My 200+ Subscriber Giveaway! (Finally)

Thank you so much for helping me reach 200 subscribers. Currently 231 or  something close to that! I never thought in my wildest dreams that people would watch my videos and even subscribe to see more of them! Getting to 50 was amazing, 100 was unbelievable and now 200 makes me almost speechless. I am so grateful to all of you who have stuck with me even during the university semester, when the videos were not frequent and the quality was not always the best.  I am constantly trying to improve my settings and the quality of my videos, and I always love to see your feedback on them.

As some of you may know, I recently created a Facebook  page to connect with you all in commemoration of making 200 subscribers. I’d love to hear more from you there. So in this giveaway, I’m going to ask you a big favour. Please go on over to the Facebook page and like it (if you haven’t already) and share it if you’d like also. Remember you can also leave suggestions for content either here on my blog, on the Facebook page or on my YouTube.

Enough of the sentimental stuff, let’s get down to the prizes. (Remember I’m a college student, so I couldn’t give the most extravagant of prizes even though I really wanted to, but do leave suggestions for the next giveaway!)

Prizes:

• Victoria Secret Fall Metallic Eyes Palette
• Victoria Secret Beauty Rush Lip Palette
• Milani Liquif’eye Metallic eyeliner in Gold
• Merkury Innovations Metallic Earphones in Gunmetal

Rules:

• Must be a subscriber to my YouTube Channel, as well as Like my Facebook page.
• Must 18 years or older, or have your parents permission as I will need personal information to send out your prize.
• Giveaway is open to residents of  Barbados, the Caribbean, USA and Canada!
• Use the Rafflecopter Widget below to enter. Entries will not be allowed on the video page. This keeps it more organised.
• Open for 2 weeks! (i.e. from now until 12:01 am EST 15th August 2012!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclaimer: These prizes were bought with  my  money with the exception of the headphones, which were gifted by Ashley for the use to this giveaway.

Just a Thought.

So I decided to not post this Sunday, I wasn’t feeling so great. Just lounged around the house and watched the Olympics with my family. Anyway, I had a few thoughts on my mind. Not related to beauty in anyway, but just some thing I’ve been pondering.

You’re at a fast food restaurant with a couple of friends, some you know well, others are acquaintances. One of these persons’ friends shouts them across the restaurant and it is clear that this person is going to be a nuisance. They come over to the table, boisterous as ever, even though they were polite enough to say good evening to everyone at the table. You mind you business and continue to eat. The person makes conversation for his friend and another person at the table, then decides put himself out of the way by calling on you to make conversation.

Maybe I’m not social, or just did not want to be in that moment, but something about this situation unsettled my stomach and from the time this person called to me (BTW I do not know this person), I went “oh gosh”, in my head. The person then decides to make the corniest attempt at a compliment and the whole table bursts out laughing, while I’m just annoyed as hell at what’s just happened.

Has anything like this ever happened to you? An uninvited guest comes to your table to greet a friend they know, yet insists on making conversation with you? Does it annoy you? What if they’re loud or obnoxious? Maybe I’m just being anti-social, but I have learnt to know my place in a situation rather than being a nuisance. Tell me what you think.

XOXO

Coastal Scents HAUL!

Recently I got a few items from Coastal Scents. I finally got a blush palette, I always have trouble finding a blush here and the ones I had just did not go with every look. I’m very impressed by the quality of these blushes. Although everyone is not for my skintone, they are very saturated with pigment and they look like dupes for more expensive department store shades. I already found one that could be a dupe for M.A.C. Ambering Rose blush. I may compare them later as my sister owns that shade.

I also was able to get 2 new brushes. A nice blending one that Coastal Scents brought back (thank God), the pro-blender brush. It is a dupe for the M.A.C. 217 brush and I’ve actually seen more than one brand with a brush very similar to this for blending. Sigma also has one called the E25. I love this brush so far. The bristles are goat hair and it does blend very nicely.

Finally, I got the Small Detailer brush, which is a purpose detail brush for any cream or liquid product. Currently I’m using it for eyeliner and I was very impressed by how well it applied the product. Definitely would get more of these.

What products would are you loving or want to get from Coastal Scents? Any recommendations for new brushes?

