Alicia Keys No Makeup Movement at The VMAS

Why Was It So Important That Alicia Keys and Alessia Cara Didn’t Wear Makeup To MTV’s Major Award Show?

Historically speaking, there is nothing more powerful than making a pop culture statement while attending MTV’s VMA red carpet, right? Whether showing up in a meat dress, using a foam finger as an erotic prop, or swapping spit with an iconic songstress, using the youthful platform to bring attention and awareness to certain social issues or as a way of highlighting an individual’s right for artistic expression, has always been a bigger part of the show.

Without a single stitch of makeup upon their faces, both Alicia Keys and Alessa Cara gave #slay a whole new meaning when it comes to au natural beauty with mass appeal. Or did they?

While many viewers and media trolls savagely attacked the soulful R&B vocalist and musician, as they were extremely under-impressed with her choice to go bare-face, Alicia Keys is yet another celebrity to prove the age old adage, damned if you do, damned if you don’t. The scrutiny may have been intense, but she stands by her purpose.

Her highly publicized personal essay in Lenny Letter earlier this summer received tremendous amounts of criticism. Yet among all of the negativity, many women felt not only empowered by her honesty and confidence, but also made the choice to stand by her declaration of true and authentic beauty. The feature chronicled her own insecurities which had developed over the years, as well as her personal experience handling the harsh and heavy focus on her physical appearance. Even after the 15-time Grammy winner was catapulted into the limelight for her unsurpassed talent, she could never escape the ongoing and immense pressures forced upon women to achieve the nearly impossible standards behind the ideal aesthetic, caused by unrealistic filters.

“Every time I left the house, I would be worried if I didn’t put on makeup,” she wrote. “What if someone wanted a picture?? What if they POSTED it??? These were the insecure, superficial, but honest thoughts I was thinking. And all of it, one way or another, was based too much on what other people thought of me.”- Keys

Since her published words made headlines, Alicia has kept her commitment to not wearing any makeup in public. And guess what? The gorgeous creature radiated with glamour regardless of a lack of lip-plumper. Hours of hair and makeup just for a few moments in front of the camera? Nah, she’s good!

Her embraced undertaking of a makeup free movement has given her a new found freedom with countless women shouting “YASSSSSSSS” to her pledge. She feels she has a responsibility to young women to help them to understand that their worth goes beyond an hour-glass silhouette and sculpted contour.

Joining in her efforts, Cara vowed to remove all of her warpaint while performing her hit song “Scars to Your Beautiful.” She insights, “We all look at ourselves in the mirror and think, I hate this, I wish that were different—from something minor like, ‘I have a pimple today,’ to something major like, ‘I don’t want to live anymore because I don’t think I’m good enough,’” Cara told Glamour in their upcoming September issue. “In ‘Scars,’ I wanted to tell people, ‘There isn’t one way to look beautiful—you are beautiful, and it’s the world that needs to change.’ ”

I know what you are all thinking… It’s easy to go makeup-free without feeling self-conscious when you look like them!

But in all seriousness, God forbid a woman doesn’t wear concealer or have extended lashes on that make her look like a doe-eyed Bambi. She must be judged now! She does not deserve respect! The public even uses words like “brave” to describe the shocking sentiment. How sad and scary is that?

2016 is the year the Twilight Zone had warned us about, women are all striving to look exactly the same. The only definition of beauty that I leave you with is, “In a world full of Dash dolls, be an Alicia Keys.”

Dating Etiquette From Around The World

There are very unique and specific customs around the world when it comes the concept of dating. Some countries hold the sanctity of marriage in a very high standard of value, while other regions experience a rapid volume of divorce rates, and that's normal. Some common dating practices include group outings, while others celebrate the ideals of an arranged relationship. Many communities accept all realms of sexual preferences, gender roles and dating habits, while others simply remain stuck in a time capsule. In some parts of the world people are expected to get married at what is to be considered an extremely young age and have it all figured out, other areas it's all about the bachelor and bachelorette lifestyles- monogamy is a fairy tale. It really all depends on the social

culture of one's current citizens. But one thing is for certain, much like words which can take on a variety of meanings depending on where you are from, courtship is not the same in every language.

Despite the process of how two lovers come together, generally speaking, everyone wants the same thing- his & her towels and grow old together companionship. Regardless of how you get there, the universal commonalities hold true: the goal is family, partnership, and economic success, but there are countless paths that can lead to achieving that target objective.

