beauty

If you don’t know me by now, then you should know that curry and tea are two things I probably could not live without. It is impossible to escape my Jamaican culture whether I am here living in the states or taking a brief hiatus in Japan. Most of the food that connects me to my culture have a staining property which never really bothered me until I realized that these flavor filled foods don’t do well with white surfaces. Have you every spilled curry on a counter top, or a substance like it, and struggled to get the stain out? Imagine training to do to the same scrubbing process to your teeth. Seems like hard work, right? Due to my ignorance in these past 26 years, I never thought my teeth could stain as the dentist usually just compliments how straight and healthy my teeth, while completely overlooking the fact that my teeth could be whiter. Don’t get me wrong, my teeth are not highly stained but who wouldn’t want pearly whites if given the opportunity? I have never tried any type of teeth whitening kit before, and in fact, the most initiative I have ever taken to even whitening my teeth is to just brush really hard and pray for the best. With my wishful thinking ending in failures, you can imagine how excited I was when Smile Brilliant contacted me to do a review on their teeth whitening kit. I was assured that this whitening system was super flexible and that’s all I needed to hear to proceed. What do you receive? This home whitening kit was cool to use in my opinion. I expected to receive some sort of teeth whitening strips like you see on the commercials, but Smile Brilliant made me feel a little more important. When you first go online you choose which whitening kit works best for you. If that means you need a kit that will help with super dark stains, there is a kit specifically set up for that. I received the kit for light stains which include: · 3 professional teeth whitening gel tubes · 3 desensitizing gel tubes · 3 sets of impression materials (catalyst & base paste) Before starting the process the company sends you a clay mold and impression trays to fit both your upper and bottom teeth outlines to use for the treatment. Once the company receives the impressions, they then send you back your own custom-fitted teeth trays. The whitening trays fit like a glove! Seriously!!! I was amazed by the outline and structure of the impressions as the initial mold captured my teeth perfectly! How does it work? There are five simple steps needed to have this whitening kit work its magic. 1. Apply ¼ of the whitening gel tube to the front of the bottom and top teeth impression. 2. After applying gel to the impressions dry teeth to the best of your ability and insert impressions for 45mins-3hours. A gradual build in time is suggested. 3. Remove the whitening trays and wash them thoroughly and set to dry. While trays our drying, proceed to brushing your teeth with toothpaste to get rid of excess gel. 4. Apply 1/4 of the desensitizing gel to the front of the whitening trays and insert the trays to dry teeth for 15-50 minutes. 5. Remove and rinse the tray. Spit out and excess gel you may have left in your mouth but DO NOT eat or drink anything for 30 minutes after the whitening process. The F word…. What I love about this at home whitening kit is its flexibility. After 12 hour shifts, the last thing I want to do is set up and appointment at the dentist to get a whitening treatment. Having a whitening kit right in the comfort of my home is a better fit to match my exhaustion levels. I love that I can do the treatment and cook dinner or even binge watch my corny shows like, Young and Hungry or Orange is the New black on Netflix. Tips for the wise… When I first started this treatment, I can honestly say that it had no effect on my teeth. I was a little deterred from completing the process. When I reached out to customer service and explained that I wasn’t having much luck with the product, Jessica, the representative, inquired about my last cleaning. Truth be told I hadn’t had a cleaning in two years *Covers face with blanket in embarrassment. * After getting my cleaning I could see dramatic differences in the whitening process. Though my teeth didn’t show build up I, had two years’ worth of buildup on my teeth that required a deep cleaning that I have been neglecting. In order to have optimum use of this product make sure you have had a deep cleaning in at least a year before using this product! My final thoughts…. I honestly love this product. Though my results weren’t drastic is does make a difference! Initially the burning that was associated with the whitening gel was a bit unbearable, but once I figured out that using a brush or wet q-tip to spread the gel in the tray can alleviate the sensitivity, it has made the process easier. I can definitely see myself purchasing more gels to help with the whitening process. But wait there’s more….Giveaway Now my Nearly Perfect Peeps, you know that I couldn’t have possibly talked about this great product without having something extra in there for you too right?! Smile Brilliant has been super nice enough to give one of my lucky readers, and viewers a chance to win their own free teeth whitening kit. All you have to do is enter by clicking the link below! The giveaway is open for only 1 week! YOU MUST ENTER THROUGH THE LINK TO BE COUNTED! Giveaway is for $139 credit- and is open to USA, UK, Canada, and Australia residents Giveaway link: www.smilebrilliant.com/g/nearlyhair If

