Now That You Are Clean, What Next?

Hello. Welcome to today's blog. In the last blog, we talked about how style starts from the basics. If you haven't read it, please do. Now that you are clean and your skin is prepped, your next focus should be on how you smell. There are different ways to smell to come across as stylish. Your smell can be strong or mellow, it can be woody, musky,spicy etc. I believe that part of being stylish is deciding on a particular type of smell so that people associate you with that smell. Shave your armpits and private part. After your bath, use a good roll on, a good body spray and then perfume. Take time to choose the smells carefully so that it is harmonious and not irritating to people that you come in contact with.

Once you have sorted your smell out, the next focus should be your make up. What does your face look like? What is it's shape? What's it's color? What is your lifestyle? When you are coming up with your make up routine, consider the message that you are trying to send. Your make up attracts or repels certain people to or from you. Then there is your hairstyle. To be considered stylish, it must not only go well with your coloring and face shape, it must go with your lifestyle. How do you want people to respond to you?What kind of people are you trying to attract? These are important when choosing a hairstyle.

Now, you can start thinking of how to dress yourself, i.e. the clothes that you want to wear. Next week, we will touch on that, before we subsequently start dealing with the whole picture in detail. Until then, remain stylish

Are You Really Leveling Up?

Hello. Welcome to today’s blog. The question for today is who is a stylish woman? What is it that makes us think of a woman as being stylish? Is it Just the way that she dresses?

In my opinion, style starts from good hygiene. Do you brush your teeth every day? Do you scrub your tongue? There is no style if your breath stinks. Do you wash the dirt off your skin and help it to smell good every day, regardless of whether you go out or not? Or do people have to hold their breath when you approach? What about the quality of your skin. Do you take care of it? Is it clear and supple? Cleansing, exfoliating, toning, using a mask and moisturizing all contribute to being a stylish woman. All these are basic, without them, there is no style. Just an odd-looking woman who doesn’t look like what she is trying to portray.

Are you trying to be stylish? Is leveling up part of what you are trying to achieve? Before making your hair, putting on eyelashes or buying that wonderful leather bag, take care of the basics. Make sure that you are clean and smell good. That is the foundation on which any stylishness is built upon.

We will continue this conversation next week so that the post isn't long. Till then, think about where you are falling behind on your level up journey and do better. Remain Stylish

How To Look Expensive When You Are On A Budget

Hello. Some women know how to put clothes together in a way that makes you feel like they spend hundreds of thousands on their wardrobe, when in fact they don't. We see her all the time. Always crisp and well put together. Her hair is immaculate, her feet look so clean, like you can eat off them, her watch is Bvlgari and you can smell the leather that is her handbag a mile away. She wears white a lot and it never turns dull yellow or gets stained. She has you convinced that she must have a walk in wardrobe filled with every designer brand. That her look must take millions of Naira to achieve and maintain. What you may not realise is that this socialite look, this Lisa Folawiyo, Nike Oshinowo or Kate Middleton look can be achieved by just following a few basic rules.

The most important thing with this look is the quality of your clothing and accessories. Clean lines, good cut and finishing made with good fabrics are key. These cannot be compromised if you want to have that 'expensive' look. In this day and age, however, you don't need hundreds of thousands of Naira to get that well tailored look. With brands like Next, Zara and French Connection, you can get clothes that look expensive without the price tag. Keep the style simple, you want to avoid trends. Trends have an expiration date and will make you look dated after a while.

Another thing is to always calculate cost per wear. I for example, have no problem spending a good amount of money on quality Jeans. The fact that I will wear it all the time, that the fabric is luxurious and the cut is perfection means that I am very willing to see it as an investment. The same goes for my watch and my handbag. The key here is that to look expensive, there a few things that you cannot cut corners on. Know what they are and invest in them. The key, when you are on a budget, is to know when to buy. A quality leather handbag can be bought for the equivalent of $200 and less at the right time of the year. Look out for periods when shops are clearing old stock out to restock for the new season. Also, look out for people and brands that sell good quality clothes for very good prices. There is a lot to be said for people who sell from home, their cars or online because, in a lot of cases, since they don't have the overhead of big stores, they tend to be cheaper. A good number of online shops are now available in Nigeria so you can give them a go. A lot of them allow you to pay money into their account, for those afraid to give their bank details on a website. Just do your due diligence to make sure the site is legit.

There is a lot to be said for bulk buying. Say you have come across that perfect pair of Jeans that makes you look slim and your behind look fabulous. It's the right wash, length and the fabric is superior. It will be a good idea to buy a couple. The same can be said for all your basic; white shirts, ballet flats, tank tops. That way, you always have a new pair to bring out as they wear out. If it makes you look so fabulous, you never want to be without it and you never want to continue wearing it after it has lost it's luster.

Take proper care of your stuff. Always read the care instruction before you buy an item to be sure that you don't end up with clothes that you can't afford to maintain. The reason is that caring for your clothes and leather goods in the correct way help them last a lot longer. For example, hand washing your 'Dry Clean Only' silk blouse will wear the fabric out really fast. Also, avoid bleach as it is very harsh on fabric. Instead wash your whites in hot water with detergent and a bleach alternative like vinegar. Be very careful to separate and wash like colors together and if you use a washing machine, wash each item in the correct setting. Do not wash delicates and Jeans together nor should you wash them with the wrong setting.

When it comes to beauty, you need to take care of the basics. Have a manicure and pedicure every few weeks and style your hair as and when due to keep you looking clean. Also, taking care of your skin; cleansing, exfoliating, and using a good moisturizer help you look bright and beautiful. Your hair should always be shiny and neat. Make up should be natural looking and applied on a clean face. Do not forget your deodorant and perfume as nothing spoils a fab look faster than a bad smell.

