Although I have a ton of work that I haven't so much as looked at, I really felt the need to blog, so here goes.
I've decided to get really serious about my hair and skin care routine. My skin is pretty good, but I don't always do my face masks like I should and I sometimes fall asleep before washing my face (gross I know, but hey, I'm being honest).
I am a bit of obsessed with face care especially the anti-aging aspect, and I have a very specific routine that involves an odd mixture of Arbonne, Origins and Prescriptives products with a dash of Neutrogena and Clearsil (it's very high school, but it's the best acne cream I've ever used). I won't get into my complicated routine here, unless someone really wants to know, in which case you can leave a comment and I'll go into it, but I assume most of you aren't interested. I'm taking a cornucopia of vitamins including GNC's Hair, SKin, & Nails formula and drinking 96 oz of water a day. That's it for the skin care.

As for my hair, at this point I am very satisfied with my current length; it allows me some options. I would like to have more length and I am patient about achieving it, partly because I'm comfortable with what I have now, so I'm not watching the pot boil so to speak. But I realize that I am going to have to do more than I am currently doing if I want to grow and retain length. So I've added an Aphogee treatment every six weeks. Hopefully it will cut down on single strand knots.
I decided to back away from the wide tooth comb when detangling because I was worried that it was causing snaps and tears, but finger combing on it's own obviously wasn't enough because there is now a knot circus up there. Thankfully while pursuing Nappturality yesterday I saw a thread about a new Goody's brush. I picked it up today and plan to use it for detangling on Monday. I'll let you all know how it goes :-)
I have tried the Denman brush before, but I felt it too was causing snaps and tears. I'll tell you what though, it removed every single shed hair and the following week's detangling was the quickest it's every been. Now my detangling process is taking upwards of two hours. I just can't handle that! Doing my hair is an all day affair! But I digress. In addition to the protein (Aphogee) treatment, I am going to be consistent about detangling every week. Sometimes life gets hectic and I have to go longer before detangling, but that only makes the process more difficult, so I just have to find the time to sit down and do it.
I made a batch of Moe's Hair Growth Oil, but supped it up by adding Nettle and Rosemary Essential Oil. I plan to massage my scalp every other day or 3x a week. I am also going to reduce how often I wash-n-go in an effort to reduce knots and tangles. Plus it takes forever for my hair to dry.

When it comes to my hair, I love the products in my current rotation but I am looking to diversify so if any of you naturals/nappturals out there have any favorite products, shout 'em out please.

Once I get camera batteries I'll take a picture of my hair in a twist out as a before and after shot. I'd like to get 3/4 inches a month (I don't measure my hair though, I just look at how much my color has grown out) but I'll be happy with 1/2 inch.

And one a cosmetic note: I think my eye shadow application skills have regressed in the last several months. I haven't been wearing makeup as often as I used to and my skills have suffered, so I am making an effort to wear makeup most days of the week. If I'm not too embarrassed about the results I'll post them here.

Take care everybody!

Whew - Part I

I haven't posted in so long it's embarrassing! School and work have been hectic, but don't we all have jobs, work and obligations that suck up all of our time? Yes, of course. But I've made getting back into the blogosphere priority of mine. This is the first in a series of updates about me and what I've been up to in my hiatus, so sit back and enjoy my musings on cosmetics & beauty, politics, and the world as I see it.

So on to one of my favorite topics, Beauty.
I love makeup and beauty products, but there hasn't been a lot that has tickled my fancy in the recent MAC Collections. Fafi, for me, was a yawn. I purchased one lipstick (Flash-N-Dash) and two Paint Pots (Rollickin' and Nice Vice) but nothing else in the collection really jumped out at me. The blushes were too light for my taste. There might have been a way to "Make it Work" as Tim Gunn (Project Runway) would say, but should you really have to make a $17.50 blush work? I think not. The Beauty Powders also seemed light to me, and weren't anything special or more importantly, anything that I needed. And the eye shadow quads were a huge disappointment. I know beauty bloggers went crazy over this collection, but not me. Just one girl's opinion. Fafi is old news anyway.

