So Nicki Minaj takes on the beauty game again, this time with Nail Polish. Further confirming for me that she’s “not a rappa [she’s] a branda”
Taken from Beyonce’s Sweet Dreams Remix on Lil Wayne’s No Ceilings Mixtape, Nicki clearly knows where the money is coming in and could care less about what people has to say about it: “I am the kung fu panda, f-ck all o’ ya blogs, f-ck all o’ ya propaganda, good for the goose then its good for the gander, nicki aint a rappa, nicki is a branda…”
Get your money Nicki – and I LOVE these colors!
Pink Friday Nail Lacquer
Save Me Nail LacquerSuperbass Nail Lacquer
Did it on 'em Nail Lacquer
Metallic for Life Nail Lacquer
I love each and everyone of these colors, I hope they have a gift set, I want to try them all out!
So for about a week now, I have been searching for products that are on sale in order to benefit Breast Cancer Awareness. I have searched all over the web and I have compiled this short listing, I hope you will enjoy and Purchase PINK! for a great cause.
Purchase this 5 oz. fully usable soap scented with Angel Wings and Butterfly Kisses and $4.00 will be donated to National Breast Cancer Foundation LLC. for the month of October!
Know someone entering the work force or starting their own business? The Original MBA – Succeed in business with Mom’s Best Advice, a book filled with time-tested strategies which lead to a new, modern wisdom. The book is based on the last Mother’s Day gift the author gave her Mom, who died from metastatic breast cancer. “It was a list of the lessons she had taught me,” states Carman, “Fifteen of those lessons were fleshed out for the book, which will be released on 10/16, Mom’s birthday. The lessons included in the book are illustrated with the story of how I learned it as a child and another story, this time from some point in my career, where that lesson served me well. There are also “MBA Chores” in the book so readers can lock in the lessons for themselves.” 5% of the proceeds go to It’s The Journey, Inc., an organization that supports women with breast cancer, raises awareness of breast cancer and funds early detection initiatives for uninsured women.
Be safe and benefit the National Breast Cancer Foundation at the same time. For every purchase made a donation to the NBCF is made for each pink pepper spray unit sold through SabreRed.com. according to SABRE Red, “We donate 10% of the sale and thus far have donated over $300,000.00 to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.” The Quick Release PINK PEPPER SPRAY with detachable keychain allows immediate access to your defense spray when unlocking a door or driving an automobile. The most popular SABRE style, the NBCF PINK PEPPER SPRAY Quick Release, is a powerful 0.54 oz container delivering a ballistic stream which reduces wind blow-back about 10 feet. Approximately 25 shots are contained in the compact canister.
This beautiful vase is a wonderfult addition to your home or office. Not to mention it makes a wonderful gift for someone especially since the holidays are coming up. The Lenox Love Notes collection helps support breast cancer education; 10% of the proceeds from the sale of these products is donated to Breastcancer.org. The Love Notes Admired Vase, stands 11″ tall. It’s crafted of fine porcelain accented with 24 karat gold.
If you find out more about Canberra Business Valuations, you will know that business services are not uncommon. Any business can offer their services at the normal rate and give a portion of the proceeds to benefit Breast Cancer, but how many do you know of that offer their services for free in order to help those with cancer? Namaste Organic Spa does just that by offering alternative and complimentary services for people who have cancer.
Marisol Fitzgerald, a Reiki Master and Massage Therapist, made a promise when she began her schooling for massage therapy; her promise was to always leave room in her life to provide her Reiki and massage services to those affected by Cancer. Six years later, Marisol has kept her promise. Even with the pressure of being a mother of four, a business owner, and working seven days a week, Marisol continues to leave time for her favorite patients – those with Cancer and their families. Marisol’s unique ‘Oncology Massage’ at Namaste, combines Reiki, CranioSacral, Reflexology and Massage Therapy. The blend of these unique alternative therapies, create an extremely nurturing and relaxing environment that benefits the mind, body and soul.
Although most patients and their families prefer to receive their spa treatments at Namaste, Marisol understands that for many patients leaving their hospital room is not a luxury they have during their treatment. For this reason, all of the oncology based treatments can be brought directly to the patient, whether in a hospital or their home when necessary. The only requirement to receive a treatment is a note from a doctor stating you are allowed to receive a treatment. Even if the patient is not allowed to receive a treatment such as a massage or facial, Namaste can provide Reiki which can be performed without touching the body.
