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!)

I got there just in time for the blogger’s panel, featuring Lianne, Felicia of This That Beauty, Christina Farrell of The Makeup Blogger. Their panel was informative and engaging. GREAT lessons for up and coming bloggers.

I spent most of my time wandering in and out of sessions, meeting makeup artists, and checking out the amazing brands on the main floor. That’s Koren Zander of Enkore Beauty during his presentation. I LOVED watching him, and have learned so much from his YouTube videos!

I got to meet the creators of OCC Cosmetics, David Klasfeld and Katie Pelligrino. Katie chatted with me about the infamous Lip Tar and the shades to come in the future. YAY me! I scored lip tars in two colors I ADORE — Vintage, a deep wine-tinged burgundy, and Safety Orange which is exactly what it sounds like.

I’m wearing Safety Orange in the photo here with my girl Erin Scandalous!

One of the biggest booths at the Artist Summit was Inglot Cosmetics — their website is still under construction but believe me when I tell you, the variety and quality of their products – DAZZLING. And behind the counter I met Mr. Divo, who was repping Inglot and looking like a male model all the while. Mr. Divo was such a sweetheart!

The crew at Make Up For Ever were so friendly, and they kindly helped to explain how I should use the Flash Colors — more to come on this soon!

I was lucky enough to meet one of the owners of Chicago’s own Ruby Room – this wellness center promises to do more than just pamper your body, they recharge your spirit with positive energy. I am DYING to go!

I had a blast at the Artist’s Summit, and look out for a special review of another brand I discovered at the event. If you’re a makeup fiend and The Powder Group comes to your town, DON’T HESITATE! Get tickets ASAP, because their events are WELL worth attending!

Related posts:

1. It’s a Drugstore Diva Party!!
2. Weekend Love
3. Weekend Rewind — Louis Armstrong’s Other Artistry

Can I be real with y’all? I’m kinda sick of Chris Rock’s Good Hair. Raise your hand if you’re with me.

The endless media tour. The premature outrage. The trailer, which showed all of the docucomedy’s best clips. To paraphrase Chris Rock himself, I’m tired, tired, tired of Good Hair.

So I’m gonna conclude writing about it once and for all with this review.

I hate going into a movie when I already know too much about it. And I already knew WAY too much about Good Hair. And to be honest, I didn’t quite understand the controversy and call for boycotting the film. As I said in the Black Voices podcast: it’s important to remember who’s making this movie. It’s Chris Rock, the man who brought us Pootie Tang! The comedian who continually courts controversy. What did we REALLY expect from Chris Rock besides comedy? Social commentary? A historical perspective? Sorry — wrong filmmaker. Wrong film. For more informed views on black hair, see some of the documentaries I mentioned in my previous post, Before Chris Rock’s Good Hair.

As a comedy, Good Hair delivers. There were scenes and one-liners that were laugh out loud funny. Some scenes brought back painful memories of my own burning scalp. And there were scenes that caused my throat to tighten up and tears to well in my eyes. One particular scene, where a three-year-old girl explains that she has her hair relaxed “because we’re supposed to,” particularly ached to watch.

If there’s one thing Rock does well, it’s underscore the point that kiddie perm is an unnecessary evil. There are a few points where you can see true concern and consideration on Rock’s face as he interviews the subjects in this docucomedy, and whenever he touches on this particular topic — that little children in our community are taught that their own hair texture isn’t beautiful the way it is, and are conditioned to crave chemical relaxers from such a tender age — you can see the ache in his eyes. It’s in moments like that where you can see his genuine motivation in making this film.

I believe the power of scenes like that are undercut by the barbershop scene, where a group of black men cackle wildly while confessing that they feel a level of intimacy with white women because they can run their fingers through their hair.

The audience at my screening of Good Hair wasn’t the target demographic. The theater was in a “white” neighborhood, and there were few people present — I’d estimate 10, tops, and I seemed to be the only woman of color there. So when laughter rang out in the crowd, it was easy to tell who was laughing, and it was interesting to see what the audience laughed at. It sometimes underscored what frustrated women were telling Rock when he appeared on Oprah to promote this film for the second time. When the Caucasian couple sitting behind me burst out laughing at the scene in the relaxer factory, I wondered if this is what the upset black woman in Oprah’s audience meant when she admonished Chris Rock for “telling our secrets.”

