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.
Natacha John, or Tacha, is a 24-year-old beauty and lifestyle content creator. The DMV native came on my radar after a viral photo of her made its way to my Explore page on Instagram. The rest is history.
Last month, she revealed to her followers that she was officially taking the leap into full-time entrepreneurship, having grown an impressive following of 40,000 followers and counting. As a creative who earns her living by literally doing her. "I get to be myself for a living," she tells xoNecole. "I get to share my interests, exercise my creativity, and connect with women. Those are definitely my favorites parts!"
In the process, she is also putting us on to her favorite beauty finds and it's nothing short of amazing. Although I live for her aesthetic and her thought-provoking questions, I am also an admirer of her glowing, radiant skin. That being said, I had to know what her beauty arsenal consisted of.
Below, Tacha shares with us the products she swears by and how she achieves beauty from the outside in.
My morning routine looks like...
"I'm still trying to establish a consistent morning routine but usually it starts off with taking care of my puppy and straightening up my apartment while I make a cup of tea. Then I'm usually checking emails and reviewing my to-do list for the day. Some mornings, I'll toss in journaling and meditation. Those two things always make me feel level-headed but I'll admit I'm bad at making consistent time for them."
For my skincare routine in the AM...
"I keep it ultra simple in the morning. I don't cleanse, I just rinse my face with water and sometimes, depending on my skins condition, I'll tone either using Goode Skin's two hundred dollar water micellar cleanser or Thayers Witch Hazel. Then I moisturize with a facial oil, like Aura Cacia Jojoba Oil, and top it off with my favorite SPF, La Roche-Posay's Anthelios Clear Skin Sunscreen."
And for my skincare routine in the PM...
"Things are more extensive in the evenings. I always start off by double cleansing. Face wash is the one thing in my routine that I'm constantly switching out but I'm currently enjoying the Farmacy's Clean Bee cleanser and Neutrogena's Hydro Boost cleanser. Once or twice a week, I'll add in exfoliation using Lush's Dark Angels [or their] Herbalism [herbal wash], or Goode Skin's SKINZYME. And follow up with First Aid Beauty's Ultra Repair Liquid Recovery. That's become one of my favorite steps! The liquid recovery goes onto your skin like water and is so soothing and calming, I can't get enough. Then, I moisturize with an oil again. About 2 or 3 times a week I'll apply a face mask, I like Farmacy's Bright On mask."
How I approach skincare on-the-go...
"When I'm on-the-go, I have to have products that I know work for me so if my skin starts to act crazy, I'm ready! You'll usually catch me with a mask that's good for breakouts, either my Glamglow Supermud Clearing Treatment Mask or Yes to Tomatoes Detoxifying Charcoal Mud Mask. And something that's good for dry/dull skin like my Origins' Drink Up Intensive Overnight Hydrating Mask."
My go-to makeup look consists of...
"I'm a natural makeup kind of girl. On a day-to-day basis, I'll be bare-faced or maybe have on some concealer or tinted moisturizer, blush, and mascara. Lately, I've been reaching for my Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer (in Almond), Glossier Cloud Paint, and my trusty L'Oreal Telescopic mascara. I like to keep things pretty low-maintenance but if I have to be in front of the camera or have an event to attend, I'll go all in."
How I approach beauty from the inside-out...
"Something as small as starting my day with a cup of hot lemon water and half an hour of uninterrupted alone time helps me to feel refreshed and ready to put forth my best self throughout the day. I get pulled in a lot of different directions and it's easy to feel overwhelmed when you're a one woman team, so taking that time to level myself out really helps me to feel more at peace."
What self-care looks like to me...
"To be completely transparent, I don't make a ton of time to unwind. It's something I'm really working on though! Usually I'm working well into the evening, and when I finally unplug, all I have time for is a hot shower before I crawl into bed. But I value that time and make the most with what I have. While I'm getting ready for bed, I usually play a good podcast or Audiobook and add a few drops of essential oil to my shower to make things extra relaxing."
For more of Tacha, follow her on Instagram.
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Featured image via Tacha/Instagram
Well, the next time we met up, she told me she had met someone and was moving to Houston to live with him. Imagine my surprise and concern. Later, I’d find out that this decision, like so many other elements of their relationship, flowed naturally and organically. Their whole partnership has been full of peace and vulnerability.
