Ode to lip balm..

I think that almost every girl, at a certain point in her life, has played with her mom's lipstick. This happens at a very young age for some, as soon as they start crawling, they go grabbing at their mamma's lipstick!

I remember the first thing that I was allowed to put on was lip balm, naturally because it was the least harmful "makeup" that I was allowed to wear. The majority of girls that I have come across all have one thing in common. Whether she was into sports, a tomboy, or the girliest girl you would ever meet, the all had their "chap stick".

This, in my opinion, is the common ground of all of us girls, each one of us has her own special type of chap stick , and they come in so many different shapes, sizes, and flavours. Kind of how we are.. You can be flavourless and unscented, colourless yet smooth, or be as colourful and easy going as you like..

It's just lip balm, and this is just me rambling, but this just came across my mind and I thought I'd share :D
These are some favourites in my collection!!

Peaking through the cracks

I have never tried this combo before until today! I layered glitter nailpolish underneath a coat of "cracking" nail polish. This looked really cool!! The glitter was peaking through the cracks and it looked very mysterious. Could've worked for halloween though :D
Would you try it??
Love, Farida xx

Update :D : Facebook page!

I have just made a page on facebook relating to this blog! It is under the same name and here's the link https://www.facebook.com/beautyversusbrains . Basically I will have more updates and posts related to my content on both places. Feel free to like and share the love <3
See you there.
Love, Farida xx 

Grandma Beauty Secret:Rose Water Toner

One of the things that my grandmothers have both taught me is the power of Rose water. Believe it or not this is something that I would use ever since I was 4... My grandma would use it for so many different things and among them was using it on her skin. She would pass me a cotton ball soaked with rose water and just the scent of it was enough to bring back memories. I was really young and it was okay.. because it is a very mild and pure distillation of roses, it wouldn't really harm my skin. Untill now, this has been something that stuck with me and I will continue to hopefully pass it on.Nowadays, you can get it with many additives and chemicals to "enhance" its performance, but nothing works better than the pure organic essence of roses.

What is makeup?

I have come across so many different reactions from people when it came to beauty talk. One of the most interesting things to me, is knowing how a girl makes herself look pretty. Whether it's how she does her makeup, or how she doesn't.. This has always been something that made me really happy to know! Yes, maybe I'm nosey, but believe it or not, knowing what girls do, has taught me so much. Professional or not! The best lessons in life are free..

Makeup for school part1 (I wