Crazy for Prints

You ever wondered where's the high fashion African-inspired clothing? Where is it? Well we have Identical twins: Ayaan and Idyl Mohallim were born in Somalia, but left for the United States aged nine to escape the civil war. These two have been have on the upcoming in the New York fashion scene. These two college educated ladies are trying to blend the culture of their native country of Somali with that of classic American pieces. They express distaste for designers using expired ideas to signify African prints and textures. Ayaan is quoted as saying "So the world's taking notice. It's not about designers going to Africa for a safari and coming back with an animal print and big bangles and saying 'here's your one trick pony.' They also noticed that a lot of clothing in Manhattan is "Black Chic" they want to change that. "We came into this industry and realized that with a lot of the clothes that we saw, everything was black."These two were featured on CNN "Inside Africa" and are getting a lot of buzz, hopefully this will transcend into more sales of their awesome spring 2010 line. These girls have been featured on Oprah, in Essence magazine, and Clutch magazine, I'm ready to see them succeed. We need more Afro-Centrism in the fashion Industry.

High end make-up compared to the low end counterparts?

This issue comes up a lot in the make-up world, Which one is better the high end make-up compared to its less expensive counterpart. Some say that high end make-up offers better quality: more pigmented, longer wear, luxurious. My question is do people buy the more high end brands for those qualities listed above or do they buy that brand because of the name? I'm not sure about the number of people who do this but I know there's certainly a lot of people are guilty of this. Most make-up tutorials on YouTube use the higher end products and the true of the matter is most people can't afford those brands in excess. I don't thing anyone should go out of their means just to possess material things.

I won't lie MAC, Makeup forever, YSL, Estee Lauder, and Stilla make great products, that's why they are so popular. Now my next question is can the lower end make-up compete with the more high end competitors. In my opinion I think they do to a certain extent. First you have to take into consideration the brand. Drugstore make-up companies like L'Oreal, Maybelline, CoverGirl, Milani, Black Radiance and others have a good track record. You can sometimes find a close equivalent to products that cost much more. I won't deny the fact that sometimes you can't find an equivalent to the high end products because their that good.

To most it's not clear whether you're wearing Mac's champagne eyeshadow or CoverGirl's eyeshadow duo. This then leads me to one of the most important things when it comes to make-up: application. I think a lot of people fail to understand that you need good brushes and a good technique. After all is said and done sometimes you can find a drugstore equivalent to higher end product, and it's also so true that the high end brands are high end because they are better than their lower end counterparts.

Tamil Bombshell Namitha

Anyone ever wondered who is the Kim Kardashian in different areas around the world? Well you won't have to wonder for long now, Namitha is one of the most famous South Asian actresses. Born in Gujarat, India in 1980 she is a force to be reckoned with. NoT only is a she a Tamil actress but she also act in English, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. This however is not the only amazing thing about this actress she is plus size. She doesn't shy away from the photographers when her mid riff is expose or there's a little spillage from her form fitting saris. She is known for not having her pictures retouched excessively. In her photos you can see dents, ripples, and contours. She is from a part of the continent where there's always been curvy women but not so much in the media. She has experienced wide success and I hope it continues. Another interesting about the actress is that she has been getting a lot of attention in the west not only by her die hard fans but people in the fashion world and Blogging community.

Her attire varies from western clothing to more traditional Pieces. Featuring bright colors, exotic fabrics, and dyes.

Reminiscing, laid back outfit

I wore this outfit on Friday because I wanted a more laid back look. It was dress down and I didn't want to wear anything too fussy. When I look at these pictures I remember when I was a purely jeans, T-shirt, and sneakers kind of girl. A lot has changed, I've matured and my style has matured also. My Tee is from Rave. It's just a basic white tee with very colorful fonts, there's love written multiple times and a peace sign. My blue jeans are from old navy, they're are skinny jeans but not a ultra skinny leg, I bought them in long because obviously I'm tall. My sneakers are Chuck Taylor High tops but with an upper that looks like Nike dunks. According to my box they are charcoal. That however is not the best thing about them, the best part is that the spine is covered with pink glitter! But because of the charcoal contrast it doesn’t look Pepto Bismol like. I was on some G sh*t today (sarcasm).

