I see you, sis. Thanks to the quarantine, you've been able to cut back on spending, level up your savings account, and even put a dent in your debt and if nobody has told you today, I'm proud of you, damn it.
But right when you think you have my budget all the way together, here comes our favorite bad gal with new Fenty Beauty to snatch up all of your coins and you're not alone in the struggle. I, too, am guilty of blowing a check on my makeup bag, and watching Rihanna's new "No-Makeup" beauty tutorial will have you stocking up your shopping cart expeditiously.
Although our Hot Girl Summer has been postponed indefinitely, Fenty Beauty's new Cheeks Out Freestyle creams and bronzers will have you feeling like the sunkissed Queen that you are all damn year. Using the Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer in Hunnie Glaze for the ultimate glow and the Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Petal Poppin, Rihanna gave us an inside look at how she creates one of her "favorite looks" and we have all the details.
For info on the beat that Rih says will have you both booty-call and beach-ready, scroll below!
Step One: Contour
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
After applying her foundation, she begins on the Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Bronzer in Hunnie Glaze to illuminate her island gal glow. According to Rihanna, because she, too, is a sister in the fivehead struggle, her contour game is strong AF. She explained:
"I really go in because I have a big forehead, so I have to go for it."
Step Two: Create Shadows
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
"I like to use this color, Amber on the contour region because it creates a shadow. It's not lighter or darker, it's just a shadow."
Step Three: Apply Blush
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
In the tutorial, Rihanna explained that each and every one of Fenty's cream bronzers and blushes are designed to be flexible AF and can be applied using a brush or even your fingertips––a method she used to layer on the Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Petal Poppin and Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Summertime Wine on her cheeks for a rosy finish.
Step Four: Slay Those Brows
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
No make-up routine is complete without a good brow-beating and for Rihanna's slay of the day, she used the Fenty Beauty Brow MVP Ultra Fine Brow Pencil and Styler.
Step Five: A Pop Of Color
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
Pigment was made for Black women and the Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Drama Cla$$ is proof.
"What is purple going to look like on my cheek? It is not scary at all. It has such a sheer beautiful effect and works on every skin tone. Don't I look beach-ready ... or booty-call ready?"
Step Six: Just Add Gloss
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
Rihanna brought out her Cheeks Out Freestyle Cream Blush in Summertime Wine as her lippie of the day, topping it off with her Gloss Bomb Universal Lip Luminizer in FU$Y to make sure her lips were extra poppin'.
The Finished Look
Fenty Beauty/YouTube
To watch the full video, click here!
RIHANNA'S SUMMER FENTY FACE MAKEUP TUTORIAL | FENTY BEAUTYwww.youtube.com
Featured image screenshot via Fenty Beauty/YouTube
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While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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In a xoNecole exclusive, the mom of two opened up about many things, including starting her wellness journey at 13 years old. However, a near-death experience during a procedure at 20 made her start taking her health more seriously.
“There's so many different levels, and now, I'm in a space of just integrating all of this good stuff that I've learned just about just being human, you know?” Dreka tells us. “So it's also fun because it's like a journey of self-discovery and self-mastery. That's what I call it. So it's never-ending.”
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If you follow Dreka, then you’re familiar with her holistic lifestyle, as she’s no stranger to promoting wellness, self-care, and holistic living. She even lives part-time on a Mississippi farm, not far from her grandmother and great-grandmother’s farm, where she spent some summers as a child.
While her grandmother and great-grandmother have passed on, Dreka reflects on that time in her life and how having a farm as an adult is her getting back to her roots. “So the farm was purchased back in 2017, and it was like, ah, that'll just be a place where we go when we're not touring or whatever,” she said.
“But covid hit, and I was there, and I was on the land, and I just started remembering back to going to my grandmother's during the summertime and freaking picking peas and going and eating mulberries off the freaking tree in the bushes.
“And she literally had cotton plants. I know some people feel weird about picking cotton and stuff. She had cotton plants and I would go and pick cotton out of her garden. And she had chickens, and I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.”
I literally just broke down in tears one day when I was on the farm just doing all the things, and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh. I'm literally getting back to my roots.
You can catch glimpses of Dreka’s farm life on Instagram, which shows her picking fruit and vegetables and loving on her animals like her camel Eessa. Her passion for growing and cultivating led her to try and grow all of her ingredients for her wellness brand, Dreka Wellness. However, she quickly realized that she might be biting off more than she could chew. But that didn’t stop her from fulfilling her vision.
Watch below as Dreka talks more about her business, her wellness tips, breaking toxic cycles, becoming a doula, and more.
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