Brown Sparkles Too!

It’s Holiday Season again! All around the world people will be celebrating winter holidays like Pongal, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Thaipusam, and of course, bringing in the New Year (Jan 1st, 2015). If you’re searching for the perfect dress to show off your beautiful brown skin tone, what better way to sparkle than wear sequins!

Mindy Kaling – writer, comedian, star of her hit show The Mindy Project, and absolutely fabulous brown skinned fashionista embraces sequins as well as chunky jewelry and bright colors. Where many women of color will shy away from these kinds of bold moves, at Cinnamon Spirit we think you should be the shining star of the party!  Mindy agrees “I wear all of those things, because I like looking at it. It makes me feel happy and excited to wear it.” In the photo below, she wears a beautiful dress and skirt combination. This scene was from the Pilot Episode of The Mindy Project, and to be honest she looks gorgeous! I love that the kind of sequin pattern on top is so much different than the metallic embellishment on her skirt. From far away, it looks like a dress, but when you look closely we find that Mindy has connected the 60s disco-ball and the Victorian Era in the best of ways. While Mindy’s outfit does technically break the mixing-prints rule in fashion, it is a definitely haute look that I think any brown woman could pull off. sequin

Anouksha, 21 fashion blogger from the United Kingdom has found a way to glitter during finals week. Here, she wears a black bomber jacket from H&M, black stockings, and casual tan booties from MissGuided. Paired with her gorgeous vintage flapper, and stuffed bagpack, she get’s an A+ for style. SONY DSC

I found another stunning gold and black sequin dress from BeBe while looking for my own sequined New-Years-Me Dress. I can’t tell what is more radiant, the model’s deep brown skin or her dress. I’m too focused on how happy she looks while twirling around in it!

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So maybe, you’re working for the holidays. You can still bring your briefcase of glitter with you! Katerina L., a 27 year old from Voronezh, Russia wears her sequins subtly. This outfit is a perfect day to night outfit that can be worn at lunch with friends, and then again at office party. Her sweater is also from H&M and her skirt is from Mango. She and her skirt, look delicious.Screen Shot 2014-12-18 at 6.21.45 PMMy personal favorite is an Etsy Legend worn by a beautiful Indian Model, Menaka Iyer. She is 23 and from Toronto, Canada. I’m sure once you see this dress, you’ll be dying to have it.  She wore this vintage, one of a kind dress to New York City for the first time. “I had my first mimosa in NYC – Dream come true!” Menaka says excitedly. Although I couldn’t find the dress’s link, I did find that her feather earrings are from Spring and her muted (but also black sparkly heels) are from Nine West. tumblr_ng8w2oIHJP1tg7w7jo1_1280Obviously not many of us can afford to splurge and spend thousands of dollars on a holiday dress (we’re too busy getting presents for our friends and family), so I’ve compiled a few under $50 options:

Lony Women’s Sequinned Party Dress ($39 from Overstock.com)
Shining Open Back Long Sleeve with Sequins Dress from RoseWe.com (only $33.80 with Free Shipping Worldwide!)

Stay tuned to see what sparkles I picked for my holiday dress! Stay warm this season my brown-skinned beauties!

UDD by Yuti Shah

If you are like me… you want to find those unique treasures that aren’t commonly found everywhere. When it comes to clothing, it is especially true. So when I was searching for Indian clothing, my niece introduced me to UDD.

As a supporter of vibrant colors and textures, I find Yuti Shah’s creations fascinating.

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Her ability to bring her original fine art to life in every day wear that brings a smile to the  people wearing it is contagious. I guess that is what I admire the most.

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Her depiction of animals in the forest …. wonder what this would look like as a mural.

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And then … the jewelry.

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For more information … follow them on Facebook or Pinterest.

The New Nude

I was doing my laundry the other day at the Laundromat – just the every-week routine of separating my darks, lights, whites, and delicates. As I stuffed my various underwear into my laundry bag, my essential nude bra dropped on the floor. As I reached to pick it up, a young lady about my age with red hair and fair, freckly, pink skin laughed and said “oh wow! I have the same bra!” After quickly regrouping I chuckled and said “everyone need’s a nude bra!” It hit me a few minutes after this incident that it was odd that she and I had the same colored bra when I am a totally different color than she is. Her essential nude bra and mine were the same shade of beige-tan when our skin colors definitely were not. I thought to myself, wouldn’t it be nice to have a nude bra that actually matched my skin?

Looks like Ade Hassan, the founder of Nubian Skin, had the same idea. After years of not being able to find skin-color-appropriate nude underwear, she decided to empower women of all colors to redefine “nude”. In October 2014, she launched Nubian Skin , a line of lingerie and hosiery for women of darker complexions. She says “when you want to put on the perfect outfit – but your only option for tights is black, it completely ruins it…it’s incredibly frustrating.” This is why she created the line – to provide women of color personalized personals. With the help of Eunice W. Johnson and super model, Iman (founder and CEO of IMAN Cosmetics, Skincare and Fragrances for women of color) the first Nubian Skin store was launched in London, England.

What I love the most about Nubian Skin (besides the international shipping and moderate prices) are that these nude bras are more than just your everyday bras and underwear. These are the panties your granny wishes she wears! Sure, the basics for everyday wear are available, but the line also offers fabulous push-up and lace options as well. With names like “Cinnamon”, “Caramel”, “berry” and “Café Au Lait”, it’s hard not to drool over these fashions.

 

If you’re interested, which I’m sure you are, check out the site at https://www.nubianskin.com/ or connect with them on Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter.