Are Millennial's the Anti Family Generation?

In this day in age, it seems as Millennial's are waiting longer and longer to get married, settled down and start a family. The older generations seems to be in awe of these decisions, however in todays crazy world, who would want to bring an innocent child to it? With random shootings happening all around us, the fear of war, and all the terror that surrounds us, I would't want to expose an innocent child to this. It seems like most Millennial's are in tune with this. They rather focus on themselves, their wants, their needs, and their careers rather than in a relationship that will more than likely not last.

I for one can say that I am no where near wanting a family. I did at one point, but not anymore. When I was in my last relationship, I saw a future with my partner, a family and marriage were what I once wanted. Now having been single for over a year, I can honestly say that is the furthest thing from my mind. I am now more focused on my career and my personal goals as well as establishing travel plans in the near future. At this point in my life, the focus is on me and what I want to create in my life. I love that I have no one to worry about but myself and my dogs. I will admit, I do feel like they hold me down in a way sometimes because I can't take them everywhere, but at least they aren't actual children. I do not feel the pressure of society to get married and have a child because to me, those things just don't matter to me anymore. I would much rather live a happy life without regrets. I already have God Children and little Niece's and Nephew's if I ever feel baby fever or the need to spoil the young, I know who to turn to.

How do you feel about Millennial's waiting longer and longer to settle down?

The "Red Bottom" Craze

Oh, the beautifully infamous, long lusted after, Christian Louboutin "Red Bottoms"! A statement piece on their own with their unique, stand-out red, classy and stylish soles. The red bottoms are not only a fashion statement but a statement of wealth and status. A simple, classy stiletto, like the one below, will cost you $700. The prices on my go up from there as the shoes get more artistic, the prices get increasingly higher.

We all remember those fabulous shoes (see below) that Christina Aguilera wore on the film Burlesque which were given to her by one of the club's VIP. Those beautiful masterpieces are worth $2,000! Needless to say, Christian Louboutin's fabulous fashion designs are only made for the wealthy or perhaps those with expensive taste in shoes. Most consumers aren't looking to spend more than $100 on the high end for a pair of shoes. 

Christina Aguilera's Shoes in Burlesque

While some of these shoes are remarkable, unless you are going to many fancy dinner parties and red carpet events like Christina Aguilera, then you probably wouldn't get much use for them. As for some of their other designs, like their classic stilettos, boots and flats, you can find many options that you can wear on a regular basis, it all depends on what you are looking for. If you are like many consumers, you are probably not looking to fork out more than $100 on shoes. However, if you are a female entrepreneur looking to make a statement, the "red bottom" is always one way to turn heads. 

So my questions to you today are; How much have you ever spent on a pair of shoes? How much would you ever spend? How much do you think is too much? 

LipSense for the Holidays

The holiday season is finally here and that means that most of us will be busy with holiday parties, shopping and family gatherings. This year I want to make sure that my makeup will last me through my long days, so I decided to do some research. Upon my research, I came across SeneGence Cosmetics, you might remember the name as their popular lip product LipSense was all the craze on social media not too long ago.


What is special about LipSense is that it is an impermeable and waterproof, lip color that lasts up to 18hrs. This phenomenal product not only protects your lips as it hydrates them, but it is also smudge proof and kiss proof.  LipSence comes in a variety of colors and the best way I've heard someone describe it was "it's like nail polish for your lips".

What I love the most about LipSense is that I can make my own color combination by mixing colors and glosses. By simply mixing 3 colors in differnt order, you can create 27 different colors depending on the way you layer them.


Take a look at the photo below to see the fun math I like to call LipSense Math.





When I was first introduced to the product, I was invited to a "Lip n' Sip" party where we got to test out the colors we liked while we sipped on some wine. I highly recommend you get your hands on as soon as possible. You will definitely thank me later. Oh, and while you are at it, check out the rest of their makeup. Their eyeshadow ShadowSense is a creme to powder formula that lasts as long LipSense. One cool thing you can even do is use ShadowSense on your lips, you just simply seal the color with the gloss just like the LipSense.

So what are you waiting for? Go find a consultant near you!

Going Mirrorless

A few months ago, Nikon finally announced it's long overdue release of their mirrorless cameras. You can say they are pretty late in the game as Sony was the first to revolutionize the industry with their launch of reasonably prized mirrorless cameras back in 2013. Leica, of course, was the first to release this kind of technology with the release of the Leica M (rangefinder camera) in 2004 but that came with a nice price tag of $5,000.

Being a professional photographer, I have always loved the feel, weight and sturdiness of my Nikon DSLR camera. I do however own a Sony a6000 that was gifted to me and I absolutely love because it is light, compact and easy to carry, unlike my bulky, heavy DSLR. Due to my physical ailments, I have been thinking of transitioning my gear to mirrorless so when Nikon announced the release of their new mirrorless line, you can imagine my excitement. 

