Home| Black and White

This weekend, I visited my brother in North Carolina. His place was so well put-together, I was shocked! While he always had style...it is always worrisome entrusting a man to design his pad. He kept it simple. He loves black, white and gray and so his house - the entire house was decorated with those 3 colors....its kind of hard to mess up that color scheme. He had some stripes here and there but for the most part, he had solids that coordinated with each other. Anyways, he is the inspo for this post. He did his lil sis proud!

 Never thought to put gold with black and white. Love!

Is that an upside down chair on the left side? All lack and white accents...different patterns make it interesting. via Elle Decor

via Digs Digs Once again...different patterns intrigue the eye

LOVE the black and white tiles, the light pouring in from th windows and high cielings...posh via Elle Decor.

Simple. via Elle Decor (who is going to sit on that little lucite stool though?

GORG! The lamps hanging down are super cool, so are the mismatched chairs, the coat stand and the poster. I want it all!

Art| Graffiti I Dig III

via www.streetsy.com

Fashion| Girl Crush - Atlantic Pacific

Ever feel as though someone else is living your fashion life? My latest girl crush, Blair of Atlantic Pacific definitely is! Love her use of accessories and attention to detail. She looks super well put together and just awesome.

LOVE HER!

Vanity| Face of the Day: Amethyst Lips

If you follow me on Facebook, you've already seen this picture of me. This pic documents a rare moment of me wearing makeup on my day off. 

I let my Twin pick out a hair color for me without questioning him and I think he did a bang-up job. Its Warm Brown by Feria.

 I bought the glasses from a street vendor in the St. Marks strip in the East Village. $10.

 Face: MAC Concealer in NC 50 (worn as foundation) - this is the lightest formula MAC has (in my findings)
Cheeks: (dubiously complicated) MAC Lovejoy on apples of cheeks.(pink bronze color) MAC Lovething on backs of cheeks (reddish color) MAC Blunt under cheekbones as a contour (dark brown)
Lips: Clinique Creamshaper Pencil in Starry Plum (dark purple color) MAC Up the Amp Lipstick (lavendar) Illamasqua Fierce Lip Gloss - gives it that icy purple color.

a picture in natural sunlight so that you see the makeup is not that severe.

te gusta?

Music| The MarXman

It's no secret that I have been a stan of Marc Grae aka The Marxman for a while now. I was sore about missing his show at SOB's November 1st, but he is releasing an album on December 20th. On December 16th, he's having a listening party at Sutra and I'm sure it will be CRAYYYYY....Check out his music below.
Check him out on Twitter: @theMarXman and definitely come out to his listening party!

Sutra Lounge~ 16 First Avenue @ First Street.
Doors open 9pm.
Showtime 9:30pm.
Admission: FREE
RSVP mandatory: themarXmanmusic@gmail.com

Join the movement!

https://www.reverbnation.com/themarXman




No Joke (Joker RemiX) by theMarXman

Art| Graffiti I Dig II

Nails| Strange Fruit

Every week, I peruse nail blogs to see what new design I can do and I ran across some cute fruit designs....shown below.

Refreshing Citrus: Here

 Strawberries Here

This is super unique!

Pick a fruit...any fruit...via Constellational

Summer fruits via Attacked Astoria

Josephine Baker would be proud! Source

via NailSide

So, what do we think? Do we love it or do we love it?

Want| Home Decor

Around this time, everyone kind of goes into acquisition mode...its a part of our society that I hate...the need to have THINGS. I try not to be like that....but everyone asks you...what do you want...and people rarely take no for an answer...so this is what I want....from no one in particular.

This edition is courtesy of Urban Outfitters. If you know of any cool home decor store...let me know.

 How CUTE is this as a welcome mat for the home? Its totally me as I'm into foreign languages and such.... $19..buy here

 This is GORGEOUS! I am going to get this for myself when it becomes available in January. I need this in my life. $68 here.

 I LOVE this! $12 here

 YES! $34 here

This is gorgeous and I'm a little obsessed with elephants. $29 here

So, there you have it...not tooo expensive but lovely, nonetheless.

Books| Giveaway!

"I want to read a love story," I tweeted about 2 weeks ago. My life is rather...lacking of romance and lately, all I've been reading have been about serial killers and psychopaths. I needed light reading. However, there is a small problem - I don't do chic lit. I am a smart sensible woman and I need to read something that is realistic and speaks to my intellect. Most books of the chic lit genre is so sugary sweet that it leaves me with a toothache. I also wanted to read something that spoke to my race - African American.

Af-Am romance novels are worse than chic lit, laden with urban street drama that is not also far-fetched but steeped in so many stereotypes that it offends me. I don't really need to read about how Daquan, the local druglord woos Destiny, the resident hot girl from her baby daddy. What I wanted to read was about educated black people who are normal and how they fall in love fighting the regular baggage that we all have.

I found a review for A Love Story that gave it rave reviews and so, I bought it for $0.75 on Half. Shipping was $3.98. What I didn't realize is - I had the book on my shelf already. Instead of cancelling, I thought...why not give the new book away? So, there it is folks...my very first giveaway!

A Love Story is about 2 Af-Am folks who grew up together and decide that after 20 yrs of friendship, they wantt to try romance and if you thought dating your best friend would be easier than dating a brand new person, you might be wrong. Read through their funny, sad and very real story of their friendship and their relationship.

To enter, leave a comment with what your favorite genre of literature and what your favorite book is or a book that is on your wish list. Giveaway ends Monday December 5th at 12pm.

Fashion| Girl Crush

I found The Glamourai's blog a looong time ago and then kind of fell off but then I recently found her again and OH EM GEE! She is super cute, chic and such a little jet-setter. I guess when you're a jewelry designer cum fashion stylist, you can go to Milan, Vegas, San Juan and back home to NYC in the same month. I'm totally not jealous... :/

Anyways, check out her style below and her blog: here.