bailey bee

beauty, home and lifestyle blog

The VERB Ghost Haircare Line

The VERB ghost haircare line

Before we get chatty over all things hair products, I wanted to mention that I received these items courtesy of VERB over the past few months. Although they did send them to me, I chose to receive these items specifically and as always, the below opinions are my own.

I’ve been a fan of VERB hair care since my college years. The low price point sucked me in but my love for the brand has only grown through the years. My go-to lines are typically the hydrating and sea salt ones but it’s no secret that the Ghost line is by-far their most popular. I’ve gotten a chance to try most of the Ghost line, minus their most popular within– Ghost Oil. The products I am reviewing today are their Ghost shampoo and conditioner, Ghost Prep, Ghost Hair Mask and Ghost Dry Oil.

If we categorized hair the same way we do skin, I would be “normal” (not dry, oily or combo.) I don’t have any particular hair needs so I have not needed intense hydration before but figured it couldn’t hurt. Now that I have tried the Ghost shampoo and conditioner, I’ve now tried all three lines of cleansers by VERB. My favorite is still the regular ole hydrating line. I don’t feel that I get any crazy differences using the Ghost line. As for the Ghost Hair Mask, the same applies. I don’t feel like my hair has been masked when I wash this product out. If it were to come down to deciding whether to purchase or not, I’d say pass. Unfortunately, I’m not super impressed with the in-shower side of this line however…

I love the styling products! The Ghost Prep is my favorite product for holding down my wild, wild hair after I sleep in it overnight. I have a bad habit of sleeping in completely soaking wet hair… it’s pretty wild looking when I wake up. Plus, my baby hairs randomly thinned out a couple of months ago and I have been working to grow them back out ever since. I love using this stuff to slick everything back in a tight, chic bun. And when I want to wear my hair down and curled? The Ghost Dry Oil is great for sprucing up some old, overgrown hair and giving it the sheen it needs. It also keeps things sleek while allowing curled hair to maintain bounce.

To recommend some prods out of this line would be to recommend the styling prods. They’re definitely my favorite of the bunch and the ones I think you all should try as well. With the current Sephora sale happening this week, why not? VERB is nice and affordable but have the quality ingredients and chic marketing that can keep up with the fanciest of brands.

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My 2019 Sephora VIB Sale Picks pt. 2

My Sephora VIB sale 2019 picks

I did a round-up of my favorite products from Sephora when they had their last sale in May. Although my favorites haven’t much changed, I wanted to shoot this your way with a couple of updates as the fall VIB Sale begins NEXT WEEK (Monday for VIB Rouge, Tuesday for VIB and Beauty Insiders)

My two additions to my round-up are NARS lipsticks and Drunk Elephant’s Virgin Marula Luxury Facial Oil. As for the rest of the products, let me do a bit of quoting from my last post…

I rarely wear foundation but when I do, it is the Fenty Beauty Pro Filt’r Foundation. I wear 120 but really am more likely a match for 110. This is a matte, semi-sheer coverage foundation that dries down quickly and stays put throughout the day. This works wonders for my combination skin and I love that my freckles can still shine through when I’m wearing this.


In the same vein of Fenty, my favorite eyeliner currently is the Fenty Beauty Flyliner. It is a deep, dark black that doesn’t flake off and the pointed tip of the applicator actually stays pointy (unlike my old favorite, the Stila Stay All Day liquid liner). It continues to be super saturated and applies beautifully even with a bit of age.


The YSL Touche Eclat All-Over Brightening pen is a very bougie option, I understand, but it is incredible. This pen provides the right amount of coverage while not making the application area look cakey at ALL. I use this under the eyes to cover darkness, around the nose to cover redness and on blemishes as well. I feel really fancy when I click the bottom of the pen to dispense the product. It’s worth the splurge for that alone..
 heh. But really, you have 15% off, why not?!


I have begun using the Anastasia Beverly Hills clear brow gel for things other than my eyebrows. This stuff is liquid concrete for your brows and lately I have been utilizing it as a hardcore gel for my baby hairs whenever I wear a power pony. It slicks them back and they do. not. move. Love this stuff 4ever.


If you aren’t a gloss person, you’ll enjoy the Bite Beauty French Press lip glosses because they are the perfect formula for us “non-glossers”. The formula is really slick and plush so you won’t feel like your hair is getting stuck all over your lips. The French Press range has a great nude for every skin tone, too. It’s hard to go wrong with a nude gloss.


Next up is my tried and true Tarte Amazonian Clay highlighter in ‘Exposed’. This is the ideal powder highlight because it contains no base pigment and gives a perfectly natural, glossy glow. I use this every single time that I do my makeup and somehow I haven’t hit pan. Talk about a good value!


