Kickin' It: Dark & Lovely Au Naturale Launch Event

Last night in NYC, natural hair blogger and enthusiast Curly Nikki and songwriter/songstress Marsha Ambrosius co-hosted the official launch event for Dark & Lovely's newest innovation - the Au Naturale styling and maintenance product line for curls.

From left: Hydrating Soak Shampoo, Knot-Out Conditioner, Curl Defining Creme Glaze, Curl Moisturizing Souffle, Sheen Sealing Nectar, 10-in-1 Styles Gelee

Yes, it seems like every company under the sun is launching a new natural haircare line these days, but what I found so awesome about this launch was how adamantly natural hair icon Marsha Ambrosius felt about the line. That evening she was sporting her fierce mane in what looked like a textured bantu knot-out on blowout hair. She looked phenomenal. And she was as sweet as pie! She even remembered meeting me last June during the BET Awards (glad I have a memorable face!).

I chatted a bit with her about the new product line, her favorite beauty products, hair maintenance tips and what it means to be dark & lovely:

LoveBrownSugar: So I wanted to ask you about your natural hair! You're most definitely one of my natural hair icons. What do you do to maintain your style?
Marsha Ambrosius: What I must do, and it's imperative I do so, is brush it overnight, section it and bantu knot it. If I don't, when I wake up in the morning I'm not going to be able to comb through that thing! Even if I'm in the studio late, it's something I must do. The [Au Naturale] product line is great because it really infuses all the natural products that I use anyway into one thing. I have the mango oil, I have the bamboo milk, I put it in and it stays! I'm living proof that it works. My curls are absolutely temperamental. Sometimes they hate me, other times I think they're having a fight. So this product line - I really love it.

Is there one product out of the entire line that you can't live without?
The Au Naturale 10-ln-1 Styles Gelee. When I take the bantu-knots out, they'll be in my natural curl pattern anyway and I just take a dab of the Gelee and once I run that product through my hair, it stays. It's like a hair gel and an edge protector in one. Do you see these edges?! They never lay down like this!

Aside from natural hair, I really look at you as a beauty icon overall. Are there any beauty products that you swear by?
Drink lots of water! The simplest beauty products are the ones that God gave us. We overlook them sometimes. Like I exfoliate with honey sometimes, a little bit of natural oil, little things like that.

What do you think it means to be Dark & Lovely?
Dark & Lovely is empowering, it's invigorating, it's royal. I'm glad to be here to represent this brand.

After chatting it up with Marsha, I ran into co-host Curly Nikki and the fabulous Julee Wilson of Huffington Post Black Voices (remember her spotlight on LoveBrownSugar's Get Like Me series?). Two beautiful ladies indeed, with fierce natural curls.

Photo courtesy Dark & Lovely

The event was a blast. There were live hair demonstrations and tutorials. A super cute photo booth, where I took this goofy pic...

And of course there were amazing heads of natural hair at every turn! Kudos to Dark & Lovely for a successful launch event!

For more information about Dark & Lovely's Au Naturale product line, head to their website or become a fan of Dark & Lovely on Facebook for updates!

Kickin' It: LoveBrownSugar x LiSi Cosmetics Nail Launch

On Tuesday evening, I hosted an exclusive preview of the LoveBrownSugar x LiSi Cosmetics Nail Polish at the LiSi Cosmetics flagship store downtown. Some of my favorite bloggers and social butterflies came out to help me celebrate. Check out scenes from the event:

Beyond my wildest dreams! My very own nail polish!

Aside from my polish launch, LiSi Cosmetics launched an array of their newest Fall/Holiday products. All polishes retail for only $4.90!

Makisha Timothy, LoveBrownSugar.com Assistant & Pop Culture Editor

What I love about the store is that there are makeup artists on-hand to let you try out the products whenever you like. Here, LoveBrownSugar's own Makisha Timothy gets her face beat for the gawds!

Meki and Allison from My Shade of Brown were in attendance. Love their curls!

Love my girl Natasha from Asili Glam - super sweet personality & faboosh hair. What's not to love?

Julee Wilson, Style & Beauty Editor at Huffington Post stopped by (left) wearing LiSi Cosmetics lipstick in "Fierce". Beauty buff Tunisia Wilson (right) came by as well. Long live the statement lip!

 Annika Harris of UPTOWN Magazine passed through to say hi! She's a fan of the polish!

 Misha of TheFabChick stopped by! Definitely check out her site - great fashion & beauty tips!

Black-rimmed spectacles never looked so good! Christen of Divas and Dorks and Ty of Gorgeous in Grey delighted us with their presence. Nothing like a great statement accessory!

 Danielle Young of Hello Beautiful got her makeup done as well. So gorge!

 LoveBrownSugar Intern Grace blows kisses, wearing LiSi lipstick.

 Me and the lovely ladies of LiSi Cosmetics. Stop by the store sometime and tell them I sent you!

