- 1 day ago
We Love Your Melanin! By consulting with skin biologists, immunologists and estheticians, we understand the ingredients that protective melanin loves, and skip the junk ingredients, clogging oils, and gritty scrubs that put her on the defense.
Our "skinfood" supports healthy melanin function by feeding it a balanced diet of superfoods from the Black Diaspora.
Our "skinfood" supports healthy melanin function by feeding it a balanced diet of superfoods from the Black Diaspora.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Oh, don't mind me. I am just getting some soul food for my skin with Folk Beauty.
00:06We are back with another episode of Shop Essence Live. On this episode, we are going to be shopping
00:13live with this incredible beauty line and we're going to learn so much about taking care of our
00:18skin. We're going to be joined by the creator, which I am very, very excited to speak about.
00:23There is incredible, incredible uses for all of this and learn some new skin terms and things
00:29like that. So if you just tuned in, this is Shop Essence Live, where we go live every single
00:34week to shop directly with some Black-owned brands in partnership with the New Voices family.
00:40So I'm going to bring in our guests. We're going to hear their story. This is live. You can ask
00:44your questions. If you have any skin problems, definitely, definitely do. Stay tuned and ask
00:50your questions, please. And we also have a discount code and a discount. So we always hook you guys up
00:56here with our community at Shop Essence Live, whether you're watching live or whether you're
01:00watching on the replay. I'm going to bring in Folk Beauty.
01:26I'm going to bring in the Folk Beauty. It's going to be one of theie, two of the markets I'm going to
01:33share. What are you doing with, but not willing to bring abroad to theal world or not. Where's
01:42you from therous markets? Give us an opportunity to bring in one of the будет markets as well.
01:46So we have the opportunity to welcome a podcast for along with the first two of those.
01:52I have a feeling.
02:11See?
02:12We did it!
02:15Hello, hello!
02:17Hello, Stephanie, can you hear me?
02:19I can hear you perfectly.
02:21Okay, cool.
02:23I'm just going to adjust myself a little bit.
02:26Thank you so much.
02:28First of all, I'm hungry from that last segment.
02:32And I saw vegan pop eats and I saw some of my other folk fam.
02:38So I'm just so happy that y'all joined us.
02:41And please, can you give me a favor and put in the chat,
02:44hi Abana, put in the chat what your favorite folk soul food for the skin is.
02:50I'd love to see what y'all are resonating with.
02:53Let us know what you guys are resonating with.
02:56And if you're new to folk, let us know what your skin afflictions are.
03:00And I'll make sure that I ask on here.
03:02But if you can just tell us, what is the story behind folk beauty?
03:06How did you get started with this incredible brand?
03:08So I love that you introduced folk as soul food for the skin.
03:14My name is Niyambi, by the way, and I am a 49-year-old mom of two.
03:2049-year-old mom of two.
03:2149-year-old mom of two.
03:22Everywhere.
03:23It's behind the door right now.
03:26But I was born in Georgia and I grew up in Kentucky.
03:31And so I love really bringing to life and telling the story of superfood heirloom botanicals that folks like my grandparents and my great-grandparents have been farming for generations.
03:48And I really love blending ingredients from across the African diaspora because I'm also a history professor.
03:59My background is in African diaspora history in the Middle East.
04:04And I left Kentucky when I was, you know, I was 17, made my way to London where I did my grad school, ended up in Paris for like five years.
04:15And, you know, I am, I'm a green girl.
04:19I really am.
04:20Green, normal, green living is the norm for me.
04:24And so I really had to seek out, you know, those green spaces that made me feel like home and helped me connect to my own kinfolk.
04:34And one of the places that I would always love to go to when I traveled were herbal markets.
04:40So because of my, because of my, my work, I was able to go to, you know, West Africa, Morocco, Iran, Turkey, India, all over Europe.
04:52And I would always find black folk that were making skin remedies very similar to what I grew up making with my kinfolk.
05:02And so that's really how folk, that's the seed of folk is, it's really my love letter to the many, many ways that black folk have used their superfoods for wellness and healing.
05:15Oh, I, I absolutely love that.
