You Have to Shop For Me

You have to shop for me. I've given Torrid too much of my money in the past month. My checkbook is going through withdrawals from lack of funds. Just a heads up to all you Torrid fans out there. Got this in my email. I had to let you ladies know!

A True Tail of a Binge Eater

(A shirt I recently bought from Torrid.com.)

Okay, it's no secret that I am trying to lose weight. I think everyone nowadays is obsessed with weight and weight loss.

When I was in my late 20's, I wanted to look like that super thin model that you see on TV commercials or in magazines. I tried every diet fad and weight loss supplement in the book. You can ask me anything about any diet or pill; the grapefruit diet, the cabbage soup diet, Weight Watchers, Relacore pills, Diet Fuel...I'm serious just ask me. The all worked too...just for a millisecond. The weight would melt right off and then the pounds would return with more than a few of its girthy buddies. I've yo-yo'd from a size 10 to a size 24; up and down repeatedly. I remember when I was a size 10, I thought I was so fat, desperately trying to reach that size six or eight. Nothing was ever good enough.

With this obsession with my diet, I adapted a new relationship with food. Food was not just calories and energy that kept my mind and body alive, it began to be my friend, staple and crutch. If I had pressing issues on my mind and no one to talk to, a piece of cake would console me. If I was in the dumps, down and out, Church's Chicken would cheer me up. I can't wait to go home and pop open the fridge. The cool breeze on my face; the condensation running off the containers inside. I'd hop on the scale and see my weight escalate each week. Depressed over the numbers, I'd run to Mickey D's for my french fry fix.

Fearful what I have become, I contacted a shrink. She diagnosed me with a binge eating disorder brought on by mild depression. What?! I'm so not depressed! Or am I? I lost myself. I lost myself in food. I didn't eat to live....I lived to eat. With this new found diagnosis and now internal health problems looming, I had to change my perspective. I have to stop being concerned about what makes society happy; what makes me sociably acceptable. I only have to accept myself and not answer to anyone else.

I will never be thin. I will always be, as society puts it, a "plus size" woman. I'm no longer trying to lose weight to conform or to be anyone else. I want to lose weight to regain my health. I want to be healthy in my mind, body and spirit. So when I see all these magazines, television specials, and statistics, I have to remind myself to love MY booty!

The Case of the Oily Face: Review of L'Oreal Go 360 Clean

(I'm not being paid by L'Oreal for review. I purchase the product myself.)

Okay, those who knows me know I am a product fiend. All those advertisements on television send out subliminal hints to my message receptors. Buy me...try me...please. As seen on TV infomercials will be the death of my wallet. Oh God...and don't let me have a conversation with my great friend, Reggae Red, a nice red wine from my favorite local winery. Red coerces me all the time to buy things I don't necessarily need or want. She does a damn good job too.

Well this time I needed a new facial cleanser. When the season changes, my face performs circus acts. Pimples disappear and reappear in seconds, like Houdini. My face becomes a slip and slide, so oily anything that comes in contact with it becomes part of a trapeze act. So while watching the television, I am introduced to a new product by L'Oreal. So while on the phone with my sister at the local super-mart, who pleads with me to try the product so I can later give her my opinion, I am stopped by the bright green bottle. (I am a very visual person.) The color reminds me of a tropical setting, so needed with all the snow and sludge that is disappearing outside. It comes with a little scrubber too. You can even attact the scrubber back to the bottle. So easy storage. I need help cleaning these pores. The whole town of Whoville could live in my little potholes. So...I buy it.

Now I am used to gel or creme cleansers, so as put some of the liquid cleanser on the scrubber and start toward my face, a little fountain of cleanser enters my mouth. UGH. That taste did not go away for awhile. I know I am not supposed to eat it, but accidents happen people. After trying to clean my mouth out from the taste, I use the cleanser. Upon first use...I like it. My face actually feels clean...stripped of all oil and residue. It actually takes off my makeup pretty well too.

After using the product for a week a peculiar thing happened, my face was so dry (even with moisturizer) that it was peeling horribly. I looked like I had vitiligo for a second. So...I had to restrict my use of 360. It is a deep cleanser, so I am going to find a gentler cleanser and use this product once or twice a week. It still does the job of cleansing, just without the unnecessary peeling.

So overall I give L'Oreal Go 360 Clean a C+. It helps clean oily skin, so I have experienced less blemishes and breakouts. But I can't use it on a regular basis because of skin dryness.

This is just my experience. Feel free to drop me a line if you know of a cleanser that helps with oil and breakouts. Also contact me if you want to do a review on any cleanser you might have used. I would love to hear from you.

Form of Art?

(Taken from March Issue of Vogue)

Ok, so I know this is old news; but this Roberto Cavalli ad in this month's issue of Vogue takes me back to this issue.

In the October issue of French Vogue, Lara Stone posed in black face. Many people found themselves in a time warp where blacks were mocked in Vaudeville and the silver screen. The dramatic coal colored skin and hulking white lips, reminds some of the old shuckin' and jivin', lazy and watermelon eating stereotypes burned in the minds of the offended. Art critics and fans of the photo immediately classified the photos as  works of art, not a statement of racism. Like other issues of race, the photos were talked about in blogs across the country then forgotten.

Although the models in Cavalli's ad are not in black face, they are covered in enough faux tanner to give the effect of darker skin, and depending on the eye, a different race. Why not use a black model to make your point? With models like Chanel Iman and Quiana Grant, surely there's not a lack of beautiful black women. Is is truly a work of art or racism in its truest form?

Welcome to Ruby Leonne 2.0

As some of you readers have noticed, my blog is new and improved. I left my last blog unkept and empty; but I promise the new Ruby Leonne 2.0 will not be neglected.

Within the next year and a half (or so), I will complete my degree in Public Relations. I want to specialize in fashion PR. So I emailed a well known fashion PR professional, Crosby Noricks of PR Couture, for some well needed advice. She told me to jump in, get my feet wet now so when I make my transition to the field I would be prepared and (hopefully) build a brand within the fashion PR field. This blog is a testament of the advice Crosby bestowed me. Thanks Crosby.

On "Nine Lives", we will discuss the ins and outs of the fashion and beauty industry. Once a week, I will showcase a new product that I will test and report my findings. (All products are purchase by myself unless indicated in the blog. So the review will be completely bias. I have to make sure I add that so the blogger police don't come after me.) I will give some "Local Love". Indiana is sprouting many local fashion designers and beauty experts. I want to do my part to increase awareness of the mark that Hoosiers make in the industry.

Photography is one of my new hobbies. So my readers will be subjected to my novice. Bear with me, please. (I should also note, all pictures are taken by me unless noted.)

I hope that you will enjoy the 2.0 version. Feel free to leave comments and voice your opinion.