Life has been crazy. From my family & my grandmother still unwell, to my certification classes being much harder than I'd thought they be, to doing GAL VIP work as well as other graphic work projects, (and a little bit of dating and flings on the side...), I cannot seem to get time to sit down and make blogging a regular thing!



But! Here I am with a new post :) I'm going to share with you all my beauty updates so far.

I forget if I made a formal post about having stopped applying perms to my hair and such, but it's officially been a full year since I stopped. Last February or March was the last time I had permed my hair, which because of an lolaccident (coldest day of the year, cold water froze up + burning chemicals in my hair), I had to stop perming in order to let my hair grow out.

The damage I received wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been-- luckily I would prep my scalp with oil before perming it so I did not suffer any chemical burns to my scalp~ however, a lot of my hair did become really over-processed, especially around the crown of my head where a bunch of it broke off in the back. It wasn't really noticeable because I have really thick hair, but I didn't want to risk putting any more chemicals on it and making the damage worse.

So since March 2014 I have been on a no-perm fast, and I don't miss the 'creamy crack' one bit.

My new hair regimen only really consisted of a handful of things-- 100% pure edible coconut oil (frankly if you can eat it, then it's good for your hair as well), almond oil, occasionally extra virgin olive oil, and then for washing I would use a dandruff shampoo (which was another major problem for me) along with Creme of Nature's Argan Oil conditioning treatment, occasionally switching out and using a garlic conditioner. I would wash my hair, using my nails to massage and exfoliate my scalp to break up the dead skin, put the conditioner in my hair and let it sit for 30-45 minutes before washing out, and afterwards I would moisturize with whatever oil of choice and then either put my hair in twists or in braids. So for most of the time I either had my hair naturally stretched into soft waves without heat, or I rocked a little twist-out afro or something.

The past 12 months were really fun because I got to learn so much about my natural hair.. how to take care of it in it's natural state, how to prep-style it after washing, and watching it grow pretty quickly! When I first started, I had cut my hair to my collarbone (I didn't cut all of my damaged hair or did a 'big chop', because I value long hair the most). By early February, my hair was down to my breast when fully stretched. It grew about 10 inches or so.

Around December I decided I was going to make a little change and dye my hair. I was craving to do an ash brown for a while and decided that my birthday was the best time to do it! For my birthday I bought some hair extension wefts from Aliexpress (review to come soon!), bought a buttload of dye and bleach, and went to my sister who did the whole process for me. I ended up buying Wella "Color Charm" dyes in 6A (or a 6AA?), and also 7AA. We bleached my extensions (I ended up dyeing it another day), and then we dyed my hair without the use of bleach. After that process, my sister cut all the damaged hair off and this was the result:

A photo posted by Amber (@amanihime) on Feb 11, 2015 at 12:21pm PST

My hair is back to past the collarbone stretched. Only the very tips of the ends are remains of my last perm. The color is really nice, though I was worried about it being too close to my scalp color, but eventually new growth came in a bit and showed the difference much better. Funny enough, my roots actually came out lighter while the ends came out darker, though they were setting for the same amount of time and the same color. I only assume that it was become of my ends being treated with perm vs. my virgin new growth.



You see my hair silk-pressed in one photo and freshly washed  in the next? Do you see that beauty? ; v; Since my hair was always long and had all the length to it, I couldn't properly determine my curl pattern, but now that it's cut I can definitely see that I am around a 3C-4A (more towards 3C). Despite how ridiculously thick my hair is, my hair is so tamable and I barely get tangles. Since I've had it dyed, I've been only pressing the front-half of my head, while keeping the back coarse, putting it in braids and then wearing my new clip-on half-wig piece and extensions.

A photo posted by Amber (@amanihime) on Feb 22, 2015 at 5:52pm PST

Recently I got a few new products for not only my hair, but my skin as well. I'll first start with my local shopping--



I've been buying loads more of the Creme of Nature Argan Oil packets, along with my new Silicone-Mix conditioner. The Silicone-mix conditioner is mainly for my hair extensions, but I've been using it on my hair as well and it has been working wonders. Naturalistas don't seem to like this product too often because it seals your hair and keeps any moisture from getting in it, but using 1:1 mix of both conditioners really freshened my hair, made it ridiculously soft and manageable. The only thing I will say is that the silicone mix has a strong fragrance, but since I'm mixing it with other conditioners, the smell isn't as potent as when used alone.

My other recent product from the local shop has been the Dudu-Osun black soap, which is described as an organic black soap from Africa, made with all-natural ingredients like honey, lemon, and it helps heal acne by lightening the scarring. Since in the last two years I've been breaking out pretty bad due to stress, I decided to get this product. Despite my stance on things like skin-bleaching that got me a bit paranoid, my favorite Youtube beauty gurus (with BEAUTIFUL dark skin) have recommended this product for their daily skincare routine, so I decided to give it a try. So far it has been very effective, and I'll elaborate on it in a future post as well.



I also have this Dark & Lovely Anti-Reversal cream, which I now use after washing to help set my hair for whatever I do to it, whether I blowdry it, or stretch it out naturally, or twist up my hair. It does a pretty good job in keeping the hair from reverting in wet conditions... we'll see how it does in the humid summer months though.



