Thursday Inspiration: Miraslava Duma

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I haven't done an "inspiration" post in quite a while.  Right now, I'm obsessing over Miraslava--a Russian fashion editor, socialite, fashionista.  Most bloggers and people who are into fashion and the fashion biz know who Miraslava is and that her style has been copied and coveted for quite some time now.  Well, in the last year or so, she became a mother and since then, her style has changed somewhat.  It's become a little more sophisticated and I am loving it.  She even makes the new "mommy cut" (bob) look good.














Note:  I pulled these pics off of a message board.  Miraslava does have her own blog. I've actually never looked at it.  It may be in Russian.  The link for her blog is:  www.buro247.ru

xoxo,
-Nik

Hey gals! (Another update post)

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No, I haven't had the baby yet. haha

Just thought I'd update you all on that first.  Also, since his birth I'm sure is closer than ever, I just wanted to fill you in on some plans I have for my blog after he's here.  I've gotten lots of requests on my skincare regimen--I plan to do some posts on that.  I'm also getting more into make-up, and plan to blog on that and possibly give some reviews.  I've been blessed to be considered a "natural beauty" (though, we all are) most of my life and never really had to master make-up application, but there comes a time (and age) in every girl's life where bringing in a few "reinforcements" help to give a better, more pulled together look.  So I will be sharing that journey with you.

Lastly, I'm going to chronicle me getting back into shape after baby is born.  I've gotten quite a few fitness questions, and questions asking how do I stay in shape, etc.  I plan to just give a real life view of me getting back into shape, complete with my exercise regimen, what I eat (including recipes again), etc.  I plan to make this a weekly thing where I update with my weight, weightloss for the week, complete with pics.

So all of that, including still doing some outfit and hair posts--I'm planning to get this blog active again!  I'm going to be doing more videos too, I think.  I'm going to try really hard to get past my video camera awkwardness!  So bear with me.

I also have a few other things up my sleeve that I will share at a later time.  So stay tuned!

Meanwhile, I'll leave you guys with a picture of a braidout I'm wearing today.  It is the by-product of the 2 french braid style that I posted about previously.  I've just been putting my hair in the french braids right out of the shower with coconut oil and Shea Moisture Curl Cream (can't remember the official name) without any blowdrying.  Anyway, here is the resulting braidout today...




Have a great week!

xoxo,
-Nik

Preggy Update: 37 weeks

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So I am now 37 weeks pregnant which is considered "term" in the medical world. This means that even though a full pregnancy is 40 weeks, I could technically go into labor at any time now and my docs wouldn't do anything to prevent it. The baby's lungs are developed and pretty much everything is in place for him to live outside of my body. So now I'm just waiting and hoping that my little man decides to make an appearance any time now.  I want my body back!

Here are a couple 37 wk pics I just took with my iPhone on a whim.  Please excuse the tired, puffy, preggo face.





xoxo,
-Nik

HOTD: French Braids!

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I've been trying to find some styles that I can put my hair in that I can (1) wear a few days at a time, (2) throw a hat over if I want (because I luv hats), and (3) doesn't require me to re-wet my hair constantly.  So at a whim, this morning I took my hair down from it's usual bun that I've become quite bored with, and stretched my hair further (from it's already slightly stretched state because of the bun) with a warm blow dryer using the tension method, and then proceeded to put my hair into two french braids.  I instantly loved the look.  So, I think I will wearing my hair like this or some other variation regularly throughout the summer.  It's perfect for the summertime heat.  Also, these can easily be taken down and worn in a stretched/loose braidout if decide I want to get "cute", which is important to me as well.

I did a search of french braid pictures and see that french braided styles are quite popular.  For your inspiration:






xoxo,
-Nik

Bargain Bashment

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Yesterday, me and the kid happened to go to Target.  We were going to pick up my son's very first pairs of big boy undies.  Yes, potty training has commenced.  Anyway, as always, the first thing I do when I enter Target is check out that little $1/Clearance section that is usually right in front as you walk in.  I love cheap little nicknacks.  Plus, the kid always gets a little dollar toy for himself.  I happened to see they had a bunch of colorful shades for 2 bucks.  I thought they were pretty cute, so I grabbed a white pair for my son.  After getting home and upon inspection, the label on them said "Adult Sunglasses".  In the store, I'd thought they looked rather small and were for kids.  Sooooo, I tried them on and you know what--they looked pretty damn good on me!  Now I wish I'd grabbed a yellow pair too.

Feeling fly in my 2 dollar shades. What?!




xoxo,
-Nik

Sometimes You Have To Hit the Pavement!

