055. Noshaba, TF Pay It Forward, Mother’s Day
An update on Noshaba skincare, bringing back a Tender Forms favorite, and films to watch with Mom on Mother’s Day.
Hi, I’m Maggie and welcome to Tender Forms Off-Camera: a weekly newsletter about slow beauty and slow living. Links in this newsletter may include affiliate links or discount referrals. If you enjoy and would like to support this newsletter, click the button below or shop through my links! No pressure but thank you if you do.
If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll recognize these items from this post a few months back. I know it’s been a while, but the update is finally here!
Noshaba Apothecary is founded by Omosefe, whose love of beauty came from being immersed in it throughout her early modeling career. Since then, she’s worked at bridging the gap between aesthetic beauty and the abundant beauty our home, Earth, has to offer. She has traveled all over the world and lived in multiple countries. Noshaba meaning “Water of Life” in Arabic, was born during her travels to Marrakech.
Since then, she’s been on an incredible journey of more travel, studying, sourcing, and handcrafting herbal skin remedies. Today, I’m sharing about two items she kindly gifted. Let’s start with SAHARA.
Noshaba Apothecary SAHARA* ($40 for 30ml, $148 for 200ml)
SAHARA is a (Vit-A)lity Regenerating Body Serum. The play on the word “vitality” is is for its plentiful amount of Vitamin A. SAHARA is a blend of Carotene abundant fruits, rich oils, and African botanics attributing to its unique scent.
I love the simplicity of Noshaba’s packaging. Glass bottles offer an unobstructed view of the gorgeous blend of oils and stunning colors unique to each item. A clean, white label sits wonderfully against the saturated hues providing only the brand and item name.
I’m going to dive in because there’s no way to sugarcoat it: the scent is not for me. Those familiar with my nose’s preferences know that vanilla scents can be tricky. Not only is the vanilla highly potent in this, but the scent itself is very strong and lingers for several hours on the skin. It also permeates clothing and remains on it for days after. But if you love vanilla, you’ll love SAHARA. It’s a rich, creamy vanilla, mixed with Moroccan Saffron and Rose, and Orange Absolute.
As for the performance, this serum is, again, potent. The blend of oils is truly gorgeous, offering deep hydration with just a few drops. Unfortunately, this felt too heavy for my skin. I went in rather generously during my first use, and it had a clogging feeling. When my skin gets clogged, I develop random one-off hives that usually go away within a half hour or so, and this did just that. The following few times, I knew to go in with very little and my skin was happy, although it seemed to never fully sink in, leaving a slight greasy feeling on the surface. Beware if you’re wearing light clothing as the oil will stain.
And then, of course, there was the scent I couldn’t get past. It’s so intense to my nose that it made me slightly nauseated on several occasions. And the fact that it lingered on clothing made it a no-go. I also think calling it a serum led me to believe it would be a lighter formula. While instead, it’s the definition of a rich, luxurious body oil.
Although this didn’t work for me, it makes an ideal body oil for those with dry to extremely dry skin or anyone living in drier climates. It’s also excellent for wintertime.
The price for a 30ml may seem slightly steep, but you honestly need the tiniest amount for deep hydration. The other size option comes at a whopping 200ml (~6.76floz) and becomes half the price per ounce, making it a steal. The only potential issue is that once it’s opened, it is “Not to exceed 6 months.” Those are the words on the website! I barely made a dent the times I used it (even slathered over my entire body) because I needed so little. Even with regular use, I would not have been able to finish the 30ml within 6 months.
Noshaba Apothecary SOLOWA* ($64 for 30ml, $96 for 20ml)
SOLOWA is a (Vit-A)lity Retinoic Concentrate. I am by no means an expert when it comes to anything that has to do with retinol. I currently don’t use any in my skincare routines, nor do I seek them out just yet. I may use them in the future, but I don’t feel my skin particularly needs it for now. SOLOWA is the second retinol product I’ve tried. The other was Sunday Riley’s LUNA years ago (2016?), which caused all types of havoc on my skin.
SOLOWA, on the other hand, is magical. The scent is what I love most about it. This has the purest tropical passion fruit scent I’ve ever experienced, more concentrated than the fruit itself! It is so lovely; it will instantly put a smile on your face. This scent also contains Madagascar Vanilla Bean, but I don’t mind it one bit in this version. The scent is almost indescribable; you just have to experience it for yourself.
