[upbeat music]
- Hi, I'm Imam,
and today I'm gonna be showing you my beauty secrets,
both skincare and everyday glam.
First step is beauty from within.
So I use everyday, turmeric and ginger elixir,
but I like to mix it with, you know, a bit of water.
So I mix it with my favorite water, Fiji,
A beauty secret that I've used since I was 12 years old,
it's from Somalia.
We are taught from young age,
that the skin you take care of in your twenties,
is the one you're going to inherit
in your sixties and seventies.
And this served me well.
Really, try it at home, it's an easy DIY
because it's everything that you can find
and it's cost effective.
So I start with two tablespoons of flour
and three tablespoons of milk.
And next is the magic.
It's one teaspoon of turmeric powder
and then a splash of honey.
So here it is,
I mixed it all.
And you want this consistency, you see?
So before we start with the mask,
I'm going to put a head wrap on.
So here it is,
I put my headband and you see,
it is black because it can stain, turmeric.
So now it's all mixed and I'm going to put it on my face.
And I really want you to see how it looks.
I've been doing this mask since I was 12.
I leave this for like 20 to 30 minutes.
So next step is the eyes.
I'm usually extra, extra vigilant
about what I put under there
and everything has to be hydrated.
So here it is, the Peter Thomas Roth, 24 carat Patch.
It is really hydrating.
When it comes to taking it off,
I wash it and use a black or a dark like a Navy washcloth.
And now I'm going to show you my skincare.
The first step.
Now I swear by this, SK-II Essence.
It really just gives you a fresh canvas.
So the next thing I put is this serum from Biologique.
When I was in my twenties and I was modeling,
you do shows and you're changing makeup,
constantly, and wearing heavy, heavy makeup all day.
And then of course, there's the nightlife.
You go out, you're wearing makeup,
you don't take your makeup off, you go to sleep.
And you're twenty and you wake up
and wash your face and go back to work
and you can get away with it.
And then thirties come and girls, it's all over.
You have to take care of your skin at whatever age you are,
do not strip the natural oil that's on your skin.
And you have to learn what skincare works for you.
So, you know, like, as I said, you know,
you're working all day and then you go home
and have a disco nap and put on your makeup again
and go up to studio 54 all night.
At that time,
I really started developing really under eye bags.
And I remember a very famous makeup artist way back,
may he rest in peace he was a genius,
actually introduced me to Preparation H
to put it under my eyes.
But let me tell you, yes, it got rid of the puffiness,
but also dried my under my eyes.
So I never used it again,
but I will always remember him for that.
So next thing is the, eye cream.
Really, really you need that much. You see?
I mix it and just tap.
People are a little bit aggressive with their skin.
I'll be honest. I haven't had any Botox in my face.
Not that I'm against it, but look at it.
I mean, I have a high forehead
and I don't have any wrinkles because
I'm very gentle with my skin.
So I believe in moisturizer.
So this is the right product for me.
We call it black diamond for a reason
because it really works.
And again, like not much.
And the final step is Dennis Cross' spritz.
Its a vitamin C and I find it really perfect.
You know, I have a 40 year old daughter
and I have a 20 year old daughter and I both
instilled in them to take care of their skin.
There are no two way about it.
I find out a lot of young girls are getting surgery
very young, and it is really people
haven't spent time to take care of their skin
and that self-care idea.
But do they listen to it the 40 year old, yes.
The 20 year, no.
So, but it's very, very important
skincare, skincare, skincare,
because I say it is really an investment in yourself
and you will see the results as the years go by.
It's makeup time.
I created Iman cosmetics in 1994, and it's still around.
I wanted to create a brand, a new brand,
for women with skin of color.
I was not interested in the origins of where you're from,
but your skin tone.
So that is why really the brand was created.
At that time it didn't exist.
Thank God now there are a lot of brands who are doing that.
So, I swear by this, it's a concealing foundation.
So I use these two colors.
Let's start with the lighter one, which is Earth 2.
I just put it in my actually hand.
I liked the Kevyn Aucoin brush.
The Whole impetus of creating Iman cosmetics
actually started, the seed was planted in my head,
when I started in 1975.
And my first job was for American Vogue
and there was a makeup artist on set.
He said, did you bring your own foundation?
I had no idea what he was talking about
so I said, no.
So he proceeded to mix some products
and I was looking at what he was doing
because I'm trying to learn on the job.
He put actually some powder that was eye shadow
that was a brown, mixed it with some moisturizer
and started proceeding to put it on my face.
And I looked at the mirror
when he was finished I looked gray.
What happened for me?
