Who Am I

 

I’ve found that, who I want to be and who I am can sometimes be very close and at other times the two points can be polar opposites.

I want to be a well informed fashion icon, but can’t for the life of me figure out the nuances of fashion. I want to be a maverick– not in the Sarah Palin and John McCain kind of way— in the think outside the box, challenge norms, and look at life through a different lens kind of way.

I’m closer to maverick than fashion icon.

Faux-Pas: Getting A Real Gift… That’s A Fake

Gift giving season is quickly approaching, and if you’re lucky enough to have people who love you (or even like you) then you will possibly be the recipient of some holiday gifts. Yaaay… or nay?! What do you do if you get a fake bag (or other item) for the holidays? Do you re-gift it? Do you tuck it away in the back of your closet? You know for sure that you can’t return it! Lol.

 

So, what’s the best thing to do with a knock off?

Natural Hair Is No “Secret”?

This week the Victoria Secret fashion show made headlines, not only for their half-naked Angels, but because with 500 million people tuning in they let Maria Borges (a black model) rock her natural hair. *GASP* This is the first time in the show’s 20 year history that Victoria Secret allowed a black model to wear TWA (teeny weeny afro) on the runway.

Maria Borges Rocking her TWA at the 2015 Victoria Secret Fashion Show

As expected (in the current social climate) the media applauded Victoria Secret for the move. The show was hailed as accepting, diverse, [insert positive socially conscious adjective here]… And while I’m happy that the show took this step, I’m wondering why it took so long.

How did we get all the way to 2015 before realizing that the way that black women are born is beautiful?

7 Makeup Must-Haves

7 Makeup Must-haves by ringznthingz featuring a liquid eyeliner

Clinique face moisturizer / Urban Decay glitter eyeshadow / Smashbox makeup primer / Wet n Wild liquid eyeliner / Maybelline mascara, $23 / Tweezerman tweezers brow tool / Smashbox X Donald Robertson

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These are the 7 makeup must-haves that I absolutely could not live without if I was stranded on a deserted island, or if my purse was stolen, or if I needed to pawn my makeup to bail a friend out of jail (not sure that any of those examples are relevant, but you get the point).

Ensemble of the Day (11/6/15)

11/6/15 by ringznthingz featuring plus size tops

Today was a run-around kind of day. I had a strategy meeting in the morning followed by a host of errands. It was unusually warm in the Northeast on this November day so I decided to wear something light in pattern, but dark in color.

I paired an oversized black H&M tunic with black and white hounds tooth leggings. To brighten up the outfit I added a camel colored combat boot and a tan and blue summer scarf. I topped it all off with a cropped denim jacket from Bebe, shades and Sexy Flexy Hoops earrings from Ringz-N-Thingz.

Here’s my ensemble of the day:

Halloween: 6 Best Celebrity Costumes of 2015 (…and me)

I love Halloween!! I get to dress up, play in makeup, and be whoever I want. This year I was a little behind the curve, and ended up shopping for my costume Halloween day. Yikes! No problem. I was up for the challenge. Lol.

  
I took an early morning trip to Party City and grabbed the last of the costume scraps thrown all over the aisles. I reached into my handy dandy makeup arsenal, watched a few YouTube videos and I ended up as a (sad/sexy/evil) clown. Lol.

I’m a bit too old for Trick-or-Treating so my guilty pleasure is costume watching. (Is that weird?). I LOVE checking out what my favorite celebrities are wearing!

Here are six of my favorite celebrity costumes this year:

DIY Fashion: Winter Cuffs

Winter is quickly approaching and that means a change of wardrobe… or does it? If you’re still in love with your favorite pair of summer leggings don’t pack them away. Turn them into to winter cuffs to wear with boots all winter long.

via The Year of Blog

African Inspired

This summer was full of heavy social issues for the black community… The incidents of police brutality and church shootings and burnings seemed endless. The #BlackLivesMatter movement was in full effect, hosting marches and bursting in on political candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton.

I must admit that there was a lot of ugliness happening in the nation this summer. But in spite of it all, the black community showed amazing strength. There was a sense of unity that may not have existed since the Civil Rights Movement… and the cultural movement spilled over into the fashion world as well.

Beyonce wearing Demestiks New York this summer

Why I Left “The City”

Before I began working for me (and you) I worked for the City of New York… for six and a half years. My office was in Brooklyn, and I was happy there for a while. A few years even.

I was 23 years old, and thought I was super woman, and wasn’t the least bit phased by the fact that my office (and entire agency) was under staffed and the expectations were overbearing. I commuted two hours EACH WAY, with a smile on my face.

…And then reality hit. To say the job was hard was an understatement. It was thankless, and there were never enough hours in a day to get the work done. In 6.5 yrs I worked an average of 1,000 hours of overtime a year (or MORE). That’s almost 10 hours per week. In ADDITION to my 20 hours a week of commuting! What the heck was I thinking?