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National Lipstick Day

Published on by BriAlys

Today I’m traveling with no laptop and no agenda (on purpose) so I’m doing this post from my iPhone. #keepcalmspellcheckqueens 💁🏽

Today is National Lipstick Day! so I decided to share a few things with you: 1) my go-to lipgloss, 2) the ULTIMATE in lipstick treats and 3) an up-and-coming lipstick line that will make you go, hmmmm. 💄💋 So let’s get started!

My go-to, wear every day on top of any lipstick (or by itself) is actually called a lipglass, by Mac in Fantabulous <== that’s the name of the color. I order it online, at least two at a time ($20 each) and you will never catch me without it! There is no real dupe for this shade. #musthave


On to the ULTIMATE package deal: it’s none other than Lips and Boys by Tom Ford – a collection of 10 shades of lipstick, in a pretty little gift box. It will run you a cool $350. 🙄

Finally, let’s talk something new, Lip Whip – it’s a vegan, non-stick, no-smudge lipstick that only comes off with oil!! Swimming? No problem! Working out? No problem!! You can only purchase it online at the moment; but, they do have eye shadows and more. I will be trying this very soon! Check out the video below and follow their account on Instagram.

Happy National Lipstick Day!!!

#BloggingOnAniPhone #notbad

News My Way

Published on by BriAlys

malcolm-x-quote-newspapersI’m done with traditional news outlets: local and national. The BeFreeProject recently reinforced my skill to learn to say no without explaining myself and I’m doing just that! In case you haven’t learned, I love to read and do it daily! So when it comes specifically to news, what do I read? Depends.

  • Live Updates: When I know to know about things happening on the ground, my go-to is Twitter. It becomes a news station by the people. You get all sides, uncoated and you get to decide for yourself! Search using specific keywords or hashtags (to stay up-to date on the latest. You’ll quickly find sources that you trust and give great overviews of what’s happening on the ground.

  • General/National News: VICE. This site is amazing and I absolutely love the show on HBO. But they also report regularly on a wide range go (global) topics. This source will definitely expand your knowledge of what most national news agencies would characterize as “less-important.”

  • Finance/Economy: Armstrong Economics. This guy has great general knowledge and always presents current events with a historic context. He shoots it to you straight and challenges your every assumption. You may not always agree but he does present the facts in an unbiased way. That’s what we want from news, right? 

  • Black People’s News: I recently told my husband, “Black people get the award for inclusiveness. Meanwhile, we are losing.” I won’t apologize for seeking out and tuning in to news from people who look like me. To that extent, I will watch local and national news that is being reported by people who look like I look. It doesn’t mean I agree with everything they may say, the key is that they tend to care about what I care about (“our issues”) and most often will present both sides of an argument. Ironically, most of these shows are on MSBNC: Melissa Harris-Perry Show, The Reid Report, Politics Nation (less often) and News One Now (I can only take so much of the host’s “personality”)

All these sites/shows have websites, Twitter, YouTube accounts and live feeds. Even if you don’t have cable, you can get most of it for free (online). Do a quick search (or click the links above) and you’ll be well on your way.

Polo Goes Tech

Published on by BriAlys

10259-2411-453962700-lOnly a few months ago, Tory Burch entered the mobile-fitness-fashion world with stylish bracelets, designed to house your FitBit. Now, another mega-fashion designer, Ralph Lauren, is entering that very same market with an iOS-connected fitness & health tracking Polo Tech t-shirt. The high tech shirt is set to launch in 2015 (AppleInsider), but you may be able to catch a glimpse at this year’s US Open.

“Legendary fashion house Ralph Lauren is making a big splash in the wearable devices market this week, as a number of ball boys and one player at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships are outfitted with new, iOS-connected nylon shirts that track health and fitness data.“

Here are a few highlights:

  • The shirts are interwoven with a set of sensors that track heart rate, breathing rate, breathing depth, activity intensity, steps walked, calories burned, and heart rate variability.

  • Data is transmitted from the shirts’ sensors to a small “black box” that users are asked to clip onto their shirt, which in turn relays the information to a companion iOS app via a Bluetooth 4.0 signal.

  • The shirts are machine washable

Google Office

Published on by BriAlys

Unknown“Work with any file, on any device, any time.” That’s Google’s goal with its new and existing suite of productivity tools. There’s already Google Docs and Google Sheets (think Microsoft Word and Excel, respectively, but for FREE). Now Google Slides allows you to edit (Power Point) presentations on the go! Those three services/apps coupled together is what I like to call Google Office. Courtesy of Google Drive’s Blog, Here’s the lowdown on what you can now do with Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

  1. You can truly get stuff done from any device—your iPhone, iPad, Android phone, Android tablet, laptop or desktop computer. Any change you make on any of these devices is saved automatically, so you can pick up right where you left off any time, anywhere that you can sign in. 

  2. The Docs, Sheets and Slides apps come with offline editing built right in. Just make the files you want to edit available offline. Any changes you make offline get automatically synced when you reconnect, just like when you make offline edits from your computer. 

  3. And while converting Office files to Docs, Sheets and Slides is a cinch, the new iPhone/iPad apps also let you edit Office files directly — just like on the Android apps and the web. 

Not many people use the Microsoft Office suite for personal use these days, unless of course you got a can get a good deal from your school or employer, mainly because these services have evolved so much over the years and the level of flexibility it allows greatly supersedes what Microsoft has to offer. In fact, Google has become my defacto way to create and share documents. Google even has a pretty substantial library of templates you can leverage to get started: some documents originate from Google but any user can upload and share their “best-in-class” templates for the rest of the world to enjoy (think budgets, resumes, etc.) Enjoy!

Kate Spade, Michael Kors or Coach?

Published on by BriAlys

“It’s a tale of three diverging luxury designers as affordability and availability take precedence over exclusivity and high pricing that have long attracted rich, aspirational spenders and tourists.” (Fox Business) Are you buying that?? Anytime someone makes a claim that a stock is about to take off, you want to do some investigation yourself… but since this is not that kind of site, we’ll move on to a more fabulous-type of discussion.

I’ve told you before about Kate Spade for Former/Future Brides as well as Kate Spade Idiom Bracelets; but, I haven’t really paid much attention to the designer’s hand bags. That’s because I love the vibrancy of Michael Kors and the classic, sophisticated feel of Coach. Given the proclamation by Fox that Kate Spade is set to sail to the top, I decided to compare current offerings and select my favorite brand in 3 categories: Clutch, Tote and Shoulder Bag. I just have one requirement: It absolutely must be Fabulous!

cluth-coachshoulder-coachtote-korsThe best Clutch goes to Coach at $299. Kate Spade was the runner up (click here) and I was hard pressed to find anything I liked by Michael Kors, although he did win best Tote, hands down at $298, with a classic style in a gorgeously vibrant green (there are many color choices). Some people prefer to have zippers on their totes and Kors has those options as well! I may give consideration to this 2nd option from Coach at $258. Finally, for a Shoulder Bag. This area is not really not my forte / go-to design; but, what I do know is that I would not purchase any of the Kors options. I like Madison by Coach at $328 – the powder blue totally sold me! Sooo… there you have it – I guess I’m still a mostly-Coach & sometimes-Kors kinda-girl! Which is quite strange for me to say because a few years ago I wouldn’t step a foot into a Coach store! I guess the times (or designers) have changed! I always say buy stock for companies you like so I include tickers for Coach and Michael Kors below 🙂

spadePS: Since we’re talking handbags, I’d love to have this cutie by Kate Spade come in a smaller version to use for my lunch. Or even maybe better, a fashionable beach bag in the current size! (too bad it’s not waterproof). 😦