“I tell people I’m a freelance life-liver,” Says Vic Styles, “That just means I get paid to live my life. Whether that’s through writing, blogging, styling, creative directing or taking pictures.”
She also teaches an Instagram workshop to help other creatives make a profit from their passions.
“In 2016, I made $20k off Instagram alone, so I decided to make a class. Recently, I started a collective (Herenowus) with two of my friends for black creative women entrepreneurs in L.A. It’s free, and we do things to get black women together to network like coworking and coffee.”
But before she turned her lifestyle into a career, Vic has a diverse job history. She worked retail since she was 15 years old, and loved fashion but her parents wanted her to go to college to get a “real degree.” So she was going to school to get her psychology degree and got an internship in L.A. for BCBG in 2008. With that news, she dropped out of school and drove to L.A. on a whim.
After that, she worked with Taylor Jacobson, Rachel Zoe’s former assistant, and interned for her for free for six months. All the while, she worked at a bar. Then she met April Romette, who works with Snoop, Nas, Big Sean and more.
“She had a bigger job to do in Jamaica and she sent me to style Big Sean,” she says, “That was my first time doing anything big by myself, and I did all of his tour, the BET Hip Hop Awards and styled the 'Dance (Ass)' video with Nicki Minaj.”
After that, things just started to pick up for Vic. She got to work with Nickelodeon, Ariana Grande and other huge names.
Then she was asked to speak on a panel. She had just started a blog, and a line of women was waiting to speak to her after. It was then that she realized she could change people’s lives.
“I decided to blog more transparently and decided to not just be another fashion blog,” she says, “I wanted to show my life in a more authentic way.”
And blogs are a huge source of inspiration for her as well.
“I’m really inspired by blogs because what real women do is incredible,” she says, “Not that style and fashion people aren’t amazing, but something about looking at a blogger who I can relate to or who might have my same body type or skin tone is incredible.”
Surrounding yourself with positive images and positive thoughts is major.
“It’s something I’ve just learned in the past two weeks,” Vic says, “What you spend your time thinking about is what you start to believe. Once you stop thinking those negative thoughts, you can move forward.”
After Hours
“The things I do for work, I actually really enjoy doing,” Vic says, “ But outside of that, I love reading. I read all the time and write almost every day. I read poetry, blogs, books. But overall I’m pretty boring. I don’t go out, I don’t watch TV, but I love listening to music [Solange, Alanis Morissette, Sabrina Claudio and Jessie Reyez are some favorites]. I’m also on Google all the time doing research, either for my work or because I’m just curious.”
And outside of her hobbies, Vic makes time to take care of herself and to see people she loves.
“With family, it’s a struggle,” she says, “My parents live in Alabama and I’m in L.A. But most of my friends are creatives, so when we get together, we’re doing creative stuff. I try to have friend time about once a week.”
She also practices self-care Sundays.
“I try to make it Sunday depending on what my schedule that week is,” she says, “It’s very easy for me to get sucked up in work, but for the past month, I’ve been conscious to put my phone down and just be to myself. The plight to being freelance is that people assume you’re always available. Doesn’t matter if it’s 1 a.m., people have been upset if I make an Instagram post but haven’t yet responded to their emails. It’s about finding a healthy balance.”
The Daily Grind
As a freelance life-liver, Vic makes a morning and night routine that works for her schedule.
“I wake up and then lay in bed for at least 10-15 minutes pondering life and thinking about my dreams,” she says, “I write in my journal as soon as I wake up, then get on Instagram and check emails.”
Then she’ll start getting ready.
“I actually don’t wash my face in the morning,” she says, “I wet a towel and wipe off any excess and brush my teeth. I tone my face in the morning. At night and in the morning I moisturize with jojoba oil. If I have any acne, I’ll spot treat that with 100% tea tree oil.”
She then follows everything up with her mom’s product line called Heavenly Scent. They have a melon balm she puts on in the morning that serves as her perfume for the day.
As far as makeup goes, Vic uses Glossier’s skin tint because it’s super lightweight. Then she’ll use Shea Moisture’s bronzer to bronze and contour her cheeks. She tops off the look with Glossier’s Haloscope in Topaz and their legendary product, boy brow.
“I don’t fill in my brows, I just gel them up and slick them.
“Then I use Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara, an E.L.F. lip scrub, moisturize with Glossier’s Balm Dotcom and apply a bright lip color from either E.L.F., NYX Cosmetics or AJ Crimson.
For breakfast, she’s not a coffee drinker, so she’ll drink chai or green tea and eat oatmeal or quinoa. Water fuels her throughout the day, nothing else. She doesn’t drink soda or juice unless it’s fresh pressed, and she abides by a vegetarian lifestyle.
At night, she’ll shower with Plant Apothecary body wash in WAKE UP.
“They’re amazing because they’ve hired disabled individuals because they can’t get jobs otherwise. They’re on salary, but they also donate 50% of earnings to a different charity every month,” she says, “They’re all made in the U.S.”
After her shower, she moisturizes with her mom’s products, washes her face with the Bioclarity skin system, and then every other day uses Kate Somerville’s ExfoliKate face polish. Then she’ll tone, spot treat and moisturize like she does in the morning before crawling into bed with her satin pillow case (She isn’t a bonnet girl).
“If I’m not working, I spend my night scrolling through Instagram and I go searching for fashion and hair inspiration,” she says, “I save things in categories to make mood boards from that inspiration. I also spend a lot of nights on Pinterest.”
