Month: April 2019

5 Amazing Beauty Hacks This Free Tool Is THE BEST For

Published on by Crystal Lee3 Comments

If there’s one tool that every beauty lover should have in their glam room, it’s a spoolie. I know it may not look like much, but it’s an MUA’s secret weapon as it has SO many different uses: from taming brows and flyaways to plumping your lips and fixing your lashes. If you’re not familiar, a spoolie is the small mascara wand that you can find on most beauty counters, or they’re often included in brow kits, but that definitely doesn’t mean you should limit them to your brows. Here’s I use my fav beauty tool for a whole range of hacks….

To tame flyaways

There’s nothing worse than when your glossy blow-dry gets caught in the rain – or exposed to the desert heat. To combat frizz when you’re-on-the-go and keep flyaways at bay, make sure you have a spoolie in your purse at all times – I swear, it works wonders! As the brush is so fine it’ll smooth down any baby hairs and leave your hair looking silky smooth. For maximum impact, spray your spoolie with hairspray before combing it through your hair to get ultimate hold and shine – do this almost every morning!

For brows

There’s arguably no better brow tool for taming your brows than a spoolie! For ultimate hold, coat your spoolie with a little hairspray, and for thicker looking brows, brush your brows upwards up until you reach the arch and then brush the brows toward your hairline.

Extra hack: For longer lashes and brows, dip your spoolie in castor oil and then brush it through your hair. Castor oil is bursting with protein and fatty acids that can strengthen hair, making it the ideal remedy for extending the length of your lashes and brows.

For false lashes

One of my all-time fav hacks transforms a $2 pair of lashes into super luxurious, natural looking lashes. Just grab a spoolie and any drugstore lashes, and brush the lashes outwards, in horizontal back and forth motions. This will separate the lashes, making the lash strip appear fuller. Even, if you’re not a fan of falsies and you’re a die-hard mascara fan, if you run a clean spoolie through your mascara-coated lashes, you’ll separate each lash, getting rid of any clumps and again, making your eyes look more dramatic.

For your lips

This hacks only takes 30 seconds, and it’ll give you THE softest lips: just apply your fave lip balm or oil ( like to use coconut oil as it’s super hydrating and tastes delicious too!), then, using small circular motions, brush your lips gently with your spoolie.

For your nails

Using a spoolie to remove stubborn nail polish is basically a two-in-one nail treatment, as it gets rid of any stubborn polish while also gently buffing your nails. Just dip your spoolie in nail polish and buff away – the fine bristles are ideal as they’re able to access the cracks and crevices of your nails.

Let me know if you guys have any other amazing hacks you do with your spoolie in the comments.

DIY SUNDAY: This Is Our Secret To Longer Lashes

Published on by Crystal Lee1 Comment

This DIY is the secret to longer lashes and fuller brows. I swear, within weeks me and my fellow BLB SQUAD noticed a difference! If you try this hack morning and night, you’ll have lashes Bambi would be proud of and brows to rival Cara Delevigne. This has to be the easiest DIY in BeautyLeeBar history – it’s literally one ingredient – Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) but been referring to it as a gift from the beauty gods! It’s literally bursting with beauty-enhancing vitamins that’ll stimulate growth, making it the perfect remedy for short lashes and sparse brows. You can even use the oil to combat acne, PMS and insomnia… intrigued? Here’s everything you need to know:

What Makes Jamaican Black Castor Oil SO Magical?

Chances are, you’ve already heard of castor oil, but it’s unlikely that you’ve been introduced to its more powerful sister –  Jamaican black castor oil. So don’t get confused between the two, because JBCO is a lot more potent, thanks to the unique extraction process. Unlike regular castor oil, the seeds of JBCO are roasted and ground, then the powder is mixed with water and slowly boiled on a wood fire. The oil is completely natural and isn’t diluted or altered, so the nutrients and vitamins pack a great punch.


Source: Tropic Isle Living

For your lashes and brows: Castor oil is rich in omega-6 and omega-9 fatty acids, as well as ricinoleic, all of which will help stimulate growth, leaving you with longer lashes. It also contains beauty-boosting vitamin E, that’ll not only boost growth but it’ll leave your lashes looking thicker. We’re currently using the Tropic Isle Living Jamaican Black Castor Oil, $8, as it’s 100% pure JBCO and is hand processed from pure wildcrafted and organic beans, so it doesn’t contain any nasty chemicals and is potent AF.

DIY Lash and Brow Serum:

First of all, make sure you double cleanse to guarantee that all your eye makeup is thoroughly removed – you’ll be surprised at how much mascara you take off with the second cleanse. Then, soak a cotton bud ( use these amazing tiny micro buds from Amazon, $7) in castor oil, then brush through your lashes and eyebrows. Massage your brows to ensure that the castor oil coats each hair. Do this every night before you sleep, and you’ll notice a difference in about three weeks – don’t worry it won’t transfer onto your pillow, it’ll be absorbed into your lashes within 10 minutes! If you’re having a makeup-free day, then go ahead and apply it during the day as well.

