3 Comments With more than a million mobile apps on the market, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed when searching for ones that will make your life easier. Luckily, Black Silicon Valley has your back. Here are 7 essential mobile apps that you should download that were designed by African American techies with your needs in mind.   Say, to the days of having to guess how that lipstick, blush or eyeshadow would look on your melanin rich skin. Cocoa Swatches, a beauty mobile app, provides instant access to swatches of makeup on various skin-tones, including dark complexions that tend to be underrepresented in the industry. The beauty platform also provides curated makeup-related content such video tutorials, expert tips, and product comparisons. Who among us hasn’t spent a full Sunday getting our hair tight only to have it ruined by a burst of humidity on Monday?  Cast Beauty, the first weather-inspired beauty forecasting app is out to change all that. The app helps women remain picture perfect in any climate by providing beauty product recommendations based on the weather and users’ hair and skin profiles.

Need Your hair done, but don’t have the patience to do it yourself? zetterberg hoodieYour own personal glam team is now just a click away. hoodie vengeance universityTresseNoire, the on demand personal salon appointment app, lets you reserve time with well-vetted, credentialed natural haircare stylists who will come to your home or office to get your hair looking right.ridgeline hoodieYou’re way too smart to pay good money for a bad cocktail. ridgeline hoodieAlcohomy, the cocktail recipe and bar locator app, is on a mission to make sure you never settle for a disappointing adult beverage again. The app lets you see reviews for bars in your area and their top cocktails before you head out.

You can also take pictures of your favorite drinks to share online and access more than 16,000 recipes so you can impress your friends with your bartending skills.  Swiping left might be fun, but it might not be the best way to find someone who gets on a deeper level. Enter Bae (Before Anyone Else), the online dating app that helps members connect through curated experiences and activities. After you match with someone the app encourages you to “actually chat, meet and date.” That might seem like an old-school concept these days, but sometimes the old ways bring results. Take the lead and plan the adventure filled vacation of your dreams for you and your girlfriends.  Tastemakers Africa recommends vetted and pre-tested, tours, events and experiences for you and your crew to try while on your trip. The travel app curates the best dining experiences, escapes to private beaches, hidden waterfalls, exclusive parties, local designer meet-and greets and shopping excursions across the continent to make you feel like an in-the-know local wherever you go.

Sometimes you want to keep a private conversation, well, private. And, now there’s a app for that. Clean Slate Messenger, is like the “Snapchat of text messaging.” The app allows you to share photos and text messages in real time with fellow app users and delete them after they are sent. The app doesn’t keep a history of your messages after you’ve deleted them, so that wild and crazy Vegas story can stay between you and your friends.There is nothing better than swaddling a baby in a crocheted hooded blanket.  Having a hood attached just makes that swaddle so much easier.  When the babies grow into toddler size, they really enjoy snuggling themselves into these fun and colorful blankets as they slip into the magical world of pretend. I have found some really fun patterns to get your own creativity and imagination started. Melanie Ham has an amazing tutorial featuring the Fox Hooded Blanket. Follow along with her on this video. Get the free pattern called Like a Fox Blanket with Hood.

🙂 – Jeanne – The Crochet CrowdA great start to the year – two shows in Manchester and London supporting Texan born, Aaron Watson. The boys and I played an acoustic set at Night and Day Cafe and The Garage to a packed audience. NB a big thank you to all Mr Watson fans for turning up in time to support the support….. therefore giving us the chance to play to a whole new crowd. We hope we entertained you. As for Aaron and his crew – they were fantastic – and top blokes to boot. It’s been a great year for Honey Ryder and we’ve enjoyed some cracking gigs along the way from Buckle and Boots festival to C2C to Nashville Meets London in Canary Wharf. We were totes honoured to perform at the C2C launch party at The Brooklyn Bowl and enjoyed meeting some really passionate and dedicated music fans that night. Although we flipping’ love playing live we’re hibernating for a couple of months while we work on new material. We started this process a few months ago and wrote a track called ‘Inner Marilyn’ with Jess from Jess and the Bandits – she was great to work with.

We also recorded some lovely girlie BV’s and harmonies for the song with 3 brilliant women – Gemma Leahy Waddell, Paris Georgia and Deanne from Dexeter – thank you ladies! We have some great new merch – black fleeces and grey hoodies available to buy. (/honeyryderband to get your hands on them) but the links will also be on our website store by the end of the week. Our warm beanie hats sold out last year but we’ve managed to get hold of a few more…..treat yourself why dontcha? So go make merry and fill your boots with mulled wine and mince pies (as we intend to do) and we’ll see you in 2017! Thank you again for your support, we love’s ya! Lindsay, Jason and Matt PS if you haven’t already done so, make sure you supply us with your email in order to receive news updates re forthcoming gigs etc Photos below include: C2C launch party at the Brooklyn Bowl and Nashville Meets London with Baylen Leonard Blimey – what a weekend! Our experience at C2C was everything we hoped and wanted it to be.

