African Fashion Week London 1-3 August 2013

Hi Lovelies,
I hope everyone has been enjoying their week. Over here in London, the heat wave has given way to cool drizzles  showers of rain which I don't mind if I am in bed under my duvet but alas! it is a mighty inconvenience when I am rushing off to work. Regardless, I have had an amazing week so far with all my deadlines slowly coming to an end. I have some exciting news which I want to share..I would be attending the African Fashion Week London on Friday 2nd August 2013. I am ecstatic!!! First off, this would be my first fashion week in London; I have only attended Fashion weeks and shows in Lagos, Nigeria and I loved every one of them.



                           
African Fashion Week London (AFWL) was founded in 2011 by Ronke Ademiluyi whose desire was to promote and support African inspired designers, and London, being one of the quirkiest and ethnically diverse of the Fashion Capitals, proved to be the perfect place for this show...and Voila!! AFWL was created. So far, there has been two editions of the AFWL all held in different choice locations in London including Gibson Hall, Bishopgate(2011) and Spitalfields (2012) attracting over 20, 000 guests. Spanning these two years, AFWL has hosted and showcased over 200 budding and established African Designers making it one of the biggest single African Fashion event outside of the continent. Here is a link to find out more about them..






The AFWL hosts African Inspired Designers and Exhibitors who will showcase inspiring designs and products that promises to take your breath away. I totally love African Prints and Designs which have already made their way into the international fashion market, making it one of the biggest trends in Fashion.



The third edition of the AFWL will be held from 1-3 August 2013 in Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London. This year, AFWL has decided to add a little twist to all the excitement; there would be holding the first ever African Arts and Fashion Banquet which would be the perfect way to bring the AFWL to a grand close. This will be held in the prestigious Dorchester Hotel Park Lane on the 4th August 2013 , supported by the AFWL Patron Fifi Ejindu . It will be an exclusive event and first ever fundraiser event of its kind to raise funds for the African Arts and Fashion Initiatives which will create start up funds for young designers to launch their designs out to the world.



Yours truly will be attending the AFWL as Press/Blogger Friday 2nd August 2013 and I cannot wait to go. The good thing is there are still a few tickets available which you can book here. You can also have a look at their exciting website and follow them here on Instagram@fricafwl, Twitter @africafwl and Facebook for up to date info and live updates of the shows.



Here is a link to all the designers and exhibitors showcasing in the 3rd Edition AFWL 2013 but I am leaving a mini round up of all the designers showcasing their phenomenal designs below on the day I am attending which is Friday 2nd August 2013.

4pm	6.30pm	8.30pm
Giberky O’Mak Designs by Uche Moofa RYA-V Jewellery House of Jola Crown Rose UK	Halleros Sally Intiego Steve Mandy Designs Ruutz Art and Creation M Shade Sluu by Sluvin Designs	Alabi Couture Vou Brown Collection Fay Designz Liiber London Asake Oge Thula Sindi

I would love to know anyone else who will be attending this event especially on Friday 2nd August 2013 as I would love to meet with you whether you are blogger, writer or fashion junkie. I love meeting new people every time. I am also looking to explore interviewing some designers and exhibitors at the event. of course, I would be bring you loads of pictures of the event for those who are unable to attend. Follow me on Twitter@Fashstyleliv and Instagram@Fashstyleliv for live updates and sneaky exclusive pictures of this event. I hope you enjoyed this post as usual. 



Note: Although I have received a press pass to attend this event AFWL, I was under no obligation to write this post or receive any compensation to write this post. I am so excited to attend the AFWL which is why I decided to write about it....:-))))

Photo Credit: All Photos used in this post are from the African Fashion Week London Website...

I look forward to reading your lovely comments and engaging with you as always and if you have any particular follow up posts regarding the AFWL, leave me a comment below. What dress would you wear to this event if you were to attend?...xxxx...toodles..

Makeup Storage Ideas: How to Organise your Makeup and Beauty Stash

Hey Lovelies,
I hope everyone has had a super weekend. I know I did and  I am unashamedly looking forward to next weekend..As you may or may not know, I love beauty and makeup items and I do have quite a few of them...I'm lying, I have quite a good number of them. The most important thing in acquiring these makeup and beauty product is ensuring they are properly stored to increase their longevity and prevent them from getting damaged. In addition, you want to store your makeup in a way that makes it easy for you to reach them easily. Of course Pareto's 80-20 principle applies to makeup, at least for me, I tend to use 20% of my make up 80% of the time which means I have my most reached for and Go-to everyday make up essentials (blog post here) and the items in my make up bag (blog post here). I love to arrange and store my makeup in an easy and attractive way for the above reasons. I would share with  you all a few storage bits and bobs and how I organize my beauty and makeup. Let's get started..



                                             Wicker Compartmentalised Basket- Unknown Origin
This was given to me by my lovely flatmate when I moved into the flat. I am not sure where she bought it (She does not know either as it was for her cousin; it has indeed served many people well) but I love it because it functions like a miniature dresser/vanity table since I don't have one at the minute. It is quite sturdy and has different compartments which is why I love it so much. I don't have any set arrangements for the items included but I tend to just throw in all my beauty and hair bits into the largest section. 



The smaller compartments house a few of my my make up bits which I reach for every now and then such as my YSL Touche Eclat foundation (review here), Maybelline Fit Me Foundation (review here) and  Fit Me Powder. I also store my Illamasaqua Makeup products which were included in the Mystery Alter Ego box (review here). One of the outer section stores all my brushes including my mostly reached for brushes like my beloved Real Techniques Brushes (review here). As you can see from the picture, I don't have too many makeup brushes; just a few nice ones and I think they serve me really well. That's all I have in the wicker compartment basket.




                                      Muji Storage Two Tier Cabinet (Find it here)
I really love this cabinet and it had been popular on beauty blogs and YouTube at some point. I love all products from MUJI because they are affordable, unique and great quality. I could not wait to get my hands on it and I hope to add more to it. At the moment, I just have one although I could do with more.It is made from Acrylic with two drawers which can slide in and out easily. 



They are very sturdy and solid which is why I love them. They are also easy to clean which is big plus for me in case I have some spillage or  I just want to give it a cheeky little clean. The first drawer houses all my Drug Store and MAC Lipstick. 





As you can see, I don't have a lot of High End Lipsticks in fact the only High End ones I have in here are from MAC which I got free from their Back to MAC programme. I love how this drawer fits all these lipsticks and it is transparent as well so I can see and reach for them easily. I also store a few lip glosses here although I am not a huge fan of lip glosses.





The next drawer houses all my samples mainly from Lancome which I totally love. I love this drawer a lot and I open it every time I feel like giving my skin a home made little spa pamper treatment because I know I would always find the right product in here.




                                                 3 Tier Mini Cabinet/Drawer - Poundland
This was my latest addition to my make up storage family and incidentally it is the cheapest. I got this for only £1 from Poundland near where I live. I was absolutely delighted and I greedily went back to buy more and it was sold out. I was mortified. At least, I was wise enough to buy two at the time. 



As you can see from the pictures, it has three drawers which do not open to the end. Of course, this drawer set is nowhere near as sturdy as my Muji one but it serves its purpose for organising my makeup. 



Majority of the compartments are used to store my Sally Hansen Lipsticks and a few NYC lipsticks while a few compartments store random things like eyelash glue, primers and back up makeup products like my Maybelline Fit Me concealer and Model Co Mascara. I really like this little drawer and I have not experienced any hiccups with it except for the occasional unwarranted movements as it is not the sturdiest drawer but, then, it only cost £1, so I am not complaining. AT ALL.




                                      Acrylic Makeup Organiser- Amazon (Find it here)
I think this was one of the first makeup organiser/storage I ever bought and it is pretty old; I think I have had it since 2010. I love how you can use it for anything you want. Formerly,  I stored all the makeup I reached for every morning in it because it had many nice compartments as you can see from the pictures where you could store lipsticks, foundation, powder, etc. 



Now, I have upgraded it to a nail polish organiser where I store my smaller nail polishes in the small compartments and bigger ones in the larger section. I still have some other nail polishes which do not fit into it but I store them elsewhere. At the moment, this stores all my Lancome Vernis in Love Collection nail polishes which has been reviewed here..



The only downside is it is difficult to clean because some areas are really narrow and hard to reach. I don't know how but some ink got into it and I have just not been able to clean it properly but all in all, I think it is a brilliant lil'piece and it is perfect for any beginner who is just building their makeup stash.



The beauty of makeup storage is you can find them anywhere especially in the most random shops ever. You can also be creative and make yours out of any old random bits which you may have lying around in the house; those are more affordable than some of these lot. All you have to be is creative and do it. I hope you enjoyed this post. It seems like a little while since I posted, I guess it's simply because I was posting everyday last week but since I have a few deadlines, my posts may be fewer but I always enjoy reading your comments and feedback. Have a blessed week ahead...xxx..toodles..

Warby Parker + Donor's Choose Collaboration: Eyewear Designer meets Classroom Projects

Hi Lovelies,
This post is a little different to my usual post but it is always interesting to add a little flavor to switch up my style every now and then. I was contacted by Warby Parker to help launch their collaboration with Donor's Choose which would go live today. First off, this is NOT a sponsored post as I know a couple of people get turned off when they see it is a sponsored post and I have not received any compensation for this post. There, that's out of the way, so grab your cuppa tea or coffee and relax while I chat you up. 





I am sure you must be ogling these lovely stylish Sunglasses especially with the hot summer weather around. What if I told you, you could totally buy this guilt-free knowing that you would be supporting a child's project by buying one of these sunglasses from the bespoke collection? Oh yeah..it is so true. If you are like me and you have never heard about Warby Parker or Donor's Choose, I'd be happy to introduce them to you although they are totally different organisations. I think they are a bit more popular in USA than UK. 

Warby Parker is the brilliant result of a collaboration between four close friends who decided they had had enough of all the overpriced and bland eye ware out there. They sat down and had a plan to create high quality yet better looking prescription glasses and sunglasses at a fraction of the price of many overpriced brands out there...Voila!! Warby Parker was born. If you are curious like me and you want to find out how they came about their name, click here for the background behind that. Warby Parker is an American Based Company which specializes in reeling out unique and high quality collections of both prescription and sunglasses range for both Males and Females.



Their first collection had 27 limited run pieces which were all meticulously crafted using the finest custom acetates and materials. It blows my mind to know each pair of glasses is hand crafted with custom fit with anti-reflective polycarbonate lenses. You may not be familiar with materials used for making lenses but I am very familiar with them because I have been wearing glasses for a really long time. lenses made with Polycarbonate have better quality and are usually thinner and lighter than the traditional plastic or glass lenses. With these glasses, you also have anti-scratch qualities incorporated. Many Eyewear companies may ask you to pay extra to have anti-reflective or anti-scratch or thinner lenses whereas you do not need to pay any extra as it is already incorporated. If you want to know more about how they produce their glasses, Hop on to this page on their website,...


Moving on, Warby Parker don't stop at just producing high quality and affordable eyeware and sunglasses, they take a further step and give back to the society through many partnerships with non-profit organisations including Vision Spring where they happily donate a pair of glasses to someone in need for every pair of glasses they sell. In fact, this month they have reached an important milestone of donating half a million glasses to people in need. Find out here about their donations  Isn't that amazing?!!!! So, if you decide to splurge on any of their bespoke sunglasses, you can cut back on any guilt knowing that someone in need in a less developed country would be getting a free pair...Statistics show that there are over 1 billion people all around the world who cannot see properly have no access to a pair of glasses which would inadvertently affect their ability to either go to school or hold down a job. Pretty sad but very true :-((

Jasper from the Ocean Avenue Collection

I have had a look around their latest collection on their website, I really wish I was in America right now because they look so good and I would love to try them all on (You can use their website app to try on the glasses though but I am a bit old school and I still need to try it on in the flesh). They have recently released their latest collections: The Ocean Avenue Collection and the The Meridian Collection. 

