My Summer (no foundation) Foundation (by S)

As you know summer has finally arrived in London! seriously I was starting to loose all hope, now I can wear my flip flops and summer clothes instead of looking at them, tutting, all the while moving my head from side to side...

I tend to see a lot of females with loads of foundation, the whole works, full on, and if that's you, then do you!  but as for me I like my foundation to be as light as possible, and Dewey looking, so that's not shiny or matte, just in between, Dewey..,.

"Just to let you know that my colour in M.A.C is NC50"

From Left -Right, Elf's tinted moisturiser SPF20 in the colour "espresso" which is there darkest shade, M.A.C Select Cover-Up in NC50, M.A.C Mineralize SkinFinish in "Dark".

The First thing I do is apply my elf tinted moisturiser with a foundation brush, making sure it's well blended, then I apply my concealer, If you have flawless skin you can skip this step! ( lucky bug you!) after that I apply my skinfinish, which sets my moisturiser and concealer, and this is my summer foundation routine, simple quick and easy...

Elf Tinted Moisturiser £3.75
M.A.Cs Select Cover up NC50 £14.50
M.A.Cs M.S.F £21.00 in Dark

I am so in lust with the elf tinted moisturiser, I mean, for a 25ml tube for under £4, it is ahhh-ma-zing, it provides good coverage, and with the added SPF20, aloe, cucumber vitamins A,C and E, it really is a steal! MSF is perfect for setting liquid foundations, if you have good skin you can wear it alone, or if you are of a lighter complexion, you could contour with it...Ive tried other concealers from mac, but this is the one I always come back to ( trust me, i need it!) for me, it provides the best coverage for my dark marks.

"you can only purchase elf products on line at www.eyeslipsface.co.uk" as for the M.A.C products you can go to your local outlet or on line www.maccosmectics.co.uk

On the left is the Elf tinted moisturiser in espresso! on the right is M.A.C Select cover up concealer in NC50!!!!! so if you are NC50, look how close in colour the elf product is to the M.A.C!!!!!

Hope this helps someone out there who is looking for a simple summer foundation routine!

S xx

KIKO ( bargains! whoop whooop!)

Hello All I hope that you have been enjoying the lovely weather we have been having in London this past week, fingers crossed there will be more to come!

Anyhoo, ( and yess I did mean to say "anyhoo" not anyhow!)  I went to westfield yesterday as I had a craving for "Byrons" and if you do not know about this fantastic restaurant, err, where might I add, have you been, there everywhere, and there burgers, and milkshakes are to die for, hmmm hmmm hmmm! ok enough of me reminiscing about my sexy lunch! errrhmmm, moving along swiftly!.....( you know i had a pretzel after that,yeah! hmmmm, happy days!) 

KIKO

One of my friends had been raving about this brand for ages but every time I went to westfield something about the shop just did not look that inviting to me..until yesterday that is, they have a fantastic sale going on at the moment so I am going to show you my bargains...

From Left -Right 

Extra Shiny lipstick in 127, Matt Moisturising effect lipstick in 09, Crackle Nail Lacquer in 608, Magnetic Nail Lacquer in 708, Nail Lacquer in "sparkle 229"...

The above picture is the sparkle lacquer with the blue crackle on top....

The orange one is 127 which is a burnt orange, the one behind it is the matte lipstick and its a light plum colour 09..


The Nail Lacquers were all £1.50, the Orange lipstick £3.00 the purple £2.00


I have never tried this brand this is why I didn't go crazy and buy a whole load...if you want to know more about the brand just go to WWW.KIKOCOSMECTICS.COM

I will post an update review during the week...

So if you want to try this brand head up to westfield now while some items are on sale or go on line...

S xx

My go to product of the past two months!

If I could buy this for every female in the London I would, as I strongly believe that every female should have one of these in her make up kit! it really is that amazing, this product comes in a range of shades and suits every skin tone out there.....

The amazing product I am going on about is Bobbi Brown's Shimmer Brick in "Pink Quartz" oh my life..

This is a multi-tasking product, meaning you can use it all over the body, not just the face...

• Use it as a  high-lighter, above the cheek bones, down the bridge of the nose 
• Use as eyeshadow
• Use to high light the collar bones
• Use to add shimmer to your legs

On the high street there are many dupes of this product, but none can come close to the real thing!

Its not cheap at £30.50, but it is well worth it..

You can buy this directly from the website www.bobbibrown.co.uk or any major department store...

6months transitioning from relaxed to natural...hair wash day!

Firstly I would like to say wow, to those females who transition for over a year, without the aid of wigs, weaves, hair extensions! I mean I am not a fan of any of those things, but I believe my mind is starting to be swayed in the direction of hair extensions ( errrhmmmm!) or just cutting the relaxed part off all together! LOL! I do not believe my transitioning journey will last very long...but we'll see, anyhoo, let me tell you about my hair wash day at 6months post relaxer!

The first thing I did was part my hair in four, then coat my hair in coconut oil, the reason why I do this is because it is easier for me to detangle, and prevents knots forming whilst washing my hair

The above picture is the coconut oil I used, to be honest I can not stand the smell of this oil, but it was free from the Afro hair and beauty show so, I might as well use it....and I will only use it before washing my hair!

When I wash my hair I wash it in sections, and I also pay attention to getting my scalp clean, I soak my hair with water, then massage my scalp with the shampoo! yes ( for those of you thinking, what a long ting! errrhmmm, yes I know your out there!) it does take a while longer doing it this way, section by section, but doing it this way will save you from knots and tangles in your hair later, and most of all it will save you from a load of breakage, but by all means if you can not be asked to do this, and you fling your head that has two textures on it, over your bathroom sink, bath, or you decide to stand in the shower and bunch your hair up and scrub like your vex with your life! then, I've got four words for you "good, luck, with, that!".

