Day 346: The Rebel Mama Hotline – What’s Up with IG Filters?

This week I was a guest on the Rebel Mama Hotline podcast where I talked about Instagram filters. I love these ladies, their group is the one for ‘mom group’ dropouts, the badass, rebellious women out there like us. They’ve also got two books The Rebel Mama’s Handbook for (Cool) Moms and Get Your $hit Together: The Rebel Mama’s Handbook for Financially Empowered Moms. I started creating IG filters about 2 years ago using a free program from Facebook called Spark AR. I made a beauty filter called LoLo Lash, inspired by my bff, Lauren O’Neil. I drew the lashes in Procreate with Apple pencil using a face mesh rentering then created the filter in Spark AR and added skin smoothing. This filter has 2.2M impressions, 99% of them are women aged 25-35. I understand this is (prob?) the biggest demo on IG but it also goes to show who is using beauty filters the most. In this ep of The Rebel Mama Hotline, we talk about how filters can create unrealistic beauty standards especially when the filter drastically changes your face shape. People are now going to beauty clinics with a filtered image of themselves saying ‘can you make me look more like this?’. I have a filter on this post from Day 341 and deff thought about how botox or filler could enhance my face to make it more like this ‘pretty’ filter. One of my filters that is just the smoothing effect bumped way up (Smooth AF) has almost 400K impressions. I often use filters and other beauty filters, I like the way they look, the creativeness of them, and a lot of them hide when you look tired…or feel old. Tap the play button below to listen to a snippet of the podcast or hit play…

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Day 332: Things do not change; we change.

I was thinking that something needed to change and hey, when in stressful times, why not change your hair?! ? Change is good my friends! Added some pink to my hair with a temp colour from L’Oreal I got on Amazon. I tried this one once before but it was too pink so I decided to add some conditioner before applying and it turned out a nice, light, strawberry blonde. I don’t remember ever having roots this long but adding a temp colour was always my go-to for between colourings. I like how this makes the roots less noticeable. I reckon it will rinse out in 2-3 washes but given the certain situation, it’s gonna be much longer before I get my hair done. Today’s Covid update is that the Greater Toronto Area will remain in lockdown until the 22nd of February. I know I look tired, I am tired! I’ve been trying to get 8hrs sleep every night but it doesn’t matter how much I get, I can’t escape this tired feeling. I miss doing things and going places, seeing people, having plans. Things are getting better but it’s going to be weeks before we’re out of lockdown and months before things resemble the ‘normal’ we used to know. Feeling a bit better today but could also have a breakdown at any minute. In other news, only 38 days until the first day of spring. Things do not change; we change. Henry David Thoreau

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Day 327: The Sun is a Star

The weather this week has been so nice. I’ve gone on some great long walks. met up with Aisha on Wednesday to go for a distanced walk with her and Kermit, her cute pup. We started out a warm drink and followed the sun walking around the Junction. I swear, every time I see a friend lately, I jump and scream, hugging myself to show how much I’d hug them if it wasn’t a pandemic. The sun is a star and so are you, don’t forget it. Each day we have more minutes of daylight, and in a few weeks, we’ll have another hour. Before we know it, daylight saving time will kick in on March 14th and spring will be here close. Kermit is so cute, he’s 5 months old and has a lot of energy. The fluffy fur!

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Day 325: Sleep Goal Achieved

Yesterday I was so exhausted. After watching Y&R (as usual) from 4:30-5:30, I put on my pajamas, washed my face, and got ready for bed. Had a couple of phone chats with friends and finished S2 of BONDiNG on Netflix. Good show, it’s about a Femme Domme, a comedian, and their relationships. Got an advance copy of a new book on Kindle via NetGalley called ‘The Girls Are All So Nice Here‘. It’s a suspense thriller about two best friends and comes out on March 9th, 2021. This month I’m determined to read more books, I read heaps at the start of the Pani and fell off my reading game over the summer. I did a Peloton sleep meditation before bed last night and woke up feeling refreshed. According to my watch, I slept 9 hours & 24 minutes and my average sleep per night has increased in the past 14 days. I’ve really been loving the Calm SleepStories but decided to switch it up, I know, WILD. I used to stay up late but given the current circumstances, I figure I might as well get as many ZZZs as possible and make some new habits. I’ve been finding it harder to get up in the morning so I’m actively trying to fall asleep earlier. If I get a good 8 hours, as the days get longer, I’ll feel more like doing my morning workouts. At least, I HOPE THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS.

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Day 324: A New Look for Twitter

Something a little different today, not a story about me but about my fav social media platform. I’ve been on Twitter since 2008 and it has brought so much joy to my life, jobs, friendships, opportunity, laughs, and knowledge. It’s helped me through so many important moments in my life and career over the last decade. ILY TWITTER! This morning I received a DM from a friend at The Nest (aka Twitter HQ) about a new look for Twitter, how they’re taking an ‘art-first’ approach to the new design, and how they got there. Part of this includes a brand new font called Chirp! I was curious what this new, more raw, and artistic approach means for Canadians and got a quote from Laura Pierce, head of marketing for Twitter Canada. “Our new look emphasizes the bold range of content and conversation you find on Twitter, paired with the real and unfiltered nature of our service,” “For Canada, this is going to be reflected by not only the type of content you’re seeing from our Twitter Canada account but also, the ways we’re communicating with our partners, press and the millions of Canadians who use Twitter every day. We recognize that Twitter as a brand is complex and imperfect but also expressive, agile and ever-changing. This shows in the new look and feel.” Laura Pearce, head of marketing, Twitter Canada. If you’re interested to see what else is new on the platform, check out the Twitter Blog here. This would also be a great time to remind you to follow me on Twitter! Follow @TwitterDev

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Day 323: Elon Musk on Clubhouse

I set an alarm to wake up for this at 1am! Am I crazy? Idk but I don’t want to miss Elon Musk on Clubhouse for the first time. I hope I can get into the room before it fills up tonight! If you’re on Clubhouse you can find the Good Time Club & room details here. I love this app. Update: I woke up at 1:30 am, the room was full! It capped out at 5,000 people, then Clubhouse upped it so that the CEO of Robinhood could join, then Elon Musk interviewed him about GameStop. WILD! I listened from a secondary room that was playing the audio, it sounded like an iPhone in a Solo cup when you don’t have a speaker. Not great but it was cool to hear some of it and be ‘there’, kinda. I listened for about half an hour until falling back asleep. I was so tired on Monday, all day!

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