GRWM // Vapour Foundation, Dramatic Lashes, Italian Lipstick

september 17, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: makeup, videos

I thought I would film myself doing more glam/night out makeup than you normally see. It’s not terribly different from I guess what is my signature look (some version of black winged liner and a bright or bold lipstick), but it’s amped up by the addition of individual lashes, perfected illuminated skin, and crisp bright red lipstick application.

You can see I kept color on the face to a minimum, which I find is key for me. I’m quite happy with the Vapour foundation so far, it’s dewy and should be perfect as we move into fall and winter in the northern hemisphere. Mille grazi to my friend Miky, who sent this beautiful lipstick my way from the Italian brand Nouveau Cosmetics which she carries in her eco beauty boutique in Tuscany.

You can watch the video over on YouTube :) I also just posted this past week’s Instagram stories (September 9 – September 16th) to my amazing L’Amour Patrons. I had a bit of a cray week including cross-country travel, so it’s all captured there. OH and you guys we’re so close to my second Patreon goal, which means I’m so close to investing in a new vlogging camera (already have one picked out!) which will mean more vlogs on YouTube until we hit the third Patreon goal which means I commit to two vlogs every month IN ADDITION to all my regular content. In other words, the vlogs won’t replace anything I’m already publishing, it will be added to the L’Amour suite. So if you’d like to be part of growing L’Amour and gaining access to some extra content – you can head over to my homepage there and scope it out :)

xoxo,

mercedes

 

Products used –

Skincare:

Vered herb-infused toner http://bit.ly/2pOdLGn

Tammy Fender eye cream http://bit.ly/2oob2nf

Skin Owl Beauty Whip http://bit.ly/2w2L7BG

Skin Owl Maqui Beauty Drops http://bit.ly/2cV0win

Josh Rosebrook SPF http://bit.ly/2lLTWP2

CV Skinlabs balm http://bit.ly/2h8d1tK

 

Makeup:

Vapour primer http://bit.ly/2gZcRnl

Vapour Foundation stick in 110 http://bit.ly/2gVFb7r

Becca Aqua Luminous Concealer in Light http://bit.ly/2jBIuFv

Antonym powder in Light http://bit.ly/2jBzjF0

Anastasia Brow Whiz in Medium Brown http://bit.ly/2wnjjwa

Glossier Boy Brow in Black https://www.glossier.com/products/boy-brow

Surratt Autographique liquid liner http://bit.ly/2xrAOuQ

Au Naturale eye pencil in Coco http://bit.ly/2wzg2VM

Dior palette 764 Fairy Golds (I believe this was LE)

Antonym eye pencil in Noir http://bit.ly/2w2EBew

Surratt lash curlers http://bit.ly/2fbY8Wz

Tarte Lights, Camera, Lashes http://bit.ly/2xr3xzC

Too Faced Better Than Sex http://bit.ly/2xrAqwo

W3LL People Bio Bronzer http://bit.ly/2i2Ury8

W3LL People Bio Brightener http://bit.ly/2onGule

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Trio http://bit.ly/2x6MNxP

Ardell individual lashes (I used the glue from some Eyelure lashes I had)

MAC Cherry lip liner http://bit.ly/2jB7Tiu

Nouveau lipstick in Pomgranade http://www.nouveau-cosmetics.com/en_GB

 

(Nails are OPI Lincoln Park After Dark)

 

Music –

Matt Tolfrey: Encarta (DJ Sprinkles Micro Soft Dub)

How I fell in love with house music

september 6, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: videos, spirituality, musique du jour

I have wanted to share my music narrative with you for literally years – since the inception of this blog and my YouTube channel. I hope you come away with a deeper understanding of why I named this endeavor L’Amour et la Musique, and I would love to hear any of your thoughts and musings on music’s place in your life, house music/culture, or how you experience vibrational bliss. You can watch this video here. xoxo, mercedes.

Become a L’Amour Patron: https://www.patreon.com/lamouretlamusique 

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September Beauty Heroes // SKIN OWL Beauty Drops PM Maqui Berry + Beauty Whip

september 2, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: videos, skincare

Today on YouTube, my comprehensive review of the September Beauty Heroes box featuring the Beauty Drops PM Maqui Berry and the Beauty Whip as the sidekick. The whip also features the supercharged fruit antioxidant, maquis berry – in powdered form, along with other skin-calming ingredients like hyaluronic, evening primrose,  and rosehip. While we’ll all miss the Skin Owl Mangosteen Beauty Drops dearly, there’s a really compelling production ethics story from Skin Owl founder/formulator Annie Tevelin that’s worth listening to. 

In other updates, I continue to be so, SO thankful for your support on Patreon. I uploaded a strung-together video of a week’s worth of Instagram stories for all Patrons today, and the aux urnes Patrons just voted on the exclusive video they’d like to see this month. It’s going to be a Bullet Journal spread/preview video. Later this fall I’m going to do a video for YouTube on my thoughts after a full year of Bullet Journaling, but will be largely conceptual and reflective. This video for Patrons will be more visual, more casual, and more process-oriented. So if you’re so inclined, come join!

