Hey there! Thank you so much for checking out my blog. Today’s #nablopomo post will be a bit as I’m featuring my favourite TikTok Transformation videos. This post does contain affiliate links. If you choose to click and purchase you won’t over spend and you’ll most likely save. Sit back, relax and enjoy.
Hi there! I just want to start off by saying thank you so much for checking out my blog. You could be doing anything, anywhere but here you are with me and this brings me so much joy. Just to let you know that this blog contains products that I’ve received from Influenster for free for testing purposes. Also, I have some affiliate links listed in this blog. If you so happen to want to try these items out and you purchase it from this blog you will be supporting me so that I can keep doing what I love. As always, all opinions expressed are strictly my own and I promise to spill all the absolute truth in this post.
I absolutely love these books and so does my girls. I love them so much I’ve written a review about it. You can check it out here. I love how diverse they are and empowering. I believe these books are amazing.
For the make up lover in your life you cannot go wrong with these items. They are affordable and super easy to use. These items were gifted to me.
The Sephora Collection Wild Eyes Eyeshadow Palette is a 16-pan eyeshadow palette in matte, shimmer, and glitter finishes ranging from wearable-neutral to rich-bold shades. From wearable nudes to rich browns and radiant golds, this eyeshadow palette can be worn day and night.
The Sephora Collection Wild Days Eyeshadow & Face Palette is a multi-palette that includes eight eyeshadows in matte and metallic finishes and three face powders to help you create your festive holiday look. These wearable matte and metallic eyeshadows can be worn with the included blush, bronzer, and highlighter to complete your look. The palette is also made out of a velvety material that feels luxurious to the touch. Personally I found the bronzer to be too light for me but perfect for a body shimmer or eyeshadow.
The Sephora Collection Wild Wishes Cream Lip Stain Set is a matte, liquid lipstick set with six bestselling full-size Cream Lip Stains for the price of two. This silky and long lasting liquid lipsticks are comfortable to wear thanks to the avocado-oil-infused formula. The high-coverage color glides on smoothly, drying with a stunning matte finish. Try (or gift) this top-selling set for an experience that won‘t disappoint.
The Sephora Collection Under the Mistletoe #Lipstories Lipstick Set is a set of six full-size #LIPSTORIES Lipsticks in limited-edition shades perfect for the holiday season. This holiday-themed #LIPSTORIES set. Featuring six new, party-ready shades in creamy and metallic finishes, this set has something for everyone, making it the perfect gift for any beauty lover on your list. I absolutely love how creamy and smooth these lipsticks are.
#liketkit @liketoknow.it http://liketk.it/31rdP whether you need some holiday glam or a gift for your favourite make up lover, Charlotte Tilbury is perfect for this season #LTKunder50 #LTKbeauty #LTKstyletip Shop your screenshot of this pic with the LIKEtoKNOW.it shopping app
I was gifted these items by Charlotte Tilbury and I fell in love. So much so that I made a whole vlog about it. Check it out here.
You can purchase all of these at Sephora and if you use Ampli you will get cash back. In fact, by using the code AMPLI5 you will receive $5 just for signing up.
Hi there! Thank you so much for checking out my blog today. I really appreciate your support and believe me, I am really grateful you took the time out to read this blog. Some of the products displayed on this blog have been gifted to me and this post may contain affiliate. If you choose to buy from these links you won’t pay extra, you fact you may even save money. I’ll get a commission which will keep this blog going. However, all opinions expressed are completely my own.
Like most parents, when it comes to my daughter’s education I knew I wanted to give her all the advantages that I never had. Thanks to Youtube, that has been made possible. It was a great ride I won’t lie. There are so many channels that make learning really fun and engaging for toddlers. I was not surprised that by the age of 2 my daughter could recite the alphabets, know them by site and their phonetic sounds. She could even count and make association with numbers, geometrical shapes and patterns. It was great.
Since my daughter is tall for her age, most people assume that she is to start school this year when in fact she’s still got another year to go. It didn’t stop me from thinking about her schooling. My daughter has an appetite for learning and that I’ve admired in her. I took it upon myself to start teaching her to how to read, write and basic arithmetic. Homeschooling had already been a desire of mine, prior to the pandemic, so I might as well start now.
Here are three things I wish I had known prior.
