Flannel and Leather

This season I am feeling sweaters, plaid and leather.   I thought this would be a really cute chill outfit for a weekend out. 

S/N:  My friend told me I need more color in my wardrobe.  I'm sure she meant something brighter than this dark purple sweater :)

Flannel and Leather by mahogany817 featuring a j crew shirt

J Crew j crew shirt
jcrew.com

Jumper top
ustrendy.com

H&M faux leather pants
$40 - hm.com

GUESS leather wedge booties
heels.com

Drusy jewelry
baublebar.com

Mac cosmetics lipstick
maccosmetics.com

Clear Proof Acne System

I received the Clear Proof Acne System by Mary Kay free for testing and review purposes from Influenster. 

I received the following products in the box:

• Clear Proof Clarifying Cleansing Gel - apply this first to remove dirt, oil and complexion-dulling impurities.  

•  Clear Proof Blemish Control Toner - apply this next, this will help to tone the skin.

• Clear Proof Acne Treatment Gel - apply this after the toner.  This will help to prevent new pimples from forming.

•  Clear Proof Oil-Free Moisturizer for Acne-Prone Skin - the last step in the process.  Use this to complete the regimen, this lightweight moisturizer does not clog pores and feels soothing to irritated skin and helps improve the appearance of skin tone.

This was intended for my daughter but after talking to her dermatologist, I decided not to switch up the products she already use. Since I suffer from breakouts more now than when I was a teenager and no matter what I do I keep getting these nasty white heads on my nose, I decide to try it on myself.  I buy a lot of products to try to eliminate these issues.  The only thing that has really help has been the Aztec Clay mask, I try to do weekly.

I was a little hesitant about trying this at first because I didn't know how my skin would react.  My intentions were to try it on a Sunday so if I did have a bad reaction I would have a few days for it to clear up before having to go out.  However, my plans never turn out the way I want so I tried the system on a Wednesday afternoon.  I was pleasantly surprised by how gentle it was on my skin.  The next day, I decided that I would make this part of my nightly routine.  That way I know I am getting rid of all the environmentally impurities.

On the third day, the toner started to burn my skin.  When I woke up on the fourth day, my chin and nose looked like I had a chemical peel.  I was going to toss the system but decided to keep trying it out.  When I used it on the fourth night, the toner still burned.  After I applied the moisturizer, I decided to use my almond oil too.  On the sixth day my skin got used to the toner and only sightly burned.  Last night when I used it, I didn't have any problems.

I have only used the Clear Proof Acne System for a week yet I have notice a change in my skin.  The whitehead issue on my nose is slowly going away.  I don't have to use my blackhead/whitehead extractor everyday.  My chin area has not cleared up completely and you can see my eczema a little but it is starting to clear back up.

I will continue to use this system for the next few weeks (it says it takes at least 4 weeks to notice a change).  After the four weeks are up, I will post an update.

Halloween 2k14

This year Halloween fell on the weekend, me and ghetto boys were trick or treating...

This year my kids wanted to go down to their Grandmother's house on Halloween. My oldest thinks she is too old to trick or treat so she stayed at the house to give out candy. My middle child, decided to ditch us and hang with her uncle's girlfriend and her little cousins. The boy was excited to go trick or treating with his cousins (we usually just go to the mall). I didn't have a costume so I threw on one of my plaid shirts, skinny jeans, Chucks and a blue bandana to rep for the Cali Crips.  I forgot to draw on my tear drop but I still c-walked lol

For Saturday night (Nov 1st) I made plans with some friends to participate in the Night of the Undead Bar Crawl. Two of them flaked out on me but I won't hold that against them. We hit up U street in our last minute costumes and had a ball. I was a 30s Flapper, my GGF Pepper was a 70s Disco Dancer, Tay represented for the 80s fitness fanatics and Kay got her groove on as a 60s Babe.  I was happy to see so many people participating. We saw so many dope costumes on Saturday.  

After the bar crawl, Kay invited me to her BFF's costume party. These ladies know how to party. The music, food and drinks were on point!  And there were some nice costumes at the party too. 

I had so much fun this weekend that I am already planning for next Halloween. My costume is going to be super dope!  

SwaagBox Monthly Subscription

I recently signed up for a new monthly subscription box by SwaagBox.  I saw a post on Facebook about them and decided to give it a try.  SwaagBox is geared towards women and our monthly cycle.  The box should arrive right before Aunt Flo.  In every box you receive a pack of sanitary napkins (pads), a bracelet, nail polish, makeup and candy. 

