Swallow birds, roses and hearts...

I've got a new passion: costume jewellery.
I've been creating some vintage-style inspired jewellery and hair accessories for friends and colleagues and thought it might be nice to show you some of them.

Below is a small selection of my bobby pins. I absolutely love them! They've been helping me adding a touch of colour and fun to my TWA. They will soon be available for sale.

Would you rock any of them?

Vanessa
XOXO Follow @Etanihearts

Twist-out

It's now been 7 months and 3 weeks since my BC and I thought I'll celebrate by sporting a twist-out look.
I thought it looked rather good. What are your thoughts?

Vanessa

XOXO

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Product review: Babassu oil

A couple of months ago, while shopping for my usual supply of carrier oils, I came across the rather exotically-name Babassu oil.
This soothing and nourishing oil is extracted from the seed of the Babassu palm which grows in the Amazon region of South America. It is often use as a substitute for Coconut Oil as it shares many of its properties.
It is a rich but non-greasy emollient which is commonly use in face care treatments and pre-shampoo conditioners.

For the last four weeks, I have been adding my latest finding to my usual Shea Butter & EVOO deep conditioner mix with a tea spoon of virgin coconut oil . The results have been more than positive. My locks have been shinier and softer.

As this carrier oil can be used as a make-up remover, I have decided to give it a go tomorrow evening on a small area of my face (probably just below my temples as my glasses' branches might help hide any irritation that may be cause by the oil).

I will keep you posted!

Vanessa
XOXO Follow @Etanihearts

Not so hot curls!

As I've gone older, I've noticed that I am more and more reluctant to try out new things.

I've settled into some kind routine and I've become complaisant.

Whether it's regarding food, travels or clothes, I have some requirements and habits and tend to stick to them. I apply the same rule when it comes to my hair (or my daughter's). I'm not the one who will try out loads of products. Non!

I know what hairstyles suit me; doesn't matter what you may say, I will stick to what I am more comfortable with.

So, when my friend T came over to mine just as I was about to start to do some flat two-strand twists on my hair and offered to cornrow it, I was very quick to politely decline her offer. Unfortunately, T is one of these women who do not take no for answer.

So, despite all my usual prerequisites, I let her cornrow my hair. 

To my defense, it was a Wednesday evening. I had just come back from work and still needed to bath my daughter, wash her hair since she came back from nursery with a head full of sand, get her clothes and mine ready for the next day, and finish a bloody report on Excel for work. I was trying to do my hair she was finishing her dinner.

I was exhausted and a bit relieved at the prospect to have somebody taking care of me for a change.

The plaits came out pretty nicely but I was worried about the curl pattern I would achieve, or whether or not I would achieve any because the cornrows were inverted.

I went to bed and woke up to this:

 

I wasn't sold. I quickly dashed to the bathroom to co-wash my hair and create a wash and go style as quickly as I could.

I was obviously late for work.

T, your cornrows were lovely, but from now on I will continue to stick to what I know best! Merci!

Vanessa

XOXO

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Zoe Saldana @ the 2012 Teen Choice Awards

The Avatar actress attended the 2012 Teen Choice Awards which here held yesterday at the Gibson Ampitheatre in Universal City, CA.
She vowed her public by wearing a gorgeous retro-print top and skirt ensemble from Jonathan Saunders and the 'Vampanado' satin bow sandals from Christian Louboutin.

Posing with the surf board shaped award she picked for Choice Movie Actress: Action for her work in Colombiana

What do you think of her look?

Vanessa

XOXO

Disclaimer: None of the pictures above belong to me

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Music Crush: Imany

About three weeks ago, I opened my letter box to find a suspicious package labelled with the 'La Poste' logo (French royal mail).
I inspected the padded envelope and saw that it had been sent by my dear friend Fabrice. I eagerly ripped it open and to my great surprise and joy found, wrapped in a child-size white Ralph Lauren polo shirt, the album of Imany, the Franco-Comoran singer/songwriter (the shirt was obviously for his Godchild, my daughter).

Born in France from Comoran parents, Nadia Mladjao aka Imany began her career as a model after being discovered by a fashion scout when she was 19-years-old. She spent the following 7 years in New York walking the catwalk before deciding to come back to her country of birth in 2008 to pursue her true dream: singing.


Her first album, The Shape of a Broken Heart, is filled with beautiful and soulful songs that will give you goose pumps and fill your eyes with tears every time you listen to it.

Here is my favourite song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJRniifmlDg


She is pretty good, isn't she?


Vanessa
XOXO Follow @Etanihearts

Leave my hair alone!

I need to rant! I tend not to cut around the bush and say out loud what everybody else is thinking. That doesn't always come in my favour but I've learnt not to care.
I have no problem telling people to keep their narrow-minded and critical opinions to themselves or to shove them where the sun don't shine! Well, that is to everybody else but my mother. 
At the contrary to her eldest child (me); my mum tend to keep things to heart.
Therefore, you need to be extremely careful when you say something to her; even if she is the one you has inadvertently instigated the fight.
However, this time she attacked something very dear to me: my hair.


It has been 6 months and 2 weeks since my BC and I am still rocking a TWA.
I wish my hair would grow faster but since there is not much I can do about it I've decided to enjoy this stage and simply let it be.
My mum's answer to this is: "You need to weave you hair. You cannot keep going to work looking like a village girl. People - black and white alike - will laugh at you".
What am I supposed to answer to that?


Anybody else would have received a gigantic F..K OFF from me as well as lecture on how I refuse to let society impose on me its definition of beauty.
Obviously this scenario is simply unplayable with my mum. So, I have been keeping tight-lipped.


Despite my frustration, I feel some sympathy towards her.
I strongly believe that her reaction is due to the strong and deep desire to fit in she must have felt for the majority of her life. 


My mum was born in 1956 in West Africa and came to live in France when she was 19-years-old. She endured her fair share of hardship and simply refuses to talk about the past. I don't know anything about my mum's life before she became 'mum'.
What was life really like for her and for Black immigrants in general in the late 1970s in France and in Europe?
How did they live? How did they adapt? Did they ever felt like they fitted in with White Europeans? Did they have to repress their identity? 

What happened back then for my mum to feel ashamed of her hair today?


So many questions which need answering that I sometimes wonder if the mistakes of the past will ever stop affecting our present and destroying our future...


Vanessa
XOXO



Follow @Etanihearts