Peacock

This look was inspired by a look I saw on one of my guests at work. She was wearing a beautiful green and gold look, I was going to go for the same look but upon waking up this morning decided to go with teal greens and turqoise and blue.  Forgive me for being ut of frame most of the video, I am still trying to become totally conscious and aware of the camera since this is new to me.  It has taken me months to even find a spot with fairly decent lighting. For most of what you can't see me doing it's just eyeliner and following the same color scheme on my lower lashline below the liner with a smudger. I used my same trusty Urban Decay Book of Shadows, 24/7 waterproof pencil and liquid liners in Perversion and primer, BHCosmetics 28 color neutral eyeshadow and blush palette, NYX Jumbo Eyeshadow pencil in Milk (depotted) and had I have remembered the mascara it would have been Rimmel Curves.

Eye Can Teach You Coming Soon

I am finally at a point where I can start teaching what I love to do and have enough free time to do it 3 days a week. Appointments will be first come first serve as I will only have enough time to service one person per day (I do work full time and part time at a second job and I have to have time to feed myself and rest). My price is $35 for a one on one informative and basic application session that will last from 1-1 1/2 hours. The only thing you will need to provide is mascara and eye liner, as these items are hard to keep sanitized and to make sure that your eyes are already free of any makeup and product. I provided my phone number but my email I can respond to faster, however if you do not have email a phone call will suffice and you MUST leave a message if you want me to call you back. I realize that many of you have families and small children but a quiet, orderly setting will make this a better experience for us both and keep my makeup and tools which are very important to me from accidentally being destroyed or wasted. I will begin taking appointments July 31st and will come to you. Hope to hear from you soon!

Camo Green

This look was inspired by a pair of camo capris that I have.  Forgive the background noise, it is hot as a mofo and a sista has to do something to help keep the utility bill down so that is my fan that you hear (bear with me, I'm working on this adding music thing, every time I think I have it figured out I hit another snag).  Also forgive me but I prefer not to talk on video, maybe I will get over not liking the sound of my own voice someday but in the meanwhile it will be the basics.  I did my best to keep in frame I did get out a few times but you get the idea.  The products I used were Urban Decay Book of Shadows, BHcosmetics 88 Cool Matte palette, NYX Jumbo Shadow pencil in Milk (it was depotted), Urban Decay Primer Potion, 24/7 Waterproof lincer pencil and 24/7 liquid liner both in Perversion which is as black as they come.  I don't normally were a full face of makeup, usually just a little concealer because I have had bags and dark circles most of my life but for the sake of not looking a total mess on camera and to pracitce my contouring I did a full face before I started recording and it was a rush job which is why the color is a bit off.  Last but not least forgive the sloppy work, I had just removed my makeup that I wore to work so my eye would not stop tearing up so I had to work fast to get the shadow and liner on before it was all washed away by my tears (this is why you see me either holding the tape down and reapplying it, my tears were seeping under it and causing it to come off).  Anywho I hope that you enjoy the look and that this video was at least somewhat helpful.

Fresh color, two strand flat twist updo, and makeup

Make up and hair color

So I know I'm not on here like I wanted to be, but I have yet to find the energy while working seven days a week to post anything and I've been having a hard time finding the right light to record anything in my apartment, but here is some recent work for the time being.

Getting my makeup on

I keep reading and seeing signs that say invest in yourself, so with some of the extra money I have earned at the salon I decided to go ahead and start investing in a starter makeup kit. This is what I ordered today and I am super excited for it to arrive. I really hope to begin giving lessons to beginners and hopefully everything will take off from there. With all the inquiries I get I figured this is another thing I can do that I love which won't make it feel like work, and it will make other women feel good about themselves.

New product alert

I finally am about out of my Kinky Curly Curling custard that I don't care much for and since it will be August before I start my latch hooks locs I am still in need of my product so on Sunday I ventured over to my local Target to see what I could find. I thought I might splurge and try the Miss Jessie's only to find they no longer carry it. What I found in place of the Miss Jessie's was a product called Curls Unleashed.

I found out after I bought it and got it home later that night that it is a new product under the Organic Root Stimulator line, and I have to be honest in saying had I have realized this at the store I may not have purchased it. Not that I have anything against their products, it's just that EVERYONE is jumping on the natural bandwagon which means you have to be weary of the products you are choosing now.

Anywho the product line includes Curl Creme, Curl Refresher, Curl Boosting Jelly, Leave-in Conditioner, Sulfate-free Shampoo, Shine & Define Mousse, and Moisturizing Conditioner. The product line is color coded and labeled according to hair type(s) that they are best used on.

The only product I purchased was the Set it Off Curl Boosting Jelly which is labeled pinkish-purple for curly and kinky textures which would be 3s & 4s, this is also stated on the label so there is no guess work on your part.

Now on to the product review. According to the label the Set it Off curl Boosting Jelly is great for twistouts, coiling, shingling, freestyles, and updos. It also says it is lightweight and easy-to-apply for delightful (their words, not mine) curl definition without the "crunch". And as all products do it also claims no flaking.

I deciding to wait and use it Monday morning before work at the salon as I got home too late the previous night for my hair to dry before going to bed, I am pretty adamant about air drying and no heat. I no pooed my hair, use the last of my Kinky Curly Knot Today and proceeded with adding the jelly. As for the texture I wouldn't quite call it jelly, it is a little gooey but not jelly, the texture is kind of hard for me to put in words. Maybe more like pudding. As for the smell, I think it smells HORRIBLE, it has a weird plastic smell, although I noted some YouTubers find it to smell of coconut. Don't know if it's my batch or just me. *shrugs* On to the application, I found it a little hard to spread due to the texture even with my hair being soaking wet. I kind of felt like I had to add a ton which means for a fairly large jar it may only last me until my locing appointment. After adding the product I found my hair to still be very frizzy and separated. There was not much curl definition going on here especially around my edges. In the meanwhile I figured I would move on to my face and give it a little time to settle and see what happened.

