If you're a ride or die chick, you Will just DIE

The post title should tell you everything you need to know. I have never seen good come to girls who will help a man slide out of a pinch. In fact there are laws against that tomfoolery, so DO NOT DO IT.

Look at the women on Mob Wives, do they look happy to you? I'll leave to ponder that.When discussing the stupidity of women giving up their lives and identities for men that were clearly no good  Marissa promptly added, "better yet, how many men do you know are ride or die? More like ride & run."

Now to the girls out there who fully believe in taking one for the team and all that talk about loyalty to your man, remember that loyalty to yourself is first and foremost. Being able to keep your backbone and to jump out the car when you knew that man in the driver's seat is trying to crash you both gives you much more respect than being someone's ride or die, it gives you the respect of hearing everyone say they are happy you're alive and well.
----Dhores

Superficiality vs Substance

Today my mom and i had an interesting conversion about my lack of femininity. It sorta went like this,

Mom: “Dhores you dress like a boy.”

Me: “Just stfu about it already.”

Mom: “I used to be hotter than you when we were the same and you know what I’m still hot now. BOOYA!”

Me: “At least my social identifier is being “the smart one.’”

Mom: “At least I’m not a cunt.”

Me: “You sure.”

Mom: “Don’t start.”

Me: “Don’t give me a reason too.”

Now that was the conversion in the extreme form of layman’s terms, in actually it wasn’t that painfully insulting to both parties but my mother and I have played this tango too many times to not to know the dance moves.

Now my mother and I are very different people, she’d just about burst of glee if you called her a girly girl while I’d deadpan myself to death at that. Now don’t get me wrong I LOVEEEEEEE fashion, makeup, and anything that is pretty but I do have limitations to how much power I let theses items have over me. At the end of the day I truly don’t care about the value of the items hanging up in my closet if I have nothing of real value hanging up in my mind.

But the real reason I bring this up is because constantly the stigma and judgment of superficiality and substance are regularly bought up, whether it is my mom or the people I have lunch at school initiating that conversion. Since when did the two S-words hold so much power over people that if one lacked in one area it was open season to belligerent comments?

Initially I wrote this the intention of saying how important striking a balance between superficiality and substance was and even give out tips to how that may be achieved. But at this point honestly just DO NOT give a flipping frank about others if they don’t respect your grind whether it be rocking a Balenciaga bag or comprehending La Boda de Sangra, because at the end of the day you’re the one who knows how much time and effort you’ve put in your own interests. 

----Dhores

The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty: Fantasia IC Hair Polisher Styling Gel with sparkle lites

On today's plate is Fantasia IC Hair Polisher Styling Gel with sparkle lites, in a line of products that usually sings let me hold you down to hair this product in particular is as big a flop as Michelle’s solo career after Beyonce already came through.

The Good: 
There is good to speak of. The only stretch I can make is that at least it’s not expensive.

The Bad: 
No hold, no sparkle lites, no nothing. This entire tub is a waste of space and money. Save yourself the disappointment, people. My hair has not been affected in anyway, also when if you try to over compensate by adding more product your hair will be a thickly coated white crunchy mess. The end.

The Pretty:   
The tub is full of lies.

The Overall: 
Look to other products in the Fantasia IC line, this is the by far the ugly step-sister of the bunch. I won't give up on the other products, from what I've seen and experienced, they more so much more to offer.

----Dhores

The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty: Elasta QP DPR- 11

Hey people its Dhores and I've got a review for you all. After using Elasta QP DPR- 11 for some months I can say I have fallen in love. The first five ingredients include chamomilla recutita extract, urtica dioica extract, balm mint leaf oil, coltsfoot flower extract, horse chestnut extract. 

The Good: 
Your hair will feel baby soft, or at least mind did. With transitioning hair, finding a deep conditioner that works with both hair textures is extremely important .I found that this conditioner works well with softening my natural  roots and nourishing the permed ends. The product also provides great slip; I have testimony of that on both my own hair and my neighbor’s hair.

The Bad: 
This wouldn't work for people with fine hair. As you already know Marissa was the one who introduced me to this product. She gave it to me as a random act kindest between friends. She said it didn’t work as well for her as she expected. Looking back, the fact that it works well my neighbor’s hair and my hair, but not Marissa’s hair tells that the product is most likely a no-no for fine hair, as that is Marissa’s hair type and my neighbor and I have coarse hair.

The Pretty: 
The miracle in a tub...

 The Overall:
I would definitely recommend this product to anyone with thick, coarse hair. At the price of six dollars it’s a steal for what it gives.

