Black & Beautiful | Veronica Webb

Black & Beautiful | Salieu Jalloh

Black & Beautiful | Ajak Deng

Sudanese supermodel Ajak Deng is simply gorgeous. She is a picture of natural African beauty. Currently signed to IMG Models, she has walked the catwalks of all the major cities- London, New York and Paris- modelling for some of the biggest names in fashion such as Lanvin, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givency, Chloe and Vivienne Westwood to name just a few.

 

 

Mascara Review

A good mascara is like gold dust, but finding one that is within your budget can sometimes be a bit of a mission. I would love the high end ranges but i'm not sure if i'm willing to pay those extortionate prices just yet! So for now, I will stick to the the good but lower budget ranges. Let's start with my two favourites... Rimmel Glameyes Day 2 Night mascara and Maybelline Falsies Volum' Express mascara.

Rimmel Day 2 Night:
This mascara is the shit!!! I absolutely love it. It has two applicators; a lengthening one and also a volume one. A lot of people use both applicators- the lengthening one first and then the volume one. Personally, I mainly use the volume applicator only as I feel this is enough to get the desired look with my eyelashes. It actually feels like my eyelashes double up in thickness and appear longer, which is great as there is definitely a noticeable difference. Sometimes, when using the volume applicator, my eyelashes can get a bit clumpy but i find if i apply it quite quickly and at an angle, then its usually fine!

Maybelline Falsies:

This is my second favourite mascara. Again, just like the rimmel one, it makes my eyelashes look lovely and voluminous without giving me a smudged look. I must admit, the brush took a while to get used to as it's made at an angle so can feel a bit odd at first when applying it. It's fab and what's great is that it doesn't clump!

Hair | Rock It Short

Short hair is so sexy. I mean really sexy. As far as I can remember, I have always loved short hair. Think it started when my mum came home one day with a short pixie haircut. My favourites are the pixie cut and the graduated bob look. Pixie haircuts can look very boyish but they are so cute and easy to maintain.

Pixie cuts: Halle Berry, Alyssa & Emma Watson

Graduated Bobs: Rihanna & Victoria Beckham 

Ciara's short haircut- it's a wig!

Foundation Review | Mac vs Maybelline

When it comes to foundations, I do love me some MAC and maybelline. I'm not a massive fan of liquid foundations. At all. As my skin is an oily/dry combination, I stay as far away as possible from liquids as my face ends up looking like it's been dipped in oil! I know you can see a liquid foundation in the picture but i'm going to explain that in a minute!



I really like Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation. I get it in the darkest shade, which is 070 cocoa. I only need a a little bit as I find it goes quite far. The coverage is really good and it works very well on my skin. It is a creamy and feels silky as i'm applying it. The best thing is it's so light that it pretty much looks like i'm not wearing any foundation! If i'm going out or it's a special occasion, I will simply apply more foundation. It's definitely good value for money too and lasts me approx 4-5 months, which is fabulous!

Maybelline Dream Matte Mousse foundation 070 cocoa

I brought Maybelline Dream Satin Liquid foundation ages ago... like when it first started emerging on adverts on TV. I admit it, I got completely caught up in the hype and marched straight to the shops and brought it. I think what sold it for me was the women on the advert. Their skin looked amazingly flawless and so smooth. In reality, it's not like that. Well maybe i'm being too harsh. I should say it's not like that for me, hence why I still have over half the bottle left over! I find it way too greasy, which like I said earlier, just leaves me looking ever so shiny. Not a good look! The good thing is though is that like the matte mousse, a little really does stretch far.

Maybelline Dream Satin foundation 

My ULTIMATE FAVOURITE is without a doubt MAC Studio Finish Concealer, in shade NW50. I

To Prime Or Not To Prime

Apparently "not to prime is a crime" and I must say I totally agree, although at first I just thought everyone was on a hype and it was just another marketing ploy to get women to buy yet another makeup product. I wouldn't give in and buy it mainly because I do take my skin for granted! I have very soft skin and I hardly ever get spots. I just have a few blemishes from where I scratch my spots but i'm not majorly fussed. So because my skin is in pretty good nick, I hardly bother with any facial regimes such as facial scrubs or masks. I shouldn't be admitting this, but 7 out of 10 times, I don't even wipe my make up off at night time (unless it's really heavy make up). A CRIME I KNOW! I can admit it's partly down to laziness but I thought well if it ain't broke why fix it! I had been doing this for years and my skin is just fine.

But one day after watching some youtube beauty videos, I felt the urge to go and try one of these supposedly amazing primers... just to see what all the fuss was about! So I went about researching which brand to get... I immediately went to MAC as I use their foundation and concealer... but I really wasn't feeling their prices. In fact, I wasn't feeling any of the brands prices! NOT ONE BIT! The top primers that kept popping up were MAC Prep and Prime, Smashbox Photo Finish Primer, Nars Multiprotect Primer and Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch. Now, I'm not no cheapo, I will spend money on quality products.... BUT.... this was a trial... a TEST, just to see if it lived up to it's hype! So NO, you're damn straight I would not be spending that much money on a product I didn't even know was going to work for sure. I've done that too many times with other beauty products... getting caught in the hype... and I was left feeling majorly disappointed and pissed off that I wasted my money and couldn't return it because it had been open! 

