This Content Creator Believes ‘Less Is More’ For The Ideal Skincare Routine
In About Face, xoNecole gets the 411 on IGers who give us #skincaregoals on the 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.
Kaylen Zahara, better known on Instagram as @AmazedByKay, is an entrepreneur and digital content creator taking the beauty and wellness industry by storm. "My favorite part about this career field is the opportunities it provides and the realization that my entire lifestyle is sponsored," she tells xoNecole. "I get paid just to be myself and use products and services that I would if I weren't in this career field."
She reminisces back to when her relationship with beauty and skincare began to strengthen five years ago. "I would have to say 21 is when the shift happened," Kaylen tells xoNecole. "It was an older gentleman who taught me about the importance of taking care of my skin at a young age so that I would age beautifully. After that conversation I never looked back and began manifesting a lot of skincare beauty deals."
Courtesy of Kaylen Zahara
Whether it's through her quick tips for hair and beauty on YouTube, giving advice on personal branding on IGTV, or speaking on panels for marketing and entrepreneurship, the 26-year-old Los Angeles resident proves that she's a businesswoman and budding beauty guru to be on the lookout for in 2020. With over 115,000 Instagram followers and counting, she has proved to her growing audience that she can be the new go-to girl for fashion, beauty and reliable lifestyle content.
In this installment of xoNecole's "About Face", Kaylen talks about keeping her skincare routine simple, the personal benefits of cannabis and her spiritual journey to appreciating beauty and skincare on a deeper level.
My morning routine consists of...
Courtesy of Kaylen Zahara
"A typical morning for myself is waking up, giving gratitude, meditating, checking emails and social media, along with with jamming to my favorites like Jhene [Aiko], Kehlani, Alina Baraz, Masego, Ari Lennox to set a vibe and intention for my day to be joyous and soulful!"
My AM skincare routine looks like...
"My skincare routine is extremely easy and quick. Day and night stays the same. I believe in less is more and just focusing on one thing at a time per season."
My evening routine consists of…
"My evenings are typically accompanied with music, vision board sessions, sound baths, binaural beats, YouTube, and maybe even cannabis."
My PM skincare routine looks like...
"I keep my routine the same. Less is more for me, no need to complicate things. Occasionally, I will use a sheet mask to assist with removing under eye bags if I haven't been getting adequate sleep. Sheet masks by The Creme Shop are super affordable and they cure any under eye bags overnight. [They] keep them away if you use them each day!"
How my skincare changes for the seasons…
"My fall and winter skincare is ALL about moisture and hydration. Spring and summer is where I focus on cleansing and preventing acne. In the fall and winter, I focus on hydration. I start with washing my face with warm water and First Aid Beauty face cleanser. I like to dry my face with a clean towel after and I apply my favorite choice of gel cream, which is typically Erno Laszlo Hydra Therapy Gel Cream - this cream is so hydrating! I then follow up with eye cream by Dermalogica [because] bags under the eye can happen any time of the year.
"If we are in the spring and summer season, I would apply Dermalogica's Age Brightening Acne Serum after washing my face and before applying a gel cream for hydration."
My go-to makeup look consists of…
Courtesy of Kaylen Zahara
"My go-to makeup look is always the 'no makeup' makeup look. I like to start off with a primer that is hydrating and has a shimmer to it. I find that it allows the light foundation on top of it to shine like a diamond. I touch up with shimmer-like bronzer around the perimeters of my face and add concealer to my eye and forehead area to make sure my makeup doesn't look flat or one dimensional."
How I approach beauty from the inside-out…
"Honestly? Being a woman that partakes in consuming cannabis has allowed me to awaken to my authentic self and led me onto the path of becoming my highest version. Cannabis is such a healer, a mentor, a soulmate, and more for me and so many others."
What self-care looks like to me…
"My self-care must-haves are sheet masks, a gel cream for hydration, cannabis, crystals, herbs, tea, sage, binaural beats and of course my devices."
My earliest beauty memory…
Courtesy of Kaylen Zahara
"My earliest beauty memory that really stuck with me and made me feel like a woman was when my mom finally allowed me to get acrylic nails when I was 13. That trip to the nail salon was extremely impactful and ignited my love for nail care and acrylics!"