Let me end by giving you a list of what I feel you should splurge on and what you can save on. You should splurge on your classic pieces; neutral colored Cocktail dress, handbag, sunglasses, wrist watch, blue Jeans and neutral Ballet flats or Pumps. These are the things that you will reach for all the time. You need to make sure that their quality will withstand the continuous wear. Besides, we can all spot cheap a mile off. You can always save on items that you will not wear so often. Colored shoes and handbags, tops, dresses and accessories because since you probably buy lots of different styles of them, you don't wear them as much. Like I said earlier, there are good brands that sell designer quality at high street prices. Look into that and find out where you can get them for a reasonable price.

I hope I have succeeded in adding some measure of value. Remain fabulous.

Organizing Your Wardrobe

Hello. I recently took time to (yet again) reorganize my wardrobe and based on the reaction of a friend to this information, I realize that a lot of women do not understand that the main reason it always looks like they have nothing to wear is because their wardrobes are so disorganized. It is important to, every once in a while, declutter your wardrobe AND organize it. That way, you are able to very easily remember what items of clothing you have.

Many of us have very basic wardrobe space. Our physical wardrobe is made up of a top shelf on top of an empty space with a hanger rod. This can be very limiting for most of us. We have more clothes and accessories than we have space for. Our clothes are hung and folded without much thought to their placement so we end up with clothes at the back of the wardrobe that we never wear because we've forgotten that we even have them.

To be able to keep track of what you own, you have to come up with an organization system that will help you keep track of what you own. What I do is to hang clothes with similar items together. In my clothing space, starting from the back, are all my cardigans, hoodies and jackets. Because Lagos is hot most of the time, they can be back there and I can be sure that when I need them, I will reach for them. And because they are all in one place, I can see what I have, when I do reach for them, and make an informed decision on what to wear.

Next to them are my formal dresses, followed by dress shirts and then blouses. After that are my polo shirts, then T shirts, then other cotton/ jersey basic tops. These are followed by my casual dresses, then formal skirts, then casual skirts. Finally my formal trousers, then casual trousers, then capris and then my shorts. Everything is arranged from lightest to darkest colors within their category. My jeans are folded at the bottom of the wardrobe according to color. From lightest to darkest. With my own system, I am able to find, very easily, whatever I need, to put together the look I am going for each day.

I hope I have been able to inspire you to organize and come up with your own system that will help make getting dressed every morning, an easier experience, enabling you to utilize what you already own. Remain fabulous.

Designing a space.

next thing to do after deciding on functionality of a space, is to create a mood board. The function The of the mood board is to give you an idea of the feel of the room. By feel, I mean the style. Do you want your space to be homely, minimalis,tretro, themed, art deco, formal, contemporary, etc,etc,etc. your only limitation is your imagination.
The way to create a mood board is simple. Collect pictures of things and scenes that speak to you and convey the lifestyle that you was to project. These pictures could be anything from the kind of car you fancy, a dress or handbag that you like, flowers, your style icon. The point is to start seeing the direction that your taste takes you.
The reason why its best to make a mood board before you start decorating is so that you have a clear idea of what your taste is. That way you don’t end up with space that doesn’t appeal to you after all. It gives you a clear idea of things like colour scheme, funiture style and what the statement piece in the room should be. These are decisions that should be made before you even hit the shops.
Its important to have a lay out and a mood board before going out to buy anything because you need to be sure of what the space will look like before you spend the first kobo. You don’t want to get distracted when you hit the shops.
I hope that this will be helpful to those of you that are contemplating decorating your space . if you have any questions, feel free to leave it in the comment space. If you feel you need my help send me an email.
Stay fabulous.

Super Model of Nigeria

Last Sunday I attended the supermodel of Nigeria competition. Here are some photos from the event.
Stay fabulous.

The value of a plan

hello, it’s been a while I shouldn’t have left you without a dope blog to read. I trust that y’all are doing well. For a while I was stressing about what next to talk about because I have so many ideas. I have decided to touch on a bit of interior decorating.
I think that the first thing that must be considered before a decorating project is started is utility. The first step in deciding the direction to go in terms of the design of the space is to take into consideration what purpose the space will fill. All the color scheme and fabric choice in the world will not save a poorly laid out space.
Common sense dictates that the way you will decorate a dining area used for intimate family dinners will be different from if you entertain a lot. A kitchen used to microwave ready meals will be different from one used for cooking huge dinners and one used for baking. Things like how close the sink will be to the cooker and how large the cabinet space required is part of what the interior designer must consider.
As in everything else in life, a concrete plan must be devised before a single thing is purchased. It is ideal to actually draw out the plan that you can look at in the existing space so you have a real idea of how much sense your plan makes.
Stay fabulous

what is style.

Hello,
Many people tend to narrow style down to fashion. I believe style encompasses every facet of life. It is the point of view through which you choose to represent yourself. For example, your style could be eclectic, retro, classic, minimalist, etc.
Style gives an impression of character. Another example, people with a classic sense of style tend to be regarded as conservative at first sight while the eclectic is considered free spirit. This means that personal style can be used to mould public opinion.
Style includes but is not restricted to, form of dress, home and work decor, choice of vehicle, speech and writing style, preferred music and all those little things that distinguish us from others.
There is no such thing as having no style. Granted, some style are aesthetically pleasing while others come across as unimaginative or even garish. This is still regarded as style albeit ugly. Even ugly Betty has style. Ask the stylist on set. There is method to the madness.
Anyway watch this space for bigger better things.

Stay fabulous