After finishing my makeup and checking out my hair again my edged were still SUPER frizzy as was everything thing else so I found that I had to pull out the old faithful aloe vera EcoStyler gel for my edges. At least my edges should look decent.

I was super busy at the salon so I did not have much time to stop and check out my hair, but upon arriving home I was no very pleased with what I saw. I am very pleased however to say that it lived up to it's promise of no crunch, my hair was very soft. I just wished it looked better.

Now to the promise of no flaking, it flaked Monday and it flaked today. I added a little more product this morning in hopes the definition would improve, it did but only meagerly. However again after drying completely, still no crunch, but to my dismay there were white flakes EVERYWHERE. I wear a black blazer at my full time job and needless to say I looked to be having a very bad dandruff issue, no bueno.

All in all I think once again I found a product that I am not very pleased with. Although I think as in the case with the DevaCurl I previously reviewed it may be better suited for longer hair. All the women in the demo videos have longer hair. I am very disappointed that companies seem to be overlooking the TWA (teeny weeny afro) when it comes to formulating products, not all of us are transitioners. It seems the only product that makes my TWA look decent is the one that makes my hair feel the worst. I can't say I'd recommend this product, but I am curious to know what others think of it and if it indeed does work better on longer hair. And I do love the packing, I think it is super cute and it eliminates you having to guess if you are a 1,2,3, or 4, etc.

As usual I included product pictures and pictures of my hair.

Deva Curl

So I am super late with this, but anywho here it is. So for the past year or so I have been running across the product line called Deva Curl. I've been wanting to try it as I have not really been happy with Kinky Curly. For whatever reason it gives my hair a really defined, wet look however to the touch it is hard and crispy like gel. Well Ulta had a Deva Curl kit on sale for $37.50 about a month so I decided to give it a try and much to my delight when I went to purchase it it was all full sized and not the travel size I saw a YouTuber purchased for the same price. Total fail for her. Moving along, I brought it home, immediately unpacked it and went to work.

First there were two different kits, because I have very tight corkscrew curls I chose the kit for my particular hair type. Second, there are 5 steps to this system. Step 1 is the DevaCurl No-Poo, a sulfate, paraben, silicone free cleanser. I loved the scent and it made my hair really soft and it tingled. Step 2 is the DevaCurl One Condition leave in conditioner, liked the scent but can't really say I liked this as much as Kinky Curly's Knot Today. Step 3 is the DevaCurl AnGel defining gel, I hate, hate, HATED it. It smells nice but it is super wet and goes everywhere being propelled by the spring of my curls and it does appear to mix well with the One Condition. Everything turned into little white globs and to be a defining gel it did not offer much definition. Step 4 is the DevaCurl Set It Free moisture lock. Yeah, not much moisture there and created even less definition than I had before, smells good though. Reminds me of 7UP. And lastly Step 5 is a next day step which is the DevaCurl Mist-er Right curl revitalizer. Let's start with the fact that my hair was already a frizzy dry mess to begin with after using these products, so there wasn't really much curl to revitalize. And the smell is AWFUL, it smells very vinegary and I about choked from the mist and smell every time I tried to use it. It is supposed to be the equivalent of Kinky Curly's Spiral Spritz, which by the way smells much better, is more of a gel and I also hate. Doesn't smell very good either.

Long story short, I am not pleased with this product at all. The only part I loved was the no poo and would gladly reinvest in it, the other products can go to hell. For now I have switched back to my remaining Kinky Curly products and will hold on to the DevaCurl until my hair is longer if I have not decided to lock by then. I am curious to see if it will work any different on longer hair as I have not been able to find any videos of T.W.A.s using it, only long hair. I have included pictures of the product and my hair after using them.

*all of Kinky Curly's products have been formulated to work with each other and ONLY each other. They DO NOT mix well with ANY other product, it will form the little white globs I mentioned earlier. DevaCurl's products on the other hand all seem to be working against each other which I find very odd. And in the beginning I loved the smell but after the passing of about 30 minutes it began to take on the smell of Dr. Miracle's which I absolutely hate. And for comparison I included pictures of my hair with the Kinky Curly (the blue shirt)

Prom Makeup

Did some prom makeup Friday for a 17 year so I kept it pretty natural. She and her mother both were very pleased

Practicing my cornrows and designs

Did my sister's hair. She is a natural diva and since I will be working at an all natural salon doing styles like this I'm using her to practice. Btw I did redo that raggedy braid, so it did not stay like that.

be back soon to show you this look

So I have has a lot going on the past few weeks so I haven't had as much free time to devote to my blog as I would like, but hopefully within the next week I will be ready to roll and will have a video posted for this look. So until then.....

Super busy

Sorry I haven't posted anything lately but the past two weeks or so have been super hectic. I'll be back in a week or so. I take my practical exam tomorrow then I will officially be a licensed cosmetologist! Wish me luck!

Btw I am officially licensed if you hadn't heard already!!

Portfolio Sample

I spent ALL evening putting these pictures together but I am so happy with the way it turned out.

Almost there

I passed the first part of my state boards this morning, pretty soon I'll be saying, "Welcome to my chair, :-)"

:-/

Well this video thing has been harder and more work than I thought. I recorded this look today but editing the video to be posted has been an all day ordeal. *update, I finally got a video posted, wasn't what i really wanted but until then here it is.  you can just turn the volume down, there is nothing playing but my television.