Stay tuned! In December, I'll be hosting a meet & greet in-store event for you NYC-based lovelies to come out and shop the store (as well as my new color) before the holidays. Can't wait to meet you guys!

Toodles from the LoveBrownSugar family! Happy Thanksgiving!

 Check LoveBrownSugar on Facebook HERE for more pictures from the event! 

To purchase my polish on PRESALE, head to SHOP LoveBrownSugar

LoveBrownSugar Feature: HuffPost Black Voices Top Instagrammer

Hey folks! If you guys already follow me on Facebook and on Twitter, there's another social network you should be stalking me on - Instagram! According to HuffPo Black Voices Style & Beauty editor Julee Wilson, I'm a top fashion & beauty Instagrammer!

I'm so proud that my random nail art snaps and Fit Room Flicks are getting me somewhere in life. Whoop! Check out the full list of amazing folks featured on HuffPo Black Voices HERE. And check out a few of my recent style snaps below:

My Sally Hansen Salon Effects manicure in Tri-bal It On

My travel story in this month's UPTOWN Magazine

My fave new bag from Handbag Heaven

Are you guys on Instagram? What's your username? List it below so we can be BFFs!

Kickin' It: Carols Daughter Launches Chocolat Smoothing Collection

Last night at the GODIVA store in midtown Manhattan, Carol's Daughter hosted a small group of bloggers & editors to celebrate the launch of their new line of products called Chocolat. A Smoothing Collection of products that claim to rebuild hair structure and smooth each hair strand from within, Carol's Daughter founder Lisa Price believes it's one of their most innovative and effective product lines to date. In fact, she even had her bouncy curls straightened for the event!

The genius behind the Chocolat Smoothing Collection is that for those who want to blow-dry or straighten their naturally curly hair (or any hairtype for that matter!), the three-step collection of Smoothing Shampoo, Conditioner & Blow Dry Cream tackles frizzy and unmanageable hair by way of natural ingredients like Keravis; a hyperactive plant protein that helps fill in lifted hair cuticles, and Cacao plant extract, which helps smooth the hair cuticle.

Though I haven't tried the products yet, I'm super excited to give them a whirl.

Hairstylist Bibby Garcia

Their spokeslady, Latina Magazine-ranked #1 hairstylist Bibby Garcia (pictured above), was on hand to show the transformation of her hair. She went from a huge curly head of hair to sleek, smooth strands with only a blow-dryer, no flat iron, using the Chocolat Smoothing collection.

Eileen of MissWhoeverYouAre, Angel of Concrete Loop & Makeup Artist Tara Lauren

While there I ran into quite a few of my blogger buddies. Eileen of MissWhoeverYouAre (far left) actually used the Chocolat products to get her silky straight hair, and she only had to blow-dry, no flat iron!

Also ran into the lovely Angel of Concrete Loop! Any aspiring bloggers that haven't checked out her book Angel's Laws of Blogging, you absolutely should. It's a must-read.

Julee Wilson, Style & Beauty Editor, HuffPost BlackVoices & Me

I also ran into Julee Wilson of Huffpost BlackVoices. You guys remember her from her Get Like Me feature a few months ago? Yeah she's awesome. And we always show up to events wearing similar outfits! 

I also spotted these natural beauties Cassadie of Natural Selection and Imani of upcoming blog Tribe Called Curl.

Overall I had a blast at the event. Carol's Daughter Chocolat Smoothing Collection is on sale now and I'll be giving them a try very shortly and posting about them. It's coming up on my one year natural hair anniversary, and I'll be straightening my strands in celebration so look out for a post on that soon!

For more information on Carol's Daughter products visit their Website | Facebook | Twitter

Will you be giving the Chocolat Smoothing Collection a try?

Kickin It: Tangled Tales at Hair Rules Salon NYC

“We have to do the work so that our daughters don't have to have this conversation...” 

- Michaela Angela Davis

Last night marked the first of many conversations to come, hosted by the Hair Rules Salon in Upper West Side NYC, about Tangled Tales - a community conversation about hurt, hair and heeling. LBS contributor Desiree was on the scene to capture pics and report on the eye-opening event!

 

Get Like Me: Julee Wilson

Aspiring to break into the fashion industry or simply intrigued by it? Well LoveBrownSugar has something for ya! Our “Get Like Me” series highlights exclusive interviews with industry insiders from celebrity stylists to fashion designers, editors, fashion PR heads & more!

Behind some of your favorite national glossies about fashion & beauty are hardworking and dedicated editors who devote their time and energy to scoping out what's hot, what's fresh and what's "in". Julee Wilson is one of them.

As the former (and first African-American) Fashion Editor at Real Simple Magazine, Julee Wilson has recently stepped out into the world of digital and now holds the title of Style & Beauty Editor at Huffington Post Black Voices. Now at the helm of a career switch with a fab September wedding in the works, I sat down to chat with Julee about her industry experience, her fashion & beauty faves, and what it takes to work in the world of fashion editorial...