Disclaimer: All products mentioned where given to me as gifts by one of my best friends, Blackman and I am in no way affiliated with the company mentioned. Opinions are my own, as are the images.

Cantu Shea Butter Leave in Conditioning Repair Cream Review

I’m sure I was to write a review for this a LONG time ago and it really did slip me. But as I was looking to do some reviews, this just happened to pop into my mind. So here goes, the long awaited review.

I used to LOVE this moisturiser. I probably went through 3 jars of this. It was great for moisture, my natural hair and even the texturised hair loved it! There were only 3 reasons why I really stopped buying this product. The price, usage with other products and wanting to try different things.

This product is a white cream and you can definitely tell there is a lot of water in the product. It’s not as thin and  runny as olive oil nor as thick as body lotion, but just a good in between.  I wish I could describe the texture a bit better, or show you a picture, but I have none of this product left. Either way, it was light enough not to weight down my hair or feel like I had in too much product. The cream had a light smell, but it was really nice, I used to love that too, not overpowering for sure.

Did it worked to its claims?

“Stops and mends hair breakages, leaves hair soft, shiny and manageable, formulated for severely damaged, dry or coarse hair”

I would think so on most counts. I hadn’t seen split ends in a long time while I was using it. (BTW I’m not sure about anything actually mending those, that’s baffling to me). My hair was very soft and easy to comb, that was my favourite part. From using this product, I actually realised how much my hair liked moisture (this was before I started spraying daily with water). When you put this in your hair, it does feel like it’s been freshly sprayed and even the hardest of tangles turn into nothing. Shiny, I’m not sure of as my hair was pretty short and frizzed easily too.

Oh and for those of you into fully organic products, this is NOT one. Though it works just as fantastic as those for my hair and it lasts quite a while.

The problems I had with this product was mostly the price. When I first bought this, before natural became popular, might I add, it was around $10- 11. The next time I bought it the price was $15! That is a serious jump! (those extra $4 could have bought me a treatment pack or some gel hahaha.) So that definitely turned me off from it. The next thing was how it layered under gel. Many other people have said that this product balls up and makes disgusting white mess when Eco-Styler Gel is used over it, and this claim is very true. I was so disappointed that it did, otherwise the Cantu Shea Butter Leave in would have made a perfect product for me.

Pros:

• Great moisturiser
• Nice, subtle scent
• Lots of uses out of a jar

Cons:

• Increasing price
• Layers awfully with gel
• Not Organic

The Raw Sugar:
I didn’t repurchase this product after I used up my last set, just made my own shea mixture to try out. But for those of you looking for a good moisturiser for daily use or even as a treatment, I’d recommend this. If you have any other products you’d like me to try or review, please leave them below in the comments.

XOXO

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this review. I bought this product with my money and all opinions are my own. Pictures are not my own.

Lazy Sunday Chit Chat: Crop Over 2012 & Music

It’s Crop over again. I’m actually pretty late with announcing that here, but I just am not feeling it this year. Last year I was so excited for Crop Over. I’d turn on my radio everyday and blast the songs and dance around. I loved so many of last year’s songs compared to now. I heard a few songs before the season started, and all it left me to think was, “what is bajan music coming to?”.

It’s just mediocre nowadays. I mean I haven’t listened to very many, but what I’ve heard does not make me want to listen to more. I’m not going to quote lyrics or anything, my close friends know what songs I am referring to, but since when have we settled with making such plain, tasteless, jokey rhymes? It’s just not enough to come out straight and say what you mean. It’s almost like an insult to my intelligence. There’s no double entendre, or a smart way to speak about your subject, as the older folk did for years.

When I was younger, I would have thought the lyrics to a song were referring to something simple, but as I grew, or learnt about the situation in that time, I recognised, there was a serious and deep meaning behind the song. Even party songs or yesteryear, involved something that children could hear without understanding fully what the song meant. I don’t want to sound like an old bat, but where was the skill in spinning tasteful lyrics gone?

