Winter date night

John Legend - This time

Photographer - Marelize Smit

As a young girl I used to dream of the day I became a grown up and could wear make-up all day every day. I'm feeling pretty grown up right now and I'll tell you, nowadays I'm impressed with myself if I just manage to get some foundation on before I'm headed for work. So for this post I whipped out my make-up brushes and was well on my way to my take on date night in winter. 

Sushi

Angus and Julia Stone - Big Jet Plane

Those who follow me on both Twitter and my Facebook page would've noticed my excitement for supper with Lien last Friday. I am a little sushi obsessed and if my wallet allowed it, I'd probably be addicted to sushi. But this was no ordinary sushi evening, this was a vegan sushi evening.

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. 

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***

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