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Anyone who knows me, knows that I luv all things tribal, ethnic, etc. whether it's clothing, jewelry, etc.  I'm drawn to it.  Well, a couple weeks ago, maybe more like 4 weeks ago, I scored a cute pair of "tribal" sandals from Urban Outfitters for the low low price of 10 bucks!  They were on a clearance display and I couldn't pass them up.  Color me happy for the rest of that day, especially seeing as that the only reason I'd gone to the mall in the first place that day was to go to the Apple store to have them look at my beat-up iPhone of which they told me was shot to sh*t. **sidenote: I've since gotten the white iPhone 4 and it is super cute**  Anyway, later in the week, I'd happened to be perusing UO online and saw the very sandals I'd gotten for the low still being sold online at the full retail price!  So the moral of this whole story is--sometimes you have to hit the pavement to find those good deals!

I'm an AVID online shopper.  I prefer it to going to the malls, stores, etc., but I've realized that I may be missing out on some bargains by shopping strictly online--especially, when there are some stores, like TJ Maxx, H&M, Zara, for example, that don't offer online shopping.  It's easy to become this little hermit clutching my credit card peering onto a computer screen. haha  So I've promised myself to get out there, at least a couple times a month and check out what's going on IN THE STORES.

Said shoes:





Hope you have a fun and festive Memorial Day Weekend!

xoxo,
-Nik

Weekend Hair: Showing off a "Braid-n-Curl"

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I've definitely got the "pregnancy nose". lol



Products used:

  • Hot Six Oil
  • Shea Moisture Coconut & Hibiscus Curly & Style Milk
  • Fantasia IC Olive Oil Gel

Process:

Co-Washed in shower.  Applied Hot Six Oil to hair.  Sectioned hair for 8 individual braids, applied a little Shea Moisture Milk and Fantasia IC to each section and braided down until I had about 3 inches of loose hair at the ends.  I then rolled the last three inches of hair around a pink perm rod.


xoxo,
-Nik

My "New" Way of Flat Ironing That Only Requires ONE PASS.

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So, it's been a while since my last hair update/tutorial, etc.  Just thought I'd fill you guys in on my new method of flat ironing.  Well, first to update you on my current hair regimen, these days I'm flat ironing my hair once a month.  I then usually wear my hair straight for a 1-1.5 weeks tops.  The rest of the time, I'm in a bun and co-washing every-other-day, or a random wash-n-go style. (Of course, I still do braid/twistouts as well, but it's become rare because lately I've been loving my buns)

Bun::




Wash-n-go with two twists in front:








Also, I am NO LONGER USING THE DENMAN.  Here's why...  I've been feeling like my hair has been thinning slightly.  This is something I think I've noticed over the past 6 months.  Now, I realize as hair gets longer, it does appear thinner because of the lack of volume that shorter hair showcases, and this could definitely be the case with me.  To be on the safe side, I've got my regimen down to where I only detangle with my shower comb, and any other other combing that needs to be done is done with a fairly wide wide-toothed comb.  This has given me big peace of mind.  I also no longer use that "straightening comb" that I showcased in my flat ironing YouTube video, as I've now got a simpler flat ironing routine, that gives me sleek results without it.

On to the tutorial:

1.  I washed and detangled my hair in the shower with Trader Joe's Nourish Spa shampoo and then conditioned with Silicon Mix conditioner.  Once out of the shower, I applied a little Hot Six Oil throughout my hair, followed my Fantasia IC Heat Protection Serum. 


2.  I combed through the serum and oil and then pulled my hair back into a ponytail with a side part since I plan to wear my flat ironed hair parted on the side:



3.  Next, I take small sections of the ponytail, detangle with and then roll on the magnetic rollers until the whole ponytail is in rollers.

***Also, my hair is at a length that I only do one ponytail for this ponytail rollerset, and all of my ends make it into a roller with a good amount of hair.  This is important.  I do this also because after I roll my hair, I sit under the soft bonnet dryer for about 15 minutes and then sleep on it, and it's easier to sleep with on ponytail.  If you have shorter hair, you may need to do 2 or more ponytails to make sure all hair makes it into a ponytail with enough hair to wrap around a roller a couple times***

The clips are holding my bangs (that I regret cutting) back. :)



 4.  Let airdry or dry with a bonnet dryer.  Like I'd mentioned above, I dry for about 15 minutes and then sleep on it overnight.

5.  Once dry, take out the rollers and comb out.  As you can see, if I'd maybe done a couple more ponytails, I'd be able to just stop here and just wear the style.  Feel free to do that sometimes ladies.




6.  Last but not least, flat iron your hair in small sections.  I flat iron my hair at 400 degrees, and because of my hair being stretched from the ponytail and the rollerset ends, I only have to go over each small section with ONE PASS.  I think that's kind of a big deal. haha

Voila.




