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Liyah & Zuri Liyah & Zuri

Liyah & Zuri Founder of The Freedom Birth + Mother

thefreedombirth.com
@thefreedombirth
@liiyahjames

What type of beauty product have you been using for the longest time?

I’ve been using mascara since high school. It was the first beauty product that I picked up. It’s easy, and I still use that every day. I typically don’t wear a lot of makeup, day-to-day. But if I have my mascara on, it makes a world of difference. Your eyes pop, and it feels like you’re wearing something extra, even when you’re not. Then, if I’m feeling like doing a little bit more, I use it on my eyebrows to darken them. And that will be it.

What’s your most recent beauty purchase?

Vitamin C serum. I typically put that on second-to-last. I let that sit, and I feel it working. It makes a difference. I think it definitely makes my skin a bit brighter. And I noticed that if I put it on before I apply my moisturizer, there’s a difference in how the moisturizer sits on top of my skin. It’s smoother.

As a working mother, how do you make time for a beauty routine?
Since I have a two-year-old, it’s very hard in the morning to allocate time to my skincare. But I involve Zuri. She thinks everything is makeup, by the way. Everything that I put on my face, she assumes is makeup. If she walks into the bathroom while I’m doing my skincare routine, I put some lotion on her face or some cream and let her join in. Every night, she gets her own little skincare routine. She uses the same products I use, the same soap. After her bubble bath, we work all the body lotion in, to make sure her skin is moisturized.
What’s your most important criteria when selecting new beauty products?
Honestly, I’d love to say sustainability. However, it’s really hard to find both sustainability and a large shade range. So I’m between those two. I want it to work for me and to be sustainable.
What does beauty mean to you?
Strength. There’s type of strength in beauty, in breaking barriers. Beauty from within; it’s very empowering. When you feel at home with yourself, you feel very comfortable with your body, with everything about yourself. And beauty just radiates from you. That energy definitely transfers. You can feel it automatically, and it’s contagious.
“There’s type of strength in beauty, in breaking barriers. Beauty from within is very empowering.”