Pink Rock Candy – Top fashion trends, news and shopping of 2010

For those who hadn’t realized, I’m black— shocking right— and as a “woman of color” putting anything sheer on my lips is an exercise in futility. You can imagine my surprise when I applied Jane. Be Pure Mineral Lip Balm for the first time and saw my lips rouge every so sweetly. Since then, I’ve been hooked!

The Be Pure Mineral Lip Balm not only is able to add a nice sheer tint to my darker colored lips, but it keeps them soft, provides natural SPF protection and smells delicious like coco butter.

I initially found this tube of Jane. miracle balm at the bottom of a tote full of makeup from years ago. Jane. and I have been involved, on various levels, since my sister introduced the two of us when I was an overactive sprout of 10 or 11. My sister wore makeup, so I used to sneak and wear makeup too.

Since then, Jane. and I have lost touch a bit. The only place near me to buy their products is at RiteAid, and let’s faces it, finding a RiteAid in the world of CVS, Walgreens and Duane Reade is a feat in itself. The only one I frequent is in at Grand Central Terminal, and those visits are generally geared toward grabbing a bag of chips before rushing to my location.

That being said, I’ve started a small collection in different colors and apply them regularly— I love them when creating a natural look for school.
If you, like me, have no idea where your nearest RiteAid is located, you can buy all Jane. products on their webstore.

Every other Sunday, I have mommy-daughter time at the nail salon. I usually get a $30 mani/pedi, while my mom gets the full shebang— she pays, so I try to keep it cheap. However, last Sunday, my darling mom insisted I try the OPI Axxium Soak-off Gel Lacquer System on both my figures and my toes.

Her reasoning, I’m very hard on my nails and tend to chip them within the first few days. The system, in her mind, will remedy this situation, but all I could think about was the cost, of which I’m still unsure.

So, I spent two hours getting layer after layer after layer of hot pink, Strawberry Margarita, gel lacquer applied to the nails on my figures and toes with a UV lamp drying cycle in between each layer. The process was quite obviously time consuming, and I couldn’t help feeling bad for the perfectionist nail technician who worked his butt off applying the coats. By the end of the process, I wasn’t sure whether I should have given him a hug or bought him a beer.

Despite the time it took, my nails look pretty and, hopefully, will last for about two weeks without a single chip— if I’m really good, I might even be able to stretch it to three weeks.

The OPI Axxium Soak-off Gel Lacquer System comes in its top selling colors including my favorites, Cajun Shrimp and Russian Navy.

It’s day three, and not a chip in sight, we’ll see what happens by day 10.

p.s. Danielle from The Style and Beauty Doctor tried it in February and it was a success!

At the age of 21, I have the under eye bags of a middle-age power bitch, and that is not— I’ll repeat that, NOT— acceptable.

The Cause:
“Fluid retention due to changes in weather (for example, hot, humid days), hormone levels or eating salty foods, sleeping flat on your back, not getting enough sleep, allergies or dermatitis, especially if puffiness is accompanied by redness and itching, [and/or] heredity,” are five causes of under eye puffiness according to MayoClinic.com.

The Fix:
There are a thousand and one ways to solve my little problem with unwanted eye luggage, I could try sleeping in an elevated position, but I would inevitable get no sleep because of the discomfort. I could change my college kid diet of fast food and green tea— for good measure— but, why would I want to do that? I could layer on tons of make-up in an effort to disguise them, but I’m a 1-2-3 make-up kind of girl, eyeliner, blush and lipstick. There are also the old-fashioned remedies of cold spoons, tea bags and cucumbers. I, however, am a modern power-bitch-in-the-making and would rather head to my local cosmetic store to get my hands on a quick fix— don’t judge me, it’s the American way— in the form of Bliss Triple Oxygen Instant Energizing Eye Mask ($54).

The little de-puffing pads are soaked in “3 forms of glow-inducing oxygen, antioxidant vitamin C and puff pummeling cucumber extract.” Leave them on for 15 minutes and feel an odd cooling sensation, which, in my mind, means it’s working.

The Results:
After spending $86 on the eye mask and a tube of the Baggage Handler Eye Gel ($28) and 15 minutes processing time, I’m not fully de-puffed, some of my under eye luggage were definitely checked. My battle against the bag will be a continuous one, but I hate to lose, so bags beware!

p.s. In the picture, I’m only wearing a bit of blush, lipstick and eyeliner, and there was no retouching done— take that Vogue!

A little over a week ago, I received an email from Jackie Johnson from Some Notes on Napkins, telling me one of her clients, Folica.com, was hosting a contest called the Folica Style-Off.

In the contest, you have to create a video showing how you use your favorite Sedu product to create your favorite hairstyle, whether it’s going from straight to curly, curly to straight, down to up, etc. The winner will receive “$1000 cash, a selection of Sedu appliances and a feature on Folica.com that will be promoted to millions of viewers!”

The contest started on Feb. 8, 2010, but I was a little sidetracked by my sick brother and fashion week to post about it earlier. All video submissions should be emailed to contest@folica.com by Feb. 28, 2010, and should be no longer than seven minutes.

Check out the Contest Instructions & Inspirationation above.

Also, in the spirits of contests, not only was I given a dazzling Sedu Pro Ionic Ceramic Tourmaline Flat Iron (1 1/2″) so I can create my contest video— when I get a bit of time, I’ll put post about it— but, I also received a Sedu Revolution Pro Nano Ceramic Tourmaline 1 Inch Styling Set ($140) to give away to one lucky Pink Rock Candy reader. To enter, comment on this post between now and Sunday, Feb. 21, 2010. Make sure to provide an email address, if you comment using your twitter or facebook login. US residents only. After that, I will randomly choose a winner, good luck!

Evey now and then the Afro makes a tiny comeback. When Hollis first came on the scene, she was rocking a cute twisty ‘fro. Now, she has replaced the curls with long, straight weave— that is kind of bad, but that’s just my opinion. The void that Hollis left of a black model with some sort of curly “natural” hairstyle is being filled by the super cute Rose Cordero, and for now, most designers are accepting Rose’s small ‘fro, but how long will this continue?

If you’ve seen pictures of me, you obviously will see I’m not one for the natural look. My hair is relaxed and I straighten it once a week— it stays straight for the rest of the week—but I do appreciate the look of a well kept Afro on a girl.

I hope Rose keeps the Afro as her signature look, but I think she might end up like Hollis, with a weave or extensions, because it’s more marketable.