Brown Smokey Eye

Sometimes but not often, I like to really make up my face! I don’t use a lot of eye shadows whenever I go out but again while shopping at my nearby Target, I saw that they began to sell NYX beauty products. This was like heaven on earth to me because the only place I could get NYX was either from online or ULTA which is almost an hour away from me. And if you don’t know, NYX is super affordable and it’s not cheaply made that’s why it’s so popular.

I’m a huge fan of brown smokey eyes especially the one that Kim Kardashian is always famous for. So I picked up an eye shadow palette from the Love in Rio collection, in the shade “Escape with Rico.” This is a palette that consist of high pigmented dark and sparkly browns.

I can actually say I adore this palette because it’s definitely Woman of Color friendly and it’s basically mistake proof.

I decided to use this palette before going out with a couple of my friends for drinks and the look I wanted to achieve came out perfect.

NYX eye shadows are super pigmented and a little goes a long way.  I used a shadow base so I’m not sure if the shadows would have lasted a long time without it but I can say it lasted throughout the whole night! Definitely will be buying more!

Products Used For Eyes: 

Bare Minerals Eye Shadow Base

NYX Escape With Rico Trio Palette

Maybelline Eye Studio Gel Liner in Black

Rimmel London Scandal Eyes Mascara 

XOXO

Cantu Flat Iron Spray Review

Recently I took a trip to Target on the search for some bath towels and I avertedly ended up in the hair section! I saw a lot of people on instagram raving about the Cantu Flat Iron Spray so I thought “Hey why not give it a shot?”  Virginia weather is like a roller coaster sometimes and my hair loves to draw moisture from the air leaving my once straight and sleek hairstyle into a big poufy mess!

A can of this flat iron spray was under 5 bucks so if it didn’t work on my hair I didn’t really lose much. This spray claims to condition and add shine to your hair while also reduce frizz and produce a light hold. They also stressed that you must use it on dry hair and I will tell you why when you keep reading!

After I blow dried my hair completely I sprayed the product all over my strands! My hair instantly became stiff and that’s when I looked at the ingredients and saw that it contains ALCOHOL! My hair hates alcohol; it literally acts like a snail with salt on it! I was not going to wait for my hair to become stiff as a brick so I began to brush the product out to help coat it all over and not just the spots that I sprayed! Some of my strands still felt hard but I wanted to have faith that this product would help my hair!

I guess I ended up spraying majority of the product at the top of my hair because when my flat iron slid through those tresses, they instantly became CRISPY-FEELING! WHAT A BIG NO-NO! I ended up finishing my hair not satisfied that I obviously sprayed too much at the top of my hair because the bottom had lots of body but the top was like a dead person – UNMOVING!

Overall I will try this product again but definitely use much less and spray much farther away from my hair this time! My hair is actually still holding, I haven’t used any heat on it since I did this which is great, I also liked that my hair does have a nice sheen going on.

Pros:

Cheap

Makes straighten hair last

Produces a nice natural shine to hair.

Cons:

ALCOHOL is its main ingredient which dries your hair out

Hair gets hard

After flat ironing hair was crispy

It’s easy to use too much of this product

Any of you used this product before? Love it or Hate it?

XOXO

Oh, How I Love Shoedazzle!

If you ladies have been following me since previous years you would know I have a slight obsession with shoes, especially heels! However being a penny-hugging college student, I have to fight my craving of buying every pair of 6 inch heels I see.

However since May 2013, Shoedazzle has been feeding my appetite for new shoes while also helping me save money in the bank for college expenses.

How Shoedazzle works:

When you sign up for Shoedazzle you have to take a style test where they ask you your preference of heel heights, styles, and colors. Once you complete that task, they give you your very own personal showroom of shoes that you might possibly like! You have the option to “favorite” any pair of shoes you see on the site, which eventually helps the stylist pick shoes similar to your likings each month.

I highly recommend if you sign up for Shoedazzle that you become a VIP customer because it had a lot of great perks. Not only do you save 10% to 30% off of regular priced items but it’s also like a mini shoe savings account. Each month you pay $9.95, which you can either use to purchase a shoe or do like I do which is let my $9.95 accumulate until I basically can afford to pay for a shoe using just that! Shoedazzle also gives you $10 worth of VIP dollars that you can use towards any of your purchases as well! Another plus of the VIP account is the free shipping, which is totally convenient when you purchase a pair of shoes 1 day, then a couple days later find another pair that like! Being a VIP member also gives you first dibs on sales and new items!

