COCONUT WATER: DRINK OF THE SUMMER!

Coconut water is an extremely hydrating and delicious drink. It is the perfect drink choice for the summer as it keeps your body hydrated through the hot summer days.  Coconut water is low in sugar, fat and sodium which makes it the healthiest drink compared to other fruit juices and sodas.

For those who want to slim down for the summer , coconut water is the best bet for you! When you buy coconut water at the grocery store, make sure that it is 100% pure because some brands like Wonderfarm add additional amount of sugar and pulp into their coconut water.

Enjoy a glass of Coconut Water and Stay Hydrated!

Add a GORGEOUS GLOW to your face

When we see celebrities  on T.V  walking the red carpet at  award shows or expressing themselves on interviews,  the ladies usually have a beautiful glow to their skin. Beautiful glowing skin makes you look youthful and flawless. There is always a secret behind flawless looking skin and today I am going to share with you a tip to add a gorgeous glow to your face.

All you need is almond oil.  Find an empty bottle spray at either Walmart or Beauty shop and fill it up with almond oil.

STEPS TO FOLLOW
1) Wash your face with a cleanser
2) moisturize your skin with your favorite moisturizer
3) Take the bottle spray you filled up with almond oil and just spray it gently all over your face (like a mist!)
4) Be careful not to spray too much. You just want a slight mist all over your face.
5) Now apply your foundation and complete your make-up routine.


Good Luck! =)

Flawless look for a traditional wedding

Today, I had the opportunity to  do my sister's make-up for a family friend's wedding. It was my first time doing a full make-up on someone and I am extremely proud of myself because it turned out so well. I wanted to make my sister look natural yet flawless. These are some of the pictures I took after doing her make-up. Next time, I will ensure to do a before/after so you can tell the difference. Enjoy!

Keep in mind that these pictures were taken with my phone in the washroom. No editing/filter!

She is a true beauty! I love how the makeup looks so natural and beautiful. It accentuates her best features and gives her face a beautiful lift.

I contoured and highlighted her face. You can tell her cheekbones look more lifted because of the contouring in the hollows of her cheeks.

Be Kind To Your Heart.

I wanted to talk about something more personal and informative for today's blog post. Recently, a family member of mine suffered from a myocardial infarction for the second time and now requires a bypass surgery. Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of death in Canada. Many of us fail to recognize the importance of taking control of our own health and utilizing preventative strategies to decrease the likelihood of experiencing cardiovascular diseases in our lifetime.

CVD is pervasive amongst the South Asian population. I, myself, coming from a South Asian background with heart disease strongly rooted in my genetics can agree to this since high-sodium and high-fat diet is part of our culture. I feel that our parents are not educated properly in terms of their health and most importantly how to prevent heart diseases.

I wanted to share with you some knowledge I have developed from Nursing School in the past two years. I wanted to focus mostly on DIET and PHYSICAL ACTIVITY.  Diet and exercise are vastly correlated to heart diseases. In order to prevent or decrease the likelihood of suffering from CVD in your lifetime, you need to make changes to your sedentary lifestyle.

High sodium and High fat diets are extremely harmful for those who have CVD in their family history. Decreasing your sodium intake and fat intake will be beneficial to your health. Physical Activity is equally as important as nutritional intake. Exercising makes your heart pump blood more effectively to provide tissues and organs with oxygen.

Here are some foods to consider:

1) Whole grains
2) Fruits
3) Vegetables
4) Brown Rice
5) Oats
6) Fish, Salmon, Tuna

Some foods to avoid:

1) Whole milk (most dietary products for that matter)
2) Egg yolks
3) Red Meat
4) Deep fried food
5) High fat/sugar Desserts
6) Butter and Margarine
7) Mayonnaise


The goal here is to increase HDL cholesterol and decrease LDL cholesterol. To put in simpler ways to understand, HDL (High-density lipoprotein) is GOOD cholesterol and in contract, LDL (Low-density lipoprotein) is BAD cholesterol.

PLEASE educate your parents and family members to take preventative actions to PROTECT THEIR HEART and LIVE A LONG HEALTHY LIFE.

Xo!

Delicious Healthy Snack: Brown Rice Cake

Exercise.
EAT Clean.
Health MATTERS.


