Upgrade you

It seems like everyday there is another program, website, vehicle, home appliance, phone, music player, you-name-it that gets a makeover. This makeover or ‘update’ can be anywhere from a shiny spanking new exterior to a total overhaul of internal components and/ or programming.

The updates that are now available for smartphones are unbelieveable. From applications to operating systems, there is a daily fix for the gadgetnistas and nistos among us. Sometimes these updates make our lives easier; they may facilitate smoother operation or link similar applications so that each has access to a common database, not requiring the user to input the same damn info ten thousand hundred times. Sometimes, *cough* especially if the upgrade wasn’t sourced at a reputable location, all lights go out, triggering the “break out in a cold sweat now” user function because well, to quote myself ‘THAT PHONE IS MY LIFE!’.

Maybe we ought to do the same with ourselves. With aging comes a lot of things,  yes things shift, slow down, disappear, appear and don’t work as they used to, but it also brings the opportunity for growth, experience and maturity. We understand a lot more about who we are and how the world we live in works. We are in a better position to make educated choices, if not only because of what the school of life has taught us. So why don’t we?

Nature understands that only those things that are able to adapt to constant change survive. Technology understands that only that which can deliver what the masses require will be chosen. Let us as humans not fall behind. Let us strive to keep ourselves current.

The world is there for our taking, so let us take advantage of it by making better choices with respect our health, our  relationships, our nutrition, our families, and our lives. However, much like dealing with smartphones, let us pay special attention to how we go about this ‘updating’ process. Let us be careful where we seek council. Let us be careful with what we ingest, emotionally and physically. Like that bootleg DVD, crash and fad diets only crash and burn our systems. 

Our grand-parents were unto something. Short cuts end up being long cuts. All that glitters is not gold.

Lets upgrade ourselves the healthy way – one determined step at a time.

Be the best you.

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Casual Fridays

‘Casual Fridays’, a term that is so very misleading. There is about as much ‘casual’ in ‘Casual Fridays’ as there is ‘common’ in ‘common sense’. Do you feel me? This concept must have been invented by a guy who didn’t want to wear a tie to work, or a woman who didn’t want to wear pantyhose.

 If you are working in an establishment where the word ‘casual’ has to be attached to a specific day, and one day only, then do be careful with your fashion choices. There are more rules to ‘Casual Friday’ wear than there is to everyday professional wear. If you are still unsure whether your workplace falls into this category then this may help – If your workplace has banned, considered banning or has removed a ban from social networking and IM sites, then yes it does. If you are eyeing that promotion or thinking about asking for that raise then keep it like Business Mondays.

Think about it, as the owner of a corporate company, are you likely to give people more responsibility if they can’t seem to manage the responsibility of dressing themselves? However will they manage the responsibility of representing you and your organization?

Exactly. Well, HR staff are humans too and they would definitely think twice about promoting someone who’s style speaks louder than the company’s mission statement.

A few general suggestions:

Do:

~ Wear clear clean clothing. Casual doesn’t mean sloppy, so yes they also need to be ironed.

~ Appropriate shoes. No sneakers, sandals, flip flops

~ Anything you would otherwise wear to the club. Not only is it inappropriate, but it may give the impression that you don’t get out often.

~ Wear trousers or khakis rather than jeans. You can dress up or down depending on what you pair with them.

Avoid:

~ Jeans in general. Because the rules list for this is way too long. If you must, opt for plain, dark, straight legged denim. 

No extra pockets/ flaps, no writing along the side or the bum, no holes, no bum fading, no thigh fading, no slashes, no fancy colour-of-the-season, no skinny jeans, no tights-that-look-like-jeans, no overly tight jeans, no low riders, no hipsters, no fancy stitching, no 3/4 lengths (men), no capris, no overly faded jeans, no dirty jeans… I told you it was long, and it can still go on.

~ Over accessorizing. Keep it simple. Anything that clangs and bangs keep at home, or in your draw, car or bag if you are heading out later because they annoy your co-workers.

