Final Final Creme of Nature Giveaway!

Bellas, it’s my Wednesday deadline for work and this week is especially rushed because… I’m going to Chicago tomorrow! I LOVE Chicago!! That’s where my in-laws are from and we’ll be celebrating my mother in law’s birthday all around downtown. So if you see someone who looks like me happily wandering around downtown Chi-town this weekend, come on up and say hello! Hopefully it will be me and not some smiling stranger with extra large hair.

Because of my trip + work responsibilities before I leave, I don’t have time to cook up a great post this morning. What I do have time to do, is to FINALLY wrap up this ongoing Creme of Nature giveaway. Y’see, when the first one went so wrong, the good people at Creme of Nature REALLY wanted to set things right. We got packages to the original ten winners, then had a 25 person gift set giveaway. And finally now, to wrap things up, here’s a final phase with a smaller sample size giveaway of their latest products. It’s the Creme of Nature 100 person give-a-way!

I get overwhelmed with one regular day of e mails and comments, so you know this had to be sorted out some other way. Lucky me, the cool Creme of Nature peeps set up a special e mail address for you. All you need to do is send an e mail with the subject line “Afrobella giveaway” to Cremeofnature@noelle-elaine.com. Don’t forget to include your name and your mailing address. The first 100 e mails will be chosen as winners. There’s a one month time limit on the contest, so get to e mailing!

Whew! Now that the Creme of Nature situation is completely resolved, this bella can move on. I’m working on some special NEW giveaways for my Afrobella anniversary in August, so keep reading and keep entering! And don’t forget, you can’t win this giveaway by leaving me a comment here — you gotta e mail Cremeofnature@noelle-elaine.com!

EDITED @ 2:20 p.m. — OK, that was the fastest giveaway EVER! I just got an e mail from my Creme of Nature friend that she’s gotten over 100 e mails ALREADY! And she thought this would last a whole month, LOL. So if you missed out in the not-even-a-half-day giveaway frenzy, I apologize. Keep reading for more, I got big plans for August in store!

Giveaway Glitch

Heavy sigh. OK, here goes. I love doing Afrobella giveaways, and I try to host them as often as I can. Most of the time, they go extremely well — I review a product I like and I think is worth your attention, end my post with an offer for you lovely bellas to win one of your own, comments flow in, I choose some at random, contact you, send info to the PR, you get a lovely free package in your mailbox shortly thereafter. It’s all good. But there have been some occasional disruptions in the giveaway procedure.

Sometimes I’ll hear from a winner months after the prizes have been sent out, who then says she never recieved her prize. Then I have to contact the PR to ask why, and it gets tricky from there on out. I’ve had some people up and disappear on me, or just shrug their shoulders and say they sent it and don’t know what happened. At that point, there’s nothing I can do except feel bad.

Being a beauty blogger who hosts regular giveaways involves a relationship of trust between myself and the product people, and also myself and you, the reader and giveaway contest enterer. If I don’t hear from you after you’ve gotten your item, I won’t know if you liked it, hated it, or never got it. Or got something you really, really weren’t supposed to. Let me tell you a funny, frustrating story with a super happy ending.

For my birthday, I hosted a Creme of Nature giveaway. Got lots of awesome birthday wishes, came back, chose winners, everyone’s happy, right? Then a month later, I heard from one of the winners. Roshanne. Thank you so much for writing, Roshanne!

She says in part:

“I am emailing to ask you about the contents of the giveaway… Ive gone completely natural and just yesterday i was fed up with my hair and thought about getting a relaxer and saying forget it…..

So today when i opened my box there was a relaxer kit in the box along with a bottle of shampoo..and conditioner….lol…I was like wow is this a sign….but seriously after this long and drawn out email were we suppose to get a relaxer in the giveaway i dont remember..”

OK. Imagine your reaction, if you were me — a beauty blogger with a website called AFRObella, entirely dedicated to preserving and loving natural hair. And a package containing a complimentary box of creamy crack is being sent out on your behalf. OMFG, as the Gossip Girl fans say. I was aghast. Horrified. I immediately wrote back to tell her, NO — this is SO NOT a sign, and I would never ever have asked the company to do that. “Stay strong, girl,” I told her. Sell that stuff on Ebay, or give it to a friend who uses relaxer, whatever you need to do.

Then I e mailed the PR, the lovely Angela, and asked her — did all TEN winners get this additional item in their giveaway package? It took her about a week to get back to me with the answer. Yes. OMFG.

And to think, I would never have known unless one of the winners actually wrote back to thank me and to ask — why the relaxer, Afrobella? Oh jeez.

I am pleased to report, after lots and lots of e mails back and forth, Angela set up a conference call for me, her, and Shawn Tollerson, the VP of Marketing for Creme of Nature. Shawn explained that it was just an oversight, they were trying to just give the readers even more of the products the company has to offer. As it turns out, some are afrobella-friendly, others aren’t. And they just wrapped up a big ol’ package and sent it out without catering to natural hair needs. Shawn was hilarious. She said, “I give you my humblest and most sincere apology. I myself am a natural woman, and my children are natural. When I found out what happened, I was like aaaaaaah! Patrice is gonna kill me!!” She made me laugh out loud. So we talked and talked, and figured out how we’re all going to make this giveaway glitch right.

First things first, the original winners are being sent a brand new Creme of Nature gift pack, which includes the products I like the most — soothing shampoo for dry hair and flaky scalp. the lemongrass and rosemary leave in creme conditioner, and my favorite of all, the red clover and aloe daily breakage relief.

And secondly, for 25 more of you lucky Afrobella readers, we’re offering another chance at a Creme of Nature giveaway. All you need to do is write a comment below that begins by saying, “Pick me, Bella!” And tell me what Afrobella giveaway you’d like to see in the future! As you can tell, I’m trying my best behind the scenes to get you all some of my favorite beauty products out there.

** edited at 6:37 p.m. — I’ll close these comments on Tuesday and pick winners next week!

Happy Friday!

** edited again Tuesday morning, at 8:05 — 155 comments! Whew. I’ve now officially closed entries for this giveaway. You’ve given me a whole lot to read, bellas! Thank you! My goal is to post winners by Friday.

Afrolicious Winners!

You bellas are so creative and funny and inspiring. It’s a joy to read the entries to the giveaways, for real. The response to Rhonda Ray’s Afrolicious earrings giveaway was big fun. With Rhonda’s help, I picked five lucky bellas who are about to become a little more afrolicious!

toni lawrence

Topaz

Jessika M

Seans Braids, and

NoturAvg

Congratulations!! I’ll contact you via e mail ASAP — but if you read this message first, e mail me with your full name, mailing address, and earrings of choice at bella@afrobella.com.

If you didn’t win this giveaway, fret not, gorgeous! There’s more in store. And if you really, really just want some afrolicious earrings, click here to get yourself a pair! They range from $20 to $50.

I’m off to NYC bellas! I’ll be back with fresh posts when I return!

Worth a Click

I’ll take “self-inflicted political scandals for $800, Alex.”

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up! Or… maybe you can? What an utterly insane campaign season this is proving to be. And I really don’t mean to needle any Clinton supporters who read Afrobella — at one time, I too admired her simply for her intelligence and capability even though she was never my candidate of choice. But as the campaign wore on, my disdain for her tactics grew stronger. And now here we are, with Sinbad of all people, at the epicenter of an unraveled, repeatedly-told lie. Comedians, bloggers, and news anchors are having a field day. I’m not wading into the campaign waters any deeper than this for right now, y’all. I’m just saying, the iron is sizzling for a Sinbad comeback! I just want to see him on like, the Colbert Report this week or something. And strangely enough, when my brother in Trinidad mentioned Sinbad during my Earth Wind and Fire music post of last week Thursday, I was like…. man, SINBAD! I haven’t thought of that brotha in FOREVER. Flash forward a week and he’s on the news every night. Strange.

My days of being “the tall girl” ended when I was oh, eleven or twelve. Then I became the average-height girl. But I was still able to identify with Life as a Tall Girl, an essay written by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh senior Rebecca Thomas. She’s 6 foot 4, and has always attracted gasps and stares from obnoxious onlookers. “I often wish people weren’t so rude. How can they act so unabashedly shocked when they see someone who is different from them? And I’ve got it easy; I’m a minority only in the sense of height. I can only imagine how those under the burden of a group prejudice based on their race or religion must feel. I like to think that those who have insulted me didn’t intend to. I do believe that most people are basically good, but they can be insensitive,” she says. Finally, she’s wearing her height with the regal bearing it demands. “In fact, sometimes I wear heels. Just to make them look twice,” she adds.

