My Nail Care Regimen

I've finally put together my personal nail care, well an overview. This is what I do daily/weekly, if you have any tips or tricks, let me know!

Make an Informed Decision

Decisions, decisions and more decisions.

Nothing can get done without a decision being made. It's part of our day to day activities. However some decisions have more of an impact than others. 

 Should I move out? Should I move globally? What should I wear for tonight? Should I become a engineer? Should I quit my job and start my own company? Should I pursue producing?Should I pursue Song writing? Should I dye my hair? Westfield's or Blue water? What should I have for Dinner? What degree should I pick? What course should I study? What university should I attend? Crop top & skirt or Dress? etc. 

Makes me tired just thinking of all these questions. 

So how do we make the right decision!?

Travel Series: DOMINICAN, PUNTA CANA

I had the opportunity to visit Punta Cana in the Dominican last month. I was there for one week and had such a blast. The culture out there seems very much based on having a good time and working hard. Whilst out there I did a few things.

Outside the hotel, I visited a sea life water park with the opportunity to swim with 2 dolphins, obviously get my kiss and see a sea lion and dolphin show. Whilst there I also had the opportunity to learn a bit about the culture there and the original people that settled there hundreds of years ago but sadly were wiped out.(I've posted a video of what the natives used to do)

I did some Ziplining, Zorbing and a Segway tour. All was as fun as eachother, Zorbing was a first for me and it was so much fun. Back in the resort, I did a few water sport activities, including Parasailing, Wind surfing and Diving. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during my water activities, I refuse to damage my phone and can you believe I forgot my camera back at home! But it was great, the Parasailing allowed us to see the view of the island.

All in all I recommend you visit Punta Cana. If you're staying for 2 weeks, go to the city of Santo Domingo

Have a look at the photos below

Ew Don't Be Debbie Downer

I wasn't raised to quit, give up or not to try. I was shown that when challenges arise, you regroup and tackle it the best way you know how.

Putting that aside some days I do feel like I'm at the bottom, flat out, unmotivated and just a plain Debby Downer. 

Now we can argue that it's part of life to have peaks and falls. It's life to feel happy one day and feel close to depression the next. It happens, right? 

But what many of us fail to realise is,  in the midst of a storm or a beautiful rainbow nothing is ever permanent. Since both good and bad days are never permanent it's better to put more of an effort into maintaining a positive attitude so that even the 'bad days' don't feel so bad. You with me? in the long run, it'll be hard to have a bad day with a great attitude. 

We are all destined to do great things, might be small to you but huge to many.

Each of us were designed and equipped with the right tools to achieve what we were designed to achieve. Since no one else is designed exactly like you, chances are we need you to be YOU. The world needs you to remain yourself.

Travel Series: NIGERIA, LAGOS

So I've been doing a lot of travelling over the last year. It's been a mixture of Work and Pleasure. Always a humbling experience when I can visit another country. This was my 3rd time in Nigeria.

I had the opportunity to visit Lagos in January. I had an awesome time there, I was out there for 2 weeks, which for someone like me is too long. I become very bored if I'm not doing an awful lot. Lounging by a pool is nice and everything but its not what I call a holiday.

My sister and I on a teeny weeny wheel

Feminism

A Feminist! Many of us think of angry Lesbians or Independent I don't need a man type of women or women who sit around bashing men. Women who complain about how they want to be treated equally by white men, or treated equally to White men. (I know you're thinking why is she saying white men, another post my friend, another post.)

 Lets face it the word 'Feminist' comes with bad baggage and pre conditioned thoughts about the sort of people feminists are. Feminism shouldn't be seen as just one big movement where women are trying to over throw men. Feminism is an ideology that is moving women forward in Social, Political and Economical ways.  

Travel Series: PORTUGAL, LISBON

This July I had the wonderful opportunity to visit Lisbon, Portugal. I stayed in a lovely hotel on the coast in a place called Sintra. The hotel has a great Golf course, Swimming pools and Spa/Gym. These are usually the fun features I look for. As well as that the service was wonderful, the dinner was superb but the breakfast in my opinion was a let down.

Whilst in Lisbon, I was able to do some ziplinning, go on a segway tour, hit some golf balls and experience some of the local cuisine as well as business. I think my favourite dish was some grilled Octopus and Portuguese Steak with homemade sauce.

All in all I had a blast, a lovely place to visit with very polite people. Although beware of taxi drivers, they will try and charge you more as a outsider.

Peep the pictures from my trip below.

The hotel area

Curls and Coils Rock: One Year on

If you are of African or Caribbean descent, there is a 99% chance you're natural hair is a crown of beautiful Curly and/or Coily hair.

