The Zit

Now the sweetest thing happened yesterday. I bumped into a beautiful friend of mine and in the middle of the conversation she touched my skin and said,"Asinova, your skin looks beautiful". Usually I would've just said thank you and not thought too much about it but she couldn't have said this on a better day.

On Sunday I found a bold zit right under my eye and while it wasn't on my forehead, people do spend the duration of a conversation starring you in the eye - so this was just as bad. I know a whole lot of ladies will be thinking I'm a little cray-cray for this but I really believe that hiding a pimple with concealer or layers of foundation is not the solution. So I decided to wear my zit with pride (as much pride as I could muster) yesterday despite the major complex this gave me the WHOLE day ^^

Too often ladies forget the power they have to build each other up. And we all know that a genuine compliment goes a long long way - especially with us girls. So today I'd like to encourage you to give at least one compliment to a fellow classmate, student or colleague and watch that smile grow.

"The most beautiful curve on a woman's body is her smile."

                                                       Bob Marley

Someone just shared this video on Facebook and I found it so fitting for this post. 

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Yesteryear

It's incredible to think that it was just a year ago that I arrived in Brem. Will forever be grateful for all the memories made. 

I can't wait to see most of the people who made my stay in Germany the wonderful experience that it was.

"Wir reisen nicht nur an andere Orte, sondern vor allem reisen wir in andere Verfassungen der eigenen Seele." - Werner Bergengruen, Badekur des Herzens

And just coz I love sharing - I'm adding a random video I sent to my family during the snow. I learned soon after that the snow that day wasn't heavy at all. 

Xx

Let's get Dirty

 Not as dirty as you'd expected is it :P

 Now if you’re looking for a majorly fun-filled day with great music, dancing, tons of colour, refreshments, crazy giveaways and more then you’d better be the first in line for a Colour me Crazy 5km Run & Colour Music Festival ticket.

I'd hate to spoil it for those who haven’t been to one of these festivals yet so I’ll just share some pictures from the day. You can also find the link to the Colour me Crazy website for some handy information at the bottom of this post. Check out when this awesome package will be in your city!

Was such a lovely excuse to see some faces I've missed a whole lot.

 

Busting a few moves ^^

Some handsome entertainment ;)

PS: I'm still waiting for this weekend to show me as much fun. 

Xx

Colour me Crazy

Wherefore art though Romeo?

And this one goes out to all my single lady friends. This lovely day luckily falls on a Friday - so you seriously have no excuse to be sitting around miserable. Some ladies are single by choice or circumstances and others thanks to distance - and while it sucks waiting ages for Mr Right or having to appreciate a Skype date instead of real company sometimes you've just gotta go out there and make the most of a not-so-wonderful situation.

So here's my 1-2-3 for Single-Fun on Valentine's Day ;)

1. Get that frown off your face!!!

2. Text a couple of girls

3. Dial a cab

And have yourself a GOOD time***

Coz there's just no point having friends if you can't rock the single or "single" boat together now is there*

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Love you, love others and love the one you're with***

Have you looked out your window today?

This ad is just SO beautiful. 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!!!!

It’s the climb

“After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.”

                                                                                            Nelson Mandela

This quote prepares one so well for so many aspects of life. So often we work extremely hard towards something expecting that it will be smooth sailing after that particular goal is reached – only to find that, that victory was only the beginning of the next mission.

You pass Grade 7 and quickly find yourself at the bottom of the High School food-chain, finish the 5km race in record time and realise it’s going to take double the effort to conquer the 10km. The beautiful thing about climbing these hills is the improvement that it suggests. I find it so important to keep moving and pushing myself to that next level.

It’s only natural that some hills will take longer to climb – these are usually the ones with greater reward –  so when the going gets tough, stay focussed on your goal. 

I feel I’m preaching a bit ^^ but I guess this is what happens when I find a beautiful quote in my diary (my mom still gives thee most meaningful gifts). I happened to turn over the page for a look at my day tomorrow and I just have to share this quote as well.

“What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate”

                                                                                                Donald Trump

Someone recently suggested that I stop looking forward to the weekend or dreading Monday as this helps give each day the appreciation, energy and happiness it deserves. Having said that, I know that we do get tired towards the end of the week– Keep at it ladies and gentz - every hill climbed is worth it's struggles.

