City Chick Online

This past Friday (Feb 18th), me and the rest of the Blok TV fam covered Ice T's birthday party at the Canal Room in NYC. It was a really cool event that had an open bar of Ice's new liquor XO, had performances by Rapper Mims, Force Md's (aka Force MC's) Keith Murray, Freedom from C&C Music Factory as well as Money Harm. There was also a special appearance by the original Spindarella and Grand Master Caz. The place was packed and everyone was jamming to the live performances as well as the music by DJ Brucie B. Here are the pics and video from that night. Enjoy :-)

Me and Chris stayed cracking up that night lol

Christine and Ice T's wife Coco

The Canal Room was packed...early!

The Blok fam...me, Chris, Lo, Hev and KB

I need to vent. Why is it that everytime and I mean everytime, I get my nails done at an "upscale" nail salon, they always come out jacked up? It never fails! Ok so last Friday I went to this really nice nail salon in Baldwin to get a full set and a pedicure. Now, I've been getting my nails done in Hempstead for years, even when I use to live in Jersey and Manhattan, I would always wait till I was back on the island (I was always back here a few times a week) to get them done. The reason being is that everytime I go to a new salon, they do some bs. Well now I live about 25 mins away from Hempstead and I've been trying out different salons close to my house and I found only one that was semi decent. So last week, a friend of mine told me that she gets her nails done at this salon in Baldwin and that she loved it so I should try them. I figured why not because Baldwin is a little bit closer to me (about 15mins) than going all the way to Hempstead. I should have realize that this was maybe not the best advice to take figuring my friend only rocks a manicure but nevertheless I went. What a mistake!

First off when I went, their prices were ridiculous. I paid $40 for a full acrylic set (I know, I know..bs) and $35 for a spa pedicure. Honestly, the pedicure was the bomb but my nails were thoroughly jacked up. One of my thumb nails was crooked and I was bleeding on 3 of my nails because the guy was filing my nails so hard that he cut my skin. After about 3 and half hours in there I was done. It took him, the owner and the only one who knew how to do an acrylic set, almost 2 hours to do them. Freakin' Ridiculous! A full set should take maximum 40 mins...never 2 or more hours. I was so tired though because I had worked that day, that I was like Fu*k it, I'm leaving...crooked nails and all and decided just go to my old salon in Hempstead and have them fixed it. But here is the best part...on my way home, one of my nails broke! I was livid. I went back the next day and the same guy fixed it and guess what? Another nail broke! I didn't even waste my time and go back to that place. So after walking around for a few days with jacked up nails, I went to my old nail salon in Hempstead and they fixed my nails. Truth be told, my nails are still not as nice as they would have been if I would have just gone there in the first place but they look a million times better...oh and they only charge like $23 for a fullset and $15 for a pedicure...smh! Moral of the story? Stick with what works...

My nails afterwards...still had drying oil on them. I colored my nails with Sally Hansen's You Gurt Style. I love this color :-)

So this is what I wore to my store yesterday...Look at Zoey in the back waiting to greet customers lol (Zoey is my employee's dog :-) These boots were delievered on Tuesday and at first I wasn't sure if I liked them or not but I desperately needed another pair of flat boots because my dog Suki chewed up my favorite pair smh. Anyways, I've been wearing them every day since because they are really comfy and I get a lot of compliments on them. Shoedazzel came through for me once again...luv them!!!!

Ann Taylor black lycraTop
Bebe grey jacket
7 For All Mankind jeans
Shoshanna boots by Shoedazzel
Headband and earrings from Rainbow Shop

Hey guys,

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day yesterday...I sure did. This is the outfit that I wore to dinner at Toku in Manhasset with the bf. I bought this dress at a cute boutique in Oceanside called Mixology. Its a blue mini dress with a touch of shimmer from a company name WoW Couture. I paired it with opaque black tights, my favorite heels from Shoedazzel and gold jewelry that I got from my store. Here's the back of the dress...

No I'm not dancing lol...the bf caught me off guard while I was fixing my hair and this is the only pic I got of the back :-) Anyways, check out Mixology's website at http://www.shopmixology.com. Beside's my store, this boutique is easily becoming one of my favorite places to shop here on the island!