In college I met a young lady who truly introduced me to the concept of self-care. Every Sunday she would come hang out in our dorm room, and we would chat and dread our upcoming week ahead. Something that stood out about her was her consistency! She was consistent in whatever she did which included painting her nails in my room. There would never be a Sunday that passed where her nails would go untouched. My roommate and I never really questioned why she did it, but just admired from afar. One particular Sunday afternoon, I decided to question her persistent nature surrounding adorning her nails. Though I don’t remember the full response I imagine the conversation went something like this: Me: Hey Ericka, why you always doin’ your nails every Sunday? Do they chip fast? Ericka: Nope. You know I really like doing something for myself. Painting my nails soothes me. Me: Ohh! That’s cool Me internally: I gotta try that! (To learn more about my friend Ericka, visit her blog here!) Though, I wasn’t as persistent as Ericka, I always try to manage to paint my nails! I do this to make room for myself. Sometimes the only person who knows you need a break is you, so why not do something that is soothing! My nail polish poison this month is not a brand I usually reach for because it’s more of an up in coming brand. When I first stumbled upon their website while Instagram browsing, I totally fell in love with their concept. Pretty Woman NYC is a 5-free, cruelty free, vegan based company. What does 5-free mean? This means that the company’s products are FREE of the 5 nasty toxins you may find in other brands. These toxins include, Toluene, Camphor, Formaldehyde, Formaldehyde Resin, & DBP. How could I not be in love with this company? In my previous post, you all should have noticed that I am trying to refrain from unnecessary toxins while I try to live a more holistic lifestyles. These toxins are really hard to avoid in every day products but when given the chance I am sure to take hold of the opportunity to treat my body better. This includes my nails! Pretty Woman LLC sent me four lovely polishes and a designer nail kit to review. Their polishes choice are categorized by collections, and each collection has a set of polishes that somewhat reflect their names. I encourage you to check out all of their collections as the ones I received were only from two of the many different collections they have to offer. (I am not a professional nail artist so the color application may be a bit messy. But I tried my best to stay “in the lines” lol) My nail polish poison this month is not a brand I usually reach for because it’s more of an up in coming brand. When I first stumbled upon their website while Instagram browsing I totally fell in love with their concept. Pretty Woman NYC is a 5-free, cruelty free, vegan based company. Let’s take a look…. Sands N Sunset from the Sand collection I can truly picture myself wearing this polish during the summer as the name is truly fitting for the season. The polish glided on my nails so smoothly and it gave the perfect amount of texture. Sometimes with polishes they can become too grainy and textured which make them hard to spread, however this wasn’t the case. I used this polish with my Sache Vite base coat and sealed it with the same quick dry coat. It lasted for about a week before it started to chip, which is UNHEARD OF for me and my natural nails. The color payoff was good too for a textured polish. I just loved the orange tone it gave when the light hit it. I was weary about the removal because usually with textured polish, removal becomes a pain, but once again, Pretty woman NYC got the win! Removal was a piece of cake! Next up… Coraliscious from the Gelogics collection I really enjoy using gel polishes because of its lasting effects. I recently did a tutorial on how I use my gel polishes here. Check it out if you haven’t already. What makes Pretty Woman NYS’s gelogic polish so great, is that is cuts out the middle men. There is no UV or primers needed for this polish. Once again the application was really smooth. I did not apply a top or base coat just to see how well the gel adhered to the nail. It did a pretty decent job for a gel polish that only cost 7.99!! I really did get a glassy shine from the polish as it claims so I was a happy camper. The glossy shine is one of the reasons I opt in for Gel polishes over regular polishes. Another great pro to this polish is that the polish can be removed with acetone. And then there was… Green Ceramic from the Ceramics collection I honestly can say that this color is one of my favorite colors. The finish was everything I expected it to be. It wasn’t too matte and wasn’t too shiny. It just gave my nails a nice cute finishing touch. Typically regular polishes are only mediocre in my book but this polish was amazing! It didn’t last a week before chipping, which is expected but I love the smooth texture and the way it applied! A little did go a long way and it was super buildable! Can’t forget… Teal Alpha Jewel from the Gelogics collection So I really wanted to love this polish but out of all of theme I liked it the least. Not because of the color, because the color was gorgeous, it was due to the application. The application was such a struggle. The polish was very clumpy and hard to spread. But once the polish was on it did smooth out and dry fairly