The mascara that unseated my favorite of MANY years (the Maybelline Colossal) is the Hourglass Caution mascara. This stuff is a rich, dark black and separates the lashes while simultaneously lengthening. It doesn’t flake off during the day but comes off easily with remover at night.

As for the newbies,

NARS recently reformulated their lipsticks and there really is no truer OG lipstick than a NARS lipstick. The formulas are comfortable and the pigment is never lacking. May I suggest Dolce Vita? It’s been my fave for years.

Also, Drunk Elephant’s Virgin Marula Oil has been my skin savior lately. It was briefly touched on in my recent Drunk Elephant post. I got a facial a couple of weeks ago and the esthetician told me my skin was very dehydrated. This was and is shocking to me because I am an avid moisturizer! She told me to try out a facial oil as it would penetrate deeper into the skin and provide more hydration than your typical facial moisturizer. I like to think that adding this heightened level of moisture has allowed my breakout to dissipate.

Let me know below what you’re thinking of picking up during the VIB Sale! I’m focusing on the more expensive things on my wishlist that can only be found at Sephora. Ulta has way, way better coupons on a much more frequent schedule so buying the other, cheaper things I want down the road shouldn’t be a problem. I’m trying to be a responsible shopper!

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Battle of the Purple Eyeshadows

Makeup Geek Curfew and ColourPop Sleeper eyeshadows

Purple is a fun color to wear on the eyes because it can provide depth without deepening a look too dramatically. Purple is also supposed to be the “best” eyeshadow color to pair with my green eyes. It was because of that reason that I, once upon a time, purchased Makeup Geek’s ‘Curfew’ eyeshadow single.

Since that “once upon a time” I have hardly used ‘Curfew’ as it didn’t lend itself enough to my looks that needed that “depth but not deepening” effect. Curfew is fairly light and doesn’t pack much of a punch.

on-arm swatches of Makeup Geek Curfew and ColourPop Sleeper eyeshadows

I didn’t realize what I was missing out on until I decided to purchase ColourPop’s pressed pigment in ‘Sleeper’. Just LOOK at the difference between the two products! Although Sleeper has a leg up on Curfew as it is a pigment and thus, far more pigmented, the two are pressed into the same component and are used the exact same way. It is because of this that I judge them equally as well!

So, in the hunt for the best purple eyeshadow, I found ‘Sleeper’. If you’re looking for a bomb pop of color that isn’t all that scary, I highly recommend this shade of purp. I have a handful of other hues of purple that you can check out in my eyeshadow collection, too.

Wedding Wednesday: Save-the-Dates

front and back of our save-the-date

Back in April, I worked with Basic Invite to design my save-the-dates for our wedding. The service I received from them and the quality of their products were so impressive. I was messing around in Photoshop when I landed on the idea I wanted to execute for our wedding papergoods. I got to utilize the ‘create your own’ option with Basic Invite because of this being my own design.

In addition to the MANY incredible designs they have, Basic Invite also allows you to upload your own design to have printed on any of their different paper options.

Save-the-date with the fonts used
The two fonts I used on the front of our save-the-date were Brittany Signature and Courier.

This design was very simplistic in nature. I found two different typefaces that I liked and downloaded a brush set of differing paint strokes. I threw them all together on this card that has a postcard backing on it. This allowed us to save on postage as postcards only cost $0.35 to send versus your traditional letter that now costs $0.55 (!!!)

In addition to the print from Basic Invite, I also purchased these clear calendar stickers from a bullet journaling seller on Etsy that I customized to match the serif font from the front of the save-the-date. I took a gold gel pen and circled the date of our wedding as an acknowledgment that yes, our wedding will be on a SUNDAY. This is not a typo! This not only served a very practical purpose for planning but also filled up space on the backside of the piece so I didn’t have to write a corny message in place of it.

I finished the cards off with the cuter of the two postcard stamp options available at the post office— these coral reef stamps. The other option were seashells and I wanted to give off as few “coastal” vibes as I could as our wedding is going to be the COMPLETE opposite of coastal.

My OCD is happy I decided to design these myself. Doing so allows me to design all of the paper goods for our wedding with the same style and font choices. If you’re like me and have a design eye, I recommend utilizing Basic Invite’s ‘create your own’ avenue. If you don’t, you should definitely check out the designs they’ve created themselves because there are so many beautiful choices. I plan to use Basic Invite for our invitations, menus and place cards/escort cards. More posts coming in the future!

Head over to my Wedding Wednesday tag to read all or use this navigation to pop to a certain subject:

VENUE | PHOTO| SAVE-THE-DATES 1 | BRIDESMAIDS | DRESS

Shop My Home: Living

It’s not much, but our tiny cube in Raleigh is home for now. I made some design switch-ups when we first moved in but the current layout and design of our living space is likely what we’ll keep until we move out in the spring.

Today I’m sharing links to everything!

Wall art: Target

Couch: IKEA Kalstad with the ‘Coal Herringbone’ couch cover from Comfort Works

Black and white pillow (left): West Elm

Black and white pillow (right): CB2

Blanket: West Elm

Coffee table: Target

Accent chair: Target

Rug: Wayfair

White pillows: CB2

Side Table: Target

Floor lamp: Target

Media console: Wayfair

Oliver’s toy basket: Target

Planter: Anthropologie

Desk: Wayfair

Desk chair: World Market

Mirror: Target

That is everything! I’ve included it all in the shopping widget below as well. If you have any questions about any of the knick-knacks, let me know in the comments below.

If you’d like to read up on some of my other home content, click here!

Freebies (+ Other Goodies!) You Can Get on Your Birthday

I outed myself as freebie queen on Instagram a couple of birthdays ago with this post. Ever since then people have mentioned it to me all throughout the year telling me I was a genius although it feels so normal to me. I’ve been doing this for years and it seems like a no-brainer! Free things are my favorite. My birthday is today (!!!), which makes me a summer baby. I never had to go to school on my birthday and as an adult, I’ve always taken off of work to relax and indulge. This free time has allowed me to bop around all day and take advantage of the below list of generous retailers.

Due to the popularity of that Instagram post even two years after-the–fact, I wanted to share a full compilation of the deals I was able to nab this year. If I didn’t physically get this freebie I at least had the coupon in my email and just chose not to. Many “birthday freebie” lists online are out of date and I wanted to be sure I was sending through up-to-date information as of the time of this post. Please note that you will likely need to prep for all of this well before your birthday by signing up for mailing lists and downloading reward apps. It’s more than worth the 10 minutes it’ll take to do all of that– trust me!

my free birthday drink from starbucks
My free birthday drink go-to.. a venti double shot espresso frappuccino light! 2019 edition

Anthropologie: 20% off one item (in the mail)

Auntie Ann’s: free pretzel (app)

Baskin Robbins: free scoop (app)

Ben & Jerry’s: free scoop + $3 off an ice cream cake (email)

Coldstone: BOGO cups of ice cream (sign up here)

Dairy Queen: free blizzard (email)

Dunkin’ Donuts: free drink (app)

Firehouse Subs: free sub (email)

Kendra Scott: 50% off any piece! In the past, I’ve just had to show my license to get this deal in-store but it seems you now have to sign up for their list here.

Moe’s Southwest Grill: free burrito (app)

P.F. Changs: free appetizer or dessert (email)

Potbelly: Free cookie (app)

Sephora: free gift (through rewards, in-store or online)

Sprinkles Cupcake: free cupcake (email)

South Moon Under: 20% off one item (email)

Starbucks: free drink or food item (app)

Target: 5% off in-store purchase (through TargetCircle, app)

World Market: 15% off purchase (email)

Washington, DC area:

&pizza: free! pizza! ($13.75 value – app)

Please, please let me know if you know of any other awesome birthday freebies! I know there are some out there but they aren’t necessarily at places I frequent often and therefore, haven’t tested their freebie out for myself (so I can’t speak to the validity of the offer.) That being said, I’d love to hear what y’all have gotten and the comments below can be a continuation of the list that I started here. Enjoy!

Sacrificing One Dream for Another

Hey, hey, hey.. today I’m doing a deep-dive into what’s been happening in my life so far in 2019. If you didn’t know, me and my fiancé moved to Raleigh, North Carolina from the DC area at the end of 2018. We are both from the Virginia suburbs up there and wanted to make a change. One of the biggest motivating factors for me was being able to afford the life I have always envisoned for myself (and now us as a family). The Washington metro area is notoroiusly expensive and full of high-earners. Although I had a job and career path that truly fulfilled me, I didn’t see an opportunity to own a home where I wanted to live and potentially be able to be as hands-on of a mom that I want to be down the road.

By moving to Raleigh I was essentially giving up my career path in the Federal contracting field that I was completely passionate about. I had a perfect sightline into my future and knew exactly what I could expect for myself. I was making good money but not good enough for the area. In Raleigh, I started out unemployed as I tried to make my way into a new industry: digital marketing. I’m equally as excited about this new field but, as a period of unemployment will do to you, I am nervous that I’m making the wrong decision. Most recently I even considered moving back north but after a deep discussion remembered that we moved here for a reason and I had to find a way to push through.

