Want Brighter Skin & More Energy? Do This For 30 Minutes A Day

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August 30, 2022 — 10:34 AM

Nyakio Grieco has clean beauty in her blood. Her grandmother—a Kenyan coffee farmer who she met when she was eight years old—taught Grieco her very first beauty secret: using crushed coffee beans, oils, and rods of sugar cane to exfoliate her skin. Her grandfather—a medicine man—also relied on oils and herbal remedies to treat different skin concerns and ailments. 

“Using things that came from the Earth, the restorative power of oils…It was something I always knew, long before we termed ‘clean beauty.’ It was just part of my DNA,” the co-founder of Thirteen Lune (a beauty e-tailer dedicated to BIPOC-owned brands) tells me over the phone. To Grieco, clean beauty is not a “movement” but simply a way of life. 

She upholds this ethos today, calling upon memories of her grandparents to create her newest beauty venture, Relevant: Your Skin Seen, and she draws on her upbringing when choosing the products and rituals to incorporate into her own everyday routine. Each is thoughtful, intentional, with a nod to the natural world—below, Grieco reveals the current line-up. 

“The one thing I definitely stand by, going back to the inspiration from my grandfather, is the restorative power of cold-pressed, good-for-you oils. I always say that you have to use oil to fight oil. And while now it’s more commonplace in Western culture for people to embrace the power of using oils—for their skin, hair, etc.—that is something that has been tried and true my entire life.

“Right now I’m really loving the Clarity Facial Oil made by Katini Skin. It was created by a founder who is Ghanaian-Japanese but was raised in Australia, and it’s something that I use in my ritual every day.”

“I’m a very busy entrepreneur and mommy, so I really just started to embrace tools in a bigger way than I ever had before. Part of that ritual in self-care is using an LED light mask. We have one that we carry at Thirteen Lune by DMH Aesthetics. What I love about it is that there’s three different colors within the mask, so it’s very efficient. Because I suffer from hyper- and hypopigmentation, I find that using the orange light has really, really helped me. 

“I know people have been using tools for a long time, [but] the various tools that I use now has really enhanced the performance of the products I use and really helped my skin. A lot of these LED masks are very expensive, and this is still an investment—it’s $190. But I think it definitely allows the consumer, if they’re going to make that investment, to do it at a price that’s a little bit more affordable.” 

“The One & Done Everyday Cream that we just launched with Relevant: Your Skin Seen. Sunscreen is nonnegotiable. It’s a 365 day a year job. And part of the reason I created the One & Done Every Day Cream with SPF 40 is because I felt that especially in Black and Brown communities, when we’re starting to see melanoma numbers climb, I wanted a product that was a 4-in-1. So it could be your moisturizer, it could be your serum, and I use it as my primer, but it’s also your SPF 40 without having to think about adding SPF as an extra step. 

“[People have told me], ‘You helped me not have to bring so many products on my trip,’ because it’s a 4-in-1 and it’s light. It’s not waterproof, so you have to reapply it just like any sunscreen, but it does give you that sheer glow, and for darker skinned people, it really helps to minimize the white cast a lot of mineral sunscreens leave behind.

“I also always travel with a vitamin C serum. [For my last trip], I brought Hyper Skin. When you use a vitamin C serum before you apply SPF, it helps your SPF to work better, so I always layer vitamin C under SPF.”

“I keep sharing it, so maybe it’s not a secret anymore, but I always say that naps are nonnegotiable. As a busy mom and entrepreneur, sometimes it’s hard to prioritize [my] own self care, especially when it comes to rest. My secret to the energy that I have is that I try to prioritize napping at least 30 minutes a day. I’m very blessed that I could literally fall asleep anywhere. 

“It starts with a five- to seven-minute meditation, so that I can actually settle my mind. [I put] my phone away, and after about five to seven minutes I’m asleep, but the key is never to sleep more than 30 minutes…I honor it, and it’s really, really good for your skin.”

“Getting facials with [celebrity esthetician] Shani Darden. I’ve been a part of the skin care industry for 20 years, but I only really started to get regular facials a few years ago. Having an esthetician who is such a pro and investing in those facials…I don’t even consider it a splurge. It’s just something that has just helped me to better take care of my skin.

“Especially when we think about inclusion in beauty, there’s many acids and peels and things that people who have more melanin-rich skin have to be cautious about doing to not cause hyperpigmentation. Shani, being an esthetician and a woman of color, really understands that none of us want to feel left out of certain peels and treatments. So she really customizes [treatments] based on your skin and takes your melanin into consideration. 

“Now, I’m able to get certain peels from her that I wouldn’t otherwise have been willing to try, because I was afraid that it would hurt my skin. In fact, it’s done the opposite—it’s actually really helped my skin. She’s amazing. I call her ‘magic hands.’”

“Ami Colé mascara. Often in the summer, I avoid mascara, because you’re sweating and in and out of the sun, but this is just the most perfect mascara. It doesn’t clump, it doesn’t pill throughout the day; it just stays, and it’s light. It doesn’t feel heavy. 

“I also tend not to wear a lot of bright lipsticks in the summer, so I really love the CTZN Nudiversal lipstick and lipgloss combination. What I love the most about that brand is that they created a nude for everyone. There’s this misconception that nude is from peach to pink, and that’s not everyone’s nude. I’m able to find my nude within CTZN. Anytime we can be more inclusive makes the brand even better. I just pop that in my bag, and even if I’m not wearing a lot of makeup, I’ll wear that Ami Colé, and I’ll put the CTZN lipstick on. I also love the Dehiya Lip + Cheek Tint. With my One & Done, that is my beauty ritual for summer.” 

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