I know many of us are on the healthy lifestyle boat which is great because healthy eating is important in order to keep our body and brain functioning effectively.  In terms of maintaining a healthy weight, every little bite we take whether it's junk food or nutritious food counts! I am all for healthy lifestyle. It is important than we fuel our body with nutrients-rich foods. We are what we eat and we are also what we don't eat! However, that does not mean, you go CRAY and completely limit yourself from enjoying some delicious cupcakes and pies! It is okay to occasionally cheat and indulge in some sweets.

MODERATION is KEY. 

The most difficult part about maintaining a healthy lifestyle is finding delicious and healthy snacks (At least for me!) I have the BIGGEST sweet tooth ever! I can't go a day without sneaking in something sweet into my diet. I have spent sometime at the grocery store analyzing various products and the nutrition value labels. I also did some research online and found different ideas to create delicious snacks for myself and of course for the fellow bloggers.

What you will need:
1) Brown rice cake (Original flavor)
2) Almond butter
3) Cottage cheese (low fat one)
 4) Greek yogurt (any flavor of your choice) 

Brown rice is great to incorporate into your diet because it is more nutritious than white rice and also has a low glycemix index ( low carbohydrates). Greek yogurt is packed with protein.  It is important that whenever you have carbohydrates, you also incorporate some source of protein with it.

How to Make it:
1) Get your brown rice cake
2) Use a butter knife and spread some almond butter evenly on the cake
3) Spread some Greek yogurt evenly on  top of the almond butter
4) add a tbsp of cottage cheese on top!

That's it! You can have it with a cup of tea or coffee between your meals. I hope you enjoy it! Make sure to let me know how it turned out for you! Good Luck <3 

FIVE BASIC BEAUTY TIPS

Hey fellow bloggers,  I would like to share some of my beauty tips to make your daily makeup routine easier. If you're a beginner to makeup then these tips will definitely help you!

1) Blend Eyeshadows well
Blending your eyeshadows is important to make your eye makeup look professional and amazing.  By blending your eyeshadows well, you are getting rid of the harsh lines that make your eye make-up look unprofessional. When you are using two or more eye shadow colors, make sure to blend well to make the colors mix evenly, thus creating a flawless look. When applying your eye makeup, make sure you use a separate clean blending brush.

2)  Use a piece of tape!
if you are one of those people who has a difficult time keeping the eyeshadows within the outer corner of your eyes, then use a piece of masking tape and tape it, aligning it whatever way you like, depending on what kind of eye-make up you are going for. This is also a great trick to give your eyes a lift by aligning the tape from the outer corner of your eyes outwards and downwards ( like this / ). For those who have down-turned eyes, this is a great way to give your eyes a lift!

3) Vaseline/Almond Oil
Make up can be stubborn sometimes making it difficult to take it off.  Apply a bit of vaseline to a cotton pad and wipe your eye-make up and lipstick off. Almond oil gives you the same effect while leaving your skin looking soft and smooth.


4) Concealer to make your lipstick stand out!

Apply a tiny bit of concealer to your lips before putting on your favorite lip stick! This intensifies the color of your lipstick, making it look more vibrant and beautiful. Be careful not to use too much, a tiny bit of it is enough.


5) Suck your cheeks in!

Suck your cheeks in whether you are applying bronzer, blush, or shimmer. Smiling when applying these will make it look like you applied your product closer to your nose. You want your bronzer and blush on your cheek bones to give your face a beautiful lift.

 Comment below if you have any questions! <3 GOOD LUCK!!

HOW TO MAKE YOUR HAIR GROW FASTER!

Hey everyone!!!!!!!! 

Is your hair taking forever to grow?

You have tried everything you can possibly find and nothing seems to be working?

Well then, I have a solution for you!

PEPPERMINT OIL!!!!!

.

For those who personally know me, you know how short my hair used to be. I had a boy-cut back in high school and I hated it. I wanted my hair to grow back super fast and I wanted it so badly to the point where I tried everything including oils, home-made hair treatments, and banning myself from using my flat-iron. Nothing worked! One day, when I was at Bulk Barn, I saw this bad boy sitting on the shelf along with other natural hair products. I told myself I was not going to buy it because it probably won't work! I went home that day (without buy it) and decided to do some research regarding the enticing item I had just spotted. I found things like: 

1) Peppermint oil stimulates blood flow to your scalp and makes your hair grow faster

2) Peppermint oil is used for massages and provides a cooling sensation

3) Perppermint oil is a antiseptic (prevents infection by inhibiting bacterial growth)

4) Peppermint oil is great for acne and blemishes

After reading about it, I decided to buy it!

