Diamond Dolls Beauty New Salon Launch Event

I recently attended the launch event for Diamond Dolls Beauty Salon in Derby. I tried to vlog a little but ended up taking pictures most of the time. The launch event was fun even though I did not win any prizes from the raffle. Prosecco, Shloer and cupcakes were on offer throughout the day. It was a nice turn out with many people taking advantage of the launch discounts.

Diamond Dolls Beauty is owned by Dee McIntosh. It started out as a home based salon catering to the various needs of customers. Dee qualified as a Beauty Therapist a few years ago and has never looked back. She quickly established herself as the go to person for amazing Nail art and designs. Her attention to detail shows in her work. This also lead to her gaining advanced hair qualifications allowing her to give clients a complete transformation.

With the salon's new location, Dee is joined by Nathan who specialises in European haircare whilst Dee does both Afro and European hair. She also is a qualified Hi Brow technician. Diamond Dolls offers various Hair, Nails and Beauty treatments and is located in Derby. I look forward to seeing this business continue to grow.

Take a look at the video below.

Visit their Website

Like their DDB FB Page

D.I.Y. Nails

I bought myself some false nails to do at home. They are often called press on nails or full cover nails and do not require an acrylic or gel overlay. In the video I share both an acrylic kit and full cover press on nail kit. Very affordable and keeps me frugal. 

Loving the Natural Hair in Hellmann's Advert

Saw this Hellmann's Mayo advert online and now on TV. What I love about it is that on UK TV there is an array of natural textured African-Caribbean hairstyles on display and even being styled in a salon. Well done to the casting team.

Please note that I am not affiliated with Hellmann's in anyway!

Soap and Glory The Yule Monty

Soap and Glory The Yule Monty gift set

'Tis the season for an abundance of bargains and things you probably do not actually need. Yep it is the commercial side of Christmas. In true form Boots and Soap and Glory release a very expensive gift set every year whose price drops on the initial day of release for one week. I have somehow managed to buy one every year. I did miss out on the hat box but when I think about it, I did not miss out because well what use is a hat box unless you are a regular to Royal Ascot.

So this year as always you will find many different Soap and Glory gift sets around. Though the most popular one is released about a week before Christmas. This years offering is called The Yule Monty and contains 9 different skincare and beauty products plus a sample (sachets) of a new serum. The gift set normally costs £60 but is sold for £27 for one week only. The offer ends on the 19th December. If by any chance there are any left the price will go up. 

Previous years it has sold out quite quickly. As much as it is a bargain and well worth every penny, you should ask yourself if you will benefit from most of the products. I have given away some of the body scrubs in the past. In the coming new year I am going to give them another go. Nice to see that some of scrubs are clearly different so may suit me better this time. If you buy a set you will love it unless you are gifting it. These sets are always a pressie to myself. 

As I bought my lonely one gift set a man in Boots was buying at least 6 or more. Deep down I wish that was me buying an abundance to give away or what many do and put them on ebay. I checked ebay after 10am and already many had put what they bought up for sale. If anyone went on ebay to buy these sets knowing boots selling them so cheap yet choosing to pay over £50 on ebay is quite unfortunate and sad don't you think? Isn't boots UK wide? Each to their own bargain. 

The Yule Monty contents:

• The Righteous Body Butter (body butter)
• The Scrub of Your Life (body buffer)
• Hand Food (hand cream)
• Sugar Crush (body wash)
• Peaches and Clean (deep purifying cleanser)
• Heel Genius (foot cream)
• Butter Yourself (moisture lotion)
• Thick and Fast (mascara)
• Sexy Mother Pucker XL (lip gloss - shade pink out loud)

also samples of Make Yourself Youthful (serum)

All contained within a collectible vanity bag designed by British Fashion designer Jonathan Saunders.

Click here to have a look at my previous article on the gift sets to compare contents.

Glamour Mag and Nails Inc Kate Spade

The December issue of Glamour magazine UK with Katy Perry on the front cover comes with free nail polish. Nails Inc collobarated with designer Kate Spade New York to create these limited edition shades.

You are able to choose from the four following shades: Uptown Glamour (gold), New York Noir (black), Soho Silver (silver), Big Apple Red (red).

