Sidebar...hey all!! Hope you had an amazing weekend. My weekend was awesome because I found some new goodies to share with you.

You may not know this but I am obsessed with nail polish. Almost as much as I am obsessed with hair products. I have re-discovered an oldie but goodie in the nail product market. Sally Hansen!! If you are like me, you love finding great deals on great products. As of now, I don't have an OPI budget even though I love their vibrant polishes. So, while at the drug store one day, I discovered the "Xtreme wear" line by Sally Hansen. Sally Hansen is known for their strengthening system for nails. This line has bright, vibrant and long-lasting colors that are a must have year round and they are less than $3.00 a bottle!!! The polishes last nearly all week without chipping, which is a phenomenon in itself. So check them out next time you are at your favorite drug store.


Left to right: Wet Cement, White On, Sun Kissed, Fuchsia Power, Cherry Red, Lacey Lilac, Plum Power, Rockstar Pink, Blue Me Away!, The Real Teal, Going Green

I also picked up some new hair products by Cream of Nature. I love Cream of Nature products. They specialize in moisturizing dehydrated hair. Us curlies need to make sure that our hair is moisturized to minimize breakage and uber dryness. The shampoos are amazing at detangling curly, un-ruly hair and the herbal smell is awesome. I picked up the Lemongrass & Rosemary Leave-in Cream Conditioner and the Jojoba & Olive Oil Moisture-Active Deep Conditioning Treatment. I used the leave-in last night to do a dry twist out on week-old hair and I turned out great. I loved the lemongrass and rosemary scent!! It made my hair smell amazing. Here are some pics.




I will keep you posted on how the deep conditioner turns out. Have you purchased any new products that you find to be AMAZING??? Let me know- azureDizzle

The mid-90s, those were the days of going to get your nails done, making it the highlight of coming to school on Monday, showing off that airbrushed blue and purple design. Some people kept it simple to a few colors, an asian symbol, some colors to match an outfit, or even the french tups for that special occassion. But then we had a few ladies that would walk in with the neon bright, glow in the dark, can't open a can of pop, uber long extensive nails that just cause limitations to daily life activities. If you can't dial on a phone or open up a car door without straining to find a way to complete the task at hand....it's time to give them up!

This was brought to my attention when i was speaking with one of the new hires at my job a few weeks back and she was showing me how one of her nails had bent back and broke off. The blinding neon shade of yellow that was painted on the 9 remaining nails had me in shock! I just wanted to ask her....why do you even have those on?! and why are they so0o long? Can you even type on the keyboard to do your job? I refrained from questioning her and continued to listen to her story about how the nail broke off, which she then went on to say how she started not to come into work that day due to how bad this nail hurt...if nails are keeping you from work, again, it's time to give them up!

So in the words of Beyonce...let me upgrade you! You want to wear your own nails. They can still look cute with your own touch. Do you know how many personal manicure sets that are sold at stores? I recommend walking into one of your local CVS/Walgreens type drug store and find yourself a quick little set with a nail file and nail clip, possibly a nail buffer. From there, in the same store, you can find a variety of nail polish colors to choose from (dark colors for fall/winter, bright colors for spring/summer) and save yourself the time you would spend on Saturday mornings, battling the crowd at the nail salon. Believe me, its not worth it!

Sidebar...you can thank me later for not only making your nails look better but also for all the money you will be saving on that $30 fill in each week, or a whole new set of nails that could be like $40 now, probably more than that! This economy is too messed up to be wasting money on nails when you already have them! --KscaY