Black history through a magazine editorial

The magazine editorial is titled "...Than a Brown Paper Bag."  If you are African American you may know what this means.  The "paper bag test" within the African American community is a symbol of racism within race.  At one time, people had to check their skin color at the door to gain entrance in a certain parties or organizations.  Only if you were the color of or lighter "than a brown paper bag" were you admitted.  This practice left its mark on African American cultural and lingers in modern times.  Check out Wikipedia's reference here.

For more information on this editorial and my latest work with amazing photographer Leonard Poteat, check out his blog The Close Up.  When we work together we make magic!

While you guys are at it, check out this post  that shows some more work that I'm pretty proud of!

Beyonce Covers Bazaar UK

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Kinda feeling like a rockstar....

The August issue of Glamour highlights some of our favorite fashion bloggers. Since I'm mainly beauty I didn't recognize them all right away, but I def knew Gabi Fresh of the Young, Fat and Fabulous fame! She's rocking my bucket bag purse!


My dad brings me old girlie mags that he get while at work... This time, he scored a good one with Gaga on the front of May's issue of Harper's Bazaar. I got a closer look at her nails inside. Don't those nails look familiar?? I know lots of people aren't feeling that look on the nails, but...

Kinda feeling like a rockstar right now... hehe

Nicki M does ELLE Mag!

I was perusing Gorgeous in Gray and saw my girl Nicki... smch... I DIE!

The liner is sooooo me! Perfected!

The hair! The boots! *sigh* She killed this one, keeping it classy, edgy and all around fab!
Check out more over at Gorgeous in Gray

Rihanna Covers Vogue April 2011

Rihanna and I have this love-dislike relationship, totally one sided. I saw this mag on the newsstand and it was breathtaking. I threw it in my cart. Not sure if I'm interested in the inside, I just LOVE the cover. Sorta reminds me of one of my favorite Beyonce covers.


What do you think of Rihanna's new cover?

Ebony November 2010 Cover

Complete fabulousness! Ebony's covers since President Obama's election have been hot! I need to subscribe for the covers alone! They are all masterpieces worthy of being framed! Mary's hair! Taraji's dark lip! Nia's happy stance.. just wow!

Was that enough exclamation marks for you? Hehe. Can't wait to grab this! Thanks Muthafynest!

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 ;)

Kim K is now a Beauty Editor!

Kim K will now be a contributing beauty editor at OK! magazine. The scoop is that she has a 3 year contract. What do you all think of this?

Essence April 2009

1. The cover is pink!
2. It's not Beyonce (as much as I love her) nor Will and Jada. Yeh!
3. Iman is ageless. period.
4. Feeding my obsession with Taraji
5. Au naturale!
6. They have the perfect pink stained look on their lips and cheeks, like what I'd expect out of Smashbox O-glow
7. Flawless skin and not overly done brows
8. Taraji's bob!

Do you have this issue? I couldn't get past the front cover.. okay I did. Only to get stuck on the Essence.com preview page. Hot damn! Go girl!!!!!!!!!!! I'm beaming with pride. THEN, I had to go all the way to Tia's page just to realize she penned the cover story! Ahhh, this is a special edition of Essence for me!

Yummy411: Derm Day!

Notice anything different? No, not the makeup, or a different day, or that I'm looking in different directions.... ok..... don't notice anything really? My skin tag is gone!!!!

You didn't notice? Neither did my family, who were the same ones constantly reminding me of it!

Don't know what a skin tag is?

It's that little thing right there! (ref: red arrow!)

In this pic, it looks like the other small pimples/moles on my face, but from a good angle it appeared to be a long booger or a gross spud on a potato.. or as the doc said, 'wart-like'. Babyyum often played with it or I was constantly on the verge of detaching it myself.

I told you guys previously in my hyperpigmentation post that I did with the help of Mischo Beauty, that I was visiting a dermatologist. Wednesday was that day. I had 3 things to address (and a few things to sneak in for you guys!):
-my dark, itchy underarms (sorry tmi)
-a good facial regimen for my periodic pimples
-my skin tag

Here are the answers to my concerns:
1) Dark, itchy underpits
Culprit- shaving and ingrown hairs
Solution- a topical lotion (Cordran Lotion) to address the itchiness, with a menthol cooling sensation. I was told not to shave to keep from irritating the skin further and making ingrown hairs. No waxing, anything. Laser hair removal and African American skin don't mix. Just clip the hair down with scissors... Q: Nothing for the darkness? A: It would take too long to get rid of that.
Me: wtf?!

Why underarm hair anyway? An ancient mating sign to help trap our natural scent (to regulate temps and to protect those areas.) Aha! No wonder pregnant women sometimes have trouble finding good deo. Like me on birth control =(

2) A good facial regimen for my periodic pimples
Culprit- the monthly, didn't get a real answer......
Solution- a sulfur, gentle face wash, a non alcoholic toner (Azulen lotion), use a light facial moisturizer with spf, don't do a lot of exfoliating, not even the daily microbeads. Q: Even for people that wear full faces of makeup often? A: Yes.

