One Brand Wednesdays Ep. 1

Maybelline Made for All Collection

Maybelline’s Made for All Collection by Color Sensational is to die for. It’s so nice to see brands making shades/products that are inclusive and universally flattering. I have to give Maybelline their props when it comes to being an inclusive brand because I feel like they have been on the forefront for years. I also have to admit that when I saw the claims I was extremely skeptical. “Universally Flattering” is a huge claim, but when I saw the shades swatched on Nyma Tang’s YouTube I instantly fell in love. She looked stunning in all the shades, and I figured that Maybelline had actually done their homework before they made that claim. Maybelline claims to have tested the shades on 50 diverse skin tones and the universally flattering collection comes in purple, pink, and red with a satin or matte finish. The shades really do look sensational on all complexions. These shades can be purchased at Target for $5.49.

Maybelline Tattoo Studio Brow Gel & Brow Pomade

I could not do a One Brand Wednesday Post and not talk about Maybelline’s Tattoo Studio Brow Gel and Brow Pomade. The Brow Pomade is $9.99 at Target and is a product I highly recommend. The pomade is phthalate and paraben free, long wearing, and smudge and transfer proof. The pomades come in a decent shade range and can be used to create a natural or dramatic brow. The Maybelline Pomades are more creamy than the Anastasia Beverly Hills Brow Pomades, and though I love the Maybelline Pomade the ABH is still my favorite. For the price and color pay off the Maybelline Pomade is a definite runner up and is the only drugstore pomade I’ve liked.

A Note About Inclusiveness

I was watching Tati’s YouTube video about Best & Worst Foundations, Luxury & Drugstore. During the video she talked about how the Beauty Blender Foundation is one of her favorites. She briefly mentioned that they extended their shade range and basically said that we need to move on because the brand heard that the shade range was crappy and addressed the issue, “What more can we do?” I think part of the problem is a lot of darker complexion people feel like they are an after thought; let’s be real no one wants to be an after thought!

Beauty Blender is a US based cosmetic brand with a diverse following in an extremely diverse country. In my mind in 2018 there shouldn’t be a big company that launches a product with minimal shades for deeper skin tones. The 32 shade ranges that launched focused mostly on medium tones and appeared to have a lot of similar shades. It’s great that someone can find several shades that work for them, but should that come at the cost of excluding deeper shades?

Beauty blender made a post on Instagram basically stating that they initially intended on launching more shades, but because the darker shades needed more TLC their launch was delayed. Based on how a consumer feels about a brand and how the brand represents them, one has the choice to support them or not. The big thing to me is that so many brands, especially drugstore brands (cough cough Maybelline) raised the bar a long time ago so why is this still an issue heading into 2019. Launch products with an even amount of shade ranges and extend from there; don’t totally exclude any complexion. I’m more impressed with a brand that makes an attempt to launch an even amount of skin tones and misses mine then a brand that added mine later.

All Love

Thrifting & Reselling

February 6, 2019Leave a comment

The other day I stumbled across an old thrift store that was pretty much an upheaved pile of junk with a few treasures thrown in. There were a ton of baby clothes, which I was tempted to buy. A lot of the clothes were nice items but the place was just a mess. You literally had to dig through unorganized piles of tools, clothes, books, and shoes. It sucked because here was this store in a good location, with a good amount of space an items that had so much potential. Owning my own store, or business has always been a dream of mine. Unfortunately for many of us we realized that many of our dreams slip through our fingers. It’s ironic that you can take out a student loan (with little to no hassle) but can’t get a loan to start up a business. To be honest I think I would have seen a better return on my investment if I’d used the same amount of money I’d taken out in student loans to open my own business, but I digress.