Go ‘head, Rebecca! I found her story to be inspiring, and maybe you will too. In somewhat similar news, the world’s tallest man just got a new bicycle! Totally random, but I love to know about the lives of Guinness World Record holders.

I always welcome an opportunity to be a part of the News and Notes bloggers’ roundtable, but alas, I was sick this weekend and had to back out on Monday. Monday’s discourse focused on Obama’s marvelous speech, the website Stuff White People Like (which yes — is a classic, lazy, con-job, but an oft-hilarious one, IMO), and Kwame Kilpatrick’s indictment on perjury charges. If there could be a soundtrack to this indictment, might I suggest Radiohead’s Just? You did it to yourself, Kwame. You and no one else. Can’t blame the media for everything.

Even though I still think of this as a quote-unquote beauty blog, sometimes I get political on Afrobella. OK, often. Maybe too often. Especially recently. But sometimes I prefer to keep things light and positive, cause truth be told, too much politics makes my blood boil. So in the interest of keeping things relatively light, I’m just going to address this burning political fire in my belly real quick then get back to the calming seas of beauty and style.

This weekend, I wound up in one of those conversations where you can’t lose your cool. You know — you’re at the office, or in a doctor’s waiting room, or at a social event where you’re required to keep the polite face on… then someone goes and says the thing that just gets under your fingernails the deepest. I wound up in a doozy this weekend, filled with gems like, “I just don’t like Obama because he’s a Muslim and attended a madrassa,” and “President Bush was right to invade Iraq.” Anyone who knows me, knows how hard it must have been for me to respond to inflammatory statements such as these without raising my voice and my pressure. But I’m proud to say, I did neither. I implored with the ignorant party to educate themselves, I pointed them in the direction of the Obama Fact Check — note, not to be confused with the LOL-worthy The Obama Facts. Regarding the issue of President Bush, I wish I had told this person to see PBS Frontline’s special series, Bush’s War. Exhaustively reported. Unflinchingly examined. It should be required viewing for anyone still driving around with a W sticker on their car. Be forewarned — as this Reuters review would indicate, “the level of incompetence uncovered by “Frontline” is stunning.” And if you feel like I do, it’ll make you mad as hell.

Whew. I need to cool down with some fashion. How’s about a giveaway?

I love funky jewelry, I love indie designers, and I love shouting out blossoming businesses. So when singer, songwriter, artist, and jewelry designer Rhonda Ray contacted me about her banging earrings, I was excited. Rhonda’s taken this natural hair thing to a whole new level. She even wrote a song about it! Like to hear it? Here it goes. It’s Afrolicious!

Besides banging out beats and tunes, Rhonda weaves some magically beautiful earrings. I absolutely love them! They are meant to ideally compliment a big fabulous fro. I’ve been rocking the reggaelicious hoops, and I also got a gorgeous pair of pear earrings in her “lavender dreams” color range (which is so Pisces, so soft, so my favorite calming colors). Rhonda’s earrings cost $20, and if you buy three pairs, you can get a free Afrolicious tank top with her fetching logo on it. Or, you can enter this here giveaway and possibly win a pair of Afrolicious earrings for free!

Rhonda has graciously made these five earrings for Afrobella readers. Do you want a pair? Do you, bella? Well then, you know the drill, it’s totally random. Just leave me a comment that begins with the phrase, “I’m totally afrolicious!” And tell me (and Rhonda Ray!) why you deserve to rock these fly hand-woven earrings. And make sure to visit Rhonda Ray’s site and show her some love!

I’ll close these comments by Saturday. Good luck, my afrolicious afrobellas!

Worth A Click

Here’s a random assortment of the Afrobella-related issues I’ve been meaning to address…

One Door Opens Where Another Door Closes —

Today at 1 p.m., New York Governor Designate David Paterson will be sworn in before the State Legislator, effectively ending Eliot Spitzer’s in-office shame spiral. Thus far, the result of this whole incident has been history-making — Paterson will be the first African-American governor of New York, and only the fourth African-American governor of a U.S. state in history. He is legally blind, and is also an unwavering Clinton supporter. In the whirlwind of scandal, life is about to change dramatically for him and his family, and the burdens of responsibility will be placed squarely on his capable, well-respected shoulders. Congratulations to Governor Paterson! Here’s hoping he’s steeled himself for a strong dose of overnight political celebrity, and the scrutiny that’s bound to come with that. He certainly seems to be the best man for the job right now.