Fast forward to today’s conversation, they’re still living together, celebrating four years of marriage, and planning to create a family. And while this stage of their story sounds generally normal, the way they got there is nothing but. Check out the "How We Met" feature below to see how a couple who never spoke on the phone and lived in different states ended up in a loving marriage full of ease, art, and authenticity.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Wicks and Will Ford
Walk me through your ‘How We Met’ story.
Amanda: We met on Instagram (laughs). He followed me first, and I followed back because he does art, and I was intrigued by that. Honestly, we followed each other for a while before we connected. But I remember one day I saw a post where he had on a Martin t-shirt that I liked, and that sparked our conversation. He ended up telling me he made the shirt and actually mailed me one. So when I got it, I made a post wearing it, and that’s where the conversation started. Since that day we’ve communicated every day since.
Will: Yeah, I initially saw her on a short-hair Instagram page and followed her because I thought she was attractive. I actually showed her to my co-workers on one of our monthly outings as an example of my “type” – something I had never done. But one thing I will say is, I noticed she had on a Nina Simone shirt in one of her photos, that’s what got me. It showed she had more depth.
I guess that answers my next question. Did you have an initial attraction to each other?
Will: (Laughs) Yeah, I did.
Amanda: For me, no. I just wasn’t looking at him through that lens. I didn’t follow him because he was attractive. I don’t follow people online because of that. I actually remember a time when we were going back and forth, and I was like, “Aye, you kinda cute.” It was a specific moment. Once I started looking through his page more often, I started to view him that way, but it still was more of an acknowledgment. We really connected primarily because of our creative interests.
So, how did it go to the next level?
Amanda: I was in Nashville, and he was in Houston. But I’m somebody where if I feel like doing something, I’m going to do it. I had been meaning to go to Houston for a while to see a friend, so I felt like it was the perfect combination of a circumstance. We had been talking a lot, and I knew I liked him as a person and really wanted to meet him, but of course, I was aware of the idea that it could blossom into more. I remember I sent him a text saying, “Would you think I was crazy if I pulled up to Houston?”
Photo courtesy of Amanda Wicks and Will Ford
What was your reply? Did you think she was crazy?
Will: In my mind, I was like, I don’t know. (Laughs) I wanted her to, though, so I wasn’t going to say yeah. It was a little wild, but I encouraged it.
Okay, so tell me about the date.
Amanda: I don’t know if you’d call it our first “date,” but the first time we met, we went to a skating rink. I was a little nervous about meeting him in person. Like, what if we don’t have chemistry – that was in the back of my head a little. But I brought my friend with me as a buffer, and thank God I did because he was so quiet the whole night. I literally can’t think of one thing he said the entire time. But the saving grace was that we had built a rapport. We reconnected the following night and were together until 5 a.m. – just sitting there talking. We ended up spending the whole weekend together.
Will: I’m socially awkward if I don’t know you. Also, before the date, I didn’t know what she sounded like or anything because, that’s another thing, we hadn’t talked on the phone. (They both really don’t like phone calls, so everything was through texts at this point.) I guess I could say I was kinda nervous, too. I had never met someone through social media, and then here I was, meeting her in person at a skating rink. I hadn’t skated in years, I was hoping I didn’t fall. But we had just been talking so much that I was open to it.
What made you want to take that risk?
Will: She has a level of authenticity that I’ve never seen in any other woman before, and once I saw her, it solidified that. I knew I wanted her around.
Amanda: I don’t think it was anything specific. It’s not hard for me to connect with people. But there were no red flags. We align across the board. That was different. We really connect on how we see the world.
"She has a level of authenticity that I’ve never seen in any other woman before, and once I saw her, it solidified that. I knew I wanted her around."
Photo courtesy of Amanda Wicks and Will Ford
Out of curiosity, what are your love languages?
Amanda: I connect with all of them. I think it just depends on what I’ve been lacking. I appreciate words of affirmation because I’m so big on actions that I like those bold statements of love, and of course, I appreciate quality time. The older I get, the more I appreciate physical touch, but that’s not something I need. With receiving gifts, I like thoughtfulness, and I like giving thoughtful gifts, too. But acts of service is for sure my biggest one. I love when someone considers me and makes my life easier. That speaks to me most.
"I love when someone considers me and makes my life easier. That speaks to me most."
Will: I think it all depends on how I’m feeling, too. But probably also acts of service. I like how Amanda will buy me deodorant when I run out (laughs). She just does so much all the time to show that I’m thought of.
At what point in your connection did y’all have the “what are we” conversation?
Will: I don’t think we ever had that convo. We never defined anything, we just kinda went with how it was going. However, I knew I wanted it to be more serious when I went to visit her. She had been coming to Houston once a month, and I went to Florida (she was there for work) to see her. I realized I felt comfortable coming into her space, too. That gave me that last little bit of whatever I needed.
Amanda: Yeah, I can’t say I had a defined moment like that. But again, as we had more and more interactions, there were just no red flags. The more we thought about it, the more we realized no matter where we went relationship-wise, we were adamant about being a part of each other’s lives. We never had the “talking to other people” conversation or anything. But we did both understand we weren’t going anywhere. Eventually, it graduated to convos around building a life together, but even that was over six months in. I just liked him as a person.
Have there been any negative revelations that your partnership and marriage have taught you about yourself?
Amanda: I’ve always felt that partnership is supposed to make the other person’s life easier. For me, it was a struggle to let someone help me in all the ways I didn’t really know I needed help. As I started having less capacity, I had to realize that it doesn't work anymore. It was hard for me to acknowledge and ask for help. I think that’s something I am still coming to terms with, even with other relationships in my life.
Will: I think I’m learning and still learning how to get out of my head. I’m the kind of person who always has to visualize stuff before it happens. And this relationship is the first thing that I don’t do that with. Of course, we plan stuff, but I know it’s gonna be good regardless. It allows me to stay in the moment. If I can do that with this, which is the most important thing to me, why can’t I do that with other things?
Photo courtesy of Amanda Wicks and Will Ford
What challenges have you faced together?
Will: For me, the preconceived challenge was living together. I’ve never lived with a woman before. Even in my previous relationship, it was long-distance. I’m also the type of person that likes my space, but as soon as she got here, that was out the window. It was so smooth it made me feel stupid for questioning it.
Amanda: I’m grateful to say we don’t necessarily have challenges between each other together. But we have been struggling with infertility and health issues. Our biggest challenge thus far is trying to get pregnant. Even articulating that makes me realize I’m grateful it hasn’t caused a rift between us. I think we have been able to face it in a healthy way. But that’s an example of how having someone else there can be helpful. I was so functional as a full-blown individual doing everything by myself.
So, in my head, I don’t need anyone, but having someone there who is happy to support me has taught me it’s okay to welcome that. It’s made us stronger because it’s taught us how we both function under duress – it’s good to know it’s not terrible (laughs).
"Our biggest challenge thus far is trying to get pregnant. Even articulating that makes me realize I’m grateful it hasn’t caused a rift between us. I think we have been able to face it in a healthy way."
What are some of the shared values that are important to your relationship?
Will: How we see life, what we’re here for, and how you’re supposed to treat people. It sounds really simple, but it’s not as common as you think.
Amanda: We value being really good people – without strings. We both don’t value money, but we value stability. So we don’t have to endure the “why are you not hustling” arguments. We were both stable people individually, and we came together. Also, we both value meaningful connections, alone time, reflection, and family. That guides us in what we do and how we build a life.
Finally, what is your favorite thing about each other?
Amanda: I’ll say one of my favorite things about him is that he’s brilliant. I view myself as a smart person, but in my head, he can do what I’m doing ten times faster. There are times I want to push myself to do stuff, and I’ll just ask him because I know he can do it. It’s incredible.
Will: My favorite thing about her is how people see her. Being a witness to how important she is to other people’s lives is amazing. Standing to the side and seeing how she affects them is really special.
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Feature image courtesy of Amanda Hicks and Will Ford
As a proud Hampton University graduate with a print journalism degree, my experience there is the reason I am confident, resilient, and forward-thinking. I went on to work for major publishers, including The New York Times, so I never felt any sort of short-comings or less-than insecurities about not choosing a majority-white school. And I'm not an outlier. Much of my graduating class has similar success stories.
I was once asked in a newsroom, "How did you get here coming from the school you went to?" The words "affirmative action" sputtered from this small-minded, insecure person's lips thereafter. I simply smirked and said, "Well, you think affirmative action got me here, but did it keep me here? And why are you at a lower title than me? Didn't you graduate from an Ivy League?"
At Hampton, I was able to carve out my own path of excellence and redefine success for myself after living in the shadow of an amazingly brilliant valedictorian brother---who was highly sought-after by universities and who went on to find success and great career advancement after studying engineering at one of the top (and majority-white) schools in the nation.
