February Beauty Finds

With February being a short month, I didn't buy that much. I'm in the process of switching out all of my brushes and updating my makeup collection. I scored this Sonia Kashuk brush set for $18.99! And let me tell you, that is a steal! This set was the collection around the holidays and I'm sure she's got something cuter coming for Spring. I went ahead and got the holder for it too, since that was also on sale for $6. I am going to be updating my vanity area soon and I need to get more storage for my makeup so I got this. The lippies were a steal too. They're from Wet n' Wild, who I must say have stepped their game up as one of the top drugstore makeup brands for me. I wanted to try the lip crayon and I didn't think it was possible to find any cheaper that the ones that ColourPop sells for $5 but on this particular day when I was in Walgreens, they were on sale 2 for $5! The colors are highly pigmented and really creamy. I have been going for more of a matte lip these days and I love the way these lipsticks stay on all day! Shocking! They were about $3 each. Don't skip out on these drugstore brands because we all know everybody thinks MAC is the Holy Grail in makeup but if you wanna save money and still get great quality, this brand doesn't disappoint. I also picked up an eye pencil from Wet n' Wild too in the color Calling Your Buff. It's a nude color I like to use in my water line. I see a YouTube channel in my future (but I'm not ready yet :-) I'd love to do hauls and show these products in real time!

I already used the foundation brush (ha ha)

Lipsticks : Purty Persimmon and Think Pink

Velvet Matte Lip Color Crayons (I don't have the name of the colors, they were on the wrappers,which I threw away) 

To Loc or not to Loc..that is the question

Okay, so here is the post I've been promising to do for awhile now. Lets talk about locs. I started my locs on August 8, 2015 and combed them out on January 28. That was about roughly five months.

A little background about me and my hair. I'm ALWAYS changing it. I get bored rather quickly and I'm also impatient. Two things you cannot be when starting locs. When I first told people I was getting locs, I got reactions from laughs, side eyes and even bets to see how long it'd last lol. Well..contrary to what most of them thought, I was up to that challenge, or so I thought. I have been natural for almost 5 years now and I believe I'd tried just about every style there was; so I was ready to move on. I was bored with twist outs and buns, the tapered cut (that grew out ) the big afro, etc. and I started off with the big chop so I had the TWA too. Locing really came about by chance, I'll say because I had always thought about it, but just never felt sure enough if I was ready. I knew it was a permanent thing and it was going to take alot of patience. My youngest daughter embarked on her journey to locing in June and I decided to go along with her, hence starting my own. I was really really excited. A lot of things emotionally were happening in my life and I felt I was ready to be constant with my hair..and I was. I did not like them when I first got them; I started out with the comb coils method, but I got as creative as I could with styling as much as I could. I persevered and before I knew it, I saw budding and length! I was getting excited!! I even was able to get pin up styles by my birthday! So what happened??.... Well in all honesty, I got impatient. I kept seeing what I wanted my hair to look like (my goal was to have a bun by the summer) and crazy as it may seem, I just couldn't take it anymore. My stylist had to reschedule my appointment, and my hair had already started itching like crazy; I really didn't know WHEN I was going to get my hair done again. With my loose natural hair, I could maintain that myself; wash it when I wanted to etc. Now I was set on someone else doing my hair, it drove me crazy so maybe out of boredom ( we were in the middle of the blizzard) I combed them out. Even as I was doing it, I kept saying WHY AM I DOING THIS??  I even got a little emotional and I kept psyching myself up looking at pics of my loose natural hair saying yeah, I'm going back...making all these excuses of why I missed my hair. Yeah ok. After about a day to comb them out, I knew I had made a mistake, but what was I gonna do now? So... I sucked it up; went BACK to Target and brought some hair products (something I loved not doing having locs) and twisted my hair. I got all the reactions from everybody, " I knew it wasn't gonna last, I should've bet you, Why?!, What is wrong with you, you don't know what you wanna do to your hair, etc.) But I was prepared for it all. So I told myself, that this was it, I'm happy with my loose hair. Again, yeah ok. I made an appointment to get it straightened just to see how much growth I'd had in the five months of being loc'ed. After I got it done, I literally hated it. I felt like it wasn't me, I looked "older" and I just could not identify with that anymore. Well.. needless to say; against all the naysayers and myself, I'm going back. I will be getting it redone in another week ( my stylist thinks I'm crazy) but I will stick it out this time. There are certain stages in loc'ing that are referred to as the "ugly or the in-between" phase. I was actually at that point, and that's really what did it for me. I felt ugly, unattractive at times, and I'll be honest, I knew that was just my mind bending towards what society has said looks "good". Well, let me tell you, whether anybody believes it or not, I'm going through the fire this time. I'm sticking it out because I know what the outcome will be. I honestly believe that this is teaching me something about myself; about patience and life too. You wont understand unless you've been there and it may sound silly that I'm using my hair as a learning tool, but preparation and growth can come from different areas of life; it just so happens that this go round for me, it's my hair. Stay tuned!

