KENYAN BEAUTY INFLUENCERS’ TOP MAKEUP PICKS

The Kenyan beauty scene is boomin’! I’m talking level yaaaaasssssss queens! And our beauty bloggers, vloggers and pros have played a major part in teaching us all how to achieve slayage like never before through their tutorials. I know I’ve learned a fair few things from watching them. So I decided to hit some of them up and ask them to share some top tips on different aspects of makeup and what their go-to products are. They were kind enough to give me the tea. So here we go.

We all know Nancie Mwai is the undisputed queen of flawless foundation! Girl can blend for the gwodz. But she says nothing gets foundation applying, sitting and staying right like a well prepped face. She actually has a great video on prepping the face for makeup application on her YouTube channel here with the MAC lead makeup artist Marco Louis. And for that perfect matte look we all know and love her for, she swears by the MAC Studio Fix fluid (NC45 btw) for its photo-ready finish. Her Current foundation routine can be viewed here.

Fay has mastered being busy and beautiful. Running multiple businesses as well as managing talent, she’s always working on on one project or another and yet she always manages to look fresh faced and gorgeous! She swears by Fenty Beauty matchstix in Caramel underneath her foundation to give her under-eyes super coverage and brightening. Her hot tip to get the best out of the sometimes hard-to-blend matchstix is to simply warm ’em up by rubbing them on your hand. They then get creamy enough to be blended in for her signature flawless look.

Maryam aka Spoonful of Honey stays rocking those aspirational brows: thick, shapely, dark . . . Mashallah. Genetics aside, she gets her brows looking insta fly using the cult favorite Anastasia Beverly Hills’ Dipbrow pomade (dark brown). She says the key to achieving her life-like brow hairs for that feathered brow look we see on her is to use a light hand and not to go overboard with the product because a little goes a long way.

With eyes built for eyshadow, it’s no wonder Sanj of Sanj Beauty loves experimenting with her eye looks.  From bold and bodacious to understated and demure, she always keeps serving looks! Her favorite eysshadows to play with are from the Tartlette Flirt by Tarte Palette. She says it has the perfect mix of everyday neutrals and shimmers to glam things up. The trick she uses to enhance the glitz of the shimmer shades is to use them on a brush sprayed with MAC’s Fix + or any other setting spray. And to get that extra va va voom, she says popping some of the shimmer shades on the inner corner of the eye makes the look come together, pop more and brightens up the whole face.

It’s hard to miss Olivia’s beautiful eyes. It’s the flirty lashes and liner she keeps killin’ it with. She says the liner she loves to use is either a traditional kohl pencil or the Maybelline gel liner. For her lashes she uses Benefit’s They’re Real mascara as it helps give life to her own lashes and then goes over them with falsies from Ali Express as they’re affordable and come in different styles. Her hacks on getting liner and lashes on fleek are right here in her 13 Reasons Why Your Makeup Is Struggling and How To fix It YouTube video.

Being one of the most fabulous makeup artists in Kenya, Debby definitely knows how to chisel her face to perfection. She always looks so sculpted and bronzed. Her best bet for contouring is the Anastasia Beverly Hills cream contour kit for its cool-toned shades that are amazing at creating shadow and for their creamy texture that make blending a breeze. To bronze she praises the MAC Mineralize Skin Finish Naturally Enhanced pinwheel that has both warm and cool tones. The warm tones work well to bronze up her rich skin and compliment her warm undertones beautifully without being too red. And the best part, she says, is that being a powder it’s easy to control the amount you put on your skin. Her main hack to make the bronzer pop a little more is to use a little shimmer highlight with the bronzer on the cheekbones to give the face even more dimension.

Silvia’s killer makeup looks are  undeniably rich and  radiant whether she’s at a lavish event, globe trotting or just having some down time at the beach. To enhance a look she goes for MAC’s Hard To Get Extra Dimension blush for its natural colour that adds a rich daytime flush to her face. She says her tip to making it work for the night is by wearing a little more of it as it works as a highlight too and switches the whole look up to glam levels.

Nelly aka Geek on Fashion knows how to look put together from her outfits to her subtle makeup looks. To set her makeup in place for a soft and matte beat, she uses Maybelline’s Fit Me Loose Finishing Powder in deep to set the concealer under her eyes and MAC’s Mineralize Skin Finish in Dark Deep all over her face. Her top tip is to use a little powder as too much may cause creasing, especially under the eyes.

Patricia’s big bright smile is one of her most stunning features, and she dresses that smile with a multitude of lush lip looks. She says she doesn’t have a specific lip look or combo of products but rather just wears whatever looks and feels right for the occasion. In her opinion, variety is the spice of life and her tip is to experiment with different products, shades, finishes and combos to find what rocks your boat in the now.

Being a lover of makeup and sharing looks with us weekly, Joanna knows how to make her facebeat last through the day. Her finishing spray bae is the Maybelline Superstay 24hr Setting Spray because it eliminates the powdery look after all the products are on. She advises not to spray too close to the face to avoid messing up the look with splatters.

It’s hard to miss Yasmin because her blinding highlight will definitely catch your eye. Glowing is her signature. She says her favorite highlighter to wear is MAC’s Mineralize Skin Finish in Soft & Gentle because it gives her a very natural glow-from-within look. To get the best payoff her hack is to apply the highlighter to a freshly sprayed face or brush and then bounce a beauty blender over it so that it really melts into the face and doesn’t just sit there.

Being a coveted and jet setting makeup artist who works on everyone from runway models to brides, Muthoni knows how to maintain makeup throughout the day. She likes to keep it simple by dabbing her oily spots with tissue and a spray of MAC’s Fix + to refresh a look after a few hours. Since she has oily skin, she advises against pressed powders to touch up as they may oxidize later but will occasionally go in with a loose powder with a light hand. For people with dry skin she swears by the Tatcha Luminous Dewy Skin Mist which hydrates the skin with its infusion of botanical oils. It hydrates and adds a subtle glow that refreshes a look instantly.

Joy’s makeup looks are always fun, fierce and flawless. She doesn’t shy away from pushing the envelope. But she takes care of her basics first to ensure a great foundation for all the looks. Her preferred tool to use on her base is The Original Beauty Blender to get the application even, smooth and skin-like. She says the best way to get the beauty blender to perform at optimal levels is to use it wet and to dab it on the skin, not swipe.

As much as I love makeup, I’m aware of the damage sleeping in makeup can do to the skin. So taking it off properly is just as important as putting it on well to begin with. So to take makeup off I double cleanse and go in with an extra virgin olive oil first to break down the makeup and wipe it of then I wash my face with a gentle cleanser like the Neutrogena One Step Gentle Cleanser to really get rid of all the dirt and grime. My tip to making sure skin is completely rid of any traces of makeup is finally going in with a wipe down using Garnier Argan Oil infused Micellar Water or a toner just to get the last little remnants off, if any.

I hope you enjoyed learning the top picks and tricks a few of the best beauty bloggers and artists in Kenya swear by and how they make them work. Have a wonderful new month!

xo