This oil is aptly named a concentrate because it is packed with 21 botanicals that supply Vitamin A, C, and E, Beta-Carotene, and Carotenoids. It’s meant to tighten, firm, restore, soothe, and regenerate. You can use it day or night, on its own, or mixed with a mist, toner, serum, or facial oil. Just remember to shake well before each use.
The directions say for best results to use a ½ vial in the evening after exfoliation or in the morning for extra sun protection. I always start off slow when introducing new skincare, so I went in with two drops in the evening. This is a heavier oil serum and glides across the skin beautifully. Similar to SAHARA, it takes a while to sink in, even on very damp skin.
As my skin became acclimated, I increased it to 3 drops per evening and then added going in with 2 drops in the morning. And I can’t say I noticed much difference. It has a tightening feeling but doesn’t translate outwardly. It also caused my skin to develop several dry patches, which led to breakouts. The breakouts were minimal, just a pesky one or two along the cheek area, but they were the deep red, slightly painful kind that never comes to a head.
I adjusted my skincare to help provide more hydration but could never find the right blend. Once I stopped using this, my skin went back to normal, with no more rough dry patches. This was just with using 3 drops, so I can’t imagine how my skin would have reacted to ½ a vial’s worth. SOLOWA is perhaps simply too active for my skin.
I love Noshaba Apothecary’s brand ethos. And I had the pleasure of a long video call with Omosefe herself, a generous and kind soul. I absolutely support all of her efforts in sourcing and formulating. Unfortunately, these two just weren’t for me.
Since both the Noshaba Apothecary products didn’t work for me, I wanted to bring back the Tender Forms Pay It Forward. You might remember my last one from Instagram, where I sent along two (spritzed only once) Sigil perfumes in their original packaging. And I recently did another with books in Newsletter 053.
I am genuinely honored that brands send me items to try. But I only have one face, and sometimes no matter how beautiful the item is, it just isn’t a match for my skin, skin tone, or nose. I also included items I love or purchased myself, but again, I only have one face, so I want to give it a better home. And so, I’d love to pay it forward and give you a chance to try these items if you’ve been eyeing them!
You can choose up to four (4) items in the above form.* I’ll give the exterior a good clean with alcohol, pack them up, and ship it to you for free! These items range from lightly used (swatched or tried once or twice) to used (halfway point). I’m hoping to put more brand new or only swatched items on there soon!
Please know if you’ve ever commented or emailed directly that your words, generosity, and kindness mean so much, so this is just a small way of saying thanks for subscribing.
*You must be a subscriber to partake, and it’s only for U.S residents at this time. If you are international and really want to try something, send me an email, and we’ll work something out!
A very happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms, Grandmas, and Aunts! I never thought to consider Aunts into Mother’s Day, but I saw it somewhere in the depths of an Instagram scroll, and I quite like the idea! Especially for Aunts who are very present in their nieces and nephews’ lives, why wouldn’t we include them in Mother’s Day?
Speaking of Aunts, it’s always weird to remember that I am one. I wish we lived closer to our niece and nephew, but alas, we must be content with FaceTime for now. But our FaceTimes are lovely! Just last week, when it was my birthday, they called me, and it was so heartwarming and filled me with brightness and joy. It was also an especially tough workday, but their cute, sweet faces and fun energy really transformed my day and put me in such a great mood afterward.
If my Mom were here, I’d be looking for a movie for us to enjoy together. She’s currently visiting family in Taiwan, but in the spirit of finding a movie, here are 10 film suggestions to watch with the Mom, Grandma, Aunt in your life. To keep things fresh, these are movies that haven’t appeared elsewhere in a newsletter before, listed in chronological order:
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you are having a wonderful Mother’s Day or an all-around great Sunday. It’s a miracle this newsletter made it out this morning because work has been insane. I have so much exciting makeup content coming up and can’t wait to share it with you. What have you been up to lately? How have you been? Remember, you can always comment or reply directly to this email to chat one on one.
Here is a song to end today’s newsletter. It’s what I’m currently listening to as I proofread this, and it happens to be perfect for the was-sunny-now-overcast day here in Portland.
As always, I hope you have a great start to your week. See you next Sunday!