Whether the opportunities to meet individuals seem rare at times in the digital age of love, everyone is on a quest find their #bae, no matter how conservative or liberal a group's beliefs may seem. And since modern day technology allows Apps like Tinder and Bumble to track your coordinates, you now have the freedom to get to swiping based on your location as you travel through life. For this reason as you jump from a city to a new time zone, it is important to understand the proper dating etiquette and romance rituals around the globe while on your search.

Join us on our journey towards finding love in any and every hopeless place for the hopeless romantic.

Long Hair Vs. Short Hair: What Do Men Really Want?

As a self-proclaimed hair chameleon, I have dyed my hair every color in the box and rocked every hairstyle you could possibly imagine. From long cascading, mermaid-esque waves to short bobs or shoulder length shags with blunt bangs, there is almost no coiffure I haven’t tried as an experiment- except a pixie cut or a mo-hawk. I just know I don’t have the facial structure for either, but that’s besides the point.

Regardless of my need to change up my look and hairdo every passing year or whenever I go through a bad breakup, I began to notice a different kind of trend in how I was being treated by creatures of the opposite sex. I decided to turn my love of a sassy makeover to a good old-fashioned sociological investigation.

Despite it all, men typically have very strong opinions when it comes to what they find attractive in a woman. While some guys claim they prefer natural makeup or neutral tones, others admit their lust for a sultry red lip and a little overdone seduction.

For years I made the incorrect assumption that gentlemen not only preferred blondes, but also desired more traditional long, luscious locks as it was the ultimate symbol of femininity- of course this is the pre-historic man bun days that I am referring to. This sentiment reflected back to me in everything I heard and saw growing up in the media. Short hair was too much of an androgynous look, and if I wanted attention or feel good about myself, I simply had to play by the rules. It’s ingrained in our brains from when we are little girls. Disney princess don’t have short hair, do they? Nope, not one!

How naive right? But that had been the reality I was filtering… After all, most hair inspirations of the moment usually were just a phase or fad anyway, as well as can be extremely difficult to pull off on the regular. Think Halle Berry or Jennifer Aniston. Their iconic looks have been anything but basic, yet even they fall back on the more conventional ideals of fuller, scrunched curls or lengthy pin straight strands. Did they even feel society’s cultural pressures? Was shorter hair just too polarizing?

That was my hypothesis until I scrolled through my throwback FB profile pics and began to analyze and re-interpret my personal memories of how men perceived me into hard core research.

While on my path of discovery I realized something very interesting- men actually love a woman with short hair! Don’t believe me?? It’s true.

For whatever reason, whether it was a no fuss attitude or exuding confidence, I received the most catcalls when I kept it trim and effortless. I think more men picked up on my spunk and it made me more unique and mysterious. They weren’t distracted by the superficial. They had a reason to approach me and see what I was all about. On top of feeling more assured, more mature and established men were approaching me rather than the typical Frat bros. I think they automatically assumed I was a bit older from my distinct appearance. I had a shorter hairstyles all when it was colored Chesnut brown with caramels, as well as deep ruby auburn and even moonlight black. Those were the definitive eras where I stood out the most in comparison to my grown out blonder tresses or highlighted roots.

Short Hair, Don’t Care

Fun, flirty facts about shorter hair…

• You Can Still Run Your Fingers Through Short Hair
• You Attract A Different Type of Guy
• People Will Assume Things About You (Like You’re a Feminist or a Lesbian…Let them wonder.)
• Short Hair Doesn’t Mean Easy, But Gives a Free Spirited Vibe
• Women Will Think You Are Brave
• Men Will Be Curious
• Short Hair Gets Attention & A Reaction
• People Will Feel The Need To Compliment You More & Notice You
• It’s Ageless
• It’s Timeless

Bottom line, if you really care more about what men want rather than what you want, you will never attract the right type of people. Figure out what makes you most comfortable and what looks and feels best on you. Men will follow suit… And if they don’t… Ooops, you’ll live…

But I do highly recommend trying it out so you can see for yourself the type of feedback and responses you get. If you have short or long hair, it doesn’t matter, pop on a wig, and have some fun with it!

How To Tell If You Are A Bride-zilla?

Here comes the… Wait a minute!

Is there a bride-zilla on the loose?

You swore it would never happen to you, but it has. You have spent years and years passing judgement on those high-maintenance lunatics you’ve seen on reality t.v., feeling sorry for the poor shlubs who have no idea what they are signing up for…but, then the planning for your special day begins.

The stress is real.

Of course every bride is going to have some minor meltdowns regarding their hair & makeup, dress or perhaps even an overbearing mother-in-law before the big sashay down the isle, but has it gotten so bad that the maids have totally avoided calls just because you have turned into that bridal diva we all love to hate?

