Negativity and turning away from it

 Often in life, you'll come across a lot of different people who criticize and bring you down. While you may build fond memories with some- that you can actually learn from, others will always try to break you down.
They will tease you and call you names and do whatever they can to make you feel low, break your self esteem and your confidence level. While I used to, once upon a time, get affected by these comments, I've learned that not everyone is going to love you and there are some who will stop at nothing to demean you.
My advise to having such negativity in your life is to cut off all ties with such a person/s. You never need a reason to cut away from bad people. Do it so that you may lead a better life.Do it so you no longer have to feel bad or question yourself. Do it for you.
While you will still hear remarks and comments from time to time, I tell you, my friends, Ignorance is bliss, It truly is.
When you learn to not care about what others ( people who mean nothing to you) think about you, you will find peace in everything you do, Suddenly your life gets less complicated,  less dramatic and more beautiful. You will never need to question yourself again or feel the need to justify yourself. I'm in such a place at the moment and it feels great. Come join me up here, wont you?

Tee: Sister's closet, Pants: Mango, Bag:Aldo, Shoes:FCUK, Belt:Camaieu, Necklace: Stradivarius

Kryptonite

Green is one of my favorite colors. While I'm not a huge fan of mint, light green or teal , A rich, emerald green, olive green and army green is a great color that suits my skin-tone.

I've worn my trusty crop top over this green dress to look like a skirt + top combination. If you're not new to my blog, you would already know that I love wearing dresses differently- be it a collared shirt under the dress, pinafore style , a loose open shirt over a casual dress or a cropped top over a fitted dress.
Moving on, I wore color block strappy platform sandals to match my deep pink pout. I have this new thing of matching accessories to the color of my lipstick, however mis-matched the rest of my outfit is.

On another note, The weather is crazy here and I'm trying not to loose my temper during shoots.I absolutely hate summer and wish this dreadful climate takes a turn for the better soon.

Dress: Sister's Closet, Top: Zara, Clutch: MK, Shoes:Payless

Summertime Sadness

 If I haven't mentioned it already- I hate summer. I hate squinting my eyes in the bright sunlight, hate my hair feeling heavy with the humidity and sweat and hate not being able to add layers of clothing.

I personally prefer layering up separates to create a unique look. Mixing prints, fabrics and adding in statement staples is what I love and with the sun shining at it's brightest, minimal clothing is all I can think about. Clothes that let me feel light and feeling fuss- free all day. Come in- sheer blouses and shorter hemlines. While I would usually do a navy-white-tan or navy-white-red combination, I decide to add coral to this ensemble and bring in a little color. I love that the color of my ankle strap heels match perfectly with my matte lip gloss. The only good thing about the weather at the moment is that I can use my summer bronzing lotion, which made an appearance in my  June Favorites.I swear by this light reflecting lotion that gives my pins an airbrushed look and a bronzed summer glow.

Moving on to accessories, I paired this old beaded statement necklace that had hints of all the colors of my outfit to throw in some chaos against my solid navy blouse. Finishing off with an uber cute cross- body bag with quilting and tassel details, stolen from my photographer/ BFF was  only mandatory!

Blouse: Zara, Skirt: Tailored, Necklace: New Look, Shoes: Spring, Bag:River Island

Lipstick 101

 I’m the girl who started wearing lipstick at the age of 21. Before that, I only used Vaseline on my lips or only applied a red color that my makeup artist used on me during my dance shows with my group. I don’t even think it was a brand; it was a pot that he used for all the girls, regardless of their skin tone. Needless to say, while some of the girls ended up looking gorgeous, the others (including me) looked rather whorish.

My fist lipstick was a deep red that I purchased after months and months of looking for a red that went well with my skin tone.

The fist thing before even picking up lipsticks to try on, is to identify and know what color would look good on you, something that complements your skin tone. I am something in between a medium and dusky and I tan very easily and hence my lipstick even varies from summer to winter.

Porcelain – Fair skin:

You are lucky and can pull off anything, Lighter colors, darkest reds, browns, plums, even the ones with the metallic bits and sparkles in them. Colors like petal pink, baby pink, bright red, hot pink and orange all look great on you.Even the nudest of nudes with a smoky eye will look great.

Medium- Dusky: ( This is where I fall under):

Picking out colors can be tricky when you’re in between. Never look at wearing bright reds, pinks or oranges – It will make you look darker than usual, and you will not photograph well with photo flash. When buying nude colors, always go for a more brownish nude than a cream nude. You want something that’s a little darker than your skin so you don’t look like you’re dead. Metallic purples and light reflecting particles in colors like mauve and pink that have a glitter effect are complete no-no’s unless it’s Halloween. For my Indian friends, think Shilpa Shetty in ‘ Main Khiladi Tu Anari’ and ‘Baazigar’.

Deep reds, burgundy, corals, rich pinks and browns are great for this skin tone.

My current obsession is a beautiful coral , YSL kiss and blush in number 5.

Chocolate: 

Always stick to dark, rich colors like oxblood, dark magenta, browns and burgundy. If you have clean and great skin, a dark orange works too! 

A lot of women have trouble on application and getting lipstick to last for hours. Here's how I apply my lipstick and I guarantee it will last longer than usual.

