~Hair~ New Products: Cleansing Conditioners....

The drugstore/mass market companies have been on their toes in the last couple of years when it comes to keeping up with the popular brand concepts. I've noticed in the last couple of weeks, cleansing conditioners, or low or no shampoo "poo"-shampoos have been coming through the stores.

This is a very popular hair product since Wen became a popular mass product available through infomercial All women of all hair types boast the benefits and the love for Wen's cleansing conditioner. There's a Wen "knockoff" in Sally Beauty Supply called Hair One and companies like Ouidad make one as well, sold in salons and Ulta. Now L'oreal and Salon Grafix has one that available in your local CVS or Walmart.

I know I lot of women, relaxed and natural, who cleanse with light conditioners. They call it "co-washing" or "conditioner washing".....

I saw this entire display of L'Oreal  EverCreme system that includes a cleansing cream in my local Walmart.

Spotted this Salon Grafix cleansing cream in my local CVS.....

I picked up the Ever Creme Cleaning Conditioner to try. Right now, I use Original Moxie Get Clean No-
Foam which amazing. It lightly cleanses but it's packed with moisture, so my hair and scalp are clean and soft.

Have you seen any of these "no-poo" "low-poo" products around? Do you use them? Let me know!!:)

~Fresh Coat~ China Glaze Owl's Night.....

 I found this bottle of China Glaze Cat's Eye in a mom & pop Dollar Store among a bin of other polishes. I've probably had it for over six months, its been swimming around in my polish collection. Notice it has the old China Glaze labeling, but the polish is super fresh, not sticky or gloopy.

This is two coats of Owl's Night...its a gorgeous olive green. I did a bit of research on the color, turns out Owl's Night is heavily wanted and rarity in polish addicts circles. I even saw on Ebay, one bottle being sold for a $14.50!!!

~Hair~ My 6-Day Hair....

Last Wednesday, I decided to wear a style I tried back this summer that was inspired by You Tuber MsVCharles. I didn't want to mess with my hair for a day or two. That day or two, turned to a WEEK! lol! I couldn't believe it! I dare say, I wore a "protective" style...which the term itself... makes me itch.:/

Here's the post I did on it last summer with the video by MsVCharles....

This is Day Two....

This is Day Four, a rainy Saturday, I wore a beanie...

This is Day Six...I like how the top expanded and got all fluffy. On Day Five, I redid the french roll in the back, but other than that, I wrapped my head in a scarf every night and in the morning, freshen it up with a bit of oil and I was done.

Yesterday, I re-washed it and instead of  a plain french roll, I did mini twists for more variety. I can wear the roll, a puff, a bun, or a ponytail.

At the top, I did the finger coils with Pro Style Gel aka Black/Brown Gel...it just works better on my hair.

Here's the back with the mini twists in a french roll for today....

This year is my third year fully natural. I'll admit, that I'm not where I wanted to be length wise, but I refuse to live another year CONSUMED with length goals and tracking my length. I'm going to enjoy the hair I got and continue work keeping it on my head!!

~Rural Style~ DIY Stretch Beaded Bracelets..... Part Two!

It was on Sunday, I realized, out of all the jewelry I owned, I didn't own any pearl bracelets. Such revelation would come on my sorority's founders' day. LOL!

So instead of buying some( because I am on a NO-BUY):) I made some!! I just took one of the many strands of cheap pearl necklaces I had, some earrings that was "over" and some stretchy cord and got to work.

That one necklace yielded three bracelets...which a perfect stack....

Then I took a wooden beaded necklace that I never wear and made some similar bracelets....

All stacked together!!!

Super stacked!!!

~Haul~ New 2012 Wet N' Wild Cosmetics....

Losing on my 60-day no-buy challenge....clearly its a "challenge"...lol!...there are some wins and loses. I went all week til' I decided to go in Walgreens and it was cheap makeup I haven't seen/new magazine heaven. Spent $20 on makeup and a magazine. But tomorrow is a new day. I woke this morning with this affirmation:

"Only good lies before me and there's nothing that important out there that I need to buy":)

Repetition is the mother of success, right?

On to the haul....:)

I got  five new Wet N' Wild shades including two of the new MegaSheild colors

(left to right) Cherry Picking, Purty Persimmon, Don't Blink Pink, Within These Adobe and Bare-ly Legal.

(left to right) Cherry Picking, Don't Blink Pink, Purty Persimmon....

