It's a GIVEAWAY!!!!

Yay!  My first blog giveaway :)    Maybe i'm a little addicted to giveaways but I can't help it...I just love giving stuff away!  As you may know, I love earrings so much that I now create my own as well.  I carry a lot of different types of earrings...anything from fabric to chain and recently i've been dabbling in laser cutting. 

This is one of my latest design "Afro girl" earrings that I carry in various colors. 

                                          https://www.ToniDaley.com  $12.50


I was working on making some more tonight and must have miscounted because I ended up with an odd number, so I turned my left over girl into a pendant instead!  She's attached to a beaded stretchy necklace.  All you have to do is be a follower of my blog and leave a comment below this blog post if interested!  I'll use Random.org to select the winner in 1 week.

Good luck!

BOHEMIAN CHIC

Today was a pretty relaxed day.  One of those days where you have a lot to do but nothing is time sensitive, so you can take some time to smell the roses as they say.  On the agenda today?  Errands, shopping at Ikea and lunch with the boy and a couple of appointments.  Since I'd be out all day I wanted to be comfortable, and lunch with the boy means I also wanted to be cute.  The weather was really hot during the day but it cools off quite considerably at night....so here's what I came up with!

 I love the colors and fit of this dress and it was a great buy I found while perusing Ebay late one night.  I thought the overall look was cool and casual but put together.  The boy kept calling me a hippie all day, lol.

Maxi Dress by Windsor clothing - Ebay $4.99
Buckle flip flops - CONWAY $3.99

Cropped denim jacket - Costa Blanca $34.99
Coconut shell earrings - peruvianearring.com $3.00

Natural stone ring - Forever21 $4.80
Wooden bangles - New York street vendor

And if your wondering.....yes, Ikea blue makes a great backdrop for pictures, lol.

ACCESSORIZE!!

Last week while I was out enjoying my favourite passtime (shopping)  I came across a great deal on some super cute hair accessories!  I was in a store called Ardene's which is an accessory store...very similar to Claire's.  They had an entire wall of stuff that was 5 items for $10. 

Accessories are great for days when you are bored with your hair, want a different look or even to disguise bad hair days.

    I wanted to share a few of my favourite pieces here but stay tuned to my second channel, MissToniDaley for the complete haul and giveaway!

LOC ENVY

I'm sitting in my sister's apartment watching her work on a client.  She's a loctician in Toronto.  She has a full thick head of sister locs loosely tousled on top of her head looking intricately styled even though unintentional....her client has waist length thick locs that move so effortlessly with every turn of his head.  Her daughter is here too, just out the shower with freshly washed bra strap length locs, dark black and glistening....patiently awaiting her turn in the loc chair. 

                                                                            My niece
                                                            
My hair?  It looks cute today...freshly washed and moisturized...feeling extra soft and bouncy.  I love what is on my head....so why do I feel that tinge of jealousy each time one of them leans over to show me something and their locs fall slowly elegantly over one eye as if for that moment everything is in slow motion!  Maybe it's equivalent to my penis envy?  I mean I'm completely happy with the genetalia that God blessed me with don't get me wrong, but am I the only one that has ever wanted to be able to write my name in the snow?  Ok, I digress.

                                                     My sister:  http://www.fotki.com/lionness

The longer I am on this natural journey of mine, the more I fall in love with my hair but it would be nice to wake up pretty.  Loose natural hair looks absolutely fierce when it's done....I don't think there is much competition there in my opinion but let's face it..bed hair is just not that cute.  If you prepare it the night before your stuck with Celie braids and if you don't prepare it the night before you wake up looking like a weird cross between Marge Simpson and Cosmo Kramer.   

Let's not forget the cat calls from potential suitors.  I've become accustomed to the inevitable "What's up shorty, let me holla at you for a minute"  Seriously...has that ever worked for you?  *sigh*  Just once an 'empress' or 'queen' would be nice.

