We Speak to Alicia Keys on Soulcare

vor 3 years

“When you focus on the inner, the outer is so much more beautiful and confident and peaceful.”

Devote to this moment.
I am free as the air.
Be as expansive as possible.
I am layered, complex, and divine.

These sound like phrases that would be handpainted on rocks lining a pathway to a monastery in upstate New York (or emblazoned in neon in a hipper than thou cafe in West Hollywood.)

But these are the mantras engraved into the bottles of each of Alicia Keys’ new beauty ‘soul’ care products. They are there to serve as a reminder of why you find yourself holding these bottles and tools in the first place. They are there to ground you as you stand in front of the mirror each morning and evening. They are affirmations said to yourself and for yourself, and no one else need hear it. But others will certainly see it.

Alicia made waves when she announced a few years back that she was taking a step away from make up. And I don’t mean she was going to dabble in the ‘no make up make up’ look. She meant that if you wanted to arrange a cover photoshoot, you needn’t hire a make up artist. It meant if you were inviting her to present at an award show, she would not allow any powdering of her cheeks. You want her presence? You can have it, but she makes the rules. And her rules were as simple: No make up.

The backlash was crazy! And get this: the majority of it was from women. In taking a stance toward determining her own standard of beauty and comfort, she raised a number of serious talking points to society as a whole and just how in charge and liberated women really are of themselves.

And true enough, Alicia began glowing. I am admittedly obsessed with the Vogue Home Beauty Routines series (I long to be invited. Call me!) and without a doubt, my favorite episode has been of the Songstress herself. Centered. Cool. Calm. Collected. And BEAUTIFUL, holy cow, she was radiant. She lit her candle, she buffed her face, she cleansed and cared and rolled and sang. She enjoyed herself. She so clearly loved herself. She was using her beauty routine as a way to show her love for herself, not force her face into a face she loved. And girl, it shows.

‘My skin changed when I started to look more inside of myself… When I started caring more about what I put inside my body and who I had around me… what kind of energy I was allowing around me…’

So now, we are blessed. Because she has released a line called Soulcare, based around the ethos of care that has worked for her. Fräulein had the honor of speaking to her right before the Soulcare release:

First off, tell us about the idea behind SOULcare.

There’s skin care and there’s body care and there’s hair care and there’s nail care and there are so many cares out there but there was no SOUL care. Once you start caring for the soul, there’s no stopping you once you feel confident, once you have given to yourself and created the space that you need. We’re not taught how to tune into ourselves, or create small rituals to enjoy ourselves… Instead, we feel so guilty about it. Why can’t we love on ourselves without feeling like we’re not doing enough? This Soulcare idea is a way for us to rethink how we are taking the time to care for ourselves.

You call these Soulcare products ‘offerings.’

I don’t want to sell anyone anything. I am not interested in having to convince. Instead, I am offering the opportunity to tune in and reimagine how you can think about time for yourself, and a way to become fuller and brighter and more blissful. This can be extended to others. These products are an offering and an invitation for that.

What does body confidence look like for you?

Accepting yourself as you are, and then loving those parts. Sounds good, yeah, but it is actually hard. We are all faced with insecurities. A barrage has assaulted us since we were young, of what looks good and of what we are supposed to wear… A lot of us struggled. I have too.

When do you feel most beautiful?

I have felt my most beautiful when I am able to really connect with myself and relax into it… I feel most beautiful when I can really care for myself. Like yesterday, I had a nice family gathering and some friends came and we all just got to chill. At one point in the day, I was relaxing and getting changed and put on a large silk robe. Like, you know what? I am beautiful and I am going to own it. Sometimes I shy away from the things that enhance my assets, or are physically beautiful. I am getting out of that habit. I want to wear things that are going to make me feel beautiful. I want to revel in it. I feel most beautiful when I can revel…

And now onto the products (excuse me, the offerings). These babies are luxe: heavy glass bottles in a royal purple shade, natural scents that are present but not overpowering, small touches that make you feel wonderful when in use. The exfoliant comes in a powder form, which can be used either simply with water, or with an aloe vera gel (as I have done), to make sure your skin is nourished while you are buffing. The powder is very fine and soft. It’s lovely. The moisturizer (which also has an amethyst tinge of purple to it in daytime lighting) is nourishing. When my skin is feeling itself as is and only in need of some TLC and appreciation (for those other days, hand over the Skin Food), it’s the perfect daily moisturizer, for both day and night. And now, I have my eye set on the sexy black obsidian roller… THE DREAM ROLLER! as well as the rose tonic, because we can never have enough rose tonics and spritzes in our lives. Who better to romance ourselves than our self? Alicia-approved.

Text by Janna Shaw
All Alicia’s Soulcare offerings are now available in Germany and can be found here