Weekend Beauty

So I have been researching face treatments for oily skin for a week and finally found some all natural home remedies that I thought I would give a try. The one that I decided on was a turmeric face mask.


Lemon juice, flour, turmeric powder- Make a paste. (Use all purpose flour) Plain yogurt can be used in place of lemon juice. Apply all over the face except the eye area. Let dry. Rinse. The acids in the lemon juice treat dark spots on the face clearing the complexion. Turmeric brightens the look. (Lemon juice might cause a tingling sensation). Feel the fresh and oil-free skin afterwards.

 Turmeric powder found at valumart. Mix all three ingredients till you get a paste. I used half of a lemon and then applied it to my face and left it to dry for bout 20 mins.

my complexion is visibly brighter. look at my face compared to my neck.

After putting on my makeup I wasn't so worried. I was glowing and loved it!

When putting on the mask, you'll realise your face might smell like curry. lol This is because the turmeric is used in curry powders. Also you will feel a tingling sensation. This is from the lemon juice. It gets pretty itchy but try not to scratch. It takes about  15 mins to dry. Taking it off, be very gentle because it dries into a hard mask so just use a warm damp towel or wash cloth to remove the mask. After taking it off I realised my face was noticeable yellower.lol My normal skin undertone is reddish golden brown and I looked slightly cooler with yellow undertones but this is from the turmeric so after you take the mask off be sure to wash your face with a gentle cleanser like cetaphil to remove excess turmeric colouring. My face looked noticeable BRIGHTER. There is no doubt about the brightening effects of this mask. In terms of treating oily skin. I noticed I produced less oil during the night when I went out. I only had to dab once with my oil blotting sheet. And my old acne scars honestly were visibly lighter after the mask. I will be trying this again. And I don't smell like curry any more. Its morning and I still look like I have a bright glowing complexion. I love it. I will use this mask again tomorrow.

I do not know how the turmeric will react on darker skin but if you are darker and try it please try it when you have no where to go, just in case it doesnt turn out like you planned.

Stay tuned for my first guest blogger post from my girl Omo. She also did a post on mask for oily skin that works for her.

Until then my beauties, stay true to yourself. stay beautiful

For more tips for oily skin try http://www.essortment.com/lifestyle/beautyhealthsk_sjrd.htm.

My week in beauty....

Glam tribal nails.

So trial and error. GREEN HAIR. Lesson learned: Go to a pro when u wanna add hilites.

Shaped up by the barber and some fuchsia plum rinse over my green/blonde hilites.

Back of my mohawk

I feel pretty! oh so pretty!

Artistic vision. My take on Kesha's look in her "We r who we r" video

BB cam doesnt pick up the glitter.

 At. work on Friday. Mac odd couple on eyes with a nude lip.

Natural Beauty. Always inspired by nature

I keep a rose in my room to remind me of how the simpliest delicate thing can be so beautiful and inspiring.

So last week, I had some beauty hits and some beauty misses.
I think that rose colour would make a hot lip colour.
Let's see what these week brings...
Lesson learned: Some things should be left up to a professional.

Beauty is all around us... inside and out.

After work routine

plethora of skin products

masks

me without makeup. I have the Botanics Sauna Mask on. Yesh

Hi Beauties,

I wear makeup at least 5 days a week but I also take very good care of my skin because of this. The trick is to find products that offer "deep cleansing" ,  unclog pores, removes oil and dirty and other impurities- in essence products that will get rid of the stress left on your face due to environmental factors such as pollution and sun damage caused by exposure to UV rays. Some foundations tend to get into pores and attract oil and dirty to the face and if you are prone to break outs like me , this means you have to choose your foundation wisely but also find a good routine to take good care of your skin especially after you've taken off the makeup at the end of the day.

My routine varies alot- depends on what I have in stock, how my skin is reacting and whatever I feel like using to be honest.

