Exotica Makeup Lipstick in LoveBrandie | Review

Hey all! I remember when I first started blogging and dabbling with makeup, a bajan beauty brand was a far off thought. Now there are about 3 that I know of doing big things in Barbados. This year I hope to try them all out. One of them I had tried a long time ago, but they’ve undergone a number of improvements and invention of new products, which is always a good thing.

Today I’ll be reviewing and swatching the Exotica Makeup lipstick in LoveBrandie, which I saw on their Instagram page and instantly fell in love with it (the irony there)! I paid $25BDS for this local brand lipstick, which is not much different from the other drugstore lipsticks we have here. Apparently the colours are inspired by the persons who work where their products are sold. They also sell tons of NYX products!

As you can see from the bullet, LoveBrandie is a deep maroon colour or looks brown even depending on the lighting. On my lips it comes off as a oxidised blood red. I was amazed by the formula of this lip product as it is glides on easily and doesn’t sink into the lines of my lips or highlight any dry patches. I would call this a satin finish lipstick, as there’s very little sheen to it once applied. I actually compared it to a similar Revlon lipstick I have of similar colour and I must say seems to last longer on the lips.

I wore this Old Years night and the staying power was shocking! Through eating, drinking, talking and New Year’s kisses, it lasted. Of course it wasn’t perfect, the centre of my lips were the most worn, but the colour still held on. My lips did start to feel more dry as time went by however, but nothing some lip balm or re-application of the lipstick couldn’t fix. It was not at all uncomfortable to wore and I in fact forgot I was wearing it. I paired this with a lip liner for Old Years and the transfer from lips to glass or cups was very minimal.

It makes sense to wear this with a lip liner, just to make sure it doesn’t go smearing all over. But once it’s on, it hardly goes anywhere!

The Verdict:

Pros

• Local brand
• Pigmented
• Glides on easily
• Beautiful colour which is a lighting chameleon
• Pricing is good 
• Would look good on many skin tones
• Long lasting

Cons

• Packaging is a bit short (I feel like I might lose it)
• Sells out way too fast (make more! haha)
• Not a moisturising lipstick

The Raw Sugar:

Like I mentioned, I was very surprised by the quality and staying power of this lipstick. I glided on easily and lasted well throughout Old Years Night. I have to test it even more during a regular day with a lot more eating involved, so I know the true staying power. But, I love this lipstick and would tell others to run out and buy it!

Where to Purchase:

Exotica Makeup & Extensions -Sheraton and the Colonnade Mall. (Barbados)

Disclaimer: This product was bought with my own money. Opinions are my own. 

Another year of Pride & Industry! 47 years of Independence!

A great big Happy Independence goes out to Barbados and all my Bajan readers! I know I posted some Thanksgiving deals during the week, but trust that I did not forget our lovely island’s celebrations! I sadly wanted to create a very Independence-themed makeup look but the time has gotten away, as I’ve explained in Wednesday’s post. I’ll see if I can put up an OOTD or FOTD when I go out tomorrow.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this photo that I took while roaming Bridgetown one Saturday evening. Nothing says Barbados quite like Bridgetown, it may change stores here and there but it’s mostly the same. Despite the hiccups we’ve been experiencing with our government and economy, I am proud to be BARBADIAN!

Have a safe and happy Independence day! Here’s to another 47 years of Pride and Industry!

National Emblems (RW) | Barbados

Hey all! Two years ago I posted on the official emblems of Barbados and  today I’m going to recap them with you since it’s the month of National Independence. My tiny little island has to stand out from others some how right?

For some reason when people hear Caribbean, they think very small-mindedly. Little to no sophistication, coconut trees everywhere, grass huts and endless beaches. But the Caribbean is way more than that, although it may not be top notch as it is in a 1st world country we still have infrastructure, governance and people (mostly educated). In representing Barbados on a global stage, we just like other developing countries, have our own flag, national dish, pledge, anthem, flower etc.

Above is our Coat of Arms which your would find on all official Government documents. The motto is Pride and Industry, something which us Bajans are forgetting a bit more everyday sad to say. On the Coat of Arms is the Dolphin (Mahi Mahi) representative of our fishing industry and the national bird the Pelican which once inhabited a small island off our coast called Pelican Island. This island has been incorporated into our sea port, the Deep Water Harbour and now you had find local craft vendors in the surrounding areas. Also on the COA, you will find our national flower, the Pride of Barbados, the Bearded Fig tree from hence Barbados is named and a hand holding sugar cane in a satire cross, representative of our sugar industry, once our main source of income.

