Maison Martin Margiela added Matcha Meditation to the Replica Fragrance Collection back in March. The scent evokes the peaceful tranquility of enjoying a cup of matcha tea with fresh notes of bergamot and green tea accord.
I think when I heard about this I was convinced it would be a lot like Replica Coffee Break in the fact it wouldn’t capture the essence of green tea but would smell more like a meditative moment! Something along the lines of a relaxing spa day. This evoked images of the long gone but never forgotten Bliss Perfume that had beautiful aquatic notes that were fresh, clean and spa-like smelling.
Coffee Break is just one instance where Replica doesn’t quite bring fourth what we’d expect something to smell like but more of an interpretation of a moment. I expected creamy, sweet, delicious coffee from Coffee Break but it comes across as something far darker and deeper that evokes walking into a small cafe in the middle of the night where someone is reading poetry on a low lit stage with jazz music playing softly in the background.
This isn’t to say that Replica can’t evoke a true sensory experience. They do so with Lipstick On! Capturing that rice paper note from vintage lipsticks of the past! The scent of violet that makes us close our eyes and think of our favorite Guerlain powders and meteorites.
If it’s a true green tea fragrance your heart desires I think you’ll be very happy with Replica Matcha Meditation. There’s nothing spa-like about this fragrance. It relies on a heavy green tea note to simulate a very true matcha jasmine green tea with milk.
Get 25% off anything for your face, eyes, or skin at maccosmetics.com! No code needed, discount applied at checkout! It’s a good time to haul some of the new Paint Pot shades! No code needed, discount at checkout.
Enjoy!
Makeup Revolution Body Blur Pore Stick is a new pore blurring stock for face and body that arrives for Summer 2021. Hey, remember that Revolution Pro Blur Stick? Why do we need two of these? They look like they have a lot of the same ingredients hmmm…!
It’s interesting this pops up today as I was sitting by the pool with my best friend on Sunday and he was whining about the fact he had visible pores on his legs. I mean, have we reached a stage in our beauty lives where we want to sit and apply primer all over our legs? Especially one from a stick? I’d probably consider buying a body lotion or something with a built in primer. That would actually be kind of cool when I think about it but a stick!?!? Mmmm! It’s convenient enough for face application but depending how much leg real estate you’re working with it you might need a stick for each leg!
A few years ago primer sticks (and other “makeup” and “skincare” sticks) were all the range! We had products like Maybelline Facestudio Master Blur Stick Primer, E.L.F. Prep & Blur Stick, and Milani Instant Touch-Up Blur Stick that all launched around the same time!
You can use this one on your face and body but beware it does have a coconut and pineapple scent which may be an issue for sensitive users. I’m just over here trying to figure out where we’d need body blurring aside from perhaps legs…..!
Hmmm….!
Makeup Revolution Body Blur Pore Stick is available now.
Is it something you’d use?
CVS Beauty Mark is a new advertising method that uses images of women that are unretouched in both video and photo. The campaign is called “Beauty in Real Life” and it will be launched in CVS stores around the country.
The Beauty in Real Life advertisements were created to make women feel more confidence and comfortable in their own skin while making woman realize, “Hey, I want to look like that!” but on a more realistic level compared to what we see in more main stream advertisement. All images used are untouched showing women in daily life using their beauty products.
The goal for CVS is to completely eliminate photoshopped images in advertisement and give a more realistic approach to beauty in advertisement. It’s especially important to reach out to girls and younger women with this campaign in the hopes it will make them feel beautiful and confidence just as they are and not as a perfectly contoured, highlighted model that’s been photoshopped to flawless perfection.
Recently, it came to my attention that Tiktok, in some misguided sense of good (heavy sarcasm), decided to filter and censor the Tiktok content from people that identified with LGBTQ+ community as well as disabled and unfit people to prevent bullying. I’ve been doing a lot of research on this topic and it’s not yet hit mainstream media which blows my mind. According to one article that I posted on Instagram, Tiktok actually admitted to doing this. I’ve never actually stepped foot into making Tiktoks. I was sort of playing with the idea of doing a few on makeup and even doing some of the silly challenges. I never did end up doing them though because I’m just not brave enough. I put so much of myself into this blog and across social media on the daily that Tiktok was sort of my break from all that. I don’t have to create, I don’t have to do anything but scroll and stalk my favorite Tiktokers. It’s sort of fun not having to worry about yet another platform that I have to create content for.
I am not a model. I know this. I see myself in the mirror daily and I realize I’m a short girl with crazy hair and too big eyes for her face. I am not perfect. And that’s ok…! At some point in your life you just realize that this is who you are and no one else is like you and that’s a good thing. If we all looked the same, acted the same, felt the same feelings, we’d be bored within seconds of each other’s company.