My daughter doesn’t learn like I do. Every child is different and every one of us is different. It doesn’t matter that we share 50% of the same genes. It doesn’t that she reminds me of myself as a child. It doesn’t even matter that she looks like me. It really doesn’t matter at all. She is not me. She will grasp other things at a faster rate and that she will most likely gravity towards those subjects. But we still learn differently.
Let’s face it. This is a different generation. Technology is introduced into their lives before they even know how to speak. And guess what? I make no apologies for it because I’m the one who introduced it to her. It’s a no brainer that she’d learn differently than I did as a child. Yet, patience is still a virtue that is required if you want to see fruitful results.
Practice makes perfect, not her, me! She’s learning how to do school but I’m learning to teach not just as a mom but as a teacher. That’s hard because now we have to find our rhythm. In theory, it’s the same as teaching them to sleep through the night or how to walk. And yet, it’s all so very different.
They won’t always get it right away. That’s ok. How quickly they get the information doesn’t make you a good or bad teacher. As long as you’re both able to have fun. That’s the most important part.
Take a break!
No seriously. Take a break. Do you need to get through this entire lesson right now? If it’s not working take a break. You can customize it how you want. Slow it down, speed it up, do what you need to do to make it work. After all nobody knows your kid better than you.
Hi there! I want to start off by saying thank you so very much for joining me here. I know that you could be doing anything and you are here. I appreciate that a lot. Just to let you know that this post may contain affiliates links. If you want to support me as a content creator, by all means purchase through the links provided in the post. You will never pay more, but you may save some money. At the same time, I will get a small commission. It’s a win-win for us both.
Here is my moment of truth, I don’t know what I’m doing. In social media or in real life, I’m just winging it day by day. I have an idea of what I want to do and how I want to spend my days. I know that I have a set number of chores that I want to get done so that my family can live in a home that is free of harm and toxicity. I know that I want to grow and thrive as a mother, wife, content creator, etc. I know that I want to impact everyone around me positively but I don’t have a road map to get me to point B. I believe that’s all part of being an adult.
As I’m writing, I am currently experiencing some light form of anxiety. My chest feels heavy and my heartbeat has increased. I have just put the baby to bed and I am afraid that the baby will wake up before I’ve had a chance to even finish this post. I don’t know if she will sleep through the night. Maybe she’ll wake up every two hours like she did last week.
Right as this thought runs through my head, I worry about the business deal that I’m going to have to present. I worry that I won’t be able to articulate to my investors why they should buy into this vision. Maybe they won’t be able to understand how it benefits them as much as it does me. I won’t let fear stop me but I do worry about being rejected.
I worry that despite all the research that I’ve done to unlearn the toxic traits from my childhood, my weaknesses may prevent me from being the wife my husband deserve and the mother my children need. I’ve been blessed with a beautiful and I’ve read and researched the best way to parent so that my kids won’t feel neglected and/or unloved. I’ve tried to implement the tools given to me but I still fail and come short more often than I would like.
As a content creator I worry that I am not effective. I worry that I’m not engaging and/or relatable. I wonder if I’m able to provide a service to my peers and communicate words of encouragement, wisdom and affirmations that ignite a desire for us all to succeed. I wonder if I’m doing this “influencer” thing right. I have the following but I can’t seem to do it like the others..
At the root of it all, I know I worry because I compare myself to others. I’m afraid of not being as “cool” as the others. I know I don’t have all the answers. I know my shortcomings and no matter how many “likes” I get, I secretly feel as though I will be seen what I lack instead of what I have. Maybe that’s imposter syndrome I don’t know.
The truth is I don’t know what I’m doing. But does anybody really know how to operate life? Isn’t that the point of living? To figure it out along the way and to enjoy every moment. What if there isn’t anything to figure out? What if we’re just here to do the best we can, the way we can?
I don’t know the answers to these questions…and that’s ok.
Hi there! Thank you so much for checking out my blog. Today is Sunday and it’s the day I release my blog.
I received some items from Charlotte Tilbury for free and decided to try them out. I hope you like the video.
FYI: Just to let you know that this blog does contain some affiliate links, which I hope you will appreciate. If you so choose to click on these links you will not spend extra money but you will get some cash back with your purchase and for referring you I get some money too. It won’t make me an overnight millionaire but I will be able to continue providing you with some more content like this one.
