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Nyakio Grieco Swears By This Treatment to Get Rid of Zits Overnight

The beauty founder shares all her must-have products.

I Swear by This
nyakio grieco

Welcome to I Swear By This, an interview series where we chat with our favorite fashion and beauty insiders about the beauty products they use down to the last drop. This week we asked Nyakio Grieco, the founder of beauty brand Nyakio, co-founder of Thirteen Lune, an e-commerce platform dedicated to Black- and brown-owned beauty brands, and co-host of The Beauty Vanguard podcast, to share all the products she's loving right now.

When Nyakio Grieco reflected on the launch of Nyakio Beauty back in her 20s, she realized that while the brand made significant strides, it also faced plenty of obstacles. It wasn't until she entered her 40s when she realized that many of the struggles she faced were related to the fact that she's a Black beauty brand founder rather than any personal failures.

Grieco wants to ensure that Black and brown beauty founders don't have to deal with the same struggles and hardships that she faced while coming up in the industry. So she teamed up with Patrick Herning to found Thirteen Lune, an e-commerce platform focused on clean, Black- and brown-owned beauty brands. With her namesake brand, Thirteen Lune, and a recently launched podcast, Grieco is a busy woman. But she's working towards the goal of making the beauty industry a more equitable space, making all of those late nights more than worth it.

Below, she shares the hair-care, skin-care, makeup, and fragrance products that top her holy-grail list.

Violet Paste Overnight Blemish Treatment

"Even though I'm in my 40s, I still get the occasional breakout. This product is a miracle worker inspired by a 70-year-old French recipe. It draws out excess oils while calming inflammation overnight to help reduce blemishes."

Plenaire
$42

BlunderCover

"I'm not a big foundation person, but this product is amazing and helps give me the coverage that I need for my dark circles, hyperpigmentation, and just an all-over even skin tone. It enhances your natural features without the heaviness of typical foundations, it gives you buildable coverage, and there are shades for truly everyone!"

Monika Blunder Beauty
$52

Mineral Tinted Sunscreen SPF 30

"Sunscreen is a 365-day-a-year non-negotiable necessity. Even with darker skin, I absolutely need to protect my skin from harmful rays. This sunscreen is perfect for giving me the protection I need without that purple or white cast other sunscreens might leave behind. I also love the tint in this product because it gives me a dewy glow."

Unsun Cosmetics
$29

Central Park West Eau de Parfum

"NYC is both my home away from home and truly my happy place. Wearing this fragrance in L.A., where I'm located now, makes me feel connected to the city I love so much. It's a clean floral, so the scent is sophisticated and not too heavy."

Bond No. 9
$250

Eyeshadow Palette

"Hands down my absolute favorite eyeshadow is the Prados x Steven Paul Judd eyeshadow palette. Prados was founded by Cece Meadow, an Indigenous beauty founder who celebrates her Native American heritage through her brand. The colors in this palette are stunning, colorful, and truly make me happy every time I use them. There is a wide array of colors, and the formula is clean, creamy, and it wears so wonderfully on the skin. You can wear it all day and it doesn't crease or slip off your lids."

Prados x Steven Paul Judd
$38

Maracuja and Yangu Rescue Oil

"I learned all about the restorative power of oils through beauty secrets passed down to me by my Kenyan grandfather who was a medicine man. We have to use oil to fight oil (yes, even if you have oily skin). Our skin is made up of oils, and so when we add oil back into our skin, it helps to balance out our natural oils. This product helps to soothe redness and inflammation and gives me that ageless glow."

Nyakio Beauty
$40

Brightening Night Balm

"This balm is my last step in my nighttime ritual. I struggle with hyperpigmentation, and this helps to reduce the appearance of my discoloration while also nourishing and repairing my skin while I sleep. I always wake up with a glow and more even skin tone. It's rich and luxurious without feeling heavy or clogging my pores."

Epara
$140

Deep Conditioner

"I have extremely dry hair that has a hard time getting—and staying—hydrated. This deep conditioner is a game changer that helps my hair to retain moisture while also making it easy for me to style my natural curls. I also love to blowdry my hair and also wear a lot of protective styles, so this product helps to repair my hair from heat damage and soothe my strands when I come out of tight braids. The best part about this conditioner is it works on all hair types and gives the much-needed moisture we all need for the healthiest strands."

Rizos Curls
$20
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