05:17So what did you want to accomplish with bringing this incredible line?
05:23Like what were the areas of focus when you first started?
05:25Well, you know, one thing for me, it's using natural ingredients has always been easy for me.
05:34So I, I associate natural skincare, vegan skincare with ease.
05:39I don't use a lot of product to be honest, because I have very sensitive skin and I never really had an issue until I moved back from Europe and I moved to New Jersey.
05:55So I was like, I was a new professor at Rutgers.
05:58I had a new child, I had new hormones and the stress and that flux were like all over my face.
06:05So I was breaking out dry patches and a lot of the things that I was, um, I didn't have time to make my own skincare.
06:12So the skincare that I was buying was breaking me out, causing dark marks.
06:19Um, and I just didn't understand why.
06:21So I went to beauty school and I was shocked, Stephanie, that in my esthetician school, they don't teach melanin.
06:34They don't teach what melanin is, right?
06:36So most people think of melanin as being just the, the, the pigment in your skin, but actually, you know, it's tied to the immune system.
06:46It has antioxidants, um, so many benefits of melanin.
06:50Melanin is good for you.
06:52And so, you know, when your melanin is out of whack, when the rest of you is out of whack, then it's going to show up as hyperpigmentation.
07:00So for me, I really wanted to create a line that is melanin safe and doesn't put melanin on the defense, right?
07:11So instead of like always going through these hyperpigmentation, um, treatment cycles, I really want to, to target the root causes of dark marks and inflammation.
07:25So for us, it's really important to have super gentle, natural, vegan, non-reactive ingredients.
07:35Um, and there really are, you know, no better ingredients on the planet than our own heirloom ingredients because they are from sun, um, you know, sun drenched climates.
07:51And so they already know how to protect themselves from the sun.
07:55They know how to moisturize all the benefits that they're giving themselves as, uh, sun adaptive ingredients are also the benefits that they're going to give our melanin.
08:07So for me, it's like, it's, it's a no brainer, right?
08:11So, um, so that's really what I wanted to do was, was reclaim melanin as our wellness superhero and also tell the story of our superfoods through.
08:25So I'm literally just pouring all of that right into the ingredients.
08:29So good.
08:30And you're such a wealth of knowledge.
08:31I can, I know these are products are absolutely amazing.
08:35So I want to get to it.
08:36Everybody talking about it in the comments.
08:38So what's the first product you'd like to highlight?
08:42So I always will highlight the honeysuckle rose mist.
08:46In fact, while I was waiting, um, and listening and like eating in my head, um, from the previous segment, you know, I'm also an introvert.
08:56So I get a little nervous.
08:57And so the first thing that I love to do is just reset and y'all this honeysuckle rose mist is, it's one of the first products that I ever blended because I needed something that was super hydrating for my skin, right?
09:20Where I can easily prep, um, but it also has a very light, um, aroma.
09:27I have two kids.
09:29I have a husband.
09:30We all share the products together.
09:32Anything that I'm using, they're using.
09:34So, right.
09:36So it has to be multifunctional for me.
09:40And the first thing about the honeysuckle rose is that it just has a really light, inviting, almost spring light aroma.
09:49So it'll just, it'll just calm your shit down.
09:51Right.
09:51But the second thing is that it is made with completely farm distilled rose water and honeysuckle extract.
10:01There's no alcohol at all.
10:04So you, right.
10:05So you can use it in so many ways.
10:07Like I, um, I wash my face at night during the winter time because I get very dry.
10:14So I wash my face at night.
10:16I do my moisturizer after in the morning, my honeysuckle rose is the first thing that I do.
10:22So I'll miss.
10:23Yeah.
10:24I'll miss.
10:24And then I'll take like, um, a microfiber cloth and I will just wipe off instead of washing my face in the morning.
10:32And it has saved my skin.
10:34Like it literally, I will lean in.
10:36I used to have the lean in with me, girl.
10:39I used to have these fine lines around here because I'm always on my screen.
10:45You know, the digital light will age us.
10:49Um, and so, right.
10:51I thought maybe this is time.
10:52I don't know.
