Until recently, I’ve never been a huge fan of lipstick. In fact, I had a bit of an aversion to it because I’d seen too many women caught with red streaks on their teeth. To me it seemed more messy than glamorous. I did own some though. I bought my first tube, a light pink shade, to match my senior prom dress. I wore it that night and threw it down into my modest makeup collection, not to pick it up for years to come.  Still, that didn’t stop my mother from putting tubes of lipstick in my stocking during Christmas time. I’d take them with me back to college and eventually to my first apartment; but when it was time for me to apply makeup, I always reached for the lipgloss–maybe one with glitter if I was feeling snazzy.

I can’t exactly say when I thought about wearing lipstick but I’m sure it had something to do with the resurfacing of the bold, red lip black women were starting to wear again. I had yet to see a woman look bad with their red pouts, so I dug through my makeup bag and found the red my mom had gotten me a couple of Christmases ago. Though it took some time for me to adjust to the color I forced myself to wear it out of the house. From there I was addicted. I was trying all types of colors.

At a career fair years ago, I heard the speaker, journalist and writer Danyel Smith, talk about a really talented, prospective employee who, after Danyel told her to be herself, came in wearing blue lipstick. At the time I remember thinking it was a bit too much. But as the time progressed and I’d tried a variety of other colors, blue seemed like the next logical step.

But whenever I went to MAC or Sephora, they didn’t have anything to help me. I had been thinking about adding blue to my lipstick collection for years. I finally got serious about my quest about three weeks ago. This time when I googled “blue lipstick, ” I found Ka’oir Cosmetics.

Once I landed on the homepage, I knew this was going to be it. There was such a wide selection of colors and it wasn’t long before I found my blues. There was a sea blue color and then I found it. Teyana Taylor was wearing a gorgeous slightly navy, blue color called “Harlem Knight.” Even though I’d never heard of the brand before. I had to buy it. Before I submitted my credit card information, I prayed that the lipstick wouldn’t burn my lips and my $19.99 wouldn’t be completely wasted. I did find solace in the fact that the website showed “celebrities” Teyana Taylor and Snooki wearing Ka’Oir’s products.

When the package arrived at my office, I had to restrain myself from rushing to the bathroom and applying it. Instead, I waited until the next day and applied it when I was sitting at home on the couch, my hair in my staple, silk bonnet. The lipstick went on soft and didn’t flake up or get stuck in the creases on my lips. I loved it.

And when I wore it in public, with real clothes on and my hair out and done, it loved it even more. It was different and funky, fresh. Just my style. So if you’re trying to step outside of the box with a new lip color, hit up Ka’Oir Cosmetics. They might have something for you.

Teyana Taylor is a lot of things if you didn’t know. She’s a singer, she’s a dancer, an actor, a trend-setter, a G.O.O.D. music first lady, and a young lady born and raised in Harlem. On top of all that though, she can now say that she’s a shoe designer. Taylor teamed up with Adidas to help design a very funky shoe that would show love to her beloved place of birth, and she even named them the Harlem GLC, the latter part of the name stands for “Good Luck Charm.”

A proven sneakerhead (just follow her Instagram for proof), Taylor’s shoe just happens to be one of the most unconventional pair of kicks out there, as it has open lacing on the back (of all places), a reptilian texture that goes all around the shoe and some black accents for contrast to the bronze hue. According to Sole Collector, the shoes, which were originally supposed to be available for pre-order yesterday but were not, are actually going to be available on the Adidas website and in stores on February 16. The price you ask? $140. While I can appreciate her hustle, unless I’m going to be wearing this pair of shoes every day, at this stage in my life, I can’t do $140 sneakers. Hell, I don’t even think I want to pay $140 for most shoes out there on the market in general. But if you’ve got the money and you love the look of these Harlem GLCs, why not help a sista out in her first shoe endeavor and snatch up a pair?

All in all, I’m actually digging the design with all its clear references to luxurious high-fashion wear, but with a street edge. And while I’ll have to pass (I could have done maybe $50, but that’s because I’m cheap), what do you think about these kicks? Many celebrities are designing shoes these days, but we shall see if TT can have more success than most. Who needs to drop singles when you can sell fly sneakers?

“Love and Hip Hop” is an amazing show, mainly because it brings together women of all socio-economic backgrounds (cubicle-dwellers, hoodrats, executives) to bear witness to the intriguing of lives of rappers and the women who love them. After the show’s second season and the drama that went down between Chrissy “Iron Fist” Lampkin and producer Mona Scott-Young, it’s doubtful that the Jones clan will be back in the spotlight under the “Love & Hip Hop” banner. If this show, which gave the world Mama Jones and her “PumKash,” lives past the 3rd season, it should cast the following women to spice up prime time TV with their boughetto shenanigans and hold down the L&HH brand.

