What can we say, we’re a sucker for freckles! The moment we spotted our next Love Your Skin star, Nevaeh, we were charmed by her gorgeous curls and perfect scattering of cheeky freckles. We know spots are now considered covetable (just look at all the freckle pens that have popped up in beauty aisles), but that certainly hasn’t always been the case. For centuries, and across many cultures, a traditionally ‘flawless’ complexion has been synonymous with an absence of any pigmentary marks. And, excuse us, but that’s 100% BS! In our current era what it means to have flawless skin is being redefined, with the scope expanded (finally!) to include more displays of variable melanin. Recognizing the incredible beauty in faces that are freckled, graced with a birth mark or vitiligo brings a bit of joy to our hearts, while reinforcing our belief that being perfectly imperfect is where it’s at.

Nevaeh shared with us a bit about the relationship she has with her skin, including how she’s embracing all aspects of her complexion and avoiding the pitfalls of social media skincare trends.

Here’s her story:

What do you love about your skin today? 

I'm finally starting to love my freckles because it's more inclusive to have them now. When I was younger, it was like, the ‘little ugly girl with the freckles’ and then it got embedded into my brain. But I’m learning that everyone is unique and I'm starting to live my purpose.

How did you feel about your skin growing up?

I'm mixed, but I’m very pale for being mixed. So it was always like, I’m too white for some Black people and then too Black for some white people. And then I always heard comments about my freckles like, ‘they messed up and didn’t give you all the melanin you're supposed to get.’ I definitely had some issues [with] liking my pale skin and the freckles. But now I like how unique I look. I'm starting to like it more and more every day.

When did you start getting more comfortable?

After I graduated high school because I wasn't around people my age that would be saying those things. And then I started seeing a lot more representation of mixed people with ginger backgrounds and freckles. And everyone started saying, ‘Oh my gosh, you’re so pretty.’ I started thinking, wait, maybe I am pretty.

How do you take care of your skin?

I try to eat as healthy as possible and I chug a lot of water, your skin will tell you when you're not treating your body well. I try to not fall into skincare trends, like peel-off face masks and things like that. I try to stay away from [some trends] because I know a lot of them can be damaging to my skin. But it can be really hard sometimes, especially seeing everything on TikTok. But I mostly use CeraVe because it's basic, but it has what I need.

What’s your background? 

I'm half Afro-Dominican, half Canadian-Scottish. My mom was a ginger strawberry blonde and then my grandma was strawberry blonde. But when I was younger my hair was dark red. I don't know what happened. I don't want to say it’s now fiery red but it's almost an orange shade now.