Undieing love for BLACK

    Black is the color of the outer space and ebony. It is the opposite of white and often represents darkness in contrast with light. Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings . Back in the 14th century, it was worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. The color black relates to the hidden, the secretive, and the unknown.

   Despite the negativity that surrounds black as a color, in color psychology, black gives protection from external emotional stress. It creates a barrier between itself and the outside world, providing comfort while protecting its emotions and feelings, and hiding its vulnerabilities, insecurities and lack of self confidence.  Black is a universal color because we all use it at various times to hide from the world around us in one way or another.  Some of us use it to hide our weight; others among use it to hide our feelings, our fears or our insecurities.

   The fear of the color black by some people is known all and sundry. As we all know, black means power and control, it is intimidating, unfriendly, and unapproachable because of the power it exudes.

Style; Thrifting

      I can remember vividly the first time that the word "thrift" was mentioned and suggested to me by someone special, I was like I am never ever going to participate in thrifting. A year later, I am proud to call myself a self certified thrift guru. Thrifting refers to the act of shopping at a thrift store, flea market, garage sale or a shop of a charitable organization, usually with the intent of finding interesting items at a cheap price. The noun "THRIFT" means extreme care in spending money; reluctance to spend money unnecessarily. Let us go into my world of thrifting.
       Most people do not know or understand what thrifting means, I have had friends call me selfish and cheap when I tell them that I thrift. Thrifting does not make anyone cheap or greedy, in my opinion, it actually makes one smart in terms of spending and saving momey because you tend to have control of your spending, you can get designer styles at lower or bargained prices, most clothings are of better fabrics, thicker weight materials, and superior workmanship,there is a wide variety of style selection, and most importantly you are helping a great cause because most thrift stores are owned by charity organizations. I would be lieing if I say that thrifiting as no cons, but compared to the pros, the cons of thrifting. Apart from power pause and final sale, I cannot say there is any other worrisome cons. Power pause means that it is risky leaving item because you are most likely not going to see it when next you come back, so whatever you like has to be taken immediately or someone else will take it and final sale meaning you can not return an item once it is paid for. Based on the pros and cons of thrifiting, I will pick thrifiting over going to downtown to buy extremely expensive items.
       As my love for unique and vintage items increases, my visit to the thrift store as also increased. Although, there are different types of thrift stores, your visit to the thrift store should be based on what intersts you. There are clothing thrift stores, electronic thrift stores, pawn stores, consignments, opportunity shop also known as op-shop. Depending on what you want, there are different options to pick from. Some people mistake vintage stores for thrift stores, there is a big difference between these two. The former involves shopping at stores that sell vintage goods while the latter involves going to the thrift shops. Vintage shops, confine themselves to old, special items. Since there is a lot of picking and authentication involved, prices tend to be high compared to the thrift stores, where there is a wide variety of products and you can find mint condition and unique stuffs. Visit to either shops depends solely on what type of unique item you desire.
         My love for thrifting has immensely increased for the past two years, I enjoy every part of it especially when I go with my friends. It is more like a treasure hunt for us when we go thrifting, I have found a lot of good items that on a normal ground, cuts throat to purchase.
Thrifting has turned out to be one of my hobbies thanks to some of my favorite youtube gurus like enibaby4, itsmyrayeraye, peakmill and amongst others. Well, I will advise all and sundry to participate in a little bit of thrifting, it is quite therapeutic.  Have a nice day, beYOUtiful people.

Beauty: My first makeup challenge

Hello BeYOUtiful people, Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I was challenged by a friend and colleague of mine to recreate a lady's makeup look. It does not look exactly alike because I included a few of my signature makeup tips.Yayy! To my first makeup challenge.  Honest criticisms and compliments are welcomed. Have a blessed fun filled week!

Relationship; Who comes first?

     When I put the word "Relationship" as one of my blog main topics, a lot of people were like "Oh, I did not know that you are a relationship expert?" and it cracked me up, not because what they said was funny,but because putting the word "Relationship" does not necessarily mean "Love relationship" that is a relationship with an opposite sex that is not in anyway related to you that may or may not lead to courtship.I am not an expert in relationship matters, it is more of my view and opinion.

