My Senegalese Twists........

Normally when summer arrives I wear braids to cut down on heat styling and bad hair days due to the humidity.  This year the hot weather got here early so I decided I would do senegalese twists for the first time. Braids are an excellent way to give your hair a break and when properly cared for they promote hair growth. I plan to leave these in until the end of June and I will keep you all posted on my shampooing routines and retwists. To see a tutorial on how to do these please visit my youtube page in a few hours. youtube page: kingdom beauty (simply put) Enjoy.....

Makeup of the day.......

Today when I got up I was feeling a little bright so when making my makeup selection I decided to go with yellow. Yellow is another color that as a darker skinned woman is absolutely beautiful on my eyes when applied correctly and is just perfect for the spring season.


For my eyeshadow today I used my BH Cosmetics shimmer palette and neutral palette. Basically I based my eyes with my "groundwork" mac paint pot. I used a goldish yellow on the base of my eyelid. I used a lighly colored hightlight from the neutral palette and blended the crease with a deep brown that was also from the neutral palette. For my lower lid I used a soft red. I completed the look by lining my waterline and my top eyelid using my Sonia Kashuk gel liner. I applied mascara, foundation and lip gloss. To see the actual tutorial please visit my youtube page under the name kingdom beauty(simply put). Enjoy........

Inexpensive, Quality Makeup Brushes.............

One of the best tools you can have when starting out doing or learning about makeup are brushes. I know with make up brushes they do tend to run a little expensive but there are some great cheap ones that you can purchase. The first brand of brushes I ever used was Eco Tools. These brushes can be purchased at basically any drug store and are certainly worth the few dollars you'll have to spend on them. Recently while shopping at Target I found a set by Sonia Kashuk that I really liked. It was a travel set for about $20. There are about six to eight brushes in the case and I love it because when Im in a rush I don't have to try to gather up the basic brushes I need. I just grab my case and keep it moving. Sonia Kashuk offers a wide assortment of brushes and most of them are worth the money. Be careful when picking out brushes so that you do not get hard or stiff ones(unless you need stiff ones for a certain purpose like eyebrows). The softer the brush is the easier it will be to blend your makeup. Along the lines of my recently purchased brushes are paint brushes. Yes, paint brushes lol. The set I got yesterday I purchased at JoAnn Fabrics and I love them because I really needed some appropriate sized brushes for my gel liners. When it comes to makeup you are not limited to only using actual makeup brushes. Sometimes paint brushes work just as well and are cheaper for the set. The ones from yesterday were only four dollars. These brushes can be purchased at any fabric store but I love the ones at JoAnn Fabrics. There are other, more expensive, brushes that you can purchase from Mac or Sephora but fortunately with makeup  brushes you can cut corners and still get great results.  Ladies enjoy...........

p.s with any brush, especially after cleaning you can expect a little shedding.

Having trouble with blackheads or whiteheads? Check this out......

This blog is going to be about my product recommendation for the week. Before I begin let me say I do not receive profit from promoting this product.

I don't know about you but I have oily skin. I also get whiteheads like you wouldn't believe. On top of that I have horrible body acne. Well if you have any of these same issues there is an easy solution. St Ive's Apricot Scrub. I love this product and this is a very inexpensive way to control my oil and acne levels. I use it about two to three times a week on my face and now my shoulders. I have only been using it on my shoulders for about a week but I can honestly tell you I can see and feel the difference in my skin. The body acne that was once there has already begun to clear up. I do recommend that while this is a good product there are other measures that you must take to maintain healthy skin. Be sure not to go to bed wearing makeup(which I sometimes still tend to do) and be sure to drink plenty of water. You can find this product at any local drug store but I purchased mine at Walmart. Depending on the location you may be able to find the generic brands. Feel free use those also, they still get the job done. Thanks for reading today ladies and once again enjoy.........

From day to night

So I got up this morning and did my make up for church. Went out to eat directly after and by the time I made it home I only had a few minutes before my date. Freshening up everything else and finding something to wear... not a problem(well not a big problem lol anyone who knows me knows Im fussy about clothes). Anyway so washing my face and doing a full fresh face of make up? NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Even if I really had the energy to do it, its way too time consuming and I was already late. So I rushed to pat my face(not my eyes) down with a baby wipe and apply a few strokes of finishing powder and blush but my eyes didnt have that "night out" look. Simple fix? Black eyeshadow. Now I must admit depending on the look sometimes black is too harsh but you can do this with any dark color. Whether it be brown, navy blue, a purple or maybe even a forest green. Each of these colors can be a way to transform a daytime eye into a night time eye. Simply use a crease brush or blending brush to add on top of the current shadow in the outer corner of the eye and blend into the crease. Yes my fellow dark skinned sisters, WE CAN WEAR A SMOKY EYE:). A light hand and blending is the key to making that night time smoky eye a success. Now because Im not afraid of color and I dont mind being a little over the top, I added some yellow to the very inner corners of my eyes to make this look pop. If you watched yesterdays tutorial you will see that with the day time look I did today I used the same technique from yesterday. I just simply did an orangey type of gold instead of the hot pink. When it was time to transform I simply added my black and yellow. It may seem complicated but its a very simple look. Dont be afraid to try it ladies lol. Its not as bad as it seems. Enjoy........
daytime eyes......

night time eyes........