10:53I mean, you know, at some point you're, you're, you're, your, your number age is going to start showing.
11:00I don't know.
11:00So I thought, well, maybe these, these are like my first wrinkles.
11:03But what I realized is that those fine lines around my eyes were dehydration.
11:09So I, you know, I missed in the morning, wipe off the night oil, the night grime, whatever's happening.
11:17I am menopausal right now.
11:19So there's a lot happening at night.
11:21Um, and it just resets my skin and then I can, um, and then I will moisturize.
11:29So there's so many ways I take it to the gym.
11:31I take it after my dance class.
11:33Um, I use it with my kids.
11:36Um, so I'm having a zoom, like a zoom, uh, I will also missed right before zoom.
11:43Um, right.
11:46And so what you want to do is just spray and then press in and you don't have to wipe anything
11:53off.
11:54What do you think?
11:55And it's on right over my makeup y'all.
11:57You can put it on right over.
11:59Yeah.
11:59And how does it feel?
12:01It feels so refreshing.
12:03And so yeah, just give you that little bit of glow too.
12:07Now I see y'all are funny in the comments.
12:09It's like, why did I lean into, um, leaning into the screen?
12:13Um, that's so funny.
12:15I did see ginger tea lady.
12:17She asked, do you have anything or does this work for, um, acne prone skin?
12:20So I know you have another mist that specifies.
12:23I have a, I have another mist called the aloe lemon balm mist.
12:28I'm really into double misting, especially for melanin rich skin, because that is the
12:34secret ingredient.
12:35We have a higher water loss than a lot of other complexions.
12:39Uh, so, you know, when you're misting, when you're hydrating with an alcohol free mist,
12:45it is cleaning out your pores.
12:48So if you have a tendency to be oily combination, you definitely want to put the mist in your
12:55bag.
12:55We have a buy one, get one free, um, on, on our Instagram, uh, shop.
13:03So what I would actually recommend for you are both the mist because the aloe lemon balm
13:09will calm your skin.
13:11It will get into those pores.
13:13Um, there's no alcohol, which if you are oily combination, you really want to be careful
13:19with not drying out your skin, right?
13:23You want to, you want to balance your skin and a really good way of doing that is just
13:29to keep the mist in your bag so that, you know, it's not just like in the morning when
13:35you're doing your skincare, you have to think about what your lifestyle is, right?
13:40So, you know, if you go from work to working out, take the mist in your bag, right?
13:48Mist before you work out.
13:51If you don't have time, if you were like, like me, always running five minutes late to
13:55your fitness classes, then definitely before you leave the studio, get your mist out, get
14:01your clean microfiber cloth that you packed in or your, your cotton pads or whatever, and
14:06just wipe all of that grime off before you leave.
14:10So I would definitely recommend the mist for you.
14:13Um, one to cleanse and balance and the other one to hydrate because you do want to make sure
14:21that you are hydrated.
14:23And I find the honeysuckle rose, um, if you're a little shy of using oils, um, because for oily
14:30combination skin, I totally get it.
14:32But layer the, uh, the aloe lemon balm with the honeysuckle rose, and it makes such a difference
14:40because it, it, it literally calms your skin.
14:43So that's what I would do.
14:45Um, I did want to talk really quickly about the featherlight skin nectar because this one,
14:54you know, this one, it connects me as well to essence because this was Julie Wilson's favorite
15:00product out to Julie.
15:04And I want to show y'all the easiest way to make sure that you're not using too much oil,
15:09right?
15:10So we not Instagram and dropping the oil on our faces.
15:14That's great for the gram, but in real life, you want to use your, the back of your hand,
15:20like your palette, right?
15:22And you can modify it.
15:24I have a drier skin type.
15:25You doing it with me?
15:26I'm doing it.
15:27We're leaning in with you.
15:28All right.
15:28We're using our beauty finger.
15:30And then that way you can.
15:32Wait, what's your beauty finger?
15:34It's so delicate.
15:36Okay.
15:37I learn something new every day.
15:38I mean, come on.
15:39Like, this is the soft era, right?
15:41We can be delicate.
