Enough with the advertisements and promotions...let's get down to the good stuff!
Today, I received an email from Kush Magazine, which is a publication for women of color in the United Kingdom. I'm the new resident writer for their Beauty Buzz section! It seems so surreal to say that but it's true. This is the first offer that I've received that's actually gone through. I was supposed to write for the beauty section for a local newspaper but that is still in progress.
Next, on August 24th, I'll be attending St. Philip's College in San Antonio. I recently changed my major from pre-nursing to journalism. This will be the first I've stepped into a classroom since high school. For my first and second semesters, I took classes online at Kansas City Kansas Community College. Now, for my third semester, I have four subjects that are in a classroom setting and one online. One of the Airmen from my unit is in my class. I'm excited but at the same time I am nervous as hell. I have Speech this semester and when I'm nervous, talking isn't one of my strengths. We'll see how that goes.
Recently, Tia Lanell and I have teamed up for Brush Talk here on Blaq Vixen Beauty. I don't talk too much about my brush collection but since I'm planning to buy some more soon, I'd figured now would be a good time. The latest brushes I bought were back in April, when I was in Mississippi for TDY. I bought the Face Powder Brush with Folding Mini Brush from Elizabeth Arden as well as their 5-Piece Brush Essentials Set. I didn't bring my ecoTOOLS brush set because I didn't think that I was going to buy any makeup. Since I'm not a morning person, I didn't think that I would be waking up early to apply makeup. I should've known better because I ended up buying makeup! I bought a two lip glosses, six brushes and a foundation. That's not too bad, right? :) Anyway, the first installment is in draft. Stay tuned for that! We'll be talking about brushes that we own, have tried and our favorites. We will also spill what we use to clean our brushes. Just today, Tia told me that she was on a beauty forum when she read that one member uses extra virgin olive oil (yes, the type that you get from the grocery store) to clean her brushes! I knew extra virgin olive oil was good for the hair but didn't know that it was great for cleaning brushes. I hope to have it up either today or next week. But I'm shooting for today though.
Yesterday, I was contacted by BeautyTicket to do a giveaway here on Blaq Vixen Beauty. Now, before, I was swearing off of giveaways for a while, since my last handful of giveaways proved to be a hassle. However, I've changed my mind! For my latest giveaway, I'm giving away a 8-Piece Living Water Spa Set from Borghese. Worth $189, you can snag this luxurious at-home spa set for $49.99 for a savings of $139.01! You can save even more by using my special coupon code for all my lovely blaq vixens! This giveaway starts on Monday so don't forget to stop by and enter your name for a chance to win! For those of you who won my Suave giveaway, trust, I haven't forgotten about you!
Lastly, I volunteered to do a guest beauty review on A Girl's Gotta Spa! I'll be reviewing Freeman's Bare Foot Peppermint and Plum Creamy Pumice Foot Scrub. This isn't the only scent available, as I recently learned. If Peppermint & Plum doesn't sound appealing, you can choose from Iced Teaberry and Mint or Lemon and Sage. Although it's not as popular as Olay Thermal Pedicure, it is formulated for us who stay up on our foot game. If you have minimal dry skin on your heels and between your toes, you'll benefit from this. If you need something heavy duty, please get the Thermal Pedicure! However, Freeman also has a self-warming version of this product if you're interested. You know, I am instantly reminded of what happened when I went shopping with my best friend. We were at Wal-Mart in the bath aisle. I told her how much I loved Olay Thermal Pedicure and how much I loved the warming sensation. When she saw that it cost about $8, she instantly grabbed the Freeman version. She told me, "$8?! I don't have money like that!" How ironic, when she can easily drop $100+ on sexy lingerie at Victoria's Secret! Let me stop!
In 2011, we rooted for our favorite spokesbeauties and welcomed new, exciting campaigns starring some of the world's most stunning faces. Behold, a look at some of the year's best hair and beauty ads:
From DRUG STORE NEWS---Early Wednesday morning, I caught Thandie Newton's (modified) 
