What’s up with all the hair shows going on in South Carolina in the next few months?  Hair shows are open to the public and usually feature hair competitions and lots of entertainment.  There are three happening in Columbia (that I know of)!  Here are the deets on the events.

May 19, 2012 – Carolina Natural Hair & Beauty Expo (Comfort Inn & Suites, 750 Saturn Parkway, Columbia, SC) – This event is for the naturalistas.  There will be workshops on how to care for your natural hair from salon professionals.  They are even hosting a live Big Chop event.  A big chop is basically when you cut off all your relaxed hair and decide to ‘start over’ with your natural hair. Tickets are $10.

June 2, 2012 – Charleston Natural Hair Expo (Harbiside East, 28 Bridgeside Blvd, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464) - The Charleston Natural hair expo is a community event dedicated to Natural hair, health and beauty. Our vision is to bring together knowledge, talent, hair care, vendors, fashion, beauty and fellowship under one roof.  Tickets are $10-$25.

June 16 & 17, 2012 – Night In Paris Hair & Fashion Show (Columbia Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St, Columbia, SC 29210) – This is a fundraiser to help local non-profits Touch of Joy and BUDS mentoring.  The event will feature a salon competition and showcase.

June 24, 2012 – 2012 Hair & Beauty Expo – (Columbia Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St, Columbia, SC 29210) – This event includes competitions for stylists, barbers, nail techs, and makeup artists.  The promoters’ goal is to showcase the best hair stylists and barbers in South Carolina.  Support your stylist.  Tickets are $20

Am I missing any?

It’s May and I have fallen off the exercise wagon!  I’ve been to the gym, walked and jogged a number of occasions, but not as consistently as I should.  Being consistent would mean at least three times a week for me.  That would be the minimum.  However, there are times that I really don’t care to leave my house and go to the gym, or even run around my block.  Thankfully, I can flick on the TV and get a decent workout in thru my TWC On Demand Health Channel.

Tuesday, I did the Rhythmica Dance Cardio Party, which is an excuse to dance like no one is looking.  I like it because I feel like I’m learning dance choreography for a music video.  No lie!  It’s a lot of fun.  (You can see the demo video on this site.)

Rhythmica Dance Cardio

This morning, I turned to The Firm: Cardio Inferno, for a cardio workout to get me moving.  The workout is fast paced, involving cardio moves with and without weights.  It was just the jump I needed this morning.  (See the preview video on this site.)

So, yeah this is where I’ll be working out for the next couple of sessions.  I just might get rid of that gym membership.

As temperatures rise, here are three trends that can give you no fuss hair this Summer.

Messy Top Knot to keep longer hair off your neck.

Textured Coils,  is great for the naturalista wanting to define their curl pattern.  This style takes minimum product, and looks great the longer you wear it.

Short and cropped – Cut it off!  The less the better.  Perhaps adding a little color will make this hair style pop.

Thanks to Deabreu Modeling for providing the models, and LeChic Hair Studio for the styling, for the WACH Fox Good Day Columbia segment. You can see the segment video below.

I posted this tutorial last week on Youtube and Facebook, but somehow forgot to include it on my blog.  In the video Travis Douglas, makeup artist and cosmetologist show me how to do basic makeup application.  Check out Travis’ work at www.travisbernarddouglas.com.

What’s interesting about this is that he starts with the eyebrows, then puts on the foundation last.  The goal is to focus on the eyes.  This technique was new to me because I usually put on my foundation first.  I’ve been using this technique in the past several days, and it actually takes about ten minutes to apply the complete look.  Try it out with your choice of colors and let me know how long it takes you.

Steps and makeup used in the video.

Step 1 – Define eyebrows (Mary Kay Light Bronze Concealer, BH Cosmetics Matte Light Brown eye color for brows)
Step 2 – Apply eyecolors (MAC Lucky Green  eyecolor, BH Cosmetics Matte Dark Green eyecolor, BH Cosmetics ivory eyecolor, Mary Kay black liquid eyeliner)
Step 3 – Apply concealer and foundation (MAC Pro Longwear NW45 concealer, Mary Kay Bronze 1 Pressed Powder)
Step 4 – Apply lipliner and gloss (Mary Kay Cinnamon Lip Liner, Beach Bronze Gloss)

Enjyoy.