“Ideas are easy, implementation is hard.”
Guy Kawasaki

One thing I enjoy about thrifting is digging through junk to find a few treasures. I love that the items are not what everyone else has. Fashion is constantly recycled, so you can often find on trend items. Another thing I’ve gotten into is selling items myself. This day in age the internet makes it easy for us to connect with people from all over. I’ve been selling items online (EBay) for about ten years. What I’ve noticed when it comes to online shopping and reselling is that people are more likely to buy designer or brands that have made a name for themselves, like Steve Madden, BEBE, or Jessica Simpson. YIf you have designer brands like Chanel, LV, Gucci, etc., those items can be resold at a much higher value. If the items are in good condition they can be sold for essentially the same price you paid for them. Obviously people are looking for a deal and in my opinion depending on the wear or tear should be given that deal. When it comes to reselling items online you have to be very careful when it comes to cutting your prices. If you have items you paid good money for but just aren’t selling do not continue to cut your prices. Online selling is not fast money! You have to find the right site, and the right items for that site. There are so many sites that you can sell on. Personally I have only tried Poshmark and EBay (which I prefer). One thing I recommend is starting small to get a feel for the website and its policies, because lets be real people will try to scam you.

I hope these few tips about online selling helped you out. I encourage you to give it a try. We all have items in our closets that can be resold.

Yours Truly, Amanda

Excerpt From A 2016 Religious Liberty Sermon

February 2, 2019February 4, 2019Leave a comment

Revelation 20: 2-6

Excerpt from my sermon on Religious Liberty (2016): I can’t believe I’m up here today but when God calls you to do something you have to move. As many of you know I’m in my last semester of grad school at USF, so between school and having to give the sermon today I have been overwhelmed. I was talking to a friend of mine about everything I had going on and was telling him how stressed I was and that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do everything I needed to do and get my sermon ready. Do you know what he said to me? He said, “You believe in God right? So what are you worried about?” Wow! Now that is powerful especially considering the fact that it came from someone who does not go to church and does not consider themselves a religious person. I cannot stress this enough we have to practice what we preach. When God calls us to do something we have to have faith that he is going to give us what we need to get it done.

Church family pray for me public speaking is not my forte, but as my mom says when God calls you to do soemthing he will give you all that you need. How I feel reminds me of how Moses must have felt in Exodus 4:10-14. In verse 10 Moses says to God, “No, Lord, don’t send me. I have never been a good speaker, and I haven’t become one since you began to speak to me. I am a poor speaker, slow and hesitant.” In verse 11 the Lord said to him, “Who gives man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or dumb? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? It is I, the Lord. Now, go! I will help you speak, and I will tell you what to say.” I’m claiming that today. God is going to help me just like he helped Moses. Amen. In verses 13 and 14 Moses goes on to plea with God to send someone else, but God insists that Moses does what He asked of him. But God does send his brother Aaron to help him, and spoke through both of them. Unfortunately, I won’t be getting that extra help, but we are going to get through it. Amen!

My mom asked me to give the sermon about a month ago. She calls me and says Amanda I’m the religious liberty leader at church and I’ve been looking for someone to give the sermon. And I’m thingking oh, no, here we go. I’ve been praying about it and guess who God led me to? She goes on to tell me it was me. I’m thinking are you sure? I tell my sister about it and she says, “Mom may want to get on her knees again and make sure.” But God makes no mistakes. Amen.

Open your Bibles with me to Revelation 20, reading just verse 6. “Blessed are those who were raised in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. They will serve God and Christ as priest and will rule with Him for a thousand years.” Wow. Herein lies one of the greatest and most dangerously misinterpreted Bible texts of our time. Because it is the misunderstanding of this text that is leading more and more Christians here in America down a path that, not unlike Judas, will lead them to attempt a political solution for the wrongs of this world.

Religious liberty today in the United States is being threatened in ways that we, as a church, ignore on a daily basis. Christian’s today talk about the threats to freedom and the need to uphold our values in this country. Church leader, both Protestant and Catholic, for the last 20 years, and mostly under the direction and guidance of the Pope, have been shelving doctrine and uniting instead on the basis of a shared moral, social, cultural, and political value system.

