We’ve finally made it to the end of August. For those who don’t know, August also is National Black-Owned Business Month. National Black-Owned Business Month started in 2004 from the efforts of Frederick E. Jordan and John William Templeton. It is a great time to celebrate, uphold and support black-owned businesses and entrepreneurs, a traditionally underrepresented community in terms of overall wealth in the United States.
Being a beauty magazine, we also love to highlight beauty queens in the industry. One particular one being the YouTube beauty-guru Jackie Aina. I have been a follower of her channel for quite some time. I remember watching her makeup tutorials intensely in an effort to improve my foundation game or see what trend she was going to leave for the year ( I always thought beauty trends were a little much at times so seeing them go brought me joy ).
Jackie Aina has been beauty guru and best friend to many viewers like me. Her channel provided some of the best GRWM videos full of tea-talks, and all around “bestie advice”. Her makeup videos have always been incredibly approachable. And while this is a sort of love-letter to Jackie, it is also a celebration of her luxury lifestyle brand FORVR Mood.
In 2020, Jackie Aina and her life partner Denis Asamoah create FORVR Mood as a passion project. With buckets of hype, the line started with a collection of candles.
While more luxurious products are said to be on the way ( she admittedly said that makeup takes a lot more time to test) , the beginning was with her love of fragrances in the form of 4 coconut wax candles.
Now the line has both expanded and upgraded. FORVR Mood offers smaller candle sets in addition to the original 4 core candles and a new Self Care Club that offers exclusives limited candles and private invitations.
At the core of the personal brand that Jackie Aina is, YouTube and beyond, is community. Part of her success comes from the care that was consistently shown in her videos. It is also a key focus of her lifestyle brand as well. The brand not only states that community is its priority, it actually follows through.
In addition to intiatives such as the Self Care Club, the collection went through an upgrade that addressed issues previously noted by customers. Being able to stay accountable and communicative to your audience is not only respectfully human, but it also shows the dedication that all companies should follow.
The candles went through their glow up, now promising higher quality fragrances, faster shipping and a better burning experience.
And guess what? They delivered.
Upon my recent trial of the adored best-selling candle Cuffing Season, the candle burned beautifully. As with any candle you must still trim the wick before each re-lighting to prevent “mushrooming”. However, the pool was always even. The flame was always calm.
The candle itself is a beautiful luxurious addition to any room. The fragrance, while it will not permeate a very large space, had a noticeably fresh and well balanced scent.
It’s somewhat of a rarity to find such admirable traits as sincerity, accountability, and quality beauty in a brand. However, to me, it is not surprising that we find it in FORVR Mood. After all, it is a brand coming from the same spirit that created a beauty makeup channel with humble beginnings that grew into the force it is today – A luxurious lifestyle powerhouse.
It is also especially warming to see YouTube stars I’ve watched over the years grow and expand. Perhaps it is the nostalgia factor kicking in again. But in the end, we do love to see our queens succeed.
You can purchase FORVR Mood candles on the official FORVR Mood website or on Sephora.com ( where they also have some of those limited edition candles ).