I am a full believer that your mindset can dictate the way your body reacts to being at dis-ease. If you are someone who is always negative and always stressed out, your body will react the same way and help the progression of whatever is making you sick continue to make you sick. The inverse goes for those who think positive, and if you are aren’t… try to learn how to be. If you change your thinking and relax yourself, and make an effort to be comfortable and positive, you enable your body to fight what is making you sick to reflect the way you feel (good) and make you whole again. If you are unsure of what you need to help you relax and take your mind away from the stress, consider treatments from Namaste. If you are diagnosed with Cancer (not just breast cancer) here are details about the complimentary treatments available to you:
ALL SERVICES ARE AVAILABLE OFF SITE UNLESS NOTED.
Marisol recommends patients receiving their treatments at Namaste Organic Spa for a more relaxing experience. For convenience of the therapists and estheticians, appointments for these treatments at the Namaste location are preferred. The spa is open seven days a week.
MASSAGE
Each treatment is performed by an expert massage therapist, uses the finest and safest natural creamsand oils.
Allow your mind and spirit to indulge in the best healing practices that will provide anewfound sense of clarity and positively balanced.
– Reiki
– Reflexology
– CranioSacral
SKIN & BEAUTY
Experience the benefits of combining nature’s oils with a facial experience from one of ourknowledgeable estheticians. All treatments will only use the safest ingredients customized foreach patient.
– European Facial (available at Namaste location only)
I recently went to a casting call and I had to come home and write this post, because the girls there were doing too much in terms of their outfits. Large gaudy earrings, too much makeup, hair looking like they were about to do an ad for skittles, and every other major NO was in appearance at this casting call.
Just to clarify the difference between a casting call and a go-see
Casting Call: In the performing arts, casting (or casting call) is a vital pre-production process for selecting the right talent for the project or show.
Go-see: When a client has a specific look that they are going for and you have been selected to be viewed in order to make a final decision on which model to use for the project. Expect that there will be models there who have a similar look to yours.
Rule of thumb when going to casting calls, keep it to the MINIMUM! Your beauty and talent should be the thing they remember the most, not something totally outrageous that you are wearing to stand out.
This means:
VERY light makeup – no pinks, purples, or greens etc on the eyes and no red or hot pink lipstick. Keep your makeup natural, this means a basic face: concealer, foundation (if you need more coverage than concealer), mascara, and a skin tone lipstick or gloss.
Hair should be pulled back and out of the face. Go for a simple ponytail or a bun. If your hair is short, style it in a cute style but make sure you don’t have any bangs covering your face.
Nails – Neutral nails PLEASE! A picture of spongebob should not be all on your nails along with glitter rhinestones, and your social security number, and they should not be extremely long either. This includes the toes. Go for a french manicure, or american manicure or any light pinks or browns. Think flesh tones.
Your clothing should be form fitting, not extremely tight! and should be neutral as well. No need to over accessorize, the casting directors, designers, Make-up artists need to see you as you are. You need to be seen as a blank slate so that can envision what they are able to do with your look.
Shoes – NEVER show up with flats or sneakers on! Its OK to wear them around town on your way to the casting or go-see but once you get to the building where it is being held, you need to change into your heels before you walk in. Often times once you get to the location where they are holding the casting its right there as you enter or step off the elevator, no time to make a second first impression, you are judges as unprofessional if you walk in there without heels on. Consider High heels as a part of your work uniform as a model. When you are in model model mode, you cannot be seen without them, PERIOD
Here are a few visual examples of what I am talking about:
Clothing
Being that it is summer, this is along the lines of what I wear to a casting call. Its cool, simple and shows off the form. When I am running around and I don’t feel like being in my heels a cute pair of flats or flat sandals will work perfectly with this. For a casting call in colder months, I recommend swapping the shorts for a pair of leggings or skinny jeans and the open toe heels for a simple pump or cute high heeled bootie.
These are a few of my faves. I personally don’t wear all of this at one time, but most of the time on a casting call or go-see I’ll have on the concealer, mascara, and lip-gloss. For my nails they are usually done with an american manicure, but in the the event they aren’t I just have them with clear polish.
