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With more than a million mobile apps on the market, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when searching for ones that will make your life easier. Luckily, Black Silicon Valley has your back. Here are 7 essential mobile apps that you should download that were designed by African American techies with your needs in mind.
Beauty
Cocoa Swatches
Say, so long to the days of having to guess how that lipstick, blush or eyeshadow would look on your melanin rich skin.
Cocoa Swatches, a beauty mobile app, provides instant access to swatches of makeup on various skin-tones, including dark complexions that tend to be underrepresented in the industry. The beauty platform also provides curated makeup-related content such video tutorials, expert tips, and product comparisons.
Cast Beauty
Who among us hasn’t spent a full Sunday getting our hair tight only to have it ruined by a burst of humidity on Monday?
Cast Beauty, the first weather-inspired beauty forecasting app is out to change all that. The app helps women remain picture perfect in any climate by providing beauty product recommendations based on the weather and users’ hair and skin profiles.
Red carpet event? Wedding day? Need Your hair done, but don’t have the patience to do it yourself? No worries. Your own personal glam team is now just a click away.
TresseNoire, the on demand personal salon appointment app, lets you reserve time with well-vetted, credentialed natural haircare stylists who will come to your home or office to get your hair looking right.
Social Life
Alcohomy
You’re way too smart to pay good money for a bad cocktail.
Alcohomy, the cocktail recipe and bar locator app, is on a mission to make sure you never settle for a disappointing adult beverage again. The app lets you see reviews for bars in your area and their top cocktails before you head out. You can also take pictures of your favorite drinks to share online and access more than 16,000 recipes so you can impress your friends with your bartending skills.
Bae App
Swiping left might be fun, but it might not be the best way to find someone who gets you on a deeper level.
Enter Bae (Before Anyone Else), the online dating app that helps members connect through curated experiences and activities. After you match with someone the app encourages you to “actually chat, meet and date.” That might seem like an old-school concept these days, but sometimes the old ways bring results.
Tastemakers Africa
Take the lead and plan the adventure filled vacation of your dreams for you and your girlfriends.
Tastemakers Africa recommends vetted and pre-tested, tours, events and experiences for you and your crew to try while on your trip. The travel app curates the best dining experiences, escapes to private beaches, hidden waterfalls, exclusive parties, local designer meet-and greets and shopping excursions across the continent to make you feel like an in-the-know local wherever you go.
Clean Slate
Sometimes you want to keep a private conversation, well, private. And, now there’s a app for that.
Clean Slate Messenger, is like the “Snapchat of text messaging.” The app allows you to share photos and text messages in real time with fellow app users and delete them after they are sent. The app doesn’t keep a history of your messages after you’ve deleted them, so that wild and crazy Vegas story can stay between you and your friends.