I wish I could write a song about it. However, Soca, or Calypso is not for me. That also is what I think a lot of the younger artists are not realising. Yes, Soca, Calypso and even Spouge are our artforms, but this doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Can I paint my own nails, yes barely, but would I open a nail art shop? No, not unless I know I could provide good quality designs. In the same way, people who can sing should not only look into Soca or Calypso because they think it’s easy, but also into other forms of music. They should perfect their art before they release some of the songs they sing. I really don’t understand how some recording studios are just letting people get away with these things. But money makes the world go around right?

I feel like Bajans have also become a little too complacent with their tastes. I like quality in my music. I may like the occasional crude or stupid song, but I for the most part, I like things that are tasteful, that I would not be ashamed to share with the world as my favourite song.

Mind you, if I go in a party or a fete and these songs playing I still would dance to them, because the beats are good, and if you were to take away the lyrics, it’s same to me. For general listening however, us bajans need to up our lyrics game.

That’s what I’ve been thinking about this Sunday. What do you think of the new Soca and Calypso, or just party songs? Think I’m being to harsh? Is there any song you think I should definitely listen to? Or do you feel the same way? Are you also feelign rather meh with this coming Crop Over?

XOXO

$20 Make up Challenge!

Hey all! I totally forgot to post this here! I did the $20 Make up challenge, Bajan Style! ($20USD hehehe). It’s actually possible in Barbados. Most Items I got from Collins, except some eyeshadows from the $2 Store that I hauled here,  an e.l.f. lipstick and eyeshadow brush. The only thing I would have loved to gotten, was some settign powder… hmm
Anyway, here’s the video!

JewelMint Summer Sale!!!

Hey all! I do not usually do posts on sales though, when I saw this one and couldn’t miss out on alerting you about it.

If any of you have been watching Beauty vloggers on YouTube, you may know about JewelMint. It is a paid subscription service of sorts where you sign up by doing a style quiz, then they create a showroom for you each month with different jewellery items to suit your tastes. The jewellery is designed and styled by Kate Bosworth and Cher Coulter respectively.



Click picture to sign up!



Each month you ger a new showroom and you can shop your showroom, or look at other items across the website. Each item costs $29.99 and that’s inclusive of shipping to continental USA. Sadly, I do not think they ship to the Caribbean, but if you have relatives overseas, this would be a great way to get affordable good-quality jewellery, with some flair. You do not have to buy anything each month if you don’t want to either, which I think is perfect for me, because I just love to browse.

So this month, they’re having this really nice Summer sale where you buy one item and get the next FREE! You heard me right. FREE!!! If there was a time to buy, they’d be no better one than now.

You can sign up or shop, by clicking any of the pictures above (affliate link attached). Or you can simply click HERE to get to the sale!

XOXO

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. Affliate links are embedded within.

VO5 Conditioners Review- All hair textures!

I’ve been using the VO5 conditioners for a bout 2 years, trying different ones since I started doing cowashes in 2010. I’m no hair expert, but these are perfect for quick cowashes because they’re cheap ($4-5BDS), easy to find and most are relatively thick and most are very moisturising.

The first of the VO5 conditioners I used was the Tea Therapy in Vanilla Mint Tea which is a clarifying formula. I used this while my hair was texturised in 2010 and I was transitioning to natural. It really made both textures easy to manage and they blended well. I didn’t experience excessive dryness as I would after a shampoo and my hair felt clean. Even after I chopped off my hair and started a fresh texturiser, I continued to cowash with this conditioner and my hair really loved it. (I also used it as a deep conditioner, don’t judge me hahaha).

After I grew out my hair from the texturiser in 2010, I continued to use the VO5 conditioners on my natural hair and it was still awesome. My hair wasn’t too frizzy after, I was able to detangle with the conditioner in my hair and sometimes I’d only partially rinse out the VO5 so a bit was left in to condition.  It definitely left my hair feeling great.

I had tried the clarifying versions of the VO5 conditioner  Herbal Escapes (Kiwi Lime), however only once or twice.  It was ok for clarifying, but not a big woop for me. I really like their moisture formulas because my hair absolutely loves moisture, so I also tried the Silk Experiences Champagne Kiss but quite frankly I don’t like scent, so that turned me off from it. I also used the Moisture Milk in Passion fruit Smoothie occasionally for moisture, I’d leave it in as a cheap alternative to a deep conditioner, which worked well for my hair. 