How to use it:

1) You can mix it in your favorite hair oil (almond oil, coconut oil, olive oil...etc)

2) Mix your favorite hair oil and half a teaspoon of peppermint oil (That's enough, trust me!) together

3) Massage it into your scalp

4) You will feel a cooling effect (love it)

5) Let the oil absorb in your roots for about 2 hours (you can go to bed with it and wash your hair in the morning)

6) Wash your hair thoroughly and massage your scalp as you're washing your hair

That's it! Let me know how it turns out for you! Good Luck! <3 :)

St.Paddy's Day Night Out

St. Patrick's Day!!

Last night for Saint Patrick's Day, I went out to celebrate with my family and friends. We went out for drinks (green beer) and had a fabulous time! I tried green beer for the first time ever and I must say I am not really a fan of it. I like my regular beer without any food colouring. Also, I had my all time favourite drink: Gin and Tonic. Overall, it was a great night and we had so much fun conversing, catching up, being silly and of course, dancing.

REVIEW: NAKED 2 Palette

I have just recently purchased a naked 2 Palette from Urban Decay. I can honestly say it is an amazing palette if you love wearing neutral eye make up. It has 10 neutral colors and you can play around with them and create different kind of neutral looks. What I love most about this palette is that it has a combination of matte. shimmer and glitter textures which makes it easier to add different textures to your eye make up. My favorite color is verve because it has a slight shade of purple which makes it not too neutral and not too vibrant. I highly recommend this product if you're looking for a palette with neutral colors. I would rate this product 9/10.

IT ALSO COMES WITH A MINI LIP GLOSS! sweeeet!

The brush that comes with palette is amazing because it is a double-ended full size brush. One is a crease brush and the other is a shadow brush. 

My Beauty World: Outfit Post #2 : Cheetah Print

My Beauty World: Outfit Post #2 : Cheetah Print: STEAL MY LOOK: Cheetah top: H&M Crop top: Forever 21 Harem pants: Boutique downtown Similar here: http://store.americanappar...

My Beauty World: Minty

My Beauty World: Minty: Since spring is just around the corner, I decided pull out my colored skinny jeans. I absolutely love the color mint and minty skinny je...

My Beauty World: OCC LIP TAR REVIEW

My Beauty World: OCC LIP TAR REVIEW: For the past few weeks or so, I have been hearing about the OCC Lip tar everywhere. I was intrigued by the product and wanted to try it o...

OCC LIP TAR REVIEW

For the past few weeks or so, I have been hearing about the OCC Lip tar everywhere. I was intrigued by the product and wanted to try it out myself. I received my OCC lip tar package in the mail today (yipeee!) and as soon as I got my hands on them, I wanted to try it out. I tried all the colors and mixed them to form darker and lighter shades and played around with it for a bit. I can absolutely say I am in love with them! The colors are wonderful, vibrant and perfect for the spring. I will definitely be wearing them a lot this season. My favorite is the bright vibrant pink!

LIGHTER PINK SHADE!!

Minty

Since spring is just around the corner, I decided pull out my colored skinny jeans. I absolutely love the color mint and minty skinny jeans are my favorite! I can't wait to rock more spring outfits and post pictures of them on my blog!

STEAL MY LOOK:

Sweater: Forever 21

Skinny jeans: Forever 21

Shoes: ALDO shoes

Watch: MK 

Bag: Armani Exchange

Pearl earrings: Forever 21

Outfit Post #2 : Cheetah Print

STEAL MY LOOK:

Cheetah top: H&M

Crop top: Forever 21

Harem pants: Boutique downtown

Similar here: http://store.americanapparel.net/rsa8359.html

Heels: ALDO shoes 

Clutch: Forever 21 

Outfit Post #1

I had always thought I would be pursuing a career in the fine arts because that's where my passion resides. However, I decided to give nursing a try and hide my passion for dance and fashion somewhere deep down my heart. Now, being a nursing student, as much as I love my program, some things did not feel right within me. Seeing my mom, who is a seamstress, work on different outfits and pieces, I was inspired by her talent to reignite my passion for designing and making clothes. I decided to put my imagination at use by pursuing my passion as a treasured hobby.

This is what I wore a few days ago and I want to share this outfit post with you to give you an idea of my style. 