~ Anything you would otherwise wear to a club -Tight, flashy, noisy, trashy, short, revealing, transparent.

A few specific pointers for men:

~ Keep accessories simple.

~ Wear dress shoes. Avoid sneakers, sandals, and flip flops

~ Wear shirts or the company issued button up. You may also wear short sleeved shirts or plain/ unprinted/ minimally monogrammed  button ups but be sure to wear with with a blazer to work or keep a blazer in your office. Be prepared. In the event that you have an unscheduled meeting to attend, you don’t want to look like the only one who isn’t taking his job seriously. 

- No slogan tees. No muscle tees. No obscene belt buckles.

For more tips on men’s dressing see Men’s Style File: update your look.

A few specific pointers for women:

~ Keep makeup simple

~ Keep boob and leg cleavage under wraps

~ Wear a blazer over that strappy or shiny top that you intend to show up at the after work lime wearing later.

~ Wear appropriate shoes. Leave gym trainers, evening shoes, flip flops and sandals either in your car or your bag if you decide to change clothing after work.

~ No short shorts, no peek-a-boo clothing.

~ Feel free to wear khakis. However, I would go out on a limb to say that I have never met a woman who looks ‘great’ in khakis yet. Utilitarian yes, ‘great’ no. I just don’t find it flattering at all to the rear but your choice.

Realize that although your company wants to give the impression that they are with the times, it is still a corporate environment and there are rules, lots of them. They can’t make an exemption for everyone. One person in a pair of jeans may look totally different from other, so much so that one is deemed accetable and one doesn’t, a contributing factor to why some companies have banned wearing jeans on ‘Casual Fridays’ altogether.

Package yourself in a way that your collegues take your contribution to the organization seriously. The last thing you want to do is have your appearance speak louder than your accomplishments. Let your work and work ethic be your signature.

Supernova

Minimalista Makeup: From day to night

This is the advanced class for my makeup minimalistas and/or makeup virgins,  moving a day look into a night look.

If you missed the instructions for a minimal put together day look you can see it in the post Maybe she’s born with it.

To move this simple day look into a simple but effective night one, you can do one or any combination of the following:

1. Apply eyeliner
In dark brown or black to both your lower and upper lash lines, a achieve a classic look that will make your eyes pop.
Do experiment with deep shades such as navy, plum, or dark green for example, if you are feeling to colour outside the box.

2. Apply eyeshadow
Just one shade of eye shadow can do the trick. Choose one in your skin colour or a shade or two lighter or darker than your natural eyelid color, an apply from your lashline to your eyebrow.

Avoid dated glittery formulations with large glittery specs and opt for the updated frosted ones with very fine, multi-dimentional shimmer that seem to just disappear in your skin for a fresh faced look. Here, your eyes are enhanced without being able to pinpoint exactly what it is that causing this effect.

Matte (1.e. non-shimmery) eyeshadows work well at upping the eye-drama ante. Experiment with different eye-shadow finishes in the same colour family and see which effect you prefer on you.

Word of advice for choosing a go-to eyeshadow color  -

For warmer skin tones like medium to darker skin tones, yellow based hues like goldy, bronzy and rusty pigmented shades work excellently. Red and red-orange based eyeshadows tend to make eyes on these skin tones look tired.
Cool pastelle colours like white and taupe generally do not compliment these skin tones, especially if worn as a single colour. 

Cooler skin undertones that can come with a fairer to medium skin tone are better suited to use the cooler shades mentioned above. 

The further away from your natural skin tone your eyeshadow is, the more important it is to blend, blend, blend. The sponges that come with they eyeshadow compacts typically deposit a lot of colour and make blending more difficult. Do consider investing in a larger eyeshadow brush as it makes application easier; A couple passes of the brush on the eyeshadow palette and then it’s just a matter of filling in the space on your eyelid.

(I have often used the brush that comes with the cheek colour as an eyeshadow brush and then bought a proper cheek brush)

If you are going for a colour that is unlike your skin tone, like plum for example, apply only on your eye lid – from your lashline  to the crease that is created when you blink, and not all the way to your eyebrow, unless of course it is halloween.