Pros of Shoedazzle:

Great selection of heels, wedges, flats and sandals.

VIP account is very affordable.

Shipping is fast.

Free returns.

They also sell jewelry and handbags.

Gather enough style Points for free shoes. 

Cons of Shoedazzle:

Sometimes your personal “Style Room” is a hit or miss.

Size 8 ½ sells out pretty quickly.

Quality of shoes are different from each shoe.

Some shoes can be pricey.

Overall, I have completely fallen in love with Shoedazzle, the last couple pair of shoes I have purchased have all been from them! I even found the perfect pair of black sparkly high heels shoes that I plan to wear at my Hampton University Opening Convocation for only 5 bucks on Shoedazzle! What a steal!

If any of you are interested in signing up Shoedazzle, do not hesitate to do so, do it now and let them know I, ashleywalton2010@gmail.com, referred you!

recent purchase for 5 bucks! So comfortable for a lot of walking!

Do any of you ladies use Shoedazzle how do you like it?

XOXO

FYI - Dont Give Up On Your Hair Routine

This will be a very short post to show you something pretty awesome! Yesterday i was going through my pictures on my IPhone to delete a few and i found the pic when i first started my hair journey back in December 2012. I had chopped a lot of my hair off and it was so short! Any-who i kept going and i saw a picture from February, i noticed my hair had grew from the first pic, then i found another pic from May and saw that my bang had grew all the way out!

So I made a simple pic collage to show you how just using coconut oil daily and scalp massages really promotes hair growth! 

In July i decided to trim my hair up a little more to slowly get my relaxed pieces out of my hair and i took a pic a few days ago and my hair is definitely still growing! And this is just from me continuing to use coconut oil and adding avocado oil and Castor oil, i bought some Jamaican Black Castor Oil last night as well to use! I really want my hair to be long, healthy and thick by Christmas! We will see ladies!

Terrible quality July 10, 2013 - August 27, 2013

Moral of this post: Continue to take care of your hair, it will not grow over night, but if you really treat it right, it will do what you want it to do!

P.S Have any of you researched the benefits of avacodo oil for your hair! Its awesome, look it up 

Until next time ladies XOXO!

Hair Journey Update + Adding Castor Oil

 Hey Ladies

I’m back atcha with a hair journey update! I haven’t done one in a while huh? For the most part, I kept a weave in all summer. I knew with my hair transitioning, the heat and humidity would have my hair looking a hot mess, so I opted to keep it in a protective style! I do have a confession though, I relaxed my edges lol! I HAD TOO, they would not stay down for the world, I didn’t want to be that picture fail “Brazilian weave with African edges” lol. So yea, I relaxed them!

When I took my weave out on Friday, I noticed my hair had grew a lot. I guess it is true; before getting a weave it’s essential to trim your ends because your hair will grow longer and healthier while braided.

I decided to try something new this month, I’ve been looking at the benefits of castor oil on hair and thought I would do a 30 day challenge with it. I opted to using regular castor oil rather than Jamaican black castor oil because after reading MANY reviews, many said it did the same thing and they all received positive results.

The benefits of castor oil on hair:

 Aids in healthy hair growth

 Helps thinning edges and alopecia

Adds shine

Treatment of dry scalp and dandruff

I mixed my castor oil with coconut oil and will be oiling my hair 2 or 3 times a week nightly. I also will be mixing it with a deep condition that i will be doing once a week. 

So far I’m enjoying my mini scalp massages and I’ve learned a little goes a long way! Hopefully this new concoction will be my holy grail allowing my hair to grow longer and healthier!

Right now for shampoo I’m using Petal Fresh Rosemary & Mint shampoo and Shea Moisture African Black Soap Balancing Conditioner for dry & itch scalp, which I am in love with BTW.

So I definitely will be keeping you all up to date!

Thanks again ladies, are any of you using castor oil, how is your hair benefiting from it?