I started a new job at a fantastic company but in a role that I feel I am overqualified for and am being underpaid for. This is a lesson in humility that I partially expected but not as intensely as it has been served to me. I feel nobody sees my value and that the incredible experience I built in DC over the past three years means nothing. The only thing I have to rely on is my dream down the road of owning a home, starting a family and living a more balanced life away from the craziness back ‘home’.

It is going to be a rocky road for a bit as I won’t be able to save for a home on my new salary and will be digging myself out of the debt that I have accumulated whilst being out of work but I am sincerely hoping that in a few years I will look back on my present situation and feel grateful that I didn’t give up. The sacrifice of giving up on my dream career in order to live out my other dreams in life has been a prickly pain in my heart this year– I guess I can’t go anywhere but up at this point.

I am thankful for the friends we have made in Raleigh in such a short amount of time and I am so, so excited to celebrate our marriage down here next year. When we moved I told everybody, myself included, that I was embracing Carolina as home. I never questioned it until a few weeks ago when the going got really, really tough. I believe all I need to do to get by is to get back to that mindset that this is home now. Once I embrace it again I think everything will get a little bit easier every day.

I used to love that quote “if your dreams don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough” but now I have a bit of disdain for it because I am terrified right now and hearing that doesn’t make me feel better. But again– I think in hindsight, this era of my life will shine much brigher than it currently is.

That’s what has been happening with me. I hope to one day be able to take Bailey Bee full-time and THAT is my true dream in my new life. Until then, you can catch me plugging away at my new 8-to-5.

Drunk Elephant: The Littles 3.0

the full Drunk Elephant: The Littles 3.0 line-up

I’m so excited to share my thoughts with you all on the most recent ‘The Littles’ grouping by Drunk Elephant. Priced at $90, this is a solid starting spot if you’re hoping to splurge on a DE product but want to make sure you’re making a sound investment first. Before we begin, I must state that I received these products courtesy of Drunk Elephant. That being said, as always, the below opinions are entirely unbiased and my own!

The Littles 3.0 contains the following:

Let me start with my favorites of the group.. Protini, for which I have raved about in the past, as well as C-Tango. I ran through a full-sized Protini earlier this year and the only reason I didn’t repurchase was because of the price (I was out of work for the first half of this year and was trying to spend responsibly) but rest assured, I still love this stuff! It is nice and thick but doesn’t make you feel weighed down. It also absorbs well, which I think is something I sometimes can take for granted! Speaking of thick, the C-Tango eye cream is soOo luxurious and moisturizing. This was on my “potential buy” list as I am planning my next eye cream purchase. It has now become a “definite next buy” in my book!

The bigger disappointments in the group were C-Firma and Umbra Tinte.

As for C-Firma, I’m seemingly not a fan. I had a full sized version of it a few months ago from a holiday set but never got around to using because I still have a decent amount of my Ole Henriksen Truth Serum left. I ended up selling my C-Firma on Poshmark as it was brand new and thank goodness I did! This is one STICKY product and I dooooo not like it. Honestly, I feel like I may have a wonky formula in mine because I can’t imagine people using this product regularly. It’s sticky and heavy on the skin and I now realize how great my Ole is!

Another dud for me was the Umbra Tinte sunscreen. Although there is a sheer version of this product, The Littles 3.0 included the tinted variety that is far too dark for my skin tone. I let my fiancé use it once or twice but just threw it away after that— such a waste! I think this tinted version should at least come in three shades; including, at a minimum, a lighter and deeper option. Can’t speak much to the sun protection as I didn’t try this on myself.

I used up all of the Beste Jelly Cleanser and it acted as a nice cleanser option. Nothing in particular to rave nor rant about on it. Additionally, B-Hydra is a product that I have tried a sample of in the past and am indifferent on. It’s a very lightweight “serum” that I don’t hate but also don’t love. It absorbs quickly but I don’t feel it moisturizes enough for me to recommend it highly. Lastly, I have been pairing the Virgin Marula Oil with the T.L.C. Framboos Glycolic Serum (as advised to do by the directions that come with the kit) and I’ve had good results. My first time trying out T.L.C. Framboos was great because it erased all of the texture on my forehead but this go-around wasn’t as drastic. I assume it is still doing good work– just nothing that really stood out to me.

I am SO happy I was able to try out the Drunk Elephant “The Littles 3.0” kit because I’m such a huge of DE’s products and am always wanting to buy new things by them. Getting a kit like this is a great way to dip your toe in before buying the more expensive full-sized counterparts to your faves.

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