I'm on Alltop!

Hi everyone!
I'm so excited to announce to you ladies that my little blog has been included in the Beauty Channel of Alltop.com!

If you don't know about alltop, it's a very cool site that aggregates tonnes of blog by content. So if you go to the Fashion Channel, you see stories from a bunch of different fashion blogs/sites, if you go to the Beauty Channel, you'll see stories from a bunch of sites including mine!

And the best part is, I get to put badges like these on my site:

Could this site be any cooler?

These are a few of my favourite looks

Hi ladies,

Hope my Toronto ladies are enjoying the gorgeous weather while it lasts....cuz you know it's not going to last long.

So I have good news! Will it Work for Me has been accepted into the Essence Network! This is exciting as I'm now in the company of many great bloggers. Check it out and find some interesting blogs to add to your list of reads.

Which reminds me: thanks so much to all of you who read my blog regularly. I look at my site traffic daily and I'm astounded that my little blog that two months ago had only my sister and McKinley as readers is now building up its own following. I feel a little like Sally Field "you like me! you really like me!"

Please keep coming back and let me know if there's anything you'd like to see.

Also a shout-out to Kim over at A Life of Style who dropped by recently. Love your blog too girl!

Anyway, on to today's post....a few of my favourite looks. I thought I'd post a few of what I consider to be my best looks ever and see what you guys think. Seems a little egotistical of me though, doesn't it? Well looking at pictures is always fun - tha'ts why Facebook is so popular, right?

So without further ado, I give you the best of max fabulous!

The first picture is at my friend Mansa's birthday party...that's her in the pink. I did a Rihanna-inspired look - black eyeliner all around and hot pink lips. Pretty hot for a Wednesday night lol.

The next one is from my pre-32nd birthday party. I had a goldish-burgundy theme with both my nails and my eyeshadow. The polish is Revlon but I can't remember the name of the colour, and the shadow is Color du Jour by Lancome and that gold Shiseido Hydropowder.

As you may have guessed, the first picture is my favourite picture of me ever. I use it as my profile picture for everything! This look was copied from Christina Milian - hair and makeup. The shadow is actually this crappy silver Rimmel colour mixed with black Smashbox cream liner to look grey and the lipcolour is MAC Sweetie topped with a L'Oreal lip gloss called Pink Panther - it was LE when the movie came out and I loved it so much I bought like 3 of them.

The next one is my second favourite picture of myself. I got my makeup done by this fabulous lady named Ninia Nation - obviously she's very talented and also super nice. But I never saw her again. I heard she has/had a shop in College Park here in Toronto but I'm not sure...I have to find her because honestly this is the best I've ever looked in my life!

First one was my actual 32nd birthday. Makeup is nothing special but I love my hair here. As you can see, I used to be a weaveaholic - and boy do I miss those days. Don't get me wrong having a weave is a PITA but I think I looked so much prettier in those days...these days my hair stays in a ponytail all the time - see the next picture.

Oh I love these two pictures...the first one is with my friend Jemeni - and boy do I wish I could remember what the HELL I did to my hair that day because it looks amazing (if I do say so myself)! The eyeshadow is again that crappy Rimmel silver and Lancome The New Black.

On the right is my first Mansa-pic - we were at this hip hop party called The B-Boy Document (it was great). Shadow colour is again the gold Shiseido Hydropowder and Lancome The New Black.

So what do you ladies think? Any recos for me??

Product Review: Maybelline Colossal Volum'Express Mascara in Glam Black

Hi girls!
Thanks to the lovely ladies over at Chick Advisor's Product Review Club, I received this bad boy in the mail yesterday. I was anxiously awaiting this and couldn't wait to review it. Although I doubt anything can compare to the wonderfulness that is Lancôme Hypnôse, I wanted a mascara that was a little more low-key for my Monday to Friday look. This one definitely fits the bill.


