2016 Essence Festival Recap

Hi Luvs,

Where do I begin! This past weekend hubby and I attended the 2016 Essence Festival in New Orleans. I’ve been looking forward to this getaway with him since the beginning of the year. Our last time at the Essence Fest was back in 2009. We had an AMAZING time then and an even better time this year! Let me recap everything for you all.

We left mid morning on Thursday. It’s been years since hubby and I did a road trip together but we had a lot of fun being silly and listening to old school hip hop as we made our way to Louisiana.

We road into Nola after about a 7 hour drive.

The first event of the weekend was a soirée by Dark and Lovely at a cozy lounge called Apres. When we arrived we were greeted by the Dark and Lovely team. I was reacquainted with and also met for the first time some amazing natural hair v/bloggers like @askproy @heycyrlie @naturallyshesdope and @itsdaynadane. I follow these women every day on instagram and so seeing them in person and getting to chat with them was awesome. They’re all so beautiful and down to earth.

I also got a chance to meet Curly Nikki and get a signed copy of her new book When Good Hair Goes Bad. Can’t wait to get in to it!

The next day, Friday we decided to get our first fill of the Expo! Tons of a amazing vendors, celebrity guest speakers, performances authentic Louisiana food and so much more.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back and get ready for the first night of concerts. After getting a little slayful we were ready to head out.

The lineup on Friday consisted of Babyface, New Edition and Maxwell. Tyrese was suppose to be there but he unfortunately got caught up filming. Can’t be too mad. The man does have two movies coming out next summer!

Babyface and New Edition killed it though! So many old hits were sung. Hubby and I jammed out the entire time. We stayed for most of Maxwell’s performance but he was putting hubby to sleep so we did sneak out a little early. Our floor seats were great and really added to the experience.

Saturday after breakfast we went back to the Expo for more celebrity appearances which was great because Tyrese showed up for a surprise performance! We also got to see Andra Day. She has such raw talent.

We also saw a quick but bomb fashion show by Mushiya from the show Cutting it in the ATL. She did a great job. Lots of fros and beautiful black women.

Next we decided to hit up Bourbon Street. We found a few bars with some nice live bands and danced it up a bit.

After that we decided to head back to get ready for Saturday nights concerts. The lineup consisted of Common, Jeremih, Charlie Wilson and Mariah Carey. We were running a little late but were ok as long as we made it to see Uncle Charlie, which we did!

Charlie’s performance was everything! Mariah did pretty good. She showed everyone that she does still have her voice. However, she’s definitely not a performer.