P.S. Jamaican black castor oil isn’t just great for your lashes; here’s how to maximize on its powers:

For your skin: Jamaican black castor oil has both anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties, which means it’s great at soothing existing and preventing further breakouts as it kills acne-inducing bacteria. All you do is massage a small drop of oil onto cleansed skin, then gently remove the oil with a washcloth soaked in boiling water (make sure you let the cloth cool a little before using it)!

For your health: Jamaican black castor oil also has some major health benefits and is used as a natural remedy to cure insomnia and to relieve menstrual cramps. For instant pain relief, massage the oil onto your skin – either to your lower abdomen or your temples. The oil is packed with anti-inflammatory properties and can even help detoxify the body.

Let me know if you’ve tried castor oil for your lashes and brows in the comments below.

Ask Lee: How to Know if the Job is Worth the Move

Published on by Crystal Lee1 Comment

Me and my friends decided to make April our career-focused month so I thought why not also bring it on here BeautyLeeBar.com. So sticking with that Work It theme, today I wanted to respond to a career-related question I received to my BeautyLeeBar.com inbox. A reader named Angela wrote in recently, asking my advice on whether a great job offer she’d received was worth moving across the country for. Relocating for a job is something that many people consider at some point during their careers, so I thought it was worth sharing my advice with everyone in an Ask Lee post…

Making a big move is always intimidating no matter what the reason. It means stepping outside of your comfort zone and the life you’ve created for yourself. It means leaving all your favorite neighborhood spots from your dry cleaner to your workout studio to your coffee shop, and starting from scratch. And more importantly, it often means leaving behind friends and family, too. But when it comes to your career, taking big risks can also mean big rewards. Plus, experiencing a new city can also be exciting and eye opening.

In the end, no one can really make a big decision like that but you. But if you’re considering relocating for a job opportunity, I put together a list of several good questions you can ask yourself…

How to Know if the Job is Worth the Move

1. Is this truly a dream job?
2. If the job doesn’t end up being as amazing as you think it is, will there be other opportunities in this new city?
3. Will having this job on your resume be a huge boost for your career even if you don’t stay there forever?|
4. Are the opportunities in your current town pretty limited?
5. Does living in this city appeal to you on its own, outside of the job?
6. Are you mostly excited or mostly nervous about the possibility of moving? (It’s normal to be a little of both!)
7. How easy will it be for you to visit your old city if you get homesick or want to stay in touch with friends?
8. Is it relatively easy or hard for you to pick up and move at this stage in your life? How tied down are you? (Ie. Do you own or rent your current home?; Are you single or in a long-term relationship?)

You can use these questions as a starting point for deciding whether this opportunity is worth taking. If it helps, go over the answers with a close friend or family member whose opinion you trust. While the decision is yours to make, they might be able to tell which direction you’re leaning in, even when you can’t.

Have you ever made a big move for your career?

Share your own experience and advice in the comments!

XO Lee

Mirror Talk

Published on by Crystal Lee1 Comment

by SIANA LOVE  9 months ago in SLAM POETRY

Looking into the mirror what do I see?

I see a beautiful smart woman looking at me

I see pain behind her hazel eyes

I see sadness behind her smile

But I also see a glimpse of hope between her teeth as if it’s inside her looking for a way to come out

I see a girl that wasn’t loved enough

I see a girl who was loved so much that she can’t even see it

That’s why she wears glasses,

To help her focus on what’s really important in life

I glance down and I see her body

A temple created from the one she calls Father

But God forbid someone told her she was beautiful

She’d smile and politely say thank you but deep down that word would be the meaning of doubt in her ears

When she hears she is beautiful she stands confused

As if they need the glasses to see what she is seeing

She wonders if they call her pretty in a way of making fun of the fat girl with a nice face

Or a way of proving to her that they don’t fat shame

Did you know that she hates silence? The girl in the mirror

She can’t stand being in a room full of people and no one talking

She knows they can hear her breathing, gasping for air

Sometimes they would ask “why are you breathing so hard?” as if she does it on purpose

She can’t control it, but it happens

So she tries to make conversation, hopefully, this will distract them into a conversation and not focus on her breathing because that’s all shes focused on in a silent room

Did you know that she drowns in the silence?

Thoughts come over her like a wave storm and now she’s thinking about why her dad couldn’t be there for her like every other dad is, she wonders why she isn’t loved?

She turns to all this approval from men because she never got anything from her dad

She hides her shames, her tears, her pain… Behind that “nice” face

Those beautiful hazel eyes, they have cried themselves to sleep so many times

That smile… Is a reminder that she must be strong, for her, even if no one sees

She’s at war with herself, trying to be more outgoing but the extra skin on her body weighs her down so she stays hidden, waiting that hopefully someone will find her and give her the one thing she needs most…. Love