I Did The Big Chop Again!!!

I Big Chopped Again

     As I'm sure you already know I did a second big chop after 3+ years of being completely natural.  This decision came out the blue a week after my wedding I had so many emotions going through my head.  I will fill you guys in a later post down the the line.  However those feelings lead to me going to my old salon where I used to get my hair fried dyed and slayed to the side. However this time I was walking on the Barber side of the salon. The barber who has known me for years was very shocked that I wanted to cut all my hair off. He kept asking me was I sure and honestly I have never felt so sure in my life.  I remember after I did my first big chop always feeling as if I should have just got my fade instead of the mini fro. Back then I was scared of what people would say and I couldn't do it.  This time around it was a lot different I did not care what anybody thought.  So I sat in the barbers chair and he went to work and after I felt so free.  I know that sounds so cliche but its true.  I had just gotten married and felt like cutting my hair was starting a new chapter in my life, matter fact it felt like it was the beginning of a whole new book.  I love the fact that I have grown into this woman who is not defined by my appearance I can rock anything.

   I would like this post to encourage anyone out there that may be thinking about doing a big chop.  This short style may not be something that works for you.  However short or long you want you hair just do it.  I honestly think there is nothing more beautiful then wearing your natural hair texture.  Because I am a black woman I am exotic my look is timeless and I can rock anything. From weave,braids or a low cut fade.  I feel so sexy with my hair and honestly I think it matures me.  I could care less about my critics or what anybody thinks.  Honestly getting married had a lot to do with this decision and over coming my personal insecurities.  I do plan on growing my hair out again once I become pregnant until then I will keep rocking the fade. May God continue to bless us all thanks for reading stay beautiful and be inspired.

The Benefits of Protein Treatments on Damaged Hair!!

     

     You may have heard about or seen protein treatments for hair, with the promise of strengthening dry damaged hair.  So you think to your self hmmmm I want to try this.  The big question is should you? Are protein treatments good for your hair?  The answer is it depends if you have colored treated hair,relaxed or heat styled hair.  Then yes a protein treatment would be very beneficial to you.  However if your hair is chemical free then a protein treatment may have little to no benefit for your hair.  You actually may end up causing more harm then good to your hair.  Too much protein in your hair will cause your hair to become dry, brittle and it WILL break off.  The reason being is your hair is made up of a very tough protein called keratin.  When your style your hair such as relaxing,coloring and heat style you break down that protein. This causes your hair to become weak and to break/shed.  A monthly or bimonthly protein treatment on chemically processed hair will help your hair bounce back.  This is especially good for those naturals that like to straighten their hair with heat.

Speaking of naturals that like to straighten their hair with heat.  I got a Dominican blow out this past summer on my hair.  It was very beautiful and I loved my results the only problem was I had heat damage.  Contrary to what you may have heard about heat damaged hair.  It can not be reversed the only way to fix it is by cutting the damaged hair.  Well my heat damage was pretty bad and although I preach that its just hair and it will grow back.  I did not want to cut all my hair off again I mean really why did I have to get heat damage? Well remember that is the risk of heat style no matter how much heat protection you use.  It is always a possibility that your hair just my get damaged.  So what I did to get my hair back to its healthy state. I began doing monthly protein treatments on my hair.  I also wore protective styles (still do) all winter.  I cut my hair every 6-8 weeks.  This helped me to get rid of the damaged ends without losing my length.  I still have a few more trims to go before I am completely damaged free.  Once My hair is back to normal I will stop doing protein treatments all together.  Unless i decide I want to dye my hair a pretty red color after the wedding *hint hint.

Do I Need a Protein Treatment in My Hair?

If you have any of these signs, try a protein treatment and follow a regular protein regimen right away:

• Loss of elasticity - Hair in good condition can stretch under normal conditions without breaking. If you're wondering about the elasticity in your hair, try this test: stretch wet hair and see if it easily snaps back without breaking. If it does, your hair is in good shape. If you stretch it and it breaks easily, you need to increase the protein in your hair.
• Serious damage - When hair has been over processed with chemicals, it can feel and look like seaweed when it's wet. When dry, it may feel like a rough Brillo pad. This isn't regular dryness that black hair is prone to. Although black hair may not feel exactly like silk, healthy hair is soft to the touch.
• Severe breakage - This isn't the average hair shedding that everyone experiences on a daily basis. Regular shedding often comes out in a comb or brush. When your hair breaks due to weakness, you'll find strands of it everywhere; on your pillow, on the back of your seat, on your shirt. It may make a snapping or popping sound when you comb it.

