The last couple of months are always my favorite months. You have thanksgivings, and then later down the road is Christmas & New Years. The only thing that would make these holidays perfect is if we had some fall foliage & a little snow (for about a week for us Floridians lol). Below is the outfit I wore to my thanksgiving dinner. Note: I had a red waist belt, but now it is too big, so I had to make use of the default navy belt :(.

I'm not a professional, but over the years I found ways to have my polish looking decent, as well as lasting at least 5 days for my nails (maybe 1 week if I'm not heavy handed). Nail polish on my feet last for about 2 weeks (without any chips or cracks). I refresh my nails for another week to tie in with my feet nail color.

Now I have tried nail stickers and finding them to be annoying to applied, and take longer to take off afterwards. The nail design plates on the other hand are durable, and are easy to apply once you get the technique down. Below is my "how to" for simple nail polish and stamping. There is nothing fancy or hard about this post. If you not interested in the nail stamping just do Steps 1-4 & Step 9. Make sure to check out the conclusion, which give the final advice for longer lasting color nail polish.

I do my own nails, and the reason is quite simple...I'm cheap! No really, I would rather pocket that money and save it for a future trip, then go to a nail salon and have it done. I know the same concept could be applied to me being a DIYer for sisterlocks, but doing my own nail takes about 20 min - 40 min (if I'm doing the nail stamping it takes longer).  Now doing my sisterlocks on the other hand will take me at least a whole day (or two day if I split the retightening up).

So let get back to nail stamping review. I like this a lot, but doing it on my own hand is always DIFFICULT, and the stickers were just a pain to deal with. So after many practice (both on my daughter's hand/feet and myself) I became more impressed with Konad & the Mash Plates. Below is my review.

Konad Nail Art Double Ended Stamper And Scraper
Used to stamp decorative patterns on your finger nails. This stamper has 2 ends with different sizes and colours. Great when stamping small images or for childrens nails. The green stamper is ideal when using red special polish because the red image shows up better on the green stamper.

Like
- This Product is Durable and Cheap.
- Love the Scrapper
- Like the Two Side (one for Little Hands (or Feet) and the other for Bigger Nail Bed)

Dislike
- Big Learning Curve
- Messy
- Application Time
- Scrapper Scratches the Plates.

MASH Manicure Image Plates 26-50 Accessories Set Kit
MASH Plates 26-50 were designed and created from the ground up to introduce exciting new designs to nail art stamping. There are no other nail art image plates like them. Each plate measures about 1.8" (5.5cm in diameter) with sanded edges for easy, comfortable handling and a protective nylon screen.

Like
- This Product is Durable and Cheap
- Easy to Set Up and Apply
- So Many Option and Choices (if You Get the Bundle Plates)
- Salon Professional Look

Dislike
- BIG learning curve
- Messy
- Application Time

Conclusion: Nail Stamping is a huge learning curve. There is an art to doing it, and once you know it, it becomes a breeze to apply. The only thing I like to note is to use the scraper that comes with Konad (it just scrape better), because it tends to scratch the plates a lot of people don't like to use it and tend to use a gift card. Using an old credit/gift card does a nice job as a scarper, and I agree it doesn't scratch your plates, but it not as clean as using a Konad scraper (in my opinion).

I would also like to note that Konad plates are the most popular brand out there, but they are more expensive. So if you are interested, I would test the nail stamping on the cheaper plates, and if you want to get better plates, then go with the Konad. I also did a "How To" on the nail stamping and how to get longer lasting nail polish as well, click here to check it out.

So I went to the MAC store at Macy's to look for a shade of lipstick, and walk out with a complete makeover. I also learned so much from that make-up session, that I wish I did this before spending ton of money on make-ups that I end up hating and not using. While there, I learn how to control my oily face for a longer lasting foundation. Below is the result & pictures of my make-up session.

The Complete Look -  She also showed me what will work for any an everyday look. Note: I read there is a minimum of $50 to get a makeover session,so I went there with a budget of $50 dollars. I also informed my make-up artist that I wanted a NATURAL look, nothing too dramatic, just natural and plain.

Eye Shadow - This is something I would wear when I go out (this is not my everyday look). She wanted to show an example of something that is natural looking for going out.


Outside Natural Light - This picture is not that great, but you get an idea on how it looks under natural light. So this make-up look nice under direct flash and under natural light. A win-win situation if you ask me.


So as my followers, you guys can see how I will start to improve with not only my sisterlocks, but also my make-up and fashion sense as well. Hope I'm not boring you guys lol. Check out this post for my first attempt at wearing make-up. The oily face was such a disaster lol.

I have purchased about 4-5 lipsticks after I got sisterlocks, and out of the bunch, I only have 2 that I really love. Choco-Liscious & Black Cherry are by far my favorite shades. The pink shade from Revlon is okay when I mix it with the Black Cherry to tone it down. Below is how they look on me under direct light (no flash).

Hair is growing in nicely, but the styling of my locks will have to wait till they get a little longer. Middle of my scalp is super short, and that has since hinder my styling option. First picture is how my hair looks currently, second picture is how my hair look late last year.

