Brown Girl Beauty Review
This month, I had the opportunity to try out some of Brown Girl Beauty’s products - and I am never looking back. The founder, Aliza, was kind enough to send over a rose facial oil and their Rani lip gloss (rani means queen in Hindi, which, coincidentally, is what Aliza is), and I’ve incorporated them into my daily beauty routine - which, for me, means I keep them both on my desk and reapply them at least twice a day.
Since we’re staying masked up in public for the foreseeable future, the only ones who are going to appreciate this lip gloss are me, my dog, and the seventeen million (hey, it feels like that) people I see on zoom every day. As far as I’m concerned, it smells great, feels lightweight and moisturizing - so I don’t need to constantly reapply lip balm - and has incredible staying power. When I say I put my lip products through it, I mean it. I talk, quite literally, all day (usually without pausing for breath), am constantly sipping espresso (so I can talk all day without pausing for breath), and this bad boy (bad girl? Good girl? Gender is a social construct) doesn’t go anywhere. Surprisingly, it also shows up on Zoom. If I’m going to go to the trouble of putting on makeup in the first place, it had better show up on that damn video conference! It adds a very subtle, peachy glow, just enough to make you feel like a baddie in your intro to business class. Best of all, it is the perfect nude - and every brown girl knows what I’m talking about here. South Asian skin generally has yellow-gold undertones, and most makeup made in the west is produced for whiter skin with pink undertones, which means that most nude shades completely wash me out.
Rani Lip Gloss ($25)
No matter how many sweaters I wear, I’m always cold - and even in the middle of April, I still have my space heater going, which has kept my room at a steady eighty degrees (Fahrenheit, my non-American friends, Fahrenheit) for the past six months. I’m toasty, but my skin can get drier than the Sahara. Enter stage left: the rose facial oil. It’s not heavy like most oils, that just sit uncomfortably on your face making you look shiny and mildly distressed, but dissolves right into your face and gives you a nice protective barrier. In maybe four days, I saw the difference: my skin felt smoother and more supple, and literally looked softer.
Rose Facial Oil ($20)
Supporting Asian-owned businesses has never been more important, and your skin will thank you for it, too. Check out https://shopbrowngirlbeauty.com/ for their full line of apparel, cosmetics, and more.