Is It Worth It? (cont)

In my previous post, I explained which makeup products you can splurge on and which products you should just buy at the drugstore. I reviewed skincare products, foundations and concealers, and mascaras! This post will be focusing on lipsticks, eye shadows, and eyeliners/primers.

To choose between drugstore lipsticks or high-end lipsticks, it really depends on what kind of lipstick/lip gloss you want to buy. For me, I buy high-end lipsticks if I know it will be a color I can wear all the time, like a peach or a pinkish nude. If I don’t wear it as often, I usually stick to my drugstore lip colors. In my experience, high-end lip products tend to be more moisturizing for my lips and drugstores lipsticks are less moisturizing, so I like to use a high-end lip product for daily use. Overall, I think both drugstore and high-end lipstick have the same pigment when applied to the lips and each brand has a huge selection of colors you can choose from.

For eye shadows, I say buy both! There’s so many colors of eye shadow pigments you can really experiment with so don’t exclude yourself to a high-end brand because there’s a 99% chance there an exact same duplicate as a drugstore brand. I will say that some drugstore eye shadows are not as pigmented as high-end eye shadows. I would recommend buying either Maybelline or L’Oreal eye shadows because they are the highest quality among the drugstore brands. If you’re really into makeup, I would definitely splurge on a high-end eye shadow pallet. High-end pallets like the Urban Decay Naked pallets, Lorac Pro Pallet, and Too Faced Chocolate Natural Eye Pallet have amazing pigmented eye shadows that you can wear for day and night.

For eyeliners and primers, I recommend buying high-end brands. I use a liquid eyeliner everyday and one of my biggest pet peeves is when my eyeliner smudges. Drugstore eyeliners don’t stay on your eyes as long as high-end brands do so by the end of the day you look like a panda bear. Also, drugstore liquid eyeliners are either way too wet when you apply it on your eyes so it takes forever to dry or the brush is way too big so you get a thick line when you just want a natural look. High-end brands produce pigmented eyeliners, but also having a thin brush so you can get a natural look when you apply it. For primers, always buy high-end primers! You want a good primer that can do its job by keeping your makeup in place for an entire day so feel free to splurge a bit on primer! Also, a primer can last for a really long time so you don’t need to constantly buy a new expensive primer every so often.

In conclusion, they’re many different brands of makeup out there and each brand has their pros and cons. But don’t feel like you must buy either high-end or drugstore makeup, experiment with both kinds and see what you like best!

Is It Worth It?

Makeup can be divided into two brands: drugstore and high end. You can find drugstore makeup at (obviously) a drugstore like Walgreens, Target, Walmart, etc and they usually range from $1-$15. These brands are usually Maybelline, L’Oreal, Cover Girl, etc. On the other hand, you can purchase high-end makeup brands like Urban Decay, MAC, Nars, Makeup Forever, Tarte, and many more. These brands usually range from $20-$80 and you can purchase them at your local Ulta or Sephora. But is buying a $50 lipstick really worth it because it says MAC on it? From my experience, I’m going to explain what makeup products to splurge on and which ones make your wallet happy.

                                                         

For skincare, always splurge. I repeat, always splurge on skincare. The lotion, cleansers, and toners you buy are the products that directly affect your skin so you must buy a good high-end brand that can make your skin healthy. Most drugstore skincare products always have unnecessary chemical products put in because it’s cheaper than the organic products that should be used. Plus splurging on skincare products can only help you in the long run by keeping your skin healthy and young and decreasing your need to buy more foundations and concealers to cover up your skin.

For mascara, I would go to the drugstore. Mascaras dry up extremely quickly and after about 2 months you are going to need to buy new mascara because it dried up. If you constantly spend $30 on high-end mascara, you’ll be spending $180 only on mascara after a year! Plus, if you’re like me, I like to use 2 mascaras (one for length and one for volume) for my lashes, so you would be spending $360 only on mascara! The good news is, drugstore mascaras are (in my opinion) just as good as high-end brands and provide just as much length and volume for your lashes. The Maybelline and L’Oreal mascaras are great and they’re only $10!

