Teen Beauty: 3 Makeup Essentials for Homecoming

Going to your first homecoming? Here are 3 essentials that are fresh and will give you the red carpet, star glow with minimal effort!

Before we get into the makeup essentials and you head out for your night of fun, treat your body to some bronzing lotion/mist! Legs, arms, shoulders.. let them glow!

Sephora's Super Sheen Bronzing Mist, $12(try any item with gold or copper sparkle)

So here are the makeup essentials!

1. Dust your face with a beautiful bronzer like CoverGirl Queen Collection Natural Hue Bronzer, $12.

2. Whether you are jazzing up your eyes with glitter liner or cream shadow, ALWAYS top off the peepers with a fab mascara. Try L'Oreal Voluminous, $7 for dark sooty, long and lush lashes!

3. Pucker up with MAC's lustreglass in Instant Gold, $14. A nice subtle sparkle!

Black Opal True Tone Vitamin Rich Lipsticks

The Fall season brings out the bolder, deeper hues in cosmetics. I love Black Opal's cream stick foundations, but this time I decided to venture into the line to pick up some lipsticks with deeper hues.


I picked up Black Current, Wine Not and Ebony Wine. While these are new to me and interesting, these are 3 of the 10 shades permanently available in Black Opal's True Tone Vitamin Rich Lipstick line.

From l-r: Ebony Wine, Black Current and Wine Not

Black Current

Ebony Wine

The lipsticks have a bit of moisture, shine and rich pigment. The red really stain your lips (as you can see when I didn't line up the Black Current swatch and needed to wipe it off)!

Since my lip game isn't tight-- making sure there are no patches, that I've exfoliated my lips, etc., the pigment of the lipsticks aren't evenly spreaded over my lips.I'm going to prime my lips and make sure they are baby bottom smooth before trying these again.

Have you ever tried any of Black Opal's lipstick? Have a favorite color? Share! Want to try? Black Opal is now 25% off at CVS!

Black Enterprise Mag featured...

No not me, but our creative team's photographer/creative director, Leonard Poteat was! Uh, yeh not for his photography nor our team's group work, but for his experience buying a short sale/foreclosed home. Pretty cool huh? I honestly expected a bubble in a corner, but to my surprise he got a whole page! Check him out in October's issue of Black Enterprise Magazine, p. 21.

Oh yeh, I did his makeup.. hehe ;)

Makeup for my sister Jess

(Sorry FB fam since y'all already saw these pics!)

I recently had an opportunity to do makeup for my sister, Jessica. If she ever slows down a sec to let me do her makeup, she always asks for a neutral look. It baffles me that that's her request as everything about my sister is out there and bold. Look, at her locs!

I gave her a neutral with a little kick. Well a kick that would be pleasing to her minimal makeup taste.

I know I wanted to put her look on the blog, but I cannot remember what I used on her! Eeks! I based her eyes with painterly paint pot and put a neutral off white-ish shadow on her lids, soft brown and a shimmering brown like MAC's Mulch eye shadow on her crease area. My sister doesn't really have a crease, so that presents a challenge. I didn't want to close up her eyes too much, so i smudged a dark shadow at her lashes to sub for liner. I used a black liner on her waterline and a bronze liner below and smudged. L'Oreal Voluminous Defining mascara on lashes. (I should have put some false lashes on her! The best way to bring out eyes without lots of color!) I used a MAC Stick Foundation on her (NC45). For her cheeks I used Maybelline's blush in Almond Love. Her pout was polished in a pinkish nude with MAC's Hug Me lipstick. (I LOVVVEE that lipstick on her!)

Milani jumps on the baked bronzer bandwagon!

CVS Shopping list: prescription, panty liners, soup and Advil
Why do I still make my way through the makeup aisle?

