30 Day Make-up Challenge: Favorite Eye Shadow and Daytime Look

Day 7 and Day 8: Favorite Eye Shadow and Favorite Daytime Look

When I first became a make-up artist I was OBSESSED with eye shadow. I loved to wear bright, bold colors (pink and purple were my go to colors), but over time, and with changing trends, I found myself using eye shadows less and less and many days I don't even wear it anymore. And when I do wear it, it is a very natural looking color. So I have to say that right now my favorite go to shadow is Bobbi Brown in Taupe.


This is my everyday look. And My everyday products.

Ardell Brow Powder in Brown
Bobbi Brown Eyeshadow in Taupe
Eye Pencils: Wet n Wild in Dark Brown, Ulta Gel Eyeliner in Blackout, Wet n Wild Natural
Anastasia Brow Duality
LA Colors Bold Lash and Wet n Wild Megastrength Mascara both in black.

So what's your favorite eye shadow?

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty,
Rhonda

The Vision Board Party

I've talked about vision boards before and how I truly believe in the power of the law of attraction. There are so many things that I envisioned for myself that have come to pass in one form or another. So much so, that it was time to make another board. But, rather than just sit in my house by myself, I wanted to share the experience and introduce this project to some of my friends.

So I decided to have a vision board party. I invited about 15 ladies out to eat (had to start out small due to the venue). I rented the banquet room at the restaurant and provided the boards and some of the art supplies. I asked them to bring a few magazines and a pair of scissors.

In true form I made little hand outs and I walked them through the simple process of making a board. Here are some of the tips I shared with them.

What is a Vision Board?

A vision board is a collection of images and/or quotes,  used to help you reach your goals and dreams by helping you to focus and visualize them coming true.

Different Forms of Vision Boards

-Physical, usually done on poster board

-Digital, done on your computer or phone: Pinterest, PicMonkey, Vision Board Apps.

Or you can use a combination of both by making a physical board, taking a picture of it and saving that pic as a screen saver.

Themes are endless and can range from a specific goal, inspirational or broad range of life goals.

How to do your vision board:

1.       What do you want? Write down goals you want in any aspect of your life- career, love, family, school, health, or lifestyle. No matter how big or small, if it’s important to you, write it down.

2.       Find images, quotes or anything that represents those goals and paste them to your board.

3.       Place you board in a place where you can see it everyday and at least a few times a week, visualize how you would feel when those goals are reached. Also think about what you’ve done to help guide you and prepare for that goal.

How to make it work for you!

-          Put it up where you can see it!

-          Don’t set time limits

-          Stay positive

-          Keep your eyes open

       -      Be grateful, even if it doesn’t come the way you planned


Here are some pics from the event.

                     

The event was a success. So much so, that I even had reservations already put in for next years party.
So have you been to a vision board party before? How was it and what was the feedback from your guests?

Until next time.

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty,
Rhonda

30 Day Make-up Challenge: Lipsticks and Lashes

Day 5: My Favorite Lipstick, lip gloss and liner combo.

In my true fashion, I can't pick just one lip combo to show you, I'm going to show you 3: my everyday, favorite summer lip and my favorite fall lip.

1. Starting with the lower left hand corner is my favorite everyday lip: Bobbi Brown Rich Lip in Uber Suede and Maybelline's Elixir in Mauve Mystique.

2. Above that is my fall lip: NK Lipstick in Amethyst, Maybelline Elixir in Raspberry Rhapsody and NYX liner in Purple Rain.

3. My go to summer lip was achieved with: MAC Cremesheen in Hang-up, OCC Lip Tar in NSFW and NYX Lip Pencil in Plush Red.

Day 6: Do you like or wear false lashes?

My relationship with false lashes is like my relationship with desserts: It's a love/hate thing, but yet I've tried just about every kind. Also, I will never turn them down, but I can't stand what I have to do once I get them like work out and sleep pretty. But, regardless on how I have to sleep, I still love my lashes from time to time.

So do I prefer individuals or strip lashes? Well, I think they both have pros and cons.
Strip Lashes are quicker to apply, but they are really only supposed to be worn for a day, so I will sometimes take them off nightly and reapply. Individual lashes are great because they can be customized any way you want them. I can wear all smalls, all mediums or if I'm feeling like doing the most I will put the smalls in my inner corners and fade out with the mediums. But, individuals are meant to last so I have to sleep with my head propped up so not to wake up with bent lashes (which happens very often for me- what can I say, I be tired).

