I must say..(totally off topic) but Lays chips has done an amazing job by naming their chips, ruffles. I’m talking about ruffles in your clothes but for some reason when I say or think ruffles, the chips come to mind. (I don’t even eat chips anymore!). I apologize in advance if by the end of this post you’re craving chips.
I love this high and low ruffled top. To be honest, I can’t figure out where I got it from because the tag was driving me crazy, so I cut it off. Oops!The rips in these Zara jeans are poifect! Only because they’re just surface layer rips, not ripped to show skin. Which is great if it’s a bit chilly out. I don’t like being cold.
I feel as if I take this bcbg tote bag everywhere! It was one of my favourite buys on a trip to California. I love the colour and since matching/pairing your shoes with your purse is trending, this did the trick! Which by the way you need to check out this glamour post and their suggestions of soulmate purse and shoe pairings> here – loooveee it!
These wooden animal print bangles were gifted to me by a special friend of mine who went to Africa. They were bought from a market in Uganda. So you might or might have not noticed that I love purchasing items from my travels and then styling them into my everyday wardrobe. It’s like a constant reminder throughout the day of a memory or experience.
Have you bought something that reminds you of a memory or experience?
Top – Unknown
Necklace – Forever21
Tote Bag – BCBG
Jeans – Zara
Heels – Charles & Keith (Egypt)
Craving something SOUR? Try this DIY sour candy popsicle recipe:
You’ll need:
Simply Lemonade (Pink) Popsicle moulds Sour candy
Pour in Simply Lemonade into popsicle moulds and add your favourite sour candy. Freeze and enjoy!
This is a great easy recipe to do with children or when you’re in a rush looking for a yummy frozen dessert. I love sour popsicles, but if you’re looking for a healthy alternative try switching up the juice with Simply Berry (no preservatives or added colours) and add some berries.
On a hot summer day you want to make a quick dessert to enjoy outside. Here it is:
You need:
Berries Whipped Cream Cake (Preferably Vanilla or Sponge) Simply Berry juice
Add cake, berries and then as much juice as you like. I added around 4-5 tablespoons of juice. The cake soaks up the flavour, making this a cool dessert. Top with whipped cream and a rolled wafer cookie!
RANT ALERT:I have no more space on my android to be downloading anymore apps so I steered away from Snapchat until I transferred over all my images and videos to my laptop. Now there’s another player in the social media world called Periscope and the Social Media Marketer in me must know, what’s this peri stuff all about. After deleting some unnecessary whatsapp images/videos, uninstalling viber and shazam, I’ve installed periscope. (P.S I’m glad I didn’t download Meerkat) With all these new social media platforms emerging, how do you decide which ones to use regularly? I’m going to keep it simple and lay out my pros/cons on how you can decide whether you’re a Periscope, a Snapchat or both platforms user.
Periscope
Periscope is an app where you see events happening in real-time. You’re suppose to experience the event from the broadcasters point of view. However, I can imagine it’ll be used for other reasons as well. Like live Q/A sessions, kind of like google+ live hangouts.
Pros
– LIVE broadcasting
– People viewing your broadcast can ask you questions
– People can like your broadcast as many times as they want (Shown by multiple floating hearts)
– Connected to your Twitter account
– Real time blocking of spammers/pervs/weirdos of all types
– You can save your broadcasts and share on Twitter etc
– You can choose to do public or private broadcasts
Cons
– The more people watching your broadcast and commenting makes it hard for you to keep up with any questions
– Stalkers will love this because they’ll know exactly what you’re doing..right now
– Logging out will be hard especially if you’re a nice person because it’s like having a one way video chat with so many people
– Time consuming
– As many likes as you want means it may not be very accurate in metrics if your mom is liking your broadcast a million times
Snapchat
Snapchat differs from periscope because the snap you just posted is not necessarily happening as it happens when people view it.
