By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

In 1999, a sensational story rocked the New York City area.

By TaraSimone, Special to BlackVoices.com

My infatuation with fragrance began as a young girl playing dress up at my mother's vanity. It was the mid 1980s and I danced in the mirror with a belted over sequin top and my mother's high heels sliding on and off my tiny feet. Sitting before her collection of crystal and bejeweled bottles containing elusive liquids ranging in shades from soft amethyst to deep amber, I would pretend to be grown and beautiful...just like her.

Delicate floral fragrances embody the many facets of motherhood...feminine, passionate, joyful, engaging and intriguing.

For those last minute shoppers, you can just grab the following scents -- and for all moms -- from the one who holds it down at work to the "fly" mom to the new mom to the grand dame of them all, the grandmom.

By Kiante 'The Sneaker Mann' Young, Special to BlackVoices.com

As young boys, men envision what adulthood will be like but once maturity is achieved many of us find it hard to allow our wardrobe to mature as well.

Sporting Adidas Superstars or Nike Air Force 1's may have been the key to dressing to impress but as you start your own family and your son's eye for fashion develops, changing of your style may be just what the doctor ordered.

A friend of mine has been dealing with this very situation stating, "I don't want to wear the same gear as my eighteen year old son but at the same time, I don't want to dress like an old man. How can I dress grown and sexy?"

By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

In Faith Under Fire: Betrayed By a Thing Called Love, Brookshire shares the riveting true-life account of marrying a man with full blown AIDS, and using her rock of Gibraltar faith to get through an ordeal which would have broken most. Brookshire opens up with BlackVoices.com.

What was your process in coming to write the memoir?

I wrote 'Faith Under Fire' primarily because the statistics for HIV infections were continuing to rise. And I heard my story over and over more times than I even cared to. So it was time that I broke the silence and stopped trying to keep the privacy of a dead man, and let people know some information that could possibly save their lives; because for the people who are most at risk, I have the most information.

And who are the people most at risk, black women, married?

Black women are highly at risk, yes . And heterosexual women of all walks of life are highly at risk.

How did you maintain your Christian faith when you knew that this man knowingly had AIDS and still slept with you?

The recent movie 'Run Fatboy Run' may be remarkable for the issue it doesn't focus on. Thandie Newton plays a pregnant bride who's jilted at the altar by Simon Pegg and later falls for Hank Azaria. While she's black and her two suitors are white, the story hardly mentions race and focuses on Pegg's need to run a marathon and prove that he can finish something, thereby winning back Newton's heart.

Is it possible that attitudes about interracial relationships have changed so much since the 2006 movie 'Something New,' and certainly since 1967's 'Guess Who's Coming To Dinner' -- both of which were all about familial pressure to not date outside of your race -- that the subject doesn't warrant mention?

When we broached the topic around the AOL offices, we started discussing how tough it can still be to date interracially and focus on attitudes that can doom an interracial relationship.

Our conversation is just the beginning of the discussion, though. Let us know what drama you have to deal with dating outside your race. -- by Jennifer Fields, Ken Gibbs, Neil Gladstone and Alexis Stodghill

TOP 13 WAYS TO DOOM AN INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIP

Being unprepared for how the families will react
Alexis: When I was in the fourth grade, one of my older relatives said to me, 'I hear you have a white boyfriend.' This wasn't a boyfriend, it was just a guy I sat near in class, but my cousin couldn't see that. She asked, 'Are you losing your identity?' And when that kind of thing happens, any kind of joy of bringing someone home to be with your family is somehow tainted.
Ken: Funny thing is that I think white families are more accepting because they view it as a "phase."

Not understanding of the physical and cultural differences of people of different races
Jennifer: If I have to explain over and over why I'm not getting into the ocean to swim because of my hair, over and over, it's like "Enough already, don't you get it?"
Ken: This might seem odd, but here's something that has stuck out to me when I've been dating interracially. With one out of every 10 black men being in jail, or damn close, it's impossible not to be familiar with the prison system and criminal culture, as a black man from a predominantly black working class neighborhood, it's strange to watch "The Wire" and have feelings of nostalgia while your significant other is watching with shock and awe.