Other than that, I have been picking up some new makeup products, mainly NYX's "Copenhagen" & "Transylvania" liquid lippies which were the rage last October. Literally, they've been sold out for months in my local beauty supply stores, as well as online, but recently I managed to get the colors. They are beautiful dark lippies and they last for quite a while too! Besides that, I have also been purchasing L.A. Girl's Pro.Conceal HD concealer which is another popular product among POC makeup enthusiasts. I've actually been using the lighter shade "Warm Honey" for a while, and then later on Youtube gurus got hooked onto it and have been praising it since. I only just recently got the darker shade "Toast" to aid in contouring. I plan to get an even lighter one for when I want more highlight~ and then last but not least, I got a Victoria's Secret Christmas-edition Beauty Rush lip gloss like I usually do every semi-annual. The photo makes it look a bit dark but in actuality it has this kind of nudy-pink color, and it's also a gradient so the tip-half is more of a darker tone while the other half of the tube is a lighter tone. I just really have a thing for 'wintery' lip glosses that remind me of sugar cookies, cinnamon, brown sugar, or toffee.


Next is my Winter/Spring 2015 Beauty Haul~ I got so much stuff that I have to make a separate post for it xD

So I'm officially back in school ♥

Not a degree course, just certificate courses for 1) Wedding and Event Planning and 2) Wedding and Event Design through Lovegevity's Wedding Planning Institute.

I've always been looking at this school, for at least two years now. When I was in my last school, the college adviser gave me a couple of suggestions on what to do as far as continuing education. At some point I decided I was just going to do a bunch of certification courses for the moment.

A couple of my friends used to go "why not just a degree course?" But really, there's no real degree course for Event Planning. The closest that I found was "Hospitality", and I just felt that if it's not on point to what I wanted to do, then I'm not going to bother with it. I don't like the idea of working around stuff that are *sort-of* connected to what I'm doing. Especially with the issues I did have going through high school, I feel that certification courses are easier for me to handle without emotional trauma, since I'm doing just what I want to do, rather than going through the college school system and taking Math and English and Language classes and etc. I feel I can't handle 2+ years of crap I don't want to do. Especially if it's gonna cost me 20+k dollars. No thanks.


So for now I'm doing these two courses. The Wedding and Event Planning course starts next Thursday, so I'll be going to it once a week at Brooklyn College from the 17th to sometime in May. As far as the Design course, Preston Bailey being the instructor, that's online so I've already started it. I'll probably make a review later on what I've seen so far and stuff, but at the moment I'm really enjoying it. The program is very interactive, but very much like a PowerPoint presentation when you go through all the sections.


My first impression was "It seems so brief :/" ... until I got to the part about Color Theory. Oh God, how I hated being introduced to Color Theory in my old classes, even though it was really for one day. I absolutely hated it and didn't understand half of it, but now I'm going to have to force myself and teach myself.

But really, I'm only near the end of the 1st part of like 7 parts. It seems short to me because I have trouble concentrating (especially when it's -on- the internet? lolo *has 5 different tabs open*), so mentally I practically skimmed it. I need to go back and read stuff again later on, so I can soak it in better, and then do extra research on my own, like again, Color Theory, and then more in-depth history on event planning, etc.


He of course has his own personal experiences all throughout, and he shared his concept drawings and before/after final products of weddings and stuff that he did.
They.
Were.
AMAZING.
In my future entry post I'll share. Because for me, it blew my mind.

The designs that were made were all fairy-tale like, and you'd think that you only see things like that in video game designs like from Final Fantasy and crap but, this guy seriously does it and brings it to real life. It's crazy. But I suppose the only downfall for it? Is that his clients have the expenses to make some ridiculous shit like that happen. I doubt I'll ever be able to have that happen soon ;____; /foreverpoor


In any case, once these are done, and if I don't have a job by then, I'll probably look into internships. Also thinking about doing Floral Design, as well as I think Image Consulting? and typical business courses. Just things that surrounds what I want to do.


Ending this before I start babbling on. blahh

So, apparently last week was the last week for seasonal, and now got let go from Victoria's Secret :< They said they're keeping my application and they'll call back next holiday season if they need me again, but honestly I'm not trying to wait around and wait for that. Not at all.

It was nice working there though, even though I barely made money. I only made like what, less than 300 for the past three months? They barely gave me hours, but that was expected...

Their employee discount was banging though xD 30% off? pffttt yeahhh. I couldn't help myself and bought this and that every so often. wish I bought the Bombshell fragrance though :< Now that I don't have the discount... not really in the mood to spend 65 bucks on the bottle LOL



But now I'm back on the streets, more job hunting. I've considered doing school, but I'm still kind of nervous about going to Opi about it, that and the class doesn't start till like March anyways. The courses I want to take is like... Wedding & Event Planning Certificate course, which is an in-class course, and then there's the Preston Bailey Wedding & Event design certificate course which I believe is online... the thought of an online course is kind of meh, because I know I'll probably be hella lazy with it.

