When was the last time you went to a mall? Did you happen to go inside Sephora? How about Tory Burch?
I uploaded my first shopping haul last night and I’m going to be completely honest with my readers. I was super nervous! Now that it’s over and out there on the world wide web, I wish I had done this when I was a busy bee being a professional make-up artist, entrepreneur and going to all those awesome beauty and fashion events. But you know what, it really is never too late!
It’s about time I crawled out of my safe zone and did something that involves all of my talents. Technology, beauty, fashion, social media and marketing, to mention a few. Feels weird even saying that, but a good pat on your back once in awhile feels good.
Here’s the video:
Stay humble and thank you so much for watching! xo
Fashion Art Toronto, where Fashion and Art collide.
(April 22-26th)
I have never attended a Fashion Art Toronto Show before, so I had no idea what to expect other then the usual runway. I went for 2 nights as my schedule didn’t allow me to squeeze in more days. In my opinion I think I choose the best days to go! Click here for the week schedule. I’m trying something different and instead of only pictures, I have some videos from the show.
Let’s start from the beginning.
The venue was Daniels Spectrum. Upon entering there’s a piano that is open to the public to use. Everytime I passed by that piano someone was there with music sheets practising and learning how to play the piano. What a great way to give back to the community!
There was a lounge area for people to relax and wait for the show to start or closer to the entrance of the runway floor was an exhibit of 5-8 exhibits.
There was one exhibit where clothes were made out of old leather shoes. The shoes were stripped apart, and layed flat to create the clothing.
There there was the live exhibit where a lady and a man sat in front of mirrors which seemed like the environment surrounding them was a bedroom. They just sat and looked at themselves in the mirror, stood up a few times to fix their hair and stretch. They never made eye contact with their audience as if we weren’t there and we were peering into their bedrooms and watching their every move. Awkwaaardd.
After I took in all of the exhibits, I made my way to the runway floor to find my seat. I was fortunate enough to sit in the second row, where the view of the show was just perfect.
Here’s Tuesdays line -up of designers that I watched:
Wallace Playford had a funky east meets west approach to designs for this show. Honestly, reminded me of the Chanel show where there were pearls and turbans as well.
All in all this was a great show. Different from the shows I’ve went to before. My favourite was Atelier, partly because he worked closely with Alexander McQueen and I love his designs.
It’s been an incredible week of appointments, photo shoots and filming! I’m happy to say I’ll be uploading one of my YouTube videos this weekend. Okay, don’t expect something totally amazing. My videos are just me, being me. Hope you’ll enjoy them and subscribe! Hehe. Have a great long weekend everyone!
So here are my friday faves from this week to take you through the weekend:
Fave Quote
As soon as I saw this I thought of my hubby. In my eyes he is perfection. He is my rock on days when I’m ornery and my partner in laugher when I’m silly. Also it helps to shed light on things that parents, brothers, significant others do for us that show they love and care. Often overlooked or taken for granted.
Fave Video
This is incredible!
Fave Tweet
The courage that went into this selfie!
Mothers Day, the weather was beautiful and the city was alive with events galore!
I had a baseball game to attend with friends from IBM and GNC later in the afternoon, so I planned to surprise her with flowers and cake first. I got to the door and just as I was adjusting my purse to knock on the door, my mom opens the door, on her way out to run some errands. I was caught off guard so I barely made it to saying..“Su su su SURPRISE!”
My mom’s reaction, shocked, “Oh wow!! How did you get here?!”
I love moments like this. When everything lines up beautifully, to bring a smile to someone’s face.
I immediately noticed her outfit and guided her back into the house, telling her she needs to get ready for her special day! Moms are always busy taking care and doing things for others that frequently they forget themselves. It’s their children, family and friends’ job to remind them to either look after themselves or to just do it for them. That’s love.
After some giggles and catch up time with my family and a moment to enjoy this perfect pre-game snack..
I made my way to the Rogers Center.
On this lovely day every women who attended the game received a pink rose, to mark Mother’s Day! They also had a section where they were giving free manicures, pedicures and more.
We had seats in the TD Comfort Clubhouse area and I enjoyed taking a break and moving to seats in the dining area for lunch. We could still see the field from our table. The lunch was great! The desserts were impeccable. They had s’mores bread pudding (insert drool)
Close to the end of the game a ball came flying towards our section, and as much as I would love to say I caught it (so cliché) it fell into our section and no one had any idea where it rolled too. So I checked under my seat and there it was! Rolled and stopped right under me. Meant to be!
After the game I made my way back to my mama’s place, spent time with our family and then was on my way, bearing gifts, to see my other mom (my mother in-law). Whom I love so much with all my heart!
Share your Mother’s Day story in the comments below :”)
Blazer – H&M (Made from recycled water bottles)
Tank – Forever 21
Jeans – ONLY (Bought in Egypt)
Shoes – Tory Burch Spring 2014
Purse/Satchel – French Connection
Necklace – Handmade from Varadero, Cuba
If a picture can create awareness to my thousands of followers, then why not?
