EllarieXColourpop – Is it worth the buy?

Ellarie is a youtuber /beauty guru. I’ve been following Ellarie for years and decided to support her and bought  her collection after seeing her video; biggest selling point was she came up with the colors and picked colors that would look good on lighter complexions an darker complexions. Ellarie released her second collab with colour pop called EllarieXColourpop. She released the collab on February 28^th, I ordered on March 1^st , I received and reviewed on March 12^th. I didn’t intend on writing a blog post but after the first impressions review video I decided I might as well write the blog, so here it is!

The collection is a mix of 4 liquid lipsticks and 2 glosses.
Glosses
Steelo
Netta

Ultra Matte
Sessy (a deep red)
Hennyways (a deep brown)
Yoshi (A bright pink)

Ultra Satin Lip
Renmen (a bright red)

Let’s start off with price, pretty affordable, only costs $6.50 for the lipsticks and $5 for the glosses! This is pretty comparable to the NYX brand liquid lipsticks that come in at $6.50 – $7.50.

Next is the Packaging, it comes in a black box with lace detail and red writing…You can see more into this and further explanation on the collection and naming by checking out Ellarie’s video on youtube that I’ll link here.

I reviewed the entire collection in a video which you can click here to watch. Or read on for the short version.

The most important part: The color, the wear, the feel, IS THE HYPE REAL?? I like the way the lipsticks feel when applied, and the coverage is really good and it doesn’t take a lot. The ultra matte’s are definitely non-transferable, and will stay on until you want them off, so that’s a plus! You definitely want to apply some type of moisturizer before applying the ultra matte’s because they do get VERY dry! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone my complexion wear the lighter shades straight without mixing. Which my first instinct was to line my lips with a darker shade before trying Netta, because from experience those colors never look good on me, and lining completely changes the color. That’s when I decided to try it straight to see what it looks like and that’s where the disappointment came from.

So what’s the verdict? Is it worth the hype? The decision is mixed!

I understand that any lipstick is wearable on any skin tone if you use a liner or work it, but if you’re a low maintenance makeup person who doesn’t do makeup regularly I don’t think you should have to do all that! Especially if you’re a deeper shade like me, then there’s truly only 1 shade that I love and really works well and that’s ‘Sessy’. The other ones require using another lip liner and extra work, that’s too much for me.

So for darker skin tones, who don’t regularly wear makeup you might want to skip out on this …It’s a nope for me
For the lighter skin tones… go ahead and give it a try! It’s definitely affordable and well pigmented.

The original Ellarie lipstick and liner though, AMAZING COLOR, no complaints!

But as always the decision is yours.

Until next time guys….

Was Black Panther worth the hype?

Black Panther has been out for 3 weeks now. If you haven’t seen the movie I would suggest you go see it and here’s why:

This movie is just literally before everything a GREAT MOVIE, period point blank! The plot, the acting, costumes, chemistry, it’s all on point! I’m not really into the marvel, comic book, super hero things, BUT after seeing Black Panther I am going to go and watch all the avengers movies just because this one was just that good and I want to see what happened before it.

Now besides the fact that it is just an all around amazing movie here are a few key themes that stuck out to me that I’m going to present to you, to entice you to see the movie if you haven’t done so already, ready? That’s Culture, Showcasing/Respect women, and Loyalty!

The amount of African cultural details that they had in the movie was on point! They have a scene of T’challa becoming king, and for that ceremony, the whole village comes out to watch, which is a thing that happens in many African cultures and cultures of African diaspora where the village will come out to support and watch events and ceremonies such as weddings for instance. The different looks of the different tribes definitely paid homage to the different African countries/regions and their unique looks. I applaud the creative directors and costume staff that came up with the look for this movie, for the most part you got it right and did a good job of representing most parts of Africa!

When it comes to the relationships, I respect how this movie is really putting women first! T’challa took the steps to make sure his mom was safe and protected in a time he knew that it was not safe in Wakanda! They have Shuri (a woman) creating and improving the technology they are using, (so hello society time to make room for girls in the STEM field)! They have an all woman army protecting the king and the women fighting side by side with the men and holding their own! This shift in gender roles isn’t the case in the majority of the world that I hope transpires in daily life after people have seen this.

Finally if you don’t watch for any other reason, you definitely need to watch for the mere fact that they go through dealing with loyalty and being unified. These days, in this world there’s so much focus on ourselves and not enough focus on who we are as a whole (race, a nation, a people). Where many people would definitely turn their backs on their people, or those who’ve been there for them since day one, just for what they would think would be a better opportunity for them; the movie showed us even though you have the 2 or 3 that turn their back on you and what you’ve built together, there are always the 10 or 20 that will ride for you and what’s right. The depiction of unity and collaboration is definitely something I would really appreciate seeing us implement in our daily lives.

In short, was Black Panther worth the hype? YES! DEFINITELY! #WAKANDAFOREVER

Are Youtube makeup tutorials as easy to follow as they make it seem?

So my friend and I decided that we wanted to learn to do makeup like the pros.

We have different levels of makeup experience, so we wanted to put the videos to the test and see how easy it really was to follow the videos. I occasionally wear makeup but that just consists of foundation and mascara while TheeMlle on the other hand wears no makeup!

I’ve tried to do my makeup for special occasions but I’ve yet to master the art , but on a regular day to day basis I’m always bare faced!

We decided to do a full face of makeup while watching Ellarie’s do’s and don’t of makeup video.  If you’re interested in seeing how we did the check out the video here it’s absolutely HILARIOUS! We used a variety of makeup from NYX, Maybeline and Covergirl!

But here are the final looks!

 

 

 

 

Let me know what you think!

