Tag: entrepreneurship

FoD: The MLM Adventures (Part 2)

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn Frank on DepressionLeave a comment

From Part 1:

I’m all for the “work grind” mantra – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson lives and breathes it and so does Daymond John, “The Peoples Shark.” Sure, I may not seemingly practice that because I update the blog once in a while (switching jobs is not as easy as it looks – a lesson I’ll take to heart, while moving (as in I’m FINALLY bringing some belongings over to the new place) and dealing with transportation for the new job), but I really am trying – right now, my main concern is keeping my head above the water.

You can ask anybody who did an MLM adventure – one way or another, they will tell you that they felt relegated to doing the above, except that they had someone who consistently raised the water level to the point where they’d sink into financial ruin.

The MLM I signed up with, Market America, I was fortunate enough to have my parents as my upline and even then, they were thankfully not aggressive about it. Granted, they’ve been in a few themselves before where I wasn’t a downline to them, but there were other MLMs I got indirectly involved in where I didn’t have that pleasantry.

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Frank on Depression: The MLM Adventures (Part 1)

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn Frank on DepressionLeave a comment

Hey, Beautiful Blossoms!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of reading an interesting (and occasionally funny) blog called “The Not Quite Fairy-Tales of Elle Beau,” courtesy of a makeup Discord group I participate in. It was mentioned in the group at a good time for me because I needed something to calm me down but never really did after a hectic weekend involving moving, a car, sticker shock, and ego.

Admittedly, the blog entries detailing Elle’s experience with Younique was surprisingly interesting – I’m no stranger to MLM (yes, I used to do it too and no, I wasn’t keen on the whole aggresive sales tactics that are fondly used by companies), yet I kept on reading Elle’s entries about how she went through the roller coaster of being a Younique salesperson until the ride finally came to a stop when, obviously, she quit the company.
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TRE: Kardashian Beauty Lawsuit

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn The Raised EyebrowLeave a comment

Hullo, Beautiful Blossoms. I wish I could start this entry with the jovial enthusiasm that I’ve always had when writing The Raised Eyebrow – but these words would never deliver the weight that I feel on my shoulders or the cloud that looms over my head whenever I undergo a bout of depression.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’d see a post that I made about buying a Lorac palette. What that picture could never tell you was that it was my attempt at trying to stay afloat in a turbulent ocean, trying to be happy when I felt contrary. Of course, nobody follows people on social networking accounts for negativity. But here, I aim to be raw and true – both the good and bad will be shown, because life doesn’t always consist of rainbows and sunshine.

Even now, I struggle to feel somewhat “normal” as I bring you this week’s TRE. I can only hope you’ll bear with me as I try to weather out this bout.

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The Raised Eyebrow: Kylie Cosmetics

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn The Raised Eyebrow2 Comments

Let me start this week’s TRE by saying that I’m not one to rain on someone’s parade. I’m not gonna make myself any more successful by being a Debbie Downer on someone else’s success, so why bother?

But sometimes, there are achievements that have me scratching my head in wonder. How the hell does THAT become successful? And by THAT, I’m talking about Kylie Jenner’s Cosmetic Line Lip Kit. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that her original lip kits sold out – now that she’s released more colors, they sold out as well.

What. The. Freakin. Fuck.

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BAFT: Sponsorships in Makeup Blogs / Vlogs

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn Beauty Advice for ThoughtLeave a comment

Let’s face it: sooner or later, all the well-known / popular beauty vlogs / blogs will be wooed by the big cosmetic companies with sponsorship and free makeup in exchange for promoting their products. It’s the new form of marketing strategy: rather than have a stranger talk endlessly about the latest item, why not have a familiar face do it?

Familiarity increases vulnerability. That’s just the way the world works.

There is an old thread on reddit’s Makeup Addiction (link here) where redditors discussed their favorite and non-favorite Youtube beauty vloggers. One of the key reasons for the dislike? Sponsorship. Some redditors couldn’t tell if a beauty vlogger genuinely liked the product or did it for the money or freebies, whereas the more seasoned ones knew right off the bat and unsubscribed in protest.

But what really got me to consider this topic for this week’s BAFT was a chance reading of a fellow beauty blogger’s site, where she was consistently accused of selling out to cosmetic companies for free makeup.

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BAFT: The YT Makeup Bubble (Part 2)

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn Beauty Advice for ThoughtLeave a comment

Last week, I started to talk about the makeup bubble that’s encased YouTube in the form of hundreds of videos on makeup hauls, tutorials on “looks,” best/worst makeup buys, etc. I also brought up the fact that the words “guru” and “makeup artist” have been carelessly slapped on a lot of YouTubers, who have done mainly tutorial videos on themselves rather than others. There are exceptions, of course, but they make up a small number.

More likely than not, if I search for a makeup tutorial on YouTube, the video will feature a “beauty guru” that demonstrates how to achieve a certain look using themselves as a model instead of another person. And I’ll be brutally honest: I’m not impressed. They leave me wanting for the days when I grew up watching Ricky Reyes showcase his hairstylist skills on TV.  You could give him any length or type of hair and he’d somehow make it work. 

Granted, Ricky Reyes spent years honing his skill set as a hairstylist and on people of varying hair types. I don’t know how long prominent YouTube makeup “gurus” have been doing makeup and if they’ve ever done makeup on others (Lisa Eldridge and NikkieTutorials are the only ones I’ve seen), so comparing the two would seem unfair, right?

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BAFT: The YouTube Makeup Bubble (Part 1)

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn Beauty Advice for ThoughtLeave a comment

*Please check the What’s New at BBA page to find out the schedule for the entries at BBA.

Hello, Beautiful Blossoms! I know I gave a back-to-back entry last week with Currently Obsessed and then got really quiet until today, and I do apologize for the sudden silence. I was able to squeeze an entry early Saturday morning (think 1-3 AM) because I couldn’t get myself to sleep from excitement about the site, discussing Kiko Milano, and my out-of-town trip that day. It was also my sister’s birthday and my grandma had to fly out, so you can imagine how hectic it was in my apartment.

Then it was back to the work grind. I just found myself falling face-first onto my bed as soon as I got home. Staring at a screen for 7 hours does bloody murder to you.

And in the moments of free time that I get during my work shift, I’m trying to figure out a schedule for Currently Obsessed, BAFT, and The Raised Eyebrow – how many days in between should I schedule the posts? What topics do I go over for BAFT and TRE that hasn’t been beaten into submission in the beauty and blog scene? Do I include product recommendations or reviews on the site?

That’s just part of what runs in my head the moment I think about BBA. As Temptalia’s Christine once advised, “remember: content is KING.”
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