I saw on this blog that some these shade were comparable to MAC lippies...including Purty Persimmon, which is a close dupe to MAC Morange.

**That is one of the draws to me of cheap/drugstore makeup, some of it dupeable or close to dupeable and its much more affordable. But the negatives are sometimes, lack of quality and you spend all these little amounts of money, after awhile it all adds up to the amount you couldv'e use to purchase the real thing. Just my thoughts.**

Wet N' Wild has some of the shoddiest packaging. I almost broke two of the sticks in half trying to get the top off.

Wearing Cherry Picking today....gorgeous satine berry red.....

MegaSheild Lip Color in Within These Adobe Walls and  Bare-ly Legal.

Adobe Walls is too light for my complexion and Barely Legal is a pretty nude. Absolutely no longevity of product though...lol...seriously, I had a Chai Tea Latte from Starbucks, looked down and my whole mouth was on the cup! Plus I broke both sticks, trying to get the cap off, they are very soft, so be careful when purchasing.

I  also got one of those huge bronzer compacts they replaced the old bronzers with. Bikini Contest is a spot on match for my complexion. I'm sure I will use this alot in the summer, but I've used it for the last two days, and I love it.

I only got one of the new singles...Stagedive...too bright to pass up.

Swatches of  Stagedive and Bikini Contest....I'm trying to embrace swatching more.:)

~Fresh Coat~ Spoiled by Wet N' Wild Show Me Some Skin....

I feel like I haven't posted a Fresh Coat in forever. Truth is, nothing I've been wearing on my nails has been show off worthy. I wore a dark purple, then a sheer mauve, then I was over it for a while. I hope that spring brings some fresh new colors in polish!

I grabbed one of the new Spoiled by Wet N' Wild polishes in Show Me Some Skin. We have a display of these polishes at one of the local CVS. The colors are so-so, lots of dupes.

This is three coats. Two coats was a bit to sheer for me. I'm over sheer polish...I need opaque life. LOL The consistency is a bit on the thick side and it has one of those curved bottom, wide brushes, like the ones that Sally Hansen had in their one stroke polishes that time. Some of the old Pro OPI polishes have them. The bristles are uneven, though...so the concept is not executed as well as it should be.

Do you have any of these Spoiled polishes?...What are some good picks? Let me know, the price ($1.99) is pretty dope.:)

~FOTD~ Revlon Colorstay 16-hour Eye Shadow in Adventurous....

Technically, this purchase, Revlon ColorStay 16 hour Eye Shadow in Adventurous, was purchased with Extra Bucks the day before I started my 60 day No Buy. LOL!

Also, I don't know if  I lasts "16 hours"...I wore it both days for about 8 hours each...so...*shrugs*:)

See? This is why I don't do swatches. Shoddy swatching.:/

The colors have good pigmentation, I didn't do much building, if any, but I'm over big bold pigmentation, so this color level worked will on me. The quad is also very "warm"...if you have golden or warm undertones, it will be gorgeous. Perfect for work and traveling....

Day One

I didn't use a primer either...just to see how long it will last....no creasing and lasted about 7-8 hours.

Day Two

The blending quality is great...I didn't have to put any elbow grease into it. LOL!

I don't know if I'll buy the other colors...I'll need to take another look....

~Challenge~ The 60-day No Buy.....

photo: http://ahleessa4realz.blogspot.com/


Thanks to my sista cuzin/cuzin sista and fellow blogger Micki ingenious idea to go on a 60-day no buy, I'm now on a No- buy.

I always thought, "Why should I be on no-buy, I'm always on a no-buy, realistically", but truth is I NEED to do this  to stop buying crazy amounts of cheap makeup, thrifted clothes I will not wear, low quality clothes, fattening  fast food ( I've gained 7 lbs:/ ). Don't get me wrong, I love a bargain, but with all the cheap makeup I buy I could save up for something quality I really want. I got palettes and palettes of eyeshadow, $2, $1 shadow I've never worn...that's the same thing as wasting money on a $30 palette and never wearing it.

So here's what I'm going to do:

-No Makeup
-No Thrifting
-No Crafts or Craft Supplies ( Michael's sucks me in)
-No Etsy
-No Subscription Boxes
-Eat out once a week.
-No magazines

Anything else I think of I'll put on this post.

I have some CVS Extra Bucks that expire by the end of the month...so I will spend those tomorrow.