Pros
– Not in real-time (so you can delete that selfie you took until you get to your best one and then post another)
– You can create a public story or send snap videos or pictures privately
– Using emoticons, filters, geo-location stamps to make snaps creative and fun
– You build a 24 hour story of your day and can focus on highlights as opposed to one live hour
– You can save videos/pictures
– Viewers can screenshot your snaps and you’ll know who did
– No liking system, just viewers (this could be a con to some people)
Cons – Annoying when people send their public stories to you privately as well
– Glitches in the app can cause your snaps to get deleted before you have a chance to send to story
– Offline saving snaps to load into story later doesn’t always work
When it starts getting gloomy outside and I’m stuck indoors, I get an itch to start a new project. A simple DIY does the trick. Have you ever tried to tie dye anything?
I was going through the spring issue of Style Advisor and noticed this page of tie dye cushions that inspired me to do my own!
What you need:
1 pillowcase
1 Rit® Dye colour
1 cup of salt if your pillowcase is made with cotton
Rubber bands
Hot Water
Bucket
Scissors
Directions: Gather the center of the pillowcase in your hand and wrap a rubber band around it.
Continue wrapping rubber bands all around the pillow case by twisting different sections and tying tight with rubber bands.
Fill your bucket with 2-3 gallons of hot water and put in the cup of salt. Stir. Now put in 1/2 the bottle of dye. Make sure you wear plastic gloves. Soak the tied up pillow case into the dye water. The longer you leave it in and the hotter the water, the darker it’ll turn out. Also.it may look dark because it’s wet. Confession: I didn’t follow instructions on how much water to use, to wash the pillowcase prior to dyeing and didn’t use any particular method in tying the rubber bands as some people would.
Take out the tied up pillow case and carefully cut the rubber bands off with scissors. Rinse the pillowcase until it rinses clear water. Wash the pillow case by hand and then put it in the dryer.
Benefit Roller Lash vs Lancome Ôscillation Mascara, which one wins at the end?
There are a ton of mascaras to choose from and the only way to find which ones work for you is by narrowing it down by the look you’re trying to achieve and finding mascaras that help you achieve it. Most of the time I use my mascara by Too Faced that gives me thicker lashes but other times I go for a lighter lengthier look. Benefit Cosmetics launched the Roller Lash Mascara last month with a social media campaign that you couldn’t miss.
Roller Lash Facts:
This mascara is inspired by hair rollers and gives you curled long lashes for a wide-eyed look. The brush has a patent-pending Hook ‘n’ Roll™ brush. They’re tiny little hooks that catch, lift and curl all lashes. Even the shortest and straight lashes. The curling effect from this mascara is good enough to replace your eyelash curler.
Ôscillation Facts: This mascara has a vibrating wand to help lift, lengthen and give volume to lashes. This vibrating mascara provides 7,000 oscillations per minute! Pretty cool if you ask me, but doesn’t stop me from still moving my hand to apply the mascara. (I can’t help it!) I love that it doesn’t have parabens, sulfates and phthalates. Also free of synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, and triclosan. Which means it’s great for contact wearers or sensitive eyes.
Round 3 – Wear
Lancome Ôscillation:
You can see below that length is mediocre and volume is non existent. I did three coats and this is what I got. I found the vibrations don’t really do much. Instead, it started to get a bit clumpy close to the base of my lashes.
Benefit Roller Lash: Below image shows lots of volume, length and a bit of lift or curl midway. This is with two coats. No clumps.
Winner: Roller Lash! Great price comparatively, true to its facts and winning results.
Have you tried the Roller Lash or the Lancome Ôscillation mascara? Which do you prefer? Comment below 🙂
Wednesday evening was eventful! You may already know that, if you’re following me on snapchat (HumJK). I took the subway, which I hadn’t done in almost a year, that was nice. And I bumped into a friend, which obviously never happens when you’re driving. That was nice too. It was great hanging out with other bloggers and the Globe Style team. As bloggers we get so enthralled into our digital worlds we forget to make time for face time. No, I’m not talking about the iPhone app. I mean real, good ol face to face connecting.
We then went over to the theater for the YSL movie screening.
