Monthly Archives:

April 2018

Beauty, Makeup

Here’s How To Get Your Hands on Free Too Faced Mascara Today!

Photo via TooFaced.com

If Beyoncé’s veritable takeover of Coachella hasn’t prompted you to try a flurry of glitter-encrusted festival looks, a new deal from Too Faced just might. And don’t worry; you won’t even to have to leave home to snag it.

According to the brand’s site, when you spend $55 or more, “the ultimate mascara & remover kit” will automatically be added to your cart. The kit includes the ever-popular and slightly scandalous Better Than Sex Mascara as well as its waterproof counterpart for lashes that look long, lush, and lust-worthy. But that’s not all, as the kit also contains the brand’s Mascara Melt Off, an oil-based formula to remove even the strongest waterproof formula and infused with Rice Extract and Green Tea to condition and protect lashes from irritation when you take off your makeup at the end of the day. Plus the mini-sizes make it super easy to touch up — or take it all off —  on the go!

Since there’s no word when the offer will end, according to HYPEBAE, now’s the time to stock up on our spring beauty arsenals. After all, scoring a plethora of products that would normally cost $63 (for the full-sized version) is a damn good deal to snap up while you can!

Let me know if you manage to snatch one of up for yourselves in the comments below or tag me on Insta!

Beauty, Makeup

Show Your Stash: Sallia Goldstein’s Travel-Sized Beauty Treasures and More

Courtesy of Sallia Goldstein.

I know I’m not the only one curious about celebs and influencers’ favorite beauty buys as well as who and what shape their view of beauty in the biz. 

Social media has totally transformed how we make and consume art. Whether your media of choice are inks and oils, shadows and glosses, or a plethora of pixels, there is a slew of platforms designed to showcase the works of novices and professionals alike. While Instagram has become a home for personal style bloggers and YouTube has become a haven for beauty influencers, Snapchat has become the app of choice for a slew of artists to show off their skills, interact directly with their fans, and even Snapchat storytellers by creating brand-sponsored doodles. In fact, it was a brand sponsorship that led me to meet Sallia Goldstein, aka the Bill Nye of Snapchat.

I had learned about the engineer-turned-Snapchat artist after she was quoted in a Refinery29 article on the platform’s budding artist community, in which she uses the platform to not post her art but also educate followers through some science-based stories as well. Plus, she recently branched out into animation (I still can’t get over the cute little corgis she shared earlier this year). But I got to meet her face to face when she partnered with Twentieth Century Fox to cover the premiere of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and post doodles featuring the stars straight from the red carpet. We quickly became friends, bonding over our appreciation of great concerts but also of beauty. I even helped Goldstein quickly curate a slew of amazing drugstore beauty buys during one of her recent trips to the Big Apple!

With Goldstein gearing up for Coachella this weekend (so jeal!), I wanted to discover what she packs in her bag for big trips like the upcoming music festival, how her fellow artists inspire her style, and the one palette she can’t get enough of.

Courtesy of Sallia Goldstein.

On her approach to beauty and style: “I feel like I normally have terrible style, but I strive to be a mix of Babs Tarr and Hayley Kiyoko. Recently I’ve been trying to go for @Zephanijong eyeshadow look for going out. Overall, I guess I’m consistent: Blond hair, jacket, and strong eyes. Baggy on top and tight on [the] bottom.”

On her beauty idols: “I used to have the biggest crush on Shay Mitchell in high school. I had a few blond streaks in my hair. I was on swim, so I was constantly tan. I wore a lot of shorts and shirts since it doesn’t get too cold in SoCal. Plus, it’s easy to strip for when you get into the pool.

“These days, thanks to social media, I can pick from a variety of beauty gurus and celebs. I love drawing inspiration from ‘celesbians’ (celebrity lesbians) on Instagram. They have this ‘I’m comfortable but I’m still fly’ thing going on that’s like my stylistic white whale. They always wear hats, some kind of fitted jeans/pants that look like they’ve gone through a food processor, and a pocket tee of some kind. Also, I’ll always idolize Babs Tarr.”