Girl, reel it back in. Pull yourself together. In the quest for a happily ever after, fairy tale dream, you have completely lost sight of the true sanctity of matrimony.

If your Maid of Honor, who you’ve known your entire life is one catastrophic cake tasting or unnecessary dress fitting/rehearsal away from resigning from the position, or your 5 year old niece is breaking out in hives over the flower petals to be thrown at your feet, then toots, you are going too far.

Put yourself or the bride-to-be through the ultimate maze towards wedded bliss. From the food to the playlist, to something borrowed, something blue, on a scale of 1-10, discover how bad you or she really is! Then, help a fellow sister friend get back on track.

One day she will thank you, and so will the Groom. (Poor Guy!)

Happy Birthday Tinder: Swipe Right & Make A Wish

Hardworking Millennials Refuse To Be America's Scapegoat

As I approach thirty, I seem to be at a crossroads of adulting. Crazy right? You'd think I'd have a lot more figured out by now...But I don't- especially on the career front and being able to financially sustain this thing we call life.

I feel completely broken down as I am constantly being told that millennials simply aren't 'working hard enough', or that they are lazy, and entitled. First off, I'd like to preface my rant by saying that although some younger, inexperienced adolescents are guilty of contributing to that stereotype, work ethic is directly related to how one is raised and not exactly an accurate reflection or truthful statement of a generation as a whole.

Millennials are always the one's being thrown under the bus, like we have it so easy. Everything is done for us, duh. Between advanced technologies, social media, and words like 'FLEEK”, we don't exactly know how to properly communicate or think for ourselves either, right? Not necessarily true.

Take memes for instance, some of these creatives are innovated by absolute geniuses if you ask me. Like I always say, people's FB statuses make me lose all patience for the world, while hysterical memes restore my faith in humanity. Sorry, side tracked. Moving along…

Reality is, we are having a really late send-off into society. With astronomical student loans and debts, young adults are settling down a lot later in life and for a wide variety of understandable reasons- they simply can't afford to live, especially all by themselves.

The problem of today is we are being taken advantage of by the same people calling us spoiled and unproductive! My experience thus far, similar to my close circle of friends, is we are dealing with incompetent leaders and bosses. And attitude echoes leadership. I mean seriously, how are these people in charge of companies, own businesses, and morally able to make the decisions that dramatically affect the lives of those who drive and support their very own livelihood?

Exposing the top influential heads of smaller agencies, all of the way up to major corporations, is like a mirrored sentiment of the movie Horrible Bosses- only in real life, financially speaking, they have you by the balls, and there are no monumental plot twists based on nothing more than Karmic justice.

They feel we should be honored to even have a job, despite the services we provide to their enterprise. They feel we should display an all-encompassing level of dedication just to show our appreciation. Late hours, weekends, unreasonable expectations, no regulation or source to stabilize legal policies in order to protect ourselves, all on the vain promise that it will all payoff in the end or that because I am a salaried employee, I am ultimately their slave (and when I say salaried, I am still referring to annual income below poverty level).

Nope. Sorry. I believe in work/life balance. I earn every dollar and I take pride in my work, as well as my struggle. I have never once asked for a handout, but I am not here to make another inept sociopath rich, while I sacrifice my time and hard work, which I value strongly.

Most of the young adults I speak with put forth the effort to take control. They want to work! They want to have security and stability in their job. They want provision. If the net results are going to be exactly the same regardless of one's expertise, education or willingness to survive, than why would or should anyone go above and beyond? Do I believe this way of thinking in life? No, absolutely not. But in life you always have the ability, or potential control to change the net results. When you work under someone as an employee, money is the only motivation. It's the only power one has over you. People need to live. I'm not working for a hobby. I've got those, and they cost dollars too! And yes, I know what you are all thinking…Well, don't work for someone. Be your own boss- an entrepreneur, the America Dream. Well, isn't that cute in theory.

Our nation thrives on a functioning middle-class, not an economy of get rich quick outlets.
That's the true tragedy. Millennials have trouble seeing the trend changing or believe that their voices or concerns are being heard so they figure what's the point. We get more blame for the state of this country when in fact, we aren't the one's running the show. We simply inhabited this domino effect of a sh*t-storm . We refuse to be America's scapegoat.

Racing Towards Education Event

Saturday September 24th Hip New Jersey will be at the W. Cary Edward's Foundation's annual fundraising event held at The Avenue A Club in Newark, NJ. You don't want to miss the special performance by Dancing With The Stars' Pro Edyta Śliwińska. This will be a night full of classics!