MAC Lipstick in Brave Red
Hey Lovers,
As you may know, at the end of April I decided to take on the #NoBareLips30 challenge started by Keiko Kaveri. If you missed the details, check them out here.
If you remember my initial post, I was nervous about the challenge because of the way my lips are set up I thought bold colors during the day would look obscene on me. Before the challenge I treated lipstick like free cell phone minutes back in the day; only nights and weekends. Continue reading
Hey Lovers,
As you know I’ve been obsessed with all things beauty lately. The other day my good girlfriend Esta Fiesta over at livingfiesta.com tagged me asking if I would join her on a challenge. I couldn’t see the details immediately but my first thought was “Challenge? Sure, Brooklyn don’t budge.” Then I got the details; sigh. The challenge is a lipstick challenge. Continue reading
Hey Lovers,
Last month The Balm was on Haute Look. If you’re not familiar with Haute Look, it’s a Nordstrom company that offers flash sales on everything from art, to furniture, to clothing and of course, makeup. The only complaint I have is, shipping takes like 40 days and 40 nights. All the items are discounted which is my favorite part. When The Balm pops up on Haute Look all the items are discounted 50%! To make sure the discount was accurate I visited a luxury Duane Reade to check (crazy I know). Check out the products I picked up.
The Nude’tude eyeshadow palette (some say it rivals the Naked) Haute Look price $18.
Iris Night Face Cream $22.50.
Cabana Boy Blush $10.50. Instain Blush $11
Women’s empowderment brush $12
Balms Away eye makeup remover $10
Put a lid on it, eye primer, $9. No Money No Honey over shadow $7.50.
Time Balm concealer in “After Dark” $9
What are your favorite products from The Balm? What are your favorite sample sale sites? Comment below and let me know!
UPDATE
I forgot to add my favorite product originally!
Betty Lou Manizer $12
Hello Lovers,
My birthday was earlier this month. I knew I wanted to get everything I had been eyeing from Sephora. In an attempt to behave like an adult I decided to refrain from all unnecessary makeup purchases until my birthday. Above is a picture of me rocking The Color of the Year, Radiant Orchid. Below is a video of all the things I got.
Have you picked up any new products lately? Comment below and let me know!
Great tool!
The Bagel Store Williamsburg
Hey Lovers,
I hope 2014 is treating you well. I just wanted to take a minute to tell you about my new favorite thing. . .cragels. The cragel is the newest addition to the hybrid food craze. It’s part bagel, part croissant and all delicious. Cragels are the brainchild of self-proclaimed “bagel artist” Scott Rossillo of the Bagel Store. I still have not been able to get my hands on one of Dominique Ansel’s cronuts. I’m all about a hybrid food item but what I will not do is wait in line for 3 hours. I learned of the cragel through NY1’s Zagat report. When I realized The Bagel Store has one location in Williamsburg and another location in Bushwick, I knew I could not rest until I got a cragel.
I visited the Williamsburg location at 349 Bedford Ave. There was no line and they still had cragels at approximately 8:15AM. It is not hyperbole when I say the cragel is the best I’ve ever eaten.
The cragel does not have the annoying get everywhere flakiness of a typical croissant but has more of the dough that every reasonable person loves. The cragel has such a rich glaze that it doesn’t even require butter or cream cheese (but those things are available at the Bagel Store). For those of you who don’t live in the neighborhood, the Bagel Store does deliver.
After my first cragel, I was hooked. I had to have more. I couldn’t just eat cragels and jeopardize my Weight Watcher’s progress with impunity. Yesterday I became a woman with a mission. I had to try all the cragels and decide the best flavor.
Cinnacragel
The cinnamon cragel is a threesome of cinnamon bun, bagel and croissant. The taste is amazing but the sweetness can be distracting.
The Chocolate Cragel puts the “a” in aggressive. The mix of chocolate and cragel dough does make for an interesting taste. I am not a chocolate lover so this taste was a bit overwhelming. If you are a lover of all things chocolate this may be for you. For me, I’m satisfied with the memory.
Vanilla Rainbow Cragel
The Vanilla Rainbow Cragel is a twist on the original cragel. The colors are just for decoration, the flavor is vanilla. This cragel is the closest to original cragel. It breaks apart with the same ease as the original cragel and vanilla flavor gives it an additional sweetness that is more refined than straight sugar.
