Tika Sumpter is one of the few who got to spend time with Whitney Houston in the final year of her life. The actress stars in the upcoming movie Sparkle and plays Whitney’s daughter in the flick. HollywoodLife.com spoke with Tika at The Cinema Society with Circa and Alice & Olivia premiere of Sparkle and found out what lasting memories Whitney left behind.

“She taught me to never be ashamed of where you come from,” Tika told us. “For me, whether you have ups or have downs, it’s part of your journey, and it creates the person that you are it keeps you more interesting and she was never ashamed.”

We asked her what she thought of Whitney’s daughter Bobbi Kristina going into showbiz and this is what she said: “Everybody has a dream and everybody has a right to go for it. Even Bobbi Kristina, why not.”

Check out Sparkle when it hits theaters on Aug. 17!

— Chloe Melas

Were the sleek and straight strands too cute or too bland? Vote!From Ashley Greene to Gossip Girl’s Tika Sumpter to our favorite love-to-hate singer Rebecca Black, it seemed like the girls had secret star intuition when it came to knowing what was gonna be the hair trend of the night.

I definitely love me a super sleek ‘do, but some of these stars pulled the look off much better than others. While Ashley was able to look super modern and edgy with her angled straight locks, others looked flat or just boring.

Which ones of these star’s straight strands was YOUR favorite, HollywoodLifers?

Kate Middleton, Kim Kardashian, Diane Kruger and Tika Sumpter all had perfectly shaped brows this week. Celebs like Britney Spears and even Robert Pattinson have made big brow blunders, so use these tips to get your eyebrows into top trend shape and avoid getting — yes — brow-beaten!

Kate’s eyebrows caught my eye this week in particular for their clean shape and the way they were so naturally filled in. Celebrity brow expert Robyn Cosio, of Sally Hershberger LA and NY, gave you an exclusive Kate brow tutorial! Get the four-tip guide here.

I love how Kim’s brows are so dark and thick, but never unruly. Big brows are totally in! If you want to thicken up your own brows to match Kim K’s, try out this brow-enhancing pencil.

Diane has light eyebrows, but they still stand out nicely on her face. She must know Robyn’s fourth top brow tip — blondes should use an eyebrow powder one shade darker than their actual brow color.

Tika’s brows framed her incredible eye look perfectly. See how her celebrity makeup artist created her gorgeous look here!

Are you a guy with a grooming problem or a girl who knows a guy that needs some serious brow help? Check out Robyn’s tutorial for men’s eyebrow grooming here.

–Eden Univer

See More About Celebrity Brows!

1. Britney, You Were So Close! Her Big Brow Oops And How YOU Can Avoid It!
2. Lily Collins’ Beautiful Bold Brows: Get The Look With A Brow-Enhancing Pencil!
3. Robert Pattinson Has Some Unruly Brows! Check Out How YOU Can Help Your Man Groom!

Tika Sumpter‘s celebrity makeup artist, Ashunta Shefiff, tells YOU how she created the stunning makeup look step-by-step using CoverGirl cosmetics.

Here’s what Ashunta did:

Face:

• On her face, I created glowing skin by first using COVERGIRL Queen Collection Natural Hue Concealer in 2 different shades, Light and Terra, to both conceal and brighten areas of her face.

• I then applied COVERGIRL Queen Collection Natural Hue Compact Foundation, using a slightly lighter shade in the middle of her face and darker on the outside for a 3-D effect.

• I then applied COVERGIRL Queen Collection Natural Hue Mineral Bronzer in Brown Bronze in a 3-shape motion along each side of her face to contour. Don’t forget to bring the bronzer down into your neck to balance the color in your face!

Cheeks:

• I finished her glowing skin by adding COVERGIRL Simply Ageless Sculpting Blush in Lush Berry on the apples of her cheeks and blending outward with a synthetic brush.

Eyes:

• To create Tika’s sultry smoky eye, I first applied COVERGIRL Intense ShadowBlast in Brown Bling along the entire lid to add a subtle shimmer and prime the eye for the rest of the shadow.

• I then applied the lighter end of COVERGIRL Smoky ShadowBlast in Silver Sky along the lid and the white end of Smoky ShadowBlast in Onyx Smoke in the inner corner. I then took the black end of Smoky ShadowBlast in Onyx Smoke on the lid and into the crease for a more dramatic effect.

• To amp up the drama even more, I lined her eyes with COVERGIRL LiquilineBlast in Black Fire and and blended that up into the shadow, creating a v-shape with a brush to blend it all together.

• I finished her eyes by adding some false lashes and 4 coats of COVERGIRL LashBlast Volume in Black, perfect bold eyes for the red carpet!