You can purchase these items here. #liketkit @liketoknow.it http://liketk.it/31rdP whether you need some holiday glam or a gift for your favourite make up lover, Charlotte Tilbury is perfect for this season #LTKunder50 #LTKbeauty #LTKstyletip Shop your screenshot of this pic with the LIKEtoKNOW.it shopping app
If you have AMPLI you can receive cash back if you shop these items at Sephora. Ampli is a cash back app that I use to get cash back on my purchases. If you sign up using the code AMPLI5 you will get $5 without purchasing a thing. That’s just for signing up. What do you think about that? There’s tons of places you can use it at not just Sephora. You should check it out.
Hey there! Thank you so very much for checking out my blog. I really appreciate it. You could be anywhere but here you are with me. Just to let you know that this blog does contain some affiliate links, which I hope you will appreciate. If you so choose to click on these links you will not spend extra money but you will get some cash back with your purchase and for referring you I get some money too. It won’t make me an overnight millionaire but I will be able to continue providing you with some more content like this one.
The last time I wrote about Hyaluronic Acid and that did pretty well so today I thought I’d blog about Retinol as part of my #nablopomo challenge. Even though, I’m not a dermatologist I believe that the best data can be found through research and personal experience. Once we have said data, we should be able to share those findings so that you as a consumer can make the right choice for your lifestyle.
I have heard about retinol for a while but it wasn’t until a few of my favourite skin care influencers and dermatologists started talking about retinol that I began to pay attention. As a Black woman, I was always under the impression that since I was Black my face would not crack if I simply washed my face and applied a moisturizer. Then I got older and realized that the signs of ageing do not discriminate simply because I’m black. Also, I realized I needed more than a cleanser and moisturizer to deal with my seasonal temperamental skin.
On a whim I bought Retinol from The Inkey List. I wasn’t expecting much but I knew that I didn’t want to settle for whatever my skin decided to do on any given day. Also, the price point was really good and I got cash back on my Sephora purchase by using a cash back app called AMPLI so of course I was in.
Ampli is a cash back app that I use to get cash back on my purchases. If you sign up using the code AMPLI5 you will get $5 without purchasing a thing. That’s just for signing up. What do you think about that?
Let’s go back.
What is retinol?
Retinol is an alcoholized version of Vitamin A. It is often used to treat Vitamin A deficiency, but that’s not what we’re here to discuss. It is used in skin care to prevent wrinkles and take care of acne, which is right along my alley. More specifically, retinol is known to unclog pores, reduce acne breakouts as a result which therefore decreases acne scarring…because there are less acne appearing. It’s the catalyst to clearer skin so to speak. It’s also known for increasing the cell turnover rate which helps to show your best skin. If you’ve got some hyperpigmentation and/or dark spot, retinol might be a solution to try.
Some people may experience peeling and redness but that’s due to irritation which can be a side effect to retinol usage. Eventually, your skin will toughen up and build a tolerance to it. I personally did not experience irritation or peeling. Thank goodness.
I’ve just been using for a week so I haven’t really noticed much of a change to my skin, except for the hydration, and turns out that it can take up to 12 weeks to see the expected results. It’s also best to wear retinol at night to ensure that it’s not rendered inactive during the day. Not because of the sun but because we tend to do a lot with our faces during the day. As always consistency is king when it comes to long lasting change.
I bought The Inkey List Retinol Anti-Aging Serum from Sephora about two weeks ago. It comes in a white squeeze with black top. Everything about this packaging screams simple. It has no fragrance. The fluid itself has a gel like texture with a slight yellow tint. It’s quite thin for a gel-cream fluid. You don’t need a lot because a little goes a long way. I apply all over my face for an even finish right after using they hyaluronic serum. The serum has 1% retinol, 0.5% retinoid and squalane to hydrate and soothe.
Overall, I like it. The price point is perfect. The packaging is perfect. I can’t wait to see what my skin will look like.
Ampli is a cash back app that I use to get cash back on my purchases. If you sign up using the code AMPLI5 you will get $5 without purchasing a thing. That’s just for signing up. What do you think about that? There’s tons of places you can use it at not just Sephora. You should check it out.
Process. I googled the word “Process” and the definition that came up is “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end”. Everyone of us is involved in a process of some sort. We all have an end that we have envisioned for ourselves. We have grown up with dreams, fueled by passions and now that we are older, we’ve been given the opportunity to go after them. Our lives can be boiled down to just one word, process.
From the moment we are conceived there is a process of growth that we are subject to. By the time we’ve reached the age of 5 we start going to school and that will last up until we graduate at the age of 17 or 18, for most of us. Then we undergo a different process. All these pathways ultimately are meant to give us a successful end. That end is our destiny.
