When beauty vlogger Nura Afia got the email from CoverGirl asking her to star in her own campaign, she thought it had to be fake. "It was four sentences. I thought it was a scam!" she admits. "I had gotten emails like that before claiming to be huge brands and they turned out to be fake." It wasn't until she was in L.A. and shooting the videos and photos for CoverGirl's new So Lashy Mascara that she realized just how a big a deal this all would be. "It happened so fast. I had to pinch myself a couple of times," she recalls.

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Afia is CoverGirl's first-ever Muslim ambassador. The Denver-based makeup artist has amassed 327,000 followers and counting on Instagram and 218,000 subscribers on her YouTube channel, Babylailalov, which she started in 2011. The significance of being the major brand's first-ever hijabi face, representing so many women not otherwise seen in beauty campaigns, is not lost on her. "It's amazing. I'm so honored to be that person to first do it. There really aren't words to describe the feeling," she says.

Ahead, Nura lets us in on all her secrets for getting those Insta-perfect makeup looks:

How important has makeup been to you?

I feel like beauty and makeup really helped me find myself. Growing up, I wasn't really good at anything and I started getting good at makeup and I was like, Oh my gosh, I'm good at something! I felt like it helped me gain my confidence. Even though, at the same time, I don't use it to mask because I feel insecure about my face. I don't need it every day. I just feel like it. And with a lot of girls, I've noticed, it's just another version of expressing ourselves. I can play up or play down or express myself using makeup.

Who are some other hijabi beauty bloggers that you love to follow?

I love Dina Tokio. She's always been one of my favorites because she's super real, down-to-earth. She started out doing a lot of fashion but she dabbled more into makeup nowadays. I just think her and her husband are so cute together and I've met her in person and she's just like her videos: super down-to-earth and real. I love her.

Your beauty signature is definitely your lashes. From start to finish, how do you do them?

Obviously, my new favorite mascara is the So Lashy CoverGirl, because it gives you those dark, bold, sexy lashes that we all want. I like to coat one eye, and move to the next, but let it dry a little before I go back to the next one, but not completely—I don't like when it completely dries because I like to build it initially. I really love spidery lower lashes because it completely changes a look. I feel like most girls get nervous to make their lower lashes coated with a ton of mascara.

What would you say is your favorite beauty look of the moment?

I've been obsessed with burnt orange eye shadows or brown. So, definitely fall-toned colors for the eyes. I've been obsessed with that. Golds. I feel like I keep trying to break that, but I keep going back to that recently. I love the fall look.

On Instagram, your skin looks totally poreless–what kind of products do you use to get that finish?

I think it starts at the base. So, I exfoliate [my skin] every night. I probably shouldn't. I think if a dermatologist talked to me right now she'd want to kill me. But I exfoliate every night. And I use a lot of chemical peels. So I start with that base. And then I use a good primer, something thicker like Spackle. The thicker, the better. I do have big pores. I also pack on powder. That new "baking" method that you've seen trending this year, it really works! I'm really skeptical of these big trends, but baking works! It fills in pores, fine lines. I think people are afraid to do it because it looks like a lot, but if you just use a finishing spray on top of it, it'll bring your skin back to life, but look super smooth.

Makeup really helped me find myself.

Eyebrows are a really hard thing for people to nail. When did you learn how to perfect them?

I feel like this year, honestly. Not even this year. Probably June or July, maybe? Super late in the game. I've studied a lot of Kelley Baker. She is my queen. She did my eyebrows once. It was life changing. And then, I've been studying her technique on her Instagram videos and I've noticed when she waxes or plucks, she plucks every single [hair]—okay, she'll go and look at your eyebrow and if it's not right next to each other, she'll take it out. And she'll just fill in the gap with product. I think everyone should just study her Instagram videos and learn how to groom your eyebrows yourself. I always tell people I like to go a shade lighter than what your hair color is. I use blond on my eyebrows, and clearly I'm a brunette.

What are some of your tips for capturing the perfect makeup selfie?

Definitely natural light. I love natural light. If you are doing it indoors, in my beauty room I have soft boxes, and most come with light bulbs but they're always those white fluorescent bulbs. So I take half of them out, and I mix yellow with the white. I have yellow and white bulbs to give you that perfect neutral.

Any favorite editing apps?

I love FaceTune. And I love Instagram's editing [tools].

Your daughter is very young but she's already started playing with beauty products. What would you want to teach her about beauty?

It washes off at the end of the day. So if you wanna go wild, do your thing. She's five and I gave her different kinds of lip products and she puts on the bronzer every morning but it's so close to her skin tone that it just looks like a shimmer on her cheeks. But the hot pink lipstick? She thinks she can wear it to preschool every morning! So it's literally a battle. But it's funny. I think she knows she can be whatever she wants to be at the end of the day. If makeup takes her there, that's awesome.

Eventually, you guys will be doing it together.

Yes! Definitely. I keep telling my husband, she's gonna be the youngest professional makeup artist in the game.

How old were you when you started experimenting with makeup?

I was actually 18 because I wasn't really allowed to wear very much. But when I got married when I was 18, that's when my husband was like, 'That's cool.' He's really easygoing, so he was just like, 'Do your thing.'

In this crazy, depressing political climate, how do you feel like beauty can be almost a way out?

I feel like it's created a common ground for everyone. So it's easy to talk about how we can all relate at the end of the day, whether you're a guy or a girl these days. It's a softer way of bringing us all together.

I feel like that was what your campaign was about–it also included James Charles, the first male CoverGirl face.

I love it. It was so much fun to work with everyone. I'm so honored and thankful to have been a part of such an awesome campaign that represents diversity and equality for all. Especially at this time.

From: ELLE US