My thoughts on the movie, it’s definitely for an older audience to watch (too many drugs, vulgar scenes etc) but the clothes shown throughout the movie and the last collection was absolutely divine. The vibrant colours, turbans, belts, bangles… beautiful! I also learnt a few things I didn’t know about Yves Saint Laurent and some nifty tricks to use everyday. My favourite outfit? The model to the left of Yves below. (I’ve made a mental note to re-create that look, minus the turban).
Photo credit: http://innocenceterrible.com/
(Not sure why I look so angry in that last pic. RBF? :”/ )
Top – American Apparel
Shoes – Charles & Keith (Bought in Egypt)
Pants – Club Monaco
Purse – Forever21
Blazer – Forever21
Jewelry – Pandora/Persona Bracelets
Watch – Burberry
Glasses – Bought and made in Korea
Travelling to new places and learning about the culture and history of different destinations is something my husband and I love to do. Some trips are planned well in advance and some last minute. Our last big trip was to South Korea and Japan. We also had booked a trip to China this week for two weeks that we cancelled due to the wonderful new addition to our family. Now we look forward to taking him with us on all of our trips. The first one being to a resort in Mexico this May.
When planning a trip, where do you look for information, inspiration or general tips?
Reading and collecting the lonely planet books has become a tradition. However, a lot of the unique suggestions and tips come from articles. Articles like the ones I read in the Global Style Advisor that released today. If you haven’t already, I’d go out and get this travel edition found in the Globe and Mail to keep as a reference for the many destinations mentioned or check out the digital version here. Love the resort fashion spread, that has left me inspired for our trip in May. Need to have that Hugo Boss dress!
If I were only allowed to take a few some items with me to any of the great escapes mentioned in this Globe Style Advisor edition, they would be the following:
Fave Fragrance
Try travelling with a light and fresh fragrance. Especially if you’re stuck on a long flight.
Fave Notebook
Everyone has that one notebook they travel with. Somewhere to keep all of their plans, schedules, tips etc.
Fave Cosmetics
All I need is Benefit’s new roller lash, blush and an awesome lip tint balm for the perfect amount of natural colour.
Fave Tag
Just in case you lose your luggage and just because it’s a cute accessory for your carry on. Plus, there really is no place like home. 🙂
Epic Blend is a Canadian brand of premium lip balms that you may have seen or read about somewhere online or heard about them through one of my favourite magazines, Elle Canada.
There are so many unnecessary ingredients in cosmetics these days. Brands seem to be either coming up with innovative targeted ingredients or they are moving forward by keeping it simple and tapping into the market of au naturel.
[Tweet “RT if you have a lip balm in every purse #Beauty”]
You can never have enough lip balms. Especially during dry winters like the one we’re having. I’ve tried lots of different lip balms and my least favourite ones are the ones that go on greasy and promise to be moisturizing but aren’t. As soon as the greasiness wears off, you’re left with dry chapped lips again. I’ve found the solution with these Epic Blend balms that are not greasy and have lasting moisture results without harsh synthetics. There are so many flavours to choose from but my favourites are grape and citrus kick. YUM.
These natural flavours come in three categories:
Hemp
Made with organic hemp seed oil. Advantage: quickly absorbs deep into the skin cells for lasting moisture results.
More Moisture
Has seven moisturizers to keep your lips moist.
Organic Shea Butter
Organic Coconut Oil
Organic Sunflower Oil
Organic Castor Oil
Organic Beeswax
Non-GMO Vitamin E TIP: Moist lips make for a great base when applying lipstick 😉 Advantage: The organic shea butter being one of the seven organic ingredients provides extra moisture and a boost of staying power.
Vegan
These balms are 100% plant-based and beeswax-free.
Advantage: The all-natural food grade Candelilla wax used gives these vegan balms a smooth texture.
If you’re in the market for an all natural, gluten-free, non-GMO, petroleum free and most importantly not tested on animals lip balm, then Epic Blend is what you’re looking for. Definitely keeping one in all my go to purses.
Have you tried Epic Blend before? If so, what’s your favourite flavour?
If you haven’t tried them yet then here’s your chance to win! Good luck!
The digital age where social media has become a huge part of our generation, the opportunity curve is going through the roof for the guy/girl next door becoming famous overnight over an uploaded video, tweet or instagram post.
My Facebook feed had this one article that was being shared over and over again by different people and even made it to a few of my whatsapp group conversations. A YouTuber becomes famous and some of the videos have a word for word resemblance with another YouTubers videos. Some viewers feel cheated and have shown their outrage via YouTube comments, twitter and other social platforms. Everyone has their opinion on whether this is unethical or not. If you ask me, before judging someone online for copying another persons content and resorting to cyber bullying take these points into consideration:
If you believe someone has done something unethical, being unethical back (ex. cyber bulling) does not make things right
The person copying others online content may not be aware that this is even wrong (or not allowed) and may not know that they should be giving any kind of credit to the person they were inspired by or copying (if that’s the case)
Person may have seen creating the copy of the video as their own variation of it
[Tweet “Fame = many responsibilities & few understand these responsibilities right away..”]
You can learn from making mistakes and either correct or continue to do the same and ignore all negative feedback from your fans and only take the good. Although if you ask me, any kind of criticism, especially bad, can be really good for you if you take it with a grain of salt and use it to build your online image into something even better. After all, if you win all of your fans hearts, it only feeds into your popularity even more. It can even be inspiring to other content makers and they may even follow suit.
Here are some guidelines to follow when sharing or creating content on social media platforms:
Twitter
On Twitter when you share someone’s tweet it’s called a Re-Tweet. Click on the Re-Tweet button under the Tweet.
You can also start a new tweet and start the copied tweet with ‘RT’ which is short form for Re-Tweet. When you tweet this way don’t forget to also add the person’s Twitter name. Should look something like this:
This is a great way to give the other person credit on Twitter and also you’re engaging with the user. That user might even appreciate you giving them credit and mentioning them in the tweet that they may even Re-Tweet your tweet. Especially if you added your own comments to the tweet.
Facebook
We are able to easily ‘share’ a post on Facebook by clicking on the share button. When you share a post, viewers of the post can see where that post derived from. (Facebook page, Facebook user, outside Facebook source)
Instagram
There are a lot of ways you can give credit to Instagram users you’ve either been inspired by or just want to copy the exact image and post it on your account.
Download a reposting instagram app (Ex. App called Repost for Instagram on Androids) Apps like this will automatically add a side bar with the repost symbol along with the original content creators name.
You can tag the person in the image before posting when in edit mode
You can also mention the original image post-er in the edit mode: #regram @piperlime
Vine
Vine has a one button share option or just like Instagram you can use a hashtag like #revine.
Tumblr
This microblogging platform and social networking website also allows you to press a button to share or use hashtag #reblog.
YouTube
On YouTube it’s a bit more tricky because there are no share buttons and most YouTubers videos are not their own original content. YouTube doesn’t have the processes in place like other social platforms to encourage users to give credit. It’s kind of like a free for all. Built up of so many videos that tell the same story by different people/characters. It’s evident in beauty channels with similar looks being created by different beauty experts, comedians with the same punch lines, tutorials teaching the same technique and more. It really comes down to the YouTuber. Do you want to give credit to the content that was created by another that inspired you to re-create? Or would you rather just create the video and put it out there because it’s different enough that you’re in it? How about the fact that the video you created is different in your eyes because you had a different approach, a slight change in the story, different technique…innovative?
Plagiarism is the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own.
With a platform that doesn’t give you the option to tag, share or promote to give shout outs to those who inspired you to create your content, it’s no wonder why there are so many copy cats. Not everyone has come to accept YouTube for what it is. Some viewers demand and criticize YouTubers to admit or share who they copied or were inspired by. However you will rarely read or see a YouTuber mention where they got their content from or who they were inspired by. Everyone wants to be an original, some with little to no effort. To each their own.