It was also the tenacity, self-starting skills, self-sufficiency, thick skin, and the manifestation of Black excellence developed from my experience at Hampton---not affirmative action---that led to a successful and pretty long career in journalism.
I caught up with a few other amazing women to talk about how their HBCU experiences positively impacted their career choices and later success and the best college experiences of their lives:
Terysa Ridgeway
Courtesy
Program Manager at Google
Author, Think Like A Computer
Southern University Graduate
On college experience and impact on post-grad career choice and growth: "HBCUs, in general, always provide a very nurturing, fostering type of environment. I feel that, for me, as a young woman at the time, that was super-beneficial. That provided me with emphasis on leadership, empowerment, and still giving back in leadership roles in our communities."
"My parents met on the campus of Southern University. My two oldest sisters went there. We're a traditional Southern University family."
On thriving in STEM after college: "As a freshman, sometimes people would pay me to design their MySpace pages and Blackplanet profiles. Even learning more HTML and going deeper into [computer] science like C and C-sharp, which are more program-specific languages, and building that muscle more formal was pivotal to me. Personally, social media was my fun place, but being able to tie in those things that I just enjoy in a fun space, and then [I understood that], okay, this could 100% be a career path if I buckle down and focus on it."
Karen G. Hatcher CPM
Courtesy
CEO & Founder, Sovereign Realty & Management
Clark Atlanta University Graduate
On how her educational experience impacted her career: "I am in real estate development, and we also manage investment portfolios. I'm an entrepreneur, and we just had our 15th anniversary last year. We do a lot of residential investments here in the Atlanta market. Clark Atlanta had the business school. I took my first real estate class there. And that was one of my electives. ...I get to use all of those finance skills every day in analyzing real estate. ... It's really cool to be able to lean on those tools that I learned at CAU and into [graduate] school and actually apply it every single day in my work."
"It was predominately white where I grew up---upstate New York, near the Great Lakes---and to come down and to be in a sea of Black excellence, with all these hopes and all these dreams. It was incredible."
On the benefits of attending an HBCU: What I find from people who have graduated from HBCUs is their--our--ability to show up. The level of confidence that we have in moving in multiple rooms. ... You receive a different level of love that is poured into you. You're the majority in a sea of excellence. Our ability to pitch, to interview, to make decisions, to network---it's on another level.
Danyell Taylor
Courtesy
Private Enrollment Specialist at K12.com, A Stride Co.
Howard University Graduate
On the moment that she knew Howard was a good fit: "Going to the A-building, being discouraged, being in a new city with some funds but not many, and there was a student who was like, 'Are you on scholarship?' I'm like, 'Nope, not on scholarship.' And then, immediately from that conversation, we went to class. He connected with me the next day, and I got scholarship funds. He was a mentor. My communications teacher was a mentor, and then I was able to work with other communications students in a way that I wasn't able to see myself [before].
"That was three months into my experience. I swear, I'd called my mother, like, 'I think I've gotta come home. I don't think I'm going to be able to make it, especially being 22 hours from my family.' So to have him really turn it around on the dime, to have another communications teacher pour into me...He even encouraged me to do my PhD at Howard. That was the turning point where I said, 'Yes, this is the best experience.' They really wrapped their arms around me and kept me encouraged."
"What Howard did was tell me that I could be a communicator, that I could succeed, and that I could make a difference. And especially because Howard made a difference in my life through education, I decided I want to make a difference in the lives of families through education."
Ashleigh Demi
Courtesy
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Graduate
Media Personality And Host
On impactful legacy in choosing Cheyney: "I really wanted to do broadcasting, journalism, and communications. I was the anchor for my high school, so going into college it was a no-brainer that that's what I wanted to do. I knew that Ed Bradly of 60 Minutes was an alumni of Cheyney, and I knew that [Washington] DC's own Jim Vance, an anchor on NBC4 went to Cheyney. It wasn't too far from home, and I wanted to get that drum line experience from an HBCU."
"I know that with that experience, Cheyney gave me confidence. It gave me the wow factor that I'm among the greats."
On support and love that led to thriving: "I always could ask someone for help and would not be left behind, even if I had to volunteer or do extra credit. There was always something there where I was able to not fail. With HBCUs, they want to see you succeed. My educational experience at Cheyney was nurturing. If they see you struggling, the professor would pull you aside and talk to you to figure out what challenges you're facing. There's always some type of study group or someone to help you succeed. "
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