You also have to make sure you clean with q-tips daily. I don't wear eyeshadow when I wear lashes because I just hate not being able to get all of it off when wearing falsies and have the gunk build up. I have a friend who said she would get conjunctivitis (pink eye) every time she wore lashes because of all that looming bacteria.

One very important thing is that you don't use hair glue to put on your lashes. There was a brief moment in history where I was doing this because the container of hair glue lasted longer than that tub of lash glue. But, there have been reports of women injuring their eyes from using hair glue and it just isn't worth it.

The things we do for beauty.

What's your favorite lippie combo? And are you a falsie wearer? Why or why not?

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty,
Rhonda

30 Day Make-up Challenge Days 3 and 4: Favorite Make-up Brand andFoundation

Day 3: Favorite Make-up Brand

I have a ton of make-up. A ton! And I don't stick to one particular brand, I buy what I have found that works. But, when I took a small inventory of my product, the two brands that I use the most are Maybelline and MAC.

Why MAC, well that's self explanatory. They are a brand created for make-up artist and I love that their products are so customizable and long lasting.

Maybelline has stood it's own too, and has proven to be one of my favorite drug store brands.

Let me also throw out honorable mentions to ELF, NYX and Kat Von D, whose brands frequently get my money as well.


Day 4: Do you like wearing foundation? What's your color and favorite brand?

I wear foundation almost everyday. Even if I only do a spot application, it's on there. I like sheer to medium coverage so even if I do have a heavy foundation, I usually will thin it out by mixing it with moisturizer.

As most women, my coverage needs are different in the spring/summer than they are in the fall/winter. It's fall now, so I find myself reaching for my Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse Foundation and NYX Concealer. I use these as my everyday/ work face.

Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse- Cocoa
NYX Jar Concealer- Dark

Makeup Forever 5 Camouflage Cream Palette
Sleek Cosmetics Contour Kit- Dark
Ardell Brow Powder- Brown
Natural Eye Liner- Sally's
Wet n Wild Pencil- Brown
Anastasia Brow Duo
NYX Skinny Liquid Liner
Wet N Wild- Fergie Lip Stain- Legendary Face
ELF 3 in 1 Mascara

The finished product. *Ting*

But, when I'm stepping out and want a little more divatude, I reach for my MAC foundations and highlight and contour as needed. Here are my colors and how I apply for contouring.

MAC Matchmaster Foundation
Colors 7, 8 and 9.5

I mix 8 and 9.5 and use it all over and highlight with 7.

I then use 9.5 to contour my cheekbones, under my chin and bridge of my nose.

You have been served, boo.

So what's your favorite make-up brand? And are you a foundation queen like myself, or do you keep it natural?

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty,
Rhonda

30 Day Make-up Challenge: Days 1-2

Do you remember a long time ago when I said I was going to do a make-up challenge and I never did it? Well, me neither but it happened and there is proof. So in light of me being inspired and not wanting to go back on my word, I'm going to fulfill my challenge (I hope). So here goes.

 

Day 1 and 2: When did you start putting on make-up? How did you learn to put on make-up?

Up until college, the only makeup I wore was eyeliner and lip gloss. The first time I bought foundation I went to the make-up counter at Sears and had the girl help me with my color because my forehead was 2 different shades than the rest of my face. But, I started wearing make-up for real when I got a job at Victoria's Secret Beauty Store. The manager hired me to be the "color specialist" because she said she liked my make-up, so my lip gloss and eyeliner must have been really working for me that day.

My job as the color specialist was to basically do lip and eye make overs for our customers and try to get them to purchase the products I used. My practice and love for make-up started right there, and if you think about it, I've been getting paid to do make-up for a long time ;)

What little money I was making was going towards all the eye kits and lipsticks, not to mention all the smell good lotions and creams (shout out to all my Love Spell enthusiasts). 

But, it wasn't until nearly 8 years later that I realized that I was good and could potentially make a career of this make-up thang. I went to school for esthetics at Michigan College of Beauty, thinking that I could learn about both skin care and make-up, but still yearned for more make-up training after I got my license. I then went to Astute Artistry to get another make-up certificate and went to many other classes including The Industry Source, MAC and other seminars. I still take classes when I can and playing in make-up is one of my favorite things to do.