1. Apply foundation on the lip and blend well.Dust on some loose powder. 

2. Start by lining the lip line lightly- and blend the color inward.

3. Apply the lipstick evenly, ensuring you stay in the line. Blot with a tissue paper.

4. Apply lip gloss if required.

5. Clean up- Use a small brush and foundation to clean up the are around the lips and dust on some setting       powder!

Lemon and Licorice

 I love over-sized clutches and the fact that most of mine are all too glam to carry around for the day, I decided to masquerade this chartreuse laptop bag for daytime. I paired it with a lace maxi skirt and a yellow chiffon blouse, worn back-ways, as I wanted more volume on the back.
The reason this maxi skirt looks more like a midi, is because I've hitched it up and worn it as a dress inside. Like I always say, always focus on buying separates that you can get good use out of.

More about the laptop case, these come in great funky colors for summer and will be available at Shoe City in a week's time. I suggest you carry your laptop or record the size so you know if it's going to hold your gadget. Either that, or parade it like an over-sized clutch like I did! It comes with sponge padding inside so it's soft and will protect delicate compact cases tucked inside. Oh, and your laptop of course!

Laptop case- Ciro by Shoe City

Villa Mama's- Revealing culture through food.

All my faithful readers would already know my top 5 restaurants in Bahrain but just as a refresher, Villa Mama’s made it to my list back in June (here) last year where I couldn't help my self but blog about the delicious food.

Roaya Saleh, the chef and founder of Villa Mamas, is a Bahraini woman, who is driven by her endless passion of wanting to reveal our culture through food. Her dream was always to cook and serve Bahraini food using locally sourced organic ingredients in an inviting environment. This finally became a reality after opening her own restaurant, Villa Mamas, in Late 2011.

Today, Villa Mamas serves over 7500 visitors a month, and is known to be one of the most popular destinations to enjoy Bahraini food.  Villa Mamas is a restaurant where locals, GCC nationals, and expats can sit together and eat some of the very best food Bahrain has on offer.

Roaya, has over 30k followers on her instagram account @villamamas, and has recently been interviewed and referred to in Caterer Middle East as, “Carrying the flag of the local cuisine high, with ambitious plans to expand across the world.”

One of Roaya’s recent projects has been a collaboration with Executive Producer Julia Klein who with more than 20 years experience in international broadcast television agreed that it was time to take Villa mamas and Bahrain to the world.  Together,their goal was to create the first Bahraini lifestyle reality show on a global broadcast platform and then using international online platforms, to introduce Bahraini Food to the world.   

Julia used her extensive contacts with international broadcasters to make this happen and finally this project has been realized. With all the contracts and agreements now signed, Roaya is officially the first chef from the GCC to be featured on the foodchannel.com.  With a reach of between 12 – 15 million people throughout the world, Roaya has already taken the online channel by storm being promoted within one week to a headline banner, and reportedly increasing overall traffic to The Food Channel site by up to 18% in only 2 weeks. You can visit www.foodchannel.com, to view some of her video recipes. I have even shared the link to Roaya’s delicious sticky date cake on my facebook page.

And now, in addition to The Food Channel, an agreement for a reality show has been signed with ifood.tv, which is part of the Future Today Corporation. However, this is the first time they have reached out to a culturally insightful show like Villa Mamas doing authentic Arab cuisine.

The Villa mamas reality TV show, which initiated all this international interest has now wrapped shooting and has begun the long post production process, but now with proven popularity online, Scripps Network has agreed to broadcast a first run on their Food Network towards the end of this year.  The show is a behind the scenes look at the passion, the frustration, the tears and the laughter that go into running a successful restaurant business with the day to day running of the kitchen, the dining room and the current construction of the Villa mamas Deli. This will prove to be an unforgettable series.

Villa Mamas has put the spotlight on Bahrain, and has opened up the opportunity to introduce Bahrain to the media platform of worldwide viewers. With commitments from one of the largest International Television Networks and two of the most popular online platforms, that are now officially contracted to work with Julia Klein in the GCC, any business, no matter how large or small will now have the opportunity to bring their brand, service or product to the global market .

So what are you waiting for? I suggest you hurry to Villa Mama’s and try out what they have to offer. I highly recommend the cheese crispies glazed in honey for starters,the machboos as main and the red velvet cake( which according to me is THE best in Bahrain) to finish. The rice dishes in particular, are simply delicious, and will leave you craving more. I visit the place often for photoshoots or when I’m in the mood to eat, and by eat, I mean really eat.

Sara, Anita, Roaya, Myself and Dunia

Villa Mama's is located in Saar, opposite Saar Cineplex. For further information please follow @villamamas on instagram.

Dupatta tales

 I'm a huge fan of infusing Indian and western wear. Because in Bahrain, there are only so many functions you can wear ethnic outfits to, I try and make the best out of my Indian wear.

I love dupattas in particular and I'll admit that I first look at a suit's dupatta before purchasing it. If the suit is gorgeous and the dupatta is plain, I would never pick it up.
Moving on, I love this Gul Ahmed embroidered dupatta. I paired it with a cropped top and cut off trousers for an Indo- western look.

On another note, I hate the weather at the moment, 2 more months of scorching heat and I'll go insane. Picking outfits is another thing, where I always have to add on a few layers if I'm hitting the mall!
My chopped of locks are definitely helping in the heat. How are you guys managing?

Dupatta: Gul Ahmed, Crop Top: Mango, Trousers: Camaieu, Shoes:Zara, Bag: Monsoon