Milan Rowe Cosmetics Intense Color Lipstick Collection Giveaway!

L-R: Noire, Viva La Lilac, Phenomenon, Caribbean Queen and Alter Ego

It's time for another giveaway, ladies! This time it's for some bold color lipsticks from Milan Rowe Cosmetics! Two winners will receive the Intense Color Lipstick Collection which includes five shades: Noire, Viva La Lilac, Phenomenon, Caribbean Queen and Alter Ego.

 

  Here I am rocking these lipsticks with lip liners.

Viva La Lilac is my personal favorite! I usually wear it with MAC's Currant or Magenta lip liner to tone it down a bit. It resembles MAC's Viva Glam Nicki 2 lipstick.

To watch the tutorial for this makeup look, click here.

If you're bold enough to sport these lippies, enter the giveaway below by telling me why you're not afraid to rock these bold colors on your lips!

Here I am rocking these lipsticks with no lip liners.

The giveaway ends next Sunday, June 16th. Good luck!

Friends=Fro Guards

No matter if you rock a TWA, or have curls flowing down your back, we share a common problem. It doesn't matter where you are; talking and joking with friends or in an important meeting, this always seems to happen. 

Yesterday I went to the Grand Prix with Derek. His job was sponsoring one of the drivers so we got in free and was able to enjoy the private lounge area with free food and drinks. There I was, meeting a lot of his co-workers and even a few big wigs at his job. I thought I was looking cute: light makeup, colorful and fun, yet appropriate attire, with a beautiful and defined twist-out. I was a fine example of what a young man's girlfriend should look like at a company's function. 

 

I excused myself to go to the restroom before we hit the grandstands to look at the actual race. Once I got in there and took a look in the mirror: I was horrified at my reflection. There was all kinds of mess stuck in my amazing, fluffy twist-out! A speckle of pollen to the left, some  mysterious green strands of something ungodly at the crown, and few spots of little cotton balls to the right. As my fingers immediately dug into my Fro to retract all of the foreign objects out of it, I wondered why no one, including my boyfriend, didn't try to pick this mess out of hair or at least notify me of the situation. I mean, what the hell! I was looking like a feather duster just dumped all of its contents onto my hair with my permission. No sir, that's not right!

I tried to understand why no one tried to get this mess out of all of my glory and I had a good theory: there's this unwritten rule that says if you touch a Black woman's hair you'll get dealt with (although I'm an exception to this rule), so maybe that's why people were reluctant to put their hands near my mane. But that still doesn't mean they couldn't speak to me about it. Even if they'd made a hand gesture to clue what was going on above me would've sufficed. Not saying anything is just cruel. 

That's why I feel as though if you are going to call yourself a friend of mine, it is your automatic duty to notify me at any given time (immediately would be best), if I have anything at all in my hair. After all, if I'm your true friend, you wouldn't allow me to look like a mess next to you because that would reflect negatively on yourself. Right? 

 

 

From now on I'm calling my friends my Fro guards. Just like a body guard protects you from harms way, your Fro guards must protect your hair from getting something entangled in its curls. Make sense right?

Tell me what you think! Have you notice you got crap stuck in your hair after hanging with your friends for awhile? Go off in the comments below!

Results: Chunky Twist-Out

Blush: Milani Baked Blush in Fantastico Mauve

Lippie: Currant Lip Liner by MAC & Viva La Lilac Lipstick by Milan Rowe Cosmetics

Peep the video to see the before and what I used:

Original Moxie Giveaway!

To watch the tutorial for this style click here.

I've been natural for three and a half years and I've been using Original Moxie's products for nearly two of those years. It's the only brand that I've been using that long and after seeing my results after using their products, there's no question as to why that is.

To watch the tutorial for this style click here.

In the spirit of today's Instagram's Throwback Thursday, I posted this pic of my ticket to 2011's "Natural is... Beautiful" event in NYC alongside a photo of me doing a demo of someone's hair using OM's products.

That was such a memorable experience for me. Original Moxie made my LIFE by flying me to NYC on my first brand ambassador duties. It was my first time in NYC and my first time doing someone else's hair in front of a huge crowd. Not only did I have a lot of fun at the event, but I also got the opportunity to meet and have dinner with Chescaleigh afterward. I say all of this to say it's been a pleasure to find out about a brand, love their products and then go on to work for them at different events. Rachel, the owner, has also become a good friend of mine. It's been a pleasurable experience all around!

One thing that I've always loved about Original Moxie was their focus on being environmentally friendly. They use all natural ingredients and encourage green practices. This is why I was so excited when they reached out to me expressing interest in becoming a sponsor for my 30 Day Beauty and Body Detox!

The Giveaway

Recipe: Guilt Free & Healthy Vanilla Latté

Gone are the days you stand in the long lines at Starbucks in 90 degree weather craving an ice cold latté. Well, maybe not really, but if you want to break your addiction this summer, I came up with a much healthier alternative. This is a nice and refreshing drink I made right before I started my detox. Besides the Silk Iced latté, all the ingredients are clean. If you are following a clean eating diet, I'd suggest substitute the Silk Iced latté with almond milk. It's delicious, healthy and refreshing at the same time!

I'm not just going to say this 8 oz.drink is healthy without giving you the skinny on each ingredient so lets dip into the facts first.

