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Hello, everyone. Welcome back.
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Thank you so, so much for joining me.
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What I want to do today is I want
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to take off my makeup, first of all.
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But I just want to sit here and chat
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about some brands that I really feel like,
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and it's quite sad for some brands, that I really feel
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are just gripping on by the skin of their teeth.
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Is that what you say?
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Hanging on by a thread.
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That I just think just
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need to get up, sell up if they can.
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Doesn't mean they don't have good products, but the direction
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their brand is going in needs a whole redo.
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It needs a whole, whole rethink, you know?
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So that's what I want to talk about today.
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And I am going to start taking off my makeup
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because I just want to get this off my face.
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I know I keep saying I don't
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feel well, but it's still happening.
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It's still happening. So if my voice starts to go
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or something like that, I do apologize.
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I'll try and cut out coughing,
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sniffing as much as I can.
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Give this video a thumbs up. Leave a comment.
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If you don't know what to comment, just comment, algorithm.
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To help the algorithm.
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And if you haven't already, go ahead and
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subscribe to my reaction channel, my commentary channel,
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whatever you want to call it. It's a fun time.
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It's a fun time over there.
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I'm just starting off by using
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the Typology Bi-Phase makeup remover.
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I just like to hold makeup removers on my lids
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for a while just to soften up the eye makeup.
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So the first brand I want to talk
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to you about today is The Balm.
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Can you believe The Balm is
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still around in some places?
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They launched way back in 2004.
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And I remember them.
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I remember seeing them in, like, drugstores
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and other stores and, you know, they
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would have, like, cheeky packagings and
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cheeky names like, remember Meet Matt(e) Hughes?
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And it was a matte palette with matte
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hues in, but it had some guy who,
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I'm assuming his name was Matt Hughes.
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You know, you get it.
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But my God, do you forget this brand exists? Right.
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Has anyone just listened to me say The Balm and
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been like, oh, my God, I remember The Balm.
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Perhaps you had one of their highlighters or something.
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I can't speak to their quality of products so much, but
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I have used their highlighter and it was, it was nice.
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It was nice.
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My issue really is with this brand is the way
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they just haven't evolved at all in any way.
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Like pretty much from way back then.
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They are still very much doing the same thing.
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And actually, I had a look on their website. Oh, my God.
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Their brand is expensive.
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It is overpriced, in my opinion,
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especially with what we have.
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Like, this palette I found is $32 for six
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shades, a six shade eyeshadow palette for $32.
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From this brand that really everyone's forgetting about.
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Like, come on.
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And I think the theming of the packaging, again, is,
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is, like, quite severely outdated.
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But I think we're over that whole,
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like, kitsch, like, 50s housewife situation.
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You know what I mean?
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I'm just removing the oil.
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The oil makeup remover from my face
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with the Bioderma Micellar Water, and I'll
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actually go around my eyes again with,
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with some makeup remover.
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That like, vintage packaging theme is so outdated.
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But you know who does this really well
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in a way that doesn't make their products
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look like a free gift with purchase?
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The brand Vacation.
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Have you heard of Vacation?
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They do sunscreens, and they
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just do sunscreens, actually.
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But lip balms and lip oils, it's SPF focused.
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Their packaging is that 70s, 60s/70s nostalgia
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of being on a holiday with your family
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or being on a vacation way back, you know?
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You get this retro vibe from them, but it's adult.
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It's adult feeling.
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And I actually bought some of their
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stuff because I'm like, you know what? I love it.
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I love that nostalgia with that brand.
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And with that theming.
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I'm gonna use the TIRTIR Hydro Boost Enzyme Cleansing Balm.
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I just give myself a little face
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massage and get all this product off.
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And you feel like you're using a
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product for adults, not for kids.
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I think that's what it is again.
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It's that whole benefit-esque.
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Like, it looks like unbranded makeup that you
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would get in, like, a gift shop.
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Let me know your feelings about The Balm.
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Do you remember them?
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Do you, are you aware of their existence?
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Okay, next brand I want to talk about is Stila.
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I love this brand.
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I love, love, love this brand. Their products,
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when I use their products, so beautiful.
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Such good quality product.
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I'm gonna go with... my reasoning
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for this is not catching up. Right?
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So I feel like, for example, if you go to
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their website and you go to, like, what's new.
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Nothing is very... it's not,
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there's nothing like that's
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a trending product or something that you've
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ever heard of or not current.
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And as much as I hate it
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when every brand makes everything the same.
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And I might even do a video on that too.
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I just feel like in this day and age
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that the stage we are with makeup.
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It is important to keep your brand alive.
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It's important to be on trend to keep your brand alive.
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Just one or two products, it doesn't
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have to be like the whole thing.
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They are in Sephora from when I'm recording this.
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But I do wonder how long that would last.
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Cause I feel like for a lot of
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people, of course, they'll be the odd few.
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It's not the go-to brand for something.
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I do feel like it's one of those brands
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that you need to see in real life to
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appreciate because their products are so stunning.
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And I think this might even be a marketing situation.
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They don't market themselves very well, if at all.
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But also on their socials, their, like,
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their interaction on socials is pretty awful.
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For example, this post, they were doing a giveaway.
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They have 3.3 million followers and they have
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like a thousand something from doing this comment.
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They can't even give away their new stuff.
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A thousand comments is a lot,
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but for 3 million followers.
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Okay, let's talk about Illamasqua.
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Love Illamasqua, another brand that I adore.
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But listen, I can be realistic.
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I can be real.
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Illamasqua...
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I'm gonna, I will wash my face with another face wash after this.
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I think they're extremely underrated.
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Illamasqua are extremely, extremely underrated.
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I actually asked quite a while ago now
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on Instagram, what brands do you think are
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going downhill and just need to give up?
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And so many of you said, Illamasqua.
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I like, I couldn't believe it.
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I actually didn't even know that
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many people knew about Illamasqua.
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The brand when they first opened, right.
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Represented artistry to me.
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They were incredible.
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So when they opened in Selfridges years and
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years and years ago, I can't remember, I'll
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put the year on the screen.
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I was working for MAC, which was, at
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the time, the busiest MAC counter in the world.
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And then Times Square opened.
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Not in the same year, much after.
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And I remember seeing this new counter be built right?
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And I was like, people were saying, you
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know, oh, it's quite artsy.
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It's gonna be like a really, it's going to
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be really heavy competition for all these other brands.
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And I remember when they opened, when I saw the
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staff who worked on that counter, their visuals at the
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time, they were done by Alex Box, who is an
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incredible, incredible makeup artist and creative person in general.
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I was so jealous.
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I was like, that's where I went to work.
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That's where I want to be.
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Everyone looks so unique, and at the
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time, they had, like, video appointments, so
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they would film your appointments for you.
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They were, like, the ultimate in makeup artistry.
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And for them to be filming these appointments, this
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is a time before YouTube tutorials, by the way.
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So it was a very, like, unique thing to do.
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They also had that thing where they
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would do your makeup when you died.
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Do you remember that?
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Okay, so here's what I think
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may have happened with Illamasqua, right?
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They were this amazing, unique brand.
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Perhaps what some people back in the day
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may have considered weird, which weird isn't a
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bad thing, but we loved it.
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And then the whole movement of less makeup, less is more.
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That movement came in, and it was more about skincare.
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Perhaps they wanted to follow that movement and appeal
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to more people, but I feel like that brand
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really lost its way in terms of who they
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were, their identity as a brand.
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There's a lot of people who appreciate
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diversity, weirdness, all this kind of stuff.
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It's very appealing and very good for a makeup brand.
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A creative concept like makeup, to be
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a little bit strange, a little bit
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unique, a little bit more standout-ish.
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You don't want Illamasqua to turn
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into Laura Mercier, for example.
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They should have stuck with this persona of the weird
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sister, the weird brother, you know what I mean?
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Like, it was very...
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It was really good.
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It was good. Because their products,
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their products will always appeal to people.
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They have some incredible, innovative products, like their
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highlighters that literally look like a beam of
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light on your face, their bronzers that have
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that neutralizing strip down the middle.
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Stunning, stunning products.
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I would love to say to Illamasqua, be the weird one.
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Be the weirdo, be the odd one out, because that was
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your selling point, and that's what made you truly unique.
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Okay, last but not least is, I think
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I always talk about them, Nudestix, right?
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Oh. So this is a brand that bores me to death.
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Listen, I love their mattifying stick.
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Their mattifying stick thing. Beautiful. Really good.
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Really worked.
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I used them all, and now I wouldn't buy anymore.
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But let's be real.
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They release a different variation of the same thing over and
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over and over again, and it's not that exciting of a
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product that you want it in all different shades.
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Their skincare has been described
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as, okay, nothing special.
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Nothing is exciting about this brand.
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I also want to say, right, they once messaged me they
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used to send me PR, and I think I was...
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I posted something that was like, you know, thank
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you, because I say thank you to brands who
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send me PR on Instagram, and they're like, oh, we
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can't wait to see what you do with this.
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And I was like, as a
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joke, because they didn't follow me.
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I was like, okay, well, that's great.
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Follow me then.
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You know, I was being a bit sarcastic.
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I was like, if you want to see
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what I'm doing, then you should follow me. You know what I mean?
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Why aren't you following your
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influencers that you send PR to? Like, they're like,
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we can't wait to see what you do.
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How are you gonna see it if you're not following me?
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Because I'm not gonna tag you now.
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So that kind of put me off the brand a little bit anyway.
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But the brand beforehand is very boring.
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They also do this thing with, like, ambassadors,
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right, that try and push the brand out.
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The ambassadors they had, for
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example, Glamzilla was one.
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I heard she invested in the brand.
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That's not 100% true, but they had her
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on board, and then they have now
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Kevin Kodra.
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Sorry I said that wrong. Who is an amazing
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makeup artist, who, to be fair, can make cat
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sh*t look amazing on someone's face, which I found
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interesting because he's a male makeup artist.
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But I did notice, other than him, they haven't featured
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a guy on their page since June last year. Pride.
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Was it pride?
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But yet they do follow guys who are amazing at makeup,
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who I've seen use their products and then tag them.
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It's also natural makeup, and I know a lot of
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people don't like to see men in makeup because it's,
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like, such a crazy concept that something that washes off
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your face can be so outrageous on a man.
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But this is Nudestix.
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It's nude makeup.
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A male model, if you want to keep it, you
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know, how I'm assuming Nudestix wants to keep it, with
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a bit of highlighter on, a bit of bronzer on.
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You know, they can even have their face
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pressed up against a woman if you want
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to keep it, you know, more feminine.
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I think their page gives me, personally, a very,
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this isn't who I want to buy makeup
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from kind of vibe, just personal opinion.
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Okay, let me know your opinions down below.
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Are there any brands that you think are falling off.
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That you're like, you know what?
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Let go. Let go.
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Let me know down below.
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As always, thank you so much for being here
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and I will see you very, very soon. Bye.