      As we all know, there are different types of relationships.Today, I do not want to elaborate on the types of relationships we have but I have an innocent question for everybody,"Who comes first?", think before you give yourself an answer.Who comes first, is it God, your parent(s), your sibling(s), your offspring(s), spouse, or friend(s)? I have seen people choose God over everything which is the best and the most important, some chose their immediate family i.e parents and siblings, while others chose their spouse and offsprings but the funniest of them are the ones that chose friends over everything.  I am not a judge, so I can not persecute any body but I can question the decisions that people make that I find amusing.  Do not get me wrong, there are friends that we all take as family. Personally,  I have few friends that are more like my 2nd family but still blood is thicker than water.

      Using myself as an instance, growing up at my early adolescence stage was a bittersweet experience. I was stubborn, witty,naive, and acted without caring about the repercussion of what I did but I definitely got what I bargained for being raised in a typical Nigerian home. Back then, I saw the punishments I received as maltreatment and hatred but right now, I thank God for the discipline and knowledge instilled in me by my uncles, aunts and older cousins through the punishments and verbal guidance. I have been with my birth mum for the past three years, and I cannot think of a better place I would rather be than with my only parent and my siblings. Of course, we always have our ups and downs, say and do things we do not mean but at the end of the day those are the things that makes us a FAMILY.Every family, no matter the class or wealth goes through their inner battles and the strongest of them, keeps their business within because it is nasty, yes, nasty to wash your dirty linen outside in the public. Friends come and go, but family will always be there till the very end.

     To address those that choose their friends over everything, some of us are not lucky to have friends that have proved to be more than just mere friends.  I count myself blessed to have friends that fall in that category, and those type of friends are hard to come by. So, when you meet someone that treats you as a sibling or offspring rather than a rival, maintain and respect that relationship. Unnecessary lies, envy, backbiting, and other petty stuffs that causes a tear in a good relationship should be avoided. Your friend(s), real and true friend(s)should not be seen as a competition or a burden but a motivation and inspiration. Simply know your circle before calling them your family!

Valentine in 2015

Inspired Valentine Makeup look
  Ranging from the slightly bold, super bold to a natural look.

Inspired Valentine Lookbook
  Play with colors apart from the traditional white and red colors.

Disease of the week-Tonsillitis

     Health is wealth while awareness, knowledge, prevention, and precaution is health. In as much as tonsillitis is not a rare disease, its awareness is zero to nothing making it difficult for people to know how to prevent, or cure it when it occurs or even know its symptoms so as to ascertain if its tonsillitis or not.

     Tonsillitis is the inflammation of the tonsils, two oval-shaped pads of tissue at the back of the throat. The tonsils act as filters, trapping germs that enter the airways and causes infection. They also produce antibodies to fight infection but sometimes, the tonsils get infected. This condition occurs occasionally or recur frequently depending on its cause.

     Bacterial and viral infectins can cause tonsillitis.  A common.cause is Streptococcus (strep)bacteria.  Other common causes include: Adenovirus, Influenza virus, Epstein-Barr virus, Parainfluenza virus, Enterovirus, and Herpes simplex virus.

     The main symptoms of tonsillitis are inflammatiom and swelling of the tonsils, sometimes severe enough to block the airways. Other symptoms include;
   .Throat pain
   .Redness of the tonsils
   .A white or yellow coating of the tonsils
   .Painful blisters
   .Hoarseness or loss of voice
   .Headache
   .Loss of appetite
   .Ear pain
   .Bad breath
   .Difficulty in breathing through the mouth
    .Difficulty in swallowing
    .Swollen glands
    .Fever chills
  
   Treatment for tonsillitis depends on the cause of the infection. To determine the cause, your doctor may have to perform a rapid strep test or throat swab culture.Both tests involve gently swabbing the back of the throat close to the tonsils with a cotton swab. If tests reveal bacteris, treatment will consists of antibiotics to cure the infection. If the tonsillitis is caused by a virus, antibiotics won't work and your body will fight off the infection on its own

   Tonsillectomy is the surgical removal of the tonsils. Tonsils are important part of the immune system throughout life, so it is best to avoid removing them. However, if tonsillitis is recurrent or persistent, or if enlarged tonsils cause upper airway obstruction or difficulty in eating, it is best to perform a tonsillectomy. As with all surgeries, each of these has benefits and drawbacks.

     Having survived multiple recurrence of tonsillitis and still have my tonsils intact, I would really advise that we should all be mindful of the way we share things with people both familiar and unfamiliar, especially the things that goes into our bodies through the mouth. Remember prevention is better than cure.

02/02/2015

Outfit of the day

Flannel Shirt-Akira

Grey midi dress-H&M

Flats-Target

Panty hose-Forever 21

Accessories- Bday Gifts