I recently posted an OOTD, which you can see here and I found it fitting to do an OOTN (Outfit Of The Night). Everyone’s seen the dolled up side of my style, well here’s my alternative style. Sporty Chic.
“What’s Sporty Chic?” you ask.
Simple, to start with you’ll need either a fitted casual sporty shirt or pants. Tracking pants or stretchy skinnies are popular ones. I went with stretchy skinnies. These pants are the most comfortable pants I own.
The top I chose for my ootn was picked out for me by beautiful Sami at Blk Sheep Clothing. An awesome boutique that carries more then 50 designer brands. I love this place and can’t wait to go back again!
Next, you want to match your clothes but not everything. Here I matched the colour of my fringe purse with my shoes.
Which brings me to shoes. For a sporty chic look you don’t want athletic sport shoes, you want something more trendy or with a high front. Converse works great as well.
It’s a Friday night and I just came home from my full time job. First thing I want to do is get into something that isn’t a blazer. I bet all of you working ladies can relate.
You make dinner and realize you’re missing something. In my case, I put on some kicks and went on a mission to find it.
Story changes here to something more important. Ever since I read the story about the young girls being kidnapped and sold into slavery, I’ve been meaning to find an opportunity to create awareness to my social media followers. If you have an influential stand anywhere, using it for good just makes all of the hard work you put into getting there, worth it. I love my followers and I’m grateful for every comment, like and follow I receive. I hope for more so that when I do posts like this, it resonates with not thousands but millions of people.
I’d like to clear the air about this comment that was made by a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau, that CNN had posted in this article.
“I abducted your girls. I will sell them in the market, by Allah,”
“There is a market for selling humans. Allah says I should sell. He commands me to sell. I will sell women. I sell women,” he continued, according to a CNN translation from the local Hausa language.
This is preposterous! Allah does not say to sell girls. Anyone who is Muslim or has done any of their own deep research of this religion will know how modesty and respect for women is highly important in Islam. I quote the opinion of Arsalan Iftikhar, special to CNN.
“They must have also missed the numerous times that the Prophet Muhammad categorically stated during his life that women or children were never to be harmed under any situation.”
Do your research everyone and find the truth for yourselves.
I stand by and respect our future generation of young women who stand for their human rights and my heart and prayers go out to the missing Nigerian school girls.
Jacket – BeBe
Top – Blk Sheep Clothing – Designer: CHRLDR
Pants – FCUK
Shoes – Nike Force Sky High
Purse – H&M
I love spending time downtown. There’s never a dull moment. So much to do, so much to see.
One of my favourite places is the new pedestrian bridge, Puente de Luz. This bridge connects the CityPlace condos with a short cut to popular streets like King and Queen St. Where you can pretty much find anything.
I often shy away from wearing everything white. It’s so easy to get your whites dirty if you’re walking everywhere. Which makes it even more special when you do choose this look. There’s something risky and pristine about this style. When shopping for whites, make sure you test the clothing for transparency. Do the light and hand test. Ask to see it outside or put your hand behind the fabric. If you already own items that are too see through, don’t worry. Wear a neutral or white tank top underneath the blouse or layer some tanks like I did. I love layering! For pants, it’s best you test them out first.
Wearing everything white with pops of colour in accessories or shoes, brings more attention to them. For an example, take a canvas and splash 1 or 2 colours of paint on it. They stand out right? Add any more colour and it’s just a colourful painting. Avoid wearing white shoes and go for metallics, brights or nude. I chose pastel and soft colours to go with my white ootd (outfit of the day). During the day I like to go for more neutral or pastel colours and flats! Unless I’m going to an event or in the evening when I need to bring out the gems and metallic heels.
There is so much happening right now and I can’t wait to share! Smile, it’s Friday! Here are some of my faves from this week. Enjoy :”)
Fave video: Well done Nike. My favourite part was slipping Hulk into this video!
Fave App: Okay ladies, or gentlemen. This app can potentially save your life! In a nut shell, you know those nights when you need to go down a creepy dark alley to get somewhere and you start clanking your keys to warn any evil that lurks in the darkness that you’re armed? Well, now you can do that AND have a virtual life saver. I don’t think I did a great job explaining this app so just click here.
Fave Facebook Post:
[Tweet “In Shaq’s own words, “It is not about how much money you make. The question is are you educated enough to KEEP it.” #Quotes”]
This is bound to make you smile.
Fave Fashion News:
Disney is celebrating Mickey Mouse’s film debut, Steamboat Willie by creating a cute collection of clothes for men and women. The collection is inspired by the movie which came out in 1928. Did you know this is the same year Mickey Mouse was born? Check out the collection here.
Have you ever looked back at your pictures and thought “whoa! What’s up with that uni-brow?!” or noticed your overly plucked eyebrows?