For severe damage, a protein treatment may hold off the inevitable and prevent shedding all over the place, but eventually you should cut off all of your damaged hair. This is the only way to enjoy healthy hair over your entire head.

Spring Makeup/Fashion Trends 2014

Hey Loves its officially spring, now if we can only get mother nature to get the memo already.  When I think of spring I like to skip the April showers and go right to the May flowers. I like to think of big bold flowers and pastel colors. Spring is like the best season ever it incorporates both winter and summer. You are able to wear a nice flirty summer dress with a beautiful cardigan on top. I have gathered a few pictures from the web that I think will be big trends this season.

COLOR!!!!

This spring you will see lots of color bold bright colors so don't be afraid to stand out!

The pointed toe pump is back and better then ever

You will see alot of orange lips Orange is for sure the stand out color for Spring 2014

As for me you will see alot of color blocking and fresh face makeup with a bold lip this spring. I plan to wear my hair in long braids this entire season. As far as my shoe I love that the pump as made a comeback. You will for sure see me rocking a nice 4 inc pump this season.  However my go to spring show will always be a nice flat or wedge! What will you be rocking this spring?

Products used in Makeup Demo

     Hey loves her is a full list of products used in my recent Makeup Demo on my Youtube channel.

Brows:
Eye Brows: Mac Brow Pencil in the color Spiked
Anastasia Beverley Hills Brow Dip in the color Chocolate
Concealer Palette to shape Brows came from aliexpress.com

Eyes:
Eyes: Urban Decay Primer Potion in the color Eden
Brow Bone High Light Mac eye shadow in the Color Arena
1st Crease color:  from my elf palette
2nd crease/transition color:  Milk Chocolate from The Two Faced Chocolate Palette
Inner Tear Duck Lid Color:  Champagne Truffle from The Two Faced Chocolate Bar Palette
2nd Lid Color:  Strawberry Bon Bon from The Two Faced Chocolate Bar Palette
Outter V Color:  Black Forest Truffle from The Two Faced Chocolate Bar Palette
Liquid Liner: Wet Wild in Black
Lower Lash Line Liner: NYC eye liner pencil in Black
False Lashes: Red Cherry #43

Face:
Foundation Primer: Benefit Porefessional Primer
Under Eye Concealer: MAC mineralize  concealer in the color NC45
Foundation: Mac Match Master in the color 7.0
Contour: Mac Blush in the color Razin
Concealer used to highlight is a no name concealer palette
Loose Setting Powder: Ben Nye in the color Banana
Blush: NYX mosaic powder blush in the color Paradise
2nd highlight: Physician Formula  Pearl powder
Setting Spray: NYX Dewy finish Setting Spray

Lips:
Lip Liner: NYX in the color Pinky
Lip Stick: Mac Girl About Town
Lip Gloss: NYX in the Color Addis

Tools Used: My makeup brush set by Pueen can be purchased from Amazon.com and My Beauty Blender can be purchased from Sephora.


FULL LIST of sites you can purchase all items used to create this look.

Sephora.com
Ulta
nyxcosmetics.com
maccosmetics.com
eyeslipsface.com
aliexpress.com
loveyelashes.com
Amazon.com

Good Vibes Only

     

GOOD VIBES PLEASE!!!

     

     Hey girl heeeeey!!! Is a snowy Sunday here in good ole Antarctica Kansas City.  I decided its a good time to post a new blog.  I'm watching 42 The Jackie Robinson story and I just felt like giving y'all some good vibes on this blessed Sunday.  I have decided to adopt my own little journey called the "good vibes only" journey.  I can admit, that I may not always be the most positive person and I was plagued by complaining about shit.  I would go to work and complain about my job. I would come home and complain about my house. I would complain about my car. I mean the complaining was never ending with me.  I also suffered from a bad case of dwelling over bs I could not control or change.  I was  turning into a true bitter bi##h but through prayer and self awareness I was able to catch it before it became full blown BITTER BITCH SYNDROME.   It was as simple as changing my train of thought instead focusing on the negative and I completely replaced it with Good Vibes.  Its so hard some times to have a complete positive out look when you are really going through a lot of BS.  However what can negative vibes do besides infest your thoughts and keep you in that never ending cycle of hate?  