The most recent of the VO5 line that I had used was the Blackberry Sage Tea Revitalising Conditioner around the texlax in January of this year. It worked well for diluting the relaxer base and my hair felt good after also. I had also done a mix of it with coconut oil, which my hair seemed to like for some time, and generally the conditioner was good. It was not as thick or moisturising as the moisture formulas, and definitely did not have as much slip. The scent was amazing though, I definitely liked it. Had it been more moisturising I would have loved it. My hair definitely ate this one up.

I found that after conditioning with any of the VO5 conditioners my curls were well defined, until my hair dried and frizz started to take over. But that’s another story, the job of a good leave-in/ moisturiser, hahaha.
I recently picked up a new VO5 conditioner, well actually a repurchase of an old one I had liked, the Moisture Milks in Passion Fruit Smoothie. I wonder how my new texture will like it.

The VERDICT:
Pros:

• Cheap
• Easy to find
• Good at moisturising
• Good slip for detangling
• Good for transitioning
• Worked well with processed and natural hair
• Defines curls

Cons:

• Some formulas absorb faster than others, and hence you may need more product
• Some scents are overpowering and very artificial
• Costs can add up when you use a lot of product

The Raw Sugar:
Overall , they’re good for the price, especially if you’re going to be cowashing weekly. You’ll get a good few using out of them depending on your hair length. I hope you enjoyed this short review on the VO5 conditioners I’ve tried. Until next post…

XOXO

Disclaimer: I was in no way compensated for this review. Images are not my own.

Lazy Sunday Chit Chat: 50 Shades of Bull

Hey all! I’ve been reading 50 Shades of Grey recently.  Just on whim, I had found the download and I decided that I would have a read. Not even knowing what it was.

I finally got around to reading it, after finishing the entire Hunger Gamers trilogy. Whew that was some intense reading btw! I love hate how it ended. But I digress, I started the first few pages of 50 Shades of Grey, and I wondered why I had such a weird feeling about reading this book. So I decided to check Wikipedia for a synopsis, and boy was I shocked! It’s about BDSM. I nearly had a heartattack.

But, I decided to continue reading because I hate starting books and never finishing them. I must say, some things in this book are rather interesting, however it takes a lot of willpower to want to read any further. I want to know what happens to the characters in the end, and yet at the same time, I want something seriously bad to happen to the female protagonist. She’s just too annoying to me and Christian Grey is an ill humoured freakshow. That’s the best way to describe him.

I have less than 100 more pages to read and I just do not want to read them. This is the most annoying thing ever! How can I not want to read it, yet want to find out what happens at the end of the book? Another thing which is putting me off from this book is knowing there are sequels and thus, the ending will be some sort of lead on junk. Ugh, frustrates me to no end.

Away from crazy books, I have some new videos coming up soon, one will be a short series, directed by my boyfriend, Tyrell, so be on the look out for it. It’s a Complications of Infatuation (COI) with a twist. Also the boyfriend tag has been requested, so we’ll be working on that soon also.

I am yet to film my $20 (USD, I hope haha) make up challenge. I keep forgetting everytime I come to film. I can say that the part that would worry me the most about this tag is putting on foundation with just my fingers, because I hate stuff under my nails.

I’ve been hoping to bring back my Asian Candy series. I really miss watching Asian Dramas, especially now the local network has decided to start showing one. Jewel in the Palace (Dae Jang Geum). I’m in love with it! So what do you think? Bring back the Asian Drama suggestions monthly?

I hope you haven’t been reading any awful books like me. And if you have hopefully the ending justifies the means. I cannot wait to finish that book. Have a nice Sunday and a great week!

XOXO

Urban Decay gets Smokey!

Hey all! Everyone is talking about the new Urban Decay Cosmetics Smoked palette (the reply to their Naked palettes). I think it’s pretty nice actually! I think I like it more than the Naked palettes. I’d have to say my favourite colours are Rockstar, Mushroom and Evidence.

xSparkage reviews it on her blog: http://bit.ly/S0zKQY

You can purchase it here on UD: http://bit.ly/LhP2Mz

What to do you think of it?

XOXO