Chocolate Chip Cragel
The Chocolate Chip Cragel is a nice marriage between the original cragel and a hint of chocolate. I’m not into melted chocolate so this cragel doesn’t score well with me but an occasional lover chocolate would enjoy it.
So, what’s my verdict for the best cragel?
The Original Cragel. The Vanilla Rainbow Cragel is a close runner up.
Have you tried cragels? Have you tried cronuts? Have you tried any other hybrid food item? What are your favorite hybrid foods?
Comment below and let me know!
For those of you who may not know over the last couple years I’ve become a makeup stan. Check the video for a haul of goodies I got from my last few visits to Sephora. Below are a few pictures of the packaging I didn’t have in the video.
Cherry in the Air
On sale for $3!
Concealors
One Night Stand
Sephora Lash Stash
What are your most favorite recent beauty finds? Comment below and let me know!
If you haven’t heard by now, Monday, Kanye West visited The Breakfast Club on New York’s Power 105.1. If you haven’t heard it, check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1W_QWDWHiI.
Let me begin by saying I loved this interview! He gave us the Kanye Crazy we love and a social message that people need to hear. Let us not forget that there is a thin line between genius and insanity (see Howard Hughes). After listening to this interview I think Kanye needs an outliner. He needs someone to organize his thoughts old school style. You know Roman Numeral “I”, sub point “A”, sub-sub point 1. . .
There were some Yes Yeezus moments and and even more WTF moments. Let’s discuss! The following moments had me saying “Yes Yeezus”
There were a few moments when I felt like I should’ve been high or Kanye got too high before the interview.
If I were directing the Yeezy’s movie I’d insert the intro “Money, Power, Respect ” where Lil Kim says “First you get the money, then you get the power. After you get the power ***** gonna respect you.” It is easy to call Kanye crazy. However, if you take out the parts about Kim being Marilyn Monroe and the desire for a White trash video and think about his point about the billionaires he’s actually on to something. Lucky for you, I did the research so you don’t have to. I checked Forbes. Kanye is right about there being 7 Black billionaires. They are:
Now that we know the only 7 Black billionaires names according to Forbes, let’s think. 4 of the top 10 richest people in the world are Waltons, of Walmart fame. Each of them are worth about $32 billion. In other White people stay winning news, let us not forget that if King, I mean, Mayor Bloomberg lost $28 billion he would still have Oprah’s money. This made me remember Chris Rock’s “I’m not talking about rich. I’m talking about wealth skit.” If you’re unfamiliar with it check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kglXIoiXDFM.
Finally, I really need to understand why Kanye kept cheer-leading for Drake. He said it’s Drake season multiple times. To that I say “since when?” Do you feel like it’s Canadian, biracial, Jewish, actor, rapper/singer season? Let’s file that under the visionary stream of consciousness. After this interview I wish MTV still did “Diary.” I’d love a few days worth of Kanye Crazy. I’m not a God but I am a little crazy which is why I’m into Kanye-type rants. Thanksgiving is upon us. We should be thankful that Kanye feels marginalized enough to give us Olympic level crazy.
What are your thoughts on the interview? Loved it? Hated it? Comment below and let me know!
Marc Jacobs debuted his first beauty line at Sephora last Friday, complete with 121 products. Across the board, this collection includes long lasting products with high shine, and Jacobs wasn’t shy about using gel technology as often as possible, Want to know which products are worth buying? Read below.
I swore up and down that my beauty-lution this year would be to work on liquid liner – but I HAD to take a break on that and opt for this Gel crayon. The new gel technology makes it long-lasting and waterproof (I tested it to my hand and it took FOUR washes before it rubbed off!), not to mention easy to apply. If you’ve got dark skin let the “Intro (vert)” add a fun pop on your skin, for fair or olive skin try the bronze, shimmery “Ro (Cocoa)”.
At $59 this…
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Photo from Studio43.com
Hello Lovers,
Have you listened to Constitution Ten Commandments, Dead Sea Scrolls 95 Theses, Magna Carta Holy Grail? Did you see Jay-Z on Bill Maher? Did you see the “film” that followed on HBO? Let’s discuss!
