 Hey guys, it's Monica. I am going to share with you a couple of things this week that I received, a gift that I got, and at the very end of this clip, I'm going to insert sort of like a vlog type clip that I had done for Instagram, sort of my Instagram story. Jay and I on Saturday had gone down to Massachusetts to meet for the very first time our brand new, new addition to the family, newborn, a little CJ. He was born and we couldn't go down to visit him because I had a cold and I certainly didn't want to do anything that would, you know, potentially get him sick. So we went down yesterday. We had a great time. We went to Massachusetts. We went to the Burlington Mall afterwards. I went to Sephora. I actually got color matched in Macy's for Estilada Double Wear. So I got color matched and they gave me a sample. So I didn't buy it, but I did get color matched and it was very, it was interesting to see the color that they matched me for. It always is interesting to see that for sure. So I think I'm going to like it, but I haven't really, really used it. So I'm going to insert those clips at the end so you can see and you can kind of just share a little bit of that a couple of days of my life, my vlog. But before I do that, I do want to talk to you about this handbag that I received. Now, a couple of months ago, I received an offer to review a handbag. Kind of allows the know. I'm probably not pronouncing that correct. They had reached out to me and asked if I would take a look at this subscription bag and I said, absolutely. So they sent me a bag and I reviewed it and it's kind of very interesting because they also sent a very similar product, not exactly the same, to Natalie the beauty diva and Natalie reviewed it. So I'm going to link her video in my video so you can see the earlier reviews on the bag. Well, I just got another one in the mail and I was totally, totally surprised and I took a really good look at this bag and I was like so super impressed. And then I looked at a little bit more information on the company and that's really what I want to share with you. I want to share with you the bag that I got, which for a working woman, this is awesome. I have a iPad and I have a 13 inch MacBook Pro. That is my personal computer. Sometimes that I have a work computer. So when I go to work, I have a 15 inch MacBook Pro, which usually gets locked up in the office. I don't always bring it home. Sometimes I do bring it home, but I have a separate bag for it. So sometimes during the day, I just want to grab my own laptop or my own iPad and a few incidentals. I don't want to lug a big bag or you don't need to have a big bag. So this is absolutely perfect. It's leather, it's got two big pockets on the outside and that you can put things in and inside it is, you can hold your business card, you can hold your phone, you can hold several pens, then it has a zippered compartment where you could certainly put in, you know, if you wanted to carry your money, your wallet, or any makeup items. But the really cool thing is when I first looked at this, I said, oh, that's awesome, because I'm always looking for something to carry my iPad in. I said, this would be a perfect bag for my iPad, perfect bag. Then I realized, let me just check my MacBook Pro and I went and I stuck, got my MacBook Pro, 13 inch MacBook Pro and I love this. And I went right inside. I can close the zipper. I don't know if my office 15 inch computer would fit in here, although there is plenty of room on the side. I don't know that's in the office, but for my 13 inch, it slides right in here snug, it's not snug, but nice and secure. I'd have plenty of room in there for my power cord, for my iPhone power cord and anything else. I was absolutely thrilled to receive this because this to me is a perfect, perfect work sort of smaller, you know, brief, you know, how you used to have a briefcase and some people still have a briefcase or a big tote bag smaller, big enough to hold what I need to bring in. And as a real estate professional, that means that I can carry some real estate tools and things that I need to work in that sense and not be bulked down with a heavy, heavy bag. But if you wanted to carry still a small purse style bag, you could certainly do that. The company is BOLZANO Balonzo. And in this subscription, what they did is they sent some jewelry. They sent this and their jewelry pieces are really pretty. So this is a necklace sort of a choker style in the sense that it drops down and then has two little round discs for earrings. And I think they're very pretty, very stylish. And then, of course, they have some other purse companions, other subscription services that you can take advantage of. So the thing that really impressed me, aside from the quality of the bag, is the story of the brand. And the story of this brand is really, really touching. But this is the story of how this brand evolved. The designer of BOLZANO was born in South Florida. And now I'm going to read her words. I started my career as an entrepreneur owning a business in duty-free retail with my mother. I traveled extensively to grow the business and worked with many high-end international brands. In doing so, I found that there was a need for bags that suited the busy, on-the-go, business woman. My entrepreneurial skills would soon kick in and drive me to begin designing my own line of practical handbags. Later, I realized the drive was just half the inspiration that would eventually bring BOLZANO to life in 2001. The story is amazing. I hope you're still with me. The first collection was delivered about a month after her first child Sophia was born, which at the time made things, as you can imagine, being a new mom, having a new business. But at the time, it made things a bit crazy. Today, she says, I see it as the simultaneous birth of, is a testament that the two would forever be linked. Sophia is now a 15-year-old fashionista, and she loves, loves fashion and design. No one knows for sure if the bags I was driven to sketch during my pregnancy influenced my design passionate daughter in the womb or maybe it was the fact that Sophia was already influencing my designs. She goes on to say, the birth of Sophia would change me and my family forever. No one expected her to be born with Down syndrome. After all, I was still in my 20s. The