Celebrate in Color Review

This is a really, really, really overdue review. Celebrate In Color approached me about reviewing their products A YEAR AGO. During that time, one thing or another kept cropping up - everything from a blog hiatus to digital camera woes. But now that I've had a chance to thoroughly review these products I can say, "Boy, was it worth it!" No lie - these items are some of the most adorable party products and stationary I've ever seen for people of color, covering everything from engagement parties to wedding showers. If I weren't already be married, I'd be all over them. Take a look:
Napkins

Paper Cups

Paper Plates

Shower and Party Invitations

They all look great, right?! And I'm happy to report that the quality and thickness of all the materials are very good. I love quality invitations no matter what the occasion and I was impressed that these in particular were printed on a nice cardstock in unique designs. I highly recommend all of these. Now I have to find someone to throw a shower for! Celebrate in Color is located in Virginia but can be contacted worldwide through the website, CelebrateInColor.com, or on Facebook.

Not-So-Skinny Chick in Skinny Jeans

And, what? Who says non-skinny girls can't wear skinny jeans? I say anyone can wear them if you get a style that fits and flatters. In fact, I've been wearing all flavors of The Rockstar Jeans from Old Navy, which are described by O.N. as "super-skinny". Here are the royal blue ones I wore for casual Friday at work.

Jeans (Old Navy)
Top (Merona/Target)
Geometric graphic scarf (eBay)

Mixed Chicks: A Non-Mixed Chick's Review

It's rare for me to review three products at once, but even more rare for me to actually have a positive experience with all of them. However that's exactly what happened when I was given a chance to try some new products by Mixed Chicks this month. This is a great time for brides-to-be and everyone else to take extra special care of our hair.

For the record, you don't have to be a "mixed chick" to use any of these. My hair is everything between 3a to 4a, depending on what part of my head you're looking at. What I like to say is that some people have combination skin, but I have combination hair. I had noticed Mixed Chicks products in Target before, and as an African-American woman I'm always intrigued by new lines targeting women-of-color. But I had never stopped to take a closer look until now. So the three items I picked up were the sulfate-free shampoo, the deep conditioner and the leave-in conditioner. (Can you tell I'm really into conditioning?)

Normally, I'm really iffy about shampoos. In fact, I only use "real" shampoo about once a month. Outside of that I use the co-poo method, in which you use conditioner to wash your hair. But, knowing that sulfates are the major problem with most shampoos, I was drawn to the sulfate-free shampoo by Mixed Chicks. My experience was that this works pretty well! I stepped into the shower with the bottle and lathered up. Afterwards, my hair felt fine. Maybe even a leetle moisturized, with some slip. That's important to me because I don't want my hair to ever be a knotted, tangled mess. Ever.

Next up was the deep conditioner. You know that when you "deep condition", it's going to take a little longer than just throwing in a regular conditioner. But when I applied the Mixed Chicks deep conditioner, it almost immediately detangled and softened my hair. I don't know if it "penetrated and reconstructed damaged areas" but my hair liked it and that was good enough for me. By the time I jumped back into the shower to wash it out I could tell that my hair had been well-conditioned.

Once the conditioner was rinsed out, I followed up with the leave-in conditioner. The best part about this product is that it does a great job of preparing your wet hair to be combed and/or styled. This is primarily why I use leave-in conditioners in the first place, so it was fine. Lots of you will like this product more than I did, since I felt it could have been a tiny bit more moisturizing. That said, the level of moisturizing I like for my hair would probably be too heavy for a lot of Mixed Chicks' target audience.

All in all, I got lots of volume with a good bit of frizz control. I seldom curl my hair to go to work, but these products inspired me and I think my hair is looking shinier than usual.