THE PHOTOSHOOOT!!!

WOW. 

I've typed and erased, typed and erased, typed and erased my words several times now. I'm not sure I know how to express how grateful I am at this moment. 

Makena, thank you so much for approaching me to do this photoshoot. I feel so humbled and honoured and excited to have been a part of such a fun project!! I think the pictures turned out great and can't wait to work with you again in the future.

Kalumu, few people would have been as patient with me as you were when it came to doing my eye make up. You should know that the set of eyelashes you used on me still sit on my dresser as a reminder of the unforgettable day. 

Want to know what's in my bag?

A couple weeks ago Neema from The Bantu Girl tagged me in a What's in My Bag post. 

I panicked.

Why? Well:

1) Neema's bag seemed like it was put together by a very organised and neat person. You should check out her what's in my bag post here.. You'll see what I mean.

2) I am neither organised nor neat. My bag is often full of receipts, wrappers, doubles ( I'll explain this later), cables and other random crap.. Half the time I'm not sure my hand knows what it's doing as it shoves more and more random stuff into my bag. It's cray. 

So after two weeks of procrastinating, I cleaned out my bag, finally stopped panicking and put together this post. 

Neema seems like such a lovely girl by the way! Make sure you check out her amazing blog.

The Bag:

I'm currently using this beautiful teal bag that I got from The Mall in Westlands for KES1,500 (less than $20). Let's have 1,500 cheers for good deals and great bags people!

Not only is it beautiful but it's also sturdy and the finishes are great. I think the teal and brown colours work gorgeously together and I also love that it's got gold hardware as I tend to wear a lot of gold-toned accessories. 

I believe it's made out of pleather which may or may not be a good thing depending on whether you know your pleather. 

I don't. 

Contents: 

Now you know how I mentioned that my bag usually contains doubles? I don't exactly know when it happened or why but I find myself putting more than one version of a particular item in my bag. Like these sunglasses. And the lip balms. And pens. Wipes. Tissues. Hand sanitizers. Notebooks.. Perhaps it's the thought of running out or losing one and knowing that I'm covered because I have the other that gives me comfort. 

Top Sunglasses - Aldo

Bottom Sunglasses - Random Street Vendor

Wallet - Nine West

Eraser. 

I wish I could give you a good reason as to why I have an eraser in my bag but I've got nothing for ya. I just happened to be in a stationery shop (I love stationery by the way) and picked up a few pens and an eraser which now lives in my bag. Who knows, there might come a day where this eraser saves the world. Or something like that. 

Body Shop Lip Balm in Passion

Smith's Lip Balm in Strawberry

Earphones

Hair brush. 

I've had this for years now and I absolutely love it. Got it from Lipstick at Sarit. 

Fifty Shades of Grey 

{I always have a book in my bag. I'm pretty much done with this one and I'm contemplating getting the sequel.} 

A notebook. 

Tissues

Wet wipes

Beauty Factory Ginkgo Biloba Hand and Nail Cream 

Oh So Heavenly Hand Sanitiser

Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitiser

Clarins Perfume 

Make Up Bag

Tampons/Pads Bag

Phone

Notebook

License

Card Holder

I was talking to a friend and needed her to write something down for me so I quickly reached into my bag, pulled out an old reciept which I hurriedly un-crumpled and passed it to her. She didn't hesitate to point out that Savanis was just round the corner and that they sold nice notebooks. I bought that thing quick fast. 

Purple, Black and Pink pens.

~ The End ~

If you only had to pick three items to have in your handbag, what would they be?? 

Girly

I've been feeling really girly lately.
I find myself drawn in to pink, sparkly and colourful things.
I think I'm psychologically putting up a fight with the drab weather we've been having lately and I must say - I might be winning. The sun's been peeking a lot more lately.

I'm really happy with this necklace, there's few pretty things you can spend Shs250 and come out smiling.

Lots of pink and lots of sparkly. See what I mean?

Luron #84

Luron #40

May the Nairobi heat hit us with a bang soon.
I'm over this gloomy weather.

Not Enough Pinks

nails

Dreaming of having as many shades of pink nail polish as a girl can possibly have.

Make Room for Me

 Blazer - second hand market; Top - Meltz; Jeans - Edgars; Belt - second hand market; Necklace - Mr. Price; Fuchsia flats (not shown) - Mr. Price. 

Make room for me to lead and follow you beyond this rage of poetry.  ~ Maya Angelou

The best part of my day was probably the moment captured above - the sun was out and there was good reason to believe that it would stay out. That didn't last too long though.