Spring Shopping Spree

Having just turned one-year-closer-to-the-big-three-o, I’m having all kinds of swirling emotions about this new age I’ve found myself at. It’s all expressing itself as a deep burning need for a fabulous new wardrobe. Will all of my age crises manifest themselves this way? Lane Bryant hopes so!

I have such a love/hate relationship with the LB. One one hand, I completely agree with Too Fat For Fashion (love that blog!), LB seems to specialize in loud prints, muumuu shaped tent tops, and generally uninspiring dresses and shirts — the kind of thing I’ve sworn not to wear. But on the other hand, their wide leg pants (like these) are incredibly flattering, and make for a great, effortless day-to-evening wardrobe staple. (Has anyone tried the Secret Slimmer pants? Are they worth the money?) Lane Bryant does basics pretty decently, and these days, I’m all about the basics. Oh, and BTW, LB’s currently hosting the “Closet of Your Dreams” sweepstakes, and if you enter you could win a closet makeover by ClosetMaid (valued at $2,500), a Lane Bryant wardrobe (valued at $2,500), and help from a personal shopper. Click here for details.

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You Get the Presents!

I’m about to take a little vacation from everything including Afrobella — I’ll be back early next week with a fresh stack of beauty reviews. But this weekend’s my birthday, and I’m celebrating in an unconventional way. I’m going to hippie spring break, AKA the Langerado Music Festival! In years past I’ve seen Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band (who dropped out of this year’s lineup, I’m disappointed to say). This year there are a whole lotta bands I don’t know much about, but the entire reason I’m going is to see The Wailers, the Beastie Boys, the Roots, and the Funky Meters.

So while I’m off at the three-day jamboree, I wanted to leave with a big giveaway
I’ve been meaning to do since February. But first, the product review!

I know Creme of Nature is old hat to most of you all, but growing up in Trinidad, I honestly had never heard of the stuff until a once-regular commenter (where you at, coffy?) mentioned that it might make my curls happy. She was so right! Creme of Nature has been a staple in African American hair care for thirty years now, with good reason. When I first tried Creme of Nature, I discovered a supremely moisturizing shampoo that left my curls feeling deliriously soft. But the old formuation left a bit of buildup if I used it too often. Now Creme of Nature has undergone a complete makeover. Their shampoos and leave in conditioners now feature Certified Organic Ingredients (but for bellas who are truly obsessed with healthy hair ingredients, I am sad to report that there is petrolatum, alcohol, and ‘cones up in their mix).

So far, so great! The new formulation hasn’t given me any reason to complain just yet — I’ve been using the shampoo and conditioner for a month with no problems beyond occasional scalp buildup (which happens to me a lot because I try so many different products). When that crops up, I do an apple cider vinegar rinse to clarify my curls, and presto, no problemo. I love that the new Chamomile and Comfrey Healing Conditioner for Dehydrated Hair has a weight to it — it’s a great two-minute deep conditioner for weekly use.

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Mariah DVD Winners!

So sorry it took me forever to announce these winners, bellas! Everyone brought up a different song that took me down memory lane. Mariah’s had so many hits! And I love her latest song, but the video, not so much. I’m a big, obsessed fan of 30 Rock, but Kenneth is cringe worthy in this capacity.

And the winners are….

BellaAnais

LosAngelista

Joenell

SJay

and Auragirl!

Congratulations, bellas! I’ll contact you over the weekend to get your mailing addresses — but if you see this first, e mail me at bella@afrobella.com. And note to anyone who’s won a giveaway… PLEASE write back to me within the month you’ve won and let me know if you received your prize. Time is of the essence. I just had a bella who won the Nail Aid giveaway last year send me an e mail telling me she never got her item! And now months have passed, the PR has up and disappeared on me, and there’s nothing I can do about it. =(

Because so many of you mentioned this particular Mariah jam, I figured I’d leave you with this today. Here’s The Roof Top. Enjoy!

Hey Hey — Mariah Giveaway

Did you miss that post? Go leave a comment there if you want to win The Adventures of Mimi 2-DVD box set. I’ve got five to distribute. And it’s been a beautiful thing reminiscing with you about your favorite Mariah song, y’all got me digging in the mental crates. So commenter Tai mentioned “Vanishing,” which I hadn’t heard in FOREVER, then I got on the ol’ YouTube, and look what I found. Vintage curly haired Mariah, hitting those dog-whistle notes ever so effortlessly. She is a phenomenon.