Babs Tarr Photo via @babstarr on Instagram

On her first beauty memory: “My mom was a fashion designer, so she’d always bring home scraps of polyester fabric in all kinds of ridiculous, bright colors. My sister and I would wrap ourselves them and pretend we were wizards.”

On her first beauty buy: “Throughout high school, I would always try on sample makeup at Sephora with my friends and walk out. I wasn’t really a makeup person in high school. My first distinct memory of purchasing makeup was my first week in college. You can’t really go to your local Sephora, throw on some samples, and walk out. That first week, in one trip, I went to a Sephora and just bought an entire makeup routine. Foundation, concealer, bronzer, eyeshadow, everything. I spent a decent amount of money.”

On the best beauty advice she’s received: “I don’t know if this counts, but I’m a fan of Roald Dahl’s advice on beauty: ‘A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.’”

On her favorite beauty tip to share: “Put tape (like scotch tape) from the corner of your eye to just below the end of the eyebrow. It stencils in this sharp line that makes your eyeshadow look like it was done by a pro.

“Application matters. Good makeup can look like crap on your face throughout the day if you don’t use the proper application tools like brushes or sponges. Brushes always outlive palettes and creams, and you don’t have to splurge on them.”

On her favorite beauty buys of 2018, so far: “Last year I backpacked through Europe on a nimble makeup kit. The clutch was an Hourglass foundation stick. It was small, travel size. I cannot stress how much I used it and how well it got the job done. I also got the Anastasia Modern Renaissance Eyeshadow Palette for my birthday. I used to not care about eyeshadow, [but] the AMR pallette changed that. It’s kind of incredible how many looks you can get with one palette. I can gush for paragraphs on how much I love the AMR palette.”

Check out Sallia’s clutch beauty buys below!

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Fashion

Nanette Lepore Links Up With Dia&Co. for a Plethora of Playful Plus-Size Picks

Photo via Dia.com

Nanette Lepore is applying her love of kaleidoscopic colors to the plus size set with help from Dia&Co!

The style subscription service is no stranger to collaborations, previously linking up with the likes of Rebel Wilson and Girl with Curves‘ Tanesha Awasthi. But this marks a first for the New York Fashion Week regular who’s known for blending bohemian prints with classic feminine silhouettes that appeal to fashion fans of all ages — and now up to a size 32 as well!

The 25-piece collection, which is now available to shop, consists of lacy tops, flirty skirts, breezy dresses, and chic style staples like pants and blazers in neutral hues, allowing you really let those playfully printed pieces pop! Or as Ashby Vose, Stylist at Dia&Co, told SheFinds, “The spring collection features feminine prints and pastels while staying true to the brand’s iconic aesthetic with soft ruffles, thoughtful embroidery and incredible detailing throughout the pieces.” Plus, everything’s priced under $100 each, so you can easily use spring cleaning as an excuse to snap these up!

Bear in mind that you can only get your hands on the collection by requesting the particular pieces you want when you sign up for Dia&Co’s styling boxes — you won’t find them on a sales rack anywhere else. Then once they arrive on your doorstep, you can keep the coveted collaboration pieces that you want and simply send back the rest of curated clothing for something else when you’re ready.

To celebrate the collaboration, Dia&Co. will host its very first pop-up shop this Saturday, April 14th, at 7 Cleveland Place in New York City. From 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, guests will not only have the chance to shop the Lepore pieces and the brand’s signature styling boxes but also score styling advice from fashion expert Reah Norman and Dia&Co stylists. Plus there will be hair stylists and makeup artists on hand to offer touchups to pair your new look.

If you’re not sure what to snap up first, head over to SheFinds to check out the rest of the pretty, printed pieces that will be available to add to your styling boxes starting today, April 11th, to nab them now before they disappear!

Beauty, Body

#OnMyVanity: Degree UltraClear Black + White Pure Clean Dry Spray

Disclosure: I receive a slew of samples, and when I find something I like, I can’t wait to tell you all about it! In this case, I received a sample of this from the brand for consideration, but the opinions are all my own.