15:42And so you see what I'm doing instead of just dropping it on my face, I'm just stroking
15:50a little bit at a time and then you can press it in, right?
15:54You can press it in.
15:56And while you're there, while you're there, why don't you just like do a little bit of,
16:03yeah, just your fingers are your best beauty tool.
16:06Okay.
16:06So what you want to do, okay, so you just want to like stroke, stroke, stroke, stroke up
16:17and stroke up, stroke up and stroke up.
16:20Yeah.
16:21It's like feathers, right?
16:23So what you're doing is you're slowly removing the damp from the corner of your eye to the
16:30outside and you're also giving your outside eye a little bit of love.
16:36Yeah.
16:37It's pretty relaxing.
16:38Yeah.
16:38Skin care is easy.
16:41Skin care is easy.
16:43It's like, come on.
16:43I have a big forehead.
16:47So there's a lot of area for that.
16:49Oh, I'm a part of that club.
16:50Let's go.
16:52And my forehead is where my dry zone is for sure.
16:56Yeah.
16:56So you definitely want to layer the honeysuckle rose and then the featherlight skin nectar.
17:02The featherlight skin nectar features a, it features a hemp seed oil, like a edible hemp
17:11seed oil, y'all.
17:12Okay.
17:12Not CBD oil, an edible hemp seed oil.
17:14It's really special to me because I source it directly from a black woman led cooperative
17:22in my home state of Kentucky.
17:25So it's so fresh that I will text her or I'll email her when we're out and she will have
17:33her farm, her farmers press it for me.
17:36Come on.
17:38Yeah.
17:39And I love hemp seed oil for us because it won't clog your pores.
17:45It has zero clogging on the end on the clogging index and it has chlorophyll in it.
17:52That's where it gets its green color.
17:54So again, for me, melanin and chlorophyll, they're such a good fit.
18:01There's a lot of crossover.
18:02We can have another whole live about my love for chlorophyll.
18:07But if you just think about it, chlorophyll will help your skin breathe.
18:11It's a very breathable oil.
18:13It's very sheer oil.
18:15So you can, you know, regardless of your skin type, you can use our Featherlite Skin Nectar
18:22as your top moisturizer.
18:25And did you see, like, it only took a couple drops.
18:28Oh, yeah.
18:29Right?
18:29Oh, my forehead feels so smooth.
18:31Yeah.
18:32It was amazing.
18:34Right now.
18:35I thought I was massaging my face, but.
18:37Yeah.
18:38Like we were saying, you know, in our conversation yesterday.
18:42Oh, y'all.
18:43I see that last minute meeting that you had and making all them brownies.
18:52You know, that would work.
18:53Yeah.
18:54That takes work.
18:55Uh-huh.
18:55You know, you want your skin care to be easy.
18:59You want it to be pleasurable.
19:00Right.
19:01And you can take your time with it.
19:04So for me, I always recommend, I always, you know, I can always tell when people get excited
19:09about discovering folk because I'll see their order and they just got everything.
19:15And I love that Mother's Day is coming up.
19:20You know, you can take advantage of that, that discount that we have.
19:24But if you're not sure, I really recommend, you know, a couple of products at a time.
19:31And the products, the Honeysuckle Rose, the Aloe Lemon Balm Mist, um, and the Featherlight
19:39Skin Nectar, these are products that are really easy to incorporate into what you're
19:44already doing.
19:45So, um, so I see that, Ooh, I see that we're, we're over on time a little bit.
19:50So I have two more products.
19:52I also want to, so you introduced a term to me that I was like, Oh, that, that sounds
19:57like what I am.
19:59Skinimalist.
20:00Can you explain what skinimalist is?
20:03I am a skinimalist.
20:05So I grew up with using very little products, but I, I love products.
20:10I do and skinimalism is really use if less is more, um, it's the let, like use as few
20:18products as you need.
20:21Um, and I think it's so interesting now, uh, I'm on the TikTok y'all.
20:26I am.
20:27I'm on the, I, my, my 11 year old is like helping me with my TikTok for real.
20:32And I'm seeing now like posts, you know, vitamin C, uh, serum and the posts like
20:40uh, Korean skincare where you have to have 10 products.
