To be, or not to be Nicki MaNOT

Hey hey! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend...mine was fantabulous! Anyway, I wanted to blog about hair today. I was thinking about 2010 fall hair styles and thought about a particular hairstyle that has been BUGGING me since a particular artist emerged on the music scene. Not sure who I'm talking about??? Hmmmm, let me give you hint.... how about, Nicki Ma-NOT!! It really bugs me to see so many ladies taking on her "identity". Not only that, but the hair style she wears isn't for everyone; if you don't have the right face shape, it doesn't really fit you (although a lot of ladies force it). If you don't know who Nicki Manaj is, here's a pic for reference:

The long weave with blunt cut bangs are a trademark of her image, but a lot of ladies started wearing their hair like this after she came out as an artist. Sadly, many still are rocking this style. My advice is to find a style that fits YOU, that fits your personality and fits your FACE! If you're unsure which way to go with it, here's a helpful list of tips:

• First, think about your wardrobe. What style clothes do you normally wear & how do you normally put your outfits together?
• Is cutting your hair an option? Cutting your hair is a major decision. Believe it or not, some of us are emotionally tied to our hair, and the thought of cutting it is gut-wrenching.
• Experiment with wearing your hair different ways to help you see what looks best on you. If your hair is long, pin it up to see how it would look short. If it's short, add a few tracks to see how it would look a little longer. Wear buns, ponytails, bangs, etc.
• Talk to a professional hairstylist. Most of them offer free consults and they're experts at determining face shape, hair texture, etc. Sometimes, a certain hairstyle won't work with a particular hair texture. Make sure your hair texture and face shape can support your new look, and a professional stylist will be the best person to help you figure that out!
• Don't chose a style so "trendy" that it will be hard to change once that style goes OUT OF style! (I think this is what led to the evolution of the quick weave and sew-in, lol)

So, bottom line is whatever style you choose to rock, make sure its a style all your own and that it fits YOU. Soooo, with that being said, if you're reading this blog you have NO excuse to wear a Nicki MaNOT hair style. Would you go and buy an outfit that you saw the girl next door wearing??? Of course not! So why do that with hairstyles? I'm just saying! I hope my tips can help you find the right style for you. Until then, chao bellas! Muah!! ♥

HoneyGirl Boutique Photoshoot

Hey ladies!! OMG, what must I say?! I know, I know. I have left you hanging for so long. BUT, I've been working on a few things and had to put the blog on the back burner for a minute. I have a LOT to share with you (not all right in THIS blog entry though!) :-) I'll start with what I'm most excited about first! I recently partnered with my friend Candice to bring you HoneyGirl Boutique!! We have everything you need to become "divafied" (yeah, I just made that up, lol). Serioulsy we have clothing, shoes, rings, bracelets, handbags, shoes...everything! What's unique about us though, is that we make our service very personal. We offer private wardrobe/image consulting, style parties for you & your friends, and makeup! We can dress you for any occasion head to toe, because we have partnerships with other professionals.

A little over a month ago, we had our first photoshoot. Our photographer was Antonio Cleveland. I must commend him on his work for this shoot. He was a great coach for our models, and the RAW pics were flawless! Here are some of the pics from the shoot...wish I could post them all! Everything you see the models wearing (EVERYTHING) is available from HoneyGirl.

This is Kasey. I recruited her to model for me at the gym! When I saw her, she was wearing no makeup and dressed in gym clothes, but I saw a natural beauty! We styled Kasey in our navy and white asymetrical shoulder dress. We're big on transitional pieces, so we wanted to create TWO looks with the same dress. Changing your shoes and accessories is the best way to give an outfit a totally different look and appeal. I must say, the look with the red shoes is my FAV in this dress. On the other hand, the white gladiator sandals, belt, and color-striped cluth gives a more casual, day-out type look. Both looks are totally ROCKABLE! Of course I must mention the makeup, done by me. Here's a closeup (unretouched):







LOVE IT!!









Kasey's next look was a swimsuit. We paired it with a light-weight, kelley green cardigan (tie-front) and styled it with a beautiful pearl & gold-chained necklace. Sexy!

