Series April 12, 2014

The Future of ROBOTS

Robots were invented to make our lives easier in some way or to do things that we cannot do, like exploring Mars.

Although robots fascinate people, they have not yet made much of a mark on the world. Especially compared to the make believe ones we’ve seen in movies like iRobot and The Terminator. However, we’re very close to this changing.

More companies are investing in the future of robots. The New York Times reported that in 2013, Google bought eight promising robot start-ups in the United States and Japan to help build a “new generation” of robots. These robots will make the electronics assembly process easier and possibly help with Google’s same-day delivery efforts. Andy Rubin, who was the mastermind behind the Android operating system, is working on this top secret Robots project.

Amazon.com, which is Google’s competitor in the Robots category, stated that one day they want Amazon’s books and DVDs delivered to customers via miniature helicopters. Deliveries by drones? Now that will be something to see. Or will it be a robot stepping out of a self-driving car to deliver your package? These are just some of the assumptions or ideas that could easily become reality.

Another industry where robots will come in handy will be mining. By 2030 we might see robots that can map underground chambers to within a millimeter of detail with lasers or automated drills to separate waste from valuable. And at waste dumps, robots will be used to extract every last metal particle.

Some interesting robots to watch out for that were introduced to the market this year:

– The Grillbot $120, cleans your bbq grill like a vacuum
– AIMe is a small camera that detects motion up to 150 feet with special sensors. This robot
will be available in June of 2014 with a price tag of $299.99
– Keecker is a lifestyle robot, working in your home to provide entertainment and
communications. You can use its built-in projector to watch a movie or surf the web on any
nearby wall, or listen to music.

Check out this video of some pretty cool robots. Not sure why they would be terrifying though:

Spring April 12, 2014

Spring has Sprung

It’s a beautiful day outside, so it’s only fitting to share a few of my favorite pieces for this season. Some of these items I just couldn’t wait and went out to buy them, so you’ll see them in my upcoming ootd’s (outfit of the day) on Instagram.

1. A perfect pastel satchel. This one is from French Connection and I love the spacious inner compartment!
2. The tea length skirt. Mini, midi and maxi have a great new member. I’m going gaga over this modest trend. The hem hits just above the ankle.
3. Spring studs. Floral is back, so get a nice floral pair.
4. Beach ready Tory Burch espadrille flats.
5. Nautical stripes. No matter what your personal style, stripes will surely fit into your spring wardrobe effortlessly.
6. Guerlain Meteorites Powder.
7. The Clutch.
8. Bold sunnies. If you don’t have a bold pair already, be on the look out for a killer pair. I can’t wait to rock these Prada sunnies.
9. Metallics. We saw this trend in FW2013 and it’s been adorned since. These BCBG pumps make for a great statement heel.
10. Get bold orange lips! I love this YSL Tangy Mandarin color.
11. Wide-leg pants made a strong comeback this season. Flooding the runways in collections from Michael Kors to Ferragamo. Pair this style with a feminine blouse or bold blazer to get this season’s posh tailored look. Think, Victoria Beckham.

Keep these colors in mind when you’re out and about, shopping for your Spring wardrobe:

If you had to make a Spring 2014 Mix, what songs would you include?

Spring April 9, 2014

How to Stack Necklaces, Rings & Bracelets: Stacks Stacks Stacks!

Stacks with necklaces, stacks with bracelets and even rings! Is it just another trend or a choice of style? If you ask me, it’s always been a personal preference for those who love the look of stacked jewelry. Lately it’s been trending and seen everywhere from magazines, social platforms and even on the red carpet.

Here’s the quick cheat sheet of how to stack your accessories without looking like Mr.T :

When you’re layering your rings, keep in mind that stacking your rings doesn’t work if you wear every ring you own. Also, if you plan to wear a chunky or cocktail ring, make sure you have polished nails; especially since they can bring more attention to your hands.

1. Pick a metal and stay within that theme.

2. Make a statement with a chunky ring and a small simple one on your pinky.

3. Wear your cocktail ring with your more dressy outfits.

4. More than 1 statement ring on each hand? Do it! Just make sure you match them up either by metal or colors. They have to flow together in some kind of way.

5. For a more electric look, pair a statement ring with a midi ring (a smaller band that is worn above the knuckle) and a pinky ring.

What if you have a wedding/engagement ring? Can you still stack? Absolutely! Work around your ring but place any statement rings on your other hands fingers.

There are two different techniques of stacking necklaces that have really stood out to me. One is the casual, everyday stack and then there’s the statement stack.

Casual Everyday Stack: You pick out minimum 3, no more then 5 thin chained necklaces and put them on in layers.

Each one is worn like a step, shortest to longest. You can change the step usually by clasping in the necklace at different points. This technique is easy and fun! You might want to apply the same rules as we did with stacking rings. Staying within the same metals, simple thin chains etc.

Statement Stack: There are so many variations of statement stacking. See below for some examples

On the red carpet:

Keep it fun and if you like, apply some of the same guidelines from ring stacking. Just try to avoid looking like the 8 year old you, who just finished raiding her mother’s closet and put everything on in sight.