When did you start to wear make-up? Share your story.

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Depp Beauty,
Rhonda

Get It Together

One of the most important keys to success is to be consistent, to end as strong as you started. That is so not one of my strong points. I will start a project hard, 110% and then slowly the energy I had at the beginning starts to fade until it is practically non-existent. It happened with my business, started to happen with my marriage, hell- it happened with this blog.

I'm not going to sit here and give the "I'm back" speech again and how I'm going to do better, blah, blah, blah. But, what I will do is take time for myself to do those thing that make me happy, and this blog is one of them. I have made it my goal that in addition to being so and so's wife and so and so's mother, that I will make a name for myself as well.

So, I've decided to nix my other blog and combine the two on Soul Deep Beauty. I can't separate my beauty biz and my family life because they both are a part of my life. And although my make-up gigs are few and far between, I still can beat a face down. #dontgetittwisted

As I transition two blogs into one, I'm going to bring over some of my favorite posts from I Heart My B.A.D.D. Kids. Enjoy!

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty,
Rhonda

Fabulous Friday- Katy Perry Color Pop Lashes

It's Friday! What up people, so today I am going to share with you my new favorite lashes. But, first, some back story. A couple months ago, as a gift, I went and had some semi-permanent lashes put in. It was cool, they weren't as full as I would have liked them but I knew if I kept getting them filled in that eventually they would get to where I needed them to be. Let me also add, for those of you who have never had them, it is a long process. It took 3 hours as each extension is put on lash by lash.

It was date night with my hubby.
Notice on pic to the right that lashes are on the thin side.

Long story short, as my natural lashes fell out, so did the fullness of the look. I was on a tight budget that would not allow me to spend $50 on the fill-in, so I eventually just snatched out the rest. That was in July and my lashes have yet to recover from the improper removal, so needless to say, I have been wearing falsies every since.

So fast forward to my birthday weekend (second weekend in October. I treated myself to a tiny haul at Ulta, which included a pair of Eylure Katy Perry Color Pop Eyelashes. They had my fav color, purple so I had to get them. I noticed they were a little thick and not as movable as the Ardell's but I was still able to work them to fit my lash line perfectly.

Info:

The regular price is $7, but I got mine on sale for $4. The purple layer is underneath the black, so the color is really subtle. I wore them for an entire month with no bending on the ends (which usually happens because of the way I sleep).

My routine:

I wear them for a week, take them off, clean off the old glue, wash my eyes really good and put them back on. I didn't use the glue that came with it, which was the clear adhesive, I used the dark Ardell adhesive I already had.

The Looks:

 

After years of Whispies, these are my new favorite strip lashes. Have you tried them? What do you think?

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty!

Fabulous Friday and Birthday Reflections

Today is a very special Fabulous Friday. One, we've returned after a small hiatus, two, my birthday passed a couple weeks ago (I know, I'm late) and lastly- I got a new job. Despite some small hiccups in my life, I'm still on party mode. After a couple weekends of good food, good friends and good fun, I'm just feeling so blessed to have all those things I've prayed for come to pass.

That being said, I want to start with a small list of things that I'm grateful for now that I've celebrated 32 years of life.

- I'm grateful for a husband, children, family and friends who accept me for being my silly, sarcastic, quirky, indecisive, and (sometimes) bossy self.

- Faith, mercy and salvation, and the ability to know the difference.

Things I learned:

- That joy and sorrow can't exist in the same place.

- To never take people, life or circumstances for granted.

Old (but still good) mantra:

"I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me."

New mantra:

"God says if you rest in Him, He will show you the rest of Him."
 

Preach!

Now, on a lighter note, I had a B-Day mini-photo shoot for myself and can't wait till the next one. It's something that I had been thinking about for a while, so when I had a sudden burst of energy, I decided to just do it. If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen these, but here goes anyway.

This is my makeshift photo studio. I bought the lights and backdrop stand off of Amazon.
My point and shoot is a Kodak, and I've had the tripod for years.

                                                

My hurr:

This was a 3 day old twist out that fro'ed out after a weekend of doing the most.

I used- Shea Moisture Raw Organic Black Soap Shampoo

Giovanni Deep Treatment Conditioner

Knot Today Leave in

Coconut grease/pomade

Eco Styler gel. 

Every night I pineappled and refreshed with jojoba oil and aloe vera gel.