Me: Wtf? Hard to hear, but I've actually heard it before.

3) Skin tag

Culprit- no actual reason, possibly hereditary

Solution- "We'll take care of that in the front room."

Me: OMG!

My Skin Tag Removal Experience

Some people get the tags removed, others feel they fit in with the rest of their moles. I was there and they could take care of it in the front room. Didn't seem like too much trouble. I was nervous, but the assistant told me that the GYN is worse. LOL.

1. Sat on the table.

2. With a slim instrument with a small, metal loop at the end, (I tried to search for names/pics of this instrument with no success.) she cut and burned the tag off in about .02 seconds.

3. Opened my eyes.

4. I was done!

5. Bad feeling that I will get a bill because my insurance more than likely won't cover this.. oh sh**

The Good- I got rid of my skin tag and my issues aren't really that serious.

The Bad- I didn't get good insight to my issues like hyperpigmentation and what to do about it! The quest continues!

Until then, you guys should really check out the May issue of Essence with Laila Ali and her oh so sexy new man on the cover. There is a fabulous article on skin care for women of color (pg. 176). They even talk about the forbidden skin treatments for women of color and how we can partake! I have to revisit it myself!

Yummy411: On Makeup Mag; Coastal Scents Brushes

I got my first On Makeup Magazine a little while ago and didn't have a chance really to take in the information from the pages until now. When I first got it, I didn't see a book full of photos, but more text than anything. Being rather new to the makeup biz, I'm first attracted to inspiring images. However, this time around I read some of that text and read some great interviews and tips. I'll have to carry it in my work bag so that I can read it when I have a moment or two on the Metro. There's a lot to read and learn. Oooh and there's a section on Burlesque artists and makeup! Info on more people than Dita von Tease.. yay! Do you have a subscription? What do you think so far?





I got my order of Coastal Scents makeup brushes today! Finally! I was hoping to purchase a complete second set, one for clients and I can keep my personal set just for me.

I ordered: (*Highlights of the bunch are in bold.)

-Duo fibre stippling brush (I ORDERED PINK AND GOT BLACK.. I'M SO SAD!! It's $8 so I'll order again, but dang! I want my pink brush. My order says PINK!..well at least I thought!
-Supreme Synthetic 15pc brush set w/ case
-Pink kabuki
-Italian Badger Buffer Brush Large
-Large Paddle Face brush (like MAC's 134)
-Chisel fluff /pointed crease duet brush
*These highlights are based on my first impressions. I haven't used all of them fully yet.

Italian Badger is soft and dense, but firm enough. I love that. I've noticed that synthetic hair bristles that are supposed to be super soft, aren't as firm to move the product like I like. What do you all think?

The Large Paddle Face Brush should be a winner! Think of a huge MAC#239 and a powder brush in one! I'm guessing that this would provide great powder coverage for those that like to wear powders only (Nikkia pinpointed this one, so order this from Coastal Scents first Nikkia!)

The chisel fluff and pointed crease duet brush is nice. Although I found it in two *sad face* the shader half picks up color nicely and the pointed crease half can be comparable to a tiny #224 blending brush (not as pointed as though.) A little super glue will be okay.

Next, I'm looking forward to ordering the mini badger brush set and my pink stippling brush!! Grrr!

Any favorite Coastal Scents brushes I should add to my next order?

Yummy411: CoCoa Chic on Women, Race & Beauty

Since Blogger has been acting up all weekend for me, not letting me upload pics nor completing the process for me to leave comments, I'm forced to do a no pic post today. So I have an FOTD post coming soon =)

Either way, I wanted to share an article that I read over at CoCoa Chic. This article is about a roundtable discussion which took place in response to the media attention and uproar that a junior editor of Glamour mag caused when talking to women at a law firm about what's apropriate and professional for work. One of the no-no's? Natural hair and locs. Glamour has come under fire for the mishap.

The roundtable discussion, called Women, Race & Beauty: A frank conversation about our culture's standards-- and how real women are confronting them in their everyday lives included some highly noted speakers from the beauty biz and scholars alike: celeb makeup artist, Mally Roncal; exec editor of Essence magazine, Vanessa Bush; founder of Carol's Daughter, Lisa Price; and associate professor of sociology at Texas State University, Barbara Trepagnier, PhD to name a few. CoCoa Chic does a great job of summarizing the conference and sharing info that was obtained with us. Check it out here!