I’m going to stop this post right here as I’m sure I took the latter part of my sermon from another pastors sermon on religious liberty. I don’t want to plagiarize and seeing as I cannot find the original to give credit I’m going to encourage you to look up a post on religious liberty and think about what it means to you. If you would like to see or hear the rest of this sermon please let me know.

Yours Truly, Amanda!

Review: Jouer’s Long Wear Lip Products

January 31, 2019February 2, 20191 Comment

Jouer Long Wear Lip Creme

According to Jouer’s website the Long Wear Lip Creme claims to be , “A weightless lipstick that offers full-coverage color with a soft-touch finish that glides on smoothly and lasts all day. This buildable and ultra-lightweight lipstick offers a beautiful matte or metallic finish in a wide range of warm and cool shades. Transform your lipstick look from daytime to night with a swipe of a wand. The formula features vitamin E to ensure that your lips remain conditioned no matter how many times you switch colors.”

Prior to purchasing the Lip Creme I read some of the reviews online. Overall, this product had a good rating (4+ Stars). I would have to agree with that rating, personally I’d give the product 4 stars. The only claim from the website that I would disagree with is that the vitamin E helps lips remain conditioned. It’s winter time and unfortunately my lips are extremely chapped, so I have to keep them moisturized and exfoliated. When I applied some of the Lip Creme’s they felt drier than I’d like. The main culprits were the shades Rose Gold and Monaco. I have to say that not all the shades were drying. Watermelon and the other red shades (Fraise Bonbon & Brique) felt amazing on my lips. Another thing that I didn’t like about this product is how many of the shades accentuate the lip lines. I never realized how many lines were on my lips until I applied this product. Not all the shades have this problem, but accentuated lip lines is not a look I want to go for.

Watermelon
Rose Gold
Left: Fraise Bonbon Right: Brique

One of the things I love about this product is how it applies. One swipe and I have full coverage. One thing I would recommend is not pressing your lips together. Some of the colors can handle it and others it just sheers them out. Jouer should get a pat on the back for the shade range as well. They have some beautiful nudes that work for every shade: Creme Brûlée (a warm nude or muted brown), Noisette (brown nude or chocolate brown), Petale de Rose (cool deep rose or pinky nude), and Dulce de Leche (cool nude or pinky nude that is similar to Petale de Rose). I used either a mauve or dark brown liner with these shades, although I only think it’s necessary for my skin tone with the pink or rose shades.

Creme Brûlée
Petale de Rose
Dulce de Leche
Noisette

The only shade I purchased that I wasn’t too impressed with was Melon. It was a little too pink in my opinion for my skin tone and is definitely out of my comfort zone. It also applied a little funny on my lips so I had to use a moisturizer (coconut oil) to get it to work. I was swatching all of these colors back to back so that may have something to do with it, but this was only maybe the third or fourth shade and it just was not working for me. Overall, I am definitely impressed with the longevity of this product, the scent, application, and color range.

Melon

Jouer Lip Toppers & Lip Glosses

I would have to give the Lip Toppers and the Lip Glosses five stars easily. I absolutely love the scent of the Lip Toppers I have (Sweetheart and Sweettooth). They smell like fresh baked cupcakes. They have a somewhat vanilla scent but it’s not over powering or nauseating.

Sweetheart
Sweettooth

The Lip Gloss range offers something for every girl like myself that is obsessed with lip gloss. They have a high pigment gloss (14 shades), a high pigment pearl gloss (8 shades), and a sheer gloss (6 shades). I personally love a good glossy and moisturize lip. Sometimes I want color and sometimes I just want sheer coverage depending on what I’m doing and where I’m going. I have tried the High Pigment Lip Gloss in the shade Broadway which is a brown high pigment gloss that I love, and I’ve tried the sheer pigment lip gloss in the shade Monaco which I also love (my lips are lined in the picture below).