Source: Youheardthatnew.com

Often when magazines post a celebrity’s controversial statement, said celebrity will claim he or she was misunderstood and then clarify the statement. For instance, when Kobe Bryant’s wife was quoted saying she couldn’t be married to a man who doesn’t win championships, she later clarified that saying she married Kobe before he won a single championship and “it is not about being married to a ‘winner’ it is about our sacrifice as a family. “

Maybe Teyana Taylor needs to hire Vanessa Bryant’s PR squad. Earlier this month, Complex magazine published an interview with Teyana Taylor and in that interview she claimed she started the tomboy trend that Rihanna and her labelmate Rita Ora have embraced. Never mind that Rihanna doesn’t even have a certain style. She will wear anything, everything and next-to-nothing depending on the day.  Complex magazine baited Teyana with a bizarre question and instead of side-stepping it, she made headlines — and not in a good way.

Teyana received a lot of necessary flak for her statements, but instead of later clarifying those statements, she re-iterated them. NecoleBitchie.com reports:

Yes, I know about the late Aaliyah, TLC, Missy Elliot, Queen Latifah, Lady Of Rage, SWV, and X-Scape. Yes, they are women who dressed like tomboys who were in this game long before me I salute and look up to them. When I stated that I started this tomboy wave, I meant it in terms of my era on & bringing it back. When I hit the scene back in 2005′/2006′ it was I, and only I, dressing in that style when it came to FEMALE ARTISTS in this game and that’s a fact.

CLEARLY NO DEBATING. I was doing the BBC cargo’s with the dunks, big hair under that 59/50 new era fitted. Rocking Jordans all crazy, I made that sh-t cool again. No female in this game was going near it unless it was them being styled at a photo shoot, or a treatment in their video. Between my time and now, when you seen a young girl with that “Hot Boyish” look she wasn’t thinking too much about the ladies before me, she was channeling the kid. Not to sound cocky, but like come on, let’s keep it a buck out here.

People were calling me a dyke because of this tomboy sh-t. These other girls you see ain’t have to go through that, the REAL tomboys were being called d-kes. Just look at some of these people before they got signed, look at them in their high school days. Look at pictures of them when they first got signed, then do the same thing with me. The proof is in the pudding, and that pudding tasting real good right now. I’m not mad that people use an idea because I too may use an idea. I just do things in my own way, and I also do original things.

Just don’t give credit to that person for starting a trend because they’re more famous, or have more records out. Those are the people who take from the people who haven’t yet reached their level of success and we all know that its been going on before I was thought of. I love my style, I love to dress, its fun to me and I just wanna be respected like any other person who started something or brought something back to life when people were too iffy to do it.

So despite the fact that many young girls out here don’t have the slightest clue who Teyana Taylor is, she wants us to believe they’re all channeling her with the “Hot-boyish” style? Well, then I can only believe she is channeling Kanye West with that extreme egotism.

To be fair, personally I’m not sure what Teyana was doing in 2005/2006 because I don’t remember her at all. She did have a song called “Google Me” in 2008 that peaked at number 90 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and I remember her hanging out with Chris Brown post-Rihanna. I Googled her and it looks like she was rocking a skater chic/tomboy look in most photos, but on her website (that clearly hasn’t been updated since 2008), she isn’t dressed like a tomboy at all in her header photo. In fact, I Googled “Teyana Taylor 2012″ and she’s looking more feminine than ever. Apparently, it’s cool for her to change up her look sometimes, but if any woman dare throw on a pair of Jordans instead of stilettos then she’s automatically inspired by Teyana? Someone get this girl as many seats as possible. Next she’s going to be taking credit for women wearing their natural hair.

I’m not going to pretend to know what it’s like to be a talented female and trying to come up in a music industry that is dominated by Beyonces and Rihannas. I have to believe though that there is something to be said about not trying to start unnecessary beef with someone who is way more relevant than you are. Who is she trying to be? Raz-B? Her contrived beef with Rihanna via Instagram and Twitter is likely not going to do much for her career.

She’s right that it’s wrong when people who are uber-famous steal from people who are less famous then get all of the credit. But her example is not a good one. The inconvenient truth is, nobody cares which current R&B artist pulled on a pair of  baggy jeans first because there is nothing new under the sun; therefore no one can truly take credit for the style. Judging from the Janet Jackson photo and Lauryn Hill album name, it seems Teyana is just copying stuff from the 90′s and early 2000′s and passing it off as her own (or claiming she’s “bringing it back”) and therefore extremely sensitive when she feels as though someone is doing the same to her.

