BOUJEE ON A BUDGET

0:15Hello everybody, welcome back to another episode of my sister's diary. I'm your Sam and I don't have my little notes with me so I can't read you the little intro that I came up with. But here I am. Basically, if you're new here, this podcast feels like you're reading your sister's diary. And that's what I'm here to do. I am your sister and you're reading my diary right now. And sometimes we read other people's diary. But today we're going to read mine. So let me give you guys a couple of things. a couple of updates, you know, about my life and reading my diary. So this weekend was kind of crazy.

0:52I decided last minute to go visit my mom and that kind of threw a wrench in my podcasting plans. So I'm doing something different this week than I originally thought I was going to do, but I think it's going to be good today. I'm going to tell you about some, well, first let me tell you, I like to save money and in today's world, that's important. So I've been on the hunt for a long time for lots of different things, lots of different products that are a dupe, I guess, essentially, of something that I love or not even a dupe, I guess, just something that's like not name brand that I still love.

1:34Does that make sense? So like here, I'm telling you, you don't need the bougie brand of everything. And I'll tell you exactly which brand to get and why I love it. And that's what we're going to do today. I'm going to tell you, I think I have like five or six of them. So that's what we're gonna do. And back to my diary. I had something written down. What was it? Oh, it's like a four hour drive to get to my mom's house. And the whole time I listened to true crime. And you know what? That was a bad idea because I haven't listened to true crime in a really long time because it started to bring me down.

2:08And don't ask me why, especially with today's world and all the horrific things that are going on the last couple of weeks, why I thought it was a good idea to listen to more horrific things. Because honestly, it put a real huge damper on my mood. And when I got to my mom's house, I was like, why am I like feeling really bummed out? And then I was like, oh, when I got home, when I got home a couple days later, and I had also listened to true crime on the way back, I kind of had this realization that that was probably why, because I had just been listening to a bunch of horrible things. So I just wanted to remind you guys, gentle reminder, like I know it's important to keep up on news, and like we can't shield ourself from everything that happens in the world, but it's okay to take a little break.

2:52If you need a little break from social media, or I mean, I plan on taking a pretty much permanent break from listening to true crime podcasts. Not that I think there's anything wrong with them. It just doesn't make me happy anymore. So I'm taking a break from those. And it's okay if you guys need that too. If you need time, take time off social media. If you want to scroll past it, that's totally up to you. You need to obviously protect your mental health and just stay safe out there, everybody. All right, let's get into these products. Today's episode might be a little bit shorter than normal because I went on like a last minute trip and I just don't have quite as much time to record, but I'm still showing up for you guys.

3:39Okay, the first thing, first thing first, my hair feels like literal straw. Like it feels like a bale of hay and the only way to combat this is like infusing moisture into my hair which is really hard to do when you're broke and I'm just kidding I'm not broke but when you don't want to drop you know a bunch of money on my hairdresser if she ever heard this would kill me but like I don't want to drop so much money on shampoo and conditioner I will I'm not gonna buy like the cheapest cheapest thing that I can find But I also don't want to buy the most expensive thing out there either. So I try to find a middle ground.

4:18And I think a lot of people look for the middle ground. So this isn't about, well, actually, maybe I will share a little shampoo and conditioner, one that I just rarely found that I've really been liking. But this one's about a hair mask. So there's a hair mask out there called Way. If you guys haven't heard of Way, it's O-A-U-I, Way. That's how you say it. They have a bunch of hair care products. And I honestly, I love them. I've used them I've tried them the way hair mask was great but it's like 60 dollars maybe not quite that much maybe like 40 actually it might I don't know it's between somewhere like 40 and 60 dollars I should have looked up the exact price but I didn't anyway I love that hair mask it's great but I can't spend that much money every single time because I have I also have thick hair I have thick long hair actually it's not as thick anymore because my hair's been falling out but anyway that doesn't matter I have lots of hair and it doesn't last me that long so I found this other hair mask on Amazon let me pull it up so I can tell you what the brand is okay now it's being slow so sorry okay it is called professional series hydrating argon argon oil mask and I'll post the link because I don't really know exactly what the brand of that is but that's what it's called and it's just like a deep conditioning condition am i okay conditioning treatment for your hair and it leaves my hair so freaking soft i also have like my hair is not pinned straight like when it air dries that has a little bit of a wave to it which also causes frizz but like my hair's not curly so i can't like embrace the curly girl hair it's just like wavy in all the wrong places so that's i'm kind of in a dilemma when my hair is less frizzy, it looks okay to air dry.