Will my journey eventually lead to loc-dom?  maybe...who knows.  But for now, I'll get my fill with kinky twists.

But this is not the final style!

It's one of those days where you pin up or randomly wrap up your hair because you need to get out the house in a rush.  Why is that the day you happen to get the most compliments??

I've been ignoring my hair for the last couple of days and it felt extremely dry.  So last night I spritzed it with water and twisted it up using my SheaMoisture Deep Treatment Masque.
This morning I was too lazy to untwist so I loosely pinned up either side, rolled up the
back and Voila!

I'm hoping the twist out I envisioned will be fabulous but for now it seems like this is working just fine!

Happy Hairstyling!

What ever happened with Miami??

So...What ever happened with that AmillionQueens Conference??

I've received so many questions about this.  I think people are dying to hear that some sort of drama went down but truth be told...it didn't.  I simply changed my mind.  A lot of people keep saying they thought something was up because they had never heard of the company but I don't see that as being relevant because everyone has to start somewhere....

When AMillionQueens initially contacted me regarding the event, I was excited.  I think that the concept
of men supporting women who choose to live a natural lifestyle is an incredible thing.  The idea of an upscale
event promoting it sounded even better!  Who wouldn't want to be involved.  Initially I was asked if i wanted to be a part of it by presenting the information about the event to my subscribers, and attending the event to interact/mix/mingle etc.....I was all on board.

After about a month and a half of agreeing to work with them and uploading 2 videos presenting the information about the event on my Youtube channel, I was contacted by AMQ with some concerns that they had.  It seemed that although their tickets were selling....none of the sales were a result of the YouTube videos that had been uploaded.  It turned out that Youtubers was not leading
to the exposure they had hoped for.  So they hoped to turn things around a bit and asked if instead of simply presenting the information I would take a more proactive approach and sell tickets.  I was not interested. 

I don't blame AMQ at all for wanting to reach out to the Youtube natural hair community or wanting more of us involved because let's face it, we have a great supportive community.  However if you've been subscribed to me for a while...you know that I only present information on my channel.   I never ask you to purchase, subscribe,rate, or comment.  I believe my job is just to put the word out and whatever you are moved to do from there is up to you.

So....I respectfully declined.  I still believe the event itself is going to be great with or without me and wish them much success in realizing their mission statement.

Since declining their offer of working with them further, I have sent a couple of friendly emails and inquiries to which i've received no response, no further communication on youtube or facebook, It's as if AMQ  is simply ignoring me now, so I guess that was not the answer they were looking for.




"Careful not to burn bridges, you just might need to cross back. "

Trendy + Classic = Fashion Forward

Whether it's harem pants, bodycon dresses or gladiator sandals...pairing a trendy item with classic pieces always works!  It's a fail proof equation for looking polished and fashion forward.   Today i'm pairing a mild version of the trendy harem pants with a classic blazer and peep toe pumps.

Blazer - Dynamite $34.99
Pants - Urban Planet $15

Layered cross necklace - Forever 21 $5.80
Tank top - Stitches $1.50

Bangles - various stores
Peep toe pumps - Aldo $99.99

link to make up tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxJjWT4Py7g
link to style vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWwOME5hWA8

COLOR BLOCKING FOR A HOT DAY

Today was a very hot and sunny day, so I decided to go with light brightly colored layers while out to lunch with the boy.

Hair - pinned up twist out
Earrings - Silver hoops, dollar store $1
White tank - Stitches $1.50
Cobalt Blue crop top - Urban Planet $10
Denim shorts - Forever21 $7.99
Purple Wedges - Urban Planet $29.99
Pink wooden bangles - New York city street vendor $1

It was too hot for a full face so I did some MAC mineralize skin finish with a bit of highlight, mascara and gloss.  Mustard colored toes courtesy of OPI's 'The IT Color'

Summer is a great time to experiment with color and it's almost over, so what are you waiting for??
Happy Styling!