My Color Obsession

October 8, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

There’s nothing like have a trending style fall totally in line with something you already love. That’s pretty much how I feel this fall about the trending color of cobalt blue, my absolute color obsession. This color is so rich, vibrant and beautiful. I honestly can’t get enough. Spring, summer, fall, winter…whatever! I wear it year round. But how awesome it is to actually have it trend for the fall season this year. As a result, I’ve taken it to the next level because, well, why not! Whenever I have an opportunity to pull this beautiful blue tone into my look, I do it. I especially enjoy using it as a pop of color but am NOT afraid to to pile on the cobalt and pair it with a deep colored lip for a more dramatic look. I am totally looking forward to discovering new ways to wear this great color. I was inevitably going to bring it into my look for fall anyway, it’s just a bonus that it happens to be trending. Rocking my Be You Beauty has never been so fashionably colorful and fierce! Here is a sampling of me styling my ultimate color obsession!

BEAUTY, FASHION, NATURAL HAIR

My Color Obsession

October 8, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

BEAUTY, NATURAL HAIR, SELF LOVE

Done Fearing the Fro

October 6, 2013 writtenintentions 1 Comment

After being natural for going on 3 years now, I’ve FINALLY started to embrace my hair in its fullest state. I know a lot of women who are transitioning and terrified of the fro, feeling like it’s a style that they just couldn’t wear and look good. I felt the same way for a long time. In addition to not thinking I could pull it off, I was under the impression that the fro hadn’t been in style since the 70s. I honestly thought, “Who really wears fros anymore?” Little did I know there was an entire movement of naturalistas fiercely rocking their Be You Beauty. To my defense, when your hair has been relaxed for more than half your life this is the kind of mentality you can be subject to. So even after I decided to take the leap and “somewhat” embrace my natural hair I’d always make sure it was prepped so that it had some type of curl definition whether it was in a braid out, twist out, or defining my natural curl pattern with gel. Well, I am proud to say that the days of feeling the need to do that are gone! I have officially embraced my fro, adding yet another liberating experience to the book of my natural hair journey.

I have to admit there are some key products that have played a big roll in me embracing and loving my fro. The Cantu Leave-in Conditioner and Cantu’s new Hair Lotion have made my fro experience incredible. I am loving these products and have gotten tons of positive feedback on my results. Now, whether it’s actually the look of my fierce fro or the new level of Be You Beauty confidence I’ve achieved that’s bringing this feedback is undetermined and frankly irrelevant. The point is…I feel fearless rocking my fro!

Fo details on how I achieve this fro, check out my YouTube video below. Be You Beauties!

SELF LOVE

Go get pampered woman!

October 5, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

“When was the last time you pampered yourself?” I asked myself this question and completely ran a blank. Between my 9 to 5 and home life I have not really taken any time for myself. Good old meaningful self love me time. Time that I can just relax my body and mind. Time to get pampered. I’d have to say that I am overdo. Am I floating lonely or is any body else in this same boat? I spend 10 hours of my days on a marketing grind at work, thinking up strategies, putting out fires, trying to execute against ridiculous time lines…blah, blah, blah. Then for AT LEAST 3 hours of the day I’m answering the same timeless sweet call “Mommy!”. Love my baby boy to pieces but omgeee! Then I’m trying to get in some genuine QT family time, followed by hubby time and then…it’s repeat time. Oh, and of course there are my few quick 10 minute breaks I use to chat it up with Jesus or escape into my next blog or YouTube concept.

Yep! That’s my life. Pretty awesome actually. But it’s definitely time for some pampering, after all…you can’t take care of anything or anyone else if you don’t take care of yourself first right?

Pampering yourself is a big part of self-care that easily gets lost in between being a mom, wife and building a career. Most women do these three things on overtime, pretty much all the time. So, something has to be done. I have got to schedule some time to love on myself. A massage, facial, spa treatment….something! So, this is my official mental note….it’s time to get pampered woman! And if you’re overdo too…that also goes for you! Do what you need to do in order to keep BEING YOU.

FASHION, NATURAL HAIR

A thrifted jacket & Big hair

October 4, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

Paired this super nice thrifted jacket with this sort of snake skin patterned dress from Macy’s with pops of cobalt and purple. Topped it off with a beat face of purple tones including this incredible lipstick by Revlon VaVa Violet. And I can’t forget this 5 day old wash and go with tons of volume. Love! Happy Friday :o)

BEAUTY, FASHION, NATURAL HAIR, SELF LOVE, Uncategorized

Remember!!!!

Image October 3, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

BEAUTY, SELF LOVE

Red Lips…Scandalous?

October 2, 2013 writtenintentions Leave a comment

In honor of my most favorite season and my current TV obsession which premiers tomorrow(!!!) I thought it would be fun to talk about the scandalous topic of red lips.

As we’ve approached the beautiful season of fall I’ve been particularly drawn to red lipstick because really, what is fall without red!? Now, this is nothing incredibly new for me as I love to adorn my lips in red, but it made me wonder about the translation of a woman in red lipstick and if there is a stigma attached to women who enjoy wearing the bold color on their lips? I did a little research as this seems to be a very popular topic.

Here’s what I learned…

People translate red lips in several different ways. Some think that wearing red lipstick makes a woman intimidating as it tends to exude power, others think that it can enhance your level of confidence and bravery, and then there are those that think red lipstick translates into purse sex appeal and even a heightened likelihood of being more willing to participate in sexual activity. In short…if you wear red lipstick there’s a chance that you could easy.

The Huffington Post did a very interesting article about red lipstick earlier this year that included some very interesting studies about how men and women subconsciously respond to women in red lipstick. Check out the complete article here

PERSONALLY….I think that red lipstick is fabulous. And here are my reasons why:

· I think it looks nice on me

· I LOVE pops of color and nothing pops quite like red lips

· It is timeless and never goes out of style

· It can offer such a classic look and I love classic

· It boosts my confidence

So pretty much, all of the reasons I love red lipstick have nothing to do with anyone but me. At the end of the day the various translations of red lips are meaningless unless I give them merit. As far as I’m concerned wearing red lipstick is just another part of me, being me. And my true BeYou-ty starts there. POW!

BEAUTY, SELF LOVE

Cheers to bare faces!

October 1, 2013 writtenintentions 2 Comments

It’s not often that I’m without makeup. Not because I feel the need to wear it constantly, I happen to genuinely love makeup, especially as a creative outlet. The thing is, this is what tends to happen, I get myself ready in the mornings, put on my makeup, then life proceeds to take over from there and as much as I hate to admit it, I sometimes sleep, yes sleep, in my makeup. Horrible I know. As a result I wake up to an inevitable blemish. Then, I proceed to scold myself about how I know better and then go on to treat my blemishes. It is a vicious, vicious cycle. Well, yesterday morning I was in the midst of yet another one of these cycles, but worse. I woke up to not 1 or 2 but 7 blemishes! I was so disappointed. I made the conscious decision to go the day without makeup. To let my pours breathe for the day which I’m sure was long overdue. And so all day I sported the bare naked face that you see here capturing it in a selfie! The reactions I got were…interesting. Not bad, but interesting. Despite the surprising remarks I got, it was a little liberating to wear a bare face. I mean, it’s my face, mine. It’s not perfect, but it’s mine. So, cheers to the bare faces of women across the world. No matter how fierce of a beat face we accomplish, accepting and loving those bare faces is the beginning of true beauty, the be you kind of beauty.

TJ Luvs Being Natural