For foundations and concealers, I would go either route. For me, I have both drugstore and high-end that I use. I like to use my drugstore foundation and concealers for daytime wear like school or just going out and about. I like to use my high-end foundation when I’m performing onstage or at a fancy event because it provides more coverage and stays on my face longer. If you just started out with makeup and don’t really wear foundation that much, I recommend to just use a drugstore foundation because drugstore foundations usually don’t cover as well. If you constantly perform onstage or use foundation daily, I recommend splurging on a high-end foundation because it can provide more coverage.

In my next post, I’ll be explaining whether to buy a high-end or drugstore brand for lipsticks, eye shadows, and eyeliners/primers. Stay tuned!

What is Business Casual?

As a high school student that’s almost going to be in college, I’m experiencing a lot more events where I need to dress business casual whether it’s work related or just for a formal event. This summer I interned at a non-profit organization called Diversity Focus where I needed to dress business casual everyday to work. This experience along with other events where it was mandatory for me to wear business casual clothes really helped me determined what I could wear or not wear in a business casual setting. Today, I will be explaining what can be still fashionable to wear that is business casual, but also what not to wear.

Blazers are great. They are amazing. If you don’t own at least one blazer in your clothes, please go invest one for my sake. If you haven’t noticed, I LOVE blazers and I think they are a key necessity in your closet. Blazers are the perfect way to make an outfit look business casual. Even if you wear jeans, blazers are able to make your outfit look classy and formal. I love to wear blazers whenever I wear black pants because it makes a nice business casual suit. While I do approve of wearing blazers with dresses, I think it makes you look a bit older and motherly instead of fashion forward. When you wear a blazer with a dress you turn into a retired first lady instead of fashion forward business woman.

I also recommend buying a good black or nude pump for your closet. Pumps can instantly add a more sophisticated look and height to your business casual look. And if you’re not comfortable wearing heels, then try a smaller heel length (maybe 1 inch heel) so it can still give you height, but maintain comfort as well. My nude pumps made by Steve Madden is a key element when I create a business casual look because it can tie the whole look together!

As for business casual dresses, I recommend to go as conservative as you can. I don’t recommend wearing skintight dresses or bodycon dresses because that’s a bit too provocative. I also don’t recommend wearing strapless dresses because it’s not very professional in the workplace and its just uncomfortable! I would defiantly turn to fit and flare dresses that have a high neckline and preferably long or quarter length sleeves. These dresses can still look great on all body shapes, but also be conservative enough for a business casual setting.

I know leggings are becoming a new pant trend among the teens, but is it appropriate for a business casual look? While I understand they are black and can work with a lot of different outfits, I don’t think it acceptable to wear when you want to dress business casual. The usual leggings material doesn’t look professional since its only made out of cloth. I would recommend to just stick with some black slacks. If the event less business-y, then go for it and wear the leggings!

If you ever need help with what types of clothing you should wear in a business casual event just always remember to keep it conservative and something that your mother would approve of you wearing. Remember, you aren’t working with your friends at a party, but working with colleagues and your boss!

Chanel's Fake Feminist Protest

In a recent Chanel runway show, something was done that has never been done on a runway before: a protest. After the runway was over, all of the Chanel models ended the runway show by marching and holding signs saying “History should be Her Story” and “We Can Match the Machos” to promote feminism and the equal rights of women.

Read more about it here: http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2014/sep/30/karl-lagerfeld-chanel-show-paris-fashion-week

As a proud feminist, I am so grateful to see the fashion industry involved in the feminist movement today. This movement showed that models aren’t stereotypical girls who just look pretty and do whatever people tell them to. They know their rights as women and believe that something needs to be done about it. Even though it was a fake protest and all they did was march on a runway, it defiantly made as much of an impact as a real protest would. You have HUGE celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne holding up signs promoting feminism. If that doesn’t make an impact on today’s society, I’m not sure what would.