Flannery from the Meridian Collection

Both collections invoke the feeling of Summer, Beaches, Soft Sea Breeze and Relaxation. While the Ocean Avenue Collection is inspired by New York City in the 1970s and 1980s with quirky and vintage designs, the Meridian Collection is inspired by renegade travelers and roaming iconoclasts with an edgy, vintage vibe with a slight Parisian twist. I love both collections but I can see myself leaning towards the Ocean Avenue Collection which is on trend now although the Meridian Collection would suit all trends and seasons, thanks to its vintage side.




                            Collaboration Collection: Warby Parker and Donor's Choose
Now to the crux of the matter? What kind of collaboration is Warby Parker having with Donor's Choose, you ask? I am pretty sure you may have heard about Donor's Choose. I got really emotional reading about the Donor's Choose story on their website because it is truly inspirational. Donor's Choose is a non-profit organisation founded by Charles Best who was a school teacher in a High School in Bronx. He usually funded many of his classroom projects and school supplies for his students because he was dedicated to them and their education. 

 One day, he decides to design a website where school teachers can post classroom projects for funding from donors who had as little as $1 to donate to any classroom project they fancy. His fellow teachers loved the idea and posted a couple of projects which Charles Best anonymously funded because he did not know any donors. Of course, these teachers did not know that and were amazed at the results and spread the good news and it became very popular... 




Sometime in 2003, Oprah Winfrey heard about Donor's Choose and promoted them on her show and let's say that was a huge turning point. Few seconds after her show aired, their website crashed due to so many visitors and when it got back up, they were welcomed by $250, 000 donations, how amazeballs is that? ....the rest is history. Donor's Choose has funded many classroom projects and has put a smile on hundreds of thousands of children's faces. Would you like to be responsible for putting a smile on a child's face? I hope the answer is yes because Warby Parker and Donor's Choose have come together to create a unique collaboration with a design and collection to go with it. Both organisations who always have their consumers in mind with the best they can offer have designed one of their most flattering sunglasses with a twist of tortoise shell known as the Gardner...isn't it just gorgeous?





How does it work, you ponder? With every $95 frame from this collaboration's collection (both prescription and sunglasses ranges), Warby Parker would donate $30 in form of a Donate Choose Gift Card so that each customer can contribute to whichever Donor's Choose classroom projects they fancy. In addition to that, Warby Parker would also donate a pair of glasses to someone in need which means your purchase would benefit two worthy causes; Donor's Choose and Glasses for those in need who can't afford it. This is the only time Mathematics rules are defied because 1=2 :-))). 











Some celebrities like Mindy Kaling (Actress, The Office on NBC) are already supporting this collaboration; let's join her, Charles Best (Founder, Donor's Choose) and support this collaboration too...You can shop and support this collaboration here.






My sidebar also has a link to the donor's choose website if you also want to support any of their classroom projects. I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I did.I really loved writing this post and I hope you can feel it from your screen. If you want more non-sponsored posts for good causes like this, let me know in the comment section....toodles...xx See you in my next post...

My Favourite Photos of Places and Food I love

                         
                     

Hey Lovelies,

Today is day 7 and Yes! I succeeded in posting on this blog for 7 consecutive days. Thank you for supporting me as usual. In a way, it was easier because I was on leave from work but I am back now. So, Tuesday is the new Monday to me, of course. As you can guess, I was so busy at work today and I had no time to take any new photos so I decided to check my precious stash of photos and share them with you. Many of them are either from my favourite places or food or little random bits that make me happy.. I am going to start with food...

