Girl Problems: Brush Cleanup

Good morning all!

It’s a new day, a new week and I have been telling myself, I need to clean my makeup brushes!

I love my makeup (no lie) and I tend to be a little OCD when it comes to cleaning up in general, accept when it comes my makeup brushes. Whenever I use my brushes, I normally wipe them off after use with a makeup remover towelette or a baby wipe; however; I know that doing that is just a temporary cleaning and like everything else, your brushes need a weekly deep cleaning (or multiples depending on how often you use them.)

So I thought that I would share with you all how I clean my makeup brushes.

I know everyone has there own methods and I know there are tons of methods on the internet but after trial, error and overall personal notes, I think I have my proper method:

 

You will need: 

A Clarifying Shampoo- these are ideal because they are designed to remove product buildup

Tea Tree Oil- This is a cleansing oil and helps sanitize your brushes. (NOTE: With tea tree oil, a little goes a long way, so I recommend using only a small amount, I used about 1/4 tsp.)

Cups- I use two of them. One for washing and one for holding my brushes once they have been rinsed.

2 Towels (not pictured)

Directions:

1. Mix together about 1 1/2 TBSP of the shampoo with the tea tree oil and add about 2/3 cup warm water.

2. Add your brushes to the mixture and let them soak for about 5 minutes.

3. Rinse each brush under warm water and gently drain water out of brush by squeezing the brush head between your thumb and index finger.

4. Once you are done cleaning them, lay them down flat to dry.

In the photo below, you can see that I add another towel on top to help speed up the drying process.

I usually let mine dry overnight.

Once they are dry, I love the smell and I love how clean they are!

BONUS NOTE: You can mix a little of the clarifying shampoo and tea tree oil with purified water in a spray bottle to create a quick/daily brush cleaner too!

If you’re a daily makeup user, then it’s always recommended that you clean your brushes often. I like to schedule the time to clean them on my cell phone so I don’t forget. Clean brushes REDUCE breakouts…Remember that.

Until next time. Stay blessed all.

-The Enduring Mind

Motivation Monday: NEVER GIVE UP!

Good morning everyone! 

It has been almost a month since I have blogged and I have to say that I feel bad. I have been working on The Geisha Bar, dealing with family and personal life that I almost forgot about this place…but how could I really forget all of my readers. 

Today’s MM is rather personal and I will explain why.

Since deciding to take The Geisha Bar in a different direction than I originally started, I have come across many roadblocks. I have had my ups and downs and many moments of discouragement but thanks to my loving fiance, my children and most importantly, my faith in God, I have come to realize that I cannot stop now. I have come too far. 

Today’s Motivational Monday is dedicated to perseverance.

It’s in you!

Cute AND True!

 

It’s worth the fight!

 

And I would like to end this post with his one:

All images found via Google. 

Until next time. Stay blessed, all. 

-The Enduring Mind 

The Geisha Bar is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!

Hello everyone!

I am so pleased to share that I have finally let go of my fears. second guessing and doubt! Yep, I opened up my first Etsy shop!

Say Hello to The Geisha Bar!

I am so excited to share this news with everyone. This shop is seriously just the beginning as I am currently working on my own dot com online store. I currently have pieces from The Graffiti Collection available for purchase and a few others too. Please check out my shop (and make a few purchases too!) http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGeishaBar

Until next time, stay blessed all.

-The Enduring Mind

The Geisha Bar: New Items!

Hello All!

The Geisha is here with some items for The Geisha Bar!

I have started a new collection of earrings called The Graffiti Collection. I have always loved the look of street tagging (I don’t condone it but it is quite artistic) And I pulled some inspiration from it to create a collection of earrings. This is just the start of this collection, so please bear with me as I add more to it.

Materials Used: Wooden Pieces, Acrylic Paints, Surgical Posts

 

Aside from TGC, I have two two new items too:

If you have any questions or for pricing information, please email me at: thegeishabar@gmail.com

Until next time, stay blessed all!

-The Enduring Mind

My Natural Hair Journey: New Protective Style

Hey everyone!

Back again with a new post and I’m talking about my hair.

I have to tell you, since shaving my sides down, I have had a strong desire to rock a new protective style. So I took to my bathroom and I experimented with the high bun.

I love the high bun but I wanted to add some flare to it and well, this is what I came up with:

Photo via Instagram (@writinggeisha)

The look is simple to achieve. All you need is one back of hair (I used what I had on hand and I think next time I will use two packs for more volume) and some bobby pins. Take the hair out of the pack but don’t take off the rubber band at the top. I then used a paddle brush to fluff out the hair then took the middle of the hair, pinned it to the back of my bun then criss crossed the two ends and pinned the ends under the new bun. I then pulled the middle of the bun forward, styled it and pinned down the stray hairs.

Did that make sense? If not, let me know and I could do a video too

Here is the other side.