First thing I do when I get home is ALWAYS remove my makeup, I bought some makeup remover wipes from a walmart brand called equate. I always look out for these wipes when I'm in a walmart. 60 wipes in a pack and I got two sets for $9 US. These are great- I use them in conjunction sometimes with my Neutrogena Deep Clean Cream Cleanser to remove any excess from my face. walmart.com

Other times I use Ponds Cold Cream to remove my makeup. This is something every woman should have in her skin artillery. It is an old trusted product that brings back moisture to your skin that you may have lost in the day while removing your makeup.
Oh for heavy eye makeup which is usually pretty labour intensive to remove like waterproof mascara I use my ALMAY EYE MAKEUP REMOVER PADS- which are some of the best ,if not the best out there on the market. Costs around $6 US on amazon.com or ulta.com.


Secondly is have a glass of water. 8 glasses of water a day is recommended by most physicians. Water is great for your skin, especially after a long day. This is essential if you live in hot or dry climates, you loose alot of water during the day whether by sweating or from dry weather, hence you have to replenish your skin's moisture. One sign to tell me that I need to drink water , is that I get very dry lips. I am drinking my water as we speak. It also helps to flush out the impurities out of your system which in turn helps to promote better skin.

Next step is to take 15 mins to relax and put on my face mask with some cucumbers on my eyes and some relaxing music while sipping on my water of course. Take the time to relax, let you body whine down after a long day, give your face a rest- literally. My favourite masks are those that claim to minimize pores, unclog pores or remove oil and dirt and impurities from your pures, this is necessary especially after a long day. I usually turn to my clay mask about twice a week because I have oily skin. For someone with normal skin you can use a mask once a week.

 Lately I have been obsessed with BOTANICS products- I am using their  Refining Sauna Mask with horsechestnut extract to help refine skin, drawing out dirt and impurities, promoting a healthy complexion. Doesn't that sound promising? Botanics products use all natural ingredients and is very affordable. Botanics can be found at Target.

Other masks I use from REIPINOL'A Natural Beauty. I bought them when I was in Barbados.  There's the Chamomile Revitalizing Facial Mask and the Sealange Lifting Facial Mask, again all natural and they only cost $1US.

There are times when I don't use the masks and go straight for my Tea Tree Oil. This is one of my favourite products. I use it for everything. Its great to clean my makeup brushes also. What is does is gets rid of bacteria that can cause break outs. So after I am done cleaning my makeup off, I use a cotton ball to apply some tea tree oil to my face to fight bacteria. I use JASON Tea Tree Oil which costs around $5 US.http://www.amazon.com/Jason-Natural-Cosmetics-Australian-liquid/dp/B000VA35ME

So for those of you who are worried about your skin, if you wear makeup all the time, you just have to be willing to look after your skin and get products that will either soothe, deep clean or remove impurities after a long hard day at work. Love your skin ladies! Remember there's no good makeup without good skin.

Beauty inside and out.

Gap-toothed beauty

Anna Paquin "Sookie" from True Blood

Famous gap toothed beauty- Madonna

So this blog is not all about makeup and beauty products but it's a way for me to express my self on particular views about what is considered beautiful in societies around the world. Today I was staring at myself in the mirror contemplating on whether I should get rid of my gap between my front teeth for about the 20 millionth time.

 I was reading this article on the huffington post website about how "Gap teeth" have become the latest must have accessory and it made me smile. It meant to me that society, especially that of the west has finally accepted that beauty comes in different forms and shapes and that having a gap between your teeth does not make you any less beautiful. For years, I have been proud of Madonna for not getting hers fixed or for Lauren Hutten who is known for her beauty for not bending to social pressures and go to the dentist to get that "perfect smile." I used to say the day Madonna gets hers fixed, that the day I will get mine fixed. And then, there's Sookie from True Blood or Anna Paquin in real life who also says she finds it rude when people ask her why she never fixed her gap. I DO TOO!!!! She makes gap teeth look so sexy. Here's the link to the story http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/05/gap-teeth-the-latest-must_n_164339.html. Its a pity that I can't recall any black women who are considered beauty icons and have gap teeth. Ne ways back to my story...