As for our flag which you have seen around my blog every now and again, the blue panels represent our beautiful sea and the sky, while the yellow panel is for the golden sand of our beaches and the bright sun, which melts people shines here for most of the year.

We also have in my option a very majestic anthem which you can listen to below. During the month of November, you can definitely hear the anthem more than normally and  it usually is played at the beginning of official events.

Finally our national pledge, which in primary schools are said every morning. Or at least when I was younger. It’s said even less in secondary school, and not at all in Universities or work places. I think it should be said more often to remind persons of your heritage and what is the aim of our society.  I wonder do Barbadians still know their National Pledge?

I pledge allegiance to my country Barbados and to my flag,To uphold and defend their honour,And by my living, to do credit to my nation,Wherever I go.

You can read the full post here with even more details.

Since this is a Rewind Wednesday I decided to throw in this little song by the Merry Men. Once a very popular group of Bajan performers back in 1960s and 70s . Here’s their song “Beautiful Barbados”.

November = Barbados National Independence!

Hey all! It’s the month of November finally which means National independence for Barbados!

This year we are celebrating 47 years of Pride and Industry! Last year, I did a video on the lights and banners in the city. this year I won’t be making a video, but hopefully I’ll have tons of photos to show you the sights and sounds of Barbadian life around independence!

Also In other news, I’ve finally reached 100 GFC blog followers! Don’t worry I haven’t forgetting about the giveaway I had promised either. I’m working on it :).

If you’re a Bajan, what’s your favourite part about National Independence? I used to really love NIFCA, but now it’s so rushed and quieted that it’s over before you recognise it’s begun lol.

Winnings and Round up of Crop Over Weekend | Festival Fridays

Remember these cars from one of my earlier Festival Friday Posts?

These were just some of the winnings for the successful competitors of the Crop Over Events. I’ll be rounding up all of the winners in the post and telling you about the Sleepless Weekend!

Let’s Start with the Kids :)! I was watching this competition along from home and I quite enjoyed it. The younger calypsonians are definitely holding the future in their hands. Many of the songs had good lyrics and of, course as they are children, you can’t expect every execution to be perfect, but it was very good. The Junior Calypso Monarch was won by Quinn P in the 8- 12 category, singing “Living With HIV” and in the 13-18 category by Honesty with the song “Respect de Disable”. The top prizes included a cash prize, staycation vouchers, electronic gadgets and huge trophies. For the placement of the other top 3 contestants and all of the prizes, you can click here.

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As for Kiddies Kadooment, the winners’ pool was mixed with names like Renee Ratcliffe, Yasmin Vlahakis, Trevor Nicholls and of course, Qywneth Squires appearing multiply times. Not surprisingly, plethora of the primary school bands are coming forward with award-winning presentations as well. These types of bands have been improving year after year with schools like St.Mary’s Primary taking a number of prizes in this year’s Junior Kadooment.

Soca Royale was won with much controversy (at least to me and some others). I think it was a bit unfair that persons from the same band were allowed to participate so many time, won so many top positions, as well as had an addition prize added onto their winnings.  If I were a Soca artist, I would probably boycott the Soca competitions for the next Crop Over. It just doesn’t seem fair, but that’s just my view.

Soca Royale venue before the huge crowds

Anyway, the Sweet Soca Competition was won by Blood with “Ah Can’t Wait”, while Biggie Irie came 2nd with “Ah Need Ah Riddim” (honestly I think Biggie should have won). Then for the Party Soca segment, Soca Kartel won 1st place, followed by its members Mikey and Blood who won 2nd and 3rd, respectively.

Biggie Irie performing

On Friday night, the Cave Shepherd All Stars had quite a presence at the Pic-O-De-Crop Finals with 3 of their  participants winning top titles. Ian Webster (Cave Shepherd All Stars) carried away the crown from the classic winners such as Red Plastic Bag from 2012. While Chrystal Cummins Beckles from the same tent, Blood, Collin Spencer,also from the Cave Shepherd All Stars and Aziza, took the remaining top 5 titles respectively. I wasn’t following this competition as closely, so I’m not sure what songs each of them had.I do remember hearing a couple of the performances, and I loved Aziza’s song “Guardians of Calypso”. I think it’s great that for some one so young, she placed well up there with more seasoned artists as well.

Foreday morning jam!

After the Pic-O-De-Crop, was Foreday Morning Jam, which ended on Spring Garden. As I was working in a stall down there I got quite a look at the crowd it brought and it was definitely a well-attended event! Not to mention, there were so many bands that from around 2am to probably 7am, people were still arriving. Not to mention the spectators. It’s the first sunrise I had seen in a while, I was up the entire night and never thought I’d be headed home at 8am! I sadly didn’t get to see Rihanna as she passed down Spring Garden, but I saw plenty of pictures her when I had recovered from that day.

Revellers party on til day break

Bridgetown Market was full of people all weekend!

Kids have all the fun! (Bridgetown Market)

Sunday was the well-anticipated Cohobblopot, which I sadly didn’t get to attend. This year I was so tired and busy I don’t know how I would have even gotten to that and stayed awake! Seriously, I’m going to start putting down from this year for all the Crop Over events, get my calendar early and schedule ahead for these events. Nothing will stop me, hahaha!  Anyway  I’m not going to dwell on this too much, but if you want to know what it was and who was performing, click here.

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Lil Rick performing at Cohobblopot

Finally Monday’s big event, GRAND KADOOMENT! I did not have the enthusiasm I typically have for it, (again very tired haha), but I did watch on TV for most of the day, then left home later to catch glimpses of the festivities on the road.

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 One thing I just don’t understand about this street festival. Why must people use the opportunity to show off their worst behaviour. And I’m not talking about dancing, wukking up, or the costumes, though those are a bit questionable these days. I’m talking about the urge to fight, to show who’s “badder” to be dishonest or just plain silly. There’s no need for it especially when you come out to have fun. Don’t come out to beat anyone for dancing with someone, don’t want to stab people for missing and taking on your toe, move out the way when trucks are passing, you know what is a mack truck and tonnes of pounds? Plus, if the police are there, you have no reason to try to test their resources. Just don’t do it. It leaves you in more trouble than you started, when you could just enjoy the holiday and be happy.

Anyway, there weren’t too many reports of misbehaviour or anything too serious. Most enjoyed their time on the road and that’s great! If you want to see more images of Crop Over (every event), you could check out the official Barbados Crop Over Facebook page.

Thank you for following along with me as we experienced Crop Over! If you were a part of it, I hope you did enjoy it, I know I did. Next year, I hope to get out to see more events as well. If you weren’t a part of it, what are you waiting for? Be here next year, where it’s promised to be bigger and better! It Sweet fuh Days!

Official Crop Over Festival Website

Disclaimer: I am by no means affiliated with NCF or other promoters of the Crop Over Festival. I am just an independent party who thinks Crop Over is awesome, beautiful, and meant to be shared! Images are courtesy of the Official Crop Over festival page, where they are linked to the respective albums. 

Sleepless Weekend of Crop Over | Festival Friday

It’s finally here! The final shows, the last jump up, the final hoorah before we have to wait another year for the Crop Over festival to be back with us again. I know this weekend, there will be many people who would not have slept since Emancipation Day (1st August), because they’re busy attending jump ups, concerts and fetes. I’ll try to do a round up post with all of the winners of the competitions next Friday, but this weekend, I’m going to be at Bridgetown Market (which starts on Friday) with the thousands of Bajans that pass through for the local craft, garments, fashion shows, entertainment and of course, the YUMMY food!

Friday is also the big Pic-O-De-Crop Calypso Finals where Aziza Clarke one of the contestants from the Juniors competition (a mere 18 years old) will be competing with seasoned veterans and a few newer competitors. I think that’s amazing really, as it’s about time that the younger generation starts coming into these “big people” competitions and giving them a run for their money. I’m really happy to see it happening.

Saturday morning will be the Fore-day morning jam, something that hardly ever interests me, but thousands of Barbadians join T-shirt bands, now evolving to costume bands or revel in their own “costumes”, partying through Bridgetown to Spring Garden. The customers are becoming very sophisticated these days, and I kind of miss the days of strictly T-shirts, paint, mud and water. But changing times, I guess. This jump usually takes place right after the crowning of the Pic-O-De-Crop Calypso King or Queen.