Because of this protest, I think society can finally realize that the feminism movement isn’t just something college students complain about. It’s a serious problem that needs to be solved. These designer brand runway shows like Chanel are throwing out a closing runway of their fashion line and instead creating a fake protest to promote feminism; it just shows that this is an issue that everyone feels very passionate about.

While I know some people don’t approve of the Chanel’s protest, I’m sure there has to be some negative feedback about the protest. The good thing is that even though there is negative feedback, people are talking about it. Even if people aren’t talking good things about the protest, they are still talking about which means it is addressed to more and more people. If more people know that such a big brand like Chanel is promoting feminism by staging a fake protest, then people realized that this is a big deal.

I am so grateful that the fashion industry made their mark in the feminist movement. I hope everyone who watched, heard, saw online, or just heard from a friend realize that that feminism isn’t just women complaining and just another movement that can be disregarded. It’s something that is serious and affects half the population. Women should have the same equal rights as men, simple as that. As a protest sign states, “Women’s Rights are More Than Alright”.

Cream or Powder?

When you’re at a makeup counter you can always choose between a cream and a powder makeup product. Whether it’s a liquid foundation or a powder foundation, whether it’s cream blush or powder blush, or whether it’s an eye shadow cream or powder eye shadow. Today I will be explaining what I feel is the best substance (cream or powder) to use for your makeup.

For foundations, I prefer to use a liquid foundation or a cream foundation.  Liquid foundations can do the same, if not better, job to blend into your skin tone while hiding away imperfections you have. Powder foundations can blend into your skin tone, but sometimes either cannot cover up as well or leave a cakey, dry finish to your skin. If you are scared to use foundation because it’s too high coverage, I suggest using a BB or CC cream. A BB and CC cream are foundation and moisturizer mixed into one product. Not only will you get a nice, light, coverage from a BB cream, but also have a moisturizer built in to keep your skin healthy and smooth. If you have really oily skin, I still recommend using a liquid foundation, because after you apply the foundation you can apply some translucent powder to make sure the foundation stays in place. If you have oily skin and use a powder foundation, it will not only get oily later on in the day, the oils will absorb the powder and the coverage will be barely visible anymore. My current liquid foundation is the Maybelline “Fit Me” foundation. This foundation is a medium coverage and I can either apply a lot to get a full coverage look or apply a little to get a more natural look. The Fit Me foundation not only has great coverage, but stays on all day!

For blushes, I recommend using a powder blush. While cream blushes do give off a more natural look to your face, it comes off much easily and then creates a blotchy look to your cheeks. The powder blush stays on much longer and you can really decide how opaque you want your blush to look on your skin. With powder blushes, you can also choose whether you want a matte powder blush or a shimmer blush or a satin finish blush. With cream blush, you only get a satin finish blush. For bronzer, I also recommend a powder bronzer. A powder bronzer really lets you contour your face and have control over how much you want. With a cream bronzer, you can blend as much as you with a powder.

For eye shadows, I recommend using both cream and powder shadows. I recommend using a cream eye shadow for a base, then applying whatever powder eye shadows you would like to use. The cream eye shadow base can let the powder eye shadow stay on longer, but only it allows the powder eye shadow color to be more opaque and apparent. For example, if you apply a gold cream eye shadow base and then apply a gold eye shadow, the gold powder eye shadow will look much more gold than if you only applied only the powder. For eye shadow bases, I recommend the Maybelline “Color Stay Tattoos”, these eye shadow bases come in a variety of different colors and each helps the eye shadow powder stay on all day. As for eye shadow powders, there are so many in the world that there isn’t one that I love more than the other! But I will say, I really enjoy using the Lorac Pro Palate and the Urban Decay Naked Palate.

These are only my opinions of whether to use a cream/liquid or a powder. If you really like using a powder foundation and feel that works better for you, then you do what feels best for you! Have fun experimenting!