Yummy411: Makeup and Reality TV

So everyone talks about The Hills and other pop culture reality tv. Apparently, too many folks are interested in Pepa's bad facelift. To this day, most of the hits I get on my site are for that one post when I was shocked to see Pepa's facelift. Since then I haven't seen much tv, as I don't get to watch as much as I'd like. My at-home status tonite granted me access to all the shows. I was able to catch up on a few reruns... of course watching for fab makeup all the way! =)



Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is- Season 2
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Keyshia's makeup. She rocked a smokey eye one set, a turquoise eye that matched some slouchy suede turquoise boots the next-- the makeup was just fierce! I'm desparately seeking the makeup artist that contributed to her show this go around. A lot of times, makeup artists are so devalued that they get no love. I'm on a quest to find out who this person or team is!
Recap: Keyshia's sister, Neffy, goes to therapy to hash out some issues and to a gyn appointment, finding out that she's expecting her 4th or 5th child. I can't keep up as I don't get to watch much television. She is married to a guy behind bars, with whom she has a turbulent history, but her 'on the side' activity has caught up with her. Keyshia has a big listening party down in Miami for her new album. Her mom surprises her to join in on the fun as it is her mom's birthday as well. Her mom didn't feel well received, but Keyshia says it's all love.

I love Keyshia and how she's matured since the last season. Since reconnecting with her fam and mom, she doesn't care that they are recovering from drug abuse and other issues, just having them alive and well is good enough for her. Her mom was really cutting a rug at the listening party and would have put me to shame, but for Keyshia she was glad that her mom was having a good sober time.

Sunday's Best
They have narrowed the competition down to four fantastic finalist- three ladies and one gentlemen. No makeup to take note of here, but people went Pentacostal in the house and had church in the middle of competition! Praise God!

American Gangster
Jeff Fort was profiled on this edition.

BET College Hill: Interns
I'm on a mission for the makeup artist on this set as well. I want to think that many of the girl's do their own makeup, but they usually have brows that are on point. The most impressive has been the makeup of Kathy. She uses vibrant colors that compliments her style and eye shape. I love it! Did you catch my last post about Cover Girl's Queen Collection Natural Hue Foundation? I'm sure the clip was planted, but Tionna was using it! I was so excited to see that, as I'm a fan of their makeup.
Recap: (These shows were reruns.) We find out that the fundraiser for BET's Rap it Up competition was won by the Red team. Letia's boyfriend is her main motivator for keeping her on the show (wtf?) and is the same person about to get her kicked off because at this point she cares more about her relationship than her participation on the show. Kathy's sexuality is challenged as she tries to back up her claim of her sexual level being higher than anyone else's. She takes on her flirting partner Kasheef. That's all the show needed- a lesbian licking on a hot guy!

People give this show bad reviews, but it keeps me entertained!

BET had me on lock tonight, but when American Gangster and licking lesbians got too much for the Disney watchers, I flipped over to MTV for my fav.... RUN'S HOUSE!

Run's House
The show starts with Angela at a photoshoot with Omarion and Bow Wow, where she gets the big idea that she loves what she's doing and wants to start her own mag. Guess who's on set? Danessa Myricks. At my beauty school, she's a super star. I'm all too familiar with her name, so seeing her in action was a treat!
Recap: Angela thinks that her Yorshire dog, Juicy, is pregnant so the dog goes to the vet and gets an x-ray. This is also the time that the family is opening up and talking to Russy about the birds and the bees .. er.. female dogs and male dogs lol. Diggy wants to start his career in the entertainment world like Chris Brown,, dancing while Angela who works for Word Up! magazine wants to start her own. She works on planning a launch party before the actual magazine... umm?

Aaahh the joys of tv. Now I must retire folks! Good night!

Women's Health Magazine

Check out Women's Health Magazine this month for nifty fragrances in your not-so-traditional packaging. (I personally have and love my CK Euphoria gel in a pump.) Also, check out in this month's issue how to care for your skin... shield it from the damaging particles from our environment.

Happy reading ladies!

May Issue of Glamour Highlights

My Glamour finally came a little while ago. It's such a peeve of mine to see mags on the newsstands before I get mine in the mail. Anyhow, I got the mag and it's a pretty decent issue. Kate Beckinsale is on the cover looking young, fresh and all-American. The mag makes me yearn for summer.

Here are some highlights:
*Great swimsuit choices for all body types... and they show real bodies..120lb bodies-200 lbs bodies! Glamour rocks for keeping it real! (swimsuit special pgs. 110-120)

gap.com

Tommy Hilfiger

*Along with the fun in the sun looks, they advise readers of the dangers of the sun and the importance of SPF. Sun burns contribute to skin cancer. (skin cancer handbook pgs. 129-146)

*Body by Glamour- cool tips on eating healthy and making it a lifestyle. A body toning routine and a month's worth of food planning. Best tip: Keep a food journal.. not in a pad, but take pics of what you're eating with your cell phone! You'd think I would have thought of this... lol (body by glamour pgs. 153-163)

*A great autism story, since we're upon autism awareness month (life & happiness- open diary, pg. 196)

*Fragrance guide! With some suggestions that may surprise you and some that I definitely want to try like YSL's Young Sexy Lovely (pgs. 282-285)

*The Glamour global diaries is always a must read as Mariane Pearl tells stories of amazing women as she globe trots.. this time going to Uganda and experiencing the AIDS epidemic. (pgs. 230-234)

*Coupon to finally try Revlon's makeup eraser pen! I've definitely been curious..