I'm not particularly in the mood to pull that up at the moment... and with Opi I'd have to pull up like, crime evidence and stuff LOL. It was funny when my brother went to him about college, not even knowing what he wanted to do or how much the tuition costs (like an idiot), but I don't want to be snarked at the same way by Opi xD I want to try and find current students and alumni and etc of the LWPI in Brooklyn College so I know it'll be worth my time...


But yeah. I'm going to visit a few places I applied to, see if they need anyone and if I could get a second interview and stuff. I'm hoping one of the places in the mall I worked in need another person, because that was probably the most convenient distance ever O: So hopefully I'll land something, so I don't have to worry about getting my grandparents annoyed about not being able to do anything (wouldn't really be my choice though, now would it?)



Monday I met up with mah girl Ashley now that she's back from Tokyo for a bit~ hung out with her, Mei, Yani and Laura + boyfran in Flushing for a little while, took purikura, eat, etc. (gonna try and put up pics later.) Not sure if I'm meeting up with her (and Eden and Lynn, I think?) but we'll see. I need to get my fill of her though, god knows when the next time I'll see her will be xD

In the meantime~ I just did a bit of a spa treatment to myself :3 Gave my hair a deep conditioning treatment, gave myself a chocolate milk pedicure and a honey-sugar facial~ I barely pamper myself so tonight felt soooo good. I'm so glad my hair's coming out silky and moisturized = u= and my feet smell like chocolate still, and my face all soft and silky~
Meant to do a long soak in the bathtub as well, plus an oatmeal body wrap, but it was getting late and I was getting lazy xD so maybe tomorrow or the day after I'll do that. Most -definitely- doing all that again to myself.

The recipes(?) I used, for my own future reference xD:

Honey-Sugar facial scrub~ from Michelle Phan's channel (I also ended up using this as a foot scrub))
*3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
*2 tbsp honey
*1/2 c granulated sugar

Lip scrub~ again, from Michelle Phan ((I can't stop eating this one >w>;;))
*1 tsp sugar
*2 tbsp honey
*some vaseline

Chocolate Milk foot soak~ add to warm water:
*chocolate
*warm milk
*sugar (to exfoliate the skin)

Oatmeal body wrap I'm gonna do soon:
* 1 c non-instant oatmeal
* 1 c warm milk


Now I should be trying to sleep. instead of like. inhaling chocolates.

So, 2010 is finally done, and 2011 is officially here. As much as people like to reflect on the past, this year I actually didn't do too much of it. Like some preachers at my church prophesied, 2010 was a year of great change and increase for me.

A lot of things were displaced and replaced, whether or not by my own will. Quite a couple of people have exited from my life, as more positive people settled in, as well as old folks. After a long struggle against myself emotionally, I finally finished my high school education, my interests and hobbies shifted, as well as certain parts of my attitude and personality. More or less, it was all for the better. A few months before there was a lot of stress and struggle with people and uncontrollable circumstances but once I let go and let God handle it, everything flowed. After lolita day, the rest of my year was almost pretty much a beach-- I didn't have much to worry about, though spiritually and emotionally I was struggling with myself (again), New Year's Eve pretty much somewhat helped resolve that feeling of unrest.

I ended up working on NYE, which I'm more than thankful for, and once I was done at 8pm, I made my way to church. Last year I hung out in Williamsburg with some friends and went to a bar or two, but this year I pretty much had all that out of my system and I was excited for Watch Night at Beulah. The Word that was preached was so on point with what I was feeling that at the end of the night when I went for prayer, I was in tears. It was the release I needed and I'm glad I went.

Now that I've gotten my rest, I took a mental note of all the things that I'm going to try and accomplish this year. It's really not too much of a "New Year Resolution", as it is a "get it done ASAP". It just so happens that I didn't get it done earlier xD;

But my top three goals at the moment? Are:
1. Receiving the Holy Spirit (something in me wants to get it before my birthday)
2. Getting a more permanent job (Dammit VS, hire me as a regular!)
3. Getting the balls to approach Opi about going to school for wedding & event planning and event design. (And then actually going through with it and finishing the course + getting the certificate)

There are a lot of things I want to do or get, but I know once I get these three things done (hopefully by March), everything else will definitely fall into place. I'm excited for this year and I feel motivated to do so much more with myself, now that I feel like I got enough space from school and whatnot. I'm gonna take baby steps (the schooling I want to do are only really 2-3 month certificate courses, opposed to a 2-4 year degree program), and then I'm going to continue to expand.

My only fear is that as far as school goes, it may not be what I want to do. I used to be into fashion design and etc. until I realized that fashion design and things like that were only really a hobby-sort of thing for me, and I didn't want to seriously pursue it, especially when it comes to pleasing other people rather than myself. (18-year old me: "Pfft I have to keep an open mind about what -other- people want, rather than me making my own style of clothing that I'd wear? pfftttt") I'm afraid that its the same with my interest in event design & planning, but at this point I'm not gonna hold myself back anymore. This video pretty much sums up how I feel at the moment:





In any case, I'm ready to really assert myself.

I hope everyone had a good new year, and good luck in the coming months!