In my introductory box, I received a pack of Always Ultra Thin regular flow pads, a cancer awareness bracelet, 2 bottles of Maybelline Color Show nail polish (Chiffon Chic and Audacious Asphalt), NYC eyeliner duet, Hard Candy eyeshadow and 4 pieces of candy.

Review: I think this is a great idea for women to have a box personality for that time of month.  I placed my order on Thursday and it was shipped on Friday.  Pro -super fast shipping! I also like how I was able to select which pads I would like to receive.

I think the presentation of the products should be a lot better.  The products came in a big ugly brown box.  I was also disappointed in the candy, I was hoping to get at least a full size chocolate bar.  The makeup selection was cool.  My eyeshadow was broken up, most likely due to shipping.  I like the nail polish colors.  I am actually wearing the Audacious Asphalt now :)

Price: The SwaagBox is $16/month.  You can upgrade and receive double makeup and/or jewelry.  I had a discount code from Facebook so I got my box for $6

Overall: I personally do not think this particular box is worth $16.  I am going to see what is in the box next month before I cancel my subscription.  If it is better than this one, I may keep it up.

 

 

Po Boy Jim on H Street

A couple of weeks ago, a few of my friends and I ventured out to Po Boy Jim on H Street NE.  Po Boy Jim is a fairly new establishment so it really wasn't crowded.  It is a family owned business which I love.

When we walked in, we were greeted by Rachel.  Rachel was such an awesome server!  She is getting into bartending and was excited to make our drinks.  I had the Arnie Palmer (their adult version of the Arnold Palmer), my friend had the Po Boy Hurricane (it was strong and delish) and we also had the Limelight, which was good.

Now on to the food....I started with their wing flight.  You get 10 wings in 3 different flavors (Carolina BBQ, Jerk and Honey Bourbon).  The honey bourbon wings were my fave!  The Carolina BBQ wings were good and the jerk was okay (spicy but not traditional jerk IMO).

Next up I ordered the shrimp yardie.  The yardie has this mango sauce on it, it was good with a sweet then spicy kick. The yardie is a very messy sandwich.

My friend Pepper ordered the steak and cheese with shrimp.  She said it was good but not worth the price.

My other friend Quita ordered the salmon po boy and deviled eggs. Everyone ate the deviled eggs except me.  They said the deviled eggs were really good.  Quita liked her salmon but couldn't finish it.

My girl R opted for a starter as her meal.  She went with the crab balls, she said they were delish.

The only issue we had was that I wanted onion rings (all the sandwiches come with fries).  Since I didn't say it before my order went in my friend Pepper ordered onion rings with hers.  When her sandwich came, there were fries on her plate.  Rachel was very apologetic and put in an order of onion rings for us even though we said she didn't have to.  I am actually glad she did as they were so good :)

Rachel also split our bill without anyone asking.  We usually just divide the bill amongst everyone (my friends are not the type to analyze a bill and only pay for what they ordered :))

Overall - I will definetly go back there to try their other Po Boys.

Bonus: If you take a picture of your food and post it on InstaGram while still dining, you will receive an order of beignets.

Quita and Pepper enjoying the wings.

R taking her first ever bite of beignets

R enjoying the Limelight

My Arnie Palmer

 

The wing flight, R's crab balls and our Limelights

Summer is Gone

I had so much fun this past summer.  I didn't take any trips, everything I did was local to the DMV.  I spent more time with my friends this summer than I have in the last couple of years.  We went out to eat every Friday, had Taco Tuesdays, chilled in the house, went to brunch and even hit a few clubs.  

My sister-in-law got married the end of August.  It was such a beautiful wedding, I was glad to be a witness to their union.  

I went to Artscape in Baltimore, FlowFest in DC, Adams Morgan Day (my hood lol), Truckeroo and a few other places I can't remember right now.

I also celebrate my birthday in the summer.  This year my friends showed up and showed all the way out.  My birthday (Aug 17th) fell on a Sunday.  We partied from Friday to Sunday (I do have to work lol).  

Here are a few photos from this summer:

 

Lip Colors for Dark Skin

Let me make this disclaimer upfront, I am not an amateur or professional MUA.  I do however love lipsticks and have a pretty good eye on what looks right.

Now my fellow dark skin ladies I hate to be the one to tell you but you can NOT wear yellow, green, blue or those other crazy lip colors by Keisha Dior, it just does not look right on you.  Your friends that are telling you that it looks good are lying to your face and laughing behind your back...trust me. Also, you have to be careful with nude colors, they have a tendency to wash us out.