 Once I'm done flat ironing.  I pretty much twist my hair up into a bun (one big bantu knot) to wear when I'm around the house or out running errands or whatever.  When I'm ready to let it loose, I'm left with nice soft waves.  Here is the bun:


Oh, and I'm currently 25 weeks pregnant.  Only 15 more weeks to go!  It's a BOY!!

Anyway, hope you enjoyed this tutorial and that it was helpful to someone!



xoxo,
-Nik

It's Better in the Bahamas?

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It's been a while since my last update.  Part of it is due to laziness (I blame pregnancy)--and also travel.  Me and the fam just recently got back from a nice little 10 day trip in the Bahamas.  Hubby has family on two different islands (Grand Bahama & New Providence), so we did a bit of island hopping.  It was such a relaxing trip, and we were very eager to leave the (then) frigid temperatures in Atlanta.  Anyway, I carelessly forgot to bring my camera with me, and was only able to take crappy cell phone pics.  It's better than nothing I suppose.  Here are a few pics:

Gambier Village in Nassau.  Waiting on conch salad.


As you can see, later in the trip, I straightened my hair.  Xanadu Beach in Freeport.




As mentioned in one of the photos, while there I'd straightened my hair.  I borrowed my mother-in-law's GVP (Sally's brand) flat iron and was REALLY impressed.  This will definitely be the next flat iron that I buy--and at a price of about $50, I couldn't be more pleased.  Also, I think there is a big misconception about straight hair and the islands/Caribbean.  The misconceptions being 1) that it's impossible to wear straight hair over there, and 2) that wearing natural styles, especially wash-n-go's, are easier.  Well, I'm here to debunk the myths.  As much as I love my textured styles (i.e. braidouts, twistouts), in the more humid (and breezy) climates I have found that they don't last as long.  Pretty quickly, braid/twistouts turn into FRIZZouts.  As far as wash-n-gos, they work well, probably even better than the braid/twistouts, BUT I'm not very keen on the amount of work they require, meaning having to redo the wash-n-go at least every-other-day.  Not to mention, the tangles.  So for me, only on days where I plan to doing some water activities and getting my hair wet would be the days I'd wear a wash-n-go.  Now regarding straight hair, after flat ironing SOME reversion takes place.  For me, it's not that substantial.  I basically end up with a "fluffy" straight look by the end of the day.  Even with that small amount of frizz, I find it's still easier to throw my hair up in some kind of bun and be done with it.  Actually, the bun that I tend to do (one big bantu knot) tends to keep my hair straighter while giving it a soft wave, and I'm able to take it down in the evening when the humidity has lessened up a bit and wear it loose.  So, us natural haired girls do actually  have a lot more options even in tropical climates than we think.  (Keep in mind, that I wasn't there in the heart of the summer, and pretty much believe that during the extreme summer months it would be a lot harder to wear a flat ironed look and would probably wear wet buns mostly during that time.)

After our trip, it became official that my hubby wants move to back home to the Bahamas.  We are seriously making plans for it now.  There are some good opportunities for hubs work-wise, and because we'll soon have two whole kids, it would be a lot easier to be near one of our families.  I'm from Indiana and all of my family are there--and there's no chance of me ever moving back up there.  So the Bahamas will have to do!  Nothing is set in stone just yet, and we know that we won't move before baby #2 is born, so if it happens it will be later in the year.  His family has been wanting this to happen for some time now, and we already have a house waiting on us.  I'm really excited about this big change, and I definitely plan to blog or maybe even write a book about my adjusting to island life.  Most people only romanticize the idea of island living, but there are definitely some minuses that go along with the pluses!  Also, there is just so much that the average person doesn't know about or realize just how different it is living in a foreign country.  I think I could definitely tell an interesting story.  So stay tuned for that!  I would also love to be able to do some fashion posts on my personal "island girl" aesthetic. haha

P.S.  Hubs really hasn't wanted me to say anything about this until we have definitive plans in motion, but what the hell.  Hey, if we move, we move--if we don't, we don't.  And if we don't, it will ONLY be because hubby's company gave him an offer we couldn't refuse.  ;^)


xoxo,
-Nik

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.” ~Anthony J. D'Angelo

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Today is a beautiful day in the A!  Temperatures are above normal and the sun is shining--who could ask for anything more?  And to think, just a couple weeks ago it looked like this outside (yes that's all snow):

My little munchkin.

Anyway, I decided to revisit a style that I haven't done in ages.  Two-strand twists!  I plan to wear these for about a week and then I will undo them for a twistout.  These were done on semi-dry hair.  I will probably wet them in the shower tomorrow, as I like how the water makes them shrink up and gives me nice little corkscrews at the ends of them.  It also makes them look a bit shinier (I will add a pic to this post of them after being rinsed tomorrow.) Here are pics of my twists soaking up the sunshine.  Have a great weekend!




Can you see me now? :)

xoxo,
-Nik