I Vant to Suck Your...Lipgloss?

Hello fangbangers,
Let it be known that I did not jump on anybody's Twilight bandwagon, I've ALWAYS been fascinated by los bloodsuckers. I heart them all, from Bram Stoker's Dracula (I favor Gary Oldman's upside-down-butt-hairdo version..."I am DRACUUUHHHL!") and the doomed residents of Salem's Lot, to the Lost Boys and the Buffy/Angel/Spike triangle. Yes, girls, I am a vampire OG. So allow me a fangirl moment. DID YOU SEE TRUE BLOOD LAST NIGHT? Me, Devon/Brownie and Lauren had a True Blood marathon last night (I'd missed the last two eps), and we were dying. Vampires are just so sexy, so verboten, so chic. I mean, if Eric and Edward Cullen were in a sexy-off, I just don't even know who would win (actually, yes I do). Oh, and do you think if I dressed as Maryann for Halloween that anyone would get it?


You can imagine my delight when I discovered that one of my favorite brands, DuWop, just debuted their limited-edition DuWop Twilight Lip Venom ($16). If you aren't familiar, Lip Venom is the brand's wildly popular, super-zingy lip-plumping gloss...and this new Twilight version is spiked with a shot of twinkly, bloodred lipstain that looks appropriately vampy on all skintones! Nothing like sexy-swollen, crimson-stained lips right? Wear it alone for a just-bitten moment, or add a layer of clear gloss for a high-wattage gleam. Fangtastic!
xoxo,
Tia

Recessionista Eye Makeup Remover

Hey ladies,
Thanks so much for your tremendous response to the Pantene Moisture Renewal Collection ($28 value) Giveaway! As promised, I randomly picked five winners, each of whom will receive an entire years' worth of Pantene Moisture Renewal products, including the Shampoo, 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner, Rinse-Off Treatment and Conditioner. Here are the lucky five: Kiki, Mary007, Cherice, STL Blaque Femme Lesbian (honey, I need to meet you), and Fairelaine! Woo-oo, let's hear it for 'em, girls! Winners, please shoot me an email with your mailing address at beauty@tiawilliams.net. If you haven't responded by next Tuesday, I'll have to give the prize to another fabulous SYB Babes, so get on it!

Okay, onto le beaute...


I usually don't leave my house without mascara, so eye makeup remover is very important to me. My all-time, been-using-it-forever-and-ever favorite is Lancome Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Makeup Remover ($26). As you know, I've tried EVERYTHING, and this is simply the best remover on the market. The dual-phased formula is equal-parts skin conditioner and makeup remover, so you give it a little shake before applying. This stuff erases my entire eye moment--including mascara--in ONE SWIPE (let me tell you, this is a plus when it's 2am and you're half-asleep and two seconds away from passing out with your makeup on despite knowing that this violates about seven different beauty rules). The best part, though, is that it moisturizes the delicate skin around my eyes--so much so, that I don't even need undereye cream. Love a double-duty product.


Here's the fun part. These days, I'm not quite excited about dropping nearly $30 on eye makeup remover. So, I've been searching high and low for some cheap-but-effective version of my Lancome Fabulousness. Guess what? I found it! CVS Moisturizing Eye Makeup Remover Pads ($3.99) do the EXACT SAME THING as the Lancome formula! And I don't have to bother with cotton balls! One pad takes care of both eyes, and it leaves behind a gentle, non-greasy moisturizer. All for the price of a Happy Meal. Not that I ever eat those.

Love you,
T

One of Essence.com's Top Beauty Bloggers Loves Your Hair

Hey y'all,
Two things:

One, Essence.com named me one of the top four beauty bloggers in all of online-dom! Happy birthday to me!!