How my view on beauty and skincare has evolved…
"I used to think that beauty and skincare was just at a surface level; vanity and external. I learned with my growing spiritual journey, that it's much more deeper than that. It is internal. It's energetic. What we put in our bodies, how we think, what we feel, and what we choose to believe has a major direct impact on our skin and its health just as it does everything else. Present day, I have adopted a lifestyle that supports healthy skin that consists of herbs, meditation, adequate alkaline and kangen water intake, and care of all other organs."
For more of Kaylen, follow her on Instagram.
Shop Kaylen's Beauty Staples:
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Featured image courtesy of Kaylen Zahara
ItGirl 100 Honors Black Women Who Create Culture & Put On For Their Cities
As they say, create the change you want to see in this world, besties. That’s why xoNecole linked up with Hyundai for the inaugural ItGirl 100 List, a celebration of 100 Genzennial women who aren’t afraid to pull up their own seats to the table. Across regions and industries, these women embody the essence of discovering self-value through purpose, honey! They're fierce, they’re ultra-creative, and we know they make their cities proud.
VIEW THE FULL ITGIRL 100 LIST HERE.
Don’t forget to also check out the ItGirl Directory, featuring 50 Black-woman-owned marketing and branding agencies, photographers and videographers, publicists, and more.
THE ITGIRL MEMO
I. An ItGirl puts on for her city and masters her self-worth through purpose.
II. An ItGirl celebrates all the things that make her unique.
III. An ItGirl empowers others to become the best versions of themselves.
IV. An ItGirl leads by example, inspiring others through her actions and integrity.
V. An ItGirl paves the way for authenticity and diversity in all aspects of life.
VI. An ItGirl uses the power of her voice to advocate for positive change in the world.
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Why We'll Probably Never Hear Lupita Nyong'o Share Her Relationship With The World
Lupita Nyong'o is sharing a transparent look into her life after a recent breakup.
In a cover story for NET-A-PORTER, the A Quiet Place: Day One star shed light on the significant heartbreak she experienced following the end of her relationship with ex-boyfriend and TV host, Selema Masekela.
As a public figure, Nyong'o, 39, sought to divulge the news of the breakup in hopes of presenting a more authentic perspective on the pain that follows a separation.
"I was living in a lot of pain and heartbreak," she told the publication. "I looked at the environment of my social media and thought I don’t want to be a part of this illusion that everything is always coming up roses. Surely there is a lesson for me to learn in this, and I just want to be real about it."
The Black Panther star went on to explain that her choice to be transparent with her fans about her breakup came from the certainty she felt after ending the relationship. “In my mind, when I shared my relationship status with the world, it was because I felt sure about it,” she said.
While she didn’t know how the news would land with her fans, she found relief in knowing she wasn’t alone in her experience.
“I knew how it could be interpreted; I knew it would have a life of its own,” she reflects. “But then I started to see the comments and people were being so loving and supportive. The ones that moved me the most were other people sharing their pain and their heartbreak.”
Nyong'o and Masekela went Instagram official in December 2022, publicly announcing their relationship in a couple's video. In October 2023, Nyong'o took to her personal Instagram account to share the news of her breakup in her caption, writing, "At this moment, it is necessary for me to share a personal truth and publicly dissociate myself from someone I can no longer trust.”
She continued the vulnerable note, "I find myself in a season of heartbreak because of a love suddenly and devastatingly extinguished by deception. I am tempted to run into the shadows and hide, only to return to the light when I have regained my strength enough for me to say, 'Whatever, my life is better this way.' But I am reminded that the magnitude of the pain I am feeling is equal to the measure of my capacity for love."
These days, Nyong'o tells NET-A-PORTER that she is prioritizing profound self-discovery that extends beyond her career. She notes having a deliberate and unhurried approach to understanding herself.
She also alludes to keeping her relationships private moving forward after noting it was "very, very sage" of her not to talk about her private life professionally in the days before her last relationship. "I'm going back to those days by the way," Nyong'o shares of her reinstated boundaries around her personal life.
Earlier this month, Nyong'o made headlines alongside her new boyfriend actor Joshua Jackson. Nyong'o and Jackson went through public splits from their respective SOs in October 2023, with the latter splitting from his long-time partner Jodie Turner-Smith following her divorce filing from the Dawson's Creek alum.
The pair have been spotted together as early as December 2023, but nothing screamed "couple" quite as loudly as their recent getaway to Mexico for Nyong'o's 41st birthday featuring passionate displays of affection.
"Our purpose in life is to love. And so you have to get back in it," she tells the outlet, seemingly alluding to her budding new romance.
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Featured image by Taylor Hill/Getty Images