Milani's TANtastic Face & Body Baked Bronzer (approx. $10) not on Milani's website yet, sigh
Comes in two colors #1 and #2

I didn't buy it because I have at least 10 items I can think of off the top of my head that are similar in my stash. I will say that it looks a bit 'foily' meaning it might not be as much of a refined powder and will deliver ultra, almost metallic shine (since it is a face AND body product?) Well, I haven't tried it myself, so I'm not positive.

Have you tried it? *Heads over to Nouveu Cheap as she's always got the scoop on drugstore buys!*

Ten Year High School Reunion FOTD

I've been under the weather lately and even more exhausted from doctor visits. I'm pulling through, but I wanted to tell you all about my 10 year high school reunion!

Who would've thunk I'd be facing my 10 year high school reunion so soon?! Yep, came and gone a few weekends ago! So many ideas and expectations when people talk about high school reunions... Career? Family? Kids? Accomplishments? Achievements? What did I have to say for myself in 10 years? Ah well, I put on my best face and a cute dress I hadn't worn yet, put all of that behind me and just went!

Here's what I came up with:
Y'all I use the same ol', same ol' on my face Revlon ColorStay Foundation, Sunny by Natures MSF
(MAC unless otherwise stated)
On my eyes- Painterly paint pot as a base, Swish eye shadow on lid, Plum Dressing eye shadow in my crease and Beauty Marked eye shadow on the outer v and lower lash. Penultimate liner on top lid, L'Oreal HIP's black liner in Amethyst Black on waterline, Red Cherry lashes (forgot the number).
On my cheeks-Sunny by Nature MSF, On a Mission blush
On my lips- Dazzleglass cream in Soft Dazzle and Maybelline ColorSensational l/s in Yummy Plummy slicked on top!

I didn't have a college sweetheart or a current lust to show off, so I bought the next best thing.. one of my sisters! So glad that I went! I sincerely had a great time. I hadn't smiled and laughed so hard in a while. I didn't even have as much time with people to try to go into what I've been doing for the last 10 years... just living and glad I have a job in this current economy! ha! I was definitely recruiting the last of civilization to get on Facebook if they weren't already so we could keep in touch!
Have you had your 10 year high school reunion? You don't have to tell your age if you don't want to ;) I'm learning to embrace it and go with it!

Sally Beauty Supply for the professional-- Client Profile Book

Makeup artists need to present a professional image when dealing with clients. During a consultation, you collect information that you need to reference later on. Stay organized! To do that, one of these little babies from Sally Beauty Supply comes into play-- a Client Date Profile Organizer. ($12.39)
This refillable binder comes in black, as well as with an alpha index option. (These pics were grabbed from Sally's site, but I don't remember seeing the 'client data profile organizer' emblazened on the front)

Organizer refills ($8.69) Refills are custumized for different clients: nail, skin, and hair.

This was such a neat find! I have a leather porfolio that I carry to consultations with client profile sheets, cards, a notepad and pen. If I didn't have that already, I would have definitely picked this up!

Go further! Grab a Gift Certificate booklet! ($6.59)

Are there other companies that you like that offer similar products? Let me know!

Tips for Dark Circles

Ditch Dark Circles and Puffiness for Good

Use these expert tips to treat and camouflage your annoying eye issues the right way

When eye cream or concealer alone won't do the trick, you may need to look into other options when it comes to treating and masking dark circles and puffiness. Whether they're a result of genetics or lack of sleep, too much sun or alcohol, these tricks -- courtesy of dermatologist Dr. Heidi Waldorf and New York City-based makeup artist Tina Turnbow -- will help you zap them for good, and disguise them like a pro until they're gone. See tips

A Touch of MAC Trend F/W '09

I picked up only lippies so far from the new MAC Collections... everything else was sold out =p

The first pic, I'm wearing Runway Fave gloss on my lips- an opalesque gray/light lavendar?
I paired it with a neutral brown light smokey eye. Hmm, the gloss looks quite powdery white/milky pink. It can be, but I had more of a light lavendar, opal sheen to my lips in real life (not too many layers!)
Before I washed off my face of the day, I added a touch of So This Season lipglass over my old Runway Fave. It brightened the color just a bit and primed my lips some what. I'm in love with So This Season, but the pigment settles in my lip lines.. ugh!