  Whats up Nearly Perfect Peeps?! As the summer approaches, your glow up must be past exuberant. It can be tough to get that perfect look without looking greasy and so makeup may not be the solution as July and June hit. In my opinion, in order to get that perfect glow your natural skin care routine has to be perfected! Thanks to Influenster, I was given a complimentary Ole Henriksen’s balanced collection skin care oil control line to review. They went all out with this, because this set not only promotes your glow BUT also controls oil. How can you not have this product line in your life!? If you know me, then you know I struggle with oily skin, and my skin is always ready to fry something. Since I’ve found this line, my skin looks refreshed and the sun naturally bounces off of my face! Let’s take a look at what Ole Henriksen’s set provides:   Find Your Balance- Oil Control Cleanser Balancing Force- Oil Control Toner Counter Balance- Oil Control Hydrator So let us take a gander at what these bad boys are supposed to do. 1. Find Your Balance- Oil Control Cleanser Claims: Find Your Balance Oil Control Cleanser reduces excess oil and deeply cleanses pores. Formulated with Green Fusion Complex™, a proprietary blend of potent active botanicals—green tea, eucalyptus, algae (kelp) and Irish moss extracts—with natural antiseptic properties, and neem seed oil, its deep cleansing action helps unclog and purify pores without stripping skin, while the invigorating eucalyptus-peppermint scent awakens the senses. Powerful glycolic and lactic acids help loosen and lift dead skin cells that can cause pore-clogging build-up. Instantly, the complexion is refreshed and balanced with a healthy-looking Ole Glow™! Deeply cleanses Reduces oil Purifies pores Noncomedogenic What I think: I can’t stress this enough but my skin is oily! This cleanser for me serves as both a cleanser and makeup remover. It leaves your pores tighten and feels minty fresh. It has a strong scent, close to eucalyptus but it smells refreshing if you like the eucalyptus minty scent. I use this in the morning and the night with my Vanity Planet spin brush, and it really gets into my pores. I did find that upon rinsing my skin, it can feel too tight at times and a little drying but I get that mostly in the morning if I scrub too hard. 2. Balancing Force-Oil Control Toner Claims:  Controls oil, helps minimize the appearance of pores and freshens skin This concentrated facial astringent effectively removes excess oil and refines pores—without stripping skin. It’s formulated with Green Fusion Complex™, a proprietary blend of potent active botanicals—green tea, eucalyptus, algae (kelp) and Irish moss extracts—with natural antiseptic properties. With a powerful blend of both BHA and alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs)—salicylic, glycolic and lactic acids—and neem seed oil, its gentle clarifying action helps unclog, purify and minimize the appearance of pores. This refreshing toner features an energizing eucalyptus-peppermint scent. Instantly, the complexion is fresh and invigorated with a matte, healthy-looking Ole Glow™. Controls oil Helps minimize the appearance of pores Freshens skin Noncomedogenic What I think: This toner is the holy grails of holy grails! If you don’t buy anything else from this set, you have to buy this! Using this everyday has really helped my pores close and I think it’s the star player for oil control. I think this toner has to be on everyone’s bathroom counter! The fact that this contains salicylic acid makes this even better because it helps to smooth my acne. Gets no better than this! 3. Counter Balance- Oil control Hydrator   Claims:        Hydrates, controls oil, mattifies and reduces the appearance of pores       Finally, oily skin meets its matte. Developed as the product Ole wishes he had during his own struggle with oily skin, this lightweight, mattifying hydrator gives oily and combination skin types the essential moisture they crave. Oily skin needs hydration, too, to look its healthy best.       This innovative moisturizer is powered by Green Fusion Complex™, a proprietary blend of potent active botanicals—green tea, eucalyptus, algae (kelp) and Irish moss extracts—with natural antiseptic properties. Combined with neem seed oil and powerful alpha hydroxy acids (AHAs), it helps keep pores clear and skin matte all day long while maintaining optimal hydration and a healthy balance. This groundbreaking formula also significantly improves the wear of foundation for up to 8 hours, making makeup meltdown a thing of the past. The complexion is soft, smooth and refreshed with a healthy-looking, matte Ole Glow™! Hydrates Controls oil Mattifies Reduces the appearance of pores Noncomedogenic In an independent, lab-verified study, Counter Balance Oil Control Hydrator improved the wear of foundation for 8 hours.   What I think: Ok this is the star of the show when it comes to your glow up shorties! This has to be one of the lightest most moisturizing sets I have ever used when it comes to hydrating your skin. For most it mattifies the skin then the glow comes through, but for me it automatically has my skin glowing! It unfortunately doesn’t help my foundation wear, but that’s my only qualm. If I really needed something to have my foundation last it would be a bomb primer. I have been using this for about a month and half now and I truly can say this system is a keeper for my glowing days in the summer. It is totally worth the price and with twice a day use it can really last you about three months. You can find these bad boys at Sephora or even the Ole Henriksen’s website. Trust me, it is worth my investment, I even have some of my own family members using it. What skin care routine do you use for your glow up?