Brown Beauty

Product Lust

2012-03-07T16:53:00.002Z

I’ve been hearing about Revlons new Colour Burst Lip Butter range for awhile now. It seems the brand has jumped onto the lipbalm-lipstick hybrid trendthat seems to be marking out its space in our make-up bags just in time forsummer.

I’ve been into two Boots stores and a Superdrug but nowhereseems to be stocking them yet. – this is turning into something of anobsession.

A few bloggers have been lucky enough to get their hands onthem already, and I am well and truly wel’ jel’

I’ve got my eye firmly on Tutti Fruitti (second one in). I tend to go for orangeytone lips in summer and this product sounds so moisturising and luscious it maybecome my summer staple. Roll on mid March! Boots are also running a two Revloncosmetics for £10 deal. Tempting, very tempting…….

The Shame Game

2012-02-13T10:54:00.000Z

So, you've been washing your own face for what, like 20+years? You think you've got the gig down to a fine art, scrub, scrub, scrub,dry, dry, dry – done. You've even splashed out on a few fancy exfoliators togive your skin that extra srcubed up treatment and you’re feeling pretty damngood about your shiny, cleansed mug.

Then you meet this bad boy and the shame sets in.

Clinique's Clarifying Lotion is an exfoliator which contains no scrubby little particles so you’d beforgiven for thinking that it is a toner as the clear liquid swishes around in its fancy frosted bottle.

You use it just as you would a toner, splash some on cotton ball then sweepover the face.‘In an upwards direction’Mr BB tells me as to 'delay the onset of wrinkles and sagging'. How does heknow this stuff!?

Then, I advise you take a deep breath before looking at yourcotton pad because chances are the you'll see the evidence of all the dirt and grime your skin has been harbouring despite your best scrubbing efforts.

I blame Londonpollution.

I don't know the secret behind Cliniques Exofilators all I know is that number 2 for dry combination skin works for me. If you have very dry/ sensitive skin you may not want to use thismore than a few times a week, however mine skin is pretty robust so I can get away withusing it every day. Must keep the grime at bay.

As with most exfoliators don't forget to moisturise right after or you will be in dry skin city.

Happy cleaning!

Stay a little longer, winter

2012-02-01T08:05:00.000Z

Now I’m not normally one to be willing winter to stay. I’m a summer baby (born in June), so the sunshine months have always been my time of year. I love summer fashion, summer colours, and that optimistic summer feeling you get when the rays are beaming down.

However, I realised last week – as it was quite mild out – that a part of me that will be slightly sad to say goodbye to the winter this year. All because of my Sleek Cranberry Lipstick.

A while back I blogged about how I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the Sleek Berry Collection – and I haven’t stopped using it since I got it.

I love the shade of the lipstick – admittedly, I do find that it makes my lips feel a bit dry as it's totally matt so I tend to use my fav free lip balm over it to make them feel a little softer.

It’s such an intense colour that's only really suitable for winter – so sunshine, I’m cool if you want to take your time and finally give us that Indian Summer we’ve been promised since 1986.

PS – Despite my past few posts, I’m not a secret PR person for Sleek. There will be other brands to follow. I promise.

The Brown Beauty Blogging Kit

2012-01-30T20:55:00.000Z

A good blog must have some sort of order, a sense of familiarity and regularity that readers can relate to. Now you certainly won't be able to set your clock by my blog posts, and my entries will probably vary from short and sweet to long and rambly (not a real word but I hope you catch my drift).

So I came up with a little picture plan that I hope will become my unique thang.

I invested a whole £1.35 in an A4 sheet of perspex (I love ebay) and a further £3.99 in a set of non-permanent markers from Ryman. And there you have it, my blogging photo kit.

From now on, my blog post pics will include a little doodling, and some annotation around the products I test out.

I hope you enjoy!

