In celebration of Lelive. a range of essentials that is making a scene in the skincare world, the actor opens up about her new range that is created by a community on social media alongside expert formulators, the first drop is a thank you letter to everyone that supported Lelive. on their journey to creating this skincare range, as well as a celebration of what makes Africans truly unique.
Clean, simple, effective and affordable were her main goals when creating this collection. “The entire range has been formulated to be kind to you and the environment, using ingredients (which are 95% natural and up to 5% plant-identical) that are sourced responsibly with local ingredients being celebrated throughout the range, and the packaging (which is mostly aluminium due to its recyclability) avoids the use of plastic wherever possible. They're also vegan, cruelty-free, dermatologist tested and reef safe!” she said.
Below, see Amanda’s thoughts on sunscreen, her biggest beauty inspiration and her favourite product from the range. Then, keep reading to find out how Lelive. worked for me. By the way, the range is unisex.
Her take on skincare
‘’It's my first time creating a skincare range, but my journey into natural products started with my hair and slowly infiltrated re-looking everything I put into my body, including what I eat – so skincare was a natural progression and is something I'm really passionate about because when we started there wasn't a brand out there that was giving me and what the community that we built on social media were wanting, so the only option was to do it ourselves.”
The importance of using SPF
‘’That you don't have to wear it if you have dark skin, and that you don't have to wear it when you're inside during the day. The effects of the sun are experienced by everyone (regardless of your skin tone or where you spend your days). SPF is essential for everyone, every day, no matter what!”
Learning about the benefits of skincare ingredients
‘’We did a lot of our own research – something which is very common these days because skincare is so complicated. What we found is that our community was also doing the same but was in search of a product with all the beneficial (and none of the harmful) ingredients that we had all been educating ourselves on.’’
Naming the moisturizers
‘’My favourite products have to be the moisturisers – that’s why I even named one of them after me! From the jump, I completely fell in love with them and knew that they would become bestsellers because they were truly on par with some of the most expensive and well-known brands internationally that I’ve also used over the years.’’
My take on Lelive.
First things first I have very sensitive skin and it sometimes is oily or dry and disclaimer it takes time to see enough skin improvements, so this is my take after using the products for a month. I tend to get sceptical of trying out new products because I don’t know how my skin would react to the product but with Lelive. it was a breeze because it’s smooth, clean and fragrance-free which is a bonus.
The Cleansers: The range has two cleansers which are called the ‘’Jelly Splash’’ and ‘’Cleanser Colada’’. The jelly splash is my favourite and contains rooibos green tea, aloe, and rose water to soothe and purify, salicylic acid, niacinamide, and lactic acid to renew and hyaluronic acid (my favourite ingredient in products) and shea butter esters to hydrate the skin. It is not harsh on your eyes when using it and has shea butter which is a famous African ingredient, that’s a bonus. Upon contact with my damp skin, the texture transformed into a luxe jelly lather. It almost felt like a smooth mask—that's how rich the consistency is. I tried the cleanser colada and it wasn’t the right choice for my skin type. This one contains, kalahari melon, marula, and mongongo oils that are suitable for removing excess sebum, pollution and makeup which I don’t wear, pineapple enzyme for gentle exfoliation and squalane and coconut oil to moisturise and renew your skin. If you have very dry skin, I would recommend you to use the cleanser colada as your cleanser.
The serums: It consists of two serums which are called ‘all glow’d up’ and ‘save our skin (sos)’. All glow’d up consists of vitamin c and turmeric to brighten your skin, bakuchiol and aloe to clear and soothe and multi-molecular weight hyaluronic acid to hydrate. Save our Skin (sos) has salicylic, citric, lactic and tartaric acid to exfoliate the skin, peach and willowbark to renew and aloe and panthenol to soothe. Admittedly, my skin is drawn to all glow’d up because after using it I get that tingly sensation which is good for the texture of my skin and I glow differently. Hyperpigmentation is my biggest skin ailment, so I'm excited to continue using all glow’d up to see what it does for the dark spots around my cheeks.
The Moisturisers: I have come to the conclusion that we are spoilt for choice when it comes to Lelive. products because they come in pairs. First up is ‘créme de la cream’ which is your everyday moisturiser and is perfect for cell renewal and the production of collagen. This product has African mahogany and peptides to firm and renew, marula, shea and baobab to moisturise and vitamin E and rosehip to protect. If you didn’t know this, you need to know that collagen plays a vital role in strengthening the skin, plus it benefits elasticity and hydration. As you age, your body produces less collagen, leading to dry skin and the formation of wrinkles hence why the combination of African mahogany is important.
The second moisturiser is the ‘the du-pont’; shea butter lush moisturiser. It contains shea butter and squalane to moisturise, hyaluronic acid and panthenol to hydrate and niacinamide and turmeric to renew. I have no favourite when it comes to these two moisturizers because they both serve their individual purposes and have assisted my skin in feeling dewy, moist and once applied they offer a sheer finish that leaves my skin glowy.
SPF: I’ve always avoided using sunscreen because it would leave behind that annoying ghostly white caste, chalky finish, and non-absorbent texture that just sits on top of your skin and starts to flake. As soon as I started to afford skincare products because I wasn’t a student anymore, I would try out different SPF’s but the Lelive. ‘all the shade’; marula tinted SPF 30 (broad-spectrum) moisturiser is the girl that she thinks she is. It contains zinc and vitamin E to protect from the sun rays and light of course from your computer, in the house or even from your mobile screens, sweet almond and marula oils to moisturise and hyaluronic acid and aloe to hydrate. To be honest the ‘all the shade’ is here to elevate the flooded SPF market. It’s not oily which my pores love and has a feather-light feel that absorbs into the skin immediately.
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