‘I’m Obsessed With This Skincare Brand Made For Melanin-Rich Skin’
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below."
I'm lucky enough to have a job that allows me to learn about a lot of really incredible brands: from food, to clothing, workout programs, and everything in between, it sometimes feels like nothing surprises me or stands out amongst the crowd. That's why I was so pleasantly surprised to come across was Ustawi.
Founded by international model (she won the title of Miss Congo!) turned CEO Natacha Paugam, Ustawi features some of the highest quality skincare I've tried, but the founding story is what really makes the brand distinct. Made specifically for melanin-rich skin, Paugam told me that she started noticing stark differences in her skin while living in Paris. Though France is her home now, she was born and raised in Africa. "My skin was deteriorating due to the stress and pollution of the big city. It was upon a trip home to Africa that I put my trust in my motherland. Her natural recipes helped heal my skin. And I think it is at that moment that Ustawi was born," she said.
As an Indian woman and beauty product junkie, I know how hard it can be to sift through the masses to find skincare that is catered to the unique challenges of my own melanated skin.One of my holy grail products from the brand (and from my skincare routine overall) is the Green Tea Moisturizer ($35, Ustawi). Paugam and her team did extensive research in the development of this moisturizer to be the most effective on medium-to-dark skin tones.
Here's more on why I'm a personal fan of the product and brand as a whole:
The moisturizer is both nourishing and mattifying.
I know, I know. "Nourishing" and "mattifying" might sound like two mutually exclusive traits in a moisturizer, but this product is proof that they're not. I have extremely dry skin that overproduces oil when it lacks the moisture it needs. Paugam explains this to me by saying that people with melanin-rich skin have an easily-disrupted skin barrier that produces excess oil to protect it. She says that's what makes us more prone to having clogged pores, experiencing dehydration, and even having acne and hyperpigmentation.
"Melanin creates a special need for moisturizers, and not enough attention has been paid to this in the beauty world," she says. "Our Green Tea Moisturizer provides gentle moisturizing protection melanin-rich skin needs without inducing sebum overproduction". Admittedly, she says that this skin product is perfect for those with combination to oily skin, but my dry skin loves it.
It has all those skin-loving ingredients like niacinamide and green tea, but it also mattifies my skin, almost doubling as makeup or a primer. The creamy consistency turns to a satiny finish that blurs my pores enough to look like I'm just a *little* done up during video calls, and I actually swore by wearing it under my makeup during this last hot, humid New York City summer to keep my skin looking and feeling great.
The brand has passion behind everything it does.
From the hand-picked ingredients to philanthropic efforts with ChildFund International and the rituals Paugam recommends people do with each product, there is a massive amount of passion behind everything the brand does.
When Paugam talks about the products and the hand-picked ingredients in each of them, the conversation often seems to affectionately come back to her motherland of Africa. She lovingly spoke to me about how special it was for her to be able to put ingredients like bamboo and baobab from the ground she grew up on back into her skin.
"I grew up in a family where nature and ancient practices were part of our traditions, both spiritually and emotionally," she says. "These practices were used to heal ailments." And, that healing is precisely what she aims to bring the melanin-rich world through Ustawi today.
You Might Also Like