Get my outfit:

Black long-sleeved top: Urban Outfitters

Velvet Tights: Forever  21

Shoes: ALDO shoes

Spikes Necklace: Forever 21

Faux fur vest: Forever 21

HEALTHY OATMEAL PANCAKES

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and you will be surprised how much eating breakfast daily does to your body mentally, physically and emotionally. Back in High school, I never paid much attention to eating breakfast daily and it made me gain a lot of weight because I would starve myself in the morning and later in the afternoon when I come home from school, I would binge on everything I found in the kitchen until my hunger eased. After I graduated from high school, I really started thinking about my body and most importantly how I wanted to feel mentally and emotionally. That's when I made my decision to change my sedentary lifestyle forever. 

Now, enough about my boring past, I would like to share one of my favorite pancake recipes that is both delicious and healthy. It has all of the ingredients that aid in fat loss while making you feel great every morning! 

Ingredients ( makes about 4-5 small pancakes)

1/2 CUP - Oatmeal

2 Whole eggs ( you can substitute one egg for egg whites)

1/8 CUP  - Almond Milk

2 Sachets Stevia

1 tsp Cinnamon 

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Mix all of the ingredients together until the batter is smooth and pour the batter on a skillet greased with olive oil/coconut oil! That's it! 

NOTE- you can add a tsp of water if the batter  is too thick!

NOW FOR THE TOPPING

A healthier alternative for maple syrup.

1) grab some blueberries and smash them in a bowl with a spoon 

2) Mix the blueberries with Greek yogurt 

3) Add some Chia seeds 

It's ready to go! 

I hope you enjoy this recipe and let me know in the comments how it turned out for you! oxo <3

Build your Confidence!

Confidence is what makes us feel good about ourselves and allows us to express ourselves in a world in which rejection and negativity are commonplace. As I was growing up, I had a difficult time understanding my own identity and often found myself feeling depressed, miserable and doubtful. In order to feel confident in my own skin and build a positive self-concept, I made several changes in my life.

1) Surround yourself with positive people
Surrounding yourself with positive people is important because they encourage you to form positive thoughts in your life. Negative people will only try to bring you down and point out your flaws and imperfections. When it comes to friendships, think about quality of friends over quantity of friends. And, remember, positive  relationships lead to a positive life.

2) Remind yourself of your worth
Everyday, remind yourself that you are worth it! Look in the mirror every morning and talk to yourself ( this is normal!) and re-evaluate your life, values and beliefs. Ask yourself what changes you have to make today in order to be a better person. On days I feel down and upset,  I post a little sticky note on my dresser to remind myself of my worth and every morning when I get dressed, I look at those sticky notes and  instantly my mood lifts up.

3) Be Nice/Compliment Others
Being nice to others goes a long way. Even if someone is being rude , be nice anyway! Maintaining a positive attitude makes you have positive thoughts and feel positive about life. A negative attitude only makes you feel worse about yourself and does not help improve your self esteem and confidence. Compliment others and let them know they're beautiful. By doing this, you're not only making them feel good and happy, but also yourself.

©

My Beauty World.: WAYS TO PREVENT DRY SKIN IN THE WINTER

My Beauty World.: WAYS TO PREVENT DRY SKIN IN THE WINTER: Ways to Prevent Dry Skin in The Winter........ I know many of us have to constantly moisturize our skin during the winter because it j...

WAYS TO PREVENT DRY SKIN IN THE WINTER

Ways to Prevent Dry Skin in The Winter........

I know many of us have to constantly moisturize our skin during the winter because it just keeps getting really dry. My skin, for instance, becomes extremely dry if I don't frequently apply moisturizer. I have recently tried some things which have helped me prevent dry skin and get rid of all the dead skins, making my skin look shiny, smooth and soft. The following are some of the tips: 

1) Almond Oil
Almond Oil is so good for your skin and makes your skin look youthful and soft. Your body requires Vitamin E to keep your skin looking healthy and beautiful. Almond oil is packed with Vitamin E which is why it helps prevent dry skin by nourishing your skin. Start off by cleaning your face with a cotton pad dipped in almond oil and you will see all the dead skin come off on to the pad. After you're done cleaning your face, just pat some almond oil on your face and lips with a new cotton pad and go to bed. Do this every night before bed and you will see that your skin looks more shiny, soft and smooth. 


2) Honey 
Honey works as a great exfoliating and cleansing system for your skin. Applying honey to your skin not only prevents dry skin but it also makes your skin look radiant and smooth. Apply honey to your face and keep it on for 10-15 minutes and wash it off with warm water and pad your face with a towel. Do this once daily and you will see the results. 

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