African Fashion Week London 2015 WITH MOTIONS UK VLOG || EXCLUSIVE BACKSTAGE FOOTAGE~ RUNWAY FOOTAGE ~ Outfit & Hair Style ~ UK Bloggers
Last week I attended African Fashion Week in London 2015 at Olympia in West London. I was there with Motions and the rest of the brand ambassadors as Motions were the sponsors. I was so excited to attend because I hadn't been to African fashion week or London fashion week either before.
Check out my African Fashion Week vlog below, it's my first ever vlog so I'd love if you watched and gave some feedback. If you don't want to watch the whole thing, feel free to skip to the part that interests you the most :)
1. My Motions outfit for the day and how I wore my hair (Afro puff)
2.The venue and footage of the Motion stand where I was working and all of my fellow blogger friends
3. Some of my favourite pieces by the African Fashion week in London 2015 exhibitors (see list below)
4.Exclusive backstage footage, see what the models and makeup artists get up to backstage / Fashion Fair makeup shown by head makeup artist @AbbieMayMUA
5. Footage from the show during the first day of African fashion week in London 2015.
Me @Yolandaas, @EyeDahFineMe @TheLondonCurls
Left: Aicha @Blackhairvelvet, Motions France brand ambassador
As I am new to vlogging, I focused so much on getting video footage that I kind of forgot to take pictures. I did take a couple with my camera and the rest are phone pictures either taken by me or sent to me from the person in the picture in question.
The Motions area. Hair styling going on
My hair style of the day was the afro puff! I actually love this hair style because it's like a mix between wearing a bun (which I love) but still showing off your fro/curls. Since my hair is a little bit longer it get's too tangled though and I can't wear this style more than a couple of days. By the way, my hair is 3 years and 4 months post relaxer :)
Look of the day: Afro Puff
Guys, my I didn't do my eyebrows uneven, they just aren't levelled naturally. It's really annoying but hey what can I do lol. I'm wearing my every day makeup which is Maybelline mascara (the cheap pink & green one, £5), 2True eyeliner (£2.99 superdrug), Collection concealer £2.99 and blusher and highlighter. What do you think of this look?
Have you been to African Fashion Week in London or London fashion week?
* Background music for my Youtube video provided by http://chunkdoutbeats.com/ *I am a brand ambassador for Motions. However this is not a sponsored video and I am not affiliated with any of the other brands.
Natural Afro Hair Tutorial: How to style Ankara/African Print Scarf || Side Swept Flat Twist Out with Scarf & Nefertiti Earrings
Hello everyone! My laptop keyboard was broken for ages and now it's finally fixed, I have a lot of posts coming up, this one being the first one. The African print/Ankara print scarf (and clothes in general with African prints) can be seen everywhere at the moment. A lot of my fellow UK natural hair blogger friends wear them and it really inspired me to try one out. Instagram is also a great source of inspiration for African print scarves!
When I attended Natural Hair Week 2015 I came across this brand called Anaisarts, it's run by a lovely lady who not only sells a ton of amazing African print scarves, but also Afrocentric type jewellery. I bought three scarves and these brown, wooden Nefertiti earrings- check out my video below to see all of them and for more information.
If you have followed me for a while you'd know that the side swept flat twist out used to be one of my favourite hair styles, especially during my transitioning days (check out my transitioning posts here) so I decided to revisit this hair style, but with a twist (literally lol).
Please watch the video to see how I got this hair style or follow this short tutorial in writing:
Make a side parting, and either cainrow, flat twist or just tuck in the remainder of your hair.
Try on the scarf to make sure it looks right with the parting
Remove the scarf, and start flat twisting the hair that you have left out
You can either twirl the ends, put perm rods & do a hanging bantu knot
Put your night time scarf on and leave at least 12 hours to dry
Please let me know what you think about this hair style and how would you, or have you styled the African print/Ankara print scarf?
