Here's To The End(ish) Of A Beautiful Relationship

Clinique's nationwide search for new Insiders is completed, and my two years as a Clinique Insider are behind me. Every year for the past three years, Clinique has held a nationwide search for 20 women to review their products online at www.cliniqueinsidersclub.com. The first two years, I submitted video entries and was selected both times!

The first time I was selected, I remember getting the call from NYC on my cell phone. I was visiting my in-laws in St. Vincent, where I NEVER even turn my cell phone on because calls on my phone from down there are way expensive. But my husband was called back to work during our second week there and I didn't want to cut my stay short, so he left me there with his family and my 6 month-old son. So I had my phone charged, turned on and with me that day in case he called. I was in the car with my sister-in-law. My cell phone rang and I recognized the NYC area code. When the person on the phone told me I had been chosen, I'm sure I never screamed as loud or smiled as wide or said "awesome" as many times as I did in that car. My sister-in-law was laughing with me (and at me a little bit too, because she loves my southern, American accent which gets really strong during moments of high emotion). If you know me in the flesh or have followed my blog over the years, you know about my teenage modeling aspirations and my cosmetics worship, especially in my twenties. So that day, my dreams sort of came true.

Here's my video announcement of my win:

(More about my experience and videos after the jump.)

These two years as a Clinique Insider have been awesome. I've enjoyed the privilege of receiving loads of awesome Clinique products and have sang their praises to anybody who would listen. I especially enjoyed introducing Clinique makeup (especially Almost Makeup Mineral Powder--OMsoftanddewyG!) to brown girls in my life who never would have considered Clinique for anything other than skincare. A friend of mine actually went to a counter in her city, got a makeover and bought hundreds of dollars worth of their products based on my reviews alone. My videos have received hundreds and thousands of views on Clinique's Youtube and Facebook pages and some pretty awesome comments...except that one miserable person on Facebook who said my lips were huge and I was hideous. Fortunately, for me, I think I'm really cute and that my big mouth is responsible for much of said cuteness, so the comment just made me giggle a little bit.

I didn't enter the competition this year. I received my awesome farewell gift and letter a couple of weeks ago. Pretty soon, Clinique will debut a new group of 20 Insiders.I'm so excited for the new women and as excited to have been a part of the first two years of the program. If my karma is as good as I hope it is, I'll be working with Clinique again in some capacity in the future.

My Clinique Insider page will die when the new group is introduced. So check out my current page as long as it's up over there.

Thanks, Clinique, for EVERYTHING! It was awesome!

Here are a few of my videos from the past two years that are featured on Clinique's Youtube page. Enjoy!

Comments

[L. Michelle]

Awww this is so cool!

Your eyebrows are fierce!!!

[LaWanda]

That was a great post!!! Very bittersweet. What a great opportunity

[Homegirl Quel]

Thanks, Michelle! 90% genetic, 10% cosmetic. :)

LaWanda, thanks! It was great, and I am feeling a little sad...just a little ...that it's over. it happened right when I was settling in to being a stay at home mom and now it's over, just when my son started school full time. Wondering what's next. Enjoying myself in the meantime. :)

[Carolyn]

Very Pretty young lady. Your wear the make up well. Sorry that you will no longer be a rep. Wish you well.

[Funkidivagirl]

Fantastic! So glad that you got to live out a dream. Except for one bad comment that someone left. That's just crazy. But we never know just when and how our dreams will come into being....that is just awesome.