Leopard and Coral

Here's just a quick FOTD and OOTD of what I wore to church last week. I've lived in this shirt all summer as it's so easy to wear and goes with almost everything I own. I'm in desperate need of some new clothes since all of the clothes I have here are mainly autumn/ winter clothes from when I was in Atlanta in November.

I went for  pretty casual look and I accessorised with this great leather satchel I got in Ghana for the ridiculous price of 15GHC (about £5/ $8!) and these Pocahontas style sandals I picked up in Primark last year when my feet were hurting from wearing heels all day.

Shirt: New Look

Skirt: Forever 21

Top: Primark

Satchel: from a vendor in Osu (Ghana)

Sandals: Primark

Anklets: Ghana

Earrings: Primark

It was a staggering 41C/ 106F on this day and I actually thought I was going to have a heat stroke. Shockingly, my makeup actually survived the heat. I guess living in Ghana was good training ^_^ I primed my face with Milk of Magnesia and this stuff has made such a huge difference to the staying power of my makeup in the heat.

Face

Foundation: PhotoReady foundation in Cappuccino (Revlon)

Concealer: Studio Finish concealer in NW45 (MAC), Select Cover-Up in NW40 (MAC)

Powder: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in "Deep Dark" (MAC) & HD Powder (Make Up Forever)

Blusher: "Sunrise" (Sleek) 

Eyes

Lid: "honey" eyeshadow (Urban Decay) and "Singapore sling" in the Curacao palette (Sleek)

Crease and transition: "Vanity" palette (Wet 'n' Wild)

Highlight and inner tear duct: "ricepaper" eyeshadow (MAC)
Eyeliner (lid): Random black liquid liner from Superdrug

Eyeliner (waterline): Waterproof velvet touch eyeliner in "black ink" (GOSH)

Mascara: Supercurl curling mascara (Urban Decay)
False lashes: Ardell

Lips

Luscious liquid lipstick in "raspberry" (E.L.F)

I decided to wear falsies and I think I'm getting better at the whole application process. I must admit that I'm not the biggest fan of falsies because I don't want to get used to them on my face and then feel as if I "need" them but they are fun to wear once in a while.

How are you all enjoying your summers?


Love, life and sunny days 


Nana Adomah 

Isn't it amazing just how much we are inextricably tied to technology these days? I've been trying to psych myself up to write a blog post for weeks and just when I actually sat down to do so, my laptop died. My dear Macbook is currently stuck on the "grey screen of death" and I've been too much of a wuss to take it to the Apple store because I know, deep down, that my hard drive is most likely fried. I've been sulking about it for about 2 weeks now because I'd just transferred most of my pictures from Ghana onto my laptop and I have no way of retrieving them. There's a valuable lesson about backing up etc etc somewhere but I'm in no mood to hear it.

I had a post planned about my grandfather's funeral but that will have to wait a while. In the mean time, before I get my laptop fixed, I'll be posting stuff I prepared a while back and things I managed to capture on my phone.

I'm currently back in Atlanta after spending the last 4/5 months in Ghana and it's good to be back even though I'm missing London something fierce right about now.

Anyway, enough moaning for now. My desktop computer works just fine so onwards and upwards!


Love, life and positivity 


Nana Adomah 


P.S. I'm amazed that people have still been reading my blog amidst all my shoddy updating and I've even amassed a few new followers. Thank you so much for sticking with me and I hope I can repay you all. 

Hello again!

Long time no blog and I'm not going to bore you with a million and one excuses but I really do have a semi-good reason. I'm currently in Accra, Ghana and I've been here for a little bit now. I don't have a decent internet connection at home so blogging opportunities (and watching Mad Men, Game of Thrones, The Good Wife etc. etc....) have been few and far between.

I have no hauls or anything of the ilk since buying decent make-up here in Accra can put a serious dent in your wallet. Anyway it's not as if I need any new makeup and I packed half of my collection into my suitcase. I've had to alter my makeup routine since I got here because of the insane heat and I'll hopefully be putting up a post about that soon

I've missed blogging so much and I'm going to try and put up a few posts while I'm here even though I doubt that they'll be very regular. I'll also try and rope my sister into taking some pictures of me for OOTD posts too.

It's good to be back (yet again) and check back soon for tips on how to beat the heat.

Love, life and homecomings

Nana Adomah x

What's your makeup story?

L-R Daria Werbowy, Arlenis Sosa, and Elettra Wierdermann

I know that many of you out there love makeup as much as I do and I was wondering when your love started? My first foray into makeup was waaaaay back in Primary (Elementary) school when I would play around with my mum's Fashion Fair compact. I never left the house with makeup on of course and I don't even think that my mum noticed.

I began to wear eyeliner religiously when I was about 14 and got into foundation around 16 or so. Strangely enough I didn't start to wear mascara until I was in university because I thought mascara was just to make your eyelashes black and hey, my eyelashes are pretty black! Lipstick was also a no-no until my early twenties because I was convinced that it didn't suit me. Vaseline was my friend until I discovered "London Life" by MAC. I also discovered the huge difference that lipliner can make to the look of a lipstick and I've been hooked ever since. I've slowly incorporated blush (I didn't think it was made for black women) and everything else into my makeup cache.

Whenever, I see extremely young girls with tons of makeup on I get uncomfortable but then I remember that they're just experimenting too. I think it takes a while to know what suits/ doesn't suit your face so I'll allow them. I don't know if I'd be happy to have my future daughter looking like Ronald MacDonald in her early teens though (hypocritical much?) but I hope I'll be able to steer her away from the pancake look.

I think things are very different nowadays and with the huge exposure of available makeup for all skin tones and the large increase in YouTube beauty "gurus", girls seem to be more clued up on makeup from a younger age.

When did you start wearing makeup? When do you think it's appropriate for girls to start experimenting with makeup? Let me know in the comments!



Love, life and curious beginnings 


Nana Adomah x


(My friends are sick to death of my small obsession with Arlenis Sosa so I thought I'd sneak her into the banner for this post. Hehe)

Maybelline Lash Stiletto Mascara and FOTD

My beloved Rimmel "Day 2 Night" mascara ran out a few weeks ago and I couldn't find it anywhere here so when I saw the Maybelline Lash Stiletto mascara on sale for just $5.00, I snapped it up. To be honest, I didn't have huge hopes for this as I have a hit and miss relationship with drugstore mascaras but this was a pleasant surprise.

The bristles are very firm, yet there isn't too much product deposited on the brush. It also manages to coat my eyelashes without making them look too clumpy. Once on, my eyelashes don't feel hard and crunchy as can happen with other mascaras.

My apologies for the deer in headlights look but it really gives me the false lash effect non?

I was also trying out a sample of the MAC Pro Longwear foundation here but I'm still on the fence about it. It just looks a little "ashy" to me when compared to my other MAC foundations. What do you think? (Click the pictures to make them larger)

Face

Foundation: Pro Longwear foundation in NW45 (MAC)

Concealer: Studio Finish concealer in NW45 (MAC), Select Cover-Up in NW40 (MAC)

Powder: Mineralize Skinfinish Natural in "Deep Dark" (MAC)

Blusher: "Sahara" (Sleek) 

Eyes

Lid: "woodwinked" eyeshadow (MAC)

Crease and transition: "Vanity" palette (Wet 'n' Wild)

Highlight: Select Cover-Up concealer in NW40 (MAC)

Eyeliner: Waterproof velvet touch eyeliner in "black ink" (GOSH)

Mascara: Lash Stiletto mascara in "very black" (Maybelline)

Lips

Colour Sensational lipstick in "velvet beige" (Maybelline)

Hi-shine lip treatment in "Juicy Peach" (The Body Shop)

Love, life and pretty lashes 
Nana Adomah 
x

Brush it off...

I have quite a lot of makeup brushes but I'm one of those people who think that you can never have too many. Washing brushes is not one of my favourite activities so I like to have a lot of brushes so I can stretch out the time between washes. (On a side-note, I really hope you ladies wash your makeup brushes. Smearing bacteria on our faces is not the one....)


I have a good mix of very expensive and very cheap brushes but regardless of price, the quality remains generally high. Therefore, imagine my joy when I found makeup brushes that combine good quality and a low price at Costco of all places!

This 10-piece brush set was only $24.99 and it's a mix of natural and synthetic fibres. It has 6 face brushes and 4 eye brushes and I'm absolutely in love.

The brushes are neither too long or too short and the handles are a gorgeous dark aubergine acrylic.

The synthetic concealer brush on the far right is the best concealer brush I've ever used. It's about the size of my thumb so I was a bit taken aback by the size at first, but it's perfect for getting under the eyes and around the sides of the nose. Plus, I always think that synthetic concealer brushes are preferable to natural-hair ones.

The fan and kabuki brushes are also synthetic (which I'm less happy about) but they more than do the job required.

The eye brushes are all made of natural hairs and they are absolutely fantastic. I have absolutely no complaints.

The set also comes with this lovely deep purple case. All the brushes fit inside with no problem and it even has a detachable pouch you can throw in your handbag.

Finally, it comes with a handy instruction leaflet which explains the purpose of each brush. This is really useful for those who are not too familiar with makeup brushes.

This set is ridiculously good  quality regardless of the price and I believe that it's still in Costco stores. I still can't believe that I bagged all of these brushes for less than the price of my MAC kabuki brush!


Love, life and bargains! 
Nana Adomah
x

Happy (belated) New Year!

Oh dear, I haven't done very well have I? Well before I start I would like to wish you all a very happy new year and I hope that 2012 has started off on a great note for all of you. May this year be better than the last because 2011 was a seriously  sucky year. At least that means the only way to go is up right?

Moving on, I'm actually in Atlanta at the moment and I've been here since late November. I came to visit my family because I hadn't seen my siblings in a year and I'm still here! I'd be lying if I said I miss London (and the exorbitant travel expenses) but I'm sure I'll be craving a slice of the Big Smoke sooner or later.

Due to my crappy blogger ways, I have a TON of blog posts lined up so I'll kick them off with an outfit of the day (OOTD). I wore this last Sunday to church:

Blazer: Talbots

Pleated maxi skirt: Primark

Top: Primark

Bag: Ted Baker

Shoes: Jessica Simpson

Necklace: Accessorize

Bangle: Top Shop

Charm Bracelet: Accessorize

My apologies for the blurry picture. I've come to realise that a lot of people struggle when it comes to working a camera X_X How do you fashion bloggers do it? I can never seem to get people to take decent pictures of me!

Thanks to all of you who sent me lovely messages while I was away; I had no idea that people were even reading this thing so it was very much appreciated. It's good to be back!

Love, life and new beginnings
Nana Adomah
x

(P.S. Nana Adomah is actually my name. "Domzy" is a nickname from Adomah that some of my friends call me. I've decided to use my real name on this blog from now on. Hope this isn't too confusing.... )