"African-American women spend $7.5 billion annually on beauty products, which is 80 percent more than the general market. The reason it's such a dramatic difference is attributed to the fact that African-American women have to sample more products to find the right ones for their skin." (Essence magazine - beauty research panel 2008)
Helloooo LADIES! My name is Jasmine and I will be your host for the newest Megsmakeup.com feature - Black Fridays!
Over the past two decades, the black beauty industry has grown leaps and bounds into a multi-billion dollar business. There are products for every type of ethnic hair - long and loose curls, tight curls, dry hair, brittle hair, natural afros, dreads, relaxed hair, and the list goes on. As for makeup and skincare for ethnic women, there are less targeted options, though a few black entrepreneurs (Iman, Black Opal, Fashion Fair) have broken through the noise to provide products whose colors and ingredients work in tandem with our genetic makeup (pun intended...yes I'm a dork as you will quickly come to learn!)
Meg here! I am kind of bitter because I blame my lack of cooking skills on my parents. Every year I put "The Easy Bake Oven" on my list and every year it never showed up under the Christmas Tree. My mother would take a long drag on her cigg and say "No way we are getting you one of those Meg-you'll burn the damn house down!" Ironic, right?
So I can't cook very well. I can make an appetizer like nobody's business though.
I can't whip up a chef's meal but I do have some inside on to the organic and natural products recipe chart.
This is like a scavenger hunt-but I swear the fun and knowledge gained will be more then a balloon or a token t-shirt.
These are items that we are (on video-I know I'm annoying on video-stick with me please. For the love of God my parents wouldn't shell out the $19.95 for an easy bake oven-you think they're going to send a dime for me to be more camera ready?) Going to show you how to use to be more gorgeous!
Meg here! This is a treat! It's scary how accurate the nation's leading handwriting expert Bart Bagget is.
This is no joke, it's a true science and Bart's analysis on handwriting has helped all sorts of fields. When CNN needed the terrorists anthrax letters analyzed-they called Bart. When USA Today published a list of scandalized CEO's handwriting they had Bart explain to the country exactly what their autographs told about their personalities. He couldn't have been more accurate with Martha Stewart. Bart's been in over 1,500 articles and on tons of TV. He is called upon to analyze millionaire's, criminals, celebrities. Anyone that wants to know what their handwriting tells about them. Now, for FREE you can know too! How cool is that?
We met because Bart invited Megken and I out to sushi. I wrote the above sentence within the first 10 minutes of sitting down to our dinner. We just had a very brief "Nice to meet you" introductory small talk conversation before he proceeded to look at my sentence and tell me everything about myself-um, accurately. It was totally making me freak out. Megken is working on a business project with him so it wasn't like he told him anything intimately about me besides my name. He literally got all of this from just that one funny monkey sentence. Megken refused to write ANYTHING in from of Bart saying "I don't want him to know everything about me." Not me. I thought it was fascinating. If I think something is fascinating then I was thinking you ladies might think it's pretty interesting as well. Why does this make sense and how can you get yours done free?
How many times have you heard that beauty comes from within? Was it usually coming from your mother's mouth after you just complained to her about your acne/weight/bad luck with guys? The timing when that phrase comes up is always kind of fishy, right? I mean, if beauty really came from within, how come your mom never tells you so on the days you look your best? How come you've never heard "oh my gosh, you look fabulous today! It must really be coming from within!"? You know the answer. It's because "beauty comes from within" is code for "don't worry that you look like crap, maybe someone will be able to see beyond that".
Here at megsmakeup.com we say that beauty comes from within bottles, jars, compacts and tubes. Recently - and even though we love remaining highly cynical when it comes to the "beauty comes from within" motto - we have come to realize that sometimes beauty acytually does come from within. And I'm not talking about seeing your ugly friends as pretty ones just because you love them. I'm talking about seeing your hair shine more after you start taking vitamin E, or noticing a difference on how much your skin shines when you put some lemon in the water you drink every day.
BabyLove here! Thanks to everyone who contributed their personal products for dark circles. I really appreciate it, and will be looking into getting some for review.
There's nothing worse than having sick kids. The winter months are especially difficult since William picks up a virus at school, passes it on to Calum, and then to me, but of course never my husband. I'm really happy to be able to review a product that helps me cut down
MissRo here! Well, we've learned about most of the products in the Mixed Chicks line. How about learning about the Founders behind the brand, Wendi Levy and Kim Etherdge.
Wendi and Kim, two "mixed chicks", created this product line because they needed it. Then, something happened! Friends and family started encouraging them to package it, and soon they had a full blown business running out of the garage. After a little door to door hustling, a few celebrity endorsements, and a ton of online customer support, MIXED CHICKS is now sold worldwide!
Meg here! LISTEN TO ME! You're due! Guess what? I have an ordeal because I didn't just bite the proverbial bullet and get my annuals. I am super lazy on my pap and sharing why youshouldnotbe.
I would like to start off by saying that the cancer found on my cervic came back as not malignant. I was lucky. Cancer on your cervic has amazing recovery. But it's a matter of life and death if you, IF YOU JUST FIND IT IN TIME!
Vocation: Art Teacher and Artist What is in your purse? Well in my purse I have a Boots no 7 lipstick in a lovely Coral color called Coral Dream, an Everyday Minerals lipstick called Siesta, but these act more like balms though (I think). I have an Everyday Minerals puff Jar with some rice powder in it. I get very oily skin, so this helps a bit. I have an Everyday Minerals Retractable Kabuki too, love it! Because I live in FL I always carry some spf so I also have Aveeno positively radiant moisturizer with an spf of 30 and some Neutrogena Ultra Sheer Dry Touch Sunblock spf 55. Some Purell hand sanitizer, just in case. Ooh a no7 Pefect Lips pencil (it was hiding in there) in nude... sometimes I outline my lips to make them bigger, yet to find the perfect nude though, or one that will stay on me. Some Avon Glazewear color- Sand Shine. It is a nice gloss nude color. Other non makeup things: my new free phone from ATT - it's kinda nice, jealous of y'all iphoners though. Sharpie - everyone needs a sharpie! Toothpaste from my Virgin flight, so cute and teeny and a bunch of scrumpled up receipts... ie big mess.
MissRo here! This is for all our California Megheads. I'm sure you probably do a fair amount of shopping online for your beauty products or you venture into your neighborhood Sephora. Well, why not discover a new place to shop for beauty!
Planet Beauty is a chain of beauty stores found up and down the coast of California. You can find them anywhere between San Jose and Laguna Niguel. They do carry some brands that Sephora carries, but also a lot of brands they don't such as Mixed Chicks, Moroccan Oil, Era Face Foundation, Pure Fiji Spa, and many others.