What is process?
Process is practice for our destiny. Most often when we are going through the process it comes with unfairness, hardship, separation (not isolation), transition and growth. These are just tools used by God to teach us something or to guide and/or influence us into creating the right life habits.
There is good news. The good news is that it’s temporary. None of this is permanent. It may take a long time, depending on how quickly we learn and/or the size of our destiny. However, rest assured you will not die in the process if you keep going through it. Here’s an example.
In the Bible, one of my favourite person is King David. I love his boldness, his swagger, his love for God and just how real he is. This man was a man with great power, he wasn’t perfect, but he loved God and submitted to God. But despite his many successes, there were many times he had to go through the process. It wasn’t always pretty and I’m sure he didn’t enjoy it, but the end result was always worth it. He was always without a doubt better than the way he started.
Unfairness, hardship, separation, transition and growth = fun?!
You’re probably wondering, how am I supposed to go through unfairness, hardship, separation, transition and growth and enjoy it? Transition and growth would make sense to me, personally but the first three, I don’t know. It took me over 10 years to break out of that mindset. I couldn’t enjoy the challenge of going through my experiences because I was looking at it all wrong.
I wanted everything to be simple and easy. I wanted the answers to every question on the test without learning to use the tools I was given to work out the answers to every question on the test. There is no app to answer every inquiry in the world. Google can’t help me figure out why my father chose not to pursue a relationship with me, nor could it help me figure out why I couldn’t just forgive my father for not being in my life. This was an experience I had to go through.
I was so busy being angry, I couldn’t see the lesson that God was teaching me. He was putting me in a position where I could forgive those who hurt me and love them despite their offense towards me. He taught me to take the power of my emotions out of my father’s hands and place them in His hands. He taught me to love despite the hurt I suffered and ultimately become sensitive and empathetic to the needs of those who may have felt rejected and alone, including my father.
It was a dark process, and I don’t wish it on anyone but I’m sure glad I went through it.
Biblical Example:
King David had his fair share of unfairness. I mean as a boy he’s a shepherd. He takes care of sheep and during this time he is faced with a lion and a bear. Alone! I don’t know about you, but these sheep would’ve been food for the lion and the bear if I was their shepherdess. However, David realizes that the sheep are counting on him for their survival, so he rescues them. Alone. At the time David, couldn’t have known that this would’ve been the practice he needed to defeat Goliath, and yet it was. The defeat of Goliath catapulted his fame throughout the land and gave Israel a much-needed victory.
One would think that would’ve been the moment he’d step into his destiny and experience success. I mean everyone knew who he was by now. He even had his own song. Samuel had already anointed him, so it should’ve been easy sailing from that point on, right? That’s what I would’ve expected, in fact that’s what I always expect. But not really, it just led him into another process.
Now he’s got to deal with a hater, the current king of Israel, King Saul. This guy takes David in, gives him his daughter has his wife, and then turns around and tries to kill him. David literally had to run for his life. He was forced to be separated from his home and his comfort. He is doing everything right and now he’s on the run?! The answer is yes. During this time, David sharpened his relationship with God writing some of the most beautiful psalms that we are still reciting today.
Separation allows us to dig deep and let God lead us where he wants us to. David wasn’t just a warrior. During that period of his life, he no longer was a shepherd boy, but he became a worshipper. He became the man that could lead an entire nation back to the altar of God and change the spiritual trajectory of a nation.
Then there’s the slip up. He finally becomes king and he manages to mess it all up. He and Bathsheba (a married woman, at that!) end up having a one-night stand. She gets pregnant. He creates a situation to have her husband killed and then marries the girl in hopes that it all goes away. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t. He humbles himself, repents and out of him comes Solomon, the future king of Israel. The one who builds the temple of God in Israel.
The Point:
Process isn’t fun, in fact to even say that you’ll enjoy the process is an oxymoron. It’s not meant to be enjoyable. The beauty in going through the process is that at the end of it you will look back and realize that you were simply practicing for a destiny that is bigger than yourself. There’s so much about you that you don’t know, in fact there is a version of yourself that you haven’t even met. That person is kind, thoughtful, wise and full of life lessons. Fortunately, only those who are willing to go through will meet that version of themselves.
So, go through the process and practice. Practice makes perfect. When perfection meets intention then lives are changed, not just yours but the world changes. Be perfect for your destiny.