20:44Now there's a trend called skin cycling where, um, beauty enthusiasts are saying, you know,
20:52uh, spend like, like take a break from your products.
20:57And for me, it's like the less you use, the more that you will understand what your skin
21:02actually needs.
21:03And I think, you know, for me, the first part of skinimalism is just being able to read
21:09what your skin is doing.
21:11So your skin is different every day.
21:13Some days it's thirsty.
21:14Some days it's, you know, oily.
21:16Um, some days you're stressed and some days you have menopause.
21:21So, you know, you want to approach your reflection with kindness.
21:26Don't go in, don't go in with the tweezers or, you know, like squeezing.
21:30Right.
21:31Just, just take a breath and see what's going on and see what your skin is telling you and
21:37then feed it what it needs.
21:39Yeah.
21:40And then walk away and have the rest of your day.
21:42So this is a very skinimal product as well because it's our, uh, work a Cita, um, uh,
21:52all over balm.
21:53And this is like a skinimalism product for me.
21:56It's one product.
21:57You can use it in so many different ways.
21:58You can use it anywhere you're ashy.
22:01It's vegan as all of our products are.
22:03Oh, that's awesome.
22:05It's edible.
22:06So you can use it on your lips.
22:09Uh, I use it.
22:11Um, I actually use it on my hands a lot.
22:14Oh, that's my first place.
22:17That's my elbow.
22:18It's barefoot.
22:19I dance barefoot in class and they, they are barking.
22:25So I also use it on my feet, but it's made with that Kentucky hemp seed oil.
22:30Oh, it's so if you, if you're dry, you can also use it a little bit goes a long way, but
22:37you can use it on your hands.
22:39And if you have light makeup and you don't want to use makeup wipes because they have
22:45alcohol and they're really drying, then you can even take some of the, um, the butter.
22:52You want to break it down, right?
22:56And then you can actually just use it right on your eyes.
23:00Close your eyes and it breaks down that pigment.
23:04Yeah.
23:04Close your eyes.
23:05Right.
23:06I've got some mascara on.
23:10I'm doing mine too.
23:12I put, I put some, right.
23:14You want to just slide it off.
23:16Do you have a, um, do you have a, a cotton pad with you?
23:21No.
23:23Or an apron since you've been baking.
23:27So you want to just slide it off.
23:29Right.
23:31That's nice.
23:31Right.
23:32And that you don't have any dryness.
23:35There's nothing stinging in my eye with alcohol.
23:38Yeah.
23:39When I was, when I was in beauty school, um, I was not used to wearing makeup, but I had
23:45to like, uh, make up my face twice a day and they had alcohol wipes.
23:49And then when I tell you, like, I was red, like I had changed colors.
23:56Um, so, you know, with, with skinimalism and with all of our products, really, I invite
24:02us to do, I invite y'all to do what we do best, which is use the products, incorporate
24:07them into your skincare, like make them work for you.
24:11And we love, you know, we love hearing all the different ways.
24:16Oh, she got the technique.
24:18She got the technique.
24:19I learned something.
24:20Yeah.
24:21She got really fancy on her self-care Sunday.
24:23Yeah.
24:24Yeah.
24:25But yeah.
24:26Make it work for you.
24:27So that for me is skinimalism for melanin skin.
24:31It is very important to use as few products as you actually need, because we have reactive
24:38skin.
24:38Melanin is a protective component of the skin.
24:42Yeah.
24:43If you are reacting to an ingredient, if something is too gritty, too drying, too clogging, you're
24:51going to get a dark mark.
24:52So it's very, very important to me that we start to embrace the less is more approach,
24:59because it really will save our skin.
25:01And we can just let melanin do what it's supposed to do, which is protect our immune system and
25:07protect us from the sun.
25:08Yeah.
25:09It's powerful.
25:10It's magical.
25:11It is powerful.
25:12I love that.
25:13You have one more thing, and then we're going to ask one more question.
25:15We're over time, but this, I'm just learning so much, and I know you can talk about that
25:18tomorrow as well.
25:19We'll be good.
25:19This incredible face wash.