So having sampled these top brand primers and not feeling happy with the silly price tags, I jumped back on the net and typed in alternatives to makeup primers on google, which led me to yet another beauty video on youtube, but this time the woman was reviewing a chafing gel powder as a primer substitute!!! Hey! If it worked, why not!!! I was a bit dubious at first. I mean was she just giving such high reviews because she had been sent the product to review or was what she was saying genuine. I watched quite a few more videos reviewing this product, then I jumped back onto google to find written reviews. I WAS SOLD! I went straight to one of my favourite sites...Ebay and purchased the gel. What was the product I hear you all asking? Well, it's called...

Skin Care | Winter Products I Love

Just because it's now Autumn it doesn't mean we should only make way for our chunky sweaters and knee high boots. Your skin and hair needs some care and attention too! During these cold months, I tend to find that my skin and hair become much dryer and fragile and we all know walking around with dry flakes almost dropping off or cracked sore lips just isn't the one, so here's what I like to use to stay very well moisturised...

1. I prepare my skin for these harsh temperatures by washing with an oil based body scrub or 
    wash like Dove Cream Oil Bodywash, which come in a variety of scents; my favourites 
    being Shea Butter and  Rosewood and Cocoa Butter ... they smell so lush! The body wash 
    is super creamy and moisturising but it really doesn't leave your skin feeling oily just 
    incredibly moisturised and soft instead! 

2. I don't really use body scrubs that often, mainly because I take the fact that my skin is 
    super smooth for granted and therefore feel that I don't really need to care for it as much! 
    Stupid I know, but if it ain't broke why fix it?! However my sister swears by them! When I do 
    use them- which is about once every 1 -2 months, I do like nice smelling ones. One that I 
    particularly like is Royal Jelly & Pure Honey Sugar Scrub from Marks & Spencer... it 
    smells amazing and is an excellent exfoliate, leaving my skin feeling extra silky smooth! 
    This is around £4.50, which is a bloody good bargain!

3. I use a body cream after to keep the moisture locked into my skin. A few great ones that I 
    swear by are American Dream Cocoa Butter Cream with Vitamin E, and Nivea Lotion (the   
    Enriched for Dry Skin one). My skin literally stays moisturised for the whole of the day. You 
    can buy the American dream from most local afro caribbean hair shops (I get mine from 
    Brixton or Croydon and is a great bargain at £3.99 as it lasts for ages).

My hair is a different thing altogether. I've been natural now for almost two years and i've tried so many different products but it's only recently that I have found products that I like and have stuck with them. Where possible, I use quite a few natural hair products and mix them all up to make one big bottle. The main ones that I use are:

Red Lipstick Black Skin

I love bright colours. Usually the brighter the better but when it comes to lipsticks or lipgloss i'm not too sure. I have very full lips so I do love to fill them in with colour but until recently I just stuck to darker colours like plum or chocolate colours as I felt safe in these toned down hues. BORING!

My sister on the other hand loves bright lipsticks and lipglosses and she looks gorgeous in them. She tends to wear bright pinks and reds, which makes her lips stand out from a mile away! Anyhoo, she finally persuaded me to try and venture out to a brighter lipstick and all I can say is i'm bloody glad I did! 

I have on MAC Media Lipstick, which is a deep/dark reddened brown colour and 

i've applied clear lipgloss on top. My sister is wearing a cherry pink Rimmel lipgloss.

Yesterday, I excitedly popped into Superdrug and like a child in a sweety shop went around all the beauty stands trying on the bright coloured lipsticks. I have brought expensive lipsticks in the past such as MAC and Rimmel but because I was buying a bright colour for the first time (and knowing me there would be a possibility that I could change my mind when I got home), I thought i'd opt for a cheaper alternative. I narrowed it down to two brands- Collection (formerly known as Collection 2000) and Beauty UK...

Collection lipsticks had some great colours... Lasting Colour Lipstick Pink Shock and Valentine were my favourite although I did feel a bit of a wally in Pink Shock as I felt it was way too bright for my skin tone. This brand could have been a winner but I wasn't feeling the glittery tint that they had in them and for that reason they were out! 

Fluorescent UV Nail Varnish/Polish

OH MY GOSH! I need this blue fluorescent nail varnish in my life! IMMEDIATELY!!! Anyone that knows me knows that i'm obsessed with painting my nails and the brighter the better. I am not usually a fan of blue nail varnish but this one is gorge... think I am going to go on the hunt for a red UV one this weekend seeing as it is my favourite colour!

