Maeve Nonye shares her five-minute all-rounder routine for a cute day out. If you’re all about minimal makeup and protective hairstyles, you’d love this.
Sometimes, you look at someone and can’t tell they have a five-minute beauty routine because of how immaculate they look. I had the pleasure of meeting content creator Maeve Nonye a few months ago, and true to her Instagram presence, she stunned me with her natural hair. A full, healthy mane that radiated vitality. Her makeup was elegant, just enough to elevate her look without overpowering her natural beauty. I learnt about her through natural hairstyling tips and tutorials, but seeing her in person sparked my interest in her full beauty routine.
Maeve Nonye’s online content is impactful. With nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram, she champions authentic beauty, self-love, and natural hair care on social media. She creates tutorials, storytelling, and daily beauty inspiration that feels intimate and relatable. Maeve Nonye isn’t just an influencer; she’s creating a community where Black women celebrate their textures and glow in their skin.
In this edition of My Beauty Hack, Maeve Nonye walks us through her five-minute beauty routine — skincare, makeup and hair. She shares her ultimate hacks, go-to products, and why she believes beauty goes beyond products and routines.
Read also: My beauty hack with Lisa Joy—the 15-minute makeup routine
Five-minute beauty routine
Skin first, always
Maeve’s skincare routine reflects that beauty is about self-recognition. It is layered, thoughtful, and deeply personal. “Beauty to me, beyond product and skincare, is simply all about recognising our uniqueness. Recognising it, embracing it, celebrating it, maintaining it, and enhancing it, because we are all unique and that’s what makes us beautiful in our own ways.”
Her five-minute skincare routine involves a cleanser, double toning to balance her skin, acne treatment and niacinamide serum. She particularly loves products from Glow Recipe, “I will never gate-keep their products. My skin loves these products because they are gentle yet potent. They make me glow”
Even a five-minute beauty routine is incomplete without sunscreen. Maeve applies her SPF with precision, using a lightweight product, mattifying and perfect for her combination skin. She also adds a gua sha massage to reduce puffiness. “I have a puffy face, and doing this really helps to de-puff. I try to do this every morning and sometimes at night—it really does make a difference.”
Her final step is a classic I love: Vaseline for the lips, and she believes it is better than any other moisturising lip product. “When lip products caused me contact dermatitis, my dermatologist told me to just use Vaseline. It hasn’t failed since.”
Skincare products
Bolden Clarifying Cleanser
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Pore Tightener
Skin by Zaron Moisture Boost Hydrating Essence
Topicals Clarifying and Calming Mist
Glow Recipe Watermelon Glow Niacinamide Dew Drops
Garnier BHA+Niacinamide Daily UV Fluid SPF50
Gua sha massage
Vaseline
Read also: Skincare love languages – What your self-care routine says about you
The one makeup step she never skips: blush
Maeve approaches makeup as an extension of her personality. It’s light, playful, and rule-breaking. “One beauty rule I don’t mind breaking is definitely doing what works for me and not what the makeup community says. Natural makeup looks best on me.”
She starts her five-minute makeup routine with a trusted mattifying primer, then proceeds to use foundation only on her hyperpigmentation spots. Her signature step, however, is blush, lots of it. “If there’s a step in my makeup routine that I would never ever skip, it would always be my blush application. I wear minimal makeup, but blush makes it look like I’m wearing all the makeup in the world.” Her blush routine requires two shades of blush, pink-tone and red-tone, to create a gradient effect.
Then she goes in with minimal concealer with a great hack for blending. “Spray your brush with setting spray before blending concealer. It helps it blend quickly and smoothly.” For her lips, Maeve loves a cute nude shade. To create the perfect shade, she blends two lip liners in black and brown to match her complexion. Then she lightly applies a matte red lipstick before topping it with two nude lip glosses — a lighter shade first and then a slightly darker one over the lip liner. “Doing my lips is my favourite part — it just ties everything together,” she admits.
She ends her makeup routine with mascara on the lower lashes for a whimsical look and double setting sprays to keep it long lasting. When it comes to drugstore finds, Maeve doesn’t hesitate, “If there’s any drugstore makeup that I love, it has to be Maybelline. The products are really high quality, they blend well, and they’re affordable.”
Makeup products
Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Mattifying Face Primer
Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Foundation
e.l.f Camo Liquid Blush in Coming In Hot
NARS Radiant Creamy Concealer
Maybelline Lifter Lip liner
MAC Retro Matte Lipstick in Ruby Woo
Zaron XOXO lip glosses in Flawless and Coco
Maybelline Lash Sensational Sky High Mascara
Maybelline Fit Me Matte + Poreless Setting Spray
One Size On ‘Til Dawn Waterproof Setting Spray
The game-changing hair routine she swears by
Haircare is Maeve’s favourite part of beauty, and we can tell from her content. She’s currently wearing human hair boho braids, and while they can get matted, she keeps them fresh with careful maintenance. Her scalp treatment starts with rosemary water, “This is very nice for itchy scalp, whether you have braids on or not. It’s good for the scalp and also helps to stimulate hair growth.”
While that dries down, she follows this with water spritz on the body of the hair, then goes through it to finger-pick the curls. Then, she applies a styling mousse, which she dilutes with a little water as well. Finally, for some extra shine, she uses a repair oil, massaging it into her roots and all over the hair.
Maeve believes that it is important to take care of your natural hair when it’s in protective style to keep it from drying out. When you take out your braids, it saves you from hair breakage. Her top tip is to do all these at least once a week to make sure your hair and scalp are protected and moisturised.
Her game-changing discovery is deep conditioning; it’s her answer to many hair issues her audience may have. “My whole life changed when I discovered deep conditioning. If your hair is breaking or not growing, you need to deep condition because hair is a dead cell, and it needs that to thrive.” If she could only use three products forever, Maeve’s list would be: a leave-in conditioner, a shampoo, and edge wax. “Edge wax is also essential so I don’t look like a mess. I even use it for my brows,” she adds.
Hair products
As I Am Naturally Rosemary Water
Eco Style 5-N-1 Styling Foam
L’Oréal Absolut 10 in 1 Perfecting Multipurpose Oil
Khalida Naturals Stronghold Edge Control
Read also: Humidity tries, but I win – so here’s my humidity-proof haircare guide to help you win too
Maeve Nonye’s ultimate beauty hack
Maeve’s ultimate hack ties everything together. Knowledge is key. “Learn basic knowledge concerning skincare, makeup, and haircare.” It saves you time and money, especially while dealing with a range of issues. She also advocates for buying high-quality products if you can afford to, because they aren’t a waste of money; they actually work. Maeve leaves us with a reminder of our beauty, regardless of the beauty routine. “Some days are for just lip gloss and a nice hairstyle with no makeup. Other days, you put it all on. Be confident in your skin either way.”
Watch Maeve get ready and spill some more secrets in her five-minute beauty routine here.
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