I adore If It’s Over — you KNOW she was feeling those lyrics at the time, right? And Emotions is always a crowd pleaser. Oh, she is an American treasure, with her butterflies and diamonds and unnecessarily scandalous wardrobe. The giveaway closes tomorrow, so hurry up and leave a comment!

Valentine’s Day Hangover

Thursday was Valentine’s Day, and it’s such an over-the-top, retail-driven celebration. You either love it or you hate it. I personally enjoy it, but this year we were too busy to even celebrate Valentine’s Day on Valentine’s Day. Today is my V-Day, so I’d like to wish a happy belated day of love to everyone! If you’ve got a significant other in your life, he or she probably got you a lil somethin’ somethin’ on Thursday. Sometimes it’s a gift you like, sometimes it leaves you scratching your head in confusion. If you feel like you deserve a lovegift to yourself (in the middle of Fall In Love With Your Heart Month, no less), no worries. I got your back! I’ve been checking out some super sexy products that will make you purr with delight. Will this review end in a giveaway? Hmmm. Come along and we’ll see!

First stop, Lush Cosmetics. I am in LOVE with Lush! Their bath bombs are the bomb.

Their soaps are spectacular — I swear, Honey I Washed the Kids is one of the sweetest, most high quality handmade soaps I’ve ever tried. Quality is key for the makers of Lush. Their stuff is hand made, organic, and they never ever do animal testing. Some of their products are so fresh, there are expiration dates on them. They’ve got a fantastic bath items, the Ocean Salt body scrub is made with real ocean water, fresh lemons and limes, avocado and coconut butters, and violet leaf. It smells like a dream and makes my skin feel incredibly smooth. It’s definitely one of the finest body scrubs I’ve ever used. A 4.2 oz tub is $18.55.

Don’t even get me started on the shampoo!!! I really had low expectations, and I was so blown away, it’ll take a separate review. Seriously, it is rare to find a company where every single item seems to be exactly what you were looking for, and that’s been my experience with Lush so far. I even love the Lush website — customer reviews posted after every product, and of course you can order online, but if you live in a major city, there’s probably a store near you. I’d definitely go armed with a list — Lush is affordable, but it’d be really easy to overspend there. Too easy. But I’d be hard pressed to suggest another store where you could get yourself a cooler after V-Day present. Actually… hang on a second. There’s always The Body Shop, which you know I adore. (fun fact… In 1978, Lush sold their first product to the Body Shop! Then they went on to have stores of their own).

This year’s Body Shop Valentine’s Day scent is Japanese cherry blossom. I am SO planning to get myself that reed diffuser. Having a pet that jumps and climbs all over everything doesn’t make me feel safe with scented candles, oil burners, or incense in the house. Have any of you tried reed diffusers? Do they really make your house smell wonderful? Please let me know before I spend unwisely.

Next up, product reviews for the grown and sexy.
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Miss Jessie’s Giveaway Winners

Of all the giveaways I’ve had, I am proudest of this last Miss Jessie’s giveaway. You kicked off Black History Month with a bang! It perfectly captured what Afrobella is all about — that sweet combination of brains and beauty. I was very inspired by all 88 comments, and it was very hard to choose five winners. I had to make a short list of my top 20 favorites, then choose randomly from those. So without further ado, here goes…

Mercy

Calming Corners

Curled

Brokey McPoverty

and Nerd Girl,

Congratulations! You’re the lucky five! I’ll be e mailing you soon, but to expedite this please e mail me at bella@afrobella.com with your mailing address and real name if you see this post first. If you didn’t win this giveaway, fret not thyself, gorgeous! I’ve got another one coming up by the end of the week, and this one will be for TEN lucky winners. So keep your eyes peeled.

Another quick note on giveaways — it is SO important to use your real, regular e mail address when entering these. If you don’t, I can’t contact you. And please allow me to use this public forum to address Danielle, the winner of the Salte earrings. Where are you, lady? I’ve e mailed you six times! If I don’t hear back from you by February 25 — exactly a month after the winner was announced — I’m going to go ahead and pick a second winner. So write me ASAP!

** edited at 8:45 a.m. — Yay! Finally heard from Danielle, and it seems my e mails were going to her spam folder. So check your spam and your junk mail if you win a giveaway, bellas!