Wow, I haven’t done an Ask Afrobella since 2008! And wow, I was dancing around my own future in the last one I wrote.

My sincerest apologies to all of you who’ve asked questions in the interim. I’m going to rectify this ASAP, starting with a very local, very specific, very time-sensitive Ask Afrobella. This might not be the kind of post that gets a ton of comments from bellas all over the world, but this just might be crucial if you plan to visit the Magic City sometime soon.

Here goes:

Hello Afrobella,
First of all, I love love your blog. I think its fantastic. Wanted to ask your advice on the best place to get a bikini wax in Miami, I know you used to live there. I’m coming to South Beach this weekend and would love to hear your view on this and any other tips on hot places to try out, , if you have time. Thanks a lot and I hope to hear back from you.

Sincerely,
A

You came to the right person, A! Not only do I blog here at Afrobella, but I have a beauty blog for the Miami New Times, Patrice’s Pretty in the City. The plan is for me to do Patrice’s Pretty in the City until I move to Chicago in April or May. So if you’re visiting the 305 and need a spa recommendation or head’s up on a locally made product, I’m your girl until then!

Miami’s quite a wax-happy city so there’s likely to be a perfectly good place near you, wherever you stay. But my time here has led me to have some favorite places, and some hell-no-please-don’t-go places. Let me guide you to a place that won’t leave you feeling like the bikini wax kitteh you see above.

Click the links to see more detailed reviews about any of these Miami-area day spas and wax centers, and remember these are all personal-experience spa reviews. So I hope your experience turns out to be as great as mine in the places I recommend!

If you’re staying on South Beach, I recommend you visit Lace Nail Lab or Lace Beauty Lab. This place is beautiful, modern, luxurious, fun… everything you want SoBe to be. It’s very pink, very girlie, and they offer all kinds of services from manis to makeup to yes, maintaining the love below.

In my honest opinion, one of the best places you can go to is in Coconut Grove. Wax On, Wax Off is probably my favorite wax joint in the city. And this isn’t just because of their bangin’ selection of earrings available for sale, or their complimentary mimosas. Those help too, though! The gals at Wax On, Wax Off are super professional and super friendly (without being TOO friendly, as some waxers can be if you know what I mean. Heyo!). And the prices won’t hurt a bit either.

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Got any plans this weekend?

On Saturday I’ll be attending the Macy’s third Women of Color Makeup Event at Aventura Mall! It starts at 11 a.m., ends at 7 p.m., and there are presentations by famous makeup artists like Patrece Williams and fabulous afrofella Damone Roberts, AKA the Eyebrow King. And I’m totally getting a minifacial at the Goldfaden counter, and doing some interviews. If you see me, don’t be afraid to say hi!

And while I’m at it — another question. I have the opportunity to perhaps have my very first Afrobella event sometime in March before my big move to Chicago. So if I threw a party, and invited everyone I knew… how many of you would be down to attend? I’m thinking a fun in-store event, maybe mini-mani-pedis if possible, drinks, snacks, and just fun to meet as many bellas as possible! Who’s down? Let me know! Your feedback will determine if I do this event here, or if I wait to move to Chicago.

On my last 50 Million Pound Challenge post, I got called out in the comments by a friend who has known me for years. Shout out to E-Fresh for always keeping it real! Like everyone else, I hate admitting when someone is right, but le sigh…it’s true.

Whenever I try to lose weight, I lock down on my dietary intake. I’d rather eat only a certain food item, or starve myself, than work up a sweat.

I need to exercise.

According to Dr. Ian, I should be getting in an hour every day. To say I fall short of that is understatement of the year. And I’ve got every excuse in the book why I can’t work out. But not anymore — I’m tackling them head on! Here are my top three excuses, and reasons why they are no longer valid.

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The Things I Wish I Knew Before I Went Natural post was one of my favorites this month — so many of you have great reasons to love wearing your hair as free as you want to be! You got me thinking about some more quirky, superficial reasons, and here’s a good one.

Not just everyone can wear a fabulous headband. It can be too much look for straight haired-bellas, depending on the style. But a big, bold headband always looks striking with natural hair. Try it and see — pull back your fro, your kinks, your curls, your twists, or your locs with a wide headband and know you’re working an accessory not everyone can. Here are some of my favorites, as recently seen on my favorite source for handcrafted everything. Etsy!