Black & Beautiful | Marcus Lloyd

Oh my my my!!! Marcus Lloyd embodies the true essence of a fashion model... he is simply stunning with his flawless looks, captivating eyes and full juicy lips. That's enough to get any woman excited and he certainly does it for me! Just look at his eyes!

Black & Beautiful | Yaya Dacosta

Yaya Dacosta finished second place in season three of America's Next Top Mode. Not bad at all considering she's gone on to have a successful career. She is currently signed to Models 1 in London and Ford Models in New York. She has modelled for Olay, Isaac Mizrahi, Essence Magazine, as well as many more!

Black & Beautiful | David Agbodji

David Agbodji is a French model/photographer and is signed to RE:Quest Models in New York.

Nail Art Swag

I love painting my nails, although I must admit I am not very good at it!!! I usually end up getting the paint all around the edges of my nails! I love black nail varnish and bright colours like pinks, reds and purples, but I am just not that creative when it comes to decoration. Believe me I would love to experiment more but it's my hands fault. For some reason, when painting my nails, my silly hands are not that steady so it will most definitely end up looking a hot mess! Such a shame!

There are so many amazing posts on creative things people do with their nails that I think I will definitely have to attempt it again very soon or better still... get my fabulous sister to do them!

I especially like the nail wrap designs...SO much easier to apply and they look so funky! NCLA nail wraps have had some great reviews and their prints are gorgeous... I can't wait to try these out. Bring on the vibrant prints and colors!!!!! Here are a few of my favourite nail designs and wraps that I have seen so far...

Black & Beautiful | Will Lemay

At just over 6 foot tall, Will Lemay is one handsome young man. He is currently signed to Red Models Management in New York and doing his thang for many major high end designers.

Black Fashion Models | Part 2

Models of colour still find their race to be a considerable barrier to their success, a barrier that is more than skin deep. 

In the 2010 short documentary, “The Colour of Beauty,” that examines discrimination and racism in the fashion industry, the New York agent of an aspiring Canadian- Jamaican model, Renee Thompson, observes that “the token black models who get work really have unique features for African Americans- the straight, skinny European noses and hair, the very elegant faces and straight, almost curveless figures. They really look like White girls that were painted Black. That’s beauty you know through the industry’s perspective, to agents perspective. When they see that, when they see a girl that can look different by skin pigment and still have great features like that it is sellable. When black models come in with big eyes, big nose, big whatever, big lips, things that are common traits in African Americans, it doesn’t work. But for those lucky few girls that like Renee, they have white girl features and it’s kind of messed up but that is just the way that the industry is.”

Renee Thompson

It is reported that fashion and beauty agencies rarely hire black models, actively saying that they “need a black model but she has to be a white girl dipped in chocolate." This could imply a specific rejection of all things black as African features are not seen as attractive.

Black & Beautiful | Alek Wek

Alex Wek is a Sudanese fashion supermodel. She studied fashion technology and business at the prestigious London College of Fashion. She has a pure, striking ebony complexion and a short, boyish hairstyle, which many have argued has made her stand out from among her peers.

The African beauty's big break came in 1995 when she was discovered by a model agency scout while shopping in a London market. She signed to Models One, and it wasn't long before she appeared on the pages of cutting edge publications Vibe and i-D.

Black Fashion Models | Part 1

Before supermodel Naomi Campbell, only Naomi Sims (widely acknowledged as the first black supermodel) and Beverly Johnson had managed to break through the white ideal and carve out names for themselves within the industry.

Naomi Sims

Beverly Johnson

Supermodels Naomi Campbell and in recent years, Jourdan Dunn are two of the UK’s biggest dark skinned black female fashion models. Campbell made history in 1998 by becoming the first black woman to feature on the covers of French and British Vogue after her friend and mentor, designer Yves St. Laurent, threatened to withdraw his advertising from the magazine if it continued to refuse to place black models on its cover. Being one of so few black models in the business, particularly in the 1990s, when she was arguably the only black model of serious note, her meteoric rise was fraught with tension, coupled with even more scrutiny and rejection simply because of the color of her skin. In the midst of the 1990s supermodel group, Naomi said that “there was an unwritten rule that only one of them could be black."

Black & Beautiful | William Marcin

Twenty one year old French model, William Marcin, is super SUPER cute. His green eyes and medium blonde afro hair make him easily stand out from a crowd. 

Black Beauty in the Media

There are many connotations in the media and society that still portray African women in a negative light. For example, Naomi Campbell is one of the world’s most famous supermodels yet she is constantly being targeted as being angry, outspoken and aggressive. Many African women still have to deal with issues of being considered less worthy, due to their skin colour.

In American mainstream media, many black women depicted as beautiful are either light skinned or mixed race such as Beyoncé Knowles, Halle Berry and Tyra Banks.

Beyonce

Halle Berry

Tyra Banks

However, there are also dark skinned women such as Gabrielle Union, Lauren London and Nia Long that are also known for their beauty.

Gabrielle Union