Aronda the M.U.A.Hair and Makeup Artist with a fetish for Nail Polish :)

Many of you know that I used to post nail polish pics from my personal blog, Bella in the City. However, because I started this blog, now I will only post nail polish and beauty from Aronda MUA. With that being said, There are some pics that never made it to my BIC blog that I’m going to share with you today. Hope you enjoy!

NYX Cancun Pink

Sally Hansen Uptempo Plum

 I didn’t particularly like either of these colors. Of course the pink is good, but it wasn’t special you know? Every polish company around makes pink but this one is just unremarkable in my opinion. This was my first polish from NYX and I just wasn’t impressed so I’m not sure if I’ll order any more from them. As far as the Sally Hansen, I hate the brush with a passion, it puts way too much polish on at once and I just didn’t like it at all. The color was too dark, perhaps if I try it again in the winter I may like it. Who knows?

Zoya had a little contest last month where they offered 3 bottles of free nail polish to their twitter followers if they reached 5,000 followers by a certain date and time. They were successful and so was I! I was able to score 9 new bottles of polish by using the special code 3 times and therefore have many many new shades to share!

I have always admired Zoya polishes from afar but this is my first time actually owning them. I must say I am extremely impressed with the bottles, the colors, the formula, everything! They have truly made a repeat customer out of me. If you’re hesitant to try Zoya, please don’t be. They are amazing.

Zoya Raven is a soft black with radiant subtle shimmer that applied like a dream. I think this is the perfect black for my skin tone because it’s not flat and glimmers in the sun.

I tried out something a little different with this manicure that was actually inspired by Antonia Carter of the Tiny and Toya show on BET. I noticed that she wears one shiny gold minx nail sometimes with her manicures, and I think it looks super cute. So I tried something similar, but with http://images.shareapic.net/images4/014024373.jpga shiny silver pinky. And it’s not minx either, it’s Zoya Trixie, which is a super shiny shimmery silver! What do you think??

OPI released a late Summer 2009 Collection called SunBelievable last month, and I’ve been slow to get my hands on it. I actually kinda fell away from OPI as a brand because of it’s expense. I find there are other brands that are just as good without being as expensive, such as Orly and China Glaze.

However, the quality of OPI’s formula and color selection cannot be ignored by someone such as myself who claims to be a lover of all things lacquer! Since I am a cosmetology student, I have been allowed access to Professional beauty supply wholesale stores, which has allowed me to find OPI polishes at an extremely amazing price, so you will see more of them on this site.

I will admit, this is the first time I have purchased a yellow nail polish that I actually liked! Usually I think my nails just look like they’ve been in the sun too long and look crazy, but this shade is buttery smooth and I really liked it. I also got another shade from this collection as well, and will be posting it soon.

Keep Bouncing and Behaving,

Aronda MUA

Just more basic braid pics…

I must admit I’ve been going false eyelash crazy lately! From the strips to the individuals, I cannot get enough. It’s hard to believe there was a time when I was scared of them! I think I was just intimidated by the process as far as the application, and soon realized that applying both strip and individual lashes is a breeze, needing only patience, practice and a good pair of tweezers.

Since I’ve been in school, I’ve noticed that I’m becoming the makeup/lashes go to girl! Almost every day someone asks me to put a set of lashes on them, or someone asks me how I do my makeup or something along those lines. I am thankful for this, as practice is always good. I’m kinda self taught, and haven’t received formal training on applying them. I just do it how I think it will look nice and natural. I like a dramatic lash for myself, but not too dark or fake looking. I like to use the Ardell Natural Lash for individuals, but with the strips I play around much more. I’ll wear just about any strip because I think they are meant to be fun, and you can take them right off at the end of the day.

I’ve been online looking for discounted eyelash strips that I can buy in bulk, because I want to add a free strip eyelash application with every service that I do. You know, for the people who want it! It’s like a double whammy… it’s nice for the guest, and practice for me.

 I went on the mighty Ebay website, and was very happy to find that bulk eyelashes is a pretty popular item there! I found sets of 10 to 100 (pairs) of lashes from $3.75 to about $18. That’s not per pair, that’s for the whole set! Pretty amazing right? So of course I’m skeptical about the quality of 38 cent lashes. Luckily, they also had listings for single pairs of lashes, I guess so you can try them out before you go buy 100 pairs. I ordered a couple of the single lashes in a few different styles. The single lashes were about 50 cent and shipped free. Sweet.

The eyelashes ship from Hong Kong so they take forever to come, and I’ve received my first pair already. They were pretty good quality, and I will be buying many many more pairs in different styles to add on to my service. I’m excited!

Keep Bouncing and Behaving,

Aronda MUA

I have been transitioning from relaxed to natural hair for the past 11 months. It’s been a long and difficult process, which is why lately I have been keeping weaves or other types of protective styles in my hair.  It’s been a long while since I’ve worn my hair out because with the 2 drastically different textures, it’s becoming harder and harder for me to maintain a hairstyle that I will be happy with.

Nevertheless, I decided to take the weave 0ut for a few days and try my luck with my natural hair. I think the problem is that I keep trying to straighten it instead of embracing the curls because it doesn’t seem to stay straight! Just one hour after I did my hair it was a huge puff ball on my head because it had reverted to it’s previously curly state. I suppose it’s just too humid and hot for me to try to pull off a press and curl. It does look nice in the picture though, right? LOL.

I shampooed my hair with Carol’s Daughter Black Vanilla Shampoo and used the Black Vanilla Smoothie conditioner. (I love how it looks shiny even though there’s no product in it! That smoothie conditioner is AMAZING!) I blow dried and pressed my hair with a pressing comb and also the flat iron. I also gave myself about a 1/2 inch trim. (I’m trying to gradually cut the relaxed hair out.) Nice, but I think it will work better in the fall when the humidity won’t kill it in an hour!

Keep bouncing and behaving,

Aronda MUA

Strawberry Acai from Essie is one of the special edition Jello colors that I won in a contest just about a week ago. It’s a pretty bright red creme shade that applied very easily as Essie polish always does.

Those of you who know me know that I’m not too fond of red nails. I think it makes me look too grown or something.. idk. I never get compliments on red. I think it’s just too regular and people kinda expect bright or deep colors on me because that’s what I usually rock.

However, because I won this polish from Essie, I decided to wear it. I think it’s a pretty color for someone else, just not really for me. I’ve had it on for about 4 days now, and I’m glad to take it off today. I like to wear the polish for a while before I post it just to share any reactions, and I have received zero reaction from this polish.

It’s nice because it’s exclusive, and I’m proud to own it. Hopefully when we get to manicuring in school someone will want to use it b/c it’s going straight into my working nail polish stash.

Keep Bouncing and Behaving,

Aronda MUA