I think one of the biggest things that has come out of the Black Lives Matter movement is it taught me to listen more. I think in listening you can learn a lot more. There’s nothing wrong with just being silence for a few minutes to absorb what you are hearing around you. There’s a lot of information floating around for us to educate ourselves with. There’s so many ways we can listen, learn, and commit ourselves to being better humans. We’re still going to make mistakes because I haven’t yet met a perfect person in the universe but by learning more we’ll make less mistakes that might potentially hurt others.

I’m really reaching here this week to get back into beauty. I find it a little hard to talk about makeup when so many things are wrong with the world right now but I’m doing my best because I really am committed to reaching out to all of you. I’ll readily admit writing this blog also gives me piece of mind, some sanity, and comfort. I’ve been doing this over ten years and many of you have been here for the entire journey. Some days I wonder how long I can continue but as soon as my fingers hit the keyboard those thoughts disappear and I’m enchanted again about getting the word of beauty to you.

This week, I decided to learn more about black owned beauty brands. I’ve featured brands like Fenty, Shea Moisture, Carol’s Daughter, Juvia’s Place, Uoma, Beauty Bakerie, and others in the past but I want to dig deeper and educate myself more to support these brands. I’ll be reviewing products in future posts that I hope you’ll enjoy seeing from brands you may have never even heard about.

As someone who’s always been heavily involved with Japanese, Korean, and beauty abroad makeup and beauty trends and products it only seems logical to extend my niche further and start becoming more involved with smaller owned businesses (and larger ones) that promote, align with, and support BLM.

My question to you is which black owned beauty brands do you already use, support, and love?

I’d love to hear all about them!

Do share!

12 Comments

L’Oreal True Match Eye Cream In A Concealer is a new concealer slash eye cream that’s launching for Summer 2020 shortly. This new hybrid formula acts to conceal pesky dark circles as it treats the delicate eye area providing moisture and acting to retain that moisture thanks to a formula that contains 0.5% pure hyaluronic acid.

The is an intriguing formula that’s completely ruined b the ingredients it includes but as a concealer (and an eye cream) junkie it’s my responsibility to try it for you.

So, what do we have here. We have a concealer that promises to act as an eye cream as well. Here’s the deal though….when you’re combining an eye cream and a concealer together you’re basically creating a tinted moisture. In my experience, any product that promises too many things only ever excels at one thing or worst case scenario, it doesn’t excel at any. If this new formula plans to act like an eye cream I can almost guarantee it won’t be pigmented. Hydrating concealers tend to sheer out quite a bit when applied. But there is a chance L’Oreal may be on to something here however, they completely ruin it with the addition of alcohol in the formula.

Ok, let’s take a look. Water, good. Oooo lots of cones. Not a great thing but not an awful thing. Caprylyl Methicone is a good one as it’ll make application smooth and easy. Propanediol not a cone but equally a good for hydrating the delicate skin around the eyes. Dimethicone also provides more of a slippery texture. All these cones are making me wonder if the texture will feel more like a traditional silicone facial primer versus an eye cream. I’m saddened to say Sodium Hyaluronate the 9 ingredient on the list which does make me wonder how well it will actually help to draw moisture in but that actually isn’t my main concern here. My concern stems from the fact they went and threw in alcohol before Sodium Hyaluronate. Anything good here is ruined by the addition of alcohol. You might draw comfort from the fact it’s the 8th ingredient here but it’s still here none the less.

I’ll likely ignore the alcohol and dry this regardless but I have a feeling it’s a formula that won’t make my hit list.

We’ll see though! L’Oreal has surprised me in the past.

L’Oreal True Match Eye Cream In A Concealer is $14.99 and launches soon.

What do you think of this formula?

Where to buy

Ulta

6 Comments

Maybelline Summer 2020 arrives today at ulta.com (on sale buy 1, get 1 50% Off) and I’m ever so thankful to see it available in a total collection versus the crappy timed released on Amazon. I mean, seriously, how annoying is when they release one product every few days on Amazon. I find it irritating for some reason.

But you can snag it now at Ulta. I imagine it’ll slowly start trickling into stores as well too when and if stores are open in your area. It’s a pretty small collection with a main focus on Color Strike Cream-to-Powder Eye Shadow Pens that are a eyeshadow pencil with a cushion tip that you can swipe on easily and go. These are pretty old in school in style! You might recall several years back when Victoria�s Secret had Beauty Rush Sparkling and Luminous Eyeshadows in the same style and a few other brands did as well. Many brand in Korea like Tony Moly still favorite this eyeshadow packaging design as well! The main difference here is would be that Maybelline is promising a cream formula that transforms to powder upon application. I suspect their “cream” formula will be like a cooling powder. Remember those old MAC water cooling powders? Or even ones we’ve seen out of Japan. I suspect that’s what they mean when they say cream!

