#ShowUsYourBag

Cassandra Textile Artist

@cassandramayela
cassandramayela.com

What’s your current favorite beauty item?

No-makeup makeup is my thing. I have this glossy eyelid product that I love. It’s clear and looks like Vaseline, but it doesn’t run—it stays put. It gives you an effect like you were putting some Vaseline on your eyelids, though. It’s glowy and effortless.

What’s your one of your desert island essentials?

I guess, like any other brown person, I suffer from hyperpigmentation. I develop more freckles or, over the years, a bunch of little sun marks. And when you produce so much melanin, you’re creating this beautiful color and all that, but you’re also absorbing UV rays. They’re not good for your body. Because it’s not just your skin—you can also harm the inside of your body. Growing up in the Caribbean, you’re really aware of the sun and its benefits and what’s not so cool about it. I think there's this misconception that if you’re brown, you’re safe. But no. You have to wear sunscreen.

What would you save in a fire?
My plants and my cameras. I have a fig tree. I have some monstera. I have some birds of paradise and a few different cacti and succulents. I have lots of plants. I would have more, if I had more sunlight in my apartment. I grew up in Venezuela surrounded by so much green. Plants purify the air; they also bring life to a space. They’re beautiful.
Where do you find your confidence?
I find my confidence in resting and not acting so impulsively. I find it in my gut and knowing how to say no. Definitely, when I’m rested and able to think things through is when I feel the surest.
“Mascara has that ‘wow’ factor that I appreciate.”
What’s your favorite new activity?
My boyfriend and I bought a canoe, and we’ve been exploring everywhere in New York. There’s just so much to see, it’s crazy. Canoeing is so cool. It’s thrilling, exciting, and scary. Sometimes you look down and you can’t see anything. But lately, we’ve been canoeing at Jamaica Bay, and there's so much kelp, it looks like a forest underneath the water. It also interesting to see New York from a more feral point of view because I feel like the city has been so manicured, in a way. Realizing that there are still so many green spaces out there, it’s really nice.
What’s your beauty secret weapon?
I like that extra glam that mascara gives to the eyes. I have very long eyelashes, and most of the time, I don’t wear anything. But when I do, mascara has that “wow” factor that I appreciate.