The look is simple and has some edge to it. You can keep the bun up and add a scarf to the look too. The choice is yours. I think I will be rocking this one for while until I find a new one to play around with.

Until next time all, stay blessed!

-The Enduring Mind

 

 

 

Field Trip: The Black Women’s Expo 2013, Chicago, IL

Me at the Expo, last Saturday.

Good morning everyone!

I have been super lazy this week, well not entirely lazy but I have been when it comes to getting around to post this. Well, I’m finally posting it, yay! Last Saturday, I attended the Black Women’s Expo at the McCormick Place in Chicago.

This was my first time going and I guess this was the first one in over 2 years. I have to say that for my first BWE, it was pretty good. Here are some pics and highlights!

 

The expo went on for three days (I only attended one day) and had a variety of celebrities, performers, vendors and seminars.

RHOA Cynthia Bailey. I spotted the model/businesswoman taking photos at the Mega Growth station.  

 

The atmosphere was truly something else and you could tell that most, if not all of the vendors were supporting the natural hair movement. Samples were coming from every direction. I think I took home at least four different Argon oil products. And of course, the natural hair was being rocked everywhere!

I fell in love with this woman’s hair. Not only were her twists awesome but the gray in her was simply beautiful!

Aside from the booths and vendors, the BWE had a variety of seminars and panels from health and fitness to starting your own business. There was one that I specifically wanted to attend, which was facilitated by a women named Donna Smith-Bellinger.

Let me tell you that I was blown away by this hour and a half session which centered on advancing your dreams and/or business ideas. I tell you by the time it was done, I was psyched to dig deeper into my business. I even won a one on one 1 hour consultation with Donna herself! My excitement was evident lol!

The facilitator herself, the wonderful Outcome Specialist, Donna Smith-Bellinger

 

Deborah Crable. She was inspiring and she taught me that your business endeavors should have a theme.

 

Lela Sky! She is a maven with social media. She explained that your business does not require ALL social media platforms. And she was pretty chic too

 

At the close of the seminar, I had a chance to take pic with Donna…

Donna and I.

And then just as I getting reading to leave, Kim Coles (AKA Synclaire James from Living Single) walked in. Can you say, starstruck? I sure the heck was. I even got the chance to take a picture of Donna and Kim personally!

The beautiful ladies!

And guess who else got a pic…

ME and KIM COLES! Yep, I was a happy lady!

I can’t lie, after meeting Kim and winning a coaching session with Donna, I was on cloud 9. I spent the rest of the Expo, checking out vendors and eating of course.

Robinson’s BBQ…I gave it a 5 (the chicken was dry)

The Mr. had rib tips (His was better than mine)

 

I ended my trip to the Expo with the purchase of a vintage bracelet and beaded one too from an up and coming designer named Cheri. (Sorry no pics I will try and post them in another post)

My overall thought of the Expo was that for being away for 2 years, they did come back very well. The place was packed but I do think that it could have been even bigger had they advertised outside of the Chicagoland area (I live about an hour and a half away from Chicago and I found out about the Expo via Facebook). I also felt like some of vendors were rather repetitive. Lots of wig/weave vendors, wholesale jewelry and not enough independent, up and coming vendors if you ask me.

My dream (one of the many) is to work on getting a booth at next year’s Expo for The Geisha Bar! The cost is pricey; however; I am determined.

So there you have it. I would love to know if your city sponsors anything like the BWE. If so, comment below. If not, would you like to have something like it in your area? Share.

Until next time all. Stay blessed.

-The Enduring Mind.

 

 

 

 

 

Motivational Monday: Striving For Success!

Good morning everyone! It’s Monday and if you are reading this post, be happy and thank the Heavens that you were blessed to see another day! Life truly is short and I seem to realize that more and more everyday (especially after watching my local and world news in the morning.)

How was your weekend? Mine was wonderful; Saturday, I went to the Black Women’s Expo in Chicago (that post is coming later on today!) and I had the opportunity to partake (yes, I said “partake”) in a seminar facilitated by a wonderful life coach, Donna Smith-Bellinger.

I don’t want to give away all of my trip in THIS post but I can say that I was inspired by Donna and her panel. One of the many things that I took from the seminar was a simple question that we don’t often answer honestly. Throughout the session, Donna asked us “Do you want to survive or do you want  success?”

Sure, we want to survive but when you think of survival, what is it? Surviving is just getting by, barely breaking even and keeping your head above water just enough to make it another day. And then you have success. It goes beyond surviving, it means shooting for the stars, not accepting defeat and after you fall, you get back up. Success is not the just the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, it’s that street paved in gold.

So if you can’t tell what the theme of today’s Motivational Monday is, it’s all about success! Do you want? I sure do!

 

 

 

 

 

(All photos via Google)

And now, I pass the question on to you…Do YOU want to survive…or…do you want success? Think on it and answer honestly.

Until next time! Stay blessed, all.

-The Enduring Mind