I feel a new obsession coming on……

2012-01-28T12:45:00.000Z

I’ve never been a massive fan of The Body Shop. I’ve alwaysrespected their stance against cruelty to animals, for looking after the environment, and using natural ingredients. It goes without saying that they deserve a big hi 5 for being aheadof the pack in the fair trade game. But I've always found them to be a little over priced for my meagre budget.

I seem to, however, have stumbled across a little Body Shopobsession in the form of their spiced vanilla range. I am now the proud ownerof the body butter, hand moisturiser and lip balm

Body Butter

This was the thing that started it all off, I was walkingpast The Body Shop on my lunch break and the sales assistant outside began seductivelywafting it in front of me. Mmmm it smelled good. And as it was pay dayAND it was half price, I thought – why not!

Functionality wise, it works as well as all Body Shop BodyButter’s. It's thick and luscious and I don't get dry elbows half way through the day. Perfect.
£12.50

Hand cream

This is a decent hand cream, it's quite light so when my hands are suffering from a case of winter dryness I need something much thicker. However it's all about that spicy sugary vanilla scent. It's just nice to just slap a bit on when I'm sitting at my desk and breath in the aroma.

£4.00 currently on sale for £1.50

The Lip Balm

Now this is pretty special. The packaging calls it a balm but I would certainly call it a butter as it's so thick and creamy. I shunned my favourite free lip balm and used this badboy and nothing else for a full week. 7 days later my lips feel great, no peeling no dryness. It has the bonus of the lush vanilla scent, but loses points for not tasting very nice. But I suppose, when all's said and done, that's not what it's for. Total thumbs up.
£4.00 currently on sale for £1.50

PS. My love of spiced vanilla goodies does not extend to thenew Starbucks spiced vanilla latte. That is not a good drink.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

2012-01-12T12:14:00.004Z

I’m a sucker for a freebie, it’s become a rather embarrasing running joke in my office that I’m the first one in line to get free stuff at any event or corporate gig we go to.

But I don’t care, I take it in my stride because in between the dodgy pens, unwanted mugs and random keyrings you always find a diamond in the rough. That 'something special' that makes lugging around a bag of plastic tat worth it.

At one of the last events I attended I came across this little beauty. A company selling keyboards were using it to promote their brand. Random.

This is hands down the best lip balm I have ever used. It has a beautiful smell as it contains coco butter and vanilla It’s the only thing I’ve used that doesn’t leave my lips dry and peeling after a momentary burst of moisture like many others do.

I’m not really in the business of spending 10s of pounds on something as simple as a lip balm so this is right up my street.

So take that you Doubting Thomases – also I didn’t see anyone complaing when I was sourcing out the free champagne!

Only problem is – I have no idea what to do when it finishes L

How Now, New Brow?!

2011-12-05T11:00:00.000Z

My eyebrows have been a subject of disdain for many, manyyears. The actual shape of them doesn’t trouble me; I much prefer a fuller,bolder brow to skinny non existent ones. The issue is that the hair of my eyebrows is as curly as the hair on my head, so they never lie flat. I’ve triedeverything in an attempt to make them stay put. I’m talking Vaseline, cocobutter, hair gel and hair spray, but nothing works. So I’ve spent the last 25 years walking around like this.

Before

And the last 4 years with Mr Brown Beauty trying to smooth my eyebrows down every half an hour. Not so good for the self esteem is that.

Sleek Eyebrow Kit - Dark

So, when I was browsing the Sleek website in search of my product lust, I came across their relatively new eyebrow kit. I got to Googling and found some positive blogger reviews so I decided to give it a go. The kit is designed to be kept in your handbag at all times.It comes with a pair of mini tweezers, a wax, a powder and a brush to use with each of them. The kit also comes in light and dark – I used the dark one.

After

I did have my reservations; a very good friend of mine regularly leaves her eyebrow on your cheek if you hug her too hard. Not a good look. Thankfully that didn't happen and the wax kept my eyebrows in place all day. Occasionally a bit of powder came off if I rubbed my eyebrow but it wasn’tnoticeable. I guess I’ll just have to learn not to do that from now on if I am to permanently pursue perfect eyebrows – which I think I am.

