Tuesday, 30 July 2013

MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: DAILY BEAUTY REGIMEN

     BY FUNMILAYO ODUMOSU 
 
Hello!
 
As we all know, the modern woman would do everything possible to achieve a flawless skin. Why?
Because it creates a positive aura, depicts class and speaks volume about your persona.
But speaking from a makeup artist and beautician's perspective, great makeup looks even better
on a beautiful skin.

You're probably wondering how is that possible?

Achieving this described skin isn't difficult, but through simple and ordinary daily routine which
if you practice religiously overtime, you will be rewarded by your skin.

One basic and important step is knowing your skin type. This guides you and makes it easier for you to choose products appropriate for your skin type. Never believe that any product tagged good will automatically work for you. We have various skin types with different characteristics that are pointers to knowing which category you belong and also through the assistance of a professional beautician. After knowing your skin type, then you can begin a successful journey to achieving your radiant and healthy skin. 

Before (she follows this steps too.)
After, you see the difference?
  For a daily routine, follow these steps in the morning when you wake and the last thing at night before going to bed. 

 1. Wash with soap: Do not use harsh soaps and do no not overscrub. Excess scrubbing strips your skin of natural nutrient, dries the skin further if you have a dry skin, irritates your skin the more if its a sensitive skin, and provoke your skin to produce more oil if your skin is oily. 

 2: Cleanse: Cleansers remove dirt and oil left over on the skin. Cleansing gives a soft, supple, bright and young looking skin. Be careful when choosing your cleanser, as a wrong or harsh astringent is just enough to damage your skin. 

 3. Moisturize: Moisturizing keeps your skin hydrated, soft and happy. When applying your moisturizer, massage into the skin so it sinks into the pores. 

This is the simplest way to maintain your skin yourself. Be sure you are doing it the right way with the right products.

 Note; Never go to bed with makeup on your face, this gives room for makeup which has mixed with sweat and dirt to sink into the pores and clog them. Clogged pores build up dead skin cells, give the skin a dull appearance and can make you breakout, have whiteheads, blackheads, and so on. Remove makeup from your face as soon as possible.
You can also visit a professional beautician once a month depending on the needs of your skin. 

Nice sharing these tips with you.
 
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did.
 
Stay in touch with Funmi on Facebook:  Funmi Odumosu.

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Cheers to a beautiful weekend!!!
         
                                       

"Be not deceived; God is  not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap". Galatians 6:7

Sunday, 28 July 2013

MAKE-UP TUTORIAL: HOW TO SHAPEN YOUREYEBROWS.

 BY DAMILOLA POPOOLA

Happy Rainy Sunday!

Do you know that the way you shape your eyebrow can enhance your face and appearance by balancing your facial features? Eyebrows can either be thick and full or thin and scanty. Thick eyebrows are often preferable because all you need to do is tweeze or shape them with a blade, but thin eyebrows need to be filled out with eye pencil, which is usually tasking. Either way, here is how to shape your eyebrows in a way that fits any face.

INSTRUMENTS:
Blade or a tweezer,
Eyebrow pencil
An old toothbrush
Ruler

Step 1: Know your starting point by placing a ruler or pencil vertically in front of your face. Allow it touch the side of your nose and then mark the spot on the under brow. Repeat it for the other eye.


Step 2: Look straight into the mirror and make an angle from your nose to your eyeball, wherever the pencil meets your eyebrow is your arch; mark the spot with your pencil. Repeat it for the other eye.

Step 3: Make an angle from your nose through the edge of your eyeball to your eyebrow; that's the end point.
 
Step 4: Connect the points on the underbrow. Make sure you draw it from the tip to the end to form an arc and measure (a maximum of) 0.5cm on a ruler, then draw the line also on the upper brow.


Always know that it shouldn't extend that, but it can be smaller, depending on the shape and how wide your face is. A wider face means a wider brow and vice versa.

Step 5: Remove the hair that is left outside the lines you have drawn.