Until next time guys…..

Dealing with embarassing sweat

I’ve been looking for the best way to control my excessive sweating. Yes, I know that sweating is a way to remove toxins from the body, but at a certain point it just becomes uncomfortable and embarrassing. I’m quite tired of hearing “ohhh you’re sweating” trust me I know! I’ve always sweated under my arms for no reason, and at one point was diagnosed with hyperhidrosis. I would instantly have sweat patches under my arms as soon as I put on my t-shirt. I wanted to avoid all sweat patches on my wedding day so the quest of the best deodorant was on!

Before finally resorting to looking for different types of deodorant I tried natural remedies. When I was younger my mom made me use lemon and baking soda under my arms before applying the deodorant, needless to say that didn’t work because here I am, 26 and still searching for a solution.

Recently, I tried other natural remedies such as using witch hazel as a natural deodorant, that works in keeping you smelling fresh but SUCKS at controlling sweat. I tried apple cider vinegar, I wouldn’t even know if that kept me smelling fresh because I couldn’t get past the pungent smell of the vinegar, and all I worried about was if people can smell me, Finally I tried alcohol because alcohol is supposed to be drying, let me tell you it did not stand a chance for my pits.

So here I was, months before my wedding, and still concerned with the sweat overwhelming my pits on my wedding day. I debated on getting Botox but my brother talked me out of it, he told me “as a last resort we can try it but for now let’s exceed all possible deodorants on the market”, so that’s what I did! I bought deodorants, tried them out until I found what would be the right one. I refused to revisit deodorants I’ve tried in the past so that limited the options I could try.

In the past I’ve tried Gillette, Lady Speed Stick, regular Speed stick, Sure, Ban, Dove, Secret, Degree, Degree dry spray, Degree men, all these deodorants are good at controlling the smell but not the best for minimizing the sweat.

so I started with what I’ve currently been using which have worked better than so many other ones I’ve used in the past: Mitchum Advanced Control– You can tell i really put this to use since the words are practically gone lol. I like the fact that this is a solid, gel deodorants make me feel more wet which is the problem I’m trying to prevent. This does a good job at keeping the sweat levels reduced more than many other deodorants I’ve used in the past, but still didn’t give me the results I was looking for. And it smells nice.

Next I tried to go the natural route: Blossom by Herban Cowboy – this was a natural deodorant, bought at whole foods over some other natural deodorants because this one is on sale. This has a slippery feel to it, but not wet like other gel deodorants. The main ingredient in this deodorant was Propanediol unlike the aluminum in other deodorants, I thought lets give it a try and see how it works. This deodorant was terrible at controlling odor, I didn’t wear it if there was any chance of me going out because I really smelled ripe “natural”. This failed at controlling sweat and odor, it’s a no for me.

Finally my fiance convinced me to try a clinical strength deodorant that I vowed never to try again because I thought it was a waste of time: Secret Clinical Strength – I’ve used secret clinical strength years ago when it was first released but it didn’t really work for me. This time around it actually did what it is supposed to do, I’m not sure what changed but it works! Only con with this for me is, I personally don’t like the feel of a “smooth solid” it’s not wet like a gel but it’s still annoying as it’s hard to control where it’s going. The amount of sweat I dealt with was reduced dramatically, some days I was completely dry that’s a big deal! This was definitely my deodorant of choice for my wedding day!

The secret Clinical strength is my go to from now on, except when I want to take a break from it’s main ingredient aluminum then I’ll switch back to Blossom. Sweat shouldn’t have to be embarrassing so I’m glad that secret clinical strength actually gets the job done!

Is It Worth The Buy: L’oreal Paris Pure Clay Collection

Hey guys, now that the wedding hype has died down I can finally get back into the swing of things with my usual reviews!

You guys know how much I love a face mask, so I was excited when I received these complimentary L’oreal Paris Pure Clay collection products from Influenster! I’ve been dying to try it out, but I honestly have been trying not to by any more face masks. There are 5 different masks part of this Pure Clay collection and 3 different cleansers, all formulated to work differently depending on your specific skin concerns and what you’re actually trying to achieve. You can see all the different products in the pure clay collection by clicking here.

I struggle with naturally oily skin and acne, so it was only fitting that I had the pleasure to try out the clarify & smooth mask with Yuzu Lemon. This specific mask was actually an exfoliating mask, the exfoliating beads were gentle enough not to hurt your skin, but strong enough for me to feel that they were actually getting the job done! This clay mask is depicted as a mask that is supposed to remove impurities and dirt trapped in your skin as well as help shed dead skin cells, and I can honestly say that my face felt smoother after the first use and it didn’t leave my face feeling dry afterwards so that’s a plus. Did I mention that it actually smells amazing!

Along with the clay mask I also received a daily cleanser. This cleanser is 1 of 3 pure clay cleansers made by L’oreal, just as with the masks each cleanser is made with a powerful blend of 3 PURE CLAYS and formulated to work differently based on different skin concerns. I received the Purify-Mattify cleanser. The product really is a clay that you squeeze into your hand and you mix with water to form a mousse that has a really nice lather. This daily cleanser clears the skin of dirt and oil as well as control excess oil and shine after you’ve washed your face. This cleanser doesn’t leave your skin feeling dry and actually really cleans your skin.

Both products are pretty affordable compared to some other masks and cleansers I’ve tried. The clay comes in at $12.99 and the cleanser comes in at $6.99, more affordable than the Sephora mask I reviewed. For the price and effectiveness, I’ll have to say it is definitely worth the buy, I’ll continue using and see how crazy I am about it before I vow to purchase it again. Give it a try if you’re interested and let me know what you think!

Until next time….