If I had to do it over again, I’d probably have waited to see Good Hair when it makes its inevitable debut on HBO. It was amusing and interesting, but I didn’t learn anything I didn’t already know. I have to agree with The Hotness Grrrl on this point — if you must be mad at Good Hair, be mad that Chris Rock’s wife, Malaak, didn’t appear in the film. I was perplexed by that, especially since so many celebrities gave on-camera interviews about their weaves, and the whole point of the film was that Rock’s own daughters had negative feelings about their natural hair texture. That would have made Rock’s film a little more interesting, but would have probably made his home life a lot more uncomfortable.

In general, Good Hair is worth seeing. The underlying message of the film, “the stuff on top of your head is not as important as what’s inside your head,” resonates. Will this film make anyone stop and ask themselves – why do we use sodium hydroxide to alter the texture of our hair? Will we ever truly believe, as Kari Cobham’s Daytona Beach news article states, that “good hair is healthy hair, regardless of texture”? That remains to be seen.

Did you see Good Hair? What do you think? Was it worth the price of the movie ticket, or not?

Related posts:

1. Oprah And Good Hair
2. Good Hair, According to Chris Rock
3. The New York Times on Black Hair

Precious. You need to go see it.

I tend to avoid sad movies, which is a shame and something I’m trying to change. There’s so much to be learned from movies that bring you down, and often so little to be gained from movies that are pure escapism. I’d always justify it by saying: I watch the news, and that’s sad enough.

But Precious is the kind of film that needs our support. It’s a film that reveals a slice of American life that we too often close our eyes to. Because we don’t want to see.

All of the rumors about Precious are true. It’s unbearably sad. At times it’s hard to watch. If you’ve read Push by Sapphire — upon which this film is based — you already know that.

What you may not know about the film — Mariah Carey is GREAT in it. Lenny Kravitz is unexpected and WONDERFUL. Paula Patton is awesome. And Mo’Nique? Deserves an Academy Award. Seriously. She. Is. That. Good. Scarier than any horror movie villain. Uncomfortably intense. She is broken and damaged and frightening and so, so real.

I don’t know where Mo’Nique found the inspiration for her character. You can see the passion and fury in her eyes, this came from the depths of her soul. And the film’s star — Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe — I honestly hope she doesn’t get typecast by this role. Because she is so incredibly convincing as Precious, that I can understand why she’s giving interviews explaining — “I’m actually not her.”

Gabby Sidibe isn’t Precious, but for sure there are Precious girls out there. I see them every day, here in Chicago. They’re the girls standing in the background while the news anchor reports about yet another murder in their neighborhood. They’re the girls fidgeting anxiously while sitting on the el, or the bus. They’re the girls who are typically shouldering the burdens of poverty in the shadows, while the boys get put in the uncomfortable spotlight. They are the girls who are raising the next generation.

I saw this movie with two of my Twitter friends, LuvvieIG of Awesomely Luvvie and Luvv Divine and Obabreezie. After the film we couldn’t stop talking about it. Precious is an amazing film, a story of redemption that cries out to be seen…but in a small, selfish way you almost don’t want other people to see it. It’s such an ugly slice of reality, you want to keep it hidden. But people NEED to see this movie. I hope it’s shown in schools. I hope the people who need to see this movie, see this movie.

As raw and real and painful as it is, Precious is uplifting. And important. We can’t let movies like this come and go without making some noise at the box office. Because there are many, many more stories like Precious, that need to be told.

** edited Wednesday 3 p.m. — Today the New York Times ran a FASCINATING interview with director Lee Daniels about this film. Click here to read it. If you saw the drama that arose in the comments below, this interview can help to shed light on where the director was coming from in telling this story.

Related posts:

1. Oprah On Gabby
2. My Precious
3. Vanity Fair: The Beauty of Low Expectations