Happy Monday, friends! It’s Monday and there isn’t a lot to smile about today but it’s ok. I got you. I hope had a good weekend, I hope you aren’t sweating too hard today, and I hope your walking around in 96 degree weather with a full beat on your face that isn’t melting off because that’s what you deserve. I know things are a little chaotic but if you want my sand pit is pretty comfy and we can all just stick our heads in it for a little while and pretend things are copacetic.

If it all goes well I should be posting this while fighting off tourists in Chinatown to get my hair cut. No, I’m not doing a pixie cut. But I’m taking several inches off because it needs it and my waves are looking like I put my hand in an electric socket as I screamed, “IT’S ALIVE!” Ya know, wavy hair+heat=holy freaking airball! Oh P.S. That made me think of Sting! We should all watch the Bride together. Who wants to do a online watch party with me? How hot sauce was he in that movie?

Anyway, here’s a few things to smile about in the world of makeup as we struggle through the chaos of the world. Guess who’s back? Back again!

Stains! Well, not really but E.L.F. is thinking of making that happen. Sheer For It Blush Lip + Cheek Tint are five bucks and available in five shade selections. I told you I had reasons to smile for you! You gotta smile so you can dot this new stain on the apples of your cheeks and get that doll-like look we all know and love (or am the only one stuck in my doll skin makeup era?). If you don’t like them on cheeks you can use them on your lips too! In this heat, I’m always up for a long-wearing cheek stain.

I’m throwing out there and you can disagree but I don’t hate Tarte x Dunkin. I don’t even drink coffee but these cute charms they did for the Maracuja Collection have me in a chokehold! How adorable? Don’t buy them on Ulta’s website though as you can both for $27 with free shipping on Tiktok shop! Super deal!

You know what I hope? I hope that Christmas in July isn’t a thing this year. I hope we actually get some cool Fall Collections! The last few years we haven’t and as a Fall baby that loves autumn I really love the colors of the season and adore makeup collections that feature them! We’re off to promising start as Lancome just dropped their Idôle Café Crush Nude Eyeshadow Palette and it’s stunning! Take my money! This screams warm, cozy eye looks! If you can’t smile at this palette I’ve failed you, my friends.

I can’t save you if you aren’t smiling to ear to ear at the fact Essence now has a collection of Juicy Bomb Body Mists! Inspired by their bestselling lipglosses and available in four fragrances these cute body mists look like an oversized lipgloss!

What’s making you smile in makeup today?

6 Comments

I’m an Etsy girl but I readily admit I’m cheap as hell when it comes to paying Etsy for shipping. I know, I know, Etsy is all about small businesses and artists and those businesses can’t foot the bill for shipping expenses but man, it’s hard to purchase a smaller item on Etsy and proceed to get slapped with a $8 or more dollar shipping cost. I feel like some small items I buy don’t even cost that to ship. But I get it. Like any seller website Etsy charges seller fees and some of that has to be passed on to the person purchasing the items. I don’t have to like it but I do understand it and hey, lots of the items I purchased are well worth it.

Etsy Insider is a fairly new program that will set you back $18 bucks for three months of service. The membership gets you early access to new drops from sellers as well as limited-edition items. But wait, the best part is the fact that you get access to free shipping from hundreds of sellers as well as a slew of different coupons.

I’ve always been an active Etsy buyer but lately I’ve been in my bag and phone charm era and have found so many great artists who create some amazing designs with collectibles like Skullpanda. I got two gorgeous phone charms coming soon from a seller who designed custom Skullpanda phone charms and another who is doing a baby duck phone charm to match a phone case for one of my fandoms. Best part, I got a small discount on both of these thanks to the Etsy Insider Membership.

This was one of the ones she created for me!

I also have a few upcoming fan meets and two concerts I’m going to shortly (I’m seeing Stray Kids tomorrow. So of course, I have postcard bag charms all over my purse of Felix!). I ran over to Etsy and got these incredible postcard photo bag charms made for each event. I already have photo post cards I’ve collected and I know I could have probably just purchase idol photo holders on Amazon and converted those cards to a charm myself but I didn’t want to ruin them as I’d rather use those for autographs. When you spend a good deal of money on a photobook that comes with post cards you really aren’t terribly inclined to wear them on your bag where they could be damaged. It was easier to grab some images off Pinterest, send to the Etsy artist, and have them do the charms. It honestly didn’t cost all that much to do either and they were able to create a cutout design versus the traditional postcard style that Japanese and Korean girls so commonly carry on their bags. I just hauled Dream Voyage from eThai and it comes with a few postcards but legit, I can’t see myself using those cards on my bag. I know how anal I am and dropping that kind of cash on a photo book only to ruin the cards on my bag is a no go. I’ll keep them safely tucked away.

Again, best part, I got them with a coupon code thanks to my Etsy Insider Membership! It cost me $18 and so far my savings on shipping plus with the coupons is $28 (I’m only a member for a month). So, yeah, this sounds sponsored as hell but it isn’t. I just thought I’d share as if you’re a frequent Etsy shopper it might save you a buck or two! So far I’m liking the Membership and I’ll be renewing it when the three months is up!

Anyone have this service? How’s it working out for you?

7 Comments

Ahhh the good old days of makeup when E.L.F. Cosmetics was smack talking in your e-mail like gangstas! Remember those days? When they’d casually slip in with a side by side pic of a NARS Blush and a pic of their own blush bragging how their version only cost a buck! Times have changed my friends and E.L.F. is no longer a dollar.