So I recently lost my brush roll with all my Mac brushes in it. I think I left it on the train when I was coming back from the city but honestly I don't remember. When I go to a shoot to do makeup, I usually bring a ton of stuff and it never fails that I lose something. Well because its impossible to be a makeup artist without brushes (lol), I decided to pick some up but I needed them fast and they had to be inexpensive. I do love Mac brushes but honestly I was not trying to drop a few hundred dollars on some more brushes...no ma'am! After checking out youtube and google, I found out about Crown Brushes (www.crownbrush.com) and decided to try them out because their brushes are super cheap but have some great reviews. Honestly, I was a little leery because I HATE cheap brushes. After a few uses or washes they start coming apart or the hairs are left on client's face...no bueno! Well, I ordered 11 brushes and the total came up to $39.81(that's including shipping). It took about a week to get here and so far I am pleasantly surprised. I can honestly say that these brushes are equivalent to the Mac brushes that I lost. They are sturdy and well made and I will definitely be ordering some more soon. Theses are the ones that I ordered and their prices:

- B18 Foundation $4.99
-C139 Tapered Crease $2.55
-C156 Smudger/Oval Fluff $2.68
-C250 1 Taklon Pointed Liner $1.40
-C170 SH 4 Oval taklon $2.01
-C433 Pro Blending Fluff $5.49
-IB116 Round Tapered Crease $2.89
-C407 Jumbo Shadow $3.89
-IB132 Stiff Brow $1.95
-C224 Oval Concealor $2.98
-827Med Medium Stiff fan Mask $1.98

If you are looking for some good and inexpensive brushes, I would recommend these. The only thing that I didn't like was the fact that the company didn't send me any tracking info so I didn't know when to expect them. Besides that i have no complaints :-)

So this is what I wore to my boutique yesterday...

-Sweet Romeo cream sweater
-Joseph A. silk cami
-Zco ripped jeans
-Farah over the knees boots from Bakers

and hair and makeup (this was at the end of the day so I look tired lol)

Recently I've decided to start taking better care of my hair. Because of my (former?) career as a model and just my desire to always change my look, I've put my hair through alot. Weaves, wigs, weekly Dominican blowouts, etc. Randomly one day I was googling "roller set" and discovered a whole world that I never knew existed. I found videos, personal websites, message boards all dedicated to black women's "Hair Journey". I spent a few days feverishly researching, joining boards, watching videos and was amazed at all these women regiment for having thicker, longer and healthy hair. So you know what? I decided to give it a try. Throughout my researcher I kept hearing about this lady name Traceyee (KissSeventyseven) from different people and I found her videos on youtube. After watching her video and getting alot of ideas, I decided to join her website www.k-i-s-s.biz and now I'm completely hooked lol. The site is super cute...it's kinda like a myspace/facebook for black women who share hair advice, write blogs, give motivation to each other, etc. I've already found so much valuable info on there. If you are looking for tips on how to make your hair healthier, check it out :-)

P.S. The above pic is a style I tried yesterday (don't judge me, it was my first attempt lol) called a Braid Out. Its a great way to create curls and waves in your hair without using heat and its my new favorite style (for today at least lol). Here is the back....

<

Since my store was closed this past Tuesday and Wednesday, I was stuck in my house for those 2 days bored out of my mind. I spent the majority of the time doing things around the house and surfing the net. While online, I came across the website www.coastalscents.com and decided to try out a few of their palettes. I've been interested in this company for a while because a few of my makeup artist friends use their products and after researching them further, I found out that they have some great reviews among their customers. Well, I decided to get 4 palettes: The 88 color eyeshadow palette, the 28 piece eyeshadow neutral palette, the 10 concealer shades camouflage palette and the 10 blush shades palette. I placed the order on Wednesday and the total came up to only $70 and that included FREE SHIPPING!!! I received my package yesterday, which was Saturday so it only took 3 days for me to receive my items using regular ground shipping...not bad! When I opened the package, I was very happy. All the colors are vibrant and pigmented and they even sent me a little gift...a mini trial size shadow and 3 small brushes. Honestly I'm not going to use the gifts, I'm just going to give it to my little sister Olivia (she's 10) but I thought it was still nice of them to send it to me.

So overall I am very happy with Coastal Scents and I will be shopping with them again...

Pros: Fast shipping, inexpensive palettes, good pigments
Cons: 88 palettes colors are a little smaller than I expected but for $18.95 I can't complain