Last Minute New Years Dress!

It's that time of year that everyone looks forward to.... New Year- for some a New You, New Opportunities, New Goals and who doesn't want a NEW DRESS!!  If you are like me and you have been extremely busy... getting that new dress in time to hit your round of festivities has to be done in person!!!!

Here are some Options .....

 

Adrianna Papell Sequin Beaded Cap Sleeve Dress 

 Ashley Stewart Sweet-Heart Neck Off the Shoulder Midi Dress

 

Eliza J -Belted Lace Fit & Flare Dress  

Ashley Stewart Mesh Yoke Beaded Seem Dress  

H & M Peplum Top- which I would pair with some sequin leggings!

Isabel Toledo for Lane Bryant - Sequin Dress with Sash

 

Adrianna Papell- Beaded Cocktail Dress, Nordstroms

Yes Ladies, some really beautiful last minute dresses are out there, check Macy's, Nordstrom's, Ashley Stewart, Lane Bryant, Forever 21 Plus, H & M Plus, Fashion to Figure and local boutiques... the right dress for you is out there and

 Most Importantly!!!!! 

Have an Awesome New Year !!!!!!!

Accomplishments

 First, let me apologize for my absence... This lady's been busy finishing up her Masters Degree!!!!!

Whhooooooo Hoooooo for me. It has been a rough 2 1/2 years but I made it by the grace of God! I honestly never thought I would come this far or that I could but I did it, with hard work determination and belief in myself!!!! I am now an MSW (Masters in Social Work ) and I hope to continue to work with the college students I am working with in hopes of elevating them higher and higher!!!!


So you see, my absence wasn't about neglect.... It was about elevation! Elevating myself and getting in those last papers and exams so that I may be of service to others!!!!!!!

Me celebrating me!

Naturalist~~ One Month or So Later ~~Update!

So here I am ... one month later... and this is going to be a lot harder than I thought, but I am still committed to letting my "fro grow" for one year.