I did a poll on my Twitter account to see how many of you thought there was a right way to stack or if it’s all a fluke! Here are the results:

Stacking #jewelry post is coming up! Is there a right way to stack? RT if YES. Favourite if NO. #fashion #fblogger pic.twitter.com/XVPaW5qKl8

— Humara Kausar (@HumaraKausar) March 29, 2014

I believe there is no right or wrong way. Your style is unique to yourself. You can wear what you want, the way you want. If you wear it with confidence, others will notice and before you know it, you’re a trend setter.

This post is a set of guidelines from a variety of fashion experts and tips of my own. Tried and tested, with many compliments. Whose to say you must follow these ways. If you like the suggestions; try it, tweak it and make it your own.

How do you stack? I want to read all about it! Share your tips below.

Beauty April 4, 2014

How To Apply Eye Care

Eye’s are beautiful and come in so many different shapes, sizes and colors. They’re the most fragile part of your face. I remember learning this the hard way at an early age. I was 16 and just started as a Beauty Adviser. We had the opportunity to try all of the old and new beauty products from all sorts of brands. Cheap to luxury, all natural to anti-aging.. any brand you can think of, I’ve most likely tried it.

One day after work we went to a seminar for NeoStrata. I love their products and know that there is no other like it. The fact that they state the percentage of Glycolic Acid it contains and that you can purchase it from a drug store is a bonus! (Let me know if you want me to do a post about Glycolic Acid in the comments below)

Everyone who attended the seminar went home with lots of new NeoStrata products. This one eye cream really stood out to me. So I tried it that night and put it on vigorously, thinking it would penetrate better and work faster. To my dismay, I woke up the next day with sore and puffy eyes. They looked horrendous! That was when I learnt the right way to apply skin care around or near the eyes.

The skin around the eyes is ten times thinner than the skin on the face. One of the many reasons why you should be extra gentle around the eyes.

[Tweet “Steps to ensure you’re applying your eye cream in the most gentle manner possible.”]:

1. Dot on your eye cream in the areas needed. Don’t get too close to the eyes.

2. Gently spread the eye cream with your ring finger. The ring finger is suggested because you naturally won’t use as much pressure.

3. Anything left on your finger spread under your brow bone. End with a circular motion, as seen in image above.

It takes time getting use to applying your eye cream this way, especially if you don’t have time and want to just smear it on. You’ll see a difference with this method, especially for those who have dark circles.

Would you use this method? How do you apply your eye cream? Let me know in the comments below.

Runway March 29, 2014

Fashion Night at the Windsor Arms

Fashion Night was an exclusive and invite-only event that took place on Friday, October 25th at The Windsor Arms Hotel in Toronto during the final night of the 2013 Toronto Fashion Week.

It was a cold day and one hour before the Fashion Night show started at 9:30pm it was chaos outside the Windsor Arms doors. People who had invitations were patiently waiting to go inside, until news passed around that they were at max capacity. Worried and eager to get inside the pushing to get to the front commenced and I was lucky enough to get inside and be in the third row!

The show was hosted by Canada’s Next Top Model judge Stacey McKenzie, and co-hosted by celebrity hair extraordinaire, Jie Matar. The fashion show featured Canadian designers Evan Biddell and Whitney Linen. For worldwide designers there was China’s Han Couture, Italy’s Tosca Delfino, and Royalz Clothing. Toronto’s local star DJ Fizza, and superstar violinist Eugene Draw aka Dr. Draw entertained the audience with an amazing performance on the catwalk.

Toronto’s hip hop artist from back in the day, Choclair took the stage and performed a few of his songs. All in all it was a great event and I can’t wait for the next one!

Check out this video for highlights of the show:

Friday Faves March 29, 2014

Friday Faves – Follow your goals

Hope everyone is having a happy Friday!

I am actually sick with a fever. Toronto’s winter weather hasn’t been nice to us this time around.-30 weather, snow in March and Leafs keep losing. Irrelevant to the weather, but I thought I’d throw that in there. Regardless of all that, throughout the week there were some things that made me laugh, motivated or sparked an idea!

Fave Video:
I uploaded this video back in 2006 and totally forgot about it. This was my cat Maya’s first day at the house and I placed her for a second on my desk and wanted to record a video to send to a friend of mine, when something unexpectedly happens…to this day when I watch this video, it still makes me go “OU!”

Fave Pin:

I am in love with these John Galliano – Resort Shoes for 2014. The pop of yellow and the design is just impeccable.

Fave Quote:

Last year was a busy year but didn’t have too much time to create my brand and work on my projects. I have been very goals oriented this year and have so many things I’d love to accomplish very soon. Stumbling upon this quote was perfect timing.

Fave Purchase:

I was at the mall looking for something unique to add to the gifts I was getting for a special baby’s birthday, when I found this at Indigo. It is perfect! I love things that make a child’s imagination go wild, makes them excited and of course puts them into giggles. A tickle monster book box with tickle monster gloves included! It’s actually cheaper to purchase it online.

Happy Friday everyone and have a wonderful weekend!