     Good Vibes only, means you will only accept the positive affirmation from those around you and from yourself.  Good Vibes Only means you will not get caught up in bashing those around you.  Instead you will uplift those around you.  When you wanna vent instead you just think of what is going good in your life that you can talk about.  I don't care if the only thing you can think of is how blessed you are that God woke you up this morning.  Be blessed honey allow that to feel your thoughts on how wonderful it is that God gave you grace.  I know it may seem easy said then done but if I can do it so can you boo.  Plus being bitter does not look good on anyone at all and that for real.  Nobody wants to hang with a Debbie downer always mad about something ugh.  So with that being said y'all be easy and if your in the warmer climates send us some warm weather pleeeeeeeaaaaassssseee!!!! 

Bride on a Budget: How many people to invite

    The most important and the first place you wanna start to plan a budget is with your guest list.  Now of course your guest list is usually not final until two weeks prior to the wedding.  With that being said its good to sit down and get a ball figure head count on how many people you want to invite.  The reason being is the price quotes you will get are going to almost be based on how many people are on your guest list.  When I first started planning my wedding I wanted to invite everybody and my guest list got way over 250 WAY OVER.  Now lets be all the way real for the moment first of all of those 250 people how many of them would actually show up? How many of them did I really have a close relationship with? How many of them did I actually know?  The reality is if you are on a budget you really can not over invite because in the likely hood all 250 show up (not including whoever they bring) you will have to feed all those folks. 

     When figuring out the guest number you want to be logical and rational, inviting your 3rd cousin on your mama side that you haven't seen since you were 3 may not be in the budget.  Would you really even have anything to say to them besides man its been a long time how have you been?  The fact of the matter is some folks will just have to catch your wedding via facebook or instagram.  I know that sounds so rude huh but honestly a lot of people only want to come to see what your wedding will look like eat, take pictures and go home.  Sad to say but why invite a coworker you haven't worked with since your high school summer job? You should want your wedding day to be full of love and support and no reason to have any negative people killing your vibe.  Sit down with your fiance and decide what kinda vibe you want at your wedding.  Our wedding will be low key and intimate we want our wedding to be about  our families getting to know each other.  That really helped me narrow my list down to 80-100 invites with a possibility of 50 extras for a total number of 150. 

     At the end of the day planning a wedding will be one of the most stressful things you will ever do in your life.  Save your self some headaches and panic attacks by keeping it simple.  Invite those that have played a vital roll in your relationship.  When your are at the alter and you are saying your vows who do you want to look up and see in the crowd?  Who do you want to share that very intimate moment with?  I know I only want those that love me unconditionally to be apart of that.  Thanks for reading I hope this post was helpful stay tuned for more tips.

I Want A $100,000 Wedding But The Way My Budget Set Up!!!!

image from Google

     Hey girl heeeey!!! I know I have been real ratchet and inconsistent with my blog post for that I am truly sorry.  I have been real busy and a lot of changes (great changes) have happen in my life in the last 6 months. I will have a full video update on my YouTube channel at a later date to share all the new changes in my life stay tuned.  Now lets get to the reason for this blog post, as I am sure a lot of you know I am engaged to be married 7/26/14.  Wedding planning has been to say the least stressful as hell just to keep it all the way real.  With the recent changes in my finances some days I felt like just going to the court house and just saying the heck with it all.  I was not born into money so that whole tradition the brides family pays for the wedding you can forget about that it's all me *in my Drake voice*.  Who came up with that tradition anyway lol shoot he asked me to marry him lol j/k.  So what all that means is that I have had to find some very unique was of having this wedding, so I decided to do monthly post related to a budget friendly wedding.  Where I will post tips and money saving ideas so that you can have a very nice wedding and still be able to afford it.  The goal is to not have any wedding debt after the wedding so you can enjoy being Mr and Mrs and buy that huge home you always wanted, you know the stuff that really matters.  Who knows maybe with my tips you may be able to take a really nice honey moon the day after your wedding instead of waiting years later like some have too.

     When we were little girls we all dreamed of that fairy tale wedding and if you are anything like me then you have been planning for this day all your life.  Why does it cost so much to have a wedding?  What you will find during your wedding planning journey is a lot of people will try to take advantage of you.  They hear the word wedding and automatically inflate their  prices.  I have noticed a lot of companies don't have there prices listed for this very reason.  The biggest resource will be your family and friends you really have to reach out to them and see who will be willing to help with what. I know It could be very stressful not having a company and a contract to work with.  However when you are on a budget you will just need to rely on trust and the words of those who promise to help.  I have a lot of tips I will be sharing in the upcoming weeks so stay tuned.