Two, did anyone see the NY Times article called "Skin Deep: Black Hair, Still Tangled in Politics? (I mean, zzzz, are we still talking about this?). Dying to know your thoughts! Do you think this story a non-story in this day and age, or do you land heavily on one side of the permed/natural debate? And here's the deep question: Since the good/bad hair convo and all it's sinister implications are still so unresolved within our culture, do you kind of feel like maybe it should remain ours (ie, not be called out in the NY Times, inviting all kinds of speculation from folks who didn't even know it was an issue?). And what did you think of Malia's twists in Rome?

Drop me a line,
Tia Pet

MAJOR Pantene Giveaway: A Year's Worth of Products!!

Hi ladies,
Huge news!! The lovely, generous gals at Pantene have agreed to give away A YEAR'S WORTH of product to five lucky SYB Babes! I mean, what better gift in this economy? The mega-haircare brand is gifting my girls with Pantene Moisture Renewal Collection ($28 value), which includes the Shampoo, 2-in-1 Shampoo & Conditioner, Rinse-Off Treatment and Conditioner. I've tried them all, and I assure you, my hair is very, very grateful. Since black girls have naturally dry hair--especially when we relax it, color it, and use every heat appliance under the sun--we need to use hair products loaded with hydrating ingredients. Pantene's Moisture Renewal Collection is The Answer. Plus, the products bathe every strand in nutrients while also preventing breakage and frizz before it starts, so you hair looks it's glossy, super-soft best.

Okay, now onto the deets of the giveaway! Read the SYB trivia question below and leave your answer in the "comments" section. Then, I'll RANDOMLY choose five winners out of the SYB Babes who give the correct answer. The winners will be announced on Friday! Good luck, sweetpeas...
xoxo,
Tia

SYB TRIVIA QUESTION:
In a Spring '06 post, I wrote about a comedy team that gets on my last nerve. Who was it?

Golden Girl

Hola mis ninas,
Okay, so I've been depressed lately. And not just because Blogger.com kept me from you for, like, almost a month. No, it's this damn economy. Right? I mean, when is it all gonna end? I HATE feeling poor (notice I said "feeling" poor. Still don't want to admit that it's more than a feeling). So, over the weekend, I did the most nonsensical thing you can do when you're feeling poor. I spent money! With reckless abandon! I don't know, I feel like some splurging here and there is healthy...as long as you don't go overboard, and don't make it a habit. In any event, it made me feel sooo much better. Wanna know what I bought? Obviously, it was a hair product. The beauty industry has been all a-twitter about Oribe 24K Gold Pomade ($49), and since I loathe being left out of the conversation, I bought it. Some backstory: Oribe is a beyond-famous editorial and celebrity hairstylist responsible for sexing-up the strands of goddesses like Naomi, Penelope and J to the Lo. His signature look has always been high-wattage glamour, so it makes sense that he'd be the one to create a fancier-than-fancy pomade spiked with 14-karat gold flecks! I just love to LOOK at it--the rich, metallic lushness is so yummy (reminds me of that 80s colored mousse from Pizazz). Slick just an itty-bitty schmear on wet or dry hair for a brilliant, luminous sheen--and don't worry, the gilded glimmer is very subtle (just make sure you use sparingly; it's super-concentrated and a little goes a long way). Forget therapy...in these drab, no-money-having days, a touch of Dominique Devereax sparkle is an instant spirit-lifter! And every time you glance at the glitzy-glam container perched atop your vanity, you'll feel rich.
xoxo,
Tia

Purple Post

Hey lover,
I'M SO FRUSTRATED. I've been trying to post for two weeks now, but the folks at Blogger.com are being little shits (HELLO? Get a help desk!!). So, this post is way overdue and now totally outdated, but since it involves my BF, I had to share:


