Staple Beauty Products

Hi beauties!

I hope you all had an awesome weekend. I wanted to do a post about my staple beauty products. These are the products I use pretty much on an every day basis that I’m really loving right now.

Maybelline Dream a Liquid Mousse

This is my foundation preference lately. It provides great coverage and isn’t really heavy.

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L’Oreal Voluminous Butterfly Mascara

After about two coats this waterproof mascara really gives me great length and volume.

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BH Cosmetics 26 Color Neutral Eyeshadow & Blush Palett

I absolutely love this palett! The colors are beautiful and so versatile. The only thing it’s missing is a contour pod.

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Rimmel Exaggerate Eyeshadow Primer

My shadow really pops with this primer and stays on all day without a problem

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Elf Liquid Eyeliner

This is a pretty basic liquid liner but does a great job for me.

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The Multitasker Milani Face Powder

I love this product! It’s great for freshening up my face mid day.

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NYX Mineral Matte Finishing Powder

If you saw my “NYX Love” post you know how much I love this stuff! Amazing

Milani Flirty Fuchsia Lipstick

Ok so I may not wear this every day but it is definitely my favorite color this summer. Very pretty!

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I think that about covers it! What are some of your everyday staple beauty products?

Serving a little twist out definition today

On the natural hair style menu today we have a simple updo with a little twist out definition up front.

Just after posting a blog entry about saving time by not setting my hair at night anymore I decided to test my theory again. Yep! It’s still true.

I spent about twenty minutes last night twisting my hair. I did some smaller twists up front and chunky twists in the back.

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This morning I get up and got to work on trying to figure out how to style this mane of mine. After about 25 minutes of playing with different ideas I finally find one I’m happy with. Here’s the final look today and the step by step:

To achieve this look I set my hair the night before with about twelve small twists in the front and eight chunky twists in the back. I used Shea Moisture Curl & Style milk and Eco Styler gel for the twists.

In the morning I unraveled all of the twists. I separated the chunky twists started on the right side and twisted/tucked the hair up and around. Then I placed a few bobby pins to secure the hair. The front smaller twists were swooped to the side and secured with a bobby pin. That’s it!

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While I truly love the final look I think I’ll reserve setting my hair at night for just a few times a month when I’m craving curl definition. Other than that I think I’ll keep my half hour at night and spend it with this little guy ❤

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Decide & Style In 25 – Hair Essentials

I give myself no more than twenty-five minutes in the morning to figure out what I’m going to do with my hair and then get it done. There was a time in my natural hair journey when I would set my hair almost every night with twists or braids. I thought that it helped me get ready faster in the morning. What I’ve learned since I stopped spending that half hour prepping my hair at night is that it still takes me about the same amount of time to style my hair in the morning.

Now as a bit more tenured naturalista I take that half hour at night and spend it with my family, but that wouldn’t be possible without my quick and easy styling essentials. So, here they are:

Shea Moisture Curl & Style Milk

I always start with this and some water. It helps to quickly detangle and moisturize my hair. I also use my Denman brush pictured in the next step for detangling.

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Hair Ties and Bobby Pins

Then it’s on to one or both of these. I almost always use a hair tie to manage my styles.

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Eco Styler Gel

I know you’re probably wondering about that toothbrush pictured above. I use that bad boy in conjunction with an Eco Styler Gel. These two items are the key to getting my edges to lay and stay!

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That’s it! Those are my quick and easy styling essentials that go into achieving my various twisted up do’s each week. I love that I’m able to be so creative in such a short period of time with so few products. What do you use in the mornings to get your hair ready for the day?

This Happened Today

I have been craving for a trip to Walgreens so I finally make the trip today and what do I find?! Shea Moisture products on sale by one get one free!! Unfortunately for me they were all out of the curl milk. So…I’ll be off to another Walgreens until I find it and can take advantage of this awesome sale.

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After being slightly disappointed I made a stop at CVS and picked up this
NYX matte lip gloss.

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I’ve been wanting to try it out and I’m glad I did. I have mixed feelings about the color but I love the concept of matte lip gloss. I’ll definitely try more colors. Here are some pics.

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Wash & Go: Still Awesome

Sooo…I’ve been doing a lot of fun buns after my mini twist natural hair introduction to my new coworkers. This week I decided that I wanted to showcase some more natural hair versatility and thought I’d do a wash and go. It’s been a couple of months since I’d done one and can I just say that was entirely too long!! I have totally re-realized how much I love this style!

I ran out of my Eco Styler gel with Aragan Oil so hubby picked up the Krystal Eco Styler which I had never tried. I rely on the Aragan and Olive oil versions of this product to help combat flaking so I wasn’t sure if this one would do the same.

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I am very happy to report that I’ve had absolutely no flaking! Today is my 3rd day wearing the wash and go. Here’s how the look has progressed.

Day 1

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Day 2

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And Day 3

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But last night, I was totally feeling my hair. And so naturally I went ahead and did a selfie photo shoot staring none other than my wash and go!
So, for your viewing pleasure! Lol

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NYX Love

I’ve fallen in love! I purchased the NYX Mineral Matte Finishing Powder a couple of weeks ago and I am so glad I did. This stuff is amazing! The finish that it gives my final look is so fresh. I new I had come across something special when even my husband noticed a difference. He loves it too and he prefers a more natural look. Yep! This is definitely a new staple.

Here are some pics from today. Totally fresh faced with no filter. Sported a wash and go today too! It’s been a while since I did one. Totally forgot how much I love them.

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A Night of Coral Black & Inspiration

So…Saturday night I met up with an old friend and co-worker of mine who also to my surprise lives in Atlanta!

For my outfit I paired a high-low coral dress with some black leggings a black and silver belt and my black and metallic Carlos Santana heels. I kept the hair simple with a super high bun.

We had a great time catching up and indulging in some wine and dinner at a nice spot called Twist. Unfortunately for me she’ll be moving back to NY soon to embark on a new adventure. She is fearless and inspires me so much.

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Last Week’s Best Hair!

Happy Sunday Beauties :o)

Just finished giving God glory at Sunday service and wanted to catch up on some blog posts.

Last week was another week of twisted awesomeness for my hair. I had some pretty decent creations but this was by far my favorite. I’ve been working at taking depth and dimension to the next level with my twisted styles and I absolutely love this one! If I can recreate this I’ll definitely do a tutorial for it.

Here are some pics. Have a blessed day!

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Neon Nike’s and a Flat Twist

Hope you all are having a great Saturday. Mine has been pretty relaxing after a killer workout this morning. Didn’t do much except hit the grocery store so I kept it pretty casual today.

Decided to pull out these neon and gray Nike’s I found at Ross and paired it with some gray leggings and cute neon and gray top I found at Forever XXI. Topped it off with a side flat twist and low bun.

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Happy Independence/National Afro Day!

Hello loves,

I hope that you all enjoyed the 4th. In addition to celebrating our Nation’s Independence it’s also National Afro Day, who new! I sure didn’t. Naturalistas are encouraged to rock their kinky, curly fros in celebration.

Naturally I fully intended on participating. So, last night I put my dry hair in 8 chunky twists and pulled them back in a hair tie in an effort to add some length to my fro for today. I unravelled the twists and brushed them out with my denman brush.

I ended up loving the look but it wasn’t quite full enough to create the fro I was hoping for. Ah well!! Looks like I discovered another way to achieve a blowout look without heat!

Here are some pics

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Fearlessly Authentic