Though most people associate Essence Music Festival with music and the amazing food of New Orleans, there were quite a few beauty events going on. So many beauty soirees went down that I almost didn’t have enough room in my suitcase. The pic below shows how jam packed my bag was of goodies I scored from some of my favorite brands. My luggage weighed in at 47.5 pounds and undoubtedly, half of that was hair and body products. And of course all of the products are super affordable.

Shea Moisture:
One of my favorite brands, Shea Moisture, erected a week long pop up shop in the French Quarter. In between hosting events with bloggers Curly Nikki and Kinky Curly Coily Me {and a few celeb appearances!}, the shop was full of some of my beloved items, like the Olive and Green Tea Body Scrub and Moisture Retention Shampoo. But I was really excited to learn about the new facial products for problem skin {stay tuned for a review in the coming weeks!}.

African Pride:
Next up was the African Pride Beauty and the Beat party. I haven’t used this brand since I went natural six years ago, but that was until I discovered African Pride’s Bouncy Curls Pudding {great for a twist out without weighing hair down} last year. At this year’s event, besides jamming to DJ Spinderella on the 1’s and 2s, I scoped out the new Leave-In Conditioner and Silky Smooth Edges. I’m looking forward to giving both a try, especially the Silky Smooth Edges, as my go-to lazy hair style is a slicked up top knot.

Beautiful Textures:
And on my final day in New Orleans, I made my way to the W Hotel in the French Quarter for Beauty and Beignets hosted by Myleik of CurlBox. In between stuffing my face with yummy treats, I learned about Beautiful Textures, specifically the Curl Definer Styling Custard and Curl Definer Mousse. I haven’t tried products from this line, but my girl Carmen of Lipstick Fashion Mascara absolutely swears by the mousse and the curl definer comes highly recommended as well {again, stay tuned for a review}.

Quite a few of the products were new to me and I can’t wait to try them out. And what I really love is that most of the items are less than 10 bucks! All of the goodies pictured can be purchased at Target, Sally’s, Walgreens or your local beauty supply store.