What do you think about Teyana’s latest comments?

Follow Alissa on Twitter @AlissaInPink

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Source: concreteloop.com

So remember last week when Drake said he was the first rapper to successfully sing on tracks and the whole world laughed in unison? I have a feeling that same reaction could be heading Teyana Taylor’s way based on a comment she made in a recent interview in Complex magazine.

The G.O.O.D music artist chatted with the mag about her affiliation with Kanye and of course her music, but things took a bit of a turn when the topic of discussion changed to her style. Complex set her up, asking: “Speaking of your style, you were one of, if the not the first, chick to bring back the more street look for women. You were wearing Jordans and BBC and fitted caps when you first came out. Now Rihanna and Rita Ora are on it. Do you feel like that’s your look?” Then, Teyana responded with this:

“I do feel like I influence a lot of artists. But the way I look at it is not in a negative way. I love them. When I came in the game, it wasn’t okay to be a girl and wear sneakers and hats and streetwear. They called me gay. Now the tomboy thing, it’s Hot. Rihanna and Rita Ora are fly and s[w]exy. I’m happy I was able to pave that way. I love seeing our artists dressed like that. You ain’t gay if you throw on sneakers and a hat. Nobody can take that away from me and say, “Oh, she didn’t start that trend.” They all know. I’ve always been about this life and mixing kicks with high fashion on some ghetto chic s**t.”

Pause for laughter.

I know Teyana was only born in 1990 so she might have missed the whole tomboy movement during that era, not to mention Salt n’ Peppa, TLC, and Aaliyah, but she and Complex are reaching with the idea that she brought this look back in style—and that Rihanna and Rita Ora are biting it because they decide to wear baggy pants and a baseball cap one day. Are you serious?

Earlier this week, Rihanna tweeted an Instagram pic of herself in a jersey, bedazzled bra, and fitted with the caption “Me, being me” that honestly seems harmless, especially since right after she added another with her friend saying, “us being us” but it possibly got Teyana all in her feelings. She decided to retweet the pic which some followers viewed as shade because later she sent these messages:

Not sure what all that was about. People should be more mad at her Complex comment than her tweets. What do you think?

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Source: Globalgrind.com

In the day of celebrities like Halle Berry wanting President Obama to crack down on the way paparazzi is allowed to invade their lives, it always amazes me how many entertainers feel the need to divulge one of the most  private aspects of their lives: who they’re sleeping with—or not.

I thought about this odd coming out of sorts looking at Teyana Taylor’s remake of Janet Jackson’s iconic Rolling Stone cover today. The photo shoot, shot by Lance Gross, has garnered mixed reactions for a lot of reasons.  Some are wondering why she even messed with Janet’s ‘90s masterpiece, others are curious why she sexed the image up even more than it was originally with her red lips, garter belts, and the see-thru stockings attached to her cut-offs (not to mention those breast tattoos), and still others are curious how this type of end-product comes from a virgin of all people. Had she never made her sexual lifestyle public knowledge, she could have nixed at least one of those concerns, but unfortunately like many other famous people she assumed that was knowledge the public wanted and needed to know.

I don’t think celebrities like Teyana should hide their virginal status out of shame, but I don’t get what they’re trying to prove by announcing it. The bottom line is it’s no one’s business and frankly no one really cares until situations that appear to contradict that lifestyle choice come into play. Unlike Meagan Good’s argument that one can still be swexy and a Christian, Teyana, a 21-year-old woman who claims to not engage in sex at all is selling that straight up and down from this Janet-esque photo to her racy Black Men’s mag cover, and a whole lot more in between. I know the dichotomy of a woman who’s a lady in the street and a freak in the bed is supposedly every man’s ideal, but she’s working that fantasy from the complete opposite angle and it’s hard to decipher what her true image is, let alone her real persona.

The other issue is proclaiming to be a virgin puts a lot of unnecessary pressure on entertainers.  There aren’t too many old-heads, if any, stepping into the spotlight claiming they’ve never gotten it in. It’s the fresh-faced 16- to 20-year-olds who are new on the scene that somehow get roped into answering questions that aren’t the public’s business anyway and who later have to recant those statements or unnecessarily explain themselves even more. Brittney Spears I’m looking at you. Or take Jordin Sparks for example. When we first met her, she boasted about a purity promise ring she wore since she was a young teenager but when people found out she was dating Jason Derulo, naturally they started to wonder if she might be trading in that promise ring for a nuva ring. In an interview with Hoda Kotb that got further in her sheets than Jason likely had at the time, Jordin gave an update of sorts on her celibacy stance and said of the ring:

“You know what, I switch it from day to day — I don’t wear it exactly everyday anymore, but I always have something there. When I was 13 my mom spoke to me about purity and waiting for marriage and different things like that. And, you know, at the time I was like, ‘Sure that’s great,’ but I can’t say what’s gonna happen a couple of months from now. People grow.”

Jordin is absolutely right about people growing but unfortunately once that virgin image is planted in people’s minds, it’s hard to undo. Should she end up having sex before marriage and announcing that to the tabloids, the backlash will no doubt ensue. No one will care that she’s now a mid-20-something-year-old woman, there will be questions of why she didn’t hold out or what type of example she’s setting by going back on her promise, or uncomfortable inquiries into her new bedroom life, much like the case was with Brittney Spears. There will be an invasive line of questioning that could have been avoided altogether by allowing that personal information to remain what it is—personal.

Even thinking of Lolo Jones who has been vocal about how difficult it is to find a man because she’s been so open about being a virgin seems to forget that she brought that struggle on herself. I truly don’t think it’s the fact that she’s a virgin that’s the problem. It’s the spectacle surrounding her virginity that is likely off-putting and intimidating to potential suitors. For some, being a virgin takes on a deep, spiritual meaning; for others it’s a means to avoid heartbreak, unwanted pregnancies, and STDS. Whatever the reason, it’s a state of being just like being sexually active is and there’s no reason for all the pomp and circumstance around it, especially if you aren’t proclaiming yourself to be a role model for others to follow. If that were the case, it would be understandable to be vocal about it, but when your virginity is the only thing that keeps you relevant in a way, it’s awkward, and again, unnecessary.

The thing is, once these celebrities go on record about their sex lives, it follows them for as long as they have the public’s interest, which could be anywhere from 15 minutes to 15 years. In the same way that other sexually active celebs use sex to sell records, the lack of sex begins to define these entertainer’s careers as well and something so personal as their non-existent sex lives becomes the news hook on which their relevance hangs.  It’s rare that celebs succeed in keeping their private lives totally private but one thing they can count on is no one knowing for sure is who is or isn’t in their bed (unless they’re Kim Kardashian, Ray J, Pamela Anderson, Tommy Lee, or Paris Hilton). Perhaps in the same way vocal virgins are naïve to the world of sex, they’re also oblivious to the American obsession with who’s having it and who isn’t and they don’t realize the image they’re forming when they speak on their sexuality. I’m not particularly keen on sexually active celebs giving the rundown on their bedroom booming either, but my advice to virgins in the spotlight would be when it comes to their sex lives, keep their mouths like their legs: closed.

What do you think about celebrities declaring that their virgins? Should they share that with the world or keep it private?

Brande Victorian is the news and operations editor for madamenoire.com. Follow her on twitter @Be_Vic.

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thebosh.com

Since Pilar Sanders, estranged wife of Deion Sanders, and her homegirl allegedly assaulted Deion, I guess we can now add her to the “fight club” list.  *cues Crime Mob* “Yeah we knuckin’ and buckin’ and ready to fight…”  Maybe this is the song that went through the minds of many of our female celebs who have a reputation for…releasing frustrations.  They throw electronics, bottles and of course, good ol’ fists.  I’m not condoning any of it; I’m just giving you a visual a reminder of who you should be ready for just in case they cross your path!

Read the rest of this entry »

source: coolspotters.com

This isn’t the first appearance of the ombre trend on the scene, but it sure has gained a strong following. The trend has bounced from clothing, to nails, and, most recently, landed on hair. The look was originally worn by women that were growing out their light hair color or by those that were a bit lazy with the touch ups. Well, looks like they have the last laugh because the ombre style has evolved into a purposeful style that many celebs are showing off on the red carpets. Go figure!

Teyana Taylor (pictured above) looks great as she pushed the trend to the extreme with pastels, but the rest of our list is full of trendsetters that embrace more natural hues. Let’s all lighten up and get inspired!

UPTOWN mag sponsored a pre-Grammy beauty gifting suite featuring celeb make-up artist AJ Crimson (Keyshia Cole, Mya, Christina Milian, Diddy), celeb hairstylist Carla Gentry (Jada Pinkett Smith,  Gabrielle Union, Kerry Washington) and “Eyelash Guru” Ja’Maal Buster.   Before the Hollywood stars strutted down the red carpet for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, they got their eyelashes applied, hair coiffed and make-up perfected at the gifting suite.

Check out pics of the glam suite event!