Happy Friday! – Friday Faves

Time Management with Bloom Daily Planners [MOTIVATION]

Marketing March 27, 2014

Twitter: What’s NEW

Just as soon as people started thinking Twitter was behind in its game, news sprouted up from social media channels about Twitter growing. At the moment Twitter has 241 million active users and it hasn’t been growing as fast as Facebook, Vine and YouTube. Time to play catch up?

Here’s a run down of what to expect and what has already popped up in Twitter News:

Last week Twitter rolled out a new platform for hosting video that gives iPhone and Android phone users previews of video clips in their feeds. With a single click you’re able to play the clip. This new feature on Twitter is called in-line video. You can see this feature being used on Vines. Twitter was behind in the video category and it was about time they started focusing on it.

It has been reported that Twitter is experimenting with the capability to see how many people have viewed your tweets, which at the moment only advertisers can see. The view count would be shown underneath each tweet, similar to how Facebook shows the amount of views underneath each Page post. How exciting is that?!

Tweet views will measure the reach of your tweets and help individuals and companies to recognize what they need to do or keep doing in order to get Re-Tweets and Favourites. Lots of views but no engagement says a whole lot to Social Media Managers. Fingers crossed this ‘experiment’ pulls through and every Twitter user can start benefiting from the data.

Twitter has also announced an update to its mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. Many people on Twitter have already called Twitter out as copying Facebook because they changed the famous ‘Re-Tweet’ lingo to ‘Share’. I’m not a fan of changing the Twitter language, especially when so many users have gotten the hang of using RT. It’s one thing to expand, but changing something that isn’t broken. Not cool.

Why did @Twitter take out ‘Retweet’ and put ‘Share tweet’..?

— Orochimaru. (@Mitha07) March 26, 2014

There was another update to twitter mobile apps that would give users more options when posting pictures. One being the ability to tag up to 10 people in photos without lowering the character count within your tweet. Also, users will be able to post up to four photos in a single tweet and join them together like a small collage. Sounds like Instagram to me.

In-line videos, with one click view like Vines, yay or nay? How can ‘tweet views’ help you or your business? Will you use the new picture features?

Style March 21, 2014

New York Winter StreetWear – Estelle Kiora & I

During my time in New York for Social Media Week (SMW); SMW Reporter/Top 10 blogger in Singapore – Estelle Kiora and I bundled up to fight the cold in our winter streetwear. Estelle who came from Singapore, where the sun is mostly shining, was in for a surprise! I was impressed with how well she managed to wear her style in below zero weather. All thanks to strategic layering. Those timberlands, love’em!

Some of my favourite winter layering essentials that are the key building blocks of a fashionable, yet warm outfit, would be an infinity scarf, leg warmers and layering tops.

Ever since infinity scarves hit stores, I’ve been a huge fan of the warmth and protection it provides. What’s an infinity scarf? A neck warmer resembling a scarf, but forming a loop with no ends.

An infinity scarf is a perfect addition for Winter StreetWear.

If you’ve been following my Instagram posts this winter, you’ll notice I have a comforting need to always rock my leg warmers. They’re perfect if you’re wearing leggings with boots that are looser at the top. Trapping the cold so it doesn’t get to your feet. The plus, it can look fashionable if it’s your style to start with. You can also make your own leg warmers at home with some old sweaters. Just cut the sleeves at your desired length and bunch them up!

I love layering my tops! Some people like to say there’s a right and a wrong way to doing this. I’ll save that for another post, but I say have fun with it! Let your imagination go wild and style your outfits the way you want to. Wear a dress, put a cardigan on top and for extra warmth top it off with a bright hood.

Style March 21, 2014

What I Wore : Toronto Fashion Week

It’s cold, dull, Toronto Fashion Week is here and this is what I wore.

Fashion Show: David Dixon Fall 2014 Collection

Back in the day when I was behind the scenes putting together Fashion Shows or one of the head make-up artists, it was very different. I blame those experiences for my high expectations of a show.

“I love seeing the runway come to life. Not just models walking down the runway, but the whole theme that wraps and showcases around the beautiful designs, that designers put their hearts and sweat into making.”

Speaking of beautiful designs, on the second day of Toronto Fashion Week, David Dixon introduced his White Label bridal collection.

I had the pleasure of sitting and meeting with Sharadha Ramjit (@Sharadha_Ra), Producer and wearer of many hats at Corus Entertainment, CP24‘s Patricia Jaggernauth (@Patricia_J), Cristina Tenaglia, Reporter for CP24 (@cristina_CP24) and of course Stacey Mackenzie, who I’ve seen and spoken to at other shows.

The show begins with a short film about love. Rose petals fall on screen and then wedding bells start to ring. A model in a modern wedding dress appears, ready for the catwalk.

Most of the models wore short, tucked away hair or rather low bun hairstyles. Simple, soft, natural makeup and a romantic red lip, was the hair and make-up theme for this modern take on wedding attire.

Dixon’s White Label Collection consisted of pastel white, pink and peach designs.

Pastel pink peplum frill:

Low Twist Bun:

Flower accents:

My favourite peplum dress: