How to repeat your clothes without actually repeating them...

    

Have you ever bought a dress, shoe, or blouse you love so much, you just want to wear over and over again, but you're scared people will wonder if you have other clothes? That's how I felt when I bought this skirt from Soul orange vintage, owned by my friend Chinedu Obiano, I loved the colour and I knew there was a place for it in my wardrobe. Versatility is the watchword for me.
I decided to wear this skirt 3 times in the same week, just because.... just because!
Please don't look at my hair, I wear wigs half the time. Here are three tips for repeating your clothes without it being so glaring.

1) Switch locations: I wore it like this for the first time to church. The length is perfect, the crop top is the right length and the textures blend into one another very nicely. Bell sleeves are hot now and I love the boho feel this one has. I might not be wearing it to church anytime soon again but I surely will be wearing it to other places. The point is, when repeating an outfit, ensure that you will not meet the same crowd that saw you before.

2) Shift Focus: This tip works perfectly for me, not just for clothes but for shoes and bags and everything. Whenever you want to repeat a piece of clothing or accessory, add an element that takes all the attention away from that piece and draws it to itself. It works every time.

Here I attended an event the next weekend and I rerocked the skirt with this beaded jacket I wore as a blouse. Mom got this blouse for 10$ thereabouts. It's really shiny so I wore it backwards to reduce shine. But I got so many compliments about my blouse, no one noticed the skirts and the shoes. Win-win!!!

 

 

My friend looks great too don't you think?

3) Be versatile: Is not everyday heels, could you outfit work with flats? sneakers? slippers? Play it casual, play it fun, change the concept. 

The third time, I wore it with a bulky sweater and sneakers. I ditched my wig and styled my natural hair. I wanted it neutral.

I didn't get a lot of pictures though, but the point goes through yes?

 

Bottomline, repeat your clothes as you wish, wear your outfits in different ways and keep it interesting. Be happy with you choices and stay confident in your own skin. 

Xoxo

How to know you have overstayed your welcome

In 2003, I visited my aunt, in Port harcourt, before my NYSC. Although I’m related to her husband, we grew so fond of each other on my short visits from school. Holidays in Madonna University were short and going to Lagos was hardly an option. On this visit, I didn’t exactly have a time duration, I needed to finish up my clearance and sort out graduation issues, so you see, I couldn’t exactly tell her when I was leaving.

Ever heard the saying: ‘visitors and fish smell after 3 days’? Well, I started to smell after 3 weeks.

Here are 5 signs to know that you have overstayed your welcome.

Everyone always retires early
For some reason, no one wants to stay up and chat anymore, they all just retire to their rooms. It could be a coincidence though, but yeah, it happens very often.

No one asks if you are hungry
You are no longer lovingly welcomed with “Will you have dinner, there’s some tasty jollof on the cooker.” You find the kitchen very very clean, with no food in sight.

How are your parents at home?
They start asking how your parents are faring and if you speak with them all the time. Once in a while you get an “I hope they don’t miss you too much oh”

They start to ask about your mission there
They suddenly become interested in your mission; how is the clearance going? Hope no problems? What’s holding you? Enya! God will see you out through.

The point is, staying with people who aren’t your family can become pretty stifling. Here are a few ways to make it easier on your hosts.

Offer to help out around the house
Participate in chores and family activities, be eager to help. Stay useful.

Come with gifts
Whenever you visit, go there bearing gifts to show you appreciate the hospitality, if they have kids, ordinary bread can go a long way.

Try to stick to your plan
Let 3 days be 3 days. If there are any changes, tell them about it. Just don’t stay on and feel they are okay with it.

Once in a while, replace something that has finished
Offer to buy fuel if they drive you around. Buy some provisions for the kids. Show care.

Clean up after yourself, always.

Be grateful
Always tell them how grateful you are for their hospitality, back it up by being tolerant of their house rules. When in Rome…

Ever stayed with someone or hosted a guest? Do share your experiences.

Shopping on a budget- How to know when to exceed your budget

I am allergic to the word budgets, but they are a necessary evil. I had a wedding to attend last month, and my mom kept saying no to all the dresses I brought for screening and I figured I'd get a new one. We went to Debra's grace, opposite Panti police station. You would know Debra's grace on Instagram for their dope affordable wears. It was the end of the month, so I didn't have a large budget, I saw some really nice 6k dresses so that's where I pinned my budget. Long story short, I ended up buying this awesome dress for 15k and I never looked back.

When do you know to exceed your budget?

* When you have support from a second party. Like I had my mom pay up the difference for me. 

* When the dress is a good investment. Here we are talking about quality. Will the fabric stand the test of time? Is the color manageable? Does the color leak? how long do you foresee wearing before you probably put on weight, and pass on to the next generation. lol 

* Let's talk about functionality? How re-wearable is the dress? Will you be able to wear it after that fashion season? How many functions can it serve you? Work? church? party? all the above? Buy the dress!

When will you surpass your budget for a dress?

What if I wore this outfit in the 80's?

My friends and I attended an Uncle's 50th birthday party on Sunday the 12th, and it had an 80's theme. I wished the theme was from a more relatable era, because when I looked up 80's party outfits, I wasn't very excited, they all looked very.... colourful, for lack of a better word.

This was my favorite on the internet, so I put in a bit of my personal style.

I went for an oversized sweater paired with yellow skirt and pink accouterments because the 80's was very colourful. Leggings and leg warmers were very much in vogue, but I had no love for them so I paired mine with a gold dusted panty hose. I had my hair in an afro with a scarf for oomph. Layered on jewellery and it was almost bordering on too-much-going-on. I later ditched the pink bag for a rose gold one which was more understated. And I boogied like I didn't have to go to work today.
So what do you say? Did I nail the 80's look?

 

Don't ask, won't tell. 

Have a great week ahead.

When are you officially too cool?

I struggle with thoughts that I still act like a kid, Lol. Do you ever want to do something fun and you decide against it because you have become too cool to do some things? I recently attended the Savvy chic hair hub salon day out in Oniru last Saturday, I competed in their "battle of the hairlistas" competition because I saw the pictures last year and I love to style hair so I figured, what the hell.

I signed up, got approved, attended the dress rehearsals, and competition day came. I forced a friend of mine to attend with me, because well, we needed an extra hand. Unfortunately, for the most part of the experience, she complained about how annoying it was and how she was only doing it for me and how we were so not supposed to do stuff like that. (I love you Belle). Long story short, we lost by one point but I had a lot of fun, so it was all good. However, I saw some old friends of mine and the looks I got were, "Babe you are too big for this" LOL. Honestly, I started to feel uncomfortable.

I have a job and I can say I have advanced in my career, but don't I get to do the things that I love regardless? Everyone is walking around these days with a stick up their asses and a pretentious air of importance, I just want to live and be myself and not be held back by what people think.

My verdict?
You are never officially too cool to do anything you are passionate about because of how people will perceive you. I refuse to be guided by the dictates of society. It's your life, make your own rules, do what makes you happy, smile at the Camera, you don't have to pout because it's what cool people do. Duh. Step down from your heels and don a pair of sneakers, it's never that serious. In all, be yourself, love yourself, never live to please anyone.

On my outfit
It's been raining hard lately so sweaters are coming in handy. If you want to wear a sweater to work and still try to maintain a corporate feel, wear a shirt in it. Pair up with pants, or a pencil skirt and a pair of heels or flats. Do sneakers like me if it's Friday.

Peace be with you!

This might be the reason no one is replying your job applications

I changed jobs recently, I presently work with a new eCommerce brand in Nigeria. Though we haven't launched yet, we have been reviewing a lot of résumés for open positions in the company. I was privileged to work on these résumés with my boss and he was upset with a lot of the applications he got. He shared with me his frustrations and I'm in turn passing on the knowledge I acquired from the experience. We received over 200 résumés, we barely selected 20, here's why.