When I move to a colder clime — which will be soon — I’ll need headwear to keep my hair protected and my ears warm. Angel’s Purple Pantry is full of chunky, knitted headband/ear warmers with adorable flowers on them. I love the fact that the flower is detachable — so you can be extra girly or just pulled back, elegant, and toasty.

For head wraps and scarves with true afrocentric flair, check out the beautiful hair accessories of Wasijuru. I would rock the hell out of this wide iridescent jade hair scarf, and I know I’m not the only bella who’s digging her style!

I love how she rocks the reversible poison ivy hair scarf, with a bang of pretty twists. Gorgeous and distinctive. And six dollars!
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Did you watch the Academy Awards this weekend? I live tweeted the whole thing, but still I want to shine a light on the beautiful bellas walking the red carpet. This was quite a year for black actresses at the Oscars!

First of all, Taraji P. Henson absolutely took my breath away in her Roberto Cavalli gown. Her skin tone glowed in that glorious dress, and her necklace! So up my alley. Just Jared revealed a closer shot of her vintage-style diamond necklace. Gorgeous. Couple that with the sleek, asymmetrical hairstyle, and she was a total showstopper.

As BellaSugar points out, her look is very fresh, soft, and pretty, but with a fierce modern look thanks to that smoldering smokey eye. To achieve the look yourself, I just gotta shout out the Benefit Smokin’ Eyes kit once more, and that bronzy deep peach cheek reminds me very much of PUR Minerals pressed mineral blush in Burnished Bronze. Which is a GREAT shade for accenting deep brown skin.

Can we talk about Miss Viola Davis? She was a vision in a gold Reem Acra gown. Or at least I thought so — apparently the idiots on E’s Fashion Police disagreed and called it “too Motown.” Whatever the hell THAT’s supposed to mean. The fabulous Project Rungay gave her kudos on the fit of the gown, and I agree — she looked incredibly luminous and happy.

Bellasugar pointed out her gold eyeshadow and raspberry lip, and gasp — a reader noticed that her foundation is a tad too light and not blended to match her neck. That’s happened to me often with mineral makeup, so I feel her pain. And I gotta say, for a glorious golden eye, I still love love LOVE b.l.a.c minerals. Don’t sleep on their Carnival mineral eye pigment, and for a berry lip that lasts all night, you could do no better than Valana Minerals Berry Bliss. This lipstick glides on and lingers like a lipstain. And yo, the sample sets for $5.99 are a GREAT deal that last for a while.

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I couldn’t make it to this month’s New York Fashion Week, and reading the resports and reviewers from my beauty blog friends did make me turn an unflattering shade of green, I must admit. Turns out my jealousy might just have matched one of the hot beauty trends my blog sisters spotted at the tents and presentations!

Because I couldn’t be there, I asked one of my very favorite beauty bloggers in the biz, Lianne the Makeup Girl! She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the outside, let me tell you. And she’s a busy beauty indeed — Lianne is not only holding down her own amazing blog, but now she’s part of the Clutch Magazine team, blogging beauty stuff on Fuchsia. Go ‘head Lianne!

These are the 5 biggest trends that she noticed overall at NYFW this year (in italics), and my recommendations on products I’ve tried that I know will help you achieve those hot looks!

1. Sheer natural makeup. Nearly every show that I went where MAC was doing the makeup, they used moisturizer or mixing mediums with foundation to sheer it out. OR they used mineralize skinfinish in natural and no foundation at all.

Click here to peep video of Lianne interviewing Phillipe C. of MAC, who produced the tres sheer look at Alexandre Herchovitch’s show. And of course everyone loves MAC, but I gotta say Make Up For Ever’s HD Invisible Cover Foundation has been rocking my world lately. It’s light, oil free, and really does what it says — “harmonizes the complexion” for those days when you want to look effortlessly flawless.

2. Eye shadow that mimics the colors of a forest. Lots of greens, golds and browns.

Ooh, I LOVE this trend! Forest-colored eyeshadows can make brown eyes pop, and the colors glow on warm, dark skin tones. I recently created a similar look with Natura New York Cosmetics.

I had never heard of this brand until recently, when I was literally pulled into the store at The Falls mall here in Miami. I’m glad I was — their mineral eye shimmer is amazing!. For a forest-inspired look, I definitely recommend bronzique and pistachio. Both shades are glimmery and iridescent and glint gorgeously on warm brown skin. Every single time I wear pistachio, I get crazy compliments.

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