25:21Can you talk a little bit about this?
25:23Yes.
25:23Okay.
25:24So this is our Glow Replenished Face Wash.
25:26This is on my beauty cabinet.
25:31And so this is made with a moringa oil that we source from Ghana.
25:39And I love that because the Ghanaian moringa oil is also part of a major West African cooperative.
25:47So, you know, when you're using our products, you're also shopping our culture's values.
25:56It's very, very gentle.
25:59It will not dry your skin.
26:00And it has a very delicate Moroccan rose.
26:05Again, that's hydrating, soothing.
26:08And I really like it for the wintertime for all skin, actually.
26:15If you're not sure what your skin is doing, you know, if your skin's a little extra, but
26:20you're not sure if you're having a breakout or you're actually having a reaction and it's
26:26sensitive for black and brown women, it can be hard for us to know the difference between
26:32when our skin is irritated and when we have acne.
26:36If you're not sure and you have like little red bumps on your forehead or you have like
26:40a textured skin, I will always recommend people to opt for gentle, sensitive products.
26:52And so this is the gentlest face wash that I've ever used, that we've ever used.
26:58My 14-year-old is using it.
27:00It's helping with his breakouts.
27:02That's so cool.
27:03Mom uses it and it smells delicious.
27:09It does.
27:09It really does.
27:10It's a beautiful, subtle smell as well.
27:14Love, love, love.
27:15Yes.
27:15So before I let you go, you are a member of the New Voices family.
27:18I know there are a lot of entrepreneurs that are inspired and watching right now.
27:22If you can talk a little bit about what that experience has been like for you being a part
27:27of that great, great, great community.
27:30I could say a lot of things.
27:31I mean, definitely new voices helping me understand how to bring my story together and show up
27:42more in beauty as myself.
27:45I think as, you know, I started my entrepreneur journey when I was in my 40s and I'm a nerdy
27:52blurdy girl.
27:52Like I like to talk about plants all the time.
27:54And so it really helped me hone my story and, you know, share my values and my love for black
28:04farmers with, um, with everybody.
28:07And it really is like family y'all like it's really, it really is like there's a, there
28:14is an ever growing family of entrepreneurs.
28:19And if we don't know something, it goes in the Slack channel and you get responses, you get
28:25responses from like the, um, you know, the program coordinators to, you know, members that
28:33have been there for five, five years.
28:35So for me, I'm in New Jersey and to know that I'm a part of like a, an entrepreneurial movement
28:45and the other founders have my back, I think is, it's a win.
28:49It's beautiful.
28:51I absolutely love that.
28:53You are incredible.
28:54I've learned so much.
28:55I can tell you have professor vibes all over you.
28:58I'm going to be doing this all day on my zoom calls, like so, so good.
29:07And your product line is just incredible.
29:09Remember you guys, if you shop, shop, shop now, there is a buy one, get one free.
29:15Can you tell us what the code is?
29:17So it's automatic in our Instagram.
29:21We have a buy one, get one free, especially for y'all on folkbeauty.com.
29:26The code is Essence Bogo, B-O-G-O.
29:30And I'll put that in my stories as well.
29:33Essence Bogo, make sure that you try this full line.
29:36They have something for everyone in your house.
29:39Everybody could be using the same products and treat your skin.
29:43It's soul food for the skin.
29:46Really, really incredible stuff.
29:48Thank you so, so much for joining us.
29:50I appreciate you.
29:52I just like, like I'm diving into all of this.
29:55All of this is just so incredible.
29:57And thank you guys so much for joining us live and joining us on the replay.
30:01We got something so special for you guys next week.
30:03I'll be coming to you live from black women in Hollywood and doing unboxing of the gift
30:08bags there.
30:10So you definitely want to tune in next Thursday at 6.30 p.m.
30:12My name is Noni Donovan.
30:14You can follow me on Instagram, N-O-N-E-D-U-N-I-V-A-N.
30:17And folkbeauty.
30:18Noni.
30:19Thank you so much for joining.
30:21Bye.
30:22Thanks for coming, y'all.
30:23Appreciate it.
30:24Bye.
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