The Challenge will start January 8, 2012 and end March 8, 2012

** I already have a plan on how to work on the cravings and lemmings....I'm going write down everything I want or make wishlists on websites, so when the challenge is over, I can see if I still want it....and make a Pinboard on Pinterest of all the stuff I wanted within the 60day period:)**

Anyone else game??? Any suggestions of how not to spend? Let me know...so we can do a daily check in Twitter or Facebook.

~Fresh Coat~ Milani Red To Tango....

I have been so bored with my polish collection as of late. So, when my sis Kim sent Milani Red To Tango to me, I didn't hesitate to apply! Its just the punch of color and push I needed!!

I applied about three coats, I still see my nail underneath.:/ Ya'll know how I feel about that. What is the world coming to? Sheer nail polish? I can't live. smh.

However, in the sunlight...its a brilliant, sexy red...true red...like the red crayon in a box of Crayolas. I could check the swatches...I live with the Crayola/Lego/Mario Bros. Boyz.
I'm applying a fresh coat of Red to Tango tonite.:)

~Hair~ Carol's Daughter Hair Products ( Christmas Present!)

Hey Everyone!!

One of my beauty resolutions ( post coming soon!!) is to do more natural hair blogging ( again). Yep, I've made this "resolution" and "goal" before but I never do much of it. There are so many awesome natural hair bloggers and vloggers that I love and respect out there that I don't feel like its my lane. However, we all have different experiences with our hair and everyone can contribute to the natural hair journey in some sort of way.

Perhaps my experience, type of hair ( kinky, 4b-4c, porous, medium density), and reviews will help someone along the way? So what do you say????!!! Let's get started!

I received this AMAZING gift of Carol's Daughter hair goodies for Christmas...I was too geeked because I stan for Carol's Daughter. Alot of naturals don't because they don't do "all -natural" or they're not "cheap" or folks don't agree some the business decisions they have made. However, I love their body products( Almond Cookie, Goddess Flower, Roses and Honey and on and on....lol) and have had some hit and misses on their hair products.

I washed my hair and DC'd ( Deep Conditioned) with the Monoi Repairing Hair Mask then I did a Bantu knot out with the Healthy Hair Butter and Mimosa Hair Honey. The next day I took it down with a bit of Tui Moisturizing Hair Oil on my hands....

The results:

Monoi Repairing Hair Mask- One of the best DCs I've EVER had!! My hair was soo soft and smelled amazing. I used the .71 sample that I had and it covered my whole head. Over the week, my hair felt strong from the treatment and I saw no signs of breakage. It does contain a protein ( Hydrolyzed Silk) but its the 18th ingredient down the list...so its a fairly light protein treatment. My hair thrives on protein treatments, because its porous. I will be buying a FULL SIZE of this product!!!

Healthy Hair Butter: Smelled amazing as well and kept my hair moisturized for days. I didn't have to moisturize my hair for three days. It was super soft and shiny. Its great for  pairing with the  Mimosa Hair Honey for a twist out, it contains shea butter and beeswax for an great hold and definition. Its also has glycerin ( for those who are glycerin "sensitive" in the winter months). My hair is neither here nor there with glycerin any time of the year, so it didn't effect my hair at all.

Tui Moisturizing Oil: Great for shine and separating the knots with out tons of frizz. Matter of fact my hair wasn't frizzy at all for days and the shine was crazy to me! That just goes to show I was using the wrong stuff on my hair because my hair was so glossy that it looked as though I had put a rinse in.

I will say that I wasn't very comfortable with an ingredient that is used in most of these products called Corn Oil. I didn't find much on it other than it is an emulsifier and hair conditioner. It shows up on all these products around the the first, second or third ingredient.

I will be reordering the Hair Mask!

Have you tried any of the products above? Let me know your experiences!

~Fresh Coat~ Nicole by OPI Kim-pletely In Love

Every since I saw the Kardashian Kolor by Nicole by OPI at Walmart, I've only wanted one color: Kim-pletely In Love.

The price on all those polishes are $7....at Walmart * deep sigh*

I bought it on Friday.

So here is Kim-pletely In Love. I was expecting a lux-y creme pink with a bit of iridescent low shimmer...but INSTEAD it's a sheer mess. That what you are looking at...is about four coats, I think, I was on the phone, when I was putting it on. Disappointment is not even a word for it.  As much polish as Kim Kardashian wears...she didn't realize how sheer the application was on this polish???

She can put polish on her list of things to never do again....#1??? Fragrance.