Weddings 101, a chic bridal boutique, hosted a social affair, Unveiled, Friday, May 4, 2012 in Columbia, SC to showcase their bridal services.  The boutique has everything one would need to plan a successful wedding.  They have a library list of caterers, dj’s, photographers, site rentals, dress shops, decorators and more.  Guests were treated to a mini bridal fashion show, samplings of DJ B, complimentary champagne,  hors d’oeuvre and cup cakes.  The event was sponsored by Columbia Style Week as a pre-event.

Wedding 101 is located at 1537 Main Street, Suite B, Columbia, SC 29201.

New Edition at Colonial Life Arena - Photo by David Cox/Global Spectrum

Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike, Ralph, and Johnny hit the stage Sunday, May 6, 2012 at the Colonial Life Arena as part of their US tour. Although, the group wasn’t able to fill out the arena like maybe Usher, Keith Urban or Tyler Perry (who’ve played the arena), the crowd was just as hype. I was on my feet most of the night dancing.

Photo by Ebony Looney

The group performed fan favorites from their 29+ years of making hits such as Candy Girl, Mr. Telephone Man, If It Isn’t Love, Can You Stand the Rain, and a song from their new album. They also each performed hits from each of their solo acts, which stood well on their own. This is a testament to each of their talents. Some members in the group are clearly better in vocal talents (like Johnny Gill), but they all have good chemistry that shows on stage.

Bobby Brown - Photo by David Cox/Global Spectrum

A chemistry that apparently is so good, that they didn’t mind Bobby doing several monologues during the show thanking people for the support giving him and his family after Whitney Houston’s death. He’s not what he used to be as performer, which could be seen by his constant breaks and screeching voice, but he’s quite entertaining in a “weird uncle” kinda way. He seems to be the comic relief of the group.

At any rate, the show reminded me of my childhood and was a great way to spend my Sunday evening. I ran home to play all my New Edition ‘records’.

Yes, there are balls and galas to be attended.  Last night the Metropolitan Museum of Art hosted it’s annual Costume Institute Ball (a.k.a. “Met Ball”) to celebrate the annual opening of the Met’s fashion exhibit.   This year’s exhibit is Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, a study of the two famous Italian designers from different eras.  The exhibit will show May 10 – August 19, 2012.

The Met Ball often referred to as the “Oscars of the East Coast”, and has the who’s who of the fashion and entertainment industry in attendance.  If you like pretty things, you can’t look away.  Some people, like Beyonce, shut it down, and some don’t (like Alicia Key’s in a pant suit.  Who wears a pant suit to a BALL!!!

Carey Mulligan in Prada - The MET Gala 2012

Photo By Dimitrios Kambouris-WireImage

Cate Blanchett in Alexander McQueen - Met Gala 2012

Photo By Larry Busacca:Getty Images

Kristen Wiig in Stella McCartney -The MET Gala 2012

Photo By Larry Busacca:Getty Images

Rashida Jones in Tory Burch - The Met Gala 2012

Photo By Dimitrios Kambouris:WireImage

Solange Knowles in Rachel Roy - The Met Gala 2012

Photo By Dimitrios Kambouris:WireImage

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz - The MET Gala 2012

Photo By Kevin Mazur:WireImage

Beyonce Knowles in Givency -The MET Gala 2012

Photo By Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage

Enjoy.

Sometimes my work leads me to some pretty cool happenings around town.  I recently worked on the 701cca.org website as part of their Open Studios 2012 project.  Open Studios is held over 2 days and include free entry into 69 artists’ studios around Columbia, SC.  In partnership with the Indie Grits Film festival, there was a kickoff party at 701 Whaley St, April 19, 2012.  The party appropriately had grits as the main entree, with all the fresh fixins from local farms.  Have you ever had cilantro, cheese and chorizo in your grits?  You should.  It’s yummy!