I know I need some grease sticks and mineralized eye shadows in my life, but what are your fave lippies from the collections? Combinations? Lippies in general?

*p.s. I was gonna make this Lipstick Week, but I guess I'll post when I post! Just look out for more lip focused posts coming up! Ha!

Our work made it in an ad!

Remember this shoot? One of the photos made it into an ad for Council Magazine!

Council Mag- Council Magazine is a quarterly magazine with the same clientele its website serves, which are 21- to 35-year-old women who are fashion-minded. They shop and seek the latest fashion trends, sexy apparel, fashion events, career/health advice and social commentary. Although the magazine has a national circulation area, it mainly serves the Washington, D.C., region. It is owned by Council Communications L.L.C.

Nails! A Nail Event & Nail News!

My Recent Nails: OPI's Mod About You is my all time favorite. I rarely get a color more than once, but I love this and it closed out my summer colors for me.

My first dark color welcoming the Fall season. Orly's Enchanted Forest is apparently green and so pretty and shiny!

My current color, Nina Pro's Purple-xing. Brooke made me do it! I love it!

(Please click to enlarge!)

An NYC Nail Fanatic event.... I'm going! Are you?


ZOYA NEWS! Zoya Nail Polish is on Facebook and Twitter. There is currently a special promotion posted on the "Wall" of Zoya's Facebook page, so become a fan and check it out. Zoya on Facebook!

We also have special "TWEET BUYS" and Twitter only promotions, so follow Zoya and get the latestand greatest.

Zoya's Twitter!
(Trust me, it works! I've won the Zoya Color Lock system by following them!)

Lipstick Quickie!

Ok, this is not a beauty shot. So let's not judge, okay? However, I just wanted to show you my little surprise after trying on my latest, cheap thrill ;) If you follow me on Twitter, you might have already seen this. What? Not on Twitter yet? Get to it honty! twitter.com/yummy411


The lipstick being blue and cheap are the known factors, but the surprise? It's of decent quality, pigmented, not prone to terrible bleeding around the lips, even coverage, not super thick, but not slippery... what is it? Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers lipstick (Halloween collection)! It even has a touch of purple iridescence! So glad I picked this up and a black lipstick!


Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers lipstick at your local CVS, $1.99 currently 25% off!


Have you tried these?

RHOA on Ellen!

I may be ultra late on this, but sorry... I work full time (daytime) and no TiVo/DVR. Blasphemy? Oh well, that's what YouTube is good for ;)

Either way, I enjoyed this clip of Ellen. If you haven't seen it, you will enjoy it too. Only Ellen can take a band of dysfunctional friends and make it into a bowl of laughter. Not makeup related at all, but I wanted to share.



Check out this article by Essence.com with Kim Z from RHOA on her current status and Kandi losing her ex-fiance.

Best Tinted Moisturizers!

Hmmm, maybe I should see about compiling a list of the best tinted moisturizers for women of color..??

Tip: Remember, if you have combination skin, you may still want to set your tinted moisturizer with a translucent/setting powder.

Top 13 Tinted Moisturizers

From Laura Mercier to Olay, check out the goods that keep our readers' skin pretty and protected

Looking for a miracle product that will combine sunscreen, moisturizer and even out skin tone? It's actually not far-fetched at all! The tinted moisturizers on this list do all that and more. See which ones TotalBeauty.com readers love the most. Here's to hitting two (or rather, three) birds with one stone! See products

No. 13: Jane Nearly Foundation Tinted Moisturizer, $4.99

TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 8.5

One reader says, "it's wonderful for women with pink undertones to their skin," while another loved how it made her skin look tan ...

No. 12: Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, $42

TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 8.7

"It is very natural, so you don't look like you are wearing any makeup. You simply look like you have beautiful skin ..."