Motions For Natural Textures; Deep Conditioning Masque & Smoothing Conditioner and Motions Weightless Conditioning Shampoo Review & Demo Video
Very excited to share with you my first review as a Motions Brand Ambassador. If you haven't already, please check out my post about our first brand ambassador meet up (link)which is when we received these goodies. The Deep Conditioning Masque & Smoothing Conditioner are both from the Motions "For Natural Textures" range which has got loads of products especially made for us naturals! Motions Natural Textures Deep Conditioning Masque
So, let's start with my favourite.
Claim & Results: "Motions deep conditioning masque is an intensive weekly treatment, with Shea Butter, Coconut and Avocado Oils that bounces back dry, parched curls to the manageable ringlets you desire". I will definitely say that it leaves your hair very moisturising. Bare in mind that this is a conditioning/moisturising deep treatment and not necessarily a strengthening one. If you are looking for a protein deep treatment I would suggest trying out the conditioner which I am reviewing as well.
Formula: The first thing I noticed about this deep conditioner is that the formula is pretty thin, and runny. However, as soon as I started applying the product I noticed two things, the first is that despite the runny formula it felt very rich and nourishing and the other thing is that the spreadability was very, very good and you really did not have to use much at all! I am a person who always has to use a ton of conditioner to cover all parts of my hair so believe me when I say you did not have to use a lot! This of course means that the slip was very good as well which made it easy to detangle.
Ingredients:As mentioned in the claim, it contains Coconut Oil, Avocado Oil & Shea Butter (in that order, Coconut Oil being the 9th ingredient after Dimethicone). This explains why it feels very rich & nourishing! Other nice ingredients are Panthenol (Provitamin B5) & Chamomile flower extract.
Claim & Results: "Go from flat to full volume with Motions Weightless Conditioning Shampoo. The formula cleanses to remove dirt and residue, while the conditioning agents give your hair incredible body and bouncy. Great for fine hair". This is definitely a clarifying shampoo which will give your hair a thorough cleanse. It contains sulfates so some of you might prefer to use a more gentle cleanser, or to just use it occasionally when you're hair needs a proper shampoo. I personally do not mind sulfate shampoos as I feel like I want to properly cleanse my hair every week making sure I get rid of any dirt and product residue. As I mentioned (quite a few times lol) in the video review, I had gone one extra week without washing my hair so I had a lot of product in my hair. This means that the shampoo will lather less, and seem a little more gentle because there is so much product in the way. When I rinsed, all the old product build up had been removed and my hair didn't feel dry.
Formula: The formula is clear, like most clarifying shampoos. I am writing this before I am editing the video but there should be a picture of the formula in the video. As I mentioned before I had a lot of product in my hair already so I did have to use quite a lot of shampoo to make it lather, but I would say it lathers well, or like any sulfate shampoo.
Ingredients:
Cleansers: Now, the primary surfactant (the main cleansing agent) in this shampoo is Sodium Lauryl Sulfate. This is known as the strongest and "harshest" sulfate (Sodium Laureth Sulfate is the more gentle version but this is also considered harsh) and isn't widely used anymore. However, the secondary surfactant is Cocamidopropyl Betaine which makes the overall formula a lot more gentle. I didn't feel like my hair was too stripped or too dry after using this, so this ingredient isn't a problem for me!
Conditioning agents: Mango Butter, PEG-12 Dimethicone, Polyquaternium 10, Panthenol (Provitamin B5) and Tocopheryl Acetate (form of Vitamin E). Other interesting ingredients which both promote hair growth are: Niacinamide (Vitamin B3) and Biotin (Vitamin B7 or Vitamin H). It also contains Sunflower, Chamomile, Black Elderflower and Cowslip flower extracts.
Ingredient Check:
Mineral Oil [/]
Silicones [x]
Parabens [/]
Sulfates [x]
Butylene/Propylene Glycol [/]
Claim & Results: "Motions Smoothing Conditioner, made with Shea Butter, Coconut and Avocado Oils, detangles and softens unruly curls to lock in moisture and manageability". This conditioner has a ton of great and nourishing ingredients. It definitely moisturised my hair, however, compared to the Motions Deep Conditioning Masque, the slip wasn't as good. The masque definitely left my hair easier to detangle.