first few months were extremely difficult. There was serious health concerns to address and an overall sense of uncertainty as to what the future might hold. Eventually, after many months of worry, I finally decided to take some valuable advice that a doctor provided when she saw that I was inconsolable upon receiving the definitive blood work results. She said, remove the label and just raise her like a normal child who may need some help in certain areas. Remove the label. We could all learn so much from that. We really could. Anyways, back to this. She goes on to say that my new found courage would ultimately help me take multitasking to a whole new level, attending therapies, running a business by day and designing new bags by night. The bags had to now handle a busy professional mom who needed business cards in one pocket and baby supplies in another. My family was extremely supportive. My husband and I alternated attending therapies. The family would soon grow to include our son Oliver. With multiple children, the right size bag became even more important. I would escort both children to classes each morning with school bags draped over one arm and my latest Balonzo photo type in the other, trying to determine whether the straps sit firmly as I juggle kids in their own items. The Balonzo brand has evolved over time and as a result of my experience, first as a traveling business woman and then later as a mom who like most tries to juggle life situations. Those situations have made me demand more of the items I designed and consider the needs of the women facing similar circumstances. Sophia, who is now a fashion savvy teen, actively participates and gives input. She brings a new and youthful energy. Her fashion sense became apparent at a very early age and she began sketching alongside me before she was even 10. This is an amazing story. I'm going to close this picture somehow. I hope you guys can see it. When I read that, and of course having, you know, talking about a child with Down syndrome, it just really touched me. And I can imagine the struggle that must have been for sure. And I have to give her 100% credit for, throughout all of the obstacles, being able to remove the label, take the advice of that doctor and create a company and create handbags and work with her daughter. Her daughter who now helps design. I just think it's a fascinating, fascinating story. So I am absolutely loving this bag. I hope you all take a moment, check out her website, consider the subscription. It's amazing. You don't know what you'll get, obviously. And so far, the two bags I've gotten have been absolutely beautiful. The last time I got a scarf, this time I have a little bit of a piece of jewelry. I have a little sample. They also offer different types of purse companions. So there's a whole bunch of different things that you can do. So if you like surprises, subscription bags, and you like fashion, you might like that. So let me just tell you, this is not a sponsored video. I am not being paid for saying that. This, however, was sent to me free in return for a opinion. And I'm giving you my honest opinion. I really do think this bag and this company, very inspiring story, very inspiring story. The other thing I wanted to say that this was sent to me via the Octoly Network and I had already done a review on these, or a first look on these brushes, the Shania Bee, Shania Bee Miami. And these brushes were something that I had requested via Octoly and the company was kind enough to send to me. In my last video, one of my last videos, I did a first look at them and I said, I would let you know how I really like them. They sent me three brushes. Now this one is a little bit dirty because I've been using it today. Actually, I've been using all three today, but I haven't cleaned it. So this one is a crease brush and it is... Now, I'll be the first to tell you that I'm not into brushes. You know, I don't know a whole lot about brushes. I have several brushes that I bought and then I have several brushes that I got free in my boxy charm. To say I'm not a brush snob, but after using this, I think I'm going to be a brush snob. The difference between trying to do my crease with this finer brush, it's dense yet fine, firm yet soft. I don't even know how to explain it, but it gave me so much control over my crease that it made applying my eye shadow really nice. And then they had a blending brush, you know? So the blending brush is obviously a little bit more fluffy and they had a shading. So I could, you know, put more of the shadow down with this brush. These are the three brushes that were sent to me and I'll link the information below. I really do like these brushes a lot and I am surprised at the difference the right brush can actually make when you apply, especially when you're trying to do a crease work. So this has been huge, a huge, I love it. So Shania Bee, Miami, Shana Bee, Miami, wonderful brushes. The other thing is I was actually gifted and this was a total shock to me. A total shock to me. I had no idea this was coming in, but this is the Huda Beauty mob obsessions. And I haven't won my eyes. So I've been playing with them. I haven't won my eyes. Check these out. I will tell you, and I don't know if all the Huda Beauty palettes are the same consistency or the same ease of application, but this Huda Beauty palette, and this is the mob obsessions. I'm obsessed with it. I truly am. I really, really, really love this palette and I was so thrilled when I got it in the mail. It was like amazing when I saw it. I couldn't believe it. Number one is an early birthday gift, but I couldn't believe when I got it. So when I first got it, Jay had sent to me, he had showed me this box. You're going to see it now. And he said to me, so what did you buy in Sephora? And I'm like, he's texting back and forth. And I'm like, I didn't buy anything in Sephora. I couldn't remember buying anything in Sephora. I'm like, oh, I didn't buy anything in Sephora. He says, well, there's this big Sephora box sitting here right next to a big orange box, which I knew we were getting the Florida oranges from a friend, but I wasn't expecting anything from Sephora because it hadn't bought anything. So when I got home later that night, I opened it up and it was the Huda palette and there was a number of little samples. You