My Saving Grace

2011-11-25T15:53:00.001Z

I may be relatively naive when it comes to make up, howeverthere are a few products that I know and love and will probably use themforever more. When it comes to skin care, my saving grace is St Ives InvigoratingApricot Scrub. The packaging says that it should be used 3-4 times a week,however I use it most days as I have a tendency to have quite dry skin and it benefits from regular exfoliation.

I’ve tried other exfoliating face washes over the years–mainly when I was a poor student and didn’t want to stretch to £4.50 for abottle of the good stuff– however nothing works as well. In times of hardship I’ve even beenknown to purchase a travel bottle the stuff and make it stretch until payday.

St Ives is the only one that’s got particles big enough tomake it feel as though it’s actually doing something. I’ve used some seriouslypoor ones over time – I won’t name and shame – that feel as though they’ve barelyscratched the surface.

Superdrug are currently doing buy one get one free on a range of St Ives goodies. You can get this offer in-store and online, so if you're a St Ives fan go stock up. I did yesterday!

Cheers to St Ives!

Product Lust

2011-11-18T15:45:00.001Z

I have friends who are superdouper Sleek MakeUP fans. I remember that Sleek was one of the first brands todo a wide range of affordable foundation and powder colours for black and Asian woman soall the girls went mad for it at school. The name Sleek then became synonymouswith ‘colour palette’ as they became the go to brand for bright, bold, statementeye shadow colours.

I have dipped in and out of thebrand before, tentatively dabbing on a bit of eye shadow from a friend’s palettebefore a night out. However as I’m not wildly adventurous when it comes tocolour (I tend to stick to pinks, reds and browns), I often found their famous colour palettes a little over whelming.

But then, I came across this beauty today and instantly fell in lust.

The Sleek Berry Collection setcontains a Cranberry Lipstick, Fenberry Blusher and Mossberry Kohl. The colourslook so perfect for winter and whilst I am slightly concerned that the Kohlwill make me look like I’ve had a hard night on the liqueur, I’m lookingforward to trying it all out.

The Sleek Berry Christmas Collection doesn’tgo on sale until 24^th of November which is a whole week away! Can’twait to get my hands on this to do a full review.

New Nails

2011-11-08T21:16:00.001Z

In the interests of staying true to my new look blog, I thought I'd kick of with a few new nail looks that I've been trying out lately.

The first was something that I was sort of forced to try. I was lucky enough to win a bottle of Orly nail varnish in a twitter competition. Orly is hands down my favorite brand of polish so you can imagine how chuffed I was.

When it arrived though, I wasn't as thrilled. I'd been sent Peachy Parrot from their new range and whilst it looked ok, I've never worn a metallic nail varnish in my life. But in the interests of trying something new, I slapped it on and hoped for the best.

Et voila, I actually quite like it. I think the colour complements my skin tone well and I quite like the metallic edge. Bang on trend for winter (or so the mags tell me).

The second look I tried out was this new nail foil trend. I'd been seeing people with nails that looked as though they'd been dipped in solid gold or silver and I thought, 'THAT is the metallic look for me!' I got down to bit a googling and high street walking and came across these in Boots.

My photographic skills will get better. I promise!

Now, this was my first attempt and I did find the process a bit tricky. I didn't manage to stretch the foils enough to eliminate all bubbling, but I think they looked kinda ok for my first go. Best thing about them was that I had them on for around 4 days. They probably would have lasted even longer, but I got a bit board and decided to remove them. Very good buy indeed

I'm a metallic nail convert!

Back To Basics

2011-10-24T17:43:00.002+01:00

I’m not an addict, and I don’t claim to be a guru. The truthof the matter is, I only started wearing make up at the age of 18/19– a factthat’s completely laughable to my younger make-up toting sisters. By then,everyone I knew was a total pro – they knew what to wear and when to wear itwhilst I struggled with art of applying eyeliner without poking myself in theeye.