It never fails. If the temperature is remotely above freezing, I tend to sweat at the drop of a hat, something that many plus-size people deal. It’s the reason why blowout season for me starts around the same time as the holiday season and usually ends before Easter. But even with chillier temperatures in the forecasts, the layering required to keep warm tends to leave me sweating in places other than my pits.

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Beauty, Makeup

Sneak a Peek at Erdem for NARS’s Strange Flowers Collection

Photo courtesy of NARS Cosmetics.

Sure with snow and chilly temperatures in our forecasts, it’s hard to believe that it’s technically spring. But Erdem and NARS already have their sights on summer by shaking up the season with a garden of strange flowers.

I know what you’re thinking — Florals? How Groundbreaking. But for a season synonymous with beach babes and mermaids, wandering through NARS’s garden of delights is more of a dreamy experience thanks to Erdem’s signature dark romance. So you know this isn’t your average flower patch with a barrage of what the brand calls “demure and daring” hues for eyes, lips, and cheeks — all wrapped in . “It was really interesting to explore my aesthetic in collaboration with NARS and see how far we could push different elements through color and product,” Erdem said when the collection made its runway debut. “It was fascinating to develop new pigments and palettes as well as the cosmetics themselves.”

There’s not one but two eye palettes to play with that provides buildable coverage across your lids, including the Fleur Fatale, which comes with softer hues suited for everyday wear, and the Night Garden, which delivers a serious dose of drama for those nights on the town. Fans of the brand’s iconic Multiples will likely fall head over heels for Erdem’s icy, pink-toned take on a highlighting pencil. Plus there’s the addition of fresh products for the brand like blotting papers, which are a must for anyone who battles against serious shine during the warmer months of the years. There’s also the new lip powder palette that allows for makeup mavens test-drive different textures and even customize their own color when paired with the lush array of lipsticks that provide plenty of pigment, no matter how subtle or bold the shade you snap up.

And you won’t have to wait much longer to snatch these fresh floral-inspired finds, as the collection will be available at NARS Boutiques and NARSCosmetics.com starting on April 12th before hitting the shelves of Sephora on the 30th. But keep in mind that only the Voodoo Lily, Wild Flower, and Larskpur lipstick shades will be available there, so you might want to set your shopping alerts for early on the 12th if you’re looking to complete the collection.

Want to get up close and personal with these pretty pieces? Check out the full collection below!

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Beauty, Makeup

Jennifer Lopez Links Up With Inglot for a Makeup Collection!

Photo: Inglot via Allure.com.

The rumors are true — Jennifer Lopez is staging a BIG beauty counter comeback this year!

The star has partnered with the beauty brand Inglot to launch not only the bronzer that her makeup artist Scott Barnes had shared weeks ago on social media but also 69 additional SKUs guaranteed to help makeup mavens achieve that iconic J.Lo glow. And I can’t wait!

According to Allure, complexion, eye, lip, and even nail products (I mean, have you seen her Tom Bachik-crafted manicures?!) will comprise the collection with major must-haves like the Livin’ The Highlight, a champagne-colored loose-powder illuminator that comes with a fuzzy puff applicator, and The LipGlossy. Plus the brand’s Freedom System will be incorporated in the collab with a refillable palette that can you can add the collection’s five bespoke blushes, two highlighter trios, and 20 eyeshadows to totally customize it to your liking. And Huffington Post says that the products will start at $8.50 and go up to $49.

And we won’t have wait long to get our hands on the cool collab either, as Inglot noted on its Instagram on Thursday that the collection is slated to hit JenniferLopezInglot.com and InglotCosmetics.com on April 26th.

But I feel like this could be just the start of Lopez’s beauty empire. While she’s had previous experience from the fragrance perspective, the collab is likely a way for her to test the market and see if striking out on her own would work. After all, it worked for Rihanna, who had not only had fragrance as her foundation but also collaborated with a big beauty brand before developing Fenty. The Bad Gal served up not just one but three wildly successful collections with MAC back in 2013, including her ubiquitous Riri Woo lipstick (aka the proto Mattemoiselle Lipstick) that caused riots at merch tables during her Diamonds tour. So I’m sure they’ll be keeping a close eye on how successful these launches will be.