Growing up in St. Kitts, I never realized that my smile was different till I was about 13, when I went down the road to go the shop and this older man stopped me to ask me If I know what it meant to have a space between my teeth but never finished telling me what it was. I was like what is he talking about? Then I went home to ask my mother what does it mean if I have a  space between my teeth and she told me don't ask her about that non-sense. Then later on maybe 15/16 I learnt that the local myth states that if you have a space between your teeth or gap teeth that you were some how "sweeter" than all the other women and that some how you possessed "sugar down there". I was appalled to learn the truth of course and went to my mother and demanded that she carried me to the dentist to get it fixed but my mother told me not to listen to what silly men say and that I should walk down the road with confidence and be proud of who I was and what I looked like because my gap tooth was part of my identity- not part of some local myth. She said it gave me a distinct look and she can't even picture me without it. I struggled with accepting her views of this situation for a while. My mother to me had a perfect smile- no gaps, my aunts, my cousins, my friends all had perfect smiles and here I was with this space that some how meant I was better in bed and men always seemed to approach me about what their grandmother told them or what people say about girls with space between their teeth. 

Of course in high school, I was made fun of several times by mean girls with self esteem issues telling me to go get my front teeth fixed or by ignorant people asking me if I was missing a tooth. I often did my research on my "condition" and found out it was actually a condition  called "Diastema" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diastema_%28dentistry%29. You can read more about it if you click on this link. 

The treatment for my condition is of course braces or veneers, both very expensive dental procedures. Oh and my gap grows with age so it is slightly bigger than when I was younger. I started begging my mom to let me get braces in my last year of high school because I didn't want to go out into the world looking different to every one else. I got the dentist appointment, he told me that the braces would be about 12,000 EC and that to make that gap smaller by using veneers would be about 3000 US. I sat in the chair dumbfounded that to fix something so simple could cost so much money but I still wanted it. 

During the summer before 6th form, I was so exciting that I was finally going look normal like every one else with my perfect smile but I still felt guilty about spending the money on the procudure ( I was going to get veneers). I went for my second consultation to discuss the procedure and the dentist told me he wouldn't be able to close the gap completely, just enough to make it smaller or I would look like I had three front tooth. I was disappointed and went home to think about it. I thought to myself, why do I want to look like every one else, that is not me. Why am I ready to give up my identity to look normal? Well I opted out of the procedure because I guess I accepted my gap and looking a little different to every one else.

Today when men approach me about if I know what people say about women with gap teeth, I just smile and say "probably but  let's see if you can be a little original". Honestly, I think I've heard them all. When I went off to uni in Canada however I got into a rut with my gap because the looks that I got were very different to the ones I got at home. People would be looking at my gap when I spoke instead of me. I felt very uncomfortable and realized I had it good at home. Yep it was a cultural thing, in the Caribbean. I again went to the dentist to consider my options but I always ended up opting out after a few convos with myself and my mother. And then I met my bf, who by the way also has a gap (coincidence). He never came up to me and asked me if I knew what people say but he told me one thing he noticed was my beautiful smile. I believed him and still do. He always encouraged me to accept my gap as part of what makes Shyne shine.

My gap is part of my distinct look. I finally get it. So when I looked in the mirror today wondering about how it looked compared to every one else, I just laughed and said maybe some day you'll get it fixed if it does get bigger but for now ...Im ok with it. To all my gap toothed beauty- be proud of being different- it is what makes you, you!

Oh, Condeleeza Rice and Susan Taylor- founder of Essence Mag both have a gap.

Interesting post from the black snob blog.
http://blacksnob.com/snob_blog/2010/9/9/fashion-discovers-gapped-teeth-will-likely-get-over-it-in-a.html

And the winner is....

 Here's our beauty who won the 1st Anniversary Giveaway. Congrats Karimu. I wish you long and full eyelashes! :)

 Here we go....

And the winner of the New Year's Giveaway is....Goldz. 
Congrats hun. You have just won a Colossal Mascara. Contact me via msg or fb or email to collect your prize.

Thanks for participating and stay tuned for more giveaways. Love and beauty to all!