My make-up:

Maybelline Mineral Powder Liquid Foundation Cocoa 

Make-up Forever Concealer Pallet 5

Stilla Blush in Coral

Milani Bronzer in Golden

Sleek Makeup Contour Kit in Dark 

Katy Perry Color Pop Faux Lashes on top, Ardell Mini Individuals on bottom

Sephora Kohl Eyeliner

Brown shadow on brows

And my lips are a combination of two Lip Tars- Demure (hot pink) and (tbd-name rubbed off) lavender

What I'm wearing:

Earrings- Charming Charlies 

Hello Kitty glasses- bought off of Poshmark 

"Rock the Hair You Wear" T-Shirt- bought at African Festival -lost company info :(

Purple cardigan- Old Navy

Jeans- Old Navy

Yeah, yo girl put her model face on and thought she was doing something. I had a lot of fun, even though it was crazy having to set the timer and run back to get the right shot. But, this photo shoot was a part of a personal journey I had been on (that I hope to share soon) and it was about me accepting myself for who I am. I had put it off saying I would do it once I dropped a couple pounds or when I could get my perfect twist out. But, I reminded myself that it's not about being perfect, it's about being me. So go head, do you boo and love every moment of it.

Until next time,

Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty 

Fabulous Friday: On the Wild Side

It's Friday once again and I am sooo excited because tomorrow, my co-worker and I are going to Praise at the Park, at Chene Park. I haven't been to a concert in over a year because of my spending diet, but this was a treat to myself. Plus, I'm going to get me some more Jesus, so I ain't mad about it.

Anyway, this week's fab Friday outfit was worn this past Monday. It was nice and cool for this 90 degree we've been getting lately and I love the side braid I wore with my genie locs.

Dress: Parisians (Now known as Carsons)

Shirt: Old Navy
Shoes: DSW
Earrings: Charming Charlies
Bracelet: My fav gold bracelet gifted to me by my dad before he passed

My makeup is simple, but pretty
Foundation: Maybelline Mineral Power Liquid Foundation in Cocoa
Blush: Stilla in Self Adjusting Coral
Highlight: Milani Baked Bronzer in Soleil
Lips: EOS Balm in Cool Mint
Brows: Black Shadow

Until next time, stay fabulous.

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty!

Me and My Hair: Genie Locs, AKA Yarn Braids

I have been one braiding sista the last couple of weeks. Between me, my daughter and my new clients (whoot, whoot), I'm surprised my fingers even work. I challenged myself by doing not only my hair, but also my daughters, which totaled to 20 plus hours of braiding, twisting and feeling like my arms were about to give out. But, never the less, both of us look good if I do say so myself. I've had genie locs before, so I knew what to expect and still love them.


So here are the stats: My hair.
Washed with Shea Moisture Raw Organic Moisture Retention Shampoo
ACV Rinse (Apple Cider Vinegar Rinse: 1 part ACV, 3 parts water)
Deep Conditioned with Giovanni Deep Treatment Conditioner (only left in 10 min)
Conditioned with Pantene Pro-V Frizz Control
Detangled with Knot Today and Morrocanoil Oil Treatment
Blow Dried Hair using the tension method
Hair- Red Heart 100% wool yarn in black, 1 and 1/2 packs
Time- 16 hours over 3 days (it took me 21 hours last time, so my speed is up.)

Follow me on IG @RhondaSoulDeep

And here's what I did with my daughter's hair.

Washed with Carol's Daughter Tui Shampoo
ACV Rinse
Deep Treatment with Shea Moisture Deep Conditioning Moisture Retention Tx (left in 30 minutes)
2 Minute Protein Treatment by Aphogee
Detangled with Kinky Curly Knot Today and Grapeseed Oil
Blow Dried hair using the tension method
Hair- 1 pack of Short Loc Hair (Kanakelon, I think)
Time-  About 4.5 hours

Follow me on IG @RhondaSoulDeep

I hope to keep these in for two months and keep my daughter's neat looking for a 4-6 weeks. I will of course wear a satin scarf or bonnet  at night, oil my scalp and do ACV/ baking soda rinses to keep them up. My daughter however, will play in her hair until twists start to fall off and refuse to keep her bonnet on at night, but we'll see what happens. Until next time, loves.

Wishing you Love, Peace and Soul Deep Beauty