Here are a few colors I think look great on women with a darker complexion (and colors I actually wear)

Red:
MAC Ruby Woo/RiRi Woo (my signature color)
MAC Red (satin)
Chanel Ever Red Lipstain (my sis-in-law rocks this well!)
MAC All Fired Up
MAC Diva (brownish red)

Orange:
MAC Lady Danger (orange red)
MAC Chilli

Purple:
MAC Up the Amp
Revlon Berry Haute (Riri Boy dupe)
MAC Heroine
MAC Heaux
MAC Smoked Purple
Maybelline Madison Mauve (silver purple color)
Maybelline Silver Purple

Pink:
MAC Flat Out Fabulous (actually this could go under the purple category)
MAC Girl About Town
MAC Candy Yum Yum (lip liner required)
MAC Pink Plaid (lip liner required)
MAC Toying Around (this is really a peach color instead of pink)

Nude/Brown:
MAC Honey Love (my favorite nude!)
Viva Glam Gaga 2 (this color will wash you out if you do not line your lips.  I don't wear it alone, I usually wear it with MAC Diva)
MAC Can't Get Enough
I have a CoverGirl Nude that is nice on but the name of the color has rubbed off. 


Lipliners I use:
MAC Magenta
MAC Beet
MAC Chestnut
NYX Deep Purple (actually this is a eye liner)
NYX Y2K
NYX Natural

Check out these YT videos:

Is the 4th of July for Black People?

Often times when holidays come around, you have a group a people who go on social media to rant about why we shouldn't celebrate said holiday. This year was the first year I actually saw posts about the 4th of July should not be celebrated by Black people. I know some history :) and I know that when the USA received their independence that Blacks were still enslaved. 

So because we (Blacks) did not receive our freedom on the same day as the USA, do we have a right to participate in the celebrations? Can we show our love for the country we where we live? Or should we just sit this day out? 

I'm going to be honest with y'all, when I think about July 4th, I don't think about the history of it. I know I should but I really don't. My main concern is having the day off and going to a cookout with good food. 

I wonder if those Blacks saying we can't celebrate July 4th celebrate the day we actually received our "freedom" from USA? I don't recall seeing any posts from them about Juneteenth celebrations. I bet half of them don't even know what Juneteenth is :( 

Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen

 

I received a box of Coppertone Clearly Sheer sunscreen to test for free from BzzAgent.  There were a few  mini size bottles of sunscreen and a couple of regular size bottles along with coupons to give out to friends (or keep for yourself).

Coppertone is one of my favorite brands for sunscreen.  You are not walking around smelling like medicine or chemicals.  It is a very light scent and once you apply the sunscreen it doesn't feel heavy or make you feel like you are clogging your pores.

I would strongly suggest you give Coppertone Clearly Sheer Sunscreen a try.

You can purchase a 5oz bottle from Target for $6.99.

Spring Fling VoxBox

You all should know by now that I love when I receive a VoxBox complimentary for testing purposes from Influenster.  This one was no different.  The pretty spring green box had me excited before I even opened it to see what was inside.

(I apologize for the dark picture)

 

In the box were the following items:

 Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara ($5.99) - The first thing in the box that I had to try right away and I am glad I did as I love this mascara.  It made my eyelashes look longer without looking like I had a lot of mascara caked on.  After a google search, I found it at Walgreens for $4.79.

Kiss Everlasting French Nails ($6.49) - I'm not big on press on nails so I haven't tried these yet.  I started to put them on one day then remember I need to wash my hair.  I may try them soon or let my middle daughter try them out since she has been begging me to give them to her.  I read a few reviews online about these nails and they were all positive.  Most said these are not your mother's press on nails.  You can pick these up at Walmart for $4.97.

Peach Pie Car Freshener from the Labor Day Movie - This air freshener was giving to us in honor of the DVD release of the Labor Day movie.  I put it in my car and the smell only lasted one day.  The next day when I got in the car I couldn't smell it at all.  I haven't see the movie yet but if you have let me know if you liked it.

Playtex Sport Fresh Balance ($3.99) - I have never ever used a tampon in my life and I really don't plan on starting to use them now.  I tried giving the box away to my sister-in-laws and random friends and no one I know use tampons either.  So the box is just sitting here waiting for someone to say they want it.

NIVEA Skin Firming Hydration Lotion ($2.49/2.5oz or $10.99/13.5oz) - I'm not sure if this lotion actually works for skin firming but I can attest to it being hydrating.  I keep this bottle in my car because it seems like no matter what it always seems like my hands are ashy when I get in the car. 

Thank you again to Influenster for selecting me to review these items for free.  If you are interested in reviewing and sharing your opinion on various products from beauty to health sign up on Influenster's website, it's free to join.

Disclaimer:  The product images above are not owned by me or this blog.  They were all taken from the internet.