Vaseline Honors Black Women With Illuminate Me Product LineCredit : sloanestephens / Instagram

In celebration of the Black community's love for Vaseline petroleum jelly, the skin care giant is deepening their ties with the Illuminate Me by Vaseline collection. For the first time, Vaseline has collaborated with influencers to create products and Black women are at the center of this product line. Tapping professional tennis player Sloane Stephens, multimedia artist Cristina Martinez and beauty influencer Shalom Blac, the collaboration has produced the Whipped Body Butter and Shimmering Body Oil after six months of testing various blends and formulas.

As Blac tells Allure, she has been using Vaseline her whole life and for Vaseline to reach out for a collab was a crazy experience. As she recalls, she used Vaseline petroleum jelly as a moisturizer and a lip gloss when she was a child. She also shares that she even mixed it with eyeshadow to create custom lip colors. Martinez's experience with the brand is practically the same. With her cousins, she played and experiment with Vaseline petroleum jelly and used it as an eyeshadow and lipstick. Together with Stephens, Blac and Martinez formulated two ultra-moisturizing products for $10 each.

Illuminate Me Body Care Duo

The packaging is one of the first things you'll notice with the products. The Whipped Body Butter and the Shimmering Body Oil both have silhouettes of a Black woman designed by the artistically talented Martinez. Inspired by their collaborative energy, it only took a few sketches before coming up with the winning design, a process which she admits is usually very extensive.

The body butter is rich and thick and is formulated with glycerin, shea butter and of course, Vaseline's trademark petroleum jelly. The body oil is more lightweight and features sweet almond oil. It also has a blend of bronze, brown, copper, and gold shimmers that gives a gorgeous but subtle sheen to melanin-rich skin. Allure shares that both products smell amazing with the sweet scent of coca butter.

Also read: Beauty Editors Vote For The Best Nude Lipsticks For Dark and Deep Skin Tones

Vaseline's Hero Ingredient

Vaseline celebrates its 150th anniversary this year. Good Housekeeping reports that its hero ingredient, petrolatum, is the most effective occlusive and saves dry and cracked lips and skin. Aside from being a skin salve, below are other uses for Vaseline petroleum jelly.

Eye and lip makeup remover

Using Vaseline as an eye makeup remover serves a dual purpose. One, it removes your makeup effectively. Two, it moisturizes the skin around your eyes and softens your lips. Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Mona Gohara even tells Well + Good that she uses Vaseline instead of eye cream before going to bed.

Lip exfoliator

Mix petroleum jelly with sugar and use it as a lip scrub. Rub the mixture softly on your lips to remove dead skin then wipe it off. Add a thin layer of petroleum jelly after for extra moisture.

Eyebrow tamer

For a natural look, use a disposable mascara brush and apply a little petroleum jelly to your eyebrows to keep them in place.

Protect your skin from hair dye stains

When you dye your hair at home, prevent dark stains on skin by spreading a thin layer of petroleum jelly along your hairline, the back of your neck and on the tops of your ears.

Save cracked heels

Our heels often get thick, dry, and cracked. Use a pumice stone on your heels in the shower then apply a thick layer of Vaseline on your heels and spread some thinly all over the feet. Slip on some socks and wake up with softer feet in the morning.

Related article: Thirteen Lune: The Online Mecca for Black and Brown-Owned Beauty Products