Formula: The formula is quite thick and creamy, more so what I would expect of a deep conditioner. However it felt great in my hair and left it soft and moisturised. I would recommend this if you've got damaged hair, for example from straightening, blow drying or dying your hair because it contains Hydrolyzed Keratin which is strengthening.
Ingredients:This conditioner has got some great conditioning agents.. here are some of them (not full ingredient list, but in order) ; Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Coconut Oil, Shea Butter, Avocado Oil, Panthenol (Provitamin B5), Tocopheryl Acetate, (Form of Vitamin E), Hydrolyzed Keratin, Honey Extract
Ingredient Check:
Mineral Oil [/]
Silicones [x]
Parabens [/]
Sulfates [/]
Butylene/Propylene Glycol [/]
What do you think of Motions hair products?
Have you tried any of these?
Braidout Video Tutorial For Natural 3C/4A/4B/4C Hair || UK Blogger || #MotionsBA
I am back with another Youtube video guys. I actually filmed it over a month ago but because I was still stupidly playing music in the background while filming, it kept getting copyrighted and I re-edited and re-uploaded three times. Anyway it is finally up. I would love some feedback on how I can improve my videos and or video suggestions! :)
I didn't mention any specific products for this tutorial only because I use different products all the time at the moment. I still don't really have a favourite combination and I have been reviewing a lot of different products. However, as you can see in the video I do use Eco Styler gel for my edges (I took the pictures before I did my edges, I forgot lol) and Dove Serum to prevent frizz while taking the plaits down.
Do you remember my first ever braid out post from last year (here)? My hair almost looks shorter & tbh I think I prefer my results from last year. I mean we all know what shrinkage is but I can't fully understand how my hair actually looks shorter even though it's grown a lot, oh well!
Announcement: Motions Brand Ambassador/ Brand Ambassador Dinner Meet Up
Hi Everyone! I am glad to announce that my blog is back again after the long break I've had. What's even more exciting is that I am now a brand ambassador for Motions, this was confirmed a few weeks ago and I wen't to a dinner with Motions and the three other lovely brand ambassadors.
THE MEET UP
A week or so after I was contacted by Motions asking me if I was interested in joining their Brand Ambassador Programme, they arranged a meet up so that all of the Brand Ambassadors and the brand manager could meet. The meet up was at the Thai restaurant Busaba Eathai in West London and the food was amazing! During the amazing dinner we were given some Motions hair products, a brand ambassador booklet and some updates and general information about Motions and why we were chosen as the brand ambassadors. Like Davina from the London Curls said, we are all opinionated girls with a passion for hair care, but I like how we are all pretty different and some of us are natural, some wear weave etc because hopefully together we will be able to represent all types of women and hair styles.
Please check out these lovely ladies websites & channels;
I am so glad to be able to work together with one of the biggest afro hair care brands, especially now that it is a part of Unilever! I am sure you all know the brand, whether you've been using it recently, or like me you remember it as one of the first brands you used during your childhood. However Motions have given their brand a little make over with new packaging and a variety of products that cater to all types of women and different hair styles/preferences. If you know me personally you know that I am obsessed with the colour purple and even more the combination of gold & purple so I absolutely love the new packaging. Their product line includes products for natural hair, relaxed hair and products for straightening natural hair. Check out all of their products here (selected Motions products are now available at Superdrug, yay!)
About the brand ambassador programme (information from the booklet:
To start with, we were all chosen because of our passion for hair care, fashion or beauty and our social media following.
Part of the brand ambassador role is to attend events, debates, meet ups on behalf of Motions.
We will regularly try out and review Motions products on our Youtube channels or blogs.
At the end of the programme we will receive an Official Unilever/Motions Hair certificate.
Thank you so much for reading and stay tuned for my updated wash day routine featuring these Motion products and even sooner- my first braid out tutorial video!