Step 6: Brush the hair upward with a toothbrush and remove the hair extending the lines on the upper brow. Also remove the air between the brows.

Step 7: When defining your eyebrows, make sure there is space between the two starting points, so you don't look like you're frowning.


Note: It is not wise to shave all the hair on your eyebrows because it alters your face and doesn't make a good morning after, if you know what I mean. You don't want to look into the mirror with your make-up off looking like a zombie (Lol). Your eyebrows define your face.

Meanwhile, so many people have been asking me about the type of eye pencil to use, (drum roll) here it comes...

Eye pencil/definers come in Light brown, Brown and Dark brown. Many shades of pencil fall into these categories, and there cheap ones just as there are expensive ones.

Let me use some popular people to describe the appropriate shades:

For people who have similar skin and hair colour with Monalisa Chinda, Nadia Buhari etc, I will recommend the "Light brown eye pencil/definer" E.g Davis and other products Colour 40, (Tara) Orekelewa (Light brown) Etc

For people who have similar skin and hair colour with Rita Dominique, and Tonto Dike, (yeah, Tonto Baby! Lol) i.e fair people with dark hair colour, I'll recommend the "Brown eye pencil/definer" e.g Davis 18, and other Colour 18 pencils, Orekelewa Brown, Zaron Brown medium, Jordana (Coffee bean) etc

For people who have similar skin and hair colour with Omotola Jalade, Taiwo Olushoga etc I will also recommend the "Brown eye pencil/definer" e.g Davis 18, and other Colour 18 pencils, Orekelewa Brown, Zaron Brown medium, Jordana (Coffee bean) etc

For people who have similar skin and hair colour with Tiwa Savage, Omawunmi, TY Bello etc I'll recommend "Dark Brown eye pencil/definer" E.g Davis (03) and other 03 pencils, Orekelewa (Dark brown), Jordana (Lavish Brown) etc

Note that if you feel that your eyebrow is too light or dark, just try the "Brown category" because it works for almost every body.
              
I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did.

Stay in touch with Damilola on BB pin 299A0975, Email- dharmmiecares@yahoo.com ,Twitter @dharmmypopson.

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Cheers to a beautiful weekend!!!
                                                                      
                                                      
"And the (Babylonian) King told Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring in some of the children of Israel, both of the royal family and of the nobility...Youths without blemish, well-favored in appearance and skillful in all wisdom, discernment, and understanding, apt in learning knowledge, competent to stand and serve in the king's palace and to teach them the literature and language of the chaldeans". DANIEL 1: 3-4

Saturday, 27 July 2013

BE INSPIRED: HOW I LOST 24 KILOS IN 5 MONTHS



Happy Weekend!

BY BUNMI AHMED

I started my journey 27/06/2012 when I looked at my stomach one morning and felt real shame. This also steamed from the fact that a few days before I had been to see my doctor with regards to my high blood pressure which had been managed by medication for about 4 years. On that day I decided enough was enough and I went online looking for solutions. I wanted to take back my health!

There was no quick fix, I had to change my attitude towards food and exercise and I did this by carrying out a lot of research on Google and YouTube! By understanding the amount of calories my body needed to consume to function properly and lose weight at the same time I was able to discover the types of foods to eat and those to stay away from! I began to eat to fuel my body and not just because food was available.


DECIDE AND COMMIT

I had decided I wanted to get healthy and look better so I looked for a workout routine that would suit me. I came across Shaun T's 'Insanity'.  It seemed tough but I was convinced and purchased it straight away. It came with a diet plan which I followed for about 2 weeks. The weight wasn't falling off as I hoped so I decided to continue research about nutrition. You will note I did not give up, I had decided and committed to something and I was going to see it through! You will already note, it wasn't so much the workout that helps in shedding weight it is more about nutrition as you will see if you continue to read.