Lips:

• To balance her dramatic eyes, I wanted to create a pinky-nude lip, so I lined her lips with COVERGIRL LipPerfection lipliner in Sublime and filled in her lips with COVERGIRL Queen Collection Lip Color in Penelope Pink.

Do you love the look, HollywoodLifers?

–Eden Univer

See More Celeb Makeup How-To’s!

1. Adrienne Bailon Has A Great Bronzed Glow — Get Her Exact Look!
2. Sonia Kashuk Unlocks The Secrets Of Loose Powder — Watch Our HollywoodLife.com Video Of Tips & Tricks!
3. Liv Tyler’s Lips: See My Top Five Red Lip Moments And Tips For The Perfect Red Lip!

SplashNews.com

Tika Sumpter — who plays Raina Thorpe on the hit show ‘Gossip Girl’ — spoke to HollywoodLife.com about her character, the upcoming season, and her take on Blake Lively and Leonardo DiCaprio’s new relationship.

Tika Sumpter, who spoke to HollywoodLife.com at the five year anniversary of the Tracy Reese Flagship Store event in New York City June 8, had vague things to say about her character’s possible return on the new season of Gossip Girl.

“It’s all up in the air. I wasn’t killed off, but it’s Gossip Girl. Anything can happen,” she told us.

When asked what was going to happen to her and Nate’s relationship, Tika answered in a similar manner saying that “It is all up in the air..you never know.”

The season finale showed Tika’s character, Raina, tricking her father into prison time for the murder of her mother, and ended with her deciding to go home to Chicago…but you never quite know when someone will return. (Georgina Sparks, anyone?)

Of course, we couldn’t help but switch gears and ask Tika her thoughts on her co-star Blake Lively‘s new man, Leonardo DiCaprio too.

“I say more power to them. I mean, if I were a boy I would go after Blake Lively,” she raved. “She’s smart, talented, beautiful, and nice very nice. Everything a girl should be, she’s that.”

Would you like to see Raina come back to the Upper East Side next fall? Sound off below!

Blair Moylan

More Gossip Girl News:

Blair Waldorf’s (Leighton Meester) life with the fabulous Prince Louis (Hugo Becker) is like a fairytale, and this week they decided to show their love to the entire world by showcasing their relationship all over the news. Of course, the wicked witch aka Louis’ mother spoiled their fun. “It is unacceptable,” she said. “Especially for a man who is about to be married.”

The royal family visited New York and held a ball for Louis to find a wife to participate in his royal duties. The top ten princesses were invited to the event, but Louis was intent on adding Blair to the guest list. Can life get any better for our Manhattan princess?

Of course, the tale doesn’t end when Cinderella loses her glass slipper, as Blair’s happiness apparently draws a lot of sadness around her. Chuck (Ed Westwick) crashed the party and created a horrible scene in front of Blair’s most important guests. We saw a prince torn between his kingdom or his queen, and a mother more determined than ever to tear the happy couple apart.

More ‘OMG’ Moments:

1. Serena tried to sabotage Blair’s relationship with the Prince as revenge for her kissing Dan (Penn Badgley), and she believes there wouldn’t even be a discussion if she ever tried to kiss Chuck. She does have a point, but Eric (Connor Paolo) raised another: “Acting like Blair works for no one else but Blair.”

2. Charlie’s proving she’s got some Upper Eastsider flare in her after all! It’s no secret she’s got a huge crush on Dan, so how is she turning her friendly relationship with him to something more? She screwed up a dinner and blamed the awful ‘villain’ Vanessa (Jessica Szohr) for giving the worst advice on winning him over. Can you believe it? As Charlie said, “Dan can’t resist a damsel in distress.”

3. Chuck has turned in to the dangerous beast in this fairy tale, now that he realizes his entire life has been a lie and he needs Blair more than ever. Too bad this all happened too late, and Blair has finally moved on to a happier life.

4. We saw all was not lost when Prince Louis got down on one knee and proposed to Blair! He’s been living one way his entire life and has suddenly been inspired to change his luck for this Manhattan royalty. Blair called her mom and told her she’s engaged! It looks like Blair will be having her ‘happily ever after’ after all!

So Hollywoodlifers, how do you feel about Blair and the prince getting married? Chuck’s falling to pieces and Serena’s lost her best friend, all so Blair can move on to a good place.

XOXO

– Amanda Chen

Even though we aren’t experiencing the best spring weather here in NYC, Katrina Bowden, Michelle Trachtenberg, Selita Ebanks, Alice Eve, and Tika Sumpter looked so pretty in light, airy prints at the opening of the Rebecca Taylor store in NYC on Mar. 23.

When I first saw the spring Rebecca Taylor collection on the runway, I was obsessed with the pink dress Tika wore last night — but I think my fave get-up was Katrina’s one-piece outfit.

Which outfit did you like best last night?

Katrina Mitzeliotis