I do not normally wear black polish but for £2 a magazine verses £11 cost to buy the polish in a shop I decided why not buy all four. They look so pretty.

Grab a bargain while you can.

My Purple Lipstick Collection

So it seems purple is one of the Autumn seasons colours. This suits me just fine as purple is my favourite colour. Please watch the below video to see my small collection of purple lippies. I have also included some swatches below with and without flash.

The shades are listed below and in the pictures start from the top to the bottom. I think next time I will have to try do lip swatches or use the length of my arm. I didn't think I would do much makeup but my friends see a hidden talent.

Revlon - Va Va Violet

Sleek - Amethyst

Marks and Spencer - Dark Pink

MAC - Rebel

Kate by Rimmel - 04

MUA Lip Boom - It's a Situtation

DKNY Lipgloss - Delicious Night (came in gift set with the perfume)

Rubie and Millie - Purple 57

ELF Makeup Buys

I took advantage of the recent £10 off minimum £30 spend at Eyes Lips Face makeup. I used it as an opportunity to get hold of the Everyday Eyes palette I have been after for ages. I bought some other stuff too as listed and pictured below. Also check out my video.

Items bought :

Eyelid primer

High Definition under eye powder

Blush/Bronzer Blushed - Bronzed

Studio Powder Brush

Blush - Glow

Cream Eyeshadow Collection

Back to School Bundle  - contained - Everyday eyes palette, Nail polish in Berry Pink, Studio lipgloss in Perfect pink, Liquid Eyeliner in pearl

MUA Lip BOOM by Alexandra Burke

After reading about some MUA eyeshadow palettes, I found myself travelling to two Superdrugs stores in the hope of getting at least one. I got two which I hope to do a post on later on. However being the impulsive shopper that I am I spotted these lipstick combo sets from the MUA professional line. Alexandra Burke has helped to create a lipstick/lipgloss/highlighter range .

The packaging says that Lip Boom is a 4in1 Lipstick and Highlighting gloss. The four ways to wear it is 1)- Lipstick alone for a matte look 2)- Lipstick with highlighter in the middle - 3)- Lipstick with highlighter all over 4)-Highlighter alone. I bought shades "It's a situation" which is a deep plum shade and "Doing good" which is like coral pink shade to me. 

Now if you look at my pic where I have the lipstick taken apart by accident I discovered the base is removable and there is product in there like a heavily tinted lip balm or could actually be a dollop of the lipstick I don't actually know. (On the MUA website they don't actually take the lipstick base off from what I observe in the pics) One thing I do know is that I have worn both lipsticks and prefer the lipstick by itself. The gloss is full of glitter and if you use both in unison it often transfers onto the lipstick wand which I found irritating but other than that its a good product. The lipstick is matte without the dryness of many matte lippies. The colour pigment is very pigmented. Now it does not last as long as say a MAC matte but for £3 it is a bargain and will serve the purpose just fine for me. 

The Latin Good Hair Bad Hair Debate

I spotted this documentary called Negro : Pelo Malo or Black : Bad Hair on Alice in NappyLand's blog . It gives a broader look at the whole good hair bad hair debate that has plagued the African Diaspora. This documentary share stories from many African-Latinos and the experiences they have gone through regarding the perception of their hair. (I would normally only post hair related posts on my natural hair blog but felt this debate is always worth sharing with everyone.)

It is quite interesting I have come across this doc as this week I had a debate with some friends. Some have daughters who have begun reading about what is in a Relaxer and have begun transitioning back to their natural hair texture. Of course their parents likewise always say "my child has bad hair and just cannot cope with it" as a reason why they want their daughters to keep relaxing their hair. I also found one who would do twist outs to get back some curls in her hair. 

I also have a friend who went back home to Nigeria for a family event. She usually wears a small curly coily fro which is growing all the time. Her family told her she needed to do something with her hair as in it's natural. Luckily for her they were satisfied with a natural protective style as opposed to chemicals.

