Tag: review

  • Women & Whiskey: My Recap (@stbenjaminbrew & @bulleitus)

    Women & Whiskey: My Recap (@stbenjaminbrew & @bulleitus)

    Recently, I had the opportunity to be invited to an event called “Women and Whiskey”

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    The event was held at South Restaurant in Philly and it was my first time there. I had heard things about the place, and it was exactly what I expected it to be. A very classic atmosphere with high quality food and great presentation in the food, drinks, and the staff.

    For the Women and Whiskey event, I attended it alone because all of my Whiskey loving friends had to work that day. 🙁 None the less, even though I don’t really like going to events alone, I thought it would be a great way for me to break out of my shy shell and speak to people and network at least with the special featured guest and others who came out to enjoy it.

    The event took place from 4p to 6pm. I arrived around 5 after battling a bit of light traffic coming from NJ. When I arrived I saw a familiar face that I knew so I sat at the bar with them the whole entire time, and lo and behold, I was also sitting next to the owner/featured guest of the night, the owner and brewer of Saint Benjamin Brewing Company, Christina Burris.

    One of the reasons that I attended the event was that I loved the name. It meant something to me, because throughout my experience within the beverage world I have noticed that there is a huge gap in the ratio of men to women within the industry in various positions in everything from the sales team to the production. It was very refreshing to me to see a female brewer who has an AMAZING product and making strides in the Philly beer scene! Can I tell you how much more motivated that made me to keep pushing in my business?!

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    Any whooo, lets get to the drinks I got to sample! 😀

    There were 3 beers that were available to sample as well as a bourbon whiskey (not by St. Benjamin). I was excited to sample everything there was to offer but I made sure not to do it on an empty stomach. I ordered the Crispy Rock Shrimp appetizer just to make sure I had something in my system. It was delicious!!! It was basically fried shrimp with tartar sauce 8.0 lol (but not really tartar sauce!!! Lol I don’t know what kind of sauce that was on it but it was tasty, I kinda want to put it on my fries and stuff.)

     

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    The First beer that I tried was suggested by Christina herself called Liaison Saison, the website describes it as A lightly hopped, dry saison with notes of peppercorn and a slight lavender finish. This floral beer appeals to saison aficionados as well as casual beer drinkers. It definitely had a floral scent to it, I could smell it before I took my first sip. The color was a light golden color and the flavor was crisp. I liked it and thought it was very smooth tasting for a beer that is 8% alcohol. The lavender added something to the overall taste that I think makes it leave a nice finish that isn’t bitter or linger longer than it needs to.

    The 2nd beer that I had was Little Peat from St. Benjamin. It was darker in color, somewhat reminiscent of a Guinness or other stout. Although, it didn’t have the stout scent to me, It smelled less malty than most stouts but still had a tart taste in the beginning but finished with a smoky taste, VERY similar to a peaty scotch whisky. I can see how this is going to be a hit in the fall and winter months for this brand.

    There was another beer that was available to try but I didn’t try it. I wanted to save room for the Bourbon. *cue happy music*

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    I was able to try the Bulleit Bourbon 10 year, of which I loooooved! It was very smooth and easy to drink. It did have a peaty (smokey) taste but it wasn’t overpowering and the after taste was very pleasant. It wasn’t bitter or sweet, it was very light finish. According to the brand – “Bulleit 10 is the brand’s selected reserve, delicious bourbon that, at 91.2 proof, is consistently smooth, russet in color, rich with oaky aromas and hints of vanilla and dried fruit with a long smoky finish.” I CERTAINLY didn’t get the 91.2 proof feeling but I guess that’s a good thing, it definitely goes down smooth.

    Overall, I had a good time, got to know some great new drinks and a new way to eat shrimp, and I may have a new spot to stop in and catch some entertainment when I’m in the city.

    To learn more about the brands I mentioned, be sure to check them out:

    Saint Benjamin

    Twitter – @stbenjaminbrew

    Instagram – @stbenjaminbrew

    Facebook – http://www.facebook.com/stbenjaminbrew

    Website – http://stbenjaminbrewing.com

    Bulleit Bourbon

    Instagram – @BulleitUS

    And be sure to follow me on Instagram – @topmodelwithbottles 🙂

  • Found a new fav Red Lipstick…and I cut My hair!!!

    Found a new fav Red Lipstick…and I cut My hair!!!

    In my never ending search for a good red lipstick, I decided to pick up a “cheap-y” brand.  And my #1 go to for a quick cheap-y is Wet N Wild.  It never fails me lol.  I decided to try one of their liquid lipsticks and I picked up a red and a pink, Cherry on Top  and Rose to the Occasion. Both of which I looooove!

    I’ve searched for other reviews online and the common complaint was that it was sticky. Well, most stains are sticky until it’s completely dry, and if you press your lips together while it’s still wet you’ll mess up the finished look. So for those reviews, I basically wrote those people off as not knowing what the hell they were talking about lol.

