‘I’ve always LOVED FANCY SOAPS’
British-born Ade Ogunsola, 53, began making soaps inspired by her Nigerian and Ghanaian roots and recipes passed down through generations. She founded Okiki Skincare alongside her daughter, Antonia, 28, in 2016 and their range now spans home scent, hair and skincare
I grew up using soap bars,
so before I started making my own for Okiki (which means prestigious in Yoruba), on Saturdays, I would spend ages in TK Maxx shopping for fancy soaps, looking for different scents and ingredients. They used to beg us to leave when they were closing! Now, some of the bars I make myself can take up to nine months to formulate.
I don’t have as much time as Antonia to spend on self-care,
but once a week, every Sunday, I have my pamper day. I call it my ‘me-time’. This is when I’ll do face masks and soak in the bath. I’ll light some candles in the bathroom
– I like more spicy, woody scents, such as the Okiki Nana Ataa Antobro Candle (1), £30 – choose my soap and add some salts and oils to the bath. I’ll always finish with our body lotions or balms if my skin is feeling dry. As I am diabetic, I get really dry skin on my feet.
I created our Amelia Face Cream, £18, for my own personal skincare needs.
Not for the colour of my skin, but because I’m getting older, not younger, and you can easily see when I’m tired! I want to avoid saggy skin and dark circles under the eyes. It’s made with hydrating pumpkin oil, tomato oil, rosehip oil and raspberry oil, containing powerful anti-ageing antioxidants, which keep my skin looking younger.
My makeup routine is much simpler than Antonia’s.
I only wear makeup now and again if I’m going out, and she introduces me to products. I like a powder base, so Antonia bought me MAC Studio Fix Powder in Nc42 (2), £30. I always used to wear Fashion Fair Pressed Powder, which was one of the first brands to offer products for black and brown skin tones.
Sometimes I like to wear some colour.
In our culture in Nigeria, if you’re from royal descent, you have official family colours; ours are blue and purple. When you see us going to parties, we’ll always be dressed in blue and purple – my own mum used to wear a little bit of blue eyeshadow and I sometimes do, too, so Antonia recently got me Pat Mcgrath Labs Mothership I: Subliminal Palette (3), £118.
Okiki was a hobby before it became a proper business.
My late grandma used to make soaps back in Lagos and a couple of years after her passing, Mum started making soaps, too. I was at uni at the time so I just started out by going to markets and helping with pricing – I’m more of an extrovert and my mum is quite an introvert. At the time, I had really bad acne and had tried everything, but nothing was working. I remember calling her on the phone crying one day, so she made me a soap that transformed my skin.
Then lockdown hit, so we built a website. At that time, there was a focus on small businesses, Black-owned businesses and handmade products, so it was a happy convergence.
I’ve learned that less is more when it comes to my skin.
I wash my face with Okiki Lolu Facial Soap (1), £6.20, twice a day. It’s named after me (my nickname) and it’s rose-scented and made with pink clay and black charcoal – it actually gives me anxiety if I don’t have enough of it! I shower twice a day and in the morning I always use Original Source Mint & Tea Tree Shower Gel, £1.90 – I’ve been using it for 10 years. At night, I like to use my mum’s soaps followed by body butters, which I’ll often make with her in her workshop. I normally try to do a face mask midweek, such as Origins Clear Improvement Active Charcoal Mask (2), £25, to clean out my pores, and then on Sundays I use the Okiki Detox Face Mask Powder, £10, for what I call a ‘start-the-week clean’. It’s made with bentonite clay to draw out excess oil and sebum from the skin, volcanic ash, rosehip powder and goat milk. When you mix it with water, it turns into a paste.
My hair is a bit more complicated.
I have 4C hair and a lot of it. It’s really tight and can get very dry and tough, so I use Sheamoisture Intensive Hydration Shampoo, £12.99, then follow with the conditioner, Sheamoisture Intensive Hydration, £10.99.
I don’t tend to wear as much makeup on a day-to-day basis since the pandemic.
But when I do, this is where the boujeeness comes out! I start with Lancôme La Base Pro Perfecting Make Up Primer, £31, followed by Nars Natural Radiant Longwear Foundation in New Caledonia (3), £37.50, then Laura Mercier Translucent Loose Setting Powder (4), £34, and Fenty Pro Filt’r Instant Retouch Setting Powder in Cashew, £26, on top. My blusher is Glossier Cloud Paint in Haze (5), £17, which is a really nice rosy red, or Nars Powder Blush in Orgasm (6), £27.50, if I want a matte finish.