BRB let me check. Ok, cheapest we’re getting is lipliner at $2 bucks and your girl isn’t a lipliner user so that’s a bust. But yeah, E.L.F. has surpassed cheap as chips one dollar makeup a long, long, time ago in a galaxy far, far away from this one.

And like most things in this economy E.L.F. is about to increase prices again! Starting August 1st select products will be increasing by $1 due to inflation and tariffs. Despite the increase, the E.L.F. emphasizes that 75% of its products will remain at $10 or under. And their promise is they are “also keeping an eye on the tariff situation.” In my experience, once something goes up it rarely comes down. So, I have doubts that even if things improve at some point we’ll still see the price points remain the same.

The good news is that most of their latest launches are incredibly over-priced. They seem to come to a standstill at the $5 buck mark. So, if you’re in the mood for budget beauty E.L.F. Cosmetics remains affordable. But that being said, things can be murky with foundation, skincare, and other popular lines they carry like their “Halo Glow” Collection which has gone viral several times. The new Halo Glow Skin Tint SPF 50 is a whooping $18 bucks and some may question if they want to spend that much on an E.L.F. product which is known for being budget friendly.

I could be way off the mark but I feel like some of their more influencer pushed items, like Halo Glow products, seem to have a crazy markup compared to their less talked about products which seem to hover around $5. These is particularly the case with many of their lip product drops. I gotta admit $24 for their Jumbo Power Grip Primer seemed crazy to me taking into account the prices we know and loved from E.L.F. The Big Gripper is 2.7 oz at $24 and contains $30 worth of product versus their original size at 0.81 oz at $10.

The moral of the story is stock up on your favs before prices go up again this August!

2 Comments

When we all got cozy during lockdown the biggest trend in beauty was skincare. Everyone was taking really, really good care of their skin. I was the only one doing a full beat of makeup while walking around the house in PJs. I dunno, it just made the chaos feel normal at the time. But yeah, everyone became super fixated on face and sheet masks, moisturizers, eye creams, etc…etc..! Self care was buying everything and anything for your skin (and your body!). We all dealt with that time in our own way.

I’ve always been a skincare lover but when the pandemic hit I became super fixated on haircare. I dunno where it came from but within the second week of lockdown I was suddenly Miss Haircare. This from a girl with really long, unruly, wavy hair that she typically slicks back and wears in a bun to keep out of her face. Like, I’m really over here doing the very least with my hair during a normal work week but during the pandemic hell, I was Jesus Christ Superstar doing all sorts of things. Crown braids, elaborate buns, my foyer was the runway for my many new hair looks. What a time to be alive.

Recently, I’ve had a lot more time on my hands so I’ve been playing with different hair care products and trying out different things with my hair. I started following a few hair stylists and artists as well. James in particular belongs on my fixation list because he does some fire looks on Thai actors. Bas and Tonliew’s hair is my roman empire and James is responsible for that goodness. Bas’ hair is just always so damn good though! There is not a day this man doesn’t have good hair. Thank you, James! We love you for doing all the gorgeous hair now, please come do mine!?

Also, I’m still going to try really hard to convince myself to not cut all of mine off one day and just get the pixie cut I’ve been dreaming about. It’ll never happen but ya know, a girl can dream. Should I cut it? It’s currently down to my butt so I do need to get some of it clipped off. Maybe I can go all Carol Brady with a little flip mullet? I’m kidding. Let’s not get too crazy.

And by the way, I was today year’s old when I realized that Lisa Price is back with Carol’s Daughter. Who knew this? Because I didn’t. P.S. Why are the formulas still not as good as they once were? Le sigh! But actually, it’s still part of my list. It isn’t as good as it was but I’m still very much a Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla! It makes the list today because it still smells pretty good (wish I could say the same for Hair Milk!). It’s been a while but I started using this again recently and I forgot how much I loved the Black Vanilla Leave-In Conditioner Spray! It makes my hair so super soft!

Here’s some other stuff I’m putting in my hair!

Continue Reading / 17 Comments

Hey guys I’m not sure if you realize this or not but Flower Beauty has been around for 13 years. Why does it feel it launched yesterday? Yup, in 2013 Drew Barrymore officially launched Flower Beauty at Walmart and for a while the brand was exclusively available at the evil empire and later branched out to other stores like Ulta and even CVS. One of the biggest drops from the line that we all went crazy over were the Flower Beauty Flower Pot Blushes. This was a time when packaging was everything in my makeup life and I think a lot of you felt the same. I’m actually trying to remember of Flower Beauty introduced their blushes first or was it Milani who dropped Rose Powder Blush first! Remember they looked identical to each other!

But yeah, here we are 13 years later….! Drew has moved on to other things at good old Wally World. She has appliances, home furnishings, and more under the Beautiful logo. Yeah, I brought the toaster judge me if you must. Why am I telling you this? Because Flower Beauty is 50% off at ulta.com as well as at CVS and other drugstores. Hmmm…! I’m a little concerned Flower Beauty is being discontinued so I’ll be stocking up on Plump Up Gloss Stick just in case! You can even use promo code MEMBERSONLY for an extra 20% off.

With brands going down like the Titanic it’s not too farfetched an idea that maybe Flower Beauty is going out of business. Or maybe they are just prepping for rebranding? Which do you think it is? Drew is really pushing the home collection lately and that collection gets new seasonal additions constantly but it’s been a while since we saw anything new from Flower Beauty.

Let’s hope I’m wrong and that Flower Beauty is just preparing for a rebranding! What do you think?

Where to buy

Ulta

3 Comments