WITH ELISA SEDNAOUI DELLAL – omayma skin

It is with great pleasure to share the first in our blog series of beauty insider stories with some of the incredible people Omayma has worked with as a Celebrity Makeup Artist. 

Today, we interview the incredible Elisa Sednaoui Dellal who has taken her voice as a phenomenal and inspiring Social Entrepreneur.

You have such an exquisite array of incredible cultures- Egyptian, Italian, French, married to an English Brazilian Iraqi, and you have lived and worked in so many amazing places. 

How do you think these have influenced your view of beauty?

The cultures and most importantly the women in my family, with their love of pure, minimal and feminine beauty, have shaped my taste. Their love of timeless things, sophistication in understated simplicity. I love character in women, confidence in our uniqueness and what is commonly defined as “exoticism”. 

Last year I had the absolute pleasure of donating proceedings from my sales to your amazing Non Profit: Funtasia Egypt. Can you tell our readers where this money goes and the impact that your Funtasia is having?

Thank you Omayma and thank you to all the wonderful women who participated to this initiative. You are effectively helping Funtasia further its’ activities in Egypt, Mexico and Italy. 

This year we have been able to surpass 10000 beneficiaries. 

We love to collaborate with brands and create products together for the benefit of the non profit. We are very grateful to all the individual donors and foundations who are able to give funds and gifts in kind. Also one of our main offerings are “creative workshops”, so we are very interested in working with professionals who want to share their knowledge in the form of educational curriculums. 

Soon, our social enterprise will release the first b to c product, that will be available for children and their parents.

Can you share a story from your Non Profit?

I’ll never forget the journey of Hanan, a young girl living in the countryside of Egypt, who had recently lost her father. The first time she entered the Funtasia space she was so shy could not allow herself to speak nor literally to clap her hands in front of men. 

Through the work with Funtasia, she grew to become one of the lead trainers of the team, confident, poised, strong, traveling around Egypt to inspire many others. 

In general, I try to keep the process as simple as possible, for practicality and time. 

Sometimes I’ll apply a Hyaluronic serum before applying the moisturizer. A scrub, enzyme cleanser and mask once in a while. Face fitness with your oil has become a big party to naturally combat gravity and puffiness. Stay tuned for more on this.

What does beauty mean to you? 

Do you have any favorite beauty tools? 

Ice cubes! Metal spoons that have been refrigerated help to flush out toxins. I do love a jade roller too, maybe for the mental feeling that there is also some healing or energetic cleansing going on, as you use it. I also like ice eye masks. 

For make up, it will have to be the lash curler!

And there is a small barber brush that works really well both for baby hair and eyebrows.

I have so many beauty icons! Starting with Christy Turlington and Afef Jnifen.

You’re going on vacation, what do you bring with you? 

I have two travel beauty cases ready at all times. One is bigger, for longer travel and it has all of the main products we’ve been mentioning. I’m very specific about beauty products and don’t like to try at random, so unless I plan to stay long enough in a place where I know I can order my preferred item there directly, I make sure to have everything I usually use. The smaller beauty case for shorter trips has the bare minimum. I like to have the “fundamentals” in smaller reusable containers. As the years go by, I want to travel always lighter.

What are some of your current favorite beauty products?

Are there any beauty trends you’d like to see come back? 

As the good millennial, generation X girl that I am, I think I will always love a sort of “glossy”, “shiny”, “dewy” , “luminous” look 

Botox, fillings and surgery at a very young age. 

I did try a few years ago CST, collagen stimulation treatment which is a type of  professional micro needling, supposed to stimulate the production of type 0 cells (like newborns). The results are phenomenal.

In terms of facials I do like the deep cleansing ones with extractions that I can’t do myself! In the USA I’ve started doing the Hydrafacial.