1. No cover letter: Employers get a lot of résumés and it could be a bit overwhelming going through all of them, how do they shortlist? Cover letters. We ignored applications without cover letters for two reasons- The open position needed someone with a good command of English and a cover letter gives an insight as to how well you speak and write. The second reason is, we could determine if you were qualified for the position without having to go through your résumé. Just sending a "Find attached my CV" doesn't exactly show seriousness. #JustSaying
2. Ostentatious use of words: A résumé would say "I am equivocally capable to literally and emotionally serve your reputable company within the confines of my ability to ensure adequate and substantive use of my time" We get big grammar like this all the time and guess what? 90% of the time they were wrongly used. E no go epp you. Simple, straight to the point sentences that introduces yourself, your qualifications and your acknowledgements will suffice. 3 short paragraphs only. No extra words.
3. Proofread proofread proofread: Some people actually send in letters marred with grammatical errors that can make reading them very 'eye rolling' (for lack of a better word, Lol). Proofreading shows attention to detail and when you actually say it in your letter, it's evident in your writing.
4. Tell the truth: If you know your  résumé was copied from a friends' friend whose  résumé looked very good, please say AYE! lol. Yes, we saw a lot of that especially in the "personal objectives" We need to go back to our résumés and remove all those " I am a capable, mentally stable individual with a knack of propriety and blah blah blah" Your Objectives should be rid of all that grammar, should actually tell the truth about who you are and in simple language too.

I hope this helps a lot of hopefuls looking to get employed.

I see Friday!! Yay!!

Image source- Linkedin

#SaveLivesAtTheBeach: How to survive a rip current and avoid drowning at the beach

My mom came home from work on Sunday, narrating to me the death of the son of a friend at Elegushi beach. She was in tears; young man, with a bright future ahead of him, about to embark on his NYSC, his mother was distraught. I went on Bella Naija this morning and found a similar story about two Covenant University graduates, Funmi Odusina (L) and Adesola Ogunmefun (R) who also lost their lives to rip currents. Read it here

Today's post sheds a little light on rip currents and how to survive them, whether you're a good swimmer or not, hopefully, this article will save a life someday.

 Here are 4 tips to spot a rip current:

• a channel of churning, choppy water.
• an area having a notable difference in water color.
• a line of foam, seaweed, or debris moving steadily seaward.
• a break in the incoming wave pattern.

1. The first tip I found on every website I surfed was to stay calm. Easier than it sounds right? but it's your best chance of survival. Don't fight the current, save your energy and try to float. Wave your hand and yell but stay calm. If you are a friend of a victim, think smart, throw the victim something that floats. Remember, many people drown while trying to save someone else from a rip current so don't go in.
2. Tread water if you cannot swim and let the current carry you. It will carry you out of the current. You will be deeper but you won't be dragged under, so just keep treading water until rescue arrives and attract attention by waving your arms frequently. If you are a strong swimmer, you can attempt swimming back to shore at an angle.
3. A rip current is a horizontal current. Rip currents do not pull people under the water–-they pull people away from shore. Drowning deaths occur when people pulled offshore are unable to keep themselves afloat and swim to shore. This may be due to any combination of fear, panic, exhaustion, or lack of swimming skills.
4. If you're a good swimmer and you find yourself getting pulled out to sea, you have to swim parallel to the beach so you can get out of the current. Once you escape the influence of the outbound water, you can start swimming back towards shore. If you're not able to swim out of the current, signal for help by waving (not flailing) your arms and calling out for help while you try to stay afloat. The current will eventually let up and you'll stop driving away from shore; by that point, it's a matter of being able to stay afloat long enough for help to arrive.
5. Know how to identify a rip current before you get caught in it.: A rip current will often appear as a streak or patch of water that either looks unusually calm compared to surrounding water or that appears a different color than the rest of the water in the area. You may be able to see a streak of muddy or sandy water and debris moving out to sea through the surf zone. 

Please be safe. 

I am currently collaborating with a few people to try and improve safety in our beaches, if the government won't help, then we need to protect ourselves, I'll spill the details soon once everything is concrete and I hope people will be willing to help when the time comes.

May their souls and souls of those who have died in these situations rest in peace, Amen.

Source. WikiHow Gawker 

Manus X Machina: The celebs that brought the MET gala theme to life!