3. Apply a darker shade of lipgloss.

Then dust some loose, or compact powder on your face to tie it all together and you are ready to boogie.

Lets get glammy!

Related GC posts
Maybe she’s born with it
Product spotlight: Blush
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Random music of the day: Irene Cara

” I can catch the moon in my hands, don’t you know who I am? Remember my name.
Fame! I’m gonna live forever.”

- Fame, Irene Cara

Go hard at life; It’s there to be lived.

Have a tasty Tuesday y’all!

Supernova

What would you do?

History of the DJ 101

So let’s chat about the most popular person in the party. No not the champagne girl, not one of the groupies and no, not the guy who buys all the drinks for every girl at the bar.

I’m talking about the DJ.

This is a little history lesson, a timeline that shows where it came from to where it is today.

• In the 1880s Emile Berline invented the gramophone, yes, the first record player.

• In the 1920s radio became the damn thing, but no hip hop and reggae just yet, jazz and swing music were the hot plates of the day. Back in those days, the DJ was both the presenter and the salesman.

• In the 40s and 50s two guys by the name of Al Bensen and Eddie O’Jay created something called RnB.

• In the 50s and 60s the youths took over and the idea of top 40 music explodes. So at this time, DJs began to replace bands at ball rooms and dances. The idea of discothèques started in wartime France. DJs could now earn a living spinning at jazz and twist clubs. Oh the swinging 60’s, good times in London and New York. The music scene now began to revolve around the DJs. At this point we get the idea of sound systems from a guy called Alex Rosner at the world trade show, with the introduction of the first mixer called the ‘Rosie’. 

In Jamaica sound systems like “King Tubby” and “Sir Coxsone” were spinning Ska and Rocksteady, and reggae emerges and the dubplate was used. Jamaica distinguishes the sound of the DJs with the use of the echo and the rewind or the “pull up!!”

• In the 70s disco comes alive in NY. Then comes beat-matching, the pioneer was a guy by the name of Francis Grasso.

• In the 80s came Warehouse, also known as “house music” out of New York, from the legendary Frankie Knuckles from Chicago and Larry Levan. At this time the consensus was that “disco sucks ass”. We then travel to Detroit to meet Derrick May, Kevin Sanderson and Juan Atkins for techno. Then with the emergence of the electronic age, the drum machine became the proverbial sliced bread.

And now for the hip hop heads….

• From the ghettos of the Bronx in New York, the DJs created this music, hip hop, that has since taken the world over by storm, and driven certain cultures society to date. DJ Kool Herc, who introduced breaks, funky and percussions, went on to influence Grandmaster Flash who developed manual sampling and looping. 

• Then came Grand Wizard Theodore who invented the “scratch”. A far cry from what is today, it was much less advanced, just push and pull the record once or twice, but back then, that ish sounded like oil was discovered. 

• To date, hip hop is the biggest selling music in the world, thanks to the DJs of course.

So the next time you at the party, why not give the DJ a pound (for the non-Caribbean crew, this would be a friendly greeting that involves the connecting of closed fists, please do not give loose change), out of respect for those that came before him or her.

It’s Elroy, educating the masses.

Maybe she’s born with it

Looking put together in the face on mornings doesn’t have to take a team. Some of us are willing to get up an extra half an hour to an hour earlier to put a face on and some of us have neither the time or the will to do so. Some days I agree with the latter group. That said, that doesn’t mean that we can’t take five minutes to look like we woke up on the right side.

Regardless of the artistic direction, the key to well applied makeup is of course blending but more so, healthy skin.

Healthy skin does not need much makeup to look like it was born naturally glamourous. For the minimalistas, those who wear little or no makeup but would like to know how to look put together in the face it here is some advice below.

1. Apply moisturizer to cleansed face
Moisturizer helps smoothen out skin’s texture and prepares it for better makeup application. 