I was convinced that I could achieve great results without having to prepare 6 small meals a day as it was actually making me feel more hungry than satisfied! Then I discovered Intermittent Fasting ( IF) WHAT fasting your asking? YES unfortunately I can't credit the first person whom I had discovered this lifestyle from as I can not remember his username on YouTube. However if you have heard of the Hodge Twins you will know that they used to preach 6 meals a day until they themselves discovered IF and they now swear by it. Check their channel out ( fasting twins).

What is IF?

I will only give a quick definition but you can click on this LINK to my blog for more info:

It is a lifestyle NOT a diet, that is one thing you need to understand first. I follow the lean gains form of intermittent fasting which is where I fast for a number of hours during the day and have a specific eating window with which I eat all my daily calories. I started with 20 hours fasted and a 4 hour eating window. Now I fast between 18/19 hours a day with a 5/6 hour eating window. During your fasted state you are only allowed to drink water.

The idea behind this is that your body spends more time burning fat than constantly digesting food therefore aiding weight loss. A lot of you are saying what about breakfast?! PLEASE read the link above so you can understand more! Brad Pilon who is the creator of Eat Stop EAT another form of intermittent fasting did a lot of research and concludes that it is not compulsory to eat breakfast first thing in the morning and it is a 'gimmick' which the food industry has got us all to buy into over the past few years, after all they can't sell fasting to us can they? Breakfast means breaking a fast whether in the morning afternoon or evening. Do read that post as I explain about some of the studies that has been carried out on this subject matter. Personally IF has worked wonders for me I credit it for a lot of the results I have achieved. IF is not for everyone but it is worth a try!

What do I eat during my feeding window?

Over the past year I have experimented a lot, I even went 30 days eating as a Vegan! It was great, I lost weight and I had great bursts of energy. Of course I went back to eating meat lol.

I found a lot of ways to eat the foods I used to enjoy prior to my journey,  I made home made turkey burgers using lean turkey mince, I even found some healthy cupcake recipes which I enjoyed during Christmas!

I incorporated a lot of vegetables and fruits to my diet and stuck to white meat (breast/minced), nuts (mainly Almonds), whole grains like whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta etc, and LOTS of WATER!!

I am now a Pescetarian which means I only eat meat from the sea! There is nothing wrong with poultry, it's just a personal choice.  I'm enjoying being a Pescetarian I love seafood so you really can't go wrong with that, it's opened me up to a wider range of fruits and veg, beans, lentils and things like Quinoa which is great alternative to rice.

I do have a treat meal once a month to balance it all out, let's face it you can't eat clean 100% of the time! I would say this helped me stay on track! Just make sure your cheat meal is not on your rest day!!

Exercise

I've done insanity twice now, well first time I stopped at day 40 as I went to Vegas and upon my return I joined the gym. I went to the gym twice a day doing some cardio and weights in the morning and spin class in the evening!

I'm still looking to join a gym here in Nigeria as I am a firm believer in lifting weights! Heavy ones at that, this will help to ton the body! No it won't make you look like a male body builder ladies! Weights are what helps to bring out your natural curves.

I started insanity over end of May and will complete in a couple of weeks, this workout isn't for the faint hearted and if your not yet quite athletic then research and look at other workouts, beach body's charLENE Clean is a good one, or beach body's T25Focus.

If you have any questions please leave your comments below! 

Stay in touch with Bunmi on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM  and BLOG  

I hope this post inspired you. 


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Cheers to a beautiful weekend!!!
                                           
                                                       

"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love,  and of a sound mind" 2TIMOTHY 1:7

Friday, 26 July 2013

IS SHE A FASHION LOVER?


Thank God it's Friday!

How was your week? Hope you had an amazing week? Mine was amazing, thanks for asking :).

As you already know, today is Friday and we get to feature a FASHION LOVER  and you guys decide if they are really a fashion lover :).

Today's fashion lover is a fellow blogger, a lady whose style I truly admire. She also has a lovely shape.

Let's decide if Brenda is a Fashion Lover.

FNL: In few words tell us about yourself?
Brenda: Well my name is Brenda, I am a young professional currently residing in Toronto although I am Cameroonian and was born in Libreville,Gabon.
I love my family, my friends, food, music,dressing up and my blessings from God.

