-skinned beauties. In a world where darker skinned women don’t see themselves reflected NEARLY enough in the beauty world, it is a mantle that I wear with pride. After all, someone has to do it!

In the video below, I swatch and try on 5 of the best lipsticks for brown skin. Ranging from nude to purple to red, there is nothing but moisturizing, brilliant colorful goodness here. All of the lipsticks are from Beauticontrol’s Hydra Brilliance line so you know that you can grab your favorites from me here or by popping by the TRS shop and clicking on “Beauticontrol”.