Black Radiance Foundation and Concealer Review

 Here it is!

In these photos I've applied the foundation and concealer that came in my Black Radiance collection box. I'm also wearing the raspberry blush with  the black shadow and liner mineral. I'm new to the concealer world, but I found that I enjoyed that more than the foundation. The coverage seems to pass in the photos but it wasn't nearly as convincing as MAC. Maybe I'm just biased, but I did feel as if I had to apply several coats of foundation before my satisfaction began to kick in. 

The powdered foundation was called mocha, and although it seemed to turn out...ok on my skin, I'm still not completely sold. 

But as I stated in my YouTube video the blush is a must!

Do It Like A Brotha

I made the jump.

It felt a little odd at first, but as my familiarity with shuffling through racks in search of the perfect red tag number grew stronger I began to feel at home. To be honest, shopping in the men's section of Forever 21 proved to be a little fun. I've always thought it was weird that such a seemingly feminine store would create a line for men, but despite my boggled mind, I managed to tip toe my way over there.

As I went through the shirt rack I ran across a variety of masculine shirts that could be worn in a feminine way. The shirts above were great statement shirts.

The black tank states, "No thing can come of no thing." It was quoted from William Shakespeare, which is perfect for me considering that I'm a literary geek. The second one has some humor to it considering that posting selfies has become an international symbol for narcissism. But I laughed when I saw it, and I even laugh when I get compliments and smiles because of it.

These two pieces are great adds for a girl that's simply trying to find her style.

Check Yo' Hattitude

Tea parties are exciting. Not just because I love tea, but because they provide the perfect opportunity to put on my best tea-time hat and practice my British accent (because every American secretly wants one). For the past three years my church has held our very own "Healthy Hattitude Tea". Our social hall is decorated with beautiful spring colors and women come in their "Sunday-best" with wonderful, exciting and personality fitting hats to top it off.  It's very fun and quite elegant. However, I will admit that hats are not a common choice in my accessory selection, so whenever this event comes around I find myself running to my grandmothers closet. When it comes to searching for classic vintage looks, Grandma-dearest has never failed me.

The Friend Challenge

What good are friends if you can't use them in the journey to develop your style. Okay, so maybe they serve a greater purpose than that, but for the sake of this post, lets just say, "That's what friends are for". A few weeks after starting this blog I took my friend out to find out more about her style. We've known each other since our junior year of high school and I began to realize that I had no clue as to how she defined her own personal style. We are young women, so of course we've talked about clothes, but we have never talked about style. I figured that since I am on my a journey to pick up as many fashion tips and
inspirations as I can, I might as well pick up a few from the women that are right in my corner.


The Assignment

When I called her, I told her to pick out two outfits that best defines her. I had no idea she would wear them together. However, since I know her personality well, the outfit really seemed to work for her.

As she walked down the stairs to meet me I was highly intrigued on the outfits she chose. I had never considered a simple black dress with a neon colored jacket. She even topped it off with a leopard print batman cap. I needed to know more behind her creative design. Here is what she had to say.


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                      "My style really isn't complicated. But it's Loud." 

"It's Loud. loud eclectic and pretty simple"

"I really like the [black] dress and how it fits on me. Plus, it's like a sun dress, but I put the tights on to represent winter." 

"The jacket and it's color represent how I feel, it's lime green...it screams happy. The batman hat shows that I want to be batman today, I really want to be like that super hero!"

"Super hero, happy and just...comfortable"

"I'm not going to say that I am an expert on fashion, but I have a pretty good view, but my fashion is a little bit different from other peoples fashion."

"I want my style to grow."

-Sonya Chandler

Instagram: honeybb27

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Until talking with her, I had never actually thought about blending two styles together. However, When I really think about it, it's actually done all the time.


               What good are friends if they can't open your eyes to something new.

The Impressionable Mickey

Hi, my name is Whitney, and my style is impressionable. I am not ashamed. Although, I easily could have been after I  actually looked up the meaning of "impressionable" in the dictionary. It is defined as a person who is easily influenced because they do not have the knowledge to judge something critically. Well, darn. That defines my style to the exact 'T'. I have no idea what I am doing in this world of fashion, and I have no idea  how far I plan to go in my exploration of it. But I still feel the urge to explore it and I'm going to go with that. After a couple of moments, I got over the shock of  what I thought was a negative of having an impressionable style and I began to take great ownership of it. After all, some of the most beautiful artistic creations are inspired by something that truly impressed the artist. They took that impression and decorated it with their own individuality and creativity and I don't think there is anything wrong with that.

Two weeks ago, I went to Disneyland, and I found this instant desire to dress in the way of Mickey Mouse. No, not full on. Halloween does have it's purpose. Instead, I took my impression of Mr. Mickey's popular color scheme and headed straight to my closet. Of course I would have to add the hat for good measure.

I ended up wearing the red cardigan, black jeggings and the white sleeveless blouse on my trip and it proved to be very comfortable. 

How is your style impressionable?

Skirtfully Saved

I love fashion bloggers. I am in no way throwing myself into that pool of a amazing creators, but I am simply honoring those fashion gurus who inspire me entirely. I have written about her before, but now I am giving her another special shout out on this post as well. Jeanette Thwing from J's Every Day Fashion is a blogger who is great for that clueless developing stylist. A few months ago I was reading a post on her blog and she gave me the awesome idea to "skirt my dresses". Some of you may have already known about this trick, but I definitely did not, and I could not wait to put it into practice.

Over the years I have had this habit of collecting dresses that would be great for going out. One problem. I don't go out. So now, I am left with this assortment of dress that are way to short (even with leggings) to wear anywhere other than a night club. I was just beginning to think that they were lost causes until I read her blog post.



Whala!

I'd never thought I'd wear some of these dresses again, but now that I have a new way to style them...well...lets just say I can blow the dust off of them now. 

Fashion Overseas (Cultural Experiments)

One day, I want to see the world. I want to visit countries of other languages and  cuisines and I want to explore their traditions and celebrations. And along with being well studied in the lifestyles and customs of other cultures comes the very fun study of their fashion. As you might know, the entire month of February is reserved for Black History, and it's something that my church takes great pride in. There are only a handful of members who are actually from Africa directly, but it is a huge tradition in my church to go as far back as our roots may trace during the month of black history. As a result, I am thrilled to see the men, women and children who come dressed in their African outfits on the first Sunday in the month of February. The cultural greatness continues for each Sunday until the month is over . There are long gowns of colorful dashikis. Pattern of all different kinds. The women wear hats and scarves that are wrapped in the most unique ways on their heads. It is exceptionally exciting and it would only make sense that I join the festivities.

All of these outfits are from DD's Discounts. I use to see them on the dress racks and wonder what people would actually wear them for. The "one size fits all" thing really had me concerned. It caused me to wondered about the fitting, however, I still loved the variety of the designs. So, as this was my first black history month at home since graduating college  I was extremely happy that I finally found the chance to experiment with them. 

Dashiki: $8.99   I received the blue, full circle scarf as a Christmas present and I thought it would make a great cross body sash for a nice touch of "African Royalty"....In my dreams.

 Dashiki: $8.99   I really love the combinations of colors and patterns on this one. It's probably my favorite.

Dress: $12.00    Because of the tribal print, I thought it was perfect for the purpose of African attire, however, it can also be worn for any month of the year (weather and "girl days" permitted).