The real problem is that far too many people in the worldwide Black community lack knowledge in how to care for their own God-given hair. I myself grew out my relaxer years ago. My scalp did not like it. I have gotten lazy with my styling but as tempted as I am to go back I doubt I will. When someone says they or their child has bad hair they most probably need to re-think how they actually treat and care for their hair. In the explosion of the Natural Hair Movement  the wealth of knowledge is out there and no more excuses. Nowadays there are even forums which are multi-cultural and dedicated to people simply with curly or kinky hair. 

I am not against choice so if you relax your hair that is fine. I am just against ignorant dated comments. That if you were to check the origins of those thoughts and sayings you may find it was not your ancestors who originally coined those terms which have since been embraced en-masse by a whole nation of people.

One more thing the documentary made a good point. A lady said when you think of bad hair what they really mean is African hair. So the closer your hair is to African texture the undertones of the argument means its too far from Europeans and means less progression more primitive looking etc. How sad. Yet if any person cared to look at African countries from North to South they would come across multiple hair textures as so it should be the case for the Motherland. 

My HD Brow experience

Today even after being told by a lovely blogger I would be better off getting a simple brow wax and tint I decided I would just try it out at least once. The salon I went to was really lovely and the lady who does the HD Brows is very nice and you can tell she is committed to her craft. 

The eyebrow before picture

Well as you can see from my previous eyebrow posts (when I have not butchered them), I have an ok natural shape but they don't have that wow factor and are very pale. So the thought of being able to see them without pencilling them in was a good one for me. I should have had my brows tinted years ago. Makes such a difference.

Anyway I have not had any wax against my brows for at least a year if not longer. The session started off with my brows being tinted. We opted for a dark brown shade.  Though had the option to go darker. Then once tint was complete the shape was marked out and guides put in place before eyebrow shaping. This was followed by my eyebrows being waxed (ouch not felt that in awhile) then the odd bits tweezed off. She also did some threading to refine the shape but I could feel my hair line being threaded. Though as I looked at my before picture it could be just those odd bits of hair at the temple before my hairline and they were just removed to neaten up everything. My hairline is still intact so I am guessing.

HD Brows freshly done

With my friends discount for introducing me I only paid just over £18 plus I bought the Mii eyebrow pencil for £10. It was after I purchased it I realised I will be following my friend to the MAC store next week and could have invested in their Stud brow pencil which has been on my list of makeup items to buy for the longest.

Mii eyebrow pencil

My friends think my brows look amazing. They are definitely shaped well and different to my natural brow. I love the arch as it is not too severe. I can surely get back into the habit of having my brows done on a regular basis. I however right now will need to stick to a cheaper way of doing so. 

Acrylic Embedded Nail Art

I have not had any form of nail extensions for a few years. So seeing that the Sis in law had some offers on I decided to treat myself. I chose to have some embedded nail art. If I was to get bored of these designs, they can simply be painted over. I am also seeing 3D nail art around but would have to forget about kneading dumplings for soup Jamaican style. Using my BB and some general day to day things are proving tricky but I will adjust to all that in a few days I hope. 

Soap and Glory Big Splendour

I think I definitely am a person who loves Soap and Glory products. Not everything they make appeals to me but the body butters, shower gels and face scrubs are my fave. Money Saving Expert website newsletter always let's you know when the offers will be available. I was so disappointed when the hat box came out a few years ago and I missed it. Last year I bought the Tote Bag and ended up giving away a few products as I bought two lots. I gave away the shampoos and some of the body scrubs. 

So this year I went to Boots to pick up the bargain buy. Boots staff were scattered around the shop to promote this product. I was a bit surprised when sales pitch lady comes from nowhere trying to sell me something I had already picked up firmly in my hand. If these are still in stock when I go back to Boots next week I might buy another one.  

Anyway I love the selection this year a lot more than the previous. So much stuff I will use myself and not give away. The products come in a big vanity case that has an internal drawstring cover. The original price for the set was £60 and I paid £25 as part of the deal plus it gave me 100 Boots Advantage card points. Not bad for 10 products that individually can cost you £5-10 on average each.

Products:

Clean on Me 500ml 

The Righteous Butter 300ml

Pulp Friction 250ml

Face Soap and Clarity 150ml

Heel Genius 125ml

Hand Food 125ml

Mist You Madly 250ml

Sexy Pucker Candy Gloss 7ml

Calm One Calm All 500ml

Off Your Face Wipes 

Wet N Wild surprise finds in £1 shop

I have been hastily doing my Christmas shopping in the last few days. After buying a game which required batteries my friend whispered in my ear pound shop as a hint not to buy the same batteries in the toyshop that cost more.

As I have discovered before, the pound shops which all include Poundland Poundworld 99p shop Everythings a £1 etc tend to sell similar stuff with small variations. Previously I came across Rimmel Lipsticks and Sally Henson Nail polishes. Which I could not say no to.

So to my surprise I noticed that Everythings a £1, was selling Wet n Wild eyeshadows and lip liners. Years ago Wet N Wild had a UK website but that closed after a sale and the next thing you know all the beauty vloggers on YouTube and bloggers are raving about the wonderfulness of this cheap brand that gives you high quality for the price. I would love to get hold of the more popular products as the eyeshadow sets but in the mean time I am happy with what I have for now.

So I ended up spending £4 for 8 products. I bought the Wet n Wild beautybenefis triple fusion eyeshadow, the Beauty Brilliance mineral eye shimmer and Dual Effects lip pencils which I had thought was a shadow stick but it will serve a purpose one day. 

Triple Fusion eyeshadow shades:

21121 Lily Bloom

21123 Aqua Marine

21124 Purple Haze

Beauty Brilliance mineral eye shimmer:

21183 Obsidian Glass

21181 Gold Dust

21180 Artic Haze

Dual Effects lip pencil:

21253 Mocha

21255 Blossom

To MAC or not

I went to Birmingham a couple of weeks ago to try a different shade of MAC studio fix powder. A part of me wants to love it so much but I just do not know. My 1st shade that I was colour matched with was NW43. Now to me I thought yes this looks nice but after taking a few pictures I realised the shade was not quite right. It makes me look really orangey red. Which is not good as I do not have orange or red undertones. So I thought going back and buying a different shade from a different colour group would work. I was colour matched for both shades. They both clearly look different. I am not completely convinced that the NC55 suits me either considering I thought she had given me NC50.

There is hope I suppose. I have been told to try Black Opal and Make up Forever HD Foundation shade 177. The shade recommendation comes from Jen from Spiced Beauty. Please check out her wonderful blog if you haven't already. I am going to have to find out where in the UK MUFE is sold and if they have my shade. Many companies do not sell their full colour choice in Europe, let alone he UK, so even cheaper brands like Revlon is literally a no go for me.

Check out the pics of MAC studio fix powder and tell me what you think? Also if you any suggestions for which brands I should check out.

These are other shades of foundations I sometimes or have used:

Iman crème to powder Clay 5

Fashion Fair crème to powder Bruin Brown

Maybelline Dream Matte Mouse a combination of caramel and cocoa

The Afro Hair & Beauty Bible

I read about the Afro Hair & Beauty Bible whilst skimming some UK blogs. One of those blogs was Vex in the City which gave a nice overall review of the book and the author Alison Husbands whom she met at the Afro Hair and Beauty show in London. So when I saw that the same blog was hosting a competition I thought why not.

So glad I entered as I won my very own copy! I was so excited I replied as soon as my berry blinked to let me know I had new mail. It must be a sign I must enter more competitions on blogs and twitter. Who knows, one day I will win my own home.

Anyway I absolutely love the cover picture of this book. It either looks like the model is wearing an afro hairpiece of her own hair is slicked back at the front and the back left loose and flowing. The book covers Hair care for women with both natural and relaxed hair. It gives a breakdown of how to care for your hair with some basic principles such as understanding protein and protective styling. Ladies who wear extensions are not left out either. There is a section on skin care and make up as well as body care from skin conditions to exercise. The book also includes a product list of suggested products for each of the areas discussed in the book.

Overall I would say this is a good starting point for a beginner who may not have done much research of their own or someone who would like to increase their knowledge. It would also serve as a nice companion alongside what you know already and other books in your collection. My only bad point is that it only talks about the Andre Walker hair typing system. Andre’s system limits type 4 hair which is Kinky curly hair to types just 4a and 4b. Whereas some would rightly state that there is a 4c. It would have been nice to include the LOIS system which some ladies have found easier to use. However that does boil down to personal choice. This book is still worth a read and I will refer back to it.

