The multi-hyphenate creative, Keitumetse Naomi Phakathi better known as K Naomi on socials, is our Instagram favourite. She is best known for presenting on Top Entertainment in 2012, but a decade later, we see the South African TV star captivating people with her classy, simple and confident self. 

As a creative setting foot in almost everything, Naomi authenticity is the key to standing out and loving more of what you do. And in that way, we can see individuality play out. It is an influencer’s duty to take something mundane and basic and shape it into their identity and personality. This is what we see with K Naomi, living in the content creation world but letting it blend into her world, which is keeping it simple, hopping onto trends but keeping it authentic, and most surprisingly, using beauty tricks to enhance her natural features. 

She lets us in on her busy world of events, brands, and shoots, and how she keeps it simple and collected by her beauty tricks, her style,  and shares her natural skin routine. For Naomi, it’s all about coming back to what feels right for the individual. 

Same energy at home and at events- constant, elegant, and classy. 

One of the obvious things when you scroll through her media is her absolute love for brown and simplicity on her face. ‘I like different shades of brown and nude on my face… neutral colours work well because I am always going for a timeless feel and look,’ she says. The different shades of brown blend perfectly onto her skin. With the shades of brown blending onto her face, she takes clothes into consideration as well.

She’s very cautious of what she lets sit on her face, so for her, makeup should enhance, not alter.  When asked what the secret to keeping a clean and natural face beat is,  she instantly says: ‘I don’t wear eyeshadow when I do my personal makeup and I don’t do glitter…I am very big on enhancing features I already have, I like looking like myself.’ 

She knows what she likes and does not like. Apart from the glitter eyelids, she really likes a pointy nose, blended but visible contour, blush but not overwhelming blush, highlighter, and a light under-eye. The light under-eye was inspired by Kylie and Kim Kardashian. 

Besides her makeup at home, there’s only really one makeup artist she’s reliant on because she just gets it. ‘She’s been doing my face since 2013, so we’ve mastered a look and feel that compliments me and my structure.’ 

K also ‘one look fits all’ type of look, because she sometimes either has another event to go to or just makes a quick turn that requires an outfit change. So, an effortless change of style throughout the day is also made easy by the standard face beat.  

Speaking of events, themes are an exciting and fun vibe to take part in and to just set the atmosphere. Creators come together to express their personalities through dressing up, and for Naomi, it’s kind of a mood thing and centred around elegance, class, and simplicity. 

She specifically goes for looks that’ll leave a mark, and so significant that when she looks back years down the line, the look will still speak volumes. All her outfits have a constant yet different look and feel. I think it is safe to say she is the epitome of comfort. ‘I really just wear clothes that match my mood at the time, do I want to show my legs? Am I trying to have a snatched waist? Are we doing red ?’ she says. 

A basic cornrow girl. 

Everyone has a signature look and a ‘stay-at-home’  look. Her favourite hairstyle is the basic natural cornrows. ‘They don’t hurt your hairline, they don’t break your hair, and I’m very consistent with who does my hair because my hair gets used to those hands,’ she says reassuringly. 

She’s a cornrow girl. The basic clean natural cornrows are what speak to her, along with gel looks. 

Although not a fan of braids, she is a fan of effortless, easy hairstyles; installations here and there, but cornrows are her go-to. “Installations are a lot of work, you need to wake up and straighten your hair, whereas if you have cornrows, you just moisturise and do your cute edges and be out, same with a ponytail.’  

 Matching her face with hairstyles, she loves styles that expose her face and accentuate her contours. So more of like neat hairstyles away from the face are her signature looks.

Skin

Now, under the light makeup, the bare face still needs to be taken care of. ‘I have excessive dry skin especially during the colder months, and sunscreen doesn’t do justice when it comes to hydrating my skin, so I find that hyaluronic acid in skin products works best for me, and so I’ve been using the L’Oréal Revitalift range but nothing beats drinking water; it’s winter but drink your water’ she says.

Naomi is also very big on keeping her insides clean as much as she does her outsides, and all her natural skin glowing routines are what she practices. To keep her skin glowing, she uses sunscreen every single day which is now her daily face cream as she has been using it since highschool, she stresses the importance of taking in multivitamins: ‘we eat and we drink but sometimes we forget there are the small things we need to take in as well for our bodies’ and  she loves starting her morning with an apple or banana.’ So with her, it’s all about fruits, multivitamins, sunscreen and water.