If you know anything about me, you know I am a devoted disciple of Prince. DEVOTED. I once got into an altercation with a fancy Frenchman who thought he was a bigger fan, so I was forced to show him my unfortunate "tramp stamp" tattoo of the face with the purple tear from Purple Rain (he trumped me when he put his custom Air Force Ones on the table and showed me the tiny Prince symbols lining the soles). In any event, I was beside myself when Purple Rain came to my neighborhood on August 6th! The Celebrate Brooklyn" folks hosted a huge Purple Rain singalong in Prospect Park"--they showed the movie on a huge outdoor screen while a band played along with the songs and the enormous crowd went, literally, crazy. It was THRILLING. I felt like I was actually at the '84 Purple Rain world tour...the one that I was, at 9 years old, forbidden to attend. Thousands of like-minded Darling Whomevers of every race, color, and sexual persuasion were screaming and singing, and dressed in every shade of purple imaginable, and waving lighters, and weeping (oh wait, that was me). And being me, I theme-dressed. There I am in the pic, squealing with my cousin Annie! I wore my favorite Prince tee, got a purple pedicure, and wore 80s-style striped violet-and-plum eyeshadow (easier said than done...it's a challenge to create a puce-colored eye without looking like somebody knocked you out).

I used a fabulous eyeshadow, MAC's Mineralize Eye Shadow Quad in Eccentricity ($18.50) from their brand-new Color Craft Collection. The palette comes with four intensely pigmented, slightly metallic shades, including a searing gold, twinkly violet, deep bronze and shocking plum. I wore the violet on my lid, plum in the crease, and gold along the browbone. I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but the combo totally worked. And as for my toes, I've been hell-and-gone obsessed with neon nail polish this summer, so when I decided to go for purple, I chose Essie Polish in Perky Purple ($8), a kick-ass, electric violet hue from their new Neon Collection. Love, love, love.
May U Live 2 See The Dawn,
Your Tia

Black Girls Rule

Hey ladies,
I'm still reeling from the untimely passing of trailblazing black model Naomi Sims on August 1st. She died of cancer at a mere 61--so sad! The fashion world has truly suffered a profound loss. A little about the woman widely regarded to be the first black supermodel: At 18, Pittsburgh-born Sims came to NYC to attend FIT, but ended up stalking catwalks for Halston and making serious fashion history by landing the cover of Ladies Home Journal in 1968 (the first black model ever to make the cover of a mainstream women's magazine). She also graced the covers of Cosmo and Life, where she appeared next to the headline "Black Models Take Center Stage" (this is 1969, people...major news). In 1973, after breaking all kinds of boundaries and blowing all kinds of minds, Naomi retired from modeling and launched her enormously successful line of wigs and cosmetics for black women. The woman was an original, a trailblazer, and she will definitely be missed something terrible.


And speaking of fashion trailblazers, this month marks the 35th anniversary of Beverly Johnson's blindingly gorgeous, historic Vogue cover! Check out my sister Lauren's interview with the legendary model on AOL Black Voices. Such a coup, Laur!
xoxo,
Tia

PS...Obsessed with the history of black models? Allow me to recommend one of my favorite coffee table books of all time, SKIN DEEP: INSIDE THE WORLD OF BLACK FASHION MODELS by Barbara Summers. It's a total classic. It's also totally out of print, but you can buy it used on Amazon.com for as low as $3.

Losing my marbles...

Hey chicas,
I like to think of myself as a sophisticated beauty consumer. I mean, when I started working in the beauty industry, I knew exactly two people with cell phones. That's how long ago it was. I've been doing this forever, folks. I've seen a zillion products come and go, like the wind. I should be jaded, right? It should take a lot more than cute hook to turn my head. But lady, when I saw MAC's new Marbleized Lipglass collection ($18 each), I wanted to pour them all out into a bathtub and roll around naked in the rich, swirly, candy-colored lusciousness of it all. I mean, YUM. I didn't even care what they looked like on my lips, I just had an immediate and visceral need to OWN. THEM. ALL. I suppose that's how boys of my generation felt about Transformers? In any event, I think these new glosses are fun, fun, fun. Bonus: They look gorgeous on, too (Miss Marple, the muted pink one, is mi favorito). Get 'em fast, ladies...these babies are limited edition! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to take a dip in my gloss-bath...
Bravo MAC,
Tia