I really love this top, and the detail that is hidden from the front until you turn around. I thought the black pump was a nice touch to this outfit as well. No matter how much I work out, I can never get rid of this "thickness", so I have come to embraced it lol.

Today style was inspired by a post by Takei (Denim on Denim). I really love the overall look on her, and I did have a denim shirt in my closet, I just had no idea what to wear with it, so her post instantly clicked with me for today outing. I really like how everything came together with this outfit, and now I look forward to sharing more of my outfits with you guys. Note: I just had a retightening, so I didn't do any style with my sisterlocks because of that. 

To me, this list is a no-brainer, but to others, it may not be so. Below is what I feel is something you should do before each appointment that you set & have.

1) Wash your hair before your appointments. Some may feel that I don't really need to list this here, but I really do need to list this here. Apparently, some people feel that their hair is clean enough after a month or even two weeks of prior washing. It boggles my mind that some people feel that way, and if you feel that way, you should look up on how the scalp works. Trust and believe when I say your scalp is dirty (your locks may not be) but your scalp is. I would never understand why a person would you want to have their new growth retighten without cleaning it first...yuck. When you are getting your new growth retighten, whatever you didn't clean out, gets trapped in the interlocking pattern. Imagine if you didn't clean your scalp, and that entire dead skin cell, and the sebum oil get trap in your locks...that is gross. That is why lint is such a hard thing to get rid of! Wash your hair before your appointment! I do mine the morning of my appointment, and I think that is the best solution for everyone.

2) Time management - Arrive on time for your appointment, the same thing applies for consultant/trainee. If you set a time, please make sure you arrive on time (or inform the consultant/trainee you going to be late). If your consultant is popular, trust and believe that her time is valuable, and she may even rush the retightening of your locks, which can introduce what we call holes (or the "Ys") in your locks. Nothing upset me more than someone who is always late with everything, so be a doll, and arrive on time for your appointments. Same thing with consultant/trainee, do what you need to do prior to your clients arrival. That is including eating your food, because no offense, if you eating something that is smelly, we smell it...ugh. Also chewing around someone ear is sooooo annoying (speaking from experience).

3) The condition of your Sisterlocks - If you don't have money to retighten your sisterlocks, learn how to do it (or take the class). Don't let months of new growth sneak up on you! The longer you go without a retighten, the more likely you start to introduce lock merging (which leads to the sisterlocks grid being unrecognizable). I will never understand how someone can go to their consultant with months of new growth, and think their consultant  is going to be happy (maybe they think the consulant will earn more money?).

I don't know about others, but to me, a head full of regrowth with no recognizable grid is like redoing a whole head again. Who likes to redo the same thing over and over again? With all the YouTube & blogs out there, with ton of information about retightening, you should take advantage of that, and do your own retighten until you find the money to get the luxury of having someone else do the retightening for you. Note: I know most ladies (and gentlemen) are concern about messing up their locks, but I think you really are discrediting yourself; you are more likely to be slow, then to do real unimaginable damage to your locks. I also think any mess up, can always be fixed later down the road, it just hair ladies and gentlemen.

4) Your attitude - Watch your attitude while getting a retighten done. If certain thing bothers you about your consultant, voice them, but do it with tack. Yes you are paying for a service, but you don't have to be rude about it. Not all consultants/trainees are great, as many veterans will come to know, some have issues and may need to be told about it. Instead of bad mouthing them, talk to them. Yes it is uncomfortable, but before you do the option of badmouthing them or trying to find another consultant, informed them as politely as possible about the issue at hand. My consultant is known for taking a lot of breaks (I mean a lot), I saw one of her client keep sighing after each break she took, and trust me when I state my consultant was aware and made it even worst. I have talked to my consultant about it, and she has reduced it to necessary breaks (necessary doesn't involve stopping to talk/gossip on the phone though). I also found if I bring my daughter along, the breaks are down to normal as well. So solution can be found, if your attitude is right.

Do you have any other etiquette regarding sisterlocks appointment you want to add? Please comment below.

I really like how this came out, so I decided to share. Having my daughter, who is super impatient, taking the pictures proved to be a challenge. She rushed through a lot of these pictures, so I had to crop some pictures here and there. I will be investing in a tripod in the future, so these pictures will get better for "What I Wore" series.

For someone who is more into t-shirt and jeans, trying to be more fashionable is proving to be a lot harder than I thought. I only dress up when I go out with the ladies, etc. So it is challenging to start thinking about what I'm going to wear for simple outing likes going to the mall, or in this case, just going to the books store (then dinner).





I already notice a couple of things I would have done differently or adjust for the next edition of "What I Wore". I'm not going to point them out, but if you see them, please forgive me lol. My sisterlocks was pinned to the side with my custom made hair ties. I have been soooo lazy with my sisterlocks, so followers please forgive on that front.

Outfit Consist of Floral/Abstract Tank Blouse | Boot Cut Demin | Fuchsia Heels | Causal Purple Shoulder Bag | Blue Boho Waist Watch | Simple Purple Pendant.