It's been 27 whole years since Toni Braxton released her debut album, and more than two decades later, our good sis is still serving us looks for days.
Many have wondered how the singer hasn't aged a day since the 90s but luckily, Toni finally dropped the secret to her everlasting fountain of youth in the latest edition of Vogue's Beauty Secrets, and according to her, the key to looking 25 at age 52 is a daily session with her handy dandy vibrator. While many beauty aficionados opt for jade rollers and face steamers, Toni says that in her experience, a vibration-a-day is what keeps wrinkles at bay:
"This thing right here, OK, I'm going to be honest, it is a vibrator. But I call it a face tingler. It tingles the muscles in my face and gets them activated and working. I haven't used it on anything else other than my face, OK? Just FYI! I just kind of rub it and it just activates all those muscles, gets 'em together. We are working today, we are gonna be cute today!"
Along with dropping the details on her must-try beauty rituals, Toni also opened up about how doing her own makeup is a form of therapy for her. The beauty icon shared that while her style has switched up, her passion for all things beauty has remained the same:
"I love doing my own makeup; it kind of relaxes me. [In] the '90s I had a really thin eyebrow look… [but] 2020 gotta have something a little bit heavier. I never used to wear lashes…but then I learned about Brigitte Bardot and her lashes were everything."
For the 14 beauty products Toni can't live without, scroll below!
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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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