Lastly, I donated 10% of my first month of Patreon pledges to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts – I split the fund between the Houston Food Bank and the Houston SPCA. Everyone affected continues to be in my thoughts <3

xoxo,

mercedes

To subscribe to Beauty Heroes to receive the September Box featuring Skin Owl –
http://bit.ly/2wyFtsf

In the Beauty Heroes online shop (members always enjoy 15% off all orders) –

To shop the rest of Skin Owl’s collection on Beauty Heroes –
http://bit.ly/2gBmvxj

To give a Beauty Heroes Gift Subscription:
http://bit.ly/1NDKDZz

To learn more about Beauty Heroes as an eco-beauty subscription box service, here is a playlist of all my past Beauty Heroes reviews –
http://bit.ly/1UAcfS1 

August Favorites // Beauty, Astrology & Lush Beats

august 27, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: videos, playlists

A weekend of YouTube hustle, no doubt. Launching Patreon AND squeezing in my regularly scheduled programming, a Sunday video – watch it here. I’m off to go take a huge BREAK from my computer now, but I hope you enjoy!! Especially the music. And the astrology talk. Those are my personal favorites of the month.

xoxo, mercedes

Products mentioned –
Beauty:
Au Naturale blush* http://bit.ly/2qaTlYI
Tatcha beauty papers* http://bit.ly/2vijh8j
Viseart cool mattes http://bit.ly/2xDJ1sq
Urban decay liner in Chaos http://bit.ly/2wJks0P
Veg-Up liquid liner (from Italy!)
RMS Sacred http://bit.ly/2gfMOZA
Charlotte Tilbury Pillow Talk http://bit.ly/2vA3ZXK
Glossier Crush https://www.glossier.com/products/generation-g
EvolvH Ultra-Shine shampoo and conditioner https://www.evolvh.com
Ellis Brooklyn Fable body milk http://bit.ly/2wS5Zim

Lifestyle:
Original Beans chocolate http://originalbeans.com
The Alchemist http://amzn.to/2wfSNBu

Astrology:
The Body Astrologer https://thebodyastrologer.com
MoonRX http://moonrx.com
Nightlight Astrology http://www.nightlightastrology.com

La Musique:

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L’Amour et la Musique moves to Patreon!

august 27, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: videos, ethos reflections

I’ll keep this post short and sweet since there is literally SO MUCH information and a video explaining everything related to this new direction for L’Amour et la Musique but – I’ve spent the better part of this summer conceptualizing a Patreon campaign to move L’Amour to the next level. I launched the campaign yesterday and I hope you will consider supporting the content I make through a small monthly donation. Welcome to my first early adopter Patrons – you guys have completely made my weekend, and I’m so grateful you’ve chosen to support what I do in this way.

Please visit my Patreon home page: https://www.patreon.com/lamouretlamusique

I also included a bonus footage upload for anyone interested – some of the underlying inspiration behind the work that I do:

What’s your fashion personality? Hitchcock Madrona x L’Amour et la Musique

by: mercedes | august 19, 2017 | filed under: style, videos

I know I’m almost a week late in getting this accompanying blog post up with the fashion personality collaboration video I did with Erica from Hitchcock Madrona last Sunday, but I’m trying to get better at putting up a blog post with every video so that products and topics can be more easily searchable and archive-able on here. Retroactively going through all my past videos and making sure they are archived on here is an open-ended project (anyone care to do some intern work for me? : p).

Anyhow, I had THE BEST time collaborating with Erica – everything from iterating on the questions together to actually filming and discussing, to watching Erica’s video and to see how DIFFERENT we are but how those differences are so complementary was really, really fun. Erica and I are planning to do more videos together, which I hope you’ll enjoy. If you haven’t already watched our fashion personality videos, you can see mine here and Erica’s here. And be sure to check out the rest of Erica’s videos, she’s one of my absolute favorites.

The questions –

1. What are 5 words to describe your personal style? Do you have anything to show regarding those words?

2. Where do you derive your fashion inspiration from/who are your style icons?

3. What can’t or won’t you wear (for whatever reason) but want to wear?

4. What is your favorite category to buy?

5. What are your favorite places to shop for clothing?

6. Do you consider color typing or color harmonization as part of your wardrobe styling, and if you so what is your color type (i.e. warm autumn, cool winter, et cetera) and what colors do you feel best suit you?

7. What is the most sentimental or nostalgic item in your wardrobe?

8. What are your thoughts on fast fashion, sustainable textiles, and capsule approaches to fashion?

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Additional ephemera…

 

Easing into le week-end

by: mercedes | july 29, 2017 | filed under: playlists

photo: journal.thefrankieshop.com

I was just in between doing laundry, tidying, and getting ready to film a video and was jumping around one of my iTunes playlists (titled “coffee shop” which is a bit of a hodge podge) and was drawn to each of the tracks below. I thought they’d make a nice Saturday morning playlist, for easing into the weekend. I have actually historically not been terribly fond of Saturday mornings, which is weird I know. Growing up I always associated them with chores and having to get things done, rather than the ease and relaxation that Sundays impart. Anyhow, however you feel about Saturday mornings, maybe you’ll enjoy these selections. I’m planning to add more regular streaming playlists beyond my monthly favorites playlists to my Patreon feed so – stay tuned! xoxo, mercedes.

  1. Jeff Buckley – Last Goodbye
  2. Jill Scott – A Long Walk
  3. Kings of Convenience – Cayman Islands
  4. Radio Citizen – The Hop
  5. Gorillaz – Empire Ants

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June & July Favorites // Beauty, What I’m Reading, Astrology, Esoterica, Musique

july 23, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: videos, playlists, spirituality

Probably no one noticed but me but I missed June Favorites – making up for it today with everything I’ve been loving the past two months. Also, happy New Moon in Leo! You can watch the video on YouTube here :)

Things mentioned –

Beauty –

Mahalo The Bean* http://bit.ly/2q6YsGw

Studio 78 Bronzer http://amzn.to/2eFxTam

Modern Minerals highlight* http://bit.ly/29FW2Wm

Glossier Zip https://www.glossier.com/products/generation-g

RMS Sacred http://bit.ly/2tRDc8p

Arcona SPF Powder http://bit.ly/2vxKxvY

Surratt Autographique http://bit.ly/2tR4b4g

Trish McEvoy Gel Liner Pencil http://bit.ly/2gUfdEB

Antonym Noir https://www.antonymcosmetics.com/products/noir

Vered Signature Perfume* http://bit.ly/2vxAHdB

 

Lifestyle (starts at 10:05) –

Red garnet from Hauswitch https://hauswitchstore.com

Runes (see book here: http://amzn.to/2uMuLA9 )

Nightlight Astrology http://www.nightlightastrology.com

Books!

French Love Poems http://amzn.to/2uMCKgt

The Alchemist http://amzn.to/2vxFTyh

White Hot Truth http://amzn.to/2eFmV4L

The Highly Sensitive Person http://amzn.to/2eFwvVc

Rising Strong http://amzn.to/2uMvkK5

On YouTube –

StyleLikeU with Melinda Alexander http://bit.ly/2uNgm6n

Gigi Young http://bit.ly/2eFnBqX

scienceandnonduality https://www.youtube.com/user/scienceandnonduality

Video on the cerebrospinal fluid http://bit.ly/2tAGNg7

NY Times article on the liver https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/12/health/liver-bodily-function.html

Original Beans chocolate http://originalbeans.com

Ambitious Kitchen Paleo Chocolate Chunk cookies http://bit.ly/2ump5LP

Ambitious Kitchen Tahini Brownies http://bit.ly/2vxlsBB

 

Musique –

  1. Gorje Hewek – De Erweckens Bruderschaft
  2. Luke & Sio Blackwidow – Yum Yum (From P60 Magic vocal)
  3. Vanessa Daou – Love is War (Timewriter’s Love is Peace Mix)
  4. Funk D’Void – Homage (obsessed obsessed obsessed with this one)
  5. Blaze – Lovelee Dae (a an absolute CLASSIC house track from the late 90s I was recently reminded of – it’s timeless)

Available streaming elsewhere –

Wayne Shorter http://bit.ly/2tR4MD2

Cosima – Un-Named https://soundcloud.com/cos1ma/un-named

KiNK – Strings http://bit.ly/2un948F

 

Other videos I referenced –

The Line Up // Face Masks + Exfoliators http://bit.ly/2uNAJ32

Summer Beauty Recommendations http://bit.ly/2uNddDu

The Line Up // Highlighters http://bit.ly/2vNo6Cy

A Guide to Crystals http://bit.ly/2tr1VkH

How to develop intuition http://bit.ly/2tRnkmI

Dr. Mauro Zappaterra on Cerebrospinal Fluid, Medium of the Spirit

june 24, 107 | by: mercedes | filed under: spirituality

I’m watching this fascinating video on YouTube and had to share. I recently subscribed to the channel this is on, scienceandnonduality and they seem to upload really energy-progressive and conscious content. Lately I’ve found myself more and more awestruck by the ineffable beauty and mystery of both the human body, and all of life in general really. I posted about this article on the NY Times last week about how amazingly (and underappreciated) our livers are. Learning about cerebrospinal fluid and its role in our evolution as conscious beings elicited similar tears welling up, and a deep appreciation for my/the physical body.

Co-authored blog post/article on Savoir Faire Beauty

june 22, 2017 | by: mercedes | filed under: ethos reflections

Just a quick post to direct you (if you’re interested) to a blog post I wrote with Dr. Shanesha Brooks-Tatum on the in-process transformation of the “green beauty” movement from activist/grassroots to mainstream/luxury on her website, Savoir Faire Beauty. Shanesha and I connected through my channel last year and as two social scientists with a deep interest in alternative/beauty, we decided to collaborate on some research pursuits in this space. Stay tuned for more!

From Grassroots Counterculture to Mainstream Luxury: What’s Happening to Green Beauty?

 

In other news – I know I still haven’t uploaded the playlist from my last favorites video so that will be forthcoming, as well as a Patreon announcement, and some revamps to this site. I am building a “Shop” page where I can link you to all my hall of fame products, both beauty and lifestyle.

Is it the weekend yet?

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