Elle Varner: Perfectly Imperfect! Album Review

I first heard Elle Varner on my very favorite radio station, 106 KMEL. They were playing her first single, "Only Wanna Give it to You" featuring J. Cole. The song made me so happy for a number of reasons: First, J. Cole is my favorite rapper. Second, the song was SO catchy! Third, Elle Varner has this amazing raspy voice that I immediately fell in love with.

So I youtube'd her, listened to a few more songs by her, then downloaded her mixtape Conversational Lush. It's free on DatPiff, if you are interested. The mixtape was pretty good. Her voice was lovely as always, but it was NOTHING compared to Perfectly Imperfect. The lyrics were a little lacking. My favorite songs on the mixtape are "WTF," "Feel Like a Woman," and "So Fly." I could see she had some serious potential.

She is so promising, in fact, that Teen Vogue featured her! I think she is so beautiful.

Perfectly Imperfect is such a great album mostly because of how uncannily relatable it is. Of course, I am also in love her voice. She has that kind of voice that makes me really wish I could sing. As an added bonus, ALL of the songs on the album were written by her, which makes her more respectable than most artists these days...

Here's the track listing:
1. “Only Wanna Give It to You” feat. J. Cole
2. “Refill”
3. “Sound Proof Room”
4. “I Don’t Care”
5. “Not Tonight”
6. “Leaf”
7. “Oh What a Night”
8. “Stop the Clock”
9. “Welcome Home”
10. “Damn Good Friends”
11. “So Fly”

The first track I have already talked about. It's a perfect choice for a first single, if you ask me. It's cliche enough to get people to listen, but different enough to keep their attention. "Refill" is the second single, and it REALLY makes me wish I could sing. "I Don't Care" is a gorgeous song about falling in love, which is a recurring theme throughout the album.

"Not Tonight" is one of those crazy relatable songs in this album. It's a heart-wrenching ballad about not being able to tell the one you love about how you feel.

"Oh What a Night" is not particularly a creative or powerful song, but it shows Elle Varner's sense of humor. She makes it very clear that she is just like all the other women (and men!) listening to her album. You can tell she is very down to earth.

"Damn Good Friends" is probably my favorite song on the album. You can FEEL the emotion in her voice. It's about the heartbreak of being in love with a good friend. I think we can all relate.

Finally, "So Fly" is another song that showcases her sense of humor along with giving a positive message to all us insecure ladies. It ends with a message about superficial beauty...

So I decided I'm
The definition of fly
And if you want to know why
I know what money can't buy
Don't go believing the hype
There's no runway in the sky
And no way you could be fly
Not if it costs you a dime.

Favorite tracks: 1, 2, 3, 4... oh forget it. Buy the album! You won't regret it.

Revlon Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain

It's a balm! It's a stain! It's Revlon Kissable Balm Stain!

I saw this product on someone's blog. I forget whose blog it was, but they were comparing these to the Clinique Chubby Sticks and they said that the Revlon ones were almost as good and even better in some aspects.

The Revlon Balm Stains are cheaper than the Clinique Chubby sticks ($7-$10 vs $16) so I thought I would give them a try.

This was selling for $8.99 at Rite-Aid, but there was a BOGO get 50% off deal.

Anyways, this comes in a pretty package. The color is called "Sweetheart." The lip stain looks like a crayon, as you can see; it even writes like a crayon on paper. I was immediately excited, as I tend to be when I buy new stuff. When I bought this, I expected it to be a orange toned pink, but it was actually more of a fuchsia color.

It's balmy and has a pleasant minty smell. Because it's a balm, it leaves a nice moisturized sheen on your lips. It's very pigmented, so if you're looking for a more natural look make sure to put lots of lip balm on first. I've found that it makes the color a lot less harsh.
 

 

Here's the balm on my lips. It looked a LOT brighter than the kind of lip color I'm used to. It is a bright fuchsia. It's the kind of dramatic lip color you can wear without any other makeup. 

The Revlon Balm Stain lasted for the rest of the day, and was even there the next morning! It's really the most ridiculously amazing staying power I have ever encountered in a tinted lip balm. It's not as moisturizing as I would have liked it to be, but overall I really like it. Because it's so bright, it can really be the only makeup I wear. It makes for a fun 1-step makeup look!

I highly recommend this product. It's super pigmented and stays all day. It's not quite moisturizing enough to be a lip balm, so you also need to moisturize your lips, but it is very moisturizing compared to other lip stains which tend to dry your lips out.

I will definitely be picking up some more colors next week!