Now there is a waste of space collection and it's called Heatherette. Admittedly I haven't seen Heatherete in person, but the collection isn't very big so there isn't a whole lot to get wrapped up in. I have seen swatches of the shadow trios and the lipsticks and again I wasn't impressed. That isn't to say you wont be. I am a eye shadow and face product type of girl. I can do without eye liners, and nail polishes, and lip gloss (especially Lipglass, the sticky formula and it's applicator suck, yuck!). That being said, I didn't care about the eye liners or Lipglasses. The lipsticks look too pale, with the exception of Hollywood Nights which is another "Make it Work" shade. The Trio 1 contains a light pink shade, Couldburst (Repromote from Blue Storm) which I already have, and a teal shade that looks like Aquadisiac and Turquatic's love child. Trio 2 has two pink shades (and let me just add, that Twinkle and pinks are just not friends. I can do the occasional Passionate, Swish, or Stars 'N Rockets, but that's about it) and a purple shade. Now I LOVE purple, but not enough to cough up $32.50 for a shadow in a funky pink compact.

And then there is the Beauty Powder Blush Collection. I walked with only one blush from this collection, Serenely. I was sad that it was the only shade that worked for me because I love blush and am always looking to add to my collection. Oh well. More pennies in the piggy bank.

While MAC has been a disappointment (for me) in 2008, I have found other favorites, mainly from my tried and true, the first true love of my makeup life, Prescriptives. I am a HUGE fan on Prescriptives Custom Blend services which includes powder, foundation, lip gloss & lipstick, concealer, and now tinted moisturizer and bronzer. I indulged and got the tinted moisturizer and bronzer and words can not express how pleased I am with them both, especially the tinted moisturizer. I want to wear it every single day. My poor foundation has been neglected. In addition to the coverage and texture of this product being great, there is also the option to add additives such as oil control or a clarifying and evening formula. I have the later, and I have seen a difference in my skin. I love the additive so much that I went back and had a tinted moisturizer made without the tint, and with extra clarifying additive. Crazy, I know. That's me.

Prescripives also finally came out with a *magic Illuminating Cream Potion in Deep Translucent. Actually, I don't know when this was released, but I do know that it wasn't always available in the Deep Translucent or Red Neutralizer shades. Ladies and gentlemen, I love this product. It is less shimmery and obvious that it's sister, the Illuminating Liquid Potion. It glides on effortlessly. I wear it under my powder, tinted moisturizer or foundation and it gives a soft radience, a glowing from within look. I love it. Prescriptives should pay me for all of this free advertising. Did anyone catch that? Send me a check. Or give me a discount one. I'd take a discount.

Up Next:
* My love affair with CNN
* Face products I'd love to try.
* Personal Reflections, Revelations and Resolutions
* Bittersweet: Kinky Hair

Harper's Bazar

Generally I think Harper's Bazar is a pretty useless publication. Not as cool and Vogue, not as useful as Elle so really what's the point? It is a cool name for a magazine and I've been getting free issues for some reason, so why not flip through for some makeup inspiration? I didn't find a muse, but I did a beauty article on skin care, and who can resist a beauty article? Not me! I thought I'd post some key points for those of you who may be interested.

For All Skin Types:
* Use Sunscreen Daily
* Keep It Simple:
"Many beauty companies would have you buy a different product for every inch of your skin, but you're better off being low
maintenance." Fredric Brandt says, 'For day, I would recommend a moisturizer with antioxidants like Vitamin C that absorb
free radicals in the environment. At night use, a cream with Peptides or Retinol to boost collagen and hydrating Hyaluronic
Acid or Shea Butter'.
*Price Wont Promise Performance

That is the only information that I found interesting and informative in the article. Everything else was standard, run of the mill advice that you have heard before. But did you get that bit about antioxidants during the day and Peptides, Shea Butter and Hyaluronic Acid at night?

This article made me want to check out what was in my own face products. I was happy to discover that my Arbonne Day & Night REactivating Facial Serum does have Hyaluronic Acid (as well as Alpha & Beta Hydroxy Acids which promote cell turn over) and the entire NutriMinC Skin Care System has Vitamin C and Peptides in it's various products. Two points for team Twinkle Twinkle! I also use Shea Butter nightly (applied after my night cream).






I recently switched back to a lighter, Origins moisturizer called Balanced Diet and it does not have Vitamin C, but a new Origins moisturizer called Youthtopia does. It is $47, which is steep, but face care is one thing I allow myself to splurge on. I will have to mull over this one folks.