FNL: What does fashion mean to you?

Brenda: Fashion means looking how I feel and keeping an open mind to different styles and trends. I'm a happy person who loves good times and so my style is colorful with lots of patterns and prints. 
 

FNL: What inspires your style?

Brenda: My style is mostly inspired by my mood, the weather and colours. 

FNL: Describe your style in 3words? 
Brenda: My style in 3 words would be "colour meets print."  

FNL: Who are your style icons?
Brenda: My style icons are first and foremost fellow bloggers like KT Reed, Agatha of Irony of Ashi, Cynthia of Addicted to Etsy, Shirley B Eniang and then there are bigger names like Audrey Hepburn, Solange Knowles and Carey Mulligan.  


FNL: What are your most favorite stores and why?
Brenda: My favourite stores include: Asos, Boohoo, Forever 21, Nasty gal, Gojane, H&M, Zara and Andrea Iyamah. I love them because of their diversity and also affordable products. They also sell lots of practical pieces as well as stand out pieces. 

FNL: Who are your favorite designer brands and why?
Brenda: I actually can't count the number of "designer" brands I own. If you don't count Zara, my favourite designer brands would be Herve Leger, Stuart Weitzman, Hermes, Celine, Gianmarco Lorenzi, Versace, Rachel Roy, DIane Von Furstenberg, DKNY, Balmain, Vera Wang, Valentino and Alexander Wu (none of which I own,haha). I love these in particular because a lot of their products cater to a variety of sizes of women, actually look good and seem very wearable.P.S. Who doesn't dream of wearing a Vera Wang dress!    





 FNL: What are your favorite pieces in your closet? 
Brenda: My favorite pieces would be my Zara tote, Gojane sandals with a gold heel, Asos Little black dress, Kente skirt, Extra large floppy hat, Ankara high-low skirt.

FNL: What fashion item can you not do without? 
Brenda: I'm pretty sure I can do without everything I own but I like my DSLR camera to bits and pieces...not sure if that counts as a fashion item but I do use to create all my posts!:  


 FNL: What is your take on the African Fashion Industry?
Brenda: The African Fashion industry is moving forward. A lot of African designers are finally getting the recognition they deserve and are also becoming more mainstream. Some ankara piece are being seen as Haute couture and this is just amazing! From the Asos for Africa line to the African line of clothing at Selfridges in the UK to celebrities wearing our designers' pieces; it's just beautiful how our industry is getting recognition and I hope this continues. I wish to see more African designers use Social media to promote themselves even more I feel like that holds some designers back, the fact that they do not make use of modern social media. 

FNL: What won't you be caught wearing?
Brenda: I won't be caught wearing tights and a crop top with socks and sandals...ever.   

FNL: What do you think about Fashion and Lover's blog?
Brenda: Fashion and Lovers blog is such a positive environment. I also like how you are not afraid to bring up and talk about your spirituality because I feel like some people are still afraid to "offend" others with their Religion, which is just silly! Keep staying true to yourself!


So have you decided if Brenda is a fashion lover?

Keep in touch with Brenda on  BLOG , FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM.

Thanks for stopping by.

To be part of the Fashion Lover segment on this blog, please send two of your pictures to taiwoolushoga@gmail.com. You will be required to send more pictures and some details if your style is loved.

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Cheers to a beautiful weekend!!!
                                           
                                                       

"For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: thought it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry". Habakkuk2:3 KJV

Thursday, 25 July 2013

BE INSPIRED: SECONDS


Hello,

My twin (Kehinde) showed me this write up she did with power points a while ago, and I have been wanting to post it on the blog because it really inspired me.

I finally put it in corel draw, so here it is....

    BY KEHINDE OLUSHOGA









I hope this inspires you one way or the other.

Stay in touch with Kehinde on Facebook: Kehinde Olushoga and Twitter: @oredapo

Enjoy the rest of your week.

CHEERS...

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