I decided to go to my favorite website by Ken Rockwell to see his reviews as always has the best, non-biased comparisons in my opinion. It gave a very thorough comparison between Nikon, Sony and Canon mirrorless systems. I then decided to go to one of my other favorite sites, DP Review to see what they had to say about the Nikon Z7 full frame mirrorless camera. I like that they gave it an 89% rating which is only a 1% difference from the Sony a7RIII which I was leaning towards. I am still not ready to make a decision on such a big purchase though. I would like to get my hands on both of these cameras first before I can make an informative decision on which to choose. I have always been a Nikon fan, however, I feel that Sony is ahead of the game and they have more options on lenses as well. 

If you had to make a choice today, which one would you choose today and why?

Online Shopping, An Introverts Heaven

Have you ever bought something online? Do you by chance remember your first purchase? I never would have thought then that the invention of online shopping would evolve to what it has today.  I love that I can order anything I want from groceries to clothes without ever leaving my home.
In essence, online shopping is not only convenient, and time-saving but it is also an introvert's heaven.

Marketers are always analyzing our behaviors and attitudes as consumers to know how to persuade and manipulate us into buying their products. While eBay was the first platform to begin selling, Amazon had a different strategy and it quickly took over the market.

Amazon has been very successful at marketing to introverts with the way they implemented online shopping. Amazon has capitalized on their target audience by expanding their services. At first, they only sold products, and they offered prime membership which gave you free shipping. Shortly after, they started offering movies like Netflix and music like Pandora. Now they have the option to order groceries and have them delivered to your door within a few hours. Another great option I love from them is their subscribe and save, for items that you use on a regular basis.

Online shopping has made life so much easier. With technology at our fingertips and the convenience of not having to deal with crowds, introverts can now spend more time in their happy place.

Marketing Through Our Perceptions

Have you ever seen the photo above? What is the first thing you see? A young lady looking away or an older lady? It may depend on the perception on how you view yourself. For some, it may be easier to see a younger woman looking away while for others it may take some time to see. Have you ever really sat down to think just how much our perceptions play into our actions, thoughts and emotions? Have you ever realized that these are the things that research marketers focus on in order to adequately market to us as consumers?

There are 3 Stages that Marketers use to target our Perception. 

   1. Exposure   2. Attention   3. Interpretation

By targeting our emotions and selling us on an experience, rather than just a product, marketers are more likely to be successful at getting their message across to us the consumers, which often times works better. People enjoy being sold on a feeling, an emotion or an experience rather than just a product itself. Think about it! Have you thought about the slogans that marketers use lately to target an audience such as the ever popular

 "Hungry? Grab a Snicker. You're not you when you are hungry." 

When we are sold on a feeling rather than a product itself, it plays into our senses as human beings and it is what makes marketing more successful. Tying marketing into our perceptions through exposure to a product, getting our attention through different platforms and engaging our interpretations.

The Beauty Industry & How It Influences Our Self Esteem

The beauty industry has a major influence on our society, especially female consumers. Starting from a very young age, we are surrounded by images of beautiful women everywhere we turn, from magazines, billboards, television and online. Everywhere we turn, we are surrounded by an ideal of "beauty" and "perfection" especially now with the use of social media platforms.

With social media being such a prevalent medium at our disposal these days, marketers of the beauty industry now have the ability to impact consumers at an even younger age now. Have you recently stopped to pay attention to what the new generation is being exposed to on a regular basis now? I can honestly say that what our youth are exposed to nowadays is vastly different than what I was exposed to when I was growing up in the nineties and I still found myself comparing what I saw in the mirror to what I saw in the magazines and on television.

If you were a young girl who found yourself comparing herself to the beautiful girls in the magazines and never feeling like you were pretty enough, skinny enough, tall enough, can you only imagine growing up in today's social media craze? A simple five minute Instagram scroll nowadays can leave any teenage girl feeling inadequate when she is comparing herself to celebrities that have gone under the knife to look the way that they do. Or perhaps have had the help of Photoshop or a pound of makeup.

Today's billion-dollar beauty empire industry thrives on selling consumers the products that will make them feel better about themselves. They are selling us on our own selfish needs, wants and tendencies. With social media and society being the way that it is today, this world is the most narcissistic it has ever been which is what is driving the beauty industry forward.

In order for us to want to buy something, we have it tied to a feeling, which in this case it's our self-esteem. We want to feel good about ourselves but in reality, we don't need anything outside of ourselves to feel good. What do you think of the way the billion-dollar beauty industry manipulates our self-esteem?




Just for fun...

Take a look at these links I found.


The Perfect Body According to Men and Women:
http://time.com/65901/how-men-and-women-differ-when-drawing-up-the-perfect-body/


What Barbie Would Look Like in Real Life:
https://www.babble.com/beauty/what-would-barbie-look-like-in-real-life-a-new-study-in-comparison-by-artist-nickolay-lamm/