     My first Tip of this series is to not let the hype of having a extravagant wedding cloud your vision on what really matters.  That should be marrying the man of your dreams and building a life time of memories and a legacy for your children and family.  Remember that after the wedding you will have a marriage that will last forever and keep God first in everything you do.

NEW: 11pc MAKEUP BRUSHES REVIEW

I bought these makeup brushes a few months ago from eBay after seeing them on Instagram and reading tons of reviews, I paid $12.98 for these brushes and not a penny more. I was excited about the price but very nervous about the quality.  The shipping was very fast considering they shipped out of china  got them in about a weeks time.  I have used these brushes over five times and washed them plenty so I could give a honest review.  These brushes are very soft and great to work with I really don't know what else to say other then honey go ahead and buy these and see for yourself.  Again you can find these on eBay search seller mrprince5555 he has other brushes as well.

Cascade....

Its been a while since I posted a song of the day video....Here you go I really love this artist and her voice this song is so damn sexy its not a game. I hope you guys love the song as much as I do.

CLICK PLAY

Whats on My Face!

I created this look over the weekend using my new Shany Cosmetics loose powders,eye lashes and gel liners.  I love this look because its very wearable in your everyday look in my opinion this can be worn to work be simply doing a nude lip. You can also turn it into a evening/night time look by adding a dark lip.

 ON THE EYES:

I started by filling my brows in with a dark brown eyebrow pencil by MAC called spiked.  I then cleaned them up with my bh cosmetics concealer palette in medium. I used Urban decay primer potion all over my eye from the brow bone to the lid. I then placed the NYX shadow base in white on the lid area only. I used Macs shadow in the color Arena directly under my brow bone a a highligt. I then used Virgin,Naked and Buck from the Urban decay Naked palette as my transition colors.  I then placed #16 from the Shany cosmetics 40pc loose powder set on my lid.  I went over that with a yellow glitter and sealed it with ELF shadow sealer to set the glitter so it would not fall off. I then Lined my upper and lower lash with the shany gel liner in black. I used Shany cosmetics glitter lashes


ON THE FACE:

I used the L'Oreal true match foundation...set it with a cover girl pressed powder. For my highlight I used the bh cosmetics concealer palette in medium and set it with the Ben Nye setting powder in banana. I contoured with my bare minerals setting powder and on my cheeks I used a no name blush palette I got from amazon.

on my lips I have on MAC haute-core
&
I used Faux by MAC with a pink lip liner and pink gloss on top

Shany Cosmetics Loose 40pc Eyeshadow swatches

I am so excited about these shadows honey...As you guys may know I am starting to get into the makeup industry by becoming a freelance makeup artist. So of course you can not be a makeup artist without a kit and great shadows. I think these shadows are great for beginners like my self who want to build a nice kit without spending thousands.  These shadows allow you to get great colors and quality work without breaking the bank.  I will say I did notice a few of the colors are repeats and I would have loved to get more deep colors vs repeats.  I also noticed that the colors pictured on the site are not what you actually get. For instance I thought I was getting a deep red color based off the picture on the website.  What I got was a pinky/purple color instead.  All in All I give Shany cosmetics four hearts out of 5 my money was well spent.

Excuse my hairy A** arm LMAO...I swatched a few of the colors to show you guys how pigmented these shadows are. These are the colors on plain skin no primer of base underneath them.  As you can see these shadows are very shimmery.

Shany Cosmetics Gel Eyeliners Swatches

picture provided by Google images

   I recently reviewed these gel liners on my YouTube channel where I talked about my experience using these liners.  These liners are very creamy and pigmented and you get a lot of product for your money.  All though I got these on sale at a good price Shany Cosmetics is very inexpensive so don't worry you can still get them a low cost.  I have only used the black liner as its intended purpose so far. I have been using them as eye shadow bases. The rich and creamy consistency of these liners make for a awesome base to help your shadows pop.

What looks like a red liner (pictured lower left corner) is actually a dark deep brown....and the gray liner (pictured lower right corner) is a very dark charcoal color

I swatched a few of the colors below so that you could see how pigmented and rich the colors are

These liners can be purchased from shanycosmetics.com