When I heard the title “Magna Carta Holy Grail” I came up with a theory. The theory is, Jay-Z needs to leave us alone, musically. After listening to Emancipation Proclamation I Have A Dream, I mean Magna Carta Holy Grail, multiple times, I think my theory is correct. Jay-Z is in the Michael Jordan Wizards stage of his rap career. Magna Carta Holy Grail actually drained me. As I listened to “Tom Ford” I thought “maybe if you popped molly this song would be more interesting.”
Am I the only one who found it a little creepy when he said “twerk Miley” at the end of “Somewhere in America?” Miley is about 20-21 and Jay-Z is 43 aka old enough to be her daddy. Further, Miley is already running around saying she wants a “Black sound,” lines like that just encourage her and I’m not here for it.
I’m also tired of the Jay-Z Beyonce collaborations. I know there are some members of the Beyhive who will read this. . .just hear me out before you attempt to snatch my wig. Jay-Z and Beyonce songs used to be amazing, “Upgrade U” and “’03 Bonnie & Clyde” were great songs. Part II or whatever it’s called is a yawn. What many bandwagon rap Beyhive fans tend to forget is that “’03 Bonnie & Clyde” was a remake of a Tupac song. A remake is good. A remake of a remake; not so much. I guess Beyonce whispering “bad bitch” was something we don’t get her from very often but I could live without it. I could also live without him referring to her as his “baby mama” even if she is harder than a lot these ^199a$.
I decided for sure that Jay-Z was out of material when he referred to Foxy Brown in “Picasso Baby.” Foxy Brown is on Instagram trying to sell virgin hair; the same business as Cam’ron’s fiancee. Nas accused Jay-Z of messing with Foxy Brown on Ether. Who waits so long to address a rumor? It’s become clear that when it comes to Jay-Z’s music the problem isn’t his flow, the problem is his dough.
When I heard Jay-Z performed the same song for 6 hours, le sigh was my reaction. When I heard that a band, The National, had already done that I was baffled. Jay-Z used to start things. Now, he’s doing things other artists have already done. When I saw that it would be a film on HBO I got curious. I had so many questions. Is it hard physically to perform for so long? Did he take water breaks? Did he have to put special soles in his construction Wheat Timbs? Was he lip syncing? I could continue.
After I watched the “film” and Bill Maher none of my questions were answered; not 1. First of all, I think it is a stretch to call 15 minutes a “film.” Wasn’t the B.I.G. full length “hypnotize” video about the same length and it was just a music video? What I don’t understand is how Jay-Z gave us 15 minutes about something that probably should have been 30 minutes or an hour but Beyonce gave us 90 minutes on something that could’ve been done in 15 minutes.
On Bill Maher, Jay-Z spoke about rap and art’s common underground history. I was actually looking forward to his “film” being artsy and intellectual. I thought there would interviews with Marina Abramovic, David Blaine or Lady Gaga about performances. Instead we got a highlight reel of celebrities and some less well known artists with no mention that he was actually there doing the same song for 6 hours. I saw very little art and very little intellect. I actually would’ve been more satisfied with a rerun of Jay-Z’s first HBO event back when Freeway was on his label. That concert had special guests like Missy and performances of songs that were actually good.
After seeing the “film” I just want to resurrect the old Jay-Z. The “I want a chick who practice Tai Chi but still can buy weed” Jay-Z. The “we don’t believe you, you need more people” Jay-Z. The “if your man got you baggin’ up it could be worse, just put a little in the baggie, a little in the purse” Jay-Z. The “I’m not a businessman I’m a business…man” Jay-Z. The “I am a hustler baby, I can sell water to a whale” Jay-Z. I’d even settle for the “You got Baby money, keep it real with niggas, niggas ain’t got my lady money” Jay-Z.
After Magna Carter Holy Grail and “Picasso Baby” I think Jay-Z should focus on raising Blue Ivy, sending young women fancy cars, and sports management.
Did you see Picasso Baby? Did you listen to Magna Carta Holy Grail? What did you think? Is Jay-Z the rap Gaga or rap Grandpa?
Comment below and let me know!
Rants Raves & Randoms 