Here's the rundown, Clumps of Mascara-style:

Price: 5 out of 5 (because it was free. I think it retails for around $7 which is very reasonable)

Packaging/Brush Wand: 4 out of 5




the package it came in - isn't it cute?










the wand






Overall: 3.5 out of 5 (It would have been 4 out of 5 but I took half a point off for not delivering on the 9x volume claim)

What it claims: "Creates 9X the volume, instantly."

The truth: It’s a good overall mascara - delivers solid lengthening and adds an acceptable amount of volume, but isn't outstanding in either.

What I loved about it: The definition and length are definitely there. It is rich and black and even after several coasts it doesn't weigh down the lashes. Volume-wise it was acceptable - but I don't think it lives up to the 9x claim. Although the brush was huge, it was surprisingly un-messy and did a good job on the little tiny lashes at the inside corners of my eyes.

What I didn't like: The wand is pretty dry coming out of the tube. I felt like I couldn't get enough product. I really wanted to pump it but we all know that's a big no-no.

Overall: I’m impressed but I’m not overwhelmed. It's a good mascara but there isn't anything so spectacular about it. the best thing about it is the price I think. It gives big results for the price point.

Would I recommend it: Definitley. One of the better drugstore mascaras I've tried. The wiwfm verdict is yes on this.

Here's some pics of the transition....please don't mind how disastrous I look in some of them lol

my naked, un-primed lashes curled with my crap-tastic lash curler.

with one coat of primer









One coat of mascara









two coats






The finished look:




don't mind my grandma hair. I was trying something that clearly did not work.

coming soon....

hi ladies!
just wanted to drop you a quick post so you don't think i've returned to my old non-blogging ways.
although the weather is perfect for blogging (i.e. monsoons and chilly temperatures lol) work is CRAZY this week.
but i do have some cool posts coming up on...

Bio-Oil (finally broke down and bought it)
more Cheap but Goodies
a new mascara
some lip balms - which is something I've never blogged about before!
also I'll review a cute spa I found here in Toronto
and an OPI nail polish I recently bought and fell in love with.

I'm also still hoping for more "Ask Max" submissions - send me some questions or my feelings will be hurt.

you'll here from me soon (and thanks for reading!)
max

my first "ask max" post - koffee dyme

Hi everyone!

I was so excited to see a reply to my "ask max" post - thanks Koffee Dyme for reading and participating. Hope you see you back soon.

She asked me "lets see... if you were to paint the face (make-up wise of course lol) what colors would you go for?"
I didn't want to post her picture on here without her permission, so check out her site for her pics (and great info!).

Koffee Dyme I have a few different ideas for you:

My first thought when I saw your picture was that you should do great big bold colour. You have beautiful strong features and great hair so you definitely have the stature to pull of bold looks. I'm seeing beautiful bright teals like these great colours from Urban Decay (they have the best colours in my opinion)

Goddess - midnight blue with electric blue sparkle

Mildew - shimmery metallic green

Shattered - bright iridescent aquamarine

Or Cargo's Aegan

I also can see you in regal purples like these (also all UD)

Flash - bright iridescent purple

Last call - iridescent plummy purple

And pretty pinks like

Kiss - reddish mauve with silver glitter

and Hotpants - medium pink shimmer

So that was my first idea. But then I let it marinate for a while and I started imagining your face (but not in a stalkery way) and what I saw was gorgeous earthy tones like these:

Roach - reddish brown with golden sheen

Toasted - a muted copper shimmer

Smog - deep coppery bronze

and Cargo's Nepal - one of my all-time favourite colours.

But actually now that I think about it, you know what would be hot? If you did a surf-and-turf type look with the greens and the earth tones - like Smog & Shattered or Aegan & Nepal! That would be FIRE.

The last vision I had for you is pretty simple: just black eyeliner smudged on your upper and lower lids with a pretty pinkish lipstick like MAC's Sweetie. If you wanted to get really fancy you could go over the liner with one of those "fancy" black shadows like Lancôme's The New Black:


or UD's Oil Slick

And of course don't forget that with all this colour you NEED a primer like Urban Decay's Primer Potion!

