Beauty Unbiased

It is very rare that I have someone else write for Beauty Unbiased, but when my friend @SoVeryAshleigh and I started talking about Rihanna's attention grabbing hair at the American Music Awards, two things became obvious: 1. the subject was an important conversation to have, and 2. I  needed more education about the cultural significance and even explanation of Rihanna's hairstyle. Ashleigh agreed to share the five reasons why she thinks RiRi's hair is relevant and fantastic with us.  Photo from eonline.com Guest Post By: Ashleigh Washington,  @SoVeryAshleigh There is not a whole lot to be said about last night's American Music Awards, but one of the most memorable and relevant subjects is Rihanna's seemingly unusual, hair -- pinned, adorned, slicked down hairstyle, better know as a "doobie". The moment she appeared on the stage to accept the first-ever American Music Awards Icon Award, me and my friends gasped and applauded, simultaneously confu

Not to be the bearer of bad news, but I hereby declare that it is officially time to switch up your skincare routine for winter. Don't worry, it is a lot easier to do than you think, I promise. Pull up your Twitter account and get cozy with  Nivea  and me to talk all about moisturizing in the colder months at our  Twitter Party on November 20, 2013 at 2pm EDT . Join the conversation on Twitter by following me at @BeautyUnbiased, Nivea at @NIVEAUSA  and using the hashtag #ExtendedMoisture . Not only do I have a few of my own favorite winter skincare tricks to share, but I'd also love to hear how you keep your skin looking and feeling good in the colder months. I'll be giving away Nivea's 48 Hour Extended Moisture Lotion  to select participants and announcing the winners right here on Beauty Unbiased so get your winter skincare questions and tips ready.

Spending the weekend at my sister's house usually means I have an audience for when I'm putting on my makeup: my four and six year old nieces. They are the best audience members to have, truly curious and engaged in the subject matter, wondering about every little detail and not afraid to ask. Their father now blames me for their intense interest in lipstick, which I think is nonsense because I rarely wear lipstick on weekends I spend with my family. This past weekend, my four year old niece was particularly curious about why I was tweezing my eyebrows. After giving careful instructions to her about eyebrow tweezing being ONLY for adults, kids should never try it on their own (which hopefully she sees more as a cautionary warning than a challenge), her questions had me thinking. "Does it hurt?" Yes, actually. Yes it does.  "Then why are you doing that?" Uhhh... Uncertain of how to explain why I need to painfully pull hair from my sensitive eye area

Project Runway has long been a favorite reality show guilty pleasure of mine. While I have fallen behind on the past few seasons, this season's Project Runway All Stars has me back on track to feeling like I actually know what I'm talking about when criticizing a designer's stitching and hemline. Another reason for my renewed interest in Project Runway, besides my favorites All Stars returning, is watching haircare brand Alterna create their own hairstyle designs for the models showing off the work of All Stars. Alterna Haircare will be sharing the steps to recreate their creative hair designs with us all season. Instructions for your next cocktail party hairstyle below.     This week's look: a sleek, slicked back elastic-less ponytail that played off of Viktor Luna's winning cocktail dress design. There is certainly a boldness to the "wet hair, don't care" and the strategically placed cut-outs on the dress. It's rare that I would call a c

Designer Cynthia Rowley announced today that her brand will expand into the world of beauty with the launch of her three-piece cosmetic collection exclusively on Birchbox . “We decided to enter the beauty market through the successful online medium we used to launch eyewear this past summer, it disrupts the traditional beauty distribution model and engages our customers,” explains Cynthia Rowley on why she partnered with Birchbox for her beauty line. The Cynthia Rowley Beauty Exclusive Launch Collection includes packaging that makes the three products that were created to meet customer's needs of "long-lasting and easy to use" look more like works of art than makeup. The limited edition No. 1 Eye Shadow Palette , which includes five shades, inspired by hues used in the designer's ready to wear collection is a versatile eyeshadow palette with fall inspired plum tones including Clove, Sugarplum, Patina, Mink, and Champagne. Next in the collection is the precis