Tag: entrepreneurship

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.

Continue reading “TRE: Kardashian Beauty Lawsuit” →

Advertisements

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.

Continue reading “The Raised Eyebrow: Kylie Cosmetics” →

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.

Continue reading “BAFT: Sponsorships in Makeup Blogs / Vlogs” →

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?

Continue reading “BAFT: The YT Makeup Bubble (Part 2)” →

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.”
Continue reading “BAFT: The YouTube Makeup Bubble (Part 1)” →

Back from a Mini-Hiatus!

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn AnnouncementsLeave a comment

To My Beautiful Blossoms,

Today’s surprise entry is a letter of me saying sorry. I’m sorry I left you in the dark by going silent for nearly a week. Or for not giving you a heads-up for that matter. But I’d like to explain it now, if possible.

For the last week, I’ve been entertaining my relatives who popped in for a visit by driving them through different states, one of which was Maryland. Yes, the same Maryland where the Baltimore Riots are currently happening. Thankfully, we didn’t have to go near there as one of our intended destinations was Washington D.C. But that’s just a small part of the whole picture.

I couldn’t access my computer because one of my cousins who was visiting is autistic. I cannot turn on my computer without him wanting to access it to do what is “normal” in his mind, which means I can’t work on Deal Steal Sundays, Beauty Advice for Thought, Motives Cosmetics Reviewed, or The Raised Eyebrow. Not only that, my Maryland aunt’s Internet got knocked out (parts of Maryland had a mini-thunderstorm).

The hotel we slept over in New Jersey had limited free Wi-Fi as well. Is it any wonder why Atlantic City is dying?

Did I mention I drove 90% of the whole entire time I was gone on a very tight (and by tight I mean wake my ass up at 7 in the morning when I finally faceplanted on the bed at 1 in the morning) schedule?

So, rest assured, my Beautiful Blossoms. It won’t be dark and lonely here for some time: I’ll be back on track starting this Friday (tomorrow my relatives are flying home so I have to kiss any sleep I have goodbye because we’re still packing up).

Liza (Mama Blossy)

TRE: Beauty Sample Subscriptions (Part 2)

On By Blossom Beautiful AestheticsIn The Raised EyebrowLeave a comment

Happy Sunday, lovely peeps! Have you checked out the newest addition to this site, Deal Steal Sundays? No? Curious? I wrote a quick section at 3 in the morning explaining the story behind it, so be sure to check it out on the Home Page!

It’s been some time since I last wrote an entry in The Raised Eyebrow (TRE) and I try to avoid splitting entries into parts unless it becomes a case of tl;dr (too long ; didn’t read). Seeing paragraphs and paragraphs of text can be taxing on the eyes, so I try to make it reader-friendly as much as possible. My dislike about splitting topics into parts, however, is the fact that it’s so easy to start Part 1 and then never finish from there out of procrastination or I completely forget about it.

I’m sure you’ve noticed that every Entry Day (I’m trying to write on Sundays-Wednesdays-Fridays), there’s a different topic that I’m touching on – I figured it’d be a good way to keep things interesting without inducing a boredom routine of sorts. And so far, it seems to be doing okay. It’s also a challenge for me as a blogger because now I have to be on my toes about what I write.

So without further ado, here’s Part 2 on TRE: Beauty Sample Subscriptions!

Continue reading “TRE: Beauty Sample Subscriptions (Part 2)” →