When it comes to my hair, I’ve always been natural but havenever really known what to do with my tightly wound curls that love nothingmore than to role into a frizz ball – and I’m not talking cute afro here, I’mtalking a veritable hot mess.* Right now I’m in a bit of a blow dry rut butdeep down I’d love to rock my curls with pride.

So here I am, writing a blog to document my attempt to wadethrough a minefield of hair and beauty products in an attempt to find whatworks for me. I’m always tempted by new products but am usually held back from experimentingbut am usually held back by one question. Willthat work on my afro skin/hair? Which is probably just a bit of a cop outcause I’m a total a chicken! The plan? To find my staples, a core collection oflotions and potions that work for me, my hair, my skin, my shade.

Wish me luck!

*Quoted from the Europehopping law student that is my best friend Fiona. Check out her blog from Maastricht (For people like me who don’t have a clue, Maastricht is in the south of Holland!)

Nail it this Season

2010-06-01T16:51:00.009+01:00

It's been a very VERY long time I know. However, let us not dwell on the past, lets look to the future - summer's here (sort of) and with is has arrived some deliciously summery nail varnish treats.

Nail varnish has taken the world by storm recently. I don't think there has been such a scrum for any particular shade since Chanel released Rouge-Noir back in 1994. With memories of the recession still binding our purses like a boa constrictor, fashionable cosmetics provide a way for women to treat themselves without the massive pangs of guilt than can come with an overspend. But enough with the psychology behind it all. Here are a few brands and shades that people have been going wild for.

Kicking off the renewal of our love for nail varnish is Chanel. They started off with Jade, a sell out shade that had most women green with envy over anyone who owned it. This minty hue first seen on the catwalk back in October '09 paved the way for a whole range of pastel type shades. Chanel's more recent addition to the pot is Particuliére. A never seen before shade that brought with it a whole new noun -- 'greige' due to is grey-beige tones.

At £19 they're not cheap, but definitely worth it for an impulse buy when you want a bit of luxe at your fingertips.

Available from top beauty departments

Orly Professional were well ahead of the game this year with the release of their Sweet Collection. Made up of candy coloured powder blues, baby pinks and sunshine yellows, this range is perfect for summer and really suits darker skin tones. What's more, the bottles contain 18ml which is up to 50% more than an average bottle of polish.

Available from www.cupidandgrace.com - £8.75

When Barry M came on the scene, they encouraged us to really go for it when it came to eye colour. They've now channelled the same colour loving energy into their new nail collection. Barry M's 50 shades have created a whole new spectrum bursting with pastel, primary, bold, neon and metallic shades. These beauties are only £2.95 a bottle – enough said.

Available from Superdrug.

It's All in The Name

2010-02-03T11:40:00.003Z

Nubian by Helen E

Another range of cosmetics for darker skin tones. The foundations in the Nubian range have an interesting little twist to them. As you can see in the picture, you get a brown tone foundation, along with a neutral tone foundation. This is to allow you to blend the foundation to match your skin tone exactly. Interesting idea. I've not tried it out yet so I'm not sure how well it will work. The range is stocked in Debenhams, so I suppose that's a little testament to the strength of the product. Hmmmmm........... watch this space!

http://www.helen-e.com/

Mineraltastic

2010-01-28T10:35:00.007Z

Orissa Cosmetics

Launched in January 2009 Orissa Cosmetics wanted to fill the gap in the market for woman with darker skin tones. Now one year on the company is still going strong, and I had the pleasure of trying out some of their great products. Everything is mineral based and contains a natural SPF 15-30 – which is a pretty good start. They have six shades of foundations, from a honey hue to an ebony tone, along with blushers, eye shadows and lip glosses.