Now, all we need are a few sneak peeks at the products and packaging to tide us over until the end of the month. In fact, I’ve already signed up for the email list and set up notifications from @TrendMood1 just in case!

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Beauty, Body

Show Your Stash: KillaCrytal’s Mani Musts and Much More!

Photo courtesy of Crystal Leung.

I know I’m not the only one curious about celebs and influencers’ favorite beauty buys as well as who and what shape their view of beauty in the biz. 

Mercury retrograde has been devastating for so many, but it has also served up a few amazing surprises. The astrological phenomenon is known to bring people back from our past, and it occurred a little earlier than expected when I was recently scrolling through my Instagram feed and stumbled on a set of decadent digits belonging to @KillaCrystal, aka Crystal Leung. The designer and former MindBodyGreen art director, who’s worked with brands like Anthropologie, Thinx, and Starbucks (just to name a few), and I went to college together but had lost touch since we graduated. She was not only open to reconnecting with me but even invited me over to her home office and mini salon, filled with everything from foils and glitters to crystals and photo-ready props, for a magnificent manicure of my own that I’m honestly having a hard time giving up right now.

“My nails are always done, and I wanted to see what I do to them throughout the year and to document my nail art game to hopefully improve,” she told me of the start of the budding Instagram account. She explained that she had played around with nail art in the past, even curating her work on herself and her circle of friends under the hashtag #killacrystalnails. But she saw 2018 as the perfect time to launch a separate Instagram account as well as its own hashtag, #killacrystalnailfiles, where she showcases her serious skills in the form of vibrant metallics and holographic hues covered in crystals and fresh foils on a weekly basis. And after becoming totally taken with her intricate tips, I had to find out how she used her eye for design for her magical manicures plus a few of her current nail art necessities.

One of KillaCrystal’s Ultimate manicures, courtesy of Crystal Leung.

On her approach to beauty: “[D]iscover and experiment. One of my cardinal rules for my personal style is to try everything out (twice even) because you never know how it will turn out on you. The moments when I try something I didn’t think would work on me and then it becomes my new fave item feels a bit magical. Everyone should try it, I dare you. My personal style, fashion-wise, has evolved like everyone else throughout their lives, but the thing that remains consistent is my fearlessness to try out all the weird things just to see what it looks like.” 

On her beauty idols: I don’t remember who my beauty idols [were] growing up because no one looked like me in the magazines that I read. But I do remember appreciating those who had a more daring eccentric style and personality that still holds true today.”

On her first beauty memory: “My cousin and my mom putting lipstick on me for pictures at a family wedding. It was a dark burnt maroon and it looked horrible on me. Even as a kid, I knew it was not a good color for my skin tone. I never really cared for lipstick anyway. It is always [the] last priority [in] my makeup routine.” 

Maybelline ExpertWear Eyeshadow Duo, discontinued.

On her first beauty buy: “A Maybelline duo smoky eyeshadow palette from CVS to use with my forever-borrowed eyeliner from my mom.”

On the best beauty advice she’s received: “[Use] sunscreen and moisturize, and don’t pluck your eyebrows when you’re in your twenties.” 

On her best beauty tip to share: “[Use] Jojoba oil for your face and/or whole body moisturizer.” 

On Her favorite beauty buy of 2018, so far: Boy brow by Glossier in clear and in black. Clear is for my baby hairs, black is for my brows.” 

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Beauty, Body, Hair, Makeup, Skin

Skip The Subscription & Treat Yourself to a Target Beauty Box for $7

Photo via Target.com.

 

There’s nothing like the giddy anticipation of opening up a box filled with a mysterious array of tiny treasures, but doing so might be a bit much for many who either can’t afford to keep up with a subscription beyond a few months or haven’t finished the samples they initially received yet. But Target is delivering the best of both worlds: a slew of beauty buys to sample for less than the price of a full-sized product — minus any commitment.