6:13But when it's frizzy, it doesn't look good to air dry. So once I get this hair mask on there, I'm good to go. And it's, it's great. So if you're looking for a good hair mask, this one is only$15. It used to be$11, which don't get me started on that. But anyway, that's a great one. Okay, let's move on to the next one. I need to follow my own advice on this one. But I used to be a person who had really, really white teeth all the time, because I like to whiten them. And I haven't been as good as keeping up on my whitening as I used to be. I'm not saying like you have to have perfectly white teeth.

6:46Honestly, it's not that big of a deal if you don't. I just personally, I like to have, I like to whiten my teeth. If you don't, fine. I don't care. Don't listen to my advice. Okay. Don't, don't buy this. But anyway, there are some, some strips like Luminex whitening strips. And they were all the craze a while ago like a bunch of influencers were using them and selling them and stuff and they do work honestly they they really do work but I I don't know what it is I just hate putting it on my teeth because they kind of fall off a little bit as you're putting like as it's sitting on there and then I can like taste the whitening gel and I just I just hate it and then when you take the strip off there's like this nasty gunk on your teeth that you have to like scrape oh it taste so, so bad.

7:33And so you know what I've been doing? I've actually been doing this. I switched to the Luminex whitening strips for a while, but I originally like way back a couple of years ago, like before I even had my first baby, I used to use, it's called opalescence, I think. Yeah. Opalescence teeth whitening gel. And it comes in like a little syringe type thing. And then I have, I actually had some, some teeth whitening trays made by a dentist because I won a giveaway one time. So, but if you don't, you can, you can buy ones that you can like mold to your teeth online, but those are what I use. I use those whitening trays and then you just like put the gel in the whitening tray and stick it in your mouth on, on your teeth.

8:15And it's, it's so much nicer than the strips because you can't taste it. It won't fall off as you're wearing them. Like you can keep doing what you normally do. And I think it works better than the strips because also it gets every single one of your teeth. It doesn't leave the teeth in the back yellow. So that's what you do. That's what I have found success doing. And also make sure you don't eat or drink anything for 30 minutes after you do your whitening. If you're like, I've tried whitening my teeth, it never works. Don't eat or drink anything, including water after you whiten your teeth, because it won't work as well.

8:55I'm telling you, I have, I've been doing this for years. I know it won't work as well. Don't eat anything for 30 seconds, 30 seconds, 30 minutes, 30 minutes after. Okay. Um, I also saw that, um, Opalescence has pre-filled trays that you can buy. I have yet to try those. I don't think I will honestly, because I like the syringes. I like that I can control how much goes in there. I can control like where it hits on my teeth and there's different percentages of, I don't know, hydrogen peroxide or something. I don't know, whatever the ingredient is in there that you can, it's carbamide peroxide. The price on these syringes is pretty comparable to what you would buy a 14-day treatment of the Luminex strips for.

9:41I think it's like 30 bucks for the syringes and like 34 bucks for a 14-day treatment with Luminex. and um that might seem comparable but let me tell you the the gel will last you so much longer I've had the same syringe I've been using for like a month and that's longer than 14 days so it will it will last you longer it will cost you the same up front but it'll last you longer okay next one um you know I wrote this one down a while ago and I think I might have changed my mind a little. This one is shampoo and conditioner and I was using Kirkland brand. It's purple and white. Like there's a purple bottle and then there's a white bottle.

10:26I can't remember which one's shampoo and which one's conditioner. But I saw on TikTok once that it was a dupe for Pureology and I'll be honest, I've never actually tried Pureology, the name brand. But and I was using it for a while. I just feel like it made my hair kind of heavy and I know people because it's a sulfate free shampoo and people are like oh you're using too much I tried lots of different things and it just left my hair feeling kind of heavy and honestly my hair didn't wasn't very moisturized and I like I told you my hair is really dry already but I don't feel like it helped with the moisturization as much so if you see that that's a dupe I mean you could definitely try it but for me I didn't love it um one that I am loving right now is I think it's L 'Oreal.

