Bellas, I am so tardy to the Melanie Fiona party!

I’ve been watching this beautiful young singer on the rise, but I guess I wasn’t paying close enough attention. All of a sudden, my mind connected the dots. The chick I’d seen on VH1 Soul with Questlove, was the vocalist behind that version of Sam Cooke’s Cupid that I heard at Starbucks! And the same artist I’d been reading about on Soulbounce forever! OH! This is Melanie Fiona!

It took me a while, but now I’m head over heels for her sound and her style.

Melanie Fiona hails from Toronto, but — according to Wikipedia – has parents from Guyana. Which perhaps explains the Caribbean influence that comes through loud and clear in her Subway Series. In this awesome clip, she performs her songs “Sad Songs,” “Please Don’t Go” and “Bang Bang” on the streets and in the subway stations of New York City.

So. Amazing. The sounds of steelpan gave me chills – such an amazing and underused instrument.

Melanie’s album, The Bridge, is available for sale right now. Show a real singer some love, if you’re feeling this!

The Artist’s Summit Chicago was jampacked with all kinds of goodies from the world of makeup and beauty. Some brands I was already well familiar with. Others, I was happy to get to know better. And as luck would have it, I was introduced to a skincare brand I’d been wanting to check out for a while — Mario Badescu.

I got lucky — by visiting their booth at the Artist’s Summit, I was able to get a skincare analysis by the lovely lady representing the brand. She gave me specific products to deal with my skincare issues, and I’m gonna review them all for you!
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Someone asked me the other day, “Bella, what’s up with you and all these giveaways?”

I just LOVE doing them. Part of being an online editor or blogger is learning about, and often getting the opportunity to review all of these amazing products. Offering a giveaway to my readers gives me a chance to spread joy. Please know that I do my best to review the products I personally use and respect the quality of. In turn, it brings me joy to hear back from you when you’ve won something here. Just recently I got awesome e mails from the winners of my Peace Images earring giveaway, and the Sarenzo Beads headband giveaways, complete with photos of them rocking their prizes. I can’t tell you how happy that made me!

I hope you enjoy the giveaways as much as I do, and even if you don’t win this one, keep commenting. Don’t give up – someday it’ll be your turn!

The winner of the Q-Tips giveaway is #50 – Kami. Congrats!!

And like I said, if you didn’t win – best of luck with the next one. I’ve got an AMAZING holiday season jam packed with giveaways, including my biggest giveaway EVER, so keep entering!

If you visited Newsweek.com’s Human Condition blog today, you may have been greeted by this beautiful photo of two bright eyed, big haired girls. Those adorable little afrobellas are my nieces. Dominique and Isabella! And the article was my response to the latest rebuttal by Allison Samuels.

Hey response to the bloggers, if you will, was titled We Are All Team Zahara, and reignited ire throughout the blogosphere.

One of my favorite bloggers, Latoya Peterson tackled the Baby Z hair police head on in Jezebel. (LOVING all Latoya’s work over there, BTW).

Post Bourgie cosigned Latoya’s take, and Ta-Nehisi Coates took on the topic for The Atlantic.

Then Newsweek invited some bloggers to respond on their site.

Tami of What Tami Said wrote Natural Hair Is Not Unhealthy.

Author Roslyn Holcolmb who blogs at Stormcrow wrote Hair Don’ts Hold Us Back.

Nichelle of 55 Secret Street wrote Its Time To Fully Embrace Natural Hair.

And now you can click here to read my final thoughts about Zahara’s hair. If you could leave a comment on Newsweek’s site, it’d mean so much to me!

I hope that puts an end to these shenanigans, at least until the next trip to a toy store, where this little girl will emerge held by her mother, and surrounded by bodyguards, gawking onlookers, and photographers by the dozen.

If you’ve got a little girl in your life dealing with similar hair issues as Zahara Jolie Pitt and even Chris Rock’s little girls — struggling with loving their hair in its unfettered state and appreciating their natural beauty — you might want to get them an inspiring book for Christmas. Of course there’s I Love My Hair by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley, the sometimes controversial Nappy Hair by Carolivia Herron, and Happy to Be Nappy by bell hooks. Now you can add I Love My Cotton Candy Hair by Nicole L. Updegraff to the list. The book takes into account the diverse background of a modern interracial family, the hair issues of biracial kids, and ultimately it’s “a story about loving yourself just the way you are.” A message any kid (and most adults) should be able to get behind.

This Columbus Day Weekend, Chicago was the place to be. If you love makeup and beauty the way that I do, it was a weekend to treasure. The Powder Group rolled into town for the Artist Summit — a veritable who’s who of makeup artists, brands, and professionals in the field. And we kicked things off with a bang!

Together with the fabulous Lianne Farbes (AKA The Makeup Girl) and Erin Scandalous, I hosted the Drugstore Divas Blogger Mixer. We had a blast! So much so that we completely forgot to take photos, and I only have two. D’oh!

Here’s me with Lianne and our fabulous sign at the front of the J Bar at the James Hotel!

Like my outfit? Vintage long sleeved sweater dress by Silhouettes that I bought at the incredible Redress NYC, belt by Torrid, octopus necklace from Etsy, Payless boots, and tights by Stone Fox — available online at MyHosieryStore.com. (Review to come on this amazing hosiery company soon!)

And here I am with gorgeous ladies Rashida B (that’s right! Of BeautySchooled and The B Spot and of that eyebrow interview from a while back) and Contessa Gibson. Love her!

We had a great turnout, gave out some GREAT giftbags, and had a blast with Twitter friends, makeup artists, and fans of our blogs – twas AWESOME. Thank you so much to Suave, Sunsilk, Degree, Vaseline, and Carol’s Daughter for contributing to an amazing night!

The next day was the summit itself, and I got there later than I wanted to. (Blame that on the lychee martinis!)
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Happy Halloween, everyone!

My days of dressing up just might be over, but that doesn’t mean I won’t be enjoying the candy! I’m gonna wait till tomorrow, and catch the sales at the drugstore!

Halloween has become so much more commercial since I was a little one. Back in the day, your mama might make you a witch costume. That was it. But now there are so many awesome adults and children’s costumes on sale, you can be absolutely anything you want without having to make anything at all!

I absolutely adore the Princess Tiana costume available at the Disney Store, HOW CUTE is that? But for $89.50 in this economy… Disney gets the c’mon, son.

I am sure some enterprising bellas can sew their daughters up a replica. And at least there’s the Princess Tiana veil and shoes that dare I say, are cute enough to wear to other occasions? If your little bella just can’t get enough of The Princess and the Frog, the Carol’s Daughter Magical Beauty Collection will be pre-sold online Monday, 11/2. You’ve still got time to place a pre-order, but they’re going fast!

Are you dressing up this year? Or taking your kids out in costume? However you celebrate, I hope your Halloween is sweet!