I tried the honey foundation, the deep plum blusher, and the amethyst eye shadow (which has a really nice sparkle to it!). The packaging is pretty and I love the logo, their colours are beautiful and application easy with either brush or finger. But what I really liked about this brand is the lightness of the products. Perfect for every day wear as the makeup can be applied really subtly to achieve that, ‘I just wake up perfect’ look that we all crave.

As they celebrate their 1^st birthday Orissa are giving a little something back to customers old and new with a 10% discount. Just enter the code ‘birthday’ at the checkout.

http://www.orissacosmetics.co.uk/

All Day Breakfast

2010-01-21T13:39:00.003Z

Kellogg's Lip Balms

Check this out, Kellogg’s cereal flavoured lip balm! Only available in……you guessed it, Japan! I’m sure they’ll be making their way into a Cyber Candy near you soon though. All I want to know is, do they taste the way they would if you just grabbed a hand full from the box, or do they taste the way they would once they’ve been mixed with milk? Answers on a postcard please

I Teeze You Knot

2010-01-05T12:36:00.010Z

Tangle Teezer

I’ve been hearing wonders about this odd little brush for a while, but I have to admit I was a little sceptical about it. Firstly the Tangle Teezer claims to work on ALL types of hair. Whenever a product says this I’m always put off as I find it hard to believe that any hair product can work on EVERY hair type. Secondly, this product went even further by claiming to be great for weave (apparently is won’t snag at the tracks), permed hair (the teeth design causes less breakage), and natural afro (great for detangling…..apparently). And lastly, it just looks plain weird!

The weave chicks tried it out for me and rather loudly exclaimed that it was really good (However, I think the volume had more to do with the amount of wine that had been drunk prior to testing!). Perm gal was also pretty pleased with the detangling and the minimal breakage. And finally moi, el natural - I have to admit it did a really good job. It works better on wet hair than on dry as expected, and went through my hair without turning my curls into a frizz ball or surrounding me with shedded hair

Don’t be put off by the look of the thing, even though the fine teeth look like they will yank all the hair off your head, they won’t. And the odd oval shape does actually fit quite neatly into your hand.

http://www.tangleteezer.com/

Curly Whirly

2009-12-14T21:29:00.003Z

Mixed Chicks

Mixed Chicks is a range of products for...... you guessed it, Mixed Chicks. Despite not actually being 'mixed' myself, I was stopped at the Salon International hair show this year and told that I should try it out to tame and define my tight natural curls (dare I say I was a little embarrased)

After a brief chat with Lawyer Girl about whether or not the name was illegal or just a little bit un-pc, I decided to try it out.

The whole range smells gorgeous, definitely the most scrumptious set that I've smelt for a while. The shampoo and conditioner worked well. They don't seem to do much in the way of detangling so combing the conditioner through was a bit of a chore. The star of the three however was the leave in conditioner. Run through towel dried hair to lose the frizz and add shine and definition even to tight curls like mine. Unlike some curl products out there this one definitely won't have people singing ' Just let your soooouuuuul glow baby feeling oh so silky smooth' at you in the street. This leave in conditioner has firmly carved a space on my hair essentials shelf.

So my mixed chick/bi-racial/dual heritage (or whatever you're supposed to say nowadays) friends, try it out and as the packaging says. 'Define your curls, not your race!'

http://www.mixedchicks.co.uk/

Randon Ramblings

2009-12-10T19:15:00.007Z

Sex and the City Gems

I know this has nothing to do with beauty (well I suppose in a way it does), but I stumbled across two pieces of SATC news today that had me giddy with excitement! Firstly is the poster for the second movie, SO FRICKIN EXCITED! Can't wait to see what happens (no heartbreak please and lots of lovely outfits). The second is the news that Candace Bushnell, the genius behind all that is Carrie Bradshaw has released a prequel to the series called The Carrie Diaries. This fills in the gap between the Carries teen years and the first series and tells us all how she came to be her fabulous self. Not yet realised in the UK but I'm sure it'll soar straight to No.1 when it does.

