MY LIFE IN BEAUTY

Candice Brathwaite is a bestselling author and the founder of online parenting platform Make Motherhood Diverse. She talks to GH about the joy of a bold lip and the power of gratitude

Candice Brathwaite on the joy of a bold lip

I’m helping to make space for women who look like me

My mum was my first beauty guru. She was a Clinique counter girl for years and always left the house looking immaculate. When I had bad acne in my early teens, she encouraged me to develop a skincare routine. That was my way into beauty, and when people compliment my skin now, I think, ‘If only you knew.’ There’s always the fear my acne will return. If I get a cluster of spots I worry, ‘Are we going back there?’ My mum taught me to hydrate my skin but not overwhelm it with rich textures. Right now on my bedside table there’s Oskia

Bedtime Beauty Boost (8) night cream,

£88, and NIOD Multi-molecular Hyaluronic Complex (5), £25.

The smartest women I know enjoy their

clothes and a great lipstick. It doesn’t detract from their intelligence. I wore a black dress to one of my early book events and, looking back, I don’t know what I was thinking. I’ve since learned that coming across as a businesswoman is about how you conduct yourself in business, not what you’re wearing. My worst nightmare is a nude lip.

It doesn’t give me any goodness. When you’re new to lip colour, tinted gloss is great for testing the water. Matte is for when you’ve established more of a relationship with make-up. Some can be drying, but I love MAC Retro Matte Liquid Lipcolour (4), £19.50. Liquid glitter eyeshadow is my vibe.

Just swipe it on and it’s done. The pigment in e.l.f. Cosmetics Liquid Glitter Eyeshadow (1), £5, is amazing, particularly on dark skin.

I wear fake lashes every day. My tip is to lift your chin and look down your nose into the mirror while you’re applying them. And if your lashes come with glue, throw it away and buy Duo Striplash Adhesive, £5.99, instead; it’s the best. My usual lashes are from Primark. They’re a little bit flirty, but not too much. A set will last me a month if I look after them. I remove the old glue at night, pop the lashes back into the packet and use them again the next day. I learned how to take care of my nails in lockdown. I’d worn acrylics for 15 years, but begrudgingly bought some acetone remover and took them off myself.

I hated looking at my bare nails, so I bought a Mylee Black LED Lamp With Gel Polish Essentials kit, £50, and learned how to do my own manicures. My salon recently reopened and I’m proud of myself for just having a pedicure, instead of going back to acrylics. I’m a connoisseur of matte make-up.

I have oily skin, so I don’t like bronzer, highlighter, or anything that hits the light and looks like a rainbow. I’ve worn Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Soft Matte Longwear Foundation (7), £27, since it came on to the market. If they ever stop making it, I’d actually cry. My glow comes from doing a job I love, having a happy life, and a good skincare routine. Though if you’re unhappy in your job or your relationship, no cream will erase that tension in your face. I have therapy once a week and I won’t miss it. You have to do the deep work; skincare is the cherry on top. 2020 has made us think about our lives

in more depth. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia when I was 23, and early into lockdown I had one of the biggest flare-ups of my life. Someone recommended Bessel Van Der Kolk’s The Body Keeps The Score (Penguin Books). It speaks about the way that trauma lives in the body and has nowhere to go unless you learn how to process it. As time goes on, I have recognised a deep relationship between stress and the physical body. I feel most beautiful after a really good workout. I’ve taken up roller-skating, which has been hilarious. I feel beautiful, but I also see how happy I am when I take a picture of myself. I’ve always loved fragrance. I flirted with Narciso Rodriguez For Her (2), from £41, for years, and there is not a Tom Ford fragrance that I don’t own. I love Tobacco Vanille and Vanille Fatale (6), £164 each. I adore Byredo Bibliothèque (3), £115, and Le Labo Santal 33, from £127. I’ll be honest, a lot of them are horrendously expensive, but I love it when you leave a space and the scent lingers beautifully, so I’m happy to put my money there. The women in my family avoided chemically straightening their hair.

I did it once, when I was 13, and it was a disaster; the upkeep is incredibly hard. I went to New York when I was 17 and saw an incredible woman with a shaved head on the street. It was like she had a magnetic field around her; whatever she had, I wanted it. In the Black community, hair is so tied to beauty that everyone thought I was insane, but I eventually found a barber who would shave mine off and I haven’t looked back since. I’m the opposite end of the scale to Eurocentric beauty ideals. I’ve worked hard to feel comfortable with my own face. I still have my dips in confidence, but I’m lucky to have the job I do. I’m here as my most natural self, helping to make space for women who look like me. I’m a lover of crystals, spiritual healing

and the law of attraction. What you give is what you get. At the end of every year I complete a booklet I download from the internet, the Yearcompass, which encourages you to reflect on the year you’ve just had, and consider the one ahead. Nothing beats sitting down with a pen and piece of paper. It’s about being grateful for what has transpired and what hasn’t – there is often good to be found in what hasn’t happened. Generally, I’m just trying to live my life at the highest frequency. • I Am Not Your Baby Mother (Quercus Books, £16.99) by Candice Brathwaite is out now