Cocoa Nibs

Cocoa nibs are a good source of potassium, chromium, copper, calcium and zinc. Cocoa nibs are also a rich dietary source of magnesium, a mineral that many Americans lack. Magnesium is essential for circulation, muscle function and bone health, but it can't be produced by the human body. Read more benefits here. I purchased these at Whole Foods for $13, but I suggest buying them at your local food co-op. I visited mine a few days later and they were $7.99. Never again, Whole Foods!

Almonds

Almonds naturally contain a very high amount of vitamin E, which blocks the formation of carcinogenic compounds formed in the body that can result in cancer. Almonds are also packed with essential fatty acids that promote good health and well-being. The essential fatty acids found in almonds are linoleic and linolenic acid, and they are responsible for proper functioning of the body. Read more benefits here. I love the "Just a Handful of Dry Roasted Unsalted Almonds" from Trader Joes because they come prepackaged so it cuts out the work for you. I always keep a pack in my car when I'm on the go and need a quick bite to hold me over until my next meal.

Flax Seeds

 

Flaxseed, which is high in fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, is often used to support digestive health and relieve constipation. However, consuming flaxseed has many other health benefits when eaten regularly.Read more benefits here. I usually buy the milled flax seeds with dried blueberries to sprinkle over my steel cut oatmeal for breakfast. It tastes really good paired with a dollop of honey.

 

Recipe

 

 

2 cups of Silk's Iced Latté
Approximately 12 Almonds
2 tablespoons of Flax Seeds
2 tablespoons of Cocoa Nibs
6 Ice Cubes

 

I'd recommend blending the ice first, then the nuts followed by everything else.

 

I loved this drink using both the Silk Vanilla Latté and almond milk. I even had Derek taste it and he also gave it his stamp of approval (which is rare. I'm still trying to get him to give chia seeds a try, smh!). So if you try this drink or have tried something similar, let me know how you liked it in the comments below!

And the Winner is...

Thanks so much to all those who entered! Stephanie, please email your shipping instructions to Losing2in160@gmail.com.


The next giveaway will be posted tomorrow and it will feature Original Moxie products. Stay tuned!!

Cleanse Me Naturally

Before I started this detox, I knew that I'd have to get rid of some of my favorite beauty products. I just didn't know I would have to get rid of so many! It seemed like everything would be all natural until you hit the last thing in the ingredient list and there you would see that God awful word: fragrance/parfum. UGH! I was so hurt that so many of these great brands just had to use a synthetic fragrance in their products. "Lawd, why!" Those were the two words I kept screaming to the heavens as I read each label in my cabinet full of products. It was disheartening.

Fast forward to the present day and I'm A-OK! I only use three products on a regular basis for my skin and body and it feels great. Not only is a cost efficient because I'm using less products, but it now doesn't take so much time to get ready because I'm not applying a gazillion products onto my face and body daily.

Face
If you've been following my channel for awhile, you know I've had my bout with adult acne. It seemed like it came out of nowhere last year and during last summer it reached its peak. I tried just about everything to get rid of it except going the all natural method route.

This was the first soap I used as a facial cleanser. I've since used two other scents.

In February I started using Shea Moisture's all natural soap on my face since I ran out of my Clarasonic's acne cleanser and needed something to hold me over until I could hit up Sephora to drop another $50 on the product. But in less than two weeks I realized my skin was starting to clear up with just the Shea Moisture soap alone. I was freaking out. A bar of soap that costs less than $6 was doing wonders to my skin that a bottle that costs 10 times that wasn't doing in three months!

That's when I decided to stay on the all natural soap train. I've stuck with Shea Moisture soaps since then, but decided to try my hand at Dr. Bronner's Magic Soap. It's great and I love the tingly feeling it gives my skin. This soap claims you can use it seven ways. I stick to using it as a facial cleanser, a shower gel (as it lathers really well) and using it as a shaving cream.  This stuff is bomb!

My skin was so horrible last year! Thank God is has cleared up dramatically since then!

I use the V Bar to clean my lady parts (the green bar of soap in above picture). This is made by the woman who's session on the Curly Cruise influenced this whole ordeal. Her soap is all natural and fragrance free. Read more about it here.

I use the Shea Moisture's Body Scrub about once a week to exfoliate my skin. It's amazing! I've been using this stuff since last year and it always made its way into one of my favorites videos.  It's also all natural and fragrance free. It's affordable and can be found at most Target stores on the organic beauty aisle.

Moisturizer and Lotion
I've been a die hard Bath and Body works fan since forever so it was going to be a struggle to stop using my favorite scented lotions and body butters from their store...or so I thought. I knew I had racked up a number of all natural butters from various companies, however like I mentioned above, most of them had fragrances in them. I finally found one that didn't and that was the Koils by Nature Nourishing Hair and Body Butter.

This butter is so rich and moisturizing it makes no since. It also doesn't have the grit that some Shea butter mixes give you. My skin is always glowing and buttery. I always looked sun kissed when wearing this on my skin.

My skin was looking radiant at the Naturally FLYY Detroit Meet-Up. Look at  them legs. Owww!

Hair products
The most exciting thing about this detox is I don't have to stop doing what I love: reviewing products! I now can bring you reviews from brands that are conscious of what they're putting into their products and putting into YOUR bodies! That in itself makes me feel fabulous!

 

Have you tried any products that I've talked about above? Of so, let me know in the comment section below!