2. Even out skin tone. (optional)
Apply foundation or concealer, in your skin tone, to blemished areas only with a foundation/ concealer brush. Skip this step if you have no blemishes that you wish to cover up

3. Dust entire face with loose or compact powder using large powder brush.
A powder brush delivers a loser more natural application of powder. You can opt to use a powder sponge to apply powder if you have oily skin. The powder sponge deposits more powder on the skin’s surface which may help absorb oil during the day. 

4.  Apply blush using a blush brush
Once you find the right colour, you can wear the same color blush for years and years without fears. Unlike eyeshadow where you can really experiment, everyday use of blush is meant to impart a flushed healthy glow to your skin. As your skin stays the same colour there is really no reason to have various colours of blush.

For summer, a bronzer can double as a blush.

5. Apply mascara
In dark brown for fair skin tones or black for darker skin tones. Applying mascara on both sides of your eyelashes (top and underside of the top lash) gives you a more dramatic look than applying it on one side only. Applying mascara to the bottom lashes for the day can make you look spidery-ish.

6. Apply lip-gloss
Choose a shade that is a shade or two from your natural lip colour, or one with a pink or coral undertone. Darker skin tones can also try a translucent glosses with a rich plum undertone.
You can opt to use lipsticks but they require more effort to apply and, as they contain more pigment, it becomes more obvious when they need to be reapplied. However, you can easily apply lipgloss without looking in a mirror, perfect for after smooching touch ups!

The more makeup applied in the morning, the more maintenance needs to be done to upkeep the look during the day. So, unless you plan to walk with your entire makeup arsenal to work, it is often a good idea to keep it simple simon.

Ready, Set, Go.

Lets get ‘naturally’ beautiful!

Related GC posts
Minimalista Makeup: From day to night
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. 

Random music quote of the day: 3oh!

“… Don’t trust a ho…”

- Don’t trust me, 3oh!

Don’t shoot the messenger.

Have a mind-blowing Monday y’all!

Supernova

Men’s Style file: Update your look

A clean, well fitted shirt and pant combo with a belt, socks and shoes is no longer considered your ‘Sunday Best’. As a grown man everyday is an ‘occasion’. Plus, we love it when you make the effort to look like you belong to someone when we are are out with you.

You don’t have to shell out our life’s earnings to update your look – understand that you can spend a lot of money and still look cheap. So in the event that you are going to purchase something new anyway, after all Christmas is around the corner and we all have a little shindig or two to attend, do keep the following pointers in mind and slowly update your look.

If you already know how to don that lavender argyle socks, with your pin-striped, navy, light-weight wool suit to match that cleverly placed, lavender flex in your patterned tie, this article is way too basic for you.

Head-to-Toe Men’s Style guide.

Hair
Keep the cut fresh.
If your hair is streaked, locked, moussed, gelled or otherwise has some length to it, keep it clean.
Attend to all other hair that requires grooming. See Manscaping

Tees
If you must wear, (beach, pool, grocery run), then keep them sensible. 
Donate all slogan tees; You are way past college frat boy. Anything that makes reference to your ‘tools’, ‘mother’ and/ or ‘last night’ for example, and especially, in the same sentence, needs to be destroyed. 

Do opt for crisp casual button ups or lightweight short sleeved shirts instead. Don’t unbutton shirts too far so that all your ‘sexy’ chest hair is exposed. That’s worse than slogan tees.

Dress Shirts 
Ensure good fit around the neck and correct sleeve length. Opt for shirts that fit – not too baggy and not smedium.
Keep it simple, you can never go wrong with plain colours. Or change up your look with a pin-striped or a simple one colour cross-hatched design (looks like small squares standing side by side)
Busy patterns, block colour, polka dots can all sit down, they just draw attention to your either your gut, your age, or poor fashion sense and take away from your dashing good looks or personality.
Denim shirts and multi-coloured vintage plaids will extrapolate your age.
Don’t roll. If you want your sleeves short, then purchase short sleeved shirts.
Resist the urge to don baggy multi-coloured tropical shirts when you travel. Don’t believe the hype, the ‘natives’ don’t wear ‘em. 