You are in luck, there are different styles that are acceptable for go-sees and castings. These are a few styles that I wear
A simple bun
A simple pony
Again, when in doubt, go with the minimum but keep it sleek and neat. If you have any questions that you want me to address in the next post, comment this post so I can address it.
Yes it has been a while since I have written a post, but I assure you, Its not because I didn’t want to its because I’ve been too busy to sit down here and do it. But now I’m back and I’m ready to get back to bloggin!!! YAAAY!
And yes you are reading the post title correctly, I have not had a weave in my hair for slightly over a year. Let me tell you the story…
You see, a few years ago, back in 2003, I was in a car accident that injured my thumbs. (This guy ran a stop sign and crossed in front of me and I couldn’t stop in time, which totaled my first car 🙁 and turned me in to the “cautious” driver I am now…) I loved to do my own hair prior to that and being that my hands were injured and it hurt to do simple things like write and type, you can imagine how much pain I was in trying to do my hair. So my solution to that? I went to the african shop and got Kinky Twists in my hair, something simple and easy for me to maintain. I got them touched up every so many months until my hands got better to the point where I could handle things without pain, then I went back to doing my own hair. That’s when I believe that the laziness set in lol. I figured that I don’t really feel like doing my hair EVERYDAY but I want it to look good EVERYDAY, and I didn’t want braids or twists anymore so what can I get? I didn’t want to get a relaxer anymore because I was scared that my scalp would be too sensitive and it wouldn’t take being that I hadn’t had a perm in about 6 months at that time. Thus began the journey of the WEAVE QUEEN!
I had worn weaves before in the past, but this started an era with me where I REFUSED to be seen without one! My real hair was in that natural at the root and permed at the ends state and I didn’t feel like dealing with the jungle at the root on a regular lol and it seemed that the weaves had saved my life! All I had to do was wake up every morning and make sure the little section that showed to cover up my tracks was straight, who could ask for anything easier?! Not to mention, when I was in college, I didn’t really have a lot of time to dedicate to my hair with studying, internships, running a club on campus and working and I just wanted it to look good. PERIOD
It wasn’t until after I graduated from college that I realized the damage that was being done to my hair from the constant wearing of the weaves. Sure my hair was growing underneath, but that section that I kept out in the front to cover my weaves was breaking horribly! I don’t know if it was because it was permanately straight due to excessive heat straightening or what, but all I know is when I attempted to try wearing my hair different ways without weave, my hair felt like doing a hard core “break” dance and those permed ends quickly fell off. What ever was left of that, that continued to remain straight after I washed my hair and didn’t revert to a thick cotton ball state, I cut it off and thus began to wear MY hair.
I did it for the first time, like really out and about and proud back in 2009 and I did a photoshoot to commemorate it and to join Tyra Banks in her “Real Hair” Day and this is what it looked like in 2009:
After that photoshoot, from time to time, I would still wear my weaves but then something MAJOR happened…
Can you guess what it is?
BILLS!!! That trick Sallie Mae started beatin down my door for me to start paying back my student loans! I had to take a chill pill on my spending and cut back on a few things. Weaves were the first thing on the list!
I started recycling my weaves, washing and wearing again of course (good for the environment right?! lol), figuring out ways to stretch out my weaves and make them last longer, until I just couldn’t anymore and I stopped wearing them completely and challenged myself to wearing my hair for 3 months straight, in which case I would reward myself with a weave! Crazy, I know. But that was my thinking at the time. When it came time for me to reward myself, I didn’t really feel like wearing a weave, but, because I was going to visit my bestie in Cali, I thought I don’t wanna worry about my hair while im out there so I wore a nice, cool, bob weave, pictured here:
I still have this romper somewhere…the question is where…(raised eyebrow)
When I got back, from that trip, I kept the weave for a a few weeks and when I took it out, I haven’t put a weave back in my hair since.
I say all of this because recently I had to think back to the last time I had a weave, and May of 2010 was that time. Now its June of 2011 and I still love wearing my hair.