It seems everyone is on a hair journey, which is great because that means ladies are taking control of their natural hair and over riding many of those bad practices some of our relatives have inflicted on us. (¬.¬)

Whether the goal is stronger/fuller edges, longer hair or just healthy hair, a journey is a journey. I started my official transition on the 31 August 2013 when I had my last telaxer. Prior to that I had been texlaxing (under-processing my hair). Looking back on it, there was really no reason for me to relax my hair but my mum (bless her lol) couldn't manage my natural texture and to be honest I cried every time she combed/brushed my hair.

So why transition?

I'm transitioning because I'm curious about my natural curly hair and the length it can grow to.  Natural hair will always be the healthiest state our hair can be in. Despite what others may tell you, our hair can grow to any length if hair is cared for and protected consistently. I'm a long term transitioner because my hair wasn't completely damaged, it was thick but wasn't super healthy. So I decided to stop and just see what my natural hair could do.

How is the transitioning going?

My transition has been smooth for the most part, I wore my hair out consistently for 6 months. Then due to travelling I just started to wear wigs to protect my hair from the different climates. I simply would cornrow my hair down and sew my hair together gently and loosely. I still keep up with my weekly regimen which I will go through in another post, it's not very long winded. It's actually very simple.

What has helped you along the way?

Youtube and various blogs/forums. Below are the resources I use now, there is no point going through every single website/YouTube channel. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, if I would take any tip from what I've been learning is to keep my hair well hydrated and moisturised.
 Dry hair = Damaged hair = No hair left on your head :)

Sources of Information I refer to regularly

 Blackhairinfo.com
Naturallycurly
Glamtwinz
longhairdontcare2011 (RIP Domineque Banks )
Naturalneiicey
Dephne Madyara
Farahdhukai

Pictures of my natural hair

One day after my last relaxer

Jan 2014

September 2014

Catch you later

Nail Care

I love healthy long nails. Not too long but long enough to make your fingers look feminine. The problem about nails are BREAKAGE, BREAKAGE and more breakage lol. My nails always chip and I've come so close to a perfect 10 on many occasions. It will happen one day.

So I've decided to start a small informative diary to my daily nail care. I want to find out the secrets to healthy long nails and will be experimenting with my nails to create a regime that I can stick too.

My nails so far without much of a regime has grown well. Examples below over the last 9 months

So as you can see my natural nails aren't short, so imagine the pain when they break (-.-)

I need something that will keep my nails strong, long and healthy. So I'll be back with another post to let you know what products and actions I've taken towards it.

At this precise moment these are my nails:

I'll be putting a regime to follow to test out the do's and don't's for my nail care. Wish me luck, catch you later x

Travel Series: UAE, DUBAI and RAK

I had the opportunity to check out Dubai and Ras Al Khamiah in April and had a wonderful time. It was my first time going.

The resort was awesome, had everything I look for in a hotel, the only downside was no golfing. However the Customer service was 10/10 and the food was also 10/10.

The culture there is a lot different to the UK since it's deemed an Islamic region. Everyone is so polite and very helpful if you are a visitor. I cannot speak for locals that live there, but I'm sure if you are well off there you'll enjoy the best the UAE has to offer.

I did a lot of things there from Jet skiing, to Desert tours, and shopping at the Dubai mall, I was there for under 2 weeks. Peep the photos below for more of an insight. I aim to visit all the emirates, just to explore and for more experience.

Have you been to parts of the UAE, if so where did you go and what did you get up to?

View from At the Top from the Burj Khalifa

Clean Eating 002 : Reduce Your Waist Size

Right, so how do you reduce your waist size? Well although many of us share this goal, only few of us achieve it. Is this because only few are chosen to have a sexy slim waist to accentuate the waist to hip ratio? 

Are the rest of us destined to just have a 'wide' waist? lol I don't know, there are many actions you can take from today to help flatten and tone your stomach and lose those annoying inches.


So how are we going to reduce your waist size?

1. Switch up your diet, increase your fruit, veg, dairy and leave behind the white bread, processed meat, margarine and soft drinks.

2. Choose food that have high nutrients per calorie, low in saturated fats, cholesterol and sodium.

3. Detox, I use the Pukka detox. Alternatively you can use lemon and water

4.  Try not to snack, especially high sugary foods before bed. Those sugars will add to your waist line.

5. Strength training, when you have a flat stomach, the moment you start strength training correctly, you will start to feel the toning all round and begin to see your sides tighten. Seek professional guidance for strength training and be consistent with your workout plan.

I hope these tips help, let me know how you get on!

   Be you and Be true to who you are.