Hey Lovelies!
Long time, no write. I have to work on that. Hopefully M.L. doesn’t fire me (I LUH YOU GUHL).
Ok, so last weekend M.L., The Fluffy Fashionista, and I took a little road trip down to Atlanta, Georgia. Originally this trip was planned to attend a makeup meet and greet / demonstration hosted by Makeup For Black Women. The featured guest was celebrity MUA Beat Face Honey (Tatiana Ward). So of course I was pumped because I have only been watching her since forever and she is so pretty and seemed really cool from her youtube videos. So we set a plan in motion to drive down there, a treacherous 10 hour drive, stay for a couple days and then drive back. So here is a review of our weekend.
Day 1 Friday: So let’s start in Cleveland. It’s pretty clear to me now that all of us have issues when it comes to being prepared. I was scrambling last minute to get a mani/pedi (my feet were hit y’all), Fluffy got off work early and rushed to get a pedi, M.L. claimed she was ready the day before and somehow she was the last one ready to go. We left around 8:30 pm. 25 minutes after M.L. demanded previously that we leave at 8:05pm. I am petty. I only added Friday in to let you guys know that M.L. made us start late.
Day 2 Saturday: So we are finally in Atlanta. Its about 7:00am and we get to our hotel. Then BAM! These fools sold our room because we got there in the morning, after we had made arrangements for a very late check in. Fluffy was about to kill the frontdesk men. All I wanted to know was how was I going to shower before this event. Luckily Sheesh came to our rescue and let us utilize her house so we could freshen up and get cute for the event. So, I finally met Sheesh and SHE IS THE BOMB! So pretty and nice, just like they say southern women are. Oh and her daddy is fine. Back to the event. So the event was slotted to begin at 11:00am. We got there 15 minutes late and pulled up to the venue to see a line of black women just standing outside. So we are immediately like that better not be a line for the event that should’ve started. Sure enough it was. I wont go into detail but I will let you guys know that the event started exactly 47 minutes late.
Sidenote: Black businesses please be professional and start your events on time. I want to support you desperately. I want you to win. However I will not compromise quality just to do so.
Anyway, we finally get in the event and there is a cute brunch set up for us and a small bottomless mimosa bar. So we enjoyed brunch and basically drank more mimosas than anyone ever should at one time. Beat Face Honey arrived about an hour after brunch started. She was really sweet. She walked in and greeted everyone and sat with some of the girls and ate and drank a little. There were a couple introductions from the founders of Makeup for Black Women and Beat Face Honey and then the fun started. DEMO TIME!
Beat Face Honey chose a girl from the event for the demo. She ended up doing a smoky eye, nude lip, and natural contour for her face. I really liked it. What I liked most though was how real she was with us. She didn’t tell us the same old junk most MUAs tell people in their videos. So here are a couple things I kept with me.
- Makeup primer is useless. GASP yes, she said it, not me. She doesn’t use them and she doesn’t think they work. So save your coins and use them on something else.
- She doesn’t feel the need to do every single typical step that you see common now on social media or youtube. She explained that everyone doesn’t need every step. Not everyone needs a full coverage foundation, not everyone needs to conceal. She doesn’t waste time on steps just to say she did them.
- She doesn’t use the salmon, yellow, green, etc. color correctors. She can get the job done using regular shmegular degular concealer.
- My favorite piece of advice was when doing makeup, she makes sure to make the girl just look like a pretty girl. She doesn’t do over dramatic brows, or a million crazy colors on the eye. She has the skill set but it isn’t practical. Her goal is to have someone look at the girl and say “hey, she is really pretty” and that’s it.
After the demo she was really cool and took a bunch of pictures with everyone. So all in all, I give the event a 7/10. The bottomless mimosas, Beat Face Honey, and the food were a plus. However starting any event 47 minutes late is just really unprofessional. Mind you I am in the Army, so, 15 minutes early is on time for me.
After the event we finally got a hotel which turned out to be BOMB! It was the Hilton. We got a suite and it was really fancy-like. We decided that we just had to visit Pressed. If you don’t know what that is just think Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, Rasheeda Boss Chick, and Poiz Cosmetics. Yup, we went to Rasheeda’s store. I loved it. It was so nice. I genuinely liked the clothes, the lipsticks and glosses are very nice and have a great formula. Best of all, Rasheeda was there, actually working the register, her mom was there, her family, just like on the show. She was so tiny in person (I am really tall though so maybe you might disagree). She was sweet though and took photos with every single customer after they purchased something. I think that was super dope. I ended up getting two lipsticks and a gloss. The gloss is called Radiance. It is beautiful. I’ve worn it every day since I got it.
After Pressed we went to Pappadeaux. I have never been there and neither had Fluffy. That place is so good. We had quite a wait but it was worth it. I had a blackened Texas red fish dish that was amazing. I am not sure what everyone else had because I was so into my plate, but their food looked good too. I wish I could say we went out and partied the night away like we planned, but then I would be lying. Everyone was super tired from driving, the event, and we just broke down. We were all knocked out within an hour after getting back to the hotel.
The next day we decided to go to brunch before heading home. We picked a place called Negril Village. It was a Jamaican twist on brunch and as a “half a Jamaican” as I’ve been dubbed, I was so here for it. Personally I loved the place. I am pretty sure M.L. did as well. However Fluffy wasn’t a fan. Sadface. What I will say is that being an actual Jamaican I hate to go to places that claim to make Jamaican food and then the dishes are all really bland and not authentic. Negril Village wasn’t having any of that though. All of the employees had an accent so that was a good start. Then the menu boasted items like bammie, ackee, and sorrel. So I am like yeah, it is about to go down. I ended up getting jerk chicken and pineapple waffles, fried plantains, and some ackee tostones. M.L. got a “traditional Jamaican breakfast” which included ackee and saltfish, boiled green banana, bammie, and fried dumpling as well as chicken empanadas. I wont go into Fluffy’s meal. I really liked all of our food. Of course we ate off of each others’ plates. Oh and how could I forget the cornbread with guava butter. That was the best part (yes we ordered the whole menu do not judge). I really liked the restaurant’s atmosphere. When we got there they were playing reggae music, but halfway through the meal they transitioned to a live band. The band was dope and played all my jams. It was super loud though.
After our meal we were walking to the car and right in the restaurant parking lot was a Pop Up Shop for The Manner Co Jewels. They had so many beautiful pieces. Of course we had to do a little shopping. The owners were so nice and accommodating. They offered to order us some glasses that they ran out of and ship them to us. They also had a promotion where they took off $5.00 if you posted a photo of yourself in your new piece while you were shopping. That was pretty sweet because I love a good deal. I would highly suggest you guys check them out here.
After that we drove home, enjoyed some sun and chit chat, and went about our regular lives. It was a great girls weekend. Stay tuned for our next girls’ trip when M.L. and I hit Philly for Memorial Day weekend!