know how they throw the samples in. And I was like, I couldn't believe it. I really couldn't believe it. And this was actually sent to me from Sheila, Life with Lily. I'm going to link her channel below. And it's a rare occasion in life that you can actually meet someone that you may not have actually met in real life yet, but you can have conversations with them and that you just feel a deep, deep, deep abiding connection. And Sheila is one of those people. When I first met Sheila, she was a subscriber. She didn't have a channel at the very beginning. And then, and she was very supportive subscriber as many of my subscribers are, you know, that you guys are so awesome. But she was always there on my videos. She was always giving me a thumbs up. She was always leading. She was a cheerleader. And then she started her own channel and her own channel. It's a mixture. Lily's her dog, by the way, but her own channel is a mixture. She does talk about makeup and healthcare items and health and general because she's had some health scares that she's shared on her channel. And her channel is just a lovely channel. She is a lovely, lovely woman and I'm blessed to have her in my life. And I just can't believe that she sent me this. So it's a rare that you meet people online. And I am truly blessed that in this mature community that I have met some people that I can truly, truly, truly call my friend, friends, people that I can't wait to meet in real life because they are true friends. So, and Sheila's one of them. So thank you, Sheila. This is amazing. I love it. I can't wait to share with you all the different looks I create with these awesome, awesome brushes. And now because everyone always asks, I decided I would make it easy on myself and bring my lipstick in on my lips. Number 665 Lust for Blush. This is Maybelline and this is a matte lipstick. And I really like it. Yeah, I put it on and it gives me some color. It gives my lips some color. I do have to reapply. It is long lasting. It isn't anything that's going to stay on my lips and all of that stuff. But I do, I like it a lot. The next thing I have on my lips, for those of you that will ask, is Hot Candy number 401. This is a plumping serum. But I don't really use it as a plumping serum. I just use it as a little bit of a gloss touch up. And I do buy a lot of the hard candy glosses. Buxom is my ultimate top notch gloss. I love my Buxom lip glosses. But the Hot Candy drugstore, I think it's a great alternative and I really, I really love every hot candy lip gloss I've got. Again, I'm not using it for the plumping factor, but just to have a little bit of a lip gloss and a little bit of shine on my lips. So now stay tuned. Hopefully this isn't too long. I'm going to show you a clip of Jay and I going down to meet little CJ and just a little bit of our adventure. And at the very end, you'll see I did get a new iPhone. So I'm so bad. I'm so bad. So if you're new to my channel, before you head on out, please give me a thumbs up. Please subscribe. I would truly appreciate it. And I hope to see you on my next video. Now stay tuned for my vlog. Saturday guys, getting ready to head out. Well, not really heading out, but heading out soon because we're going down to Massachusetts, heading over to my niece's place, going to meet maybe CJ for the very first time. I'm like super excited about that. And then we're probably, we're going to most likely go and go to the mall, the Burlington mall and Sephora and we're just going to have a husband and wife afternoon. So I said to Jay a little bit ago, I said, are you, did you reluctantly agree to go with me? Cause you know, sometimes guys, you know, he just shot a video for his channel and he was editing it and he goes, no, absolutely. He says, I can't wait to meet my grandnephew, my husband rocks. And he says, of course I can't wait to take you to Sephora. I said, okay, sure. At least. So I just put some of my Lumify eye drops in. I do think it makes me look more awake. So now we get to figure out where we're going. I mean, put the address in the GPS because I've never been to her new house. Off we go. He has to have his sports talk on. Well, it was a question that I wanted to hear. And what was the question? It's discussing over time. Over time. Football playoffs. Football playoffs. Yeah. So I mean, I, I want my interest to think. So I turned the volume down. He turns it up because it's like a football thing. So we're on the road. Go Patriots, right? I didn't even notice my hat. Let me see your hat. What kind of hat is that? TB12. What's that mean? Tom Brady. Oh, he's got it. Where'd you get that hat? And hold it out on me. Got it on Facebook. You got it on Facebook? Saw it on the Facebook. You saw it on the face. You ordered it on the internet off the Facebook? Off the Facebook. It's kind of cute. Do they have it in pink? No, I don't know. I did like the color. I just like, I like the logo. I like his logo. So that's why I bought it. I'll have to show it to you up close. It was only 20 bucks. It's not bad for a hat. Yeah, I mean, 15 is about, you know, what I think they should be. He loves his sports. So you can tell you're in New England when you have to have your iced coffee. So I don't even know how cold it is, but it's pretty darn cold out and Jay had to stop and get us each an iced coffee. Most people with coffee or hot chocolate or hot tea, but nope. Nope. If you're a New Englander, you got to have your ice. You got to have your iced coffee. Yep. And we drove about 40 minutes or so, 45 minutes or so to go meet little CJ and he was absolutely adorable. He slept almost the entire time we were there. And he's just so precious. I just wanted to take him home. Of course, here we are, Mr. and Mrs. Patriots, gearing up. And then I got color matched at Macy's at the Estee Laude Counter and Jay filmed this. So it was a lot of fun. And the interesting thing is that the sales clerk told me that my color at Estee Laude Double Wear was Kevo, which I guess is a really cool shade, you know, with a little rosy undertone. So I didn't buy it, but that's what she said my color match was. And this was just me playing in Sephora, playing around. And then Apple. Look what I got. We are literally closing the store. I think we are the last customers in here. Jay's trying to set up his phone. Thank you.