The gods of beauty were looking after me
because the pictures were in black and white
and black and white photographs hide multitude of sins.
So I wasn't going to rely upon a makeup artist
who didn't know how to do my skin tone.
As a model, my currency is my image.
You go to a photo shoot and your pictures come out there,
nobody says the lighting was terrible
because the photographer didn't know
how to light a black girl.
What do they say? Oh, we need another model.
She's not good.
So that wasn't going to happen to me.
So what I did was that I really created something
that I will have in my bag all the time
when I was working for print and for runway.
You know, it's not only also makeup let's face it,
there was also the hair issue.
All the stuff that all the Caucasian models were able to do
to transform themselves was not there for us.
I mean, I started talking
and finding black hairdressers so that I,
whenever I would be booked for a job,
I'm will to try to convince the editor
to get this black hair dresser for me, right.
There was this hairdresser called Ellin LaVar.
She started doing hair extensions
and the first person she tried on was me.
And years later, when the new girls came into the scene,
Naomi Campbell and Tyra banks, they both asked me,
where do you have your hair done?
And I send them to Ellin LaVar.
So the next one is the darker shade.
So do you see how just touch darker it is?
Just around my cheekbone, not on the top of the cheekbone,
but just under the cheekbone.
And blend, blend, blend.
Then also on the forehead. Right?
So I really used the concealer from Kevyn Aucoin.
I've known Kevyn Aucoin, like when he started.
One of the ways that he would really do your makeup
is lying down on the floor!
And I asked him one day, why do you do that?
He said, what?
Gravity, darling, gravity?
It always looks better.
Everything when you're lying down.
And I just put, do you see,
I put it not near my eye because I don't need it there.
I need it where the dark circle is.
So this is a trick I learned from Kevyn Aucoin.
Before you put powder, you take a tissue and separate it.
So you need really a thin tissue, right?
You just pat your skin.
What you're taking off is just
the excess oil from the foundation.
It makes you use less powder.
So this is the trick of all tricks.
This has been with me probably two years.
That's how little I use it.
You see that?
And then I take a sponge
and that's as much powder as I use on my face.
And then I like to use Iman Contour Trio.
So I just use that, the darker one, just there.
See how already you see it is defined.
Do you know when I created Imam Cosmetics,
there were no bronzers for women with skin of color.
So they said, why does a black girl need a bronzer?
I said, every girl needs a bronzer
because it just warms the skin.
I use it also in my eyes and I would do it, you know,
just to give it a base.
The next step for me, and it works magic,
is called after glow.
Now it has three colors in there just like the sun.
And I just swirl it around.
And there.
On the cheeks you know, like you have apple cheeks.
And now I'm ready for eyeshadow.
I like a smokey eyeshadow and I have found, finally,
one compact that I can say that I actually use
all the colors and that is Makeup By Mario.
The second before it gets too dark if the one I like.
I personally gravitate towards nudes, you know,
all kinds of nudes, you know,
like from the lightest to the darkest.
You have to pay me to be wearing bright eyed makeup.
I also discovered through a makeup artist,
Lady Gaga's HAUS Labs.
This is a black pencil I love
because it really is streak free.
Its mistake proof.
And then, so I like to use an angled,
you know, thin, thin brush
so that it just gets under the arch and blends it.
I also blend the top cause you want it everything to be,
not a harsh line.
I know a great line it looks great
but at a certain age, it does not.
And finally, the mascara.
I liked the Maestro Armani, Giorgio Armani to you.
Okay. And finally, the brows.
I use Iman cosmetics eyebrow pencil
it's called Blackest Brown.
I like to finish it here.
That's the thing.
You know, I'm just following my natural eyebrow.
And then on the other side.
See? It's lighter, the end.
I had an accident years ago in a cab in New York.
I believe it was like 1987 and a drunk driver
hit the cab and my face went through the partition.
So I ducked at the last minute.
So I hit there and I had to have a surgery on my eye
Thank God, my, eye was saved, but I have a thin cut there
so hair doesn't grow on it.
So I usually just fill it with the eyebrow pencil
right there.
Here's the final touch
I use Iman cosmetics, Espresso its called, its a lip pencil.
After that?
I just take, my favorite product is Laneige.
It's a lip sleeping mask, but I use it everyday.
And last but not least, Love Memoir.
My new fragrance in celebration of my love to my husband,
David Bowie, and it is also a celebration of communal love,
but obviously this was really created for
the memories that I have shared with my husband.
So here it is, I always say,
you're not fully dressed without a perfume.
I like to spritz and then walk into it.
And voila! I'm ready to face the world.
Bye!