11:15Yeah, L 'Oreal. How do you say this? L 'Oreal E-Vive? E-Vive. L-Vive. L-Vive. It's E-L-V-I-V-E. And it's L 'Oreal. And I know hairdressers and people who are whatever crazy about their hair are literally screaming out loud right now. I'm telling you, my hair hasn't felt this soft in quite some time. But let me tell you this other thing. I noticed when I use the same shampoo and conditioner for too long, my hair, and maybe there's no science beyond this, maybe it's just all in my head, but I feel like it stops working very well for me. And so I do switch it up quite often. So I've tried a bunch of different kinds.

12:01And I honestly, I feel like my hair is softest when I use like L 'Oreal or Pantene or Tresemme. Those are like my go-to ones and my hair feels the best when I'm using those. So take that as you will, but that's what it is. Okay, next one. Pureology is also really expensive, but I have heard that it's amazing. I haven't tried it though. I'll be totally honest with you. Okay, next one is Fly Away Tamer. I use this for my little girl and on myself and on my eyebrows. I use it to tame my crazy eyebrows. And the name brand of this is great, but guess what? It is literally the exact same as the knockoff brand you can find on Amazon.

12:52It works just as well. It's just not worth like$30 for a bottle of Flyaway Tamer. I'm not going to name names because I know there's like some small businesses out there that have flyaway tamer and I don't want to be not supportive of other people's businesses. So I'm not going to tell you what the bougie brand of that is, but I will tell you the kind that I use. Um, I think it's literally$4. Let me look. The brand is Sam Knight S A M N Y T. Again, I'll post the link for these and you get a pack of two for six 99. So what does that you want? Like$3 and 50 cents for one of them. And they work really well.

13:33They last me a really long time. and I can't say enough good things about it. I have used these for years, literal years, and it has not led me astray. So if you are looking to save a buck or two here, then you should try this. And I have extremely frizzy hair, so I have credibility on this, okay? Let's see. Okay, that was like, oh, no, no, no. Okay, here's one about workout clothes, and I think everybody kind of knows this one already, but there's a brand on Amazon, CRZ, that is a really good dupe. Some of their products are like a straight across dupe, I swear, for Lulu, Lulu Lemon. And like their Align Tank, there's one that's almost the exact same.

14:18And I love Lulu Lemon. I've had a few things from there that I've gotten secondhand because I just am not going to drop that much money on name brand because I don't work out enough, to be totally honest with you to justify buying name brand workout clothes so that's I've found a lot of success with that brand on Amazon I really really like it you I know I don't know that I really have well I'll post the link for the the tank top that I I like from that that brand and maybe the leggings as well and let's see I think that might be my last one yes I think it is I just had a couple more that are like not um they're not products I just kind of wrote these things down like this one is just a personal opinion of mine like I don't have a dupe to share necessarily but uh you don't need and I okay let me preface this with I was and I'm not like trying to be vain at all I'm just telling you as it is because I know some people do struggle with this and it's like their genetics.

15:26I have my skin genetics are pretty good. Like I have pretty good skin and it's mostly genetics. Like people ask me all the time to post my skincare routine and I'm like it is really I just like wash my face and that's it. But I have done a couple things and I've tried name brand and I've tried knockoff and they've worked the same for me. so in my opinion I don't feel like you need necessarily name brand skincare products I think you should like do a little bit of research make sure they're like actually what's in it is actually what's in it but I think if you have like a couple steps to your your skincare routine as long as you've got those products I don't think it necessarily matters exactly which brand but I will tell you guys which brand I use because so many of you guys have asked this is what I do I wash my face in the like if I shower at night I wash it with like an exfoliating cleanser and I use CeraVe and then I put on hyaluronic acid and I can't remember the name I just got it off of Amazon I used to use Neutrogena I really liked it but I can't remember the name I use right now the brand anyway use hyaluronic acid and then I use the nighttime like face moisturizer from CeraVe.

16:46That's what I do before bed. To be totally honest with you guys, I don't always wash my face before bed. Sometimes I just go to sleep. And I know that doesn't work for everybody, but that's just being honest. In the morning, when I wash my face in the morning, I use more of a water-based cleanser and not like an exfoliating one. And the same thing, I use CeraVe. And then I put on vitamin C serum and hyaluronic acid. And then I put on facial moisturizer. And I do that every single day. I wash my face at some point every single day. Maybe every once in a while, I won't, but not very often. So I think as long as like you're, you have some sort of routine and you know what you're doing with that routine, like you do that same routine, you know, kind of over and over.

