Hello good people hope this finds you in good health and high spirits.

So, I have found in my day to day life that my hair has become a topic of conversation, not intentionally by it still shocks me sometimes.

My waeved hair.

Natural kinky curly hair has come into focus in the UK over the last ten years and now it would seem nearly everyone (I meet anyway) is on a natural hair journey. For me going natural was an accident. I had a friend who used to practice weaving my hair, and I had various weaves in for a year plus. In that time I relaxed the parts of my hair that would be on show (the front back and sides) and pretty much neglected the rest of it. Towards the end of 2011 I went for the box braid look and absolutely loved it, I kept the style till February 2012 and when I was unble to find someone to re do my braids I took them out, and there it was. My untamable, dry, head of hair. I didnt know what I was going to do with it! So I did what I knew best. Washed my hair with my generic shampoo without dividing into sections, didn't bother conditioning (couldn't be asked). I then attempted to detangle the matted mess atop my head, which took in excess of an hour. I left half of my hair on the floor of my bedroom,  it was a ball the size of a fist. Then I applied oil and grease to my hair and scalp and blowdried on high heat with a paddle brush. I looked at my hair and though what an utter travesty. Why isn't my texture nicer? Why can't my hair be longer? My hair is not good hair.

The first fight/ wash with my
natural hair (February 2012)

I then had what can only be described as an epiphany. Why shouldn't I be able to wear my hair and be happy? Surley this is a part of being content with myself. It spiralled from there. I needed information.  I needed to know what to do with my hair, how to style it, how to manage it and how to appreciate it. So obviously I went to the place that can teach you everything. YouTube! Since last february I have watched countless videos, read countless articles and blogs and consulted many many books and soaked up the information. One year on I am a different person for it.

One of my staple styles for 2012 (wash and go)

Although my routine is by no means perfect and I still get breakage and make mistakes my hair has taught me lessons in one year that I had been trying to learn my whole life. Embrace you. The way you are is not a mistake and people will always appreciate you being yourself.

I know it has been a very long one but this is the first in my natural hair series! Very excited to share my routine, favourite products and tools and many more nuggets of gold!

Please share  and spread the revolution! :)

Ciao for now and always be the best you!

Rhianne XxX

Hey y'all,

So this post is going to be about my outfit of the day (OOTD), hair of the day (HOTD) and face of the day (FOTD) and it is well and truly overdue. I loved the day I took these pictures because I was having a terrible hair day but I still managed to make it work *does a little dance*. So without delay, here it is....

Please excuse the shower puff in the back,
You know how we be doing bathroom
modelling.

The FOTD was a very slightly smoky eye and a nude lip. However, because we like to keep it jazzy I added a dark lip liner (currant, MAC) for a bit of fun. 

I was going to Church so I wasn't looking for anything too extravagant and this look was just right.

Hair of the day...

So it is a sad story, but I shan't bore you with all that, I'll give you the short (ish), sweet version. I wanted to try a twist out with quite small twists, to see what kind of definition I would get, to see if it would last longer and if it was easier to style. So I went on ahead and did my twist out on the Saturday night. On Sunday, I did my makeup then started taking down the twists all excited about how I was going to style it and I was met with a crazy defined but uncontrollable head of hair. I wanted to have it out to show off some of the definition but it was not happening.

These pictures were taken by my dear
brother who neglected to tell me my hair
 was trying to escape.

  

So after fighting with my mane for twenty minutes (!!! for me it was like a life time) I grabbed all the bobby pins I owned and set about tucking it all away. To be honest I wasn't expecting much but when I finished I was beyond happy with the result.

 The front was rolled almost like I was going to do a quiff and the back was simple rolled up. So simple, yet elegant, and I will definitely never underestimate up dos again.

 So onto the final piece in the jigsaw, OOTD.
Now I've been thinking about getting healthy and loosing weight for a while, so I've not been buying clothes unless it was absolutely necessary BUT, when I saw this dress in River Island, I fell in love. I'm a curvy girl so if I'm wearing something clingy it has to be strategically done and the panels on this dress, did me justice (even if I do say so myself.) It's midi length so it's not to short and to top it all off it was only £35. I will happily wear this dress until it gets too big for me or it falls apart, which ever comes first.

My accessories from top to bottom, earrings are from Primark, Necklace is Aldo, bracelet is Primark and my watch is also from Aldo.

So it has been a long one but I hope you enjoyed.
Ciao for now and remember to be the best you.

Rhianne xx

Glasses from Claire's Accessories

What up home skillets!

Bow from Aldo

So this is ridiculously late considering that we are now approaching the end of January BUT, I like the pictures so much I still want to post them. 

So at Christmas, to get all the staff and customers in the festive mood    my manager suggested that we dress up in reds and greens, which, I initially thought would be a lot of hassle. It did, however, turn out to be a lot of fun. My favourite day was Christmas Eve. I had made it up in my mind to go all out and do something special. The natural conclusion? Mrs Clause. Yes I went to work as Mrs Clause complete with with red dress and snowflake on my face. It was well received and the day was a lot of fun.

Earrings from Superdrug

My hair I kept in a simple quiff and puff (my best to date even if i do say so myself). For me, the accessories really did make this outfit.

 

I do love a bit of dressing up :D

Hope you enjoyed the look and remember to be the best you.