Monaco
Broadway

Thank you for reading if you enjoyed this leave a comment or add a like. Be sure to check out my Instagram page @farmingtofashion to keep up with the latest and greatest news from yours truly, Amanda ❤️

Baby Shower: Scarlet Olivia

January 30, 2019June 25, 20191 Comment

I really wanted this post to be about how to plan a baby shower, but sadly this post will not be that. If anything it’s what not to do. Typically, someone else plans your baby shower but I had the pleasure, and I say that sarcastically of planning my own baby shower. I had the pleasure of arranging the location, sending out the invites, and coordinating (if you can call it that) everything. Initially I started out with a bang, I had my checklist completed I knew everything I wanted to do and when I wanted to have things done by, but life happens. Basically, I suck at planning and it didn’t help that I was states away from where the baby shower would actually be.

I had to travel for my baby shower so I made sure to arrive three days before the shower, which was on a Saturday. Wednesday and Thursday I pretty much did nothing other than spend time with my family. Friday my girlfriend, cousin, sister, boyfriend, and I slowly began to get it together. We got balloons, party supplies, cups, plates, and supplies to make the cake. I was determined to make my own red velvet cake and cupcakes. For the baby shower the only thing I really knew I wanted was a red velvet cake, balloons, a lot of pink, and the babies name on the wall.

Needless to say Saturday rolls around and we’re not prepared at all. I wake up finish my cake clean up and my boyfriend and girlfriend go out to get food and more supplies. They take forever and at this point I’m getting aggravated because nothing is ready and it’s after 12 and the party starts at 3. I honeslty was a wench, I was snapping on everyone (I can only imagine what my wedding will be like). Thankfully they went out and got additional supplies because it brought everything together.

We ended up having a photo booth (more like a photo area), a set up for the cake and baby gifts, her name on the wall with the most beautiful paper flowers, and all the balloons I wanted. We also had an area for the kids to play, and a set up in the kitchen for all the food. The baby shower, though a headache exceeded my expectation and was everything I wanted it to be. I was honestly worried about not having enough supplies, but we had more than enough.

In the end everything was perfect! Although, ladies I have to say I totally recommend you let someone else plan your baby shower. If event planning and coordinating peoples schedule is your thing go for it.

Check out some pictures from the shower below!

Baby Shower Do’s and Don’ts

Do let the grandmothers play a role.
Do serve a meal, especially depending on the time of day and where people are traveling from.
Do invite the dad and his friends, and even kids.
Do collect everyone’s names and addresses to send thank you notes.
Do get involved. Allow the expecting mother to express to the planner all the items she wants to have.
Do entertain the guest, play games, have a photo booth, and have finger food and punch.
Do make a guest book. Have a little book where people can sign and write a message to the mother and/or baby.
Do request that people RSVP. Nothing is worse than being under prepared. You want to make sure all your guest have a place to sit and that there is enough food.
Do have a host. The host can greet everyone take their coats and purses, tell everyone where the presents need to go, and make sure all the food is prepared and ready to go.

Do not plan your own shower. Again ladies I repeat do not plan your own shower. Give someone you trust an idea of what you like by providing pictures, a theme, colors, and things you absolutely want to have.
Do not plan a surprise shower. Being pregnant is not a pleasant experience for all moms. Some may be sick the entire pregnancy, tired, or moody. So make sure the mom to be wants a shower and is okay with the day and time.
Do not send out baby shower invites at the last minute, make sure you give everyone enough time to make the necessary arrangements. Guest may need to plan out who is going to watch the kids or dog, or make travel arrangements weeks prior to the shower.
Do not just sit around. If the mom to be cannot make rounds and attend to the guest have the father, or host do that.
Do not ask the mom to be to open gifts if she feels uncomfortable doing so. Make sure you ask the mom to be if she would like to open the gifts. I do not think I have ever been as uncomfortable as I was opening the gifts. I felt like everyone was waiting to see how I reacted to their gift.
Do not skimp on food and cake. If people are traveling from states away or have a long commute be sure to feed them.
Do not plan your shower around friends and family. The baby shower is not about your friends or family. The ones that can make it will be there and the ones that can’t can send a gift. Don’t feel pressured to plan the shower around any individual other than the mom and dad to be.