Race is just a fetish
Jennifer: It's always a tip-off if he only dates black women.

By Marcia Cole, Special to BlackVoices.com

Model Chanel Iman sported a fuschia shade at Badgley Mischka. Narciso Rodriquez's models wore more subtle stains of pink. And who could forget Alicia Keys' perfect pink lips at this year's Grammy's? The season's hottest lipstick trend, is clearly about a pink pout.

Photograph by Keith Major/courtesy AMBERmag.com
Makeup by Karen Angus
Hair by Dana Gibbs/The Montgomery Group

By Marcia Cole, Special to BlackVoices.com

It's been a minute since I've written about my latest obsession. Sorry ladies, we've been knee-deep with mapping out new and exciting things for you to enjoy on the site.

More on that later on as I tell you about my newest (well, it's really not that new, but I think it's wonderful) obsession: YSL Lip Twins! It really is the cutest and most stylish lip presentation around.

Turn the YSL-initialed top one way and you'll get a rich lipstain: turn it the other and you'll see a lightweight gloss; turn it another way and you get a mirror ready to smile right back at you when you pop open the top and out comes a lip brush! Four-delightful treats in one. Now who can really ask for anything more? $32 available at Nordstrom.com

By Marcia Cole, Special to BlackVoices.com

Bobs are making a serious comeback in various shapes and forms. Our A-list stylists showcase two ways to rock this classic cut.

Hair by Dana Gibbs/The Montgomery Group

Photographed by Paul Brissman/courtesy AMBERmag.com
Styling by Daisy Lewellyn
Model: Georgette/Ikon Models

By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

Bad Boy Records songstress Cheri Dennis describes her personal style as changeable depending on her mood. "I wouldn't say I'm all the time this, or I'm all the time that. If I wake up and I feel glamourous and I'll put on stilettos and a dress and if I wake up and feel like "Cheri's gotta get in motion," I'll put on flats or a pair of sneakers."

The Ohio native recently released her highly anticipated debut, 'In And Out of Love' and came through so that StyleSpotter could dig her style.

AMBERmag.com Wants to Know IS YOUR SALON A STAR?

You have styling skills. You know this. Your salon is fly.

This you know - and your clients know as well. And you are truly about your business.

Here's how to get more shine! Enter our Is Your Salon a Star? contest and show us what you've got.

By Angela Bronner, BlackVoices.com

We've all heard and read the dire stats: Black men 16 to 24 years-old are more than twice as likely as young white men to be both out of school and work; most young black men in the U.S. don't graduate from high school (only 26% in New York City); black men make up 41% of inmates in federal state and local prisons.

Increasingly our young black men are becoming more and more marginalized, and many don't have positive role models in the communities where they live.

Alexis O. Ellis seeks to bring style and substance to inner city males through his non profit, Tied To Greatness, which takes the symbolism of the dapper black man and seeks to create a new paradigm for our youth.

Tied to Greatness uses the "power of positive male role models and fashion to inspire a generation of inner city high school males to love themselves, improve their image, and strive for greatness."

Keyshia Cole has a thing for hair. Not just long hair, but fabulous, ever changing, multi-colored tresses. And how very lovely, that a gurl from the ghetto reps the hood to the fullest and makes magnificent art on top her 'haid in an eye-popping palate of crayola colors.

Keyshia Cole has done it all when it comes to her hair. Long, short, weaved, asymmetric, two-toned, highlights, and every shade under the sun. Some of us can relate to this perfectly. Some gals have tons of shoes, some, styles upon styles.

For Keyshia, reds and blondes are surely her best bet given her undertones (though I don't know if anyone else could have done that fabulous orange!). In short, Keyshia's hair STAYS changing. And we love it.