The retailer has just released a range of six themed beauty boxes that are $7 each and come housed in pretty, Insta-ready printed packaging that makes any last-minute gifting super simple. Each is designed to tackle a specific beauty need whether you just need something to help you get out the door in the morning, repair the damage your hair has incurred, or even simply wind down for the day. So you don’t have to worry about getting stuck with samples you won’t use (though you can always gather them into a gift basket for someone in your circle who could use it).

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Beauty, Makeup

Here’s How to Channel the “Bartier Cardi” Beauty Look

Everybody wants to party with Cardi, and there’s no surprise as to why! In her new “Bartier Cardi” video, which dropped Monday night, the rapper borrows a bit of vintage glamour (including the hazy look of old-school films) of from a slew of beauty icons. I was instantly mesmerized by how her glam squad channeled the likes of Betty Grable, thanks to the pale lingerie and throwback tresses that Tokyo Stylez created for the clip; Mae West, as she dabs on a bit of EOS lip balm before making out with her fiancé Offset in the backseat of a car; and even Lil Kim, who often called herself the rap Mae West.

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Beauty, Makeup

Here’s When the Aaliyah x MAC Collection Will Hit Shelves

Embed from Getty Images

We won’t have to wait much longer to get our hands on the MAC collection commemorating the late (and still great) R&B songstress, Aaliyah.

Though the collaboration was announced back in August 2017, fans hadn’t heard much more until yesterday when the brand tweeted that the collection will be released online on June 20th and will hit MAC store the next day. The Aaliyah collection shares a similar origin story last year’s Selena x MAC collaboration, as the singer was a well-known MAC fan who often wore “Chelsea Lipstick, Cherish Lipstick, Chestnut Lipliner, espresso eyeshadow, and biscuit eyeshadow,” according to a fan petition to the brand that was launched back in 2015. The petition received support with over 26,000 signatures as well as serious support from her brother Rashad HaughtonMissy Elliott, and even Aaliyah’s former makeup artist Eric Ferrell.

After hearing the fans loud and clear, MAC is tapping them to help celebrate the star’s studio and screen achievements with a short film called “A-Z of Aaliyah” made in partnership with i_D. According to the brand’s Instagram post, superfans can post a photo or video of themselves showing how Aaliyah has inspired them and tag the hashtags #AtoZofAaliyah and #AaliyahForMAC, and the top submissions will be flown to New York to be a part of the video.

And if that weren’t enough good news, the beauty brand took to Instagram to offer a look at what fans can expect to snap up when the collection drops this summer. The first picture featured a tawny brown lipstick synonymous with the ’90s that fans are guessing will be called “Rock the Boat” after her final single (though I think the cafe au lait-colored lipstick could easily be called Baby Girl after Timbaland and Missy’s nickname for her). The second showcases an eye palette filled with smoky shades, similar to the hues she wore in videos like “Try Again,” “We Need a Resolution,” and “Are You That Somebody,” as well a few shimmering shadows for a dash of dazzle.

I couldn’t be more excited to get my hands on a small tribute to her legacy. I started listening to her when I was eight years old, singing her sultry songs even when I didn’t realize how inappropriate they were for how young I was at the time. She had such a cool and mysterious vibe, thanks to her signature deep side part that hid half of her face, the shades she sported, and her stylish mix of masculine and feminine fashion that made her stand out against from the crowd on MTV.Even her turn as Queen Akasha in Queen of the Damned was still inspiring to me as she was not only one of the first (and few) vampires of color I had seen on screen, making it an easy costume choice that following year. But what cemented her as a beauty icon in my mind, as well as the rest of the girls in my middle school, was the blocky gray smoky eye that Ferrell created for her iconic “Try Again” video. Many attempted but few succeeded at recreating the eye look from the hit single from the soundtrack from her 2000 film Romeo Must Die. And after this social media sneak peek, I plan on practicing that look with the smoldering shadow palette, because after all, she did say, “If at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again…”

What do you plan on picking up from the collection?