 The above picture, is how much hair I lost while detangling with the coconut oil before washing my hair.

These are my new favourite products..I am in lust with these two, which I bought from the hair show, I now wish I bought two more of each, as it was £5 each ( normally over £10 each! ) the conditioner is so thick and creamy...both my natural hair and relaxed hair love this these two!

I let the conditioner sit on my hair for 20-30minutes, I put on a foil cap and a plastic shower cap over the foil one...

Washing  the conditioner out, now, I wash my hair out with Luke warm, not ice cold water, so it is cool, but not cold...as doing this is meant to, seal in the moisture.

Finished washing my hair, it feels so moisturised and smooth! 

So after I finished washing out the conditioner, I take each section and towel dry, now again I do not go crazy! and rub the cotton towel over each section of hair, ( as I do want the hair to stay on my scalp..)

instead I just squeeze out the remaining water, by pressing the towel lightly on my hair, no rubbing people no rubbing! After I've done that, I put on a "leave in conditioner" by "Curls Unleashed"  I need to buy a full size bottle of this stuff, this is another product I can not do without, also a freebie at the hair show! This leave in is  slippery not greasy, or watery, its like a lotion, a light lotion! ahhhh-ma-zing!

The leave in conditioner is exactly that "a leave in" do not rinse it out..

Drying methods...

If I am not going anywhere I will air dry, how I air dry my hair is by doing a 2strand twist on each section of hair, secure the ends of the hair with a hair band, and leave it to dry, if you do not know what a 2strand twist is, google it. 

Another way I air dry is by getting an old t-shirt, put it on or wrap it around my shoulders ( yep, my partners t-shirts always! lol! if its lying around or in the chest of draws, I will use it! ) and just leave my hair out  to dry.

If I am going out or working the next day, I will air dry with one of the methods mentioned above, for an hour or hour and a half,apply a heat protector, then use my hairdryer, so 60% of my hair will be dry before direct heat is applied...and this would be the stage where I might cornrow my hair or twist and then bantu knot, my hair, or do six single braids...I use caster oil or avocado oil, or olive oil to moisturise my hair!

xx

ps....I hope this helps someone out there who is also on a natural hair journey or healthy hair journey...

S

Natural Hair Journey at 6mths (By S)

As most of you already know, I am on a healthy natural hair journey, I didn't make the choice to become natural because it is currently seen as a trend, My relaxed hair is healthy and long, ( lol, that's if you bypass the science of relaxed hair, errhmmm) my reasons for going on this journey will be revealed in 6mths time..and from this Sunday I will start posting pictures of my hair journey..

If you have seen the review on my "Green Tea Rinse" experience, you will see the length of my hair, since then I have trimmed about 2inches off, as my hair has always been thick, and since I'm transitioning from relaxed to natural, I just couldn't cope with the length, battling with the two textures is challenging enough! TRUST ME!!

So please look out for my natural hair reviews and pictures....

However you decide to rock your hair, do it for you...

x

The Afro Hair and Beauty Show 2012

To be honest with you, I was not really looking forward to this show, as I had ordered my tickets way in advance, and I was still waiting for them a week before the show, so with a lot of back and forth emails, my tickets were at the desk waiting for me...


My View on the show
If you are a person like me, who is on a natural hair journey, this is the place to be, where as back in the day you would be hard pushed to find a natural hair stand,  trust me when I say, you were spoilt for choice! it was like a natural or transitioning persons, sweet shop, oh my life, so many goodies....at stupid prices and I mean STU-PID!, so much information on natural hair, not to mention "Jilll Scotts" Hair stylist "Felicia Leatherwood" was giving a seminar, on natural hair care! so much information! I was just soaking it all in like an excited child...

The only thing about this hair show is if you are relaxed, ( i don't know if this is because it was the first day of the show?) you were hard pushed to find alot of stands talking or even selling relaxers, and stuff for relaxed hair care, so I did feel that the woman who relax's her hair would have felt a bit left out ( I know right, role reverse!)   which is not good in a way because ( even though i will never relax my hair again) it should've been an equal balance, but it just goes to show that there is a natural movement going on, and it's powerful!

Here are some of  my goodies from yesterdays show....

Free stuff! :-)

£5 each!! 

50p each! 

£20 for this set ( for my daughter)

£10 for this set

Today is the last day of the hair show, if you can make it do, its £12 at the door, but its worth it! 

"WARNING! IT MIGHT MAKE YOU A PRODUCT JUNKIE! BECAUSE THE PRICES ARE SO SO GOOD! just saying!"

The other thing I liked about the show is they also had black dollys with afro hair, curly hair,braided hair  and books for your children, natural raw products you can buy....

I will be going again next year....

x

L'oreal Paris Caresse Lipstick

Today I took advantage of the Superdrug offer of 3 for 2 across all makeup, and picked up 3 L'oreal Paris Caresse lipsticks

I have been looking at these lipsticks for a while but was actually going to pick up Revlon's lip butters but after trying out the testers I opted for these, as I felt they had a lighter texture, which will be perfect for summer, when it finally arrives!!!!

06 - Aphrodite Scarlet

A yummy coral pink shimmer

07 - Cheeky Magenta

A soft hot pink

202 - Impulsive Fuchsia

A lovely deep fuchsia, my favourite out of the 3 of them, this is how it looks on.

The whole Caresse range is avalible from superdrug priced at £7.99 each or £14.98 for 3 whilst the 3 for 2 offer is on x