Grits Bar - Photo by Lindsay Lybrand

During the Kickoff Party, there was also an open exhibit featuring artist-in-residence David Cianna at the 701CCA museum on the 2nd floor of the building.  The exhibit, Alternate Universe, is a mesh of life-size robots and comic book awesomeness.  You have to check it out!

David Cianni's Alternate Universe Exhibit at 701 CCA

Also, at the kickoff party, there was a screen showing previews for some of the films featured during the 10-day Indie Grits film festival.  The trailer for the independent documentary “Girl Model” seemed interesting enough.  “Girl Model” is a must see for any young prospective model and her parents.  It tells the story of two young women dealing with the fashion industry – one a model scout and the other a young model.  The story shows quite frankly the lies being told young girls and their families about the money they will make on modeling jobs, when in fact, they usually end up owing the modeling agency thousands of dollars.  It’s quite sad.

Also, as part of the Indie Grits festival, Slow Food Columbia hosted “Sustainable Taste of Columbia” at the All Local Farmers Market at 711 Whaley (Columbia, SC), on Sunday, April 22, 2012.  The event featured food from 10 chefs from Columbia’s top farm-to-table restaurants including Mr. Friendly’s, Motor Supply, Terra, Rosso Trattoria, 116 State, Rosewood Market, Saluda’s, Baan Sawan, MoMo’s, Scott Hall Catering & Spotted Salamander Catering. What could be better than sampling food from some of the best fresh (slow) food in Columbia on a Sunday afternoon.

So, yeah, sometimes work leads to some pretty cool events around town.

Apparently, April is the un-official official month of style in Columbia, SC.  For the past 3 year there has been a fashion event almost every week in April.  This week’s schedule included USC Fashion Week (April 9-13), Runaway Runway (April 21), and Style Exhibition (April 26-28).  Each show offers something different that I like, so I don’t feel like I’m going to the same show every week.  However, I can’t help but compare the shows to each other.

USC Fashion Week focuses on the retail stores of Devine Street, near the heart of the Columbia campus.  If you want to check out what’s selling on Devine Street, this is the show for you.  Runaway Runway, the environmentally conscious contest show, feels more like an art community event, where anyone can enter (and wear) their designs using materials that might otherwise be tossed in the trash or used in other ways.  It’s a lot of fun and the whole family can enter and/or attend.

Style Exhibition, organized by 3Jay Productions, brings new fashion talent to Columbia.  This year’s Style Exhibition, held mainly at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, expanded to three-nights that included an emerging designer showcase on the 1st night, a networking social event on the 2nd night, and featured designers show on the last night.  I was able to attend the first two nights of the exhibition.  While I enjoyed the production of the emerging designer showcase, I couldn’t help but wonder where the quality garments were.  There were a few quality pieces.  My faves were the classy lingerie by  SIR Lingerie, a dress from Vitesse eXchange, and the Azure Swimwear collection.

Style Exhibition 2012 - SIR Lingerie

However, the majority of the outfits looked cheap, and it showed.  Hey, you don’t have to be a fashionista to understand what good quality is.  A good garment stands not only on the design, but on the fabric used for the construction of it.  Thankfully, Jalia reminded us that these were newbie designers, so we should give them all a round of a applause.  I did.  They actually have the guts to put their work out there for review.  Applause.

I can’t help, but admire Jalia Pettis for what she is bringing to Columbia each year.  Whether you like the fashions or not, her vision is definitely being worked out each year.  Whether, you attend the Style Exhibition or not, you’ll keep hearing about it.  I have a feeling it will keep getting better and growing as well.

Boho Chic Makeup is a good look for spring. I love how the Makeup Geek demonstrates this look in the video below. This makeup look is great for all skin tones. Enjoy!

Boho Chic Makeup

Happy Makeup Monday.