                                                       
                                              Food and Meals that Make me Happy

I have already shared a post about this meal but this seriously makes me happy. It's  traditional British fish and chips with some veggies thrown in for healthy measures. I buy this from Giannis which is a small eatery near my office in London. It's a lil' pricey and fattening which is why it is reserved for treat time.

This is how I store my food for the rest of the week. I think Lunch is my most important meal because if I don't bring my lunch, I end up spending ridiculous amounts of money on it. I make my meals on Sunday, pack them into Tupperware and store it in the fridge. Plus it allows me eat more healthily. This is boiled rice, salmon and mixed vegetables. I also made some pasta with mixed vegetables. It is so filling and nice..YumYum.

                       

I can see you judging me because I know they are for babies. I love Heinz's Farley rusks which are given to babies with milk to introduce them slowly to solids and also to encourage their teeth growth as they can nibble on it. I had quite a few of these as a child and I still had some when my younger cousins were little so let's say I was never fully weaned from it..So, don't blame me. They are so yummy and the last time I bought these, the lady at Tesco said " How old is your little one?" in her bid to strike a conversation. Hahahaha...

I recently discovered this and I have been loving it all the way. It is Chobani's Yoghurt which is made from only natural ingredients and it is one of the creamiest and thickest yoghurt I have eaten. it is not necessarily the sweetest but it is definitely one of the healthiest. I eat this on its own or add it to my smoothie...double yum!!

Places and Nature Spots I Love

I still love coming down the bus to take pictures and sit down to edit them especially if they are unusual places .

I can do many, many bad things to lay my hands on these Chanel beauty products; I am kidding but you get my drift. This picture was taken in House of Fraser. I really love Chanel because it feels so classy and timeless. I don't own any of the products yet but I have used them courtesy of my cousins and a few testers I have got from their counters. But this selection in this picture just makes me plain happy...

                   

This lone hanging flower makes me really appreciate nature because it screams Spring/Summer in subtle way. I love how delicate the petals look and how the whole flower is hanging upside down from a brick wall..So calming and serene for me.

                   

I took this near Canary Wharf which is comparable to Wall Street in USA. All the huge business and financial firms all have impressive offices here. I took this on my way from a meeting there. I love how well sculpted this statue is and it shows so much strength for such an inanimate object...It feels alive to me..

                     

This was when the Sun was still my friend; right now there is no love lost between us because it has become too humid. I have always loved the mild Sun but this is no longer the norm in London right now. This picture was taken in early spring when the sun was playing the shy lover with us; perfect weather for long romantic walks with the cool breeze accompanying the gentle rays....Bliss

                   

This is one of favourite pictures of Big Ben. It looks so regal here and the lovely sun was doing great justice to all its great features.  I love how the tourists always look in awe of it and rush to take pictures when the clock strikes and chimes away...I think it is really beautiful and lovely to know it is still well admired after all these years....

This used to be my usual Bus Stop in Waterloo before I moved somewhere else that requires using the dreaded Underground/Tube. I love buses because it gives you a chance to see the scenery you may miss from using the Tube here in London. This ticket machine is very naughty because you din't get any change at all. If you are stranded and you need to get on a bus where you need to have bought your ticket beforehand, you would be forced to leave your change with this machine.. Thank God for contact less cards which you can use to pay for bus fares if you don't have your Oyster Card...

I'd leave you with one of my favourite pictures. This was also taken in early Spring when the flowers were just beginning to bloom. I love this tree because it still looks beautiful despite the absence of any flowers, leaves or bloom. Against the blue skies, it looks really special which is why it has a special place in my heart and makes me happy looking at it....I hope you enjoyed this post which was a little different to my other posts which have been all beauty related. My 7 day challenge is over and I have enjoyed the challenge thoroughly...I am writing a special post for Thursday so stay tuned....toodles....xxx