Now I’m not saying that I will never wear a weave again, or that wearing weaves is the wrong thing to do, in fact the next weave I intend on getting will be a big curly fro, or a long Naomi Campbell style weave with a center part. I love the versatility that my hair is able to give me in my look, I’ll even go as far to say, that because I’ve been wearing my hair it has been a sole reason of why I am booking more modeling jobs. But none the less, I love the fact that I have options with my hair, its deciding what to do with it next that’s driving me crazy! lol
I came across these today and I thought I would share. These are feather extensions that clip into your hair and you can style them with a flat iron and curl them with a curling iron and everything! Just as if it was your hair! I like the concept of these feathers, but being that I have natural afro-textured hair, I don’t see how I can wear this without having a straight sew in weave. Either way, I decided to share because I thought this was pretty cool, and with the right styling it can be really unique and cute. Check out the feathers in action in the video below.
If you have his product or you have tried it let me know what you think of it. Maybe I’ll get these for my next photo shoot???!?!?!?! (Any Photogs in jersey, philly, maybe nyc wanna try for it? Im thinking beach scene but rugged…)
From what I have found out through my search for a product that exceed shea butter for your hair, is that Argan Oil has properties that are what most “product junkies” would say are far superior and better for your hair than shea butter. After I heard this I just happened to be in Walmart and I saw Creme of Nature had a deep conditioning Argan Oil packet. (I forgot how much it costs because I bought it a few months ago but it was relatively cheap) I tried it out, it had a strong fragrance which I liked, but it was a little perfumey for my taste, and the results were great. I loved the shine that it gave my hair and definitely have it a nice healthy glow. Now Creme of Nature is expanding its innovative line of products with Certified Organic Argan Oil from Morocco with five new remarkable shine products including the Creme of Nature with Argan Oil Treatment, Moisture & Shine Shampoo, Intensive Conditioning Treatment, Strength & Shine Leave-In Conditioner and Oil Moisturizer. Creme of Nature is the first to bring Argan Oil, the “liquid gold” of Morocco, to retail shelves, making it the first affordable and complete line for ethnic hair.
“We constantly listen and learn from our customers, and we heard a resounding call for more Certified Organic Argan Oil products at an affordable price that would add shine and hydration to their hair,” said Teneya Gholston, Marketing Manager for Creme of Nature. “The expansion of the Creme of Nature Argan Oil line is jam-packed with products that we believe will help our customers achieve the healthy, shiny, hydrated and well-conditioned hair they crave.”
Headlining for the Argan Oil line expansion is the nutrient-rich Oil Treatment (3 oz). Likely the most affordable of its kind, this high-quality, certified organic Argan Oil treatment is comparable to the more expensive versions on the market; yet, it appears at the suggested retail price of only $8.99 at mass retailers. This precious, alcohol-free oil maximizes hair strength and provides intense conditioning. It protects against breakage and repairs dry, damaged hair. It absorbs instantly for long-lasting shine without an oil residue, while smoothing over the cuticle layer to reduce frizz, leaving hair silky soft.
Perhaps one of the most anticipated products in the line is the restorative Moisture & Shine Shampoo (12 oz, $5.29) which brings back the traditional classic sulfate-free Creme of Nature shampoo formula and enhances it with Argan Oil for super hydration and conditioning. This classic shampoo with a new twist restores moisture and delivers intense shine while it gently cleanses the hair. The non-stripping formula will revitalize and strengthen thirsty hair while it detangles and leaves hair soft and manageable. It’s a return to what has made Creme of Nature a consumer favorite for years.
The other item in the line that comes highly requested by Creme of Nature customers is the breakage-preventative Intensive Conditioning Treatment ($5.29) which debuted in a packet. Now, by popular demand, the ultra-rich, deep moisturizing treatment can be purchased in a 12 oz. bottle.
Other product line additions include the following:
Strength & Shine Leave-In Conditioner (8.45 oz, $5.29) is a unique two-phase formula that combines Argan Oil liquid shine and a strengthening protein complex that improves hair strength. Shake it up to activate the product, and watch the protein complex combine with Argan Oil to protect against damage and add luminous shine and moisture.
The Oil Moisturizer (8.45 oz, $5.29) is an oil-rich formula, enhanced with Argan Oil that restores moisture, nourishes deep, protects against the effects of heat styling and strengthens damaged hair. It gives long-lasting softness and shine brilliance.
These new products along with the existing Argan Oil line which includes the Advances Straightening Relaxer, the award-winning Gloss & Shine Polisher, Gloss & Shine Mist, Replenishing Sheen Spray, Intense Conditioning Treatment Packet and Foaming Wrap Lotion are all available at mass retailers nationwide. Log on to www.cremeofnature.com for more details.