Neck ties
Do have fun when selecting ties, from subtle patterns to medium abstract print designs.
Do opt for one point of focus though, i.e. pair plain colored ties with printed dress shirts or patterned ties with plain shirt
For the uber sexy formal look match dress shirt  color with tie colour. MMmmmmm nice.
Do opt for medium to slim ties and keep the knot brief. Avoid skinny and very thick wide ties. If you are plump in the midsection go with the medium sized tie.

Stay away from Disney characters, obscene graphics, skulls.

Sweaters
Look for updated lightweight V-necked sweaters or the updated male cardigan.
Do avoid christmas/ holiday sweaters, the Cosby Sweater and your grandfather’s cardigan. If you want to be festive you can can always get a sweater in the colour of the season like burnt orange for Thanksgiving or deep green/ red for Christmas. We aren’t trying to dampen the festivities, we just want people to speak with you.

Jackets/ Blazer
Do invest in a quality neutral blazer (which will work well with most pant, shirt combos) in grey or navy for example, and keep simple. No busy patterns.
Stick to suitable weight of wool, wool-blend jackets/ blazers/ suits. 

Tuxedos/ Suits
Fit, fit, fit is key. 
Avoid shiny fabrics and crushed velvet.
Avoid too many buttons on your suit. The standard is two buttons for a casual look and three for more formal looks.

Pants
Fit, fit, fit is key. Smedium pants look untidy and make your friends uncomfortable. If you’ve outgrown your trousers either hit the gym hard or invest in a bigger size. Choose one quickly.
Hook up with a tailor to get the right pant length and make sure that the fit is otherwise on point. 

Plaid pants, regardless of design and designer, look like jammies. 

Update your look by opting for flat front pants.

Jeans
Dark washes work well for a dressier more sophisticated, yet casual look.
Do opt for flat front straight legged khakis over jeans for casual Friday’s if you want your superiors to consider you for that promotion. Remember that a pair of jeans, no matter how well crafted, is always considered  a casual look.
Likewise, do opt for khaki over denim shorts  

Leave the ultra faded and highly distressed (with holes) look for the kids.
No flare or bootcut jeans. They just make you look silly or short, respectively. Straight cut is the most flattering. 

Shoes & belt
Invest in a good, solid pair of leather dress shoes. Yes men’s shoes are expensive but you don’t need many, for most men two pairs is a good start. 
A black pair is considered the standard if you tend to wear mainly black as well as it’s the go-to formal shoe color choice. You can also invest in a brown pair if you wear mostly earthy colours (brown, green, yellow, also works well with navy,). Brown dress shoes also go well with dark denim for casual sexy. 
Almond toe (the love child of the round and pointed toe) shoes are the most flattering. Square toed shoes are overly severe.  

Get an understated belt with a plain buckle that matches the colour of your shoe.

Resist the urge to wear gym trainers outside of the gym or to sporting events, and that includes to parties and dates. Do consider loafers or a pair of those sneaker/ shoe combos as a casual alternative.

Socks
Choose men’s socks that match either the color of the shoe or pant that you are wearing. It doesn’t have to be an EXACT match but it should be a very close family member of it.
As you can imagine this excludes almost any occasion to wear white bobby socks outside the gym.

Accessories
Do keep to a minimum.
Simple studs if you wear earrings, and the best watch that you can afford, as you only need one.

Fit, Fit, Fit is key.
And keep it simple. You are handsome enough.
To ensure that you look like you own your clothing, do have a tailor on speed dial, especially if  for any particular reason, height, weight, athletic build etc, you have some difficulty in fitting into standard size cuts. 

Hope this clears up Venus’s expectation of how a grown Mars ought to dress.

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Lets keep it together ladies. 

Random music quote of the day: Janet Jackson

“…When I first met you I knew that my life will never be the same and I knew that you felt it too…”

- Because of love, Janet Jackson

Happy Sunday!

Supernova