I’ve been in the beauty community long enough to realize I don’t fit the ideal of what a beauty blogger or influencer or guru should look like. I don’t walk around contoured and highlighted to an inch of my life. I don’t have perfect arched brows and super full lips. My blending is not perfect, I wear too much damn blush, and I honestly don’t think I care…! Mind you, I don’t envy the influencers that do look perfect and blend flawlessly. I think they are all beautiful but I also think the over filtered, photoshopped content they put out there can be harmful to their younger fans.
It’s weird how the beauty community hasn’t evolved a single bit when it comes to looking perfectly flawless in ever video and picture we put out there. It’s ok to just let people see your normal skin, your crazy hair, your face without makeup on….! Hopefully one day we’ll all have enough confidence to just let it all hang out but most importantly, let’s hope that others can embrace that. The reason we all want to look our best and want to look flawless is we are fearful what others will think or say. Will they be cruel if they see us without our concealer? Will they be turned off if we let our natural, crazy hair fly around our heads? Or will they sit back and think, “What a brave, beautiful woman!”
I wear makeup because it makes me feel confident. Confidence is something I lack and makeup is my tool of choice to making me feel a bit more beautiful. But I do long for the day where I’ll feel just fine flaunting my bare face to the world without the fear someone is going to say something cruel.
I hope you embrace your beauty. And I hope if you struggle doing so you find a way to understand you truly are unique and that makes you beautiful both inside and out.
CVS “Beauty in Real Life” is just the first step in a very long road to unraveling the unrealistic world that brands have created. I hope more brands embrace an unfiltered life going forward….!
It’s about that time again for me! I cut my hair several months ago and it was pretty scary at the time as COVID had me completely paranoid about sitting in a salon. It didn’t help they had me sign a wavier. I mean, the waiver is pretty standard…they ask for your phone number so they have a way to contact you should someone in the salon get sick and of course, they pretty much say you’re responsible should you get sick. I was totally fine with all this but it did make me a bit more anxious when I signed it. Thankfully at the time I did it cases were very low which made me a little braver about sitting in that chair.
My boyfriend curled into a tiny ball and cried when I cut it. It was well passed my butt and I think he was content with getting entangled and suffocated in it at night. I was not. My hair is wavy, full of curl, likes to frizz up and has a life and personality all its own. My typical length is just at the arch of my back because anything short makes me look like a poodle. I’ve always wanted to do a pixie cut but it’ll probably make me look like a chubby little chibi. At least now I’m a chibi with long hair but I have a fuller face and with shorter hair it will make my face look all chub-a-licious.
The experience wasn’t as bad as I thought. They sanitized the seat and had me wait a few minutes before I sat down. I was also asked to wash my hands before we started and my stylist did the same. My stylish had on two face masks and a shield…! At the time we were asked not to speak through the cut which made sense to me! I didn’t get as anxious or scared as I thought I would be. They had spaced appointments really far apart so there was me and one other person who was three empty seats away from me. No one was able to wait inside the salon as they were texting or calling before when the stylish was ready for them. I felt pretty safe in the whole situation.
I took off 14 inches at the time and all of it was donated to Maggie’s Wigs 4 Kids. I do urge you to donate if you have 12 or more inches that need to be cut! Hair that’s been color treated, permed, or highlighted are some of the things they don’t want but temporary hair dyes are sometimes acceptable. I don’t dye or highlight my hair which made it an easier experience.
Before you donate do your research. First pick your organization and educate yourself on what they are and aren’t looking for in a hair donation.
If you have curly, wavy hair like mine make sure you get out flat iron out. Straighten it and put it in a ponytail! Now measure it at the start of your ponytail to ensure you have the accurate 12 inches or more to donate. If you have split ends stop measuring before them as they won’t be able to use those.
Make sure you’re stylish is familiar with the donation process! You don’t want to go to the salon and have them wash your hair and put it in a bag for shipping. It’ll be thrown away due to mold. Make sure your hair is already clean when you arrive.
One sad thing about hair donation is your donation isn’t going to make a wig for a child in need. It’s a little frustrating knowing this but you have to have hope that they’ll be 10 to 12 other willing people donating hair like you to create that single wig which can make a big change in a small child’s life. That’s why I wanted to bring attention to this on the blog today as I have hopes my single donation will be met with more!
A lot of us have a lot of hair to donate right now. Some people have been in isolation well over a year or more be it because they were protecting themselves or their loved one. This means they haven’t ventured out into the world to do the most basic of things like a haircut. I hope if you are considering a cut soon or in the near future you’ll considering donating your hair to the cause.
Have you cut your hair since the pandemic?
Do share your experience!