I was a bit underwhelmed by the Met Gala Fashion. I heard the theme last year and expected to see some bad ass outfits. MANUS X MACHINA Jeez!!!! That was the theme. Was I wrong to expect more? I hoped designers will put on their thinking hats (think hunger games effects outfits) Make things happen. And I ran to daily mail and was accosted with frou frou and embellishments. 
However, some stars made my day, they got the memo, I loved Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid, the Olsen twins looked like vampires, Solange’s outfit looks familiar, Kate Hudson looked great!!! Mr and Mrs west slayed Balmain. Will.I.am was bae. Olivia wilde looked regal! Lupita Nyong’o made my heart swell and finally Naomi Campbell was king. 

#Androgyny: How to look good in a tie and stay feminine

Fashion is just as versatile as life itself, it gets boring honestly, so switching things up and straying from the norm helps keep things interesting. Androgyny is one of my favorite trends, and growing up as an only girl, I was always in my brothers' closets, it was fun wearing their clothes and making them work for me.

Unless you're in secondary school and a tie is par of your uniform, ties are a menswear accessory, they are formal and could be worn to work and business functions. I attended the fashion business series hosted by style house files and when I wanted to choose my outfit, I thought 'business' and I remembered the tie my boss gave me.
There are a couple of ways you can wear a tie without looking like you want to transition. Here are some pointers for nailing an androgynous without looking too masculine.

Wear heels- It's my number one trick. Heels are the go-to accoutrement for any outfit that feels new, uncomfortable or plain. If you're trying an androgynous look for the first time, a pair of heels could boost your walk and your confidence.

Stray from the norm- I didn't do that much with this outfit honestly. You could style your tie with a pair of jeans or a pencil skirt, It mustn't be worn the way it's worn by the men. Create your style

Fit is key- Menswear pieces, especially when they're actually borrowed from the men can fit loosely or just be too big. Consider the fit and your body type. Fold sleeves of oversize shirts, fold the pants to give a better fit. Just make sure it doesn't overshadow you.

Have fun with it, and do you
Sorry I've been MIA, been down with malaria.
Will post more often from now on.

How would you wear this umbrella dress? Belted or not?

I had a wedding last weekend and I have had the idea of an umbrella dress somewhere in my head for a long time now, just for the heck of it. It's no secret I really like boxy silhouettes and this would have been just another dress for me. In short form, my mom hates the dress, my cousin felt it was too simple, my tailor made it quite bland. Regardless I got dressed and as I was headed out, Chioma suggested I styled it with a belt. I felt it won't be a bad idea, so I did. It looked great. I twirled and posed for my pictures, I loved it. But when I looked at my LCD, I knew I wasn't going to wear it with the belt, so I started another round of shots. Looking at the pictures, I felt the dress loose was more effortless and more my style. The belted version felt too cute. I don't really like cute, I like a little edge. But I'll like to know, which is more your style? Free or belted?

 

Alopecia isn't about confidence, sometimes the hair is just not fine :(

Last weekend I decided to have my hair in plaits because this heat is not smiling, and since I just took off a big hairstyle, I thought it will be a great idea to lie low. I have alopecia and I have had it for a long time now, since my childhood, my edges come and go- they improve, they get worse, I give up, I keep on.. It's been the story of my life. 

I decided to make a simple hairstyle regardless of my... deficiencies, I felt I had the confidence to wear the hairstyle. Unfotunately, I learnt two big lessons.

1) A good hair dresser knows how to manage hair flaws and keep it looking neat regardless, and knows to advice you against hairstyles that further damage your hairline

 

2) Sometimes even confidence and beauty can't help and ugly hairstyle. Period.

I attended evening mass sometime in the week and a good older friend of mine approached me smiling because I had changed my hairstyle. He said to me- I thank God you took off that hairstyle, very very ugly hair!!. Don't make that hairstyle again, it doesn't fit you. We both burst into laughter. 

My colleagues also hounded me, not subtly oh, that I should take it off because it wasn't flattering. Mom even admitted that she prayed I'd lose the hair soon. I have since taken out the braids in this picture and I will do more to be kind to my features and my edges.

Do you suffer from alopecia? what are your go-to hairstyles?