Xx

Keepin' it Fresh

This past weekend I found myself in a rather sticky situation after participating in the Colour Me Crazy festival. And while I was melting away in the heat, trying to improve my 5km time, I thought it would be a grand idea to share some of the cosmetic products I just can’t do without in Summer... all in the spirit of avoiding being a haaaaat mess.

Dove

My relationship with Dove began several years ago during a camping weekend where I accidentally left my lovely bottle of Clearasil at home. I simply loved how my skin wasn’t left feeling as dry as it did before. Since then I have moved to not just using the bar of soap on my face but now my entire body gets to enjoy the moisturising beauty of Dove as well as the body lotion. For those who enjoy a fresh smell; there’s just nothing fresher than the Dove “go fresh” cool cucumber & green tea anti-perspirant deodorant. 

Nivea

When a friend of mine suggested that I use Nivea Creme on my face I just thought they were trying to turn me into an oil-painting but used at thee most moderate of proportions – this cream keeps my face moisturised in Winter and gives me a healthy glow in Summer.

Sunblock

If you’d ever seen my pictures from athletics days back in primary you’d understand why I wasn’t always the biggest fan of sunblock – I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s suffered from a sad case of Shades of Grey. Sunblock just always made me appear a greyish colour – then it would just melt, making me look greyish and oily (no-one wants to look either of the two). I was introduced to this ROC sun block during my visit to France and I have been using it since. It blends in so nicely with my skin. I was advised to apply it every 2 hours so I do so when I spend several hours in the sun otherwise I do so less frequently. The Sun Dance sunblock on the right doesn’t do the same wonders as the ROC one so I just use that one on my legs, neck and arms whenever I feel the need.

Make-up

Keeping it fresh in Summer means that I use very little make-up during sunny skies. I prefer to let my skin breathe but just for a bit of oil-control after making use of the sunblock I use a tad bit of Dream Matte Mousse. And if I’m having lunch with the girls or going out I just use some gel liner and mascara. You’ll notice that the label on my Dream Matte Mousse is gone ^^ That’s how long I’ve had this stuff – a little really goes a long way with this product. I use the the Caramel (Dark 2) but I’ll add a link below just to share all the other shades ;)

Dream Matte Mousse

Hair

The sun can do plenty of damage to one’s hair. As you all know, I recently took out my extensions so I’ve just been washing and conditioning my natural hair these days and while I usually used Hair Mayonnaise to re-nourish my hair – this time I decided to try something new. I haven’t relaxed my hair yet but this night wrap crème has really done a great job keeping my hair feeling soft.

Now this list could go on forever coz the market offers so many products and tricks for staying fresh under the sun but I’ll end this off with the product I use the most on a daily basis.

Lips

And while I personally prefer to keep things neutral nowadays, I know that Summer is a wonderful time to explore with all sorts of bright colours on one’s lips. I feel that applying a lip balm with some sun protection before your lipstick is good practice. I absolutely enjoy the smell and taste of this Labello Vitamin Shake (not that I sit chewing on my lip balm) :P and it also gives a bit of a nude lipstick look.

This is me keeping things super fresh with zero make-up and some lovely fresh goodies for breakfast. 

I hope you’ll have a lovely week!

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness"

Ntabiseng Moahlodi 

Going back to the roots

And so the time has come - to bid my dear short weave farewell (tear tear). I've had such a lovely run with this hair - easy maintenance and all this confusion over,"Is it your real hair or hair extensions?" Having said that - I do think that next time I will go for something longer and possibly even a colour I haven't experimented with before. As for now - I am seeeeriously enjoying my natural hair and will be showing it a whole lot of love during this month of Feb. 

Have a lovely day ladies and fellas

Xx

With love... Me**

And thanks to this gift from me to, well... me :) I just enjoyed one of the yummiest smoothies. 

My excitement got the better of me so instead of making myself a smoothie to start off the semester tomorrow morning - I ended up enjoying a yummy evening smoothie from the following ingredients...

100ml water
200ml milk
100g yoghurt
1 banana
5 medium strawberries
1 kiwi
1 tsp honey

The wonderful thing about a smoothie is that you can mix it up as your heart desires

Xx

And the month of luuuurv is upon us**

There's just something so beautiful about this song and video. Love how our roaring Katy Purry is looking so vulnerable and in love next to Mr Mayer*** I'll spare all my mooshy thoughts on this one but I definitely have to say that this video got me thinking that L.O.V.E can turn even being yanked off the bull into something beautiful. 

"Oh, you can't make yourself stop dreaming who you're dreaming of..."