    I also did a hair show earlier this month and my hair was very broken and damaged to the point where the stylist suggested that I cut it, so I did and thus my new short do’! (The styles pictured are not of the original style that they stylist created. If you want to see that, click here.)

    But any who… Check out my results:

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    Cherry On Top
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    ROSE TO THE OCCASION

    I love that these colors are so pigmented! If you are like me and have 2 different colors of lips (my top lip is brown and my bottom lip is light pink) you see how you can’t tell that I have different skin colors for my lips. Most liquid lip colors don’t really work that well for women of color like me but with the amount of pigmentation in these $3 lippies has me sold.

    Just so you know, I only did one coat for each of these colors, no primer, and no lip liner. ANNND The color doesn’t BUDGE! Check out my kiss test below:

     

    There is a down side to these though. I wore each of these through an entire day and they lasted without fading or peeling etc… UNTIL I ate something that contained oil. For me it was buffalo wings on one day and a salad with italian dressing on another day. Everything else I ate, the colors lasted and I had no issue with them.

     

    So my final verdict on these lip colors is that it is a STRONG contender for the Stila lipstains and the Sephora lipstains, its VERY budget friendly especially if you dont want to spend between $12 -$25 on a lipstain

    The products mentioned in my post were purchased by me and I am not being offered any compensation for my thoughts/views on this product.

  • My Review of #TreySongz’s – “#TRIGGA” and details about his next album…

    My Review of #TreySongz’s – “#TRIGGA” and details about his next album…

    Ok, so I’ve been a fan of Trey Songz for a long time. Wanna know how long? Let’s just say loooong… yeah, I know.

    But anywho.

    Of course I made it a point to buy the newest album that came out July 1st. Soon as I bought it, snapped a flick of me and the album for the ‘gram (click here to see the pic), then proceeded to pop the cd into my car player to give it a listen.

    The 6th installment following his “Chapter 5”, Trey Songz gives us “Trigga”. The difference between this and previous albums from the singer, well theres a ton. Let’s start with the obvious, the track listing. For this album, Songz enlisted the collaborations of various artists from Justin Bieber to Juicy J, and Nicki Minaj and more. As someone who is a fan of Trey, I’ve never seen more than one or 2 features on an album. I wonder what made him pursue making this album so feature heavy. I have a few speculations such as marketing strategies to get him to a higher visible level of mainstream notoriety, but I think that’s something for another blog post…

    If you follow the previous albums of Songz, you would notice that he attempts to give you some type of vision of the love life, or lack thereof, dealings that he has experienced during the creation of an album. Everyone mentions that all he talks about is sex, how he invented it and whatnot. But what he mentions on this album is the effect that fame has on his dealings with women. From women that he links up with for a night or 2 when he’s in their city, or women that he may have began some type of minor commitment to and he details the extent of those relationships. One might say that if you go by the songs that he puts out, he’s not looking to settle down and there’s isnt a key woman in his life just yet.

    As for the sound of “TRIGGA,” Fans of R&B music have been longing for ‘real’ R&B to make a comeback. There s more of a hip hop influence on the genre and less melody/harmony going on as of late. With “Trigga”, Songz attempts to give a balance of the classic style of music that he started out with when he released “I Gotta Make it” and “Trey Day” with today’s more common blend of Hip Hop/R&B. While I will ALWAYS love Trey, I would have been happier with more of his classic R&B style than a ton of collaborations. I understand that he’s attempting to reach a broader audience with these features but I need all that “jazz” on a mixtape and not so much on an album…

    Also, I wanted to note that Trey says this is his best album yet.

    For me, I love this album, but nothing he’s put out after 2009 is topping “Ready”… so far. There’s been a bunch of singular hits on albums since then, but not a quite a solid “play all the way through album” as ‘Ready.” So, until the next release, I’m looking forward to what he has to come.

    With that here are a few of tracks that really stood out for me  as favs.

    • Cake
    • Foreign
    • Nana (of course)
    • Smartphones
    • Y.A.S.
    • Mr. Steal Your Girl

    and every bonus track on the deluxe album

    • Hard to Walk Away
    • Serial
    • Sneaky

    A little birdie told me that the bonus tracks are a sample of the next album to follow “TRIGGA”

     

    TRIGGA Deluxe Tracklist:

    1. Cake
    2. Foreign
    3. Na Na
    4. Touchin, Lovin (featuring Nicki Minaj)
    5. Disrespectful (featuring Mila J)
    6. Dead Wrong (featuring Ty Dolla $ign)
    7. All We Do
    8. Foreign Remix (featuring Justin Bieber)
    9. Late Night (featuring Juicy J)
    10. Smartphones
    11. Yes, No, Maybe
    12. Y.A.S.
    13.Change Your Mind
    14. What’s Best For You
    15. Love Around The World
    16. I Know (Can’t Get Back)
    17. Mr. Steal Your Girl

     

    “TRIGGA” in stores and online

     

    PS the next album from Trey is going to be called “TREMAINE” – just remember, you heard it here first!

     

    xoxo

    -Alean

    *My face when I heard “Mr. Steal Your Girl” lol*
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