For more information on Alison Husbands check out her website The Afro Hair & Beauty Bible

Glamour n Benefit freebies

I so love a freebie in a magazine that is useful to me. If I was going on holiday the free flip flops and beach bags would have been great. Anyway the latest edition of Glamour Magazine is all about their Woman of the Year. I never really pay attention to this as the majority of the ladies featured I never know who they are or what they do. For a breakdown of winners that is very honest please check out Mad News Blog.

Benefit Bad Gal eyeliner cost about £14 and so does many of their other pencils. As the magazine only cost £2 I thought it would only make sense for me to buy couple more of this mag to make a saving. I subscribe to glamour as I make a huge saving. So I just had to buy two more magazines which I gave away to work colleagues sans makeup. I did not opt for the concealer stick as I would have had to use it on my foot bottom and what use would that be.

I like the eyeliners though I could do with some tips on the Eye Bright. Should I just use it in my waterline or just below in the bottom lash line? If I do not get an answer on here  I will have to tweet to find an answer.

Clinique High Lengths Mascara

I was sent this mascara as a gift for being one of the first one thousand people to fill in the Times Online beauty survey. I was pleasantly surprised to receive it as normally I am never within such a catchment.  I have had it in my possession for over a month. I must say I do like it, not because its free but it seems to do the job just fine. The wand looks very technical and I bet the engineers over at Clinique spent a lot of money getting this odd wand just right. Thankfully its firm enough yet soft enough to make application easy. I do still prefer a bushy mascara brush but this one gets a thumbs up from me. It costs about £14 and probably add a few more pence. Please head over to Lipglossiping for a more in depth beauty review with before and after pics.

MAC B-day treats

I know my birthday has long gone and now Valentines is on its way. However I received this parcel of goodies in the post last week. I was so happy to be given some MAC make up as a pressie. I love MAC products but cannot always afford to buy them.

I was given Mac Mineralize Skin Finish Natural in Dark , a lip pencil in plum and a Lustreglass in Flusterose. They look so good on me. I suppose it helps that the friend who picked everything is a certified and practicing MUA. She always knows how to make my cheeks pop. Fingers crossed her website will be up soon and of course I will share the link when it is.

PS: Forgot to say the reason behind the lip liner is that my friend disaproves of me wearing dark brown lip liner. She says it takes me back to our uni days or even further back. So the lip liner was a major hint to try a different colour lip liner.

Bare Minerals Bare Escentuals

This is my 1st birthday treat to myself. Yes that is right. Any excuse to buy makeup when I can is a good thing. I have had my eye on mineral makeup like this for sometime. I have read so much good stuff about it.

So as my local Debenhams sells the full colour range I had to treat myself. I bought the starter kit for £45. It comes with two foundations (my kit came with Golden Dark and Medium Dark) which have an SPF 15, Mineral Veil (finishing powder) and Warmth( which is an all over face colour). It also comes with a skin primer called Skin Rev-er upper, an instructional DVD and info book. It is a pity that the info book was not an instructional too. The final part of the kit are three brushes – foundation, concealer and kabuki brushes. The sales assistant says this is all I need for flawless application.

The DVD covers the products in your kit plus other products you can purchase should you choose. For my skin she used Golden Dark, which the other sales assistant thought was a perfect match. I think I can use this loads. It does not feel like I have anything on. I still love my crème to powders and my mac studio fix powder NW43. Though this is new to me. So will be fun.

Have you used mineral makeup before? How was it for you?

Purple Lips

I almost forgot to mention that I bought two purple lipsticks. I was given a few options on twitter and here. I ended up buying Va Va Violet 663 by Revlon and Amethyst 825 by Sleek. I had them for a few weeks and love them.

I do intend to get hold of one of the colours suggested by Miss Virtue after all it is nice to have MAC in your collections. Have you found any nice purple shades? Please let me know.

UPDATE 11/Dec/09 : I have tried several times to do swatches and they seem to disappear with the flash. I have been given tips by the lovely people on twitter so hopefully I will master it one day. Sorry not sooner. This would be a tragedy if I was a beauty blogger.