Of course on Sunday there will be Cohobblopot (pronounced Co- hob-boa- lah-pot) haha! This is being marketed as more of international event and besides our local artistes, Lil Rick (one of my favourites), Biggie Irie, Rupee, Red Plastic bag, Bobo and Fadda Fox,  there will be RDX from Jamaica (Dub/Dancehall), and a number of Trinidadian Soca artistes such as Patrice Roberts, Faye-Anna Lyons and Bunji Garlin. I actually wanted to go this year, but sadly I’m not… :(.

Finally on Monday, my favourite part of the festival…. Grand Kadooment where Bajans parade in beautiful costumes, though the concepts aren’t as inventive as years previous. I’m still a huge fan of beads and feathers, but I would love to see a bit more creativity go into both the male and female costumes.

So here’s a quick run-by of this weekend in case you didn’t follow all of my yapping…

Friday, 2nd August 2013 – Bridgetown Market on the Spring Garden Highway (and all weekend long)
                                         Pic-O-De-Crop Finals at Kensington Oval (more details here)
Saturday, 3rd August 2013 – Fordeay Morning Jam from Carlisle Carpark/ BTI Carpark (Lower Bay                                                        street) to the Spring Garden Highway (more info here)
Sunday, 4th August 2013 –  Cohobblopot at Kensington Oval
Monday, 5th August 2013 – Grand Kadooment from Warrens through the National Stadium and to the                                                    Spring Garden Highway
Friday, 9th August 2013 – Crop Over Visual Arts Festival Ends at the Grande Salle, Spirit Bond Mall and                                              Queen’s Park Gallery at Pelican

Almost the last lap! | Festival Friday

Hey all, this post may be a bit rushed,as I am running a bit late today… -__-. But I wanted to make sure you knew what was going on this weekend for sure! It’s going to be quite busy as the Crop Over festival is winding around to the last laps.

Aloha Hoapili, if you’re passing by from today’s Aloha Friday blog hop! Check out the button below if you wanna see the other blogs involved :).

Anyway it’s getting rather late in the day, so let’s cut the preamble and get straight to it!
Friday, 26th July 2013 – Crop Over Folk Concert (Day of National Significance) at the Frank Collymore Hall
Saturday, 27th July 2013 – Junior Kadooment at the National Stadium (more details)
Sunday, 28th July 2013 – Soca Royale (formerly known as Party Monarch) at Bushy Park
Wednesday, 31st July – Crop Over Visual Arts Festal Evening of Interpretation at the Queen’s Park Gallery at Pelican Craft Centre.
Thursday, 1st August 2013 – Emancipation Day walk (Emancipation day) from Emancipation Statue to Independence Square.
Friday, 2nd August 2013 – Bridgetown Market on the Spring Garden Highway
                                         Pic-O-De-Crop Finals at Kensington Oval (more details here)

Sorry about the rush, it’s a busy weekend so far for me. But be sure to enjoy yours!

Songs of the Festival Fever | Festival Friday

Hi everyone, this post is coming to you a bit late today, been somewhat of a hectic week. I really don’t even know where the time went. Before I knew it, today was Friday and I hadn’t gotten to write this post :(. Also don’t forget to check out this week’s Aloha Blog Hop!

Last weekend was filled with steel pan events as I had mentioned in my last FF post. Sadly by the time Sunday rolled around, I did not even feel like going to Pan Pun de Sand. I think it was for the best too, this year unlike previous there were less bands performing and one of my favourite bands, Mosaic wasn’t a part of the line up. I did watch the highlights of the event and both my dad and I enjoyed the Neal & Massy All Stars from Trinidad.

This weekend, I’d really like to go to a Pork Lime but since the week has crept up on me so fast, I doubt that’ll be the case. The Crop Over season is flying by really fast and although there are still lots of events to go to, there are so many that have been missed. See below for what’s coming up this weekend and next week.