Hi there! Thank you so much for checking my blog. I’ve decided to switch it up and introduce a portion of my book. I’ve been meaning to release it but I’ve been too scared. In all honesty, it’s more of an essay than a book. However, recently I lost a friend that I knew for a long time. We weren’t really close as of late but she and I kept in touch. She always said something positive.
Life is short. Our time on earth is borrowed. So I decided to put my fears aside and release this introduction. I hope you like it.
Introduction
Hey you! I want to start off by saying thank you for picking up this book. Whether you have a physical copy or an e-book, your support means the world to me. I am so grateful to you and am super excited about sharing what I’ve learned through my life experiences and from the Bible.
Now before you get in too deep, I want to make sure that you fully understand what you’re headed into. I am not famous, I am not rich and am in no way shape or form some social media celebrity. I am just a girl with big dreams and after having them for so long decided to pursue them. I am still pursuing those dreams and I haven’t “made” it yet according to my standards. So, understand me when I say, this book will not give you the secrets of overnight success because, frankly, it doesn’t exist. If that were the case, we would all be overnight successes, sitting in our Bentley’s and buying our fifth mansion.
This book is here to give you perspective on how to view the process and to love the season you are in. Understanding where you are can help you overcome certain situations, avoid repeating the same mistakes and keep you focused when setbacks come. Believe me, they come. I will be as honest as I can be and I promise to keep it real.
Life is full of ups and downs and sometimes there’s so much down that it becomes really easy to give up. The reality is that we can’t give up. We each possess a light inside of us that brings out the best of us. We are each empowered to be world changers. So, if you can read this book and come out with a new outlook in life that propels you forward into the next phase of your life, then I know that you can inspire someone else to do it. In other words, if I can do it you do it too.
At the end of the day this book will not change your life, only you can do that. Only you can ride out the wave and learn the key lessons that will take you and your dreams to the next level. The good news is, one day things will be different, and you’ll get everything you prayed for. You may face different challenges but at the end of the day you’ll know how to “Enjoy The Process!”
Hi there! I’m so happy that you could join me today on my blog. I’ve been committing myself to writing one blog post a day for the whole month of November and so far it’s been going good. If you’ve been following along, I hope that the information that I have been able to share with you has been valuable. If so please let me know in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This link may post some affiliate links, which allows me to do what I love which is, sharing with you products that I absolutely love. Also to give you insight as to what I use in terms of skin care, hair care and/or motherhood and everything in between. By all means, click the links below.
Today I am finally going to review the BMasked Sweet Tooth Face Mask. I’ve been using this face mask for a while and I am loving it.
But let me back up.
BMasked Skin Care is a Female Canadian owned skin care company that is all about sustainability and using quality locally sourced ingredients to provide the best for your skin care needs. Believe me the quality of the products speaks for itself. This brand is all about executing excellence with each product that it creates. If you’ve used a BMasked product then you know exactly what I am talking about.
Today I have decided to focus on the BMasked Sweet Tooth Face Mask. Lately, I’ve been trying different skin care products and slowly becoming obsessed with whatever a popular TikToker has been hyping up. All while, adjusting my skin care regimen to fit my skin needs for the fall/winter season. Unfortunately, instead of doing my due diligence and researching the product before using it, I decided to fall headfirst into a situation where now my skin is actually peeling. My face is really sensitive and peeling. In other words, I messed up my face.
I used the Sweet Tooth Face Mask because I really needed something to soothe my over-stressed skin, sure enough it delivered as promised. This mask is soothing and it literally calms the skin down as it restores the skin. It contains locally sourced honey which contains anti-inflammatory properties which helps with breakouts. This I need, because not only is my skin is sensitive (due to my abusive ways) but it is also acne-prone (due to my genetic ways…). I love that it has finely ground espresso and date seed powder to gently exfoliate dead skin cells without causing any further irritation to the skin.
Also I love coffee…a lot, so the smell of coffee on my face is a bonus.
This mask has a thick texture with a light brown tint. You can see the tiny specks of the exfoliants in it. It smells like coffee, which personally it screams HEAVEN! I used a mini face spatula to apply it because it is sticky, which I like because it stays in place. I leave it on my face for about 10 mins and then I rinse it off. My face is soft, calm and feels blessed beyond measure. It’s perfect if you have sensitive skin and/or if you’ve been abusing your skin because you’re buying things you shouldn’t be buying.
I highly recommend this face mask. It is currently a staple in my skin care regimen and will be for a while.
Are you currently using a face mask? Let me know below