Here are some pics of my hair, I'll call this my first set of locs! :-)

From my birthday in November (it was really cute, sigh)

Right before I combed them out.. See I had length :-(

Another Attempt at Veganism

Hey Everyone! As I've stated before this blog isn't just about fashion; it's about all things that are pretty and lovely, and that includes our bodies. I had been thinking about veganism for quite sometime and I took a 14 day vegan challenge in January. I was pretty excited and I knew that it would definately be a challenge I was up to seeing through. I did the challenge through CrazyUrganVegan. You can find her on IG under that surname or visit her website www.crazyurbanvegan.com.  Everybody has their own reasons for changing their diet or rather incorporating a healthier lifestyle. Mine was simply because I know what food does to you. Eating a cleaner diet not only helps to combat diseases but you feel better. There's so much info on plant based diets right now and I'll say what really brought it home for me was watching the documentary Forks Over Knives. When I truly understood what food was doing to my body, I knew that this was something I had to do. I thought about my father having cancer and realized that diet does contribute to a lot of diseases. Now, I'm not saying that him eating bad foods is what caused the cancer, but we all have to take responsibility for what we put in our bodies because it does have an effect on your overall health. It's always said that African Americans have the highest rate of diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Experiencing my father's illness had got me researching natural remedies and no matter what I came across, it was always "natural food diets". Carrot cleanses, herbs, etc. I could go on and on. Needless to say, I was shocked to find that a plant based diet could do all these things. Cure aches and pains, give you healthier skin. I was in! Besides, I was turning 40, and I wanted a healthier lifestyle anyway so the vegan challenge came right one time. I will not sit and say it wasn't easy. The recipe choices were great and there were times I got so weak, that I almost quit. I ordered pizza (Papa Johns) and wings for my family one night, and I opted to eat a vegan pizza. I had to literally leave the room when they were eating the wings because I wanted one so bad lol. I made it through the challenge and here are some of the benefits I saw.

-I had more energy
-My skin was glowing ( I didn't experience any breakouts during this time)
-I was drinking ALOT of water
-I didn't have any issues going to the bathroom (I know TMI, but I had to say it)
-OVERALL, I FELT BETTER!!

Sooo.. what happened?.. Well, I was so amped and I was all ready to continue with this vegan life; but the deprivation I'd had in just 14 days of not eating sugar and meat had me going crazy! I realize now that my body was simply becoming weaned off all that stuff. All I kept thinking about was a burger; and Im not a burger person like that! Strange! But I wanted it. I fought it as long as I could and lets say about a week later, I was back to my junk again. Slowly but surely, I was incorporating those same junky foods back into my body. WTH??! All that for nothing and that's when I started to see the changes. My skin broke out?.. Huh?.. , I was tired as hell, I think I was even grumpier lol, and I didnt even want to try to work out. During this time, I even combed my locs out ( another story later), but this didnt have anything to do with that. Although, I think if I'd stayed on my vegan diet I may have still been loc'ed. Soooo... I got tired of seeing my face looking crazy, tired of being tired and I HATED the way I felt (guilty, sluggish, sick) after eating Krispy Kreme donuts, pizza, burgers, bacon, and all the junk food I loved and decided this was it! So... I am BACK at another attempt. This time I know what to look forward to. The first go round it felt like unchartered territory. I will take this slow and not rush it, because I know it's a process.  Some may ask why not just become a vegetarian or even another one I pondered; pescatarian?.. I found that I'm really not a fish eater like I thought I was; I like shrimp but not to the point of having to have it. I think I'm better off doing vegan. I will be updating on my progress monthly. I know there will be highs and lows on this journey, but my health is truly a priority for me. I have to make the best effort I can. Wish me luck!!!

Livin' for the Weekend

This look gave me exactly what I needed, casual with a bit of edge. Love these booties I found on Net-a-Porter. I cannot believe how comfy they are! Definitely one of my good picks for late winter shopping! Enjoy the weekend! 

Coat - H&M

Plaid shirt - old

Jeans - Charlotte Russe

Booties - Sam Edelman

Lip color - MAC Russian Red