We started off the proceedings by performing an acoustic set in front of a live audience at NY-LON, courtesy of the organisers of C2C. We sang three tracks and were then interviewed…however when the next act failed to show up….we got to squeeze in another three songs for good measure. But playing at The Brooklyn Bowl in front of a crowd of 1000 in the afternoon really took the biscuit…..an amazingly warm and attentive crowd, and superb sound on stage as well as front of house created a total buzz for all involved….LOVIN IT! After several interviews, several more beers and a good night sleep we got to play the Town Square stage on the Sunday which was as good an atmosphere as the previous day with lots of music enthusiasts in the audience all out for a good time. We had a ball performing and hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did! C2C at The O2 is a fantastic event that seems to be growing and improving each year – and we were totes thrilled to be a part of it – ROLL ON C2C 2017 baby!

PS Icing on the cake had to be bumping into Charles Esten backstage (Aka, Deacon Claybourne from the hit TV series ‘Nashville’). What a lovely guy….and rather easy on the eye….this is Lindsay’s blog by the way but I have to say, Matt is admittedly a very big fan….. We’ve enjoyed a really great start to 2016 – three great gigs and lots more shows in the pipeline….in fact, we’ve just found out we’re playing on the pop upstages at C2C at the 02 on March 12th and March 13th!!!!! I’d never performed at The Troubadour before January 26th and was delighted to find it was a quirky and atmospheric venue with a great restaurant upstairs where we happily filled our boots prior to the gig. We were supported by Claydon Connor, a great guy with a great voice from The Isle of Wight who invited the gorgeous Liv Austen up onstage to perform with him – their voices gelled beautifully together. Then it was our turn – and we had a ball, mainly because the audience were so appreciative…thank you again to everyone who came.

I know you’re not supposed to read reviews about yourself – good or bad – what was it Public Enemy once said? Don’t believe the hype….but you know what, it’s SO lovely to indulge yourself once in a while and enjoy the moment when you do find out that someone has really enjoyed your music and written their thoughts down! Here’s one of those moments from Music News: We were shocked and saddened to hear about the news of Sir Terry Wogan’s passing. Not only was he an amazingly smart, charismatic and genuine individual but he also championed hundreds of unknown artists, helping accelerate their careers. He properly LOVED music. We were honoured to be on his show a couple of years ago. He interviewed us with great ease and expertise allowing our nerves to calm and we also performed an acoustic set for him. We’ll definitely treasure this memory. Well it’s been a cracking year so far…..ok, I know it’s only January 27th, but we’ve been on the B-list at Radio 2 and we’ve had 3 great gigs in Stone, Torquay and last night, London which have left us buzzing…

Playing at The Swan in Stone was an intimate and cosy gig with a roaring fire (that almost set my sequins on fire at one point) and a really fun audience….Performing at Midwinterfest was an utter joy, we were looked after so well by Alan West and co, fantastic venue/crowd and then to get to have a cheeky lime cordial and hang out with some fellow musicians was the icing on the cake…. So onto last night and The Troubadour in Fulham, West London. The venue oozes music from its veins having had people like Mr Hendrix play in there….great atmosphere, again a ‘whites of the eyes’ kind of place, and an amazingly appreciative audience. Now onto Kent and Essex in Feb….good times. How you all doing? So we’ve just received an amazing early Xmas present…..we’ve made the B-list on Radio 2 kicking off on December 26th and we’re SO SO happy! We can’t wait to hear ‘What if We’ve only Got Tonight’ on national radio…..and we want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who’s supported us and believed in us this year – it’s been a good one – but 2016’s gonna be even better methinks….(mehopes!)

Our album ‘Born in a Bottle’ will be available to pre-order on iTunes on the same day (December 26th) but in the meantime if you would like to get yourself a CD, you can buy them from this website….and check out our T-shirts and mugs while you’re at it! We’re super excited to get gigging again and have several lined up for the new year….including dates in Staffordshire, Kent, London, Torquay and Essex……but we’re planning to get around to the whole of the UK – yep that includes you bonny Scotland, you ain’t getting away with it! So there’s nothing left to say but have yourselves a VERY merry christmas – and keep your radio tuned to RADIO 2 of course! Lindz, Jase and Matt Anyone feeling particularly smug and organised with all their presents wrapped? So here we are at the end of September…and it’s been a great year so far, but it ain’t over til the fat lady sings (being a bit tough on myself there), and I’m really looking forward to October 25th when we get to perform two tracks at the British Country Music Awards in London.

We’re up against some stiff competition so who knows if we’ll bring home the bacon as far as awards are concerned, but just to be part of the event is a total bonus – as well as getting to meet and watch some great artists. We’re busy firming up lots of gigs/festivals for 2016 but in the meantime you can catch us at The Stone Food Festival this Sunday 4th October and at The Fort San Antone Festival in Preston on Sunday 18th October. So roll on Rock-tober. We’re busy firming up lots of gigs/festivals for 2016 but in the meantime you can catch us at The Stone Food Festival this Sunday 4th October and at The Fort San Anton Festival in Preston on Sunday 18th October. How are you all doing? Hope you’re enjoying the bank holiday weekend…..we’re really looking forward to our week ahead – I’m recording vocals for a new track in Matt’s studio on Thursday followed by a gig at The Earl Grey Whistle Test in Leek….then we’re down in Weybridge, Surrey on Saturday to perform at Weyfest.