Even though yesterday was a public holiday I still can't wait for the weekend. I've been able to get my hands on a whole lot of movies/series and I'm ready to indulge in some major couch potato-ing. Is anyone else as excited to watch the Avengers as I am?! I believe it comes out in a couple days! Expectations are higher than a kite.

I haven't yet been able to comfortably wear bright shades of lipstick but that doesn't stop me from buying them. Perhaps if I found the perfect bright lip colour.. Any recommendations?

Organising Jewellery & Ombre Nails

Few things can be more annoying than spending 5+ minutes trying to untangle your necklaces.. Particularly when you're in a rush and have decided that your outfit's life depends on this single accessory. Several times I have come close to breaking my necklaces as frustration gets the best of me! Enough was enough though, the time had come for some long overdue organisation. 

I still need to get a better storage option for my longer necklaces in the box as I foresee a tangled mess in the future. I'm hoping to use one of those cork boards. How do you store your jewellery, particularly the necklaces? If you want to see how I store my stud earrings, click on.

I've really gotten into this nail art phase and seeing as ombre has been a big hit lately (clothes, hair and nails of course) I had to try it out.

Luron #114, Belle Collection #13, Flomar #09, Luron #38, OPI Red (it really is just called Red, how original OPI!)

  Bam. Ombre nails baby.

Tried mixing 4 of the colours on my pinky. Can't wait to try this out again!

source

Aren't these stunning?!

Face off

Remember that movie? Not really a fitting title but why not put it in here anyway.

Just wanted to show ya the products I've been using on my face lately.. I try not to use foundation too often as I don't think using it daily is healthy for your skin. Plus when you're like me and sometimes get too lazy to wash off your make-up, you try and limit it to a minimal.

 

Eyes:

Essence Eyebrow Stylist Set kit

Avon Cosmetics Eyeshadow {top left shade as a highlighter and the bottom left shade to cover my lid}

 Mac Studio Fix Lash Mascara 

Hashmi Kajal Eyeliner 

Lips:

Flomar #34

Lipshine Mineral Base {can't remember by who and it isn't written}

Clearly I tend to focus more on my eyes and leave the rest to God, good lighting and the right angles. 

As for the lips, I've only just started experimenting with different colours. I always used to be so conscious of my lips and would never put any colour as it would draw more attention to them. But gone are those days baby. Long gone. 

What make up can't you do without??

Black and Gold

Opi Lincoln Park After Dark 

One very messily applied coat.

Essence Make it Golden

Two coats. Also messily applied.

Was just experimenting with this look and didn't think I'd last more than 10mins with it let alone 1 week..
Despite the messy job, I received loads of compliments!

Try it already.

Smile already

Some of my recent purchases that are making me happy this week include a couple Kenyan made baskets and 3 small bouquets of flowers. Whoever said money can't buy you happiness clearly hadn't visited the cheap side of life. 

I kid I kid, I don't believe money makes you happy. It does help make things a lot prettier/convenient though ;)

One of the baskets holds bread and the other my nail polishes.

 I covered the bread basket up with a table napkin just so it looks a little better.

 Before

 After

 So much more convenient in terms of space.

These flowers stay in my bedroom. The other two in the living room. All cost Shs200 in total - so cheap yet so pretty!

Can't wait for this weekend! Need to catch up on sleep.. 

What inexpensive things have you bought recently?

Time for Romance

I am officially obsessed with all things glitter when it comes to nail polish. 

Essence - Time for Romance

One coat

 Three coats

All Sparkle :)

Avatar-like nail tricks.

That's all you're getting. 

A picture. 

That also happens to be incomplete/misleading/bizarre.

Oh the joys of teasing

;)

But for real, can't wait to share this fun nail art trick with you tomorrow! It was sooo much fun!

Now I'm off to *snore*

Lucky number seven

A couple days ago I decided that it was time to engage in some retail therapy cos my week was getting a little too drab/stressful/tiring and all that other stuff. That, coupled with the fact that I'm still keen to get to 100 nail polishes, meant that some nail polish would be involved. Unfortunately I only had Shs800 on me but fear not! Nairobi is the city of cheap nail polish.

  

Can't wait to try on these colours.. My mum reckons I should go on a nail polish ban and until 5 mins ago, I agreed with her. But with such cheap nail polish (Shs100 per bottle), well.. 

Happy Friday!!