

Tech Executive Besidone Amoruwa Reveals The True Key To Great Skin
In About Face, xoNecole gets the 411 on IGers who give us #skincaregoals on a daily. Here they break down their beauty routines on the inside and out, as well as the highly coveted products that grace their shelves and their skin.
From the moment I heard Besidone Amoruwa speak at a digital conference, I was instantaneously mesmerized. Equal parts authoritative and relatable, Besidone effortlessly disseminated tips for monetizing your side hustle to young black business owners. And while I, along with thousands more, savored every morsel of information she shared, there was one topic that lived in my head rent-free days after the conference: her flawless skin.
As a Strategic Partner Manager, Besidone is an executive that facilitates relationships across beauty, lifestyle, and gaming verticals for Instagram's Emerging Talent Team. With such a strenuous job, making time for herself is a fundamental element to Besidone's success.
In this installment of xoNecole's About Face, the Instagram Partners executive talks family, connecting to your divine feminism, and aligning with your truth.
My holy grail skincare product is…
"My Amare I Lumi C serum - is the ULTIMATE keeper of my skin. It's my daily moisturizer and primer when I want to wear makeup. Making sure that my skin feels light and moisturized is my peace. I naturally have oily skin and I want to make sure that my skin only gets the nutrients it needs and leads out everything else."
I started taking my skincare seriously when...
"My younger sister became an aesthetician. She's always inspired me to do my own hair, makeup, and work on my skin because she would do it for me. So when she couldn't do it I had to learn (laughs). She inspired me to do the education and learn as much as I can for me NOT what society tells me."
"Making sure that my skin feels light and moisturized is my peace. I naturally have oily skin and I want to make sure that my skin only gets the nutrients it needs and leads out everything else."
The key to my morning routine is…
"Prayer. I have to wake up and seek peace first. Talk to God, write and listen. Feeding my inside spurs my whole well-being and spirit into positivity and alignment for my day. I love to read things that inspire me and teach me. Connecting to my divine feminine and the holy spirit within me grants me peace and perspective over myself and my day. I don't communicate on any technology until I have done this to be sure I am giving myself my 'me time' first."
My skin is the worst when…
"I'm eating dairy, fried food, or food with GMOs/hormones. I can just tell when a breakout is happening! I am not too strict on my diet but go through phases where I don't eat certain products and just stick to a variety of foods. I believe in balance but anyone who knows me knows: RUN me my chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with rainbow sprinkles any day!"
"Connecting to my divine feminine and the holy spirit within me grants me peace and perspective over myself and my day. I don't communicate on any technology until I have done this to be sure I am giving myself my 'me time' first."
The most important item to travel with is…
"My cleanser. Traveling brings about so much dirt and my face needs to feel clean. I traveled a lot before the pandemic and keeping my skin clean and fresh while I was on my adventures was my top priority. I don't want to feel overwhelmed by a routine or the climate so keeping it basic is super important for me."
My makeup routine in three words would be…
"Give them face. I always like to serve whenever I do my makeup. It's like a mood. How sassy do I want to look today? How much cat-eye should I give them? It's important to show my own personal sex appeal. I like to be me and look like me. I don't want to look like anyone else but me in my own dark skin."
"It's important to show my own personal sex appeal. I like to be me and look like me. I don't want to look like anyone else but me in my own dark skin."
My evening routine consists of...
"A hot shower and my candles. I need my hot shower then it's my toner, retinol with a final layer of hyaluronic acid. Winding down is my absolute favorite part of the day. It should be a crime on how much money I spend on candles really but they are all over my house with different calming scents. My home now is basically like a mini art studio."
In my opinion, the secret to perfect skin is…
"Well, there is no such thing as perfect skin but I believe in healthy skin and medical-grade products. No lie. It is so important to go beyond topical products! Beneath the skin lies so much. I learned just how important it is to learn your skin. Everyone's skin type is not the same and our bodies are so different so not everyone's routine is gonna work for you sis, nor will all the products."
I never leave the house without this…
"Paw Paw ointment, keeps my lips smooth. I love my large lips so keeping them plump and moisturized and important. My brows or my makeup may not be done but one thing my lips won't be is chapped, chile. That's a big no-no. My lips are one of my favorite areas of my face and I love how large and supple they are so I take extra good care of them with scrubs, ointment, and sometimes a nice gloss."
"My lips are one of my favorite areas of my face and I love how large and supple they are so I take extra good care of them with scrubs, ointment, and sometimes a nice gloss."
My most significant beauty lesson is…
"Beauty starts from within, and everything else comes out. If I love my insides, it will show on the outside. When you feel good you look good. It's taken a long time for me to love myself and understand what makes me light. Nurturing my relationship with myself has helped me 'stay in my light'. I like to live my life as a pro-lover."
The three fundamental products of my skincare routine is…
"Moisturizer, sunblock, and retinol. The anti-aging basics baby. I stay looking half my age and I am no longer mad about it. I fully embrace it, letting my skin do the talking. This sounds simple but it's not because I have to be consistent with the upkeep and genetics can only do so much."
"If I love my insides, it will show on the outside. When you feel good you look good. It's taken a long time for me to love myself and understand what makes me light. Nurturing my relationship with myself has helped me 'stay in my light'."
Besidone's Favorite Beauty Products:
Favorite Skincare Brand:Amare Aesthetics
Favorite Makeup Brand:Pat McGrath Labs
Favorite Skincare Product: Hyaluronic Acid Amare
Favorite Concealer: Tarte Creaseless Concealer
Favorite Foundation: Pat McGrath Labs
Favorite Serum:Amare I Lumi C Serum
Favorite Moisturizer: Skinceuticals Triple Lipid Restore
Favorite Mascara: Benefit Badgal Mascara
Featured image courtesy of Besidone Amoruwa
Courtney is a contributing writer, based in Puerto Rico by way of Tennessee. Interested in the intersection of fashion and culture, she has an affinity for fashion, empowerment, and really good tacos. Keep up with her on Instagram (@hautecourtxo).
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Release Stress & Restore Harmony In Your Body With Shaking Meditation
When we reflect on our own path as women in light of the women who came before us, it’s easy to see that the loads we’ve carried haven’t always been the lightest. From everyday stresses to generational trauma with roots that are difficult to trace, one must ask where all that weight goes if we never release it.
The body holds the score for all the anxieties, worries, and unease that we’ve endured over time. Family and society often tell us to quiet our emotions, maintain a brave face, and keep our emotions bottled up within. But as we know, anything with too much pressure will eventually burst.
And while we are steadily discovering self-care methods like meditation to shed this emotional baggage, it may take a little more than sitting still in the quiet of our mind to let go of our deep-rooted tension. Fortunately, mindful movement could be an unexpected way for you to let go of worry and anxiety while building emotional resiliency, and such is the case with shaking meditation.
What Is Shaking Meditation?
Shaking meditation is a form of tension and trauma-releasing exercises or TRE that “assists the body in releasing deep muscular patterns of stress, tension, and trauma.” This series of exercises of muscular shaking and vibrating activates a natural reflex mechanism that releases muscular tension, thus calming down the nervous system and encouraging your body to return back to a state of balance.
“Shaking meditation can be powerful because it moves your body — and in Eastern medicine, we say that moves your chi,” says Jenelle Kim, DACM, L.Ac, a ninth-generation doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and author of Myung Sung: The Korean Art of Living Meditation.
According to Dr. Kim, understanding chi helps us understand our bodies and how we're feeling mentally, physically, and spiritually. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), chi is known to represent your life force; it is the energy that flows through you and everything, and in many cultures, plays an essential role in our health.
“We have chi that moves in our blood and throughout our entire body; connecting our organ systems, muscles, and joints,” she tells xoNecole. “It allows everything to function and to be nourished. We know blood travels throughout our body through our circulatory system, but chi also travels through our body — much in the same way — through the meridian system. If you picture chi as vital energy, it moves the blood.”
It’s important for our body’s chi to stay in flow. When we go about our daily life with stress, trauma, or even mental injuries, our energy becomes stagnant. But various movement practices like Qigong or shaking meditation encourage your chi to circulate through your body which activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which “is in charge of telling our brain and body to calm down, relax, ultimately, let go,” Dr. Kim says.
As Black women, there are times in life when it feels like we bear the weight of the world on our shoulders, with few spaces to go when we need to lighten the load. But as Dr. Kim explains, because women are “naturally yin beings,” we take on more because we can handle more. “According to the energies of nature that have been passed down for thousands of years, women are more complex. And what that almost always means is that we can think a lot more.” And while that speaks to the resiliency of our being, it can have a negative effect on our bodies when we store more than we release.
“If we don't have ways of releasing this, it will ultimately affect our lives physically, mentally, and spiritually. Then it passes on to our children, and that's where we get generational trauma,” she says.
Although shaking meditation may be a new and unfamiliar practice, it’s one that could prove to be beneficial to those who have experienced trauma on an individual and communal level. The movements are simple to follow and accessible, and in a matter of minutes, you’ll feel more calm and relaxed, while relieving any anxiety, frustration, and tension inside of you.
So if you’re ready to restore harmony within your body, here are the steps to perform shaking meditation on your own.
How To Incorporate Shaking Meditation Into Your Daily Routine:
Step 1: “Stand with your feet hip-width apart. You can do this while sitting or standing — depending on your comfort level. Make sure all of your joints are soft, so nothing's locked.
Step 2: “Begin raising onto your tiptoes and falling back onto your heels. Not so hard to where you're shocking your spine, but enough to just kind of wake up your body. Repeat three to five times, dropping down onto your heels.”
Step 3: “Next, start with your hands first and shake them. There’s no right or wrong way to do this. Shake them and go up to your arms, to your elbows, and then up to your shoulders. Now your whole arms should be moving.”
Step 4: “Then you can start your legs, repeating the same shaking movement. You then move your feet moving, go up through your core, and then shake everything out through your head.”
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Featured image by Wavebreakmedia/Getty Images