Feature Friday

2009-12-04T18:34:00.005Z

Senchi Apparel

Senchi Apparel is owned by a lovely lady called Samantha who I had the pleasure of meeting a few months back. It's an online clothing retailer offering a wide range of items from a few of our favourite state-side brands. Apple Jeans and Two Angle for the ladies and Akademiks and Phat Farm for the gents. Everything is reasonably priced and site itself looks fab, there are a few things on the site that I'm personally itching for, like this beauty http://www.senchi-apparel.com/womens/dresses/apple-bottoms-printed-hoody-dress-black/prod_66.html – roll on pay day!

They've also been known to run the odd model competition so if anyone fancies being the new face of Senchi, take a look...........
http://www.senchi-apparel.com/

Feature Friday

2009-12-04T18:18:00.000Z

Introduction

Welcome to the first Feature Friday of the Brown Beauty Blog. This section will focus on African-Caribbean inspired businesses, designers, artists, writers e.t.c. Basically anything or anyone who is doing something a bit different and interesting.

If you know of anyone who fits the brief and would like a free plug, let me know and I'll fit them in.

A Women's Right to Conceal

2009-12-02T21:53:00.002Z

'
Arbonne Concealer - £11.70

I was sent a lovely big package from the people at Arbonne recently. Arbonne is a skin care company with a range of products based on botanical principles. They've created some innovative way to extract all the goodness from plants and minerals and perfectly preserve them in beauty products for you and I!

I tried out a great cream to powder concealer that can easily be applied with a sponge or with the fingertips. They currently only have 4 shades and are only available online but the pictures do paint a true image of how the colour will come out. It contains extract of ginseng root, buckwheat seed and vitamin A C and E.

All this fancy pants technology means it's really good to your skin, and at £11.70 it's a touch cheaper than a previously favoured brand (begins with M ends with AC)
www.arbonneinternational.co.uk

Kick Off With a Classic

2009-11-30T12:29:00.000Z

Palmer's Skin Therapy Oil - £9.78

Original Palmer's Cocoa Butter has been a staple in our house for as long as I can remember. When I went to uni, I decided to go wild, break free and start to experiment! So I went for their Olive Butter. Now Palmer's have stepped it up another gear with the launch of their Skin Therapy Oil – bringing a little luxury to the range that you don't necessarily get from the other products.

Firstly the smell, not as sweet at the butter, this oil has a more grown up, deep chocolatey scent that had me feeling all pampered and dreamy before I'd even put it on. It seeps into the skin really quickly so leaves no residue or your body, or grease stains on your clothes. I stayed moisturised all day which can seem like a bit of a miracle in this cold weather!

The oil is packed full of all the goodies that Palmers' are known for such as Vitamin E and is made with100% cocoa butter . However it also contains some extra special ingredients like Rosehip Oil and Sesame Oil (both rich in antioxidants). It can be used all over, even on the face and is great for dealing with scars and stretch marks, and evening skin tone

It does seem a little pricey, but I've been using it head to toe since Friday, and it doesn't even look like I've touched the bottle.

Nothing bad to say about this one, but when is there ever anything bad to say about Palmers!

Howdy

2009-11-21T12:27:00.002Z

There are tonnes of beauty blogs out there, all offering brilliant reviews on the plethora of new and established hair and beauty products that appear on shop shelves month after month. And whilst these blogs are great, there are only a hand full of products that are relevant for me as a black girl. Enter Brown Beauty. A blog dedicated to reviewing products for black women of all shades, ages, skin types, hair types......the list goes on.

I've sourced a load of really interesting products and have them all lined up to review. Sign up to be one of the first to know as soon soon as we kick off (hopefully next week)

Wish me luck!

Stockists

2001-11-28T13:35:00.002Z

Pictures

2001-11-28T13:34:00.000Z