This was my starting point ...


~~~Evolution ~~~

Slowly but surely my curl pattern is returning (photos were taken on different days, I don't wet my hair everyday so when I don't the curls are fuller and fluffier)

Having the bleach in my hair really did a number on it... the color was pretty but damaging even with the precautions I took.... I am coming to realize that there will be some cutting as a go along to get rid of damaged hair and for shaping and styling. 

I love seeing that  the curls are coming back but sometimes I feel like my hair is a big ball of frizz. The next step is to try some products to combat this. I am excited because I saw an add for new Optimum products that I can't wait to try. I read in a Natural hair blog that much of the journey is trying to figure out what works for YOUR hair and that sometimes what works changes as you hair grows... I am finding this to be very true. What worked before this little Fro is not working now lol. I also find that my hair is very very dry, even after the castor oil and other oils I am putting in. I have a plan for that too, I plan on making a mixture of oil and also trying more deep conditioning and steam treatments.I am also going to try the LOC method for moisture. The LOC method is a layering of leave in conditioner and oils to really moisturize your hair.









I have been watching a few YouTube videos and they have been helpful; I will be trying some of the things I learned so stay tuned. I also found a link on Hello Beautiful about the best 10 natural hair videos you should watch and I must admit most of them were helpful.  One of the bloggers on there, Yolanda Rene, has her own channel and has a 12 or 13 part series on natural hair... a kind of all you want to know about natural hair thing which I found very helpful, find it here .





Inspiration

I am really looking forward to all the things I can do as the length of my hair changes, I am also inspired by protective styles like the crochet braids and head wraps too!!!!!

(these photos were found on the Internet and natural hair blogs)

Velvet Manicure

Oh oh oh- here I go again with trying something new!!!!! I could not wait to get this in the mail and try it out! I love Amazon you can find anything there- so I went on the hunt! I bought the velvet manicure set you see here and 2 others a navy blue and a berry red. (get them here )

I must say- I was lightly disappointed for my first try but I think I have found the solution!

The color for me was a little off and there was no top coat so I found that everything stained the velvet. Excuse the look lol - I had to paint my nails myself and I am not the best at it. The idea is awesome and application is easy all in all it was a pretty good experience.

Ah- yes.... the solution I mentioned...... well there is a matte finish ( find it here) that I want to put on top of the velvet and see if that helps with the staining. I want to also try the other colors I bought to see if maybe the color was throwing me off as well...... Stay tuned!!!!!

I am going to try one of these colors next hhmmmmmm which one should I choose? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Stay Tuned!

Pink Cape~~

 

I could not wait to get this in the mail!!!!!  I fell in Love when I saw the blog post by The Je Ne Sais Quoi - I knew I had to have this cape by Boohoo.com and I immediately thought of different ways that I could style it. 

Of course the LBD is always appropriate! This is similar to how The Je Ne Saia Quoi styled it, but I paired mine with a twist in the leopard print shoes and bold gold statement necklace! 

Necklace/ Bracelet: Ghianis Accessories Boutique

Dress: Fashion to Figure

Shoes: Guess (old) - similar here

 

Then I thought- wait, this can be a fun, gotta make a run... have to look cute outfit too- so what do I do? I paired it with some jeans, a cami and some wedges! 

Jeans: Ashley Stewart

Shoes: Rainbow

Necklace: Ghinais Accessories Boutique

And of course there is always the work look!!!!!

 

Skirt: Fashion to Figure (old) similar here

Shoes: old

Necklace: Ghinais Accessories Boutique

I must say I am soooooo pleased with this piece. there are still so many more possibilities for it. Stay tuned for a follow- up post.

Sunday ~~ Funday

Blog Loving

Hello Fashionistas!

This Sunday I finally got a chance to get out into the beautiful weekend weather we had (NYC). I took a field trip with my niece to the movies.... I decided to be comfy and chic! Although comfy almost always wins in the end; a mixture of the two is never wrong!

For someone who is not usually an on-line shopper, I went a little overboard recently and I couldn't wait to mix and match!!!! I have never really been a "nude" person when it came to bags and shoes because I would always use them to add color, nor was I an animal print person, especially pants but ... ehhh ... what can I say- this is all about me finding that girl in me again .."Lola" who would always go out on a limb.. so here I went... sitting on the ledge.

I have to admit, I was quite comfy and I felt like a million bucks!

Outfit Details:

Top: Voluptuous Vixen Boutique

Pants: ASOS

Jewels: Ghinais Accessories Boutique

Bag: DSW- Moda Luxe Broadway Satchel in Taupe

Shoes: Sam Edelman - Noah Flats in Nude

Shades:Amazon (similar)

"Stories" By Kelly Osbourne & PoP UP Plus

I have always loved Kelly Osbourne! Well I love her even more now, today she launched her line named "Stories" on HSN.  She has quite a few yummy pieces that I may just have to add to my fall/winter wardrobe. Kelly, in an interview with Lucky Magazine   stated that she wanted to make "fashion fair" - I love that idea... for far too long designers have equated plus size with frumpy designs and unbearable patterns; because we're plus doesn't mean that we do not want to be sexy or comfortable or casually chic. The range for the collection goes from size 0- 24 !

POP UP PLUS 

Another line that has plenty of must haves for us plus sized fashionistas is  POP UP PLUS 

 They have me swooning over their new items... I mean really swooning... ah fashion, how I love thee lol, check out a few of my personal must haves from the line! 

 

 

Naturalista~ ~ ~

So I am no stranger to the big chop- This is my fourth time! But this time, I have committed to letting my hair grow back completely natural. No perm, No texturizer, nothing but some color to hide the greys lol

 

I think my hair has seen it all, I have been a red head, I have had black, brown, burgundy and platinum hair, I have let it grow, I have cut it off, I have worn protective styles, wigs, weaves, you name it ALMOST anything and I have done it. 

About a year ago I came across some natural hair pages on Facebook (E Clark , My Natural Sistas , and Courtney Natural Hair ) and instantly fell in love, it reminded me of how beautiful my hair was when I was younger. My mother cherished my sister and my hair. She took really good care of it and in tern we both have beautiful hair.

Now, my sister started this process before I did. She did not do the big chop as she is obsessed with big hair lol but she went about it gradually. First she went to texturizers instead of perms but found that her hair still was not at the level of health that she wanted. Then (because she is an avid weave and wig wearer- to achieve the style and look she loves) she stopped using chemicals all together. This practice and the combination of good old fashioned hair care allowed her to grow her hair out until she was able to be completely natural (maybe I can get her to write a post on her hair care- fingers crossed). Now all of her 4 girls are natural as well.

This is my sister with her natural hair blown out and curled

My sister with a full wig she made herself (see Ghinais Hair & Beauty for more of her work)

Full wig made by my sister

My sister and I - this is a U wig- again made by her. She is also the person who cut and colored my hair until I got the hang of it see Ghinais Hair & Beauty

The last big chop I did was to go platinum (this was before my natural hair craze) and to go platinum because of the amount of stress on your hair from the bleach, I had to stay natural.  I loved the platinum but it definitely changed my curl pattern. My curls were not as tight and eventually my hair became very damaged.

So.... I transitioned back to black.... I decided to really take good care of my hair like my mother did and gave myself a challenge to "grow this fro" for one year.... So for one full year (I started on September 15th) I will do no major cutting, just trimming  and maybe some shaping. I know this will be a major challenge for me but I am prepared to transition with protective styles and wigs .... so let's see how this goes! See my Hair tab to see my current hair routine and the products I am using! I will also be taking the Mane choice Vitamins! I will be blogging on that experience as well!

So.... Here is my starting point:

Welcome to my Journey!