Laney, the founder and CEO of Saie, wanted to create a new kind of beauty brand that’s built on a simple idea of feeling good and doing good.
And in producing high-performance formulas and sustainable packaging, all formulated by experts and backed by industry secrets in the end, what they created was products that have made beauty fans everywhere stand up and salute.
I can’t be sure, but I suspect Saie might be the reason for the clean beauty trend that’s ripping through the global beauty industry.
Now for women of color, the question is, do you have a shade that works for our culture? We are a myraid of undertones brought on by the systemic rape of our enslaved people around the world.
Saie offers very light, light medium, medium, medium tan, deep, and rich shades.
If you decide to order on line — never a good idea, in my opinion — they offer help in picking your shade. You simply text “Saie” to 1 (833) 761-7421 to receive access to their skin concierge. They will ask you to send a selfie and will text you their shade recommendation.
Here’s some advice that has worked very well for me. In selecting your perfect match, understand that it goes beyond the color of your skin. Its distinct shade is determined by two factors – skin tone and undertone.
And because we are so blessed by the God/Goddess of your own understanding, we are infused with melanin and that’s what skin tone is – its the presence or absence of the pigment aka melanin. The more melanin your skin has, the darker your skin tone will be.
Undertone is the tinting that’s just below the surface of your skin and that could range from pink or red to green or yellow. That’s the trick — the undertone—and for years, most makeup brands didn’t address this fact, leaving us with makeup that didn’t compliment our skin complexity.
And it’s important to understand that your skin can darken or lighten over time and there are a lot of factors that can make this change like sun exposure or lack of sun. But, note that your undertone will always remain the same.
Now to really get into the facts of the matter, two people may have the same skin tone, but different undertones, resulting in distinctly different appearances.
Undertones can generally be classified into one of three categories:
Neutral: A mixture of colors or an apparent lack of them is regarded as neutral undertones.
Warm: Warm undertones include yellow, peachy, or golden colors.
Cool: Pink, red, or blue hues are considered cool undertones.
Just remember, whatever makeup you choose, skin care is the first step to any makeup routine. For me, I am treating myself to Buttah — a skin care system created by an African American man who understands (intimately) what melanin rich skin needs.
Here are my thoughts on the Saie beauty brands – the hits and the misses.
Hits
Slip Tint (broad sepectum SPF 35 Tinted Moisturizers) is their best-selling and multiaward-winning tinted moisturizer which is packed it with a blend of nourishing, skin-loving ingredients while still providing clean SPF 35 protection.
One of the signatures of this brand is that each shade is blended into a wide range of skin tones and delivers our dewy, signature SaieGlow™. The ingredients that seem to help the most is the deeply hydrating Hyaluronic Acid and the Licorice Root that extract brightens and refines.
Glowy Super Gel promises to illuminate and to create a dewy skin. You can wear this alone, under makeup or mixed with foundation or tinted SPF as a primer or apply all over to get a
super-glowy finish. Keeping on the clean track, this product is recyclable. When empty, recycle the glass after twisting off the plastic pump to remove the inner pouch.
Fluffy Brush is designed to be first-time-powder-person friendly, which means, it’s hard to make a mistake. Its pinpointed tip allows you to precisely tap powders on targeted areas while the soft fluffy bristles give you an all-over, airy application.
Big Brush is a multi-use blender and buffing brush is dense, yet incredibly soft, for buffing and blending. The bristles are ultra-soft, cruelty-free synthetic bristles and works for both cream and liquid-based formulas, whipping it into skin for a flawless, filtered effect.
Dew Blush is a creamy water-based gel blush that gives a natural flush of just-pinched color. It comes in six shades.
Misses
Hydrabeam concealer is packed with clinically-tested, powerhouse ingredients like Squalane, Glycerin, Cucumber, and Tomato extract. This is a very ultra-hydrating, sheer concealer that covers and is promised to illuminate.
Airset is a loose-setting powder that promises to set, smooth and diffuse and is designed for all skin types, leaving a signature SaieGlow™. Their formula has hydrating Squalane, which deeply moisturizes skin and leaves it plump and smooth, and ethically-sourced Mica for luminous, supple skin that’s never cakey or dry.
Well, I tried this a few times and it caked under my eye, leaving it looking dry and aging my eyes. The first time — ever — a setting powder did this.
Overall SAIE beauty is a solid choice for women of color. You might have to mix a few elements to get it just right, but in the end, I think, you will be happy. Don’t forget to clean your skin because great makeup begins with healthy, clean skin.
To learn more about the products sold under the SAIE brand, visit saiehello.com/collections/all.