Our eyebrows go through their own changes either based on lack of attention or too much attention. Always keep in mind that the shape and look of your eyebrows play a big role in framing your eyes and enhancing your appearance.
It was evident that if you had thick eyebrows, you may have to tweeze/wax them. If they were thin, you would need to fill them in. Today the rule of thumb is that they can be thick and still look hot. Just like one of my favourite models Cara Delevingne. She is known for her power brows.
Sorry ladies, the over plucked look is not “in fashion”. Good news! There’s hope! If you have made that mistake and can’t get them back to their fuller days, you can fill them in and fake it. There are so many options for fillers, hair growing formulas and pencils galore. I used an eye shadow occasionally to fill my own and on my clients. Hands down, the best products I have ever used were from Benefit and I haven’t used anything since I was introduced to it in my make-up artist days.
That being said, the beautiful ladies at Benefit booked me an appointment at the Yorkdale Benefit Brow Bar inside Sephora. I have to be honest, I was expecting an entire store of only Benefit products, maybe because I’ve seen the one in California and it was beautiful. Pink, everything. I can’t wait for those stand alone stores to come here! They would do amazing. Not to mention that the one inside this Sephora was so busy. Fully booked for the weekend and during my appointment 4 people asked at different times if they could go next.
To my surprise the brow expert was someone I knew from my very first cosmetics role! How wild is that?! I have known Kelly Correia for over a decade and she is still the beautiful person inside and out that I first met years ago. I always thought she had the most perfect eyebrows. There isn’t anyone else that I would trust my brows with but her.
Here is the breakdown of how Kelly did my brows at the Benefit Brow Bar:
1. She first started with a brow tint. Which made my brows look naturally fuller and a bit darker.
2. Then she did some brow mapping using my nose as a guide to get the perfect shape for my face. She drew guidelines on my brows using the product called brow zings.
3. She then showed me my brows to see if I approved of the shape.
4. Waxed the middle of my brows first and continued to wax and tweeze one brow at a time.
5. Once I had seen the shape and loved it, she showed me some products to fill in my brows and taught me the technique.
The brow pencil that was used on me was the insta brow-dark colour. And then the med/deep gimme brow on top to look fuller. Below are the products I use to fill my brows. When I’m in a rush, I use Gimme Brow. Love it!
I love these products so much that I just had to share them with you, so I did a giveaway on my Facebook and Instagram pages. I am ecstatic to announce the lucky winner who will be receiving a Benefit gift bag of BrowsWOWed goodies! Congratulations to @m_mila_sd!
At the end of every winter, we tuck away the heavy duty boots and replace them with our dainty heels and twinkle toe flats.
I had so much fun putting together my first Monday Minute this week to feature the type of shoes everyone will be wearing this Spring. Here are my picks:
1. BCBG Metallic Pumps – These pumps will take any of your low key outfits and add that extra needed pizzazz.
2. Khussa Flats – A style of South Asian handcrafted shoes made in India and Pakistan. My sister got me these awesome flats from her trip to Lahore, Pakistan. These shoes have delicate and intricate thread embroidery. In the days of Kings and Queens, these shoes were heavily embroidered in real gold and silver. Nowadays, they’re made with materials that make them affordable for everyone to purchase.
3. Charles & Keith Flats – Purchased at the City Stars Mall, the largest mall in Cairo, Egypt.
4/5. Nine West/Steve Madden Wedge – I got these in California and it was one of my favourite purchases during that trip. Wedge’s are the most comfortable in the heels category. Especially if there’s a platform in the front for balance.
6. Mango heels – The ankle buckle adds structure to this delicate heel and can be easily dressed with your simplest to your most dolled up outfits.
If you’re new to Social Media, first thing you should do is get on Twitter and Facebook. To start with, at least.
There are a lot more platforms out there for you to experience, learn and possibly one day manage for your employer.
Watch some tutorials on how to use these platforms. You will be surprised at how much knowledge there is out there on the web. Once you have gone past the beginner phase of learning the in’s and out’s of each platform, search for programs that help you optimize their use as a social media professional. Such as Tweetdeck, Hootsuite and understanding Facebook page analytics.
At this point, you should also start looking at companies that are doing amazing work with their social media. Companies that have compelling marketing strategies and have a massive following. One of my favourites is Oreo.
When you’re applying to some companies make sure you ask lots of questions during the interview process or dig deep into their job descriptions for hints on what their expectations are. Some companies that don’t really understand the benefits of social media may not have a team or budget in place. This means you will be doing everything from managing their platforms, community, graphics, videos, promotions and more! Their expectations might be high for the type of following they want to see upon hiring you. It will be your job to explain the benefits of promoted tweets, boosting posts and ad’s to gain likes. Especially if people who are looking for your company can’t find their website or even a blog.
Check out the below infographic to getting a job in Social Media. There are some roles missing and the salary may be off for some.