The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty: CVS Purifying Mint Masque

"You look like a Haitian carnival mask"- my father the first day he saw me wear CVS Purifying Mint Masque. I used to have extremely acne prone skin and this product makes my skin look like it has always been perfect. The ingredient lists includes water, kaolin, bentonite, glycerin, and zinc oxide.

The Good: 
It makes sure pimples are DEALT with, the ingredients tells you that from get-go. My interest in this product came from the bentonite clay factor, for anyone who doesn’t know bentonite clay, it sucks out any impurities your skin or hair throws its way. The masque also works well with skin that is the oily type or combination type. I have yet to find a skin type that has had negative consequences after using this product.

The Bad: 
When you find something let me know. Seriously though, I have no complaints other than it leaves my face looking a bit ashy after I wash it but that’s nothing that can’t be handled with some moisturizer. 

The Pretty:   
So that you know what to look for....

The Overall: 
I don’t usually barter people but…. GET THIS PRODUCT if you have skin issues. Though it’s not a permanent fix, consistently using the mask is a great help. You should know that consistency is key when playing the perfect skin game. To put it in perspective when I run out of this product I defiantly make it a priority to replace it immediately, and I don’t hot step it for products easily.
---Dhores

The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty: V05 Conditioners

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm total hair fanatic. I love all hair types and every little detail about each type. When it comes to hair, I'm serious about whatever I'm putting on my head and what I recommend to people, and I have a review today about a set of conditioners I've been using for a very long time. Ever wandered into your local store's hair section and saw the extremely cheap little bottles of hair conditioner by some obscure company named V05? I'm sure you have, and you probably didn't give them a second glance either, but maybe my review can help you do a double take.

The Good:

There's a lot of good when it comes to this product. First of all, it will not put a dent in your pocket at all. It's extremely wallet-friendly checking in at a measly dollar or less depending on where you're getting your conditioner from. It comes in a variety of scents and collections, but from what I have observed the different collections (Moisture Milks, Herbal Escapes, Tea Therapy, etc) barely differ in formula and the results are the same. (This might not be the same case for you though, so make sure you pay attention to how your hair reacts to the different conditioners!)

My favorite conditioner from them is the Strawberries & Cream Moisture Milks because it smells like some sort of sweet delicious heaven. As for how well they work on hair, they're amazing. They moisturize and detangle my hair beautifully. It worked while I was relaxed and even now when I'm natural. Dhores uses the V05 conditioners as well, and I have two other friends who used them and love them whose hair is nothing like either of ours. (One of them is white and the other is Asian, so as you can see it works well with a great variety of hair types.)

The Bad:

Some may not like the consistency of this conditioner. It is very thin and sometimes you might have to be a bit heavy handed with it. I don't have a problem with the consistency but I figure it's worth mentioning. Other than that I think the product is stellar.

The Pretty:

I'm not sure what anyone would be waiting for when it comes to jumping on this bandwagon. It's so cheap, and super effective. If you don't like it? It didn't put a dent in your wallet, and hair conditioner doubles as a great shaving cream anyway. (I always just buy cheap conditioner instead nowadays since shaving cream is so costly.)

-Marissa

The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty: OCC Lip Tars

This is the first installment of our review series: The Good, The Bad, and The Pretty. Whilst Dhores and I were out and about at IMATS in NYC, I had the amazing opportunity to pick up one of Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetic's Lip Tars. The hype about these has been known for awhile, but since I don't get to shop online often, this was my first opportunity to pick one up. They go for $13 dollars a piece usually, but since we were attending the make up show the prices were marked down and I received mine for $10 dollars.

The Good:

I am in love with this already and surely will be getting more. It is nothing short of pigmented. I purchased “Strumpet” which is described on their official website as a “seedless grape red”. It's a very pretty berry color, and extremely bold. I am nothing short of wowed by its color pay-off. My lips are pigmented. (When I say pigmented, I reaaallly mean it too!) If a color is really sheer, my lips just steal the show. It definitely lived up to the reputation of being super pigmented. Not only that, but a little goes an extremely long way. I used barely a drop for the entirety of my lips, and it's not like my lips are thin.

The Bad:

There's nothing truly bad about the product. It's somewhat drying, but not extremely. Put on some lip balm before applying and you're good to go.

The Pretty:

 my bare lips.

with strumpet on.

Sincere apologies for the awful lighting in both pictures, this is what I get for doing a review on a rainy day & resorting to using  two different artificial lights.

Overall: 

I would totally recommend picking up one (or a dozen) of these. I'm definitely going to get some more myself. For the amount of product you receive, the price is perfect, and there are literally all the colors of the rainbows. Not only that, but you can mix them and create your own! How can you go wrong?

You can purchase your own lip tar here.

--Marissa