Our next model is Amber. We also gave her 2 looks for the same outfit, easily transitioned from day to night. Its a yellow, tunic-style dress. For the day look, we paired it with orange accessories and nude pumps, For the night look, electric blue sets it off! And in case you're wondering, the blue umbrella is a parasol, an Asian-inspired accessory. It'll definitely turn some heads, for sure! I put in a closeup of her makeup too (unretouched)! Please forgive me for the layout of the pics & format of this blog! For some reason, everytime I edit it, it goes back to being all jacked up! By the way, for you taller ladies, the yellow tunic-dress can be worn as an acual tunic, just throw on a pair of tights or jeans and you're ready to go!

Proper Lash Care!

Hey ladies! I'm back with another post today, inspired by a conversation I was having with a fellow "beauty buddy". We were discussing lashes! I don't know about you, but I've had a bad experience with individual eyelashes, meaning when I decided to take them off, a lot of my own lashes decided to come off with them!! It was one of the scariest moments for me! Well, after talking to my beauty buddy about it, I found out she had a very similar experience, as well as several other women I've talked to since that conversation. The major question was, "do eyelashes grow back?" Hence, my blog post on lashes today. So I'll answer that question, and I'll talk about how to care for your lashes. As a matter of fact, I'll start with that.

Proper Lash Care:

• Always remove your mascara at the end of the day. Use a oil-free makeup remover to remove ALL TRACES of mascara. Your lashes need time to "breath" and regenerate.
• Always use the proper remover when taking off individual lashes, and never try to snatch them off! (That would be unbelievably painfull anyway!)
• Never pluck or pull your eyelashes. Just like some of us have bad habits of biting our nails or chewing on our lip (like me, lol), some women have a bad habit of pulling/plucking at their eyelashes. You wouldn't sit there and pluck strands of hair from your head, so why do it to your eyelashes. This disrupts the growth cycle of the lash.
• Use an eyelash conditioner at night. There are some companies that manufacture lash conditioning serums and creams, but they can be fairly expensive. An alternative is to use olive or almond oil. Use a q-tip and swab on some of the oil at night, right at the base of the lash line. Gently wipe off the excess with a tissue and off to bed you go!
• Be careful when using eyelash curlers! Press gently!

So, to answer the question, "do eyelashes grow back?" The answer is YES! The growth cycle of an eyelash is about 30-45 days. You can help facilitate this process by taking proper care of lashes, as I dicussed above. Oh, another tip...when have your lashes done, ask what kind of adhesive is being used, and about the removal process (a lesson learned for me!)...especially the removal process. That seems to be where most women have the most trouble. You might also want to ask the opinion of some other clients of the artist you're considering.

Lashes are a part of the focal point of your face--your eyes. So, to sum things up, proper lash care is easy to do and your lashes will possibly grow in fuller and longer if your take care of them the right way! Until next time chicas, take care & take charge! :-)

My Official Website Is Up!!

Hey Chicas! Soooo sorry for not posting in a month! I've been working on some other aspects of my business and had to kinda put the blog on the back burner for a minute. Let me share one of the things I've been working on since my last post; I FINALLY got my official website up and running...aaaaaand I did the whole site by myself!! Which is probably why it took so long to get it completed! But I just couldn't see myself paying someone a few hundred bucks to do something I could do on my own. It took me about 2 days to get a good foundation that I could go ahead and publish to the web. And I've tweaked a few things here and there in the meantime. It got to be quite frustrating at times but it was well worth it. Here's the link to the site:
www.beautybyvirtueonline.com

Check it out and let me know what you think. I'll be adding a calendar and events section as well, and I'll be adding some music (as soon as I figure out what song I want to upload). Leave me comments on the blog and let me know what you think of the site, and if you have any ideas or suggestions!

Stay tuned for my next blog post on my latest ventures, including the May Makeup Artists Social, and my experience meeting the lash & brow expert, James Wealthy!! I'll also have some pics from my last photoshoots! :-D
Later chicas!!

Beauty by Virture

Hey ladies! Wanted to share with you a promo video my friend/designer Markieus Coley put together for me. It's awesome. I think I'm gonna start calling him "Man of Many Talents"! Check out the link attached to this blog!


Beauty by Virture