Friday, 19th July – Pic-O-De-Crop Semi-finals at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium (more details here)

Saturday, 20th July – Junior Calypso Monarch Finals at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium

Sunday 21st July – Crop Over Feast at the Concorde Experience

                             Crop Over Read-IN! at Foursquare Heritage Park

                             Soca on de Hill at Falrey Hill National Park (more details here)

Friday, 26th July –  Crop Over Folk Concert (during the Day of National Significance) at the Frank Collymore Hall

Also I wanted to share some of the festival fever with you, so I’ve created this playlist of some of the Soca songs I’m loving. I can’t even remember hearing any Calypso yet (although the Semi Finals is this week), but that’s because I exist in my little cocoon, hardly turning on the radio as I do work lol. Enjoy!

Steel Pan All over! | Festival Fridays

Hey all! Today I’m also a part of the Aloha Friday blog hop! Click the button below and check out all the other lovelies participating :).

Earlier this week, we had a Topical Storm, thank God it wasn’t anything too serious and there was no damage done here, at least not reported. It was quite a lazy week for me too, I haven’t done much more than work. 😦

Yesterday was Pan Fusion at Illaro Court, while this Saturday is Pan in De City & Cruise. It’s a new twist on the old Pan in De City, where steel orchestras would walk through town playing, and set up in various areas and entertain passers-by. This new concept includes a cruise filled with pan music to the North of Barbados, so you basically have steel pan entertainment in 2 cities, Bridgetown then Speightstown.  I think it’s quite interesting as cruises have become increasingly popular here and it is a fun way to in-cooperate pan into that. It gives the event a new dimension. Typically the entertainment in the city is free, but the cruise would cost you a bit.

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Then to continue with the steel pan rave, there’s also Pan Pun de Sand which is entirely free and is always packed with people. It’s on a very popular beach, Brandon’s Beach and the vibe is really relaxing, there are vendors selling food and drinks and lovely music from start to finish. I don’t think I’ll make it out to Pan Pun de Sand this year though, I may have some other plans. I remember one year I tried to attend, the rain poured and poured, it was like I wasn’t to be there haha!

It’s the weekend and there will be tons of events going on…
Saturday, 13th July- Pan in De City & Cruise from Bridgetown to the Speightstown Esplanade
                               World Kids Fair with Calypso Circus at The Ranch, Spring Garden
Sunday, 14th July- Pan Pun De Sand on Brandon’s Beach
Wednesday, 17th July- Junior Calypso Monarch Lunchtime Concert at the Frank Collymore Hall (more details here)
Thursday,18th July- Crop Over Visual Arts Festival Evening of Interpretation at the Grande Salle
Friday, 19th July- Pic-O-De-Crop Semi-finals at the Garfield Sobers Gymnasium (more details here)
All week- Various Calypso/Soca Tents will be open.

Crop Over Heats up! | Festival Fridays

Last week I barely catch a glimpse of the Opening Gala’s parade. While I was in town, we went shopping and almost forgot. But I do have some pictures of the bits that I caught, as well as some video (coming a bit later).

Land Ship and Tuk Band performing in the street.

The Barbados Landship is celebrating 150 years of existence this year.

This week things are heating up for Crop Over, more and more events hosted by the NCF and private persons are scheduled. I’m hoping that before the season is out I go to a Pork Lime!

Today is actually a big event, the Sweet Soca Semi Finals, taking place at the Party Stand from 10 pm. I’m not going to be attending this event sadly, but you can see the list of performers here. Early bird tickets are $20 and patrons will pay $30 at the door. This would be a great after-work event to attend because you can lime while enjoying live performances.

Tuk band (a bit blurred)

The sweet sounds of pan also serenaded on-lookers.

Also coming up this weekend is the Junior Monarch Semi-finals, and it’s not to be missed, these kids are definitely holding the future reigns of Calypso in their hands. That’s this Saturday at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre at 8 pm.

Cars for the winners!

Anyway, this weekend and next week you can look forward to…
Saturday, 6th July- Junior Monarch Semi-finals at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre
Sunday, 7th July- Official Opening of the Crop Over Visual Arts Festival at the Grande Salle
Monday, 8th July- Visual Arts Exhibition at the Grande Salle (runs from 8th July to 9th August)
Thursday,11th July- Pan Fusion at Illaro Court
All week- Various Calypso/Soca Tents will be open.
Next weekend will be filled with Steel Pan events….here’s a teaser:

If you want to know more about Crop OVER, you can visit the OFFICIAL website.

Disclaimer: I am by no means affiliated with the NCF, I just like Crop Over and think it’s great to share.