For those holding out hope for an eyeshadow palette I doubt it’ll come as Maybelline will likely re-promote the Eyestudio Nudes of New York Eyeshadow Palette that launched with the Maybelline Spring 2020 Collection.

Let’s take a look at more of Maybelline Spring 2020 below.

Continue Reading / 3 Comments

Happy Monday party people!

As I said earlier today I’m here trying to lift up spirits and bring a little beauty into your day. I know we got way serious and real last week and things were tough and still are but I truly believe better days are ahead. I have all the hope in my heart that protests today will help mold a new future for the world and the people that live in it. I protested Saturday and it was very uneventful (in a positive way). It made me realize I watch way too much scary news. There were a few hundred people there, everyone was really respectable about distance, police were there but no fights broke out, it all just went smoothly with plenty of respect on all sides.

So, I’m here for you. Lifting you up, telling you you’re great, believing in you, and reminding you you’re a damn fine person.

I’m also here for your beauty needs. Because that is what brought us all together to begin with.

Here’s your daily dose of it right here.

1. Is your Clarisonic Honeymoon over? It happens (it happened to me). Today, I urge you to get down under the sink where you likely stored that bad boy and get it out. Now grab yourself a good foaming cleanser and start using it today. You can thank me later when you skin starts glowing again.

2. NARS Orgasm Haters gather together! You know it’s NARS Orgasm season when they start re-packaging that sucker and re-releasing it all over the damn place. I’m actually a lover. It’s my personal blush shade of choice. I know there are haters out there though. I get it. To glow-y? To shimmery? It’s ok. I got you guys. Some of you likely having that sucker laying in a drawer rotting away. My recommendation if you hate it, try it again! Try these tricks:

• Try getting a soft tissue and rubbing it across the entire surface of the blush. This sometimes picks up excess shimmer and gives the blush a more refined finish without the shimmer.
• If you have a lightweight fiber brush try using it to apply Orgasm. I always feel like the fiber brush picks up a lot less color and gives cheeks a very pretty, natural glow without being overwhelming.
• Apply it wet! Swipe your brush in your blush and hold it 12-15 inches away. Mist it once with a facial spray (don’t saturate it) and gently tap it on your cheeks! BOOM! Instant dewy golden peach blush.

3. I fell in love with Jonny Lee Miller before you when he was in Doctor Who for a flash of a second in 1982. That’s a real thing, go look it up my fellow Whovians. Actually, our love affair began when he shouted, “HACK THE PLANET! HACK THE PLANET!” in his really crappy American accent. So, in his honor let’s chat makeup hacks. Get that pot of gel eyeliner out of your stash, grab your favorite pencil eyeliner, and let’s start getting those eyes fancy because face masks are a thing and the eyeshadow index is coming! Here’s what you do! Unscrew your gel liner, take your pencil liner and dip it into your gel liner, smooth it back and fourth to get a fine layer of the gel onto the pencil, and line your waterline. You’ll find this nifty trick really creates a bold waterline not to mention it lasts longer than using a pencil alone!

4. Face masks are not hitting right at all for us lipgloss lovers. I do so love a shiny, glossy lip look for Summer but that’s impossible right now. So, what I’m going to do is give us all permission to love liquid lipstick again (that is if you ever hated them). I hate long-wearing liquid lipstick with a passion but right now if you absolutely must wear lipstick it’s the only way to go. How about all us haters haul out the liquid lipsticks we do love and start wearing ’em! I know I’m a pretty big fan of the Balm’s and I have a really nice red in that formula so I’ll be wearing that.

5. I admit I did a small amount of damage at the Victoria’s Secret Semi-Annual Sale but I also, decided to de-stash some of my older fragrance mists. Anal moment here but I organize my fragrance mists by season. I totally urge you to do the same! Sort your scents and get those Summer ones out and ready to wear!

And that’s it. A little daily dose of beauty for you right here.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Be nice to yourself today. Remember you’re beautiful and strong.

And as always, be nice to others.

14 Comments

My Summer home is actually pretty close to where Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman’s residence is in Woodstock is (or was who knows now that they are separated). I’ve had the pleasure of seeing Amanda perform at Helsinki and yeah, her underarm hair is an entity all itself. Amanda is that “I just don’t give a f&ck!” girl and you gotta admire that. She just refuses to conform to what society tells women to do, feel, and act.

One thing I’ve never seen her do is dye her underarm hair.

That’s a thing you know.

Would you do it?

Continue Reading / 11 Comments