No. 11: Clarins Hydra-Care Tinted Moisturizer SPF 6, $42

TotalBeauty.com average reader rating: 8.8

"Even if you have clear skin already, this will even out your skin tone ..."

Want to see what's no. 1? Click here!

Hard Candy at Walmart!

A little while ago, I got the word that Hard Candy would now be making its way to our local Walmarts. A high end brand, straight off the shelves of Sephora to our affordable Wally World!
Oooh yum! Painted Lady Manic Shine Intense lip color, Eye Tattoo and Balm Girls Tinted Lip Balms, Just Nails polish with the little plastic heart rings, Eye Candy shadows and Fortune Gloss with a tiny Magic 8 ball!

Delicious right? It could have been rumors or marketing intended for another area (as usual). Imagine my surprise when I saw this in my neighborhood Walmart:
No time to mourn the loss of Max Factor from US shores (or for Walmart staff to completely remove the Max Factor display)... Hard Candy has moved in! The line looks so fun and exhilirating! I didn't go snap happy at the display as I didn't want to look like the drugstore paparazzi =p I was drooling though, wanting to buy up everything!

Here's what I picked up: Bombshell (128) baked blush and Crush lipstick

I used Crush lipstick on this night out and FOTD

(Sweet! No animal testing!!)

Swatches: Bombshell blush on left, Crush lipstick on right

The Hard Candy baked blushes are .28oz compared to MAC baked mineralized blushes that are .11oz. Don't get me started on the price comparison! Well, Hard Candy baked blushes are $7. Yes, you read that right, $7.

The line's design is super cute with an Ed Hardy feel. I'm anxious to try more. As for the products I bought and tried, I'm loving them! You can use the blushes wet or dry. On me, the blush is pretty intense dry. The lipstick isn't super thick and creamy, but it does have a nice feel (not a lot of slip, thank goodness!) and great pigmentation. I think Crush might be a popular color (oh and she has a kick azz review of the line!)

Have you gotten your hands on any Hard Candy at your Walmart? Tell me, tell me all about it!

The Pretty Committee Meet up September!

Hi lovelies!

The Pretty Committee met up at Indulj on the famous U Street Corridor for a fab sunday brunch with live grown and sexy go-go.

(*Go-go is the local music genre in DC. Many of the local, urban bands are go-go bands. For our more sophisticated night, the band covered artists such as Sade, Jay-Z and more!)

Our theme this month was Sex and the City- channeling our favorite character or over all fabulousness to feel sexy in the city! Nikkia stepped out with a classic Ruby Woo, glam, red lip. I chose copper glitter and pink with pink ruffles!

Look who we met up with at Indulj! Tia, ArTiastryMUA for the twitter folk or ArTiastry, another DMV area blogger and makeup artist.

Sheryl also came out! Not being from DC, but Baltimore, I hope the Go-go didn't grind her ears! lol

Sunday brunch at Indulj was a great event. It's a small intimate space with great southern food. They make a mean peach martini and the brunch special is $25 bottomless mimosas. To be sure to get a seat, getting in before 6 is highly suggested. After, entry is free before 6pm, but the party really starts around 7pm. The crowd is jumping by 8-9pm. Being a mom a Sunday night party isn't my thing, but it was nice to experience and have a ladies night out ;)

Here we are outside of the club. Yeh, had to edit with the black block. Didn't want my vijay-jay underarms to ruin our picture!

A quick photo in the car, before returning to mommy land!

The face I wore to the meet up:

Revlon ColorStay Foundation in Rich Tan

Ben Nye translucent powder

Painterly paint pot as a base

Copper reflects glitter, used wet on lids, inner corner and bottom lid

Passionate eye shadow in the crease

Carbon eye shadow in the outer v

Penultimate liquid liner in Rapid Black

L'Oreal Liquid Eye Kohl in brown on bottom lash/waterline

MAC lashes #42

On a Mission Blush

Sunny by Nature MSF

Beet Lipliner

Hard Candy lipstick in Crush (*more on this later!!)