Rhianne xx

Hi guys, It's me again.

So the excitement has overwhelmed me and even though my nails aren't even dry, I want to share my new discovery.

Velvet Manicure

Just before Christmas I was having a wander around Boots and Superdrug, as you do, and two new products by MUA (available at most Superdrug stores) caught my eye.

Nail Caviar

For those who are fans of nail art, you will be familiar with Ciate, and their amazing textured manicures which come in three forms, nail caviar, velvet manicure and sequin manicure. For those looking to do something different with their nails, their products are perfect only downside is the price point. At £18, per set, if you wanted to do a multicoloured look it could cos you a pretty penny.

Hence why I was so excited to find these beauties!

They are based on the same idea as as the nail caviar bead but at a fraction of the price. I picked these beads up for £3 a bottle and the 'FUR-EFFECT' nail pots for £3.

So the idea is that you pour the bead or flocking (the velvety stuff) onto wet nail varnish and dry. Sounds simple right? It is but still requires a little practise, patience and willingness to sweep up small beads from your floor.

I was really happy with the turn out. The textured was an appreciated break from the norm and I will definitely be playing about with the colours.  

The main downside to this manicure is that it is very short lived. It lasted about 36 hours and started to look a little dirty and the beads started falling off :(, but for a night out this manicure is perfect.

Hope you enjoyed the look and remember to be the best you.

Rhianne xx

Howdy y'all

So I've been doing a lot of experimenting with my air recently I've really enjoyed playing in it, so much that I'm thinking I may have to put it in to twists to give it a break.

So one of my first styles was the classic fauxhawk. Its quick, easy and looks great. The tools I used were hairbands, a lot of bobby pins, a wide tooth comb, a horse brush, olive oil ecostyler gel and my edge control.

I did the style on an old twist out. To make sure I didn't struggle with style in the morning, the nigh before I spritzed my hair with my water and glycerin mix and detangled my hair with my wide tooth comb. I then split my hair into three horizontal sections and secured each with a hairband. I did this to make sure that my hair stayed toward the middle of my head.

In the morning I let my hair out of the hair bands and applied ecostyler gel to the sides of my head. I then used, what my mum always called a horse brush -brush with hard bristles, and used it to slick my edges. I then used, what seemed like 100 bobby pins, to secure the middle section of my fauxhawk. The final step was to add some edge control to the sides for a polished look and fluff, fulFF,  FLUFF the middle.

Simple as pie and an edgy look for day or night!

Hope you enjoy the look and remember to be the very best you!

Rhianne xx

Howdy y'all,

 

So this was big hair week for me. The Christmas atmosphere had my spirits high and the excitement at work was palpable and to be honest it propelled me to do the best hair and makeup!

 

Just a quick bit about my hair then and then on with the good stuff, my hair is natural (not chemically processed) and has been for nearly two years. On the hair typing system I fall into the 4A and 4B types. The back half of my hair, being 4a, has a much looser curl pattern than the front and as a result doing simple styles tends to make me look a tad unhinged, the kind of look I generally avoid.

 

So Sunday I decided to hit church and as it happened I was in a bit of a retro mood so I pulled the front of my hair down to my forehead to create a  full curly fringe. I then used a scarf, procured from Primark, to tie a bow into my hair in a 50s housewife style and the most important part of course, fluff! I stretched the hair secured by the scarf so it was just poking over the top.

 

My makeup was very understated with a defined dark brown eyelid crease and nude lips and the usual under eye, nose and forehead contouring. (I will be posting a more in depth makeup routine shortly.)

 

My outfit also had a retro theme to tie it all together.

My black body I got from Select which is one of the hit or miss shops.  Can look a little tack at time but has some real gems at times.It has a black mesh cut out along the cleavage line and the sleeves, this section also has small black fuzzy dots.

 

My skirt was a Gap pencil skirt that I bought from Sawgrass Mills whilst on holiday. Finally my shoes!

 

 

My favourite part of the outfit, I got them from Primark and they were an absolute steal at £6. Although  I do love the leopard print, what pushed me over the edge with these was the bow detailing on the front of the shoes. Makes me want to say 'Fabulous' in a Gok Wan voice!

(Yes those are Strawberries on my toenails! One of the nail art designs I am attempting to perfect.)

 My accessories were simple (pictured left) I had two faux pearl bracelets. The smaller one has silver balls with diamante detailing spaced evenly through the bracelet. My brown Aldo watch on my right wrist (picture right). Finally my Aldo earrings which for me gave a nice polished finish (pictured below).

So that was my OOTD one week late. Hope you like :)

 

So, ciao for now and remember to be the best you!

 

Rhianne xx

 

Howdy y'all,

Its been a while since I posted because you know, Christmas week, one hundred things to do and not enough hours to do them in.

I hope you had a  great day and are having a great break. My Christmas great! Loved giving out prezzies this year and then it was very much a family affair with the Caribbean craziness.

So, lets get down to business! This week has been crazy for outfits, makeup and hair. As it was Christmas week my manager demanded that we ditch our uniforms and get the Christmas glad rags on. So it was all red, green, black and tinsel!

I will do hair, makeup and outfits in a few different posts as to not overwhelm.

So thanks for reading, ciao for now and remember to be the best you!

Rhianne xxx