17:39And obviously I am not a professional. So if you're an esthetician and you're like you are giving the worst advice ever yeah message me and give me some different advice and I'll screenshot it and share it to Instagram so other people will know what to do I'm just telling you guys that's what I do and that's my personal opinion with different products that I've tried the name brand doesn't seem to really matter that much it's just the steps in my skincare routine that seems to be what matters okay the next one that I don't really have an exact thing for is just talking about shoes. If shoes are more than, I don't know, like 30 or 40 bucks, I don't buy them.

18:18I will not buy them with the exception of workout shoes or like a good pair of tennis shoes. Cause I think everybody needs a good pair of tennis shoes that you can run in or do workouts in. And I know there's different kinds of shoes that you want for certain kind to work out. So that makes sense to me. But if you're just getting like a pair of shoes to go with an outfit and you're spending like 120 bucks on a pair of shoes that you will wear like once every three months, tell me why. I don't understand. If you've got that kind of money, then you know, sure, do whatever you want with it, I guess.

18:53I just don't, I don't know. I don't really understand. I guess I don't understand because people can do whatever they want with their money. That's literally their their business is none of my business but in my personal opinion I don't think you need to spend that much money because there's so many good dupes out there for shoes if it's just kind of like a fun shoe especially if it's a trendy shoe because it's going to go out of style soon just and if it doesn't then go ahead and buy the name brand because it's going to be around like stick around if it's like Birkenstocks I understand people spending money on Birkenstocks because they've seriously never really gotten out of style and different shoes like that.

19:33Like I understand spending money on certain kinds of shoes because you're going to have them for so long. But like I said, if it's just like a trendy shoe that you've seen on TikToker, Pinterest or Pinterest. Yeah, actually I still use Pinterest. So anyway, that's my opinion on shoes. And I think that's really all I have for you guys. There's a couple of things that like you absolutely need name brand of. And for me, that's food. Like there's a couple of, you know, things like I don't need name brand almond milk and I don't need name brand butter, but I need name brand fruit snacks. I need Welch's.

20:09I'm not getting great value fruit snacks. Absolutely not. And I need name brand. What else was I going to say? Cereal. And Molto meal to me is a name brand. The only thing that's not name brand for me when it comes to cereal is Great Value. Although I do love me some Great Value brand flakes. I have yet to find brand flakes in a different brand that are as good as Great Value. And I ask anybody who knows me, I consume those like an 80-year-old woman who hasn't pooped in three weeks. I eat brand flakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner sometimes. So I have credibility with that. I know my brand flakes that's the only exception of cereal that I'll really eat that's not name brand also cereal is definitely one of my top three favorite foods so maybe I'm just extra picky about it maybe some people literally don't care and let's see what else do you need name brand of food I can't think of anything oh you do not need name brand cheese I'll tell you guys I think I've already told you maybe once before but my I had a family member who used to work at a cheese packing plant like factory and the name brand cheese the bougie name brand cheese was the exact same cheese as great value they were just packaged in different packages literally the exact same cheese so that ruined name brand cheese for me for the rest of my life and I will never buy it because it's too dang expensive okay um let me stop talking about cheese and food and name brand food and let you guys get back to your day sorry this episode's a little bit short but like I said I had some last minute things come up I needed to go see my mom and yeah I'm still showing up I've I've like made a promise to myself to not skip a week even I'll put something out every week like I'm really really trying to stick to that and trying to be consistent for you guys I have really considered switching to Thursdays just because it seems to work out better with my schedule if you're listening and you're like please please please do not skip to or switch to Thursdays.

22:13It'll ruin my life. Tell me, tell me if it'll ruin your life. If you don't care, then just don't say anything or you can't tell me. I don't care. All right. Anyway, I love you guys so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Truly, if you are listening to this and if you haven't left a review, please, please, please go leave a far, far, leave whatever review you want, I guess, but please five stars would be, would be great. and make sure you tell your friends about the podcast. That's the best way for it to grow and I really appreciate everything you guys do and I will see you guys next week.

22:47Bye!