To me Chuck Taylor’s will never die. I still wear my old pairs to track practice or to play tennis cause I won’t retire them at all.

I of course Had to add in a pink wrinkled scarf from Old Navy, it played up the outfit so it wasn't too casual.
Do you have days where you're just jeans and T-shirt type of girl?

The Double Standard in the "Fat Community:"

I'm been thinking about this a lot recently because it affects me. I vaguely inundated to it on my Twitter earlier. I personally think there's a double standard in the "fat community." For one I look at myself as a thick girl. People can interpret thick however they want. I have a big bust, 40C to be exact, paired with two very thick legs. I wear a size 10-14 in jeans and a size 16 in dresses, due to the fact that my bust and shoulders are on the broad side. I use to be all about dieting and losing weight until I started to realize this is the skin I'm in and I need to embrace it.

However not everyone has fully accepted me. Obviously I'm not thin. I'm not on the higher level of the Plus size chain but I am plus size. I know that when I walk into a store I have to head to the end of the racks where the sizes ascend. We see it even in the plus size modeling industry. Some people will get angry if models are too small. Yes if you're a plus size model you should be on the heavier side but plus size doesn't=Fat. There's many variations of Plus size. I definitely feel like I'm excluded. I feel like girls who are bigger exclude me because I'm not 'BIG ENOUGH'

It seems like I have to make a choice. People want me to choose a side. Skinny girls exclude me and thick girls say I'm not big enough. It's not their fault completely, society demands that you make a choice. You have to either side with the skinny girls or the fat girls. My decision is to side with the fat girls because they are who I identify most with. I have the burning thighs syndrome and, the chicos over the jeans. Yes they may say I'm not big enough but the numbers don't lie. In pictures it might seem like I'm thinner but that's only because I'm 5'8 and sometimes height is an illusion. I just want people to realize that there are are once again many variations of plus size and we shouldn't be excluding anyone. What do you think?

Spring Transition

I wore this outfit yesterday. It was really sunny and I could feel the warmth of spring in the air. I'm not really a fan of floral patterns so I decided to stay away from those bold prints. My top was a hip lenth tunic from Macy's. The tunic had bold rosettes on the collar. I didn't wear a necklace because that would take away from the detail of the rose accents. My skirt was a light weight tube skirt from DOTS boutique. My favorite piece from the outfit where the leopard print leggings. They are a cotton blend, the leopard print are purple, gray, and black.I thought they where the cutest find on my shopping adventure over the weekend.The leggings are from Macy's as well. My patent black opened toe pumps are also from DOTS boutique. My make p is a lavender shade with a silver lining at the top, black liquid liner and two coats of mascara. finally, my flower black satin headband is from Forever 21.

Pratical Outfit

The pleated detail along the front, I hope you guys can see the pockets

The patent finish is just right

The ruffle detail along the neckline

Sometimes I get worried with heels because I'm so tall but these are the perfect height!

This outfit was a couple weeks ago. I liked it due to its practicality and these wonderful Mary Jane's that I found in Sears of all places. There's these small ruffle details along the lining of my cardigan. I paired the cardigan with a plain spaghetti strap tank. If you look closely at my cardigan you can see a very dull but noticeable shimmery detail. My skirt is from Macy's. It's a pleated bubble skirt. The waist is banded with pockets at the side: very convenient. Black tights from Dots boutique. Now my favorite part of the outfit is the black Mary Jane's. They have a mostly matte finish but around the line of the upper part there's a patent detail. The heel is very practical it's about 3.5, the heel goes from thick to thin as it descends. The finish touch is two small round patent accents. I didn't wear any accessories. The only make up I wore was mascara paired with my essential waterproof eyeliner, with the not-so-exaggerated cat eyes, paired with nude Gilly Hicks lip gloss. What do you guys think?