Hope you enjoyed your reco Koffee Dyme. If you try any of these let me know how it went.

my daily look

hi lovelies!

check me out with all the posts, eh? told ya'll i would try my hardest to do better.

so the other day as i was rushing off to work it dawned on me to take a picture of myself so you could see my daily work look (and then take one when i got home to see how beat up i look after a day of work lol) so i snapped a quick one.

it's kinda dark but i wanted to give you a rundown of my daily routine for summer work days. it's simple and relatively quick but still fun.

prep:
-wash my face with Aveeno Clear Complexion Daily Cleanser

-tone with witch hazel or apple cider vinegar - this particular day was acv, undiluted cuz i'm gangsta like that

-curl lashes with a Tweezerman lash curler (it sucks, don't buy this, spend the extra money for a good one) heated with hot water

-MAC Matte applied to whole face

face:
-on the back of my hand i mix a pea-sized amount of olay age defying daily renewal lotion with a tiny drop of revlon skinlights instant skin brightener in gold light (this might be discontinued, but any highlighter would do) and a pea-sized amount of maybelline pure makeup foundation in caramel (equal to or slightly larger than the drop of moisturizer)

-wet a foundation brush (i use a crappy Quo one and you have to wet it for it to work decently at all) and then use it to blend together the mixture. i apply it to my face starting at my cheeks (because that's where i want/need the most coverage), blending outward, then apply to the rest of my face from the centre outward.

-MAC Studio Finish Concealer in NC50 on my upper lip and underneath my eyes and also anywhere else i may need coverage.


eyes:

-Urban Decay Primer Potion on my lids

-fill in my brows with an Annabelle eye pencil in dark brown, which i blend out with a MAC angle brush

-line my inner upper eyelids with a black eye pencil by Rimmel. try really hard to keep my eyes open so it doesn't smudge onto my lower waterline - this almost never works so i clean it up with a Q-tip.

-i rotate between two eye shadows - a gold Milani eye shadow (I think it's Antique Gold) or MAC Expensive Pink. choosing the colour is completely random...i wear whichever i feel like that particular day.

-one coat of Ardell Lash Growth Accelerator as a primer - the only thing it's good for

-two thin coats of Lancôme Hypnôse


cheeks:
-sweep the bronzer from Lorac's Hot Flash blush/bronzer duo on cheeks, temples, across forehead, and the bridge of my nose with a fan brush

-MAC Sheertone Shimmer blush in Breezy or Ambering Rose - usually it's Breezy but this particular day it was Ambering Rose


then i curl my lashes again with the curler heated with hot water. seems like the extra step is unnecessary but it really makes my lashes stay curled all day.


set the whole thing with MAC Blot Powder in Dark.


and that's it! it seems like a lot but the whole thing takes less than 10 minutes and it's a really pretty natural summer look. you could skip the eyeliner - i just do it to make my lashes more pronounced when i wear my frigging horrible glasses. it's now my go-to summer look when i just want to look polished and not like i loaded my face down with stuff.


what do ya'll think? critique me ladies but please be gentle ;)

a new feature - ask max

hi ladies,
so i was telling my friend pam the other day that what i really wanted to do is to set up a booth on queen street with a big sign that said "ask me about your look". then i could gently make suggestions to people about one thing they could do to improve their look. not in a mean janice dickinson kind of way, just people who wanted help from a (semi-)normal person about what they could do to improve the way they look. and pam goes - how about you do that with your blog?

i told you i was slow sometimes, right?

so the new feature is called ask max. send me a picture at willitworkforme@gmail.com and ask me something about your look. i wll give you ideas, advice, and always compliments - either privately or here on the blog.

if you don't have a question, make one up okay, otherwise my feelings will be hurt

happy birthday poo!

i have to wish my little sister marshie-poo a very happy birthday!

ladies if you haven't already you should check out her blogs: Superblackgirl Speaks and Big Brother 10 recap - Real Talk on Reality TV. she's a great writer - better than i - but she sucks even more than i do at keeping her blogs updated lol.

in her defense though, she's really busy. anyway, in tribute to my marshie-poo, here's some pics of us over the years...well the years since digital cameras were invented anyway.

have a great day marsh! loves you.

cheap but good

hi ladies,

ya'll know i suck right?

it's been a million years since i posted in here and i apologize. my excuses are the same as always - it's really busy at work and the weather has been too nice to be inside typing. i was also getting a little um...action for a while there, which had me a bit distracted. but that's done now and i'm channeling my energy into my one true love - beauty.

sidebar: i'm trying out an all lower-case post today. let me know if you find it irritating and i promise to never do it again.

so those of you who know me personally know i am pretty much always broke-ass. i used to have a soul-sucking job that paid well, but i gave it up for a job i love that pays...not shit, but not enough money to support the bigger bucks that i had when i was working at my other job. my rent and my car suck up about 80% of my paycheque, but i can't get rid of them for reasons too complicated to get into here.

the point is, this year i've really had to scale back on my beauty expenditures. it saddens me to say i no longer hang out in the beauty boutique at my local shopper's drug mart. i've had to find ways to look fabulous on a budget and today i bring you "cheap but good", the best of my finds so far.

first on the agenda is st.ives peel-off hydroxy masque.

it contains a hydroxy complex designed to remove dead skin clear out all the "yuck" (i.e. impurities) beneath the surface of your skin. this stuff is the business, i'm telling you. you spread it across your face (tip: use a thick-ish layer or you'll have real trouble peeling it off), wait for it to dry completely, and then peel off. i don't know about you guys, but peeling off masques is really fun to me.
when i use this i notice a difference in my skin's texture right away, it's refined, feels deeply clean, and looks glowy. i can't remember how much i paid for this, but it was definitely less than five bucks so how can you go wrong?

the only caveat i would offer is that this stuff STINKS. and it makes your eyes sting a bit. nothing earth-shattering, but mildly annoying. but a small price to pay if you ask me.

the wiwfm verdict on this is yes!

next up is clean & clear oil absorbing sheets.


this is an oldie but goodie - i'm sure you're all very familiar with this product. i actually have a slightly different version than the one pictured - mine is in a green package and i think it has like a "fresh scent" of some kind. no matter. the point is that these little sheets suck up oil like i don't know what. i go everywhere with them and actually prefer using them to powder as i feel like it gives me a more natural look - i don't like my skin to be too matte.

only problem is, i feel like i can't do this in front of people. it's one thing to discreetly powder your nose in public, but pulling out a blotting sheet (or 2 - i need more than one to mop up my oil slick of a face) in front of friends just seems far too intimate.

anyway, i've used many different brands of oil absorbing sheets but i keep coming back to these ones because they're cheap and they work. i'd rather spend my money on something more exciting. verdict of oh yes on this one!

one last for today, but cheap but good is definitely going to become a wiwfm series.

tresemme thermal creations heat tamer spray. i ♥ tresemme.
every product i've used of theirs was dirt cheap, smelled amazing, and worked like a charm. this stuff is no exception. since i stopped relaxing my hair two or three years ago, it's a lot healthier but also a lot more fragile. i rely on my flat iron to get the pin-straight look i like, but i have to protect it from the heat. and that's where this jewel of a product comes in. i just spritz it over my hair in sections and comb through my fingers before i flatiron. it smells lovely - reminds me of apple juice.

the funny thing about protective sprays is that for a long time i was like "how do i know it's working?" until it dawned on me - because you're hair's not damaged you dummy! i swear, sometimes i'm so slow lol.

anyway, this stuff is less than three bucks at shoppers! and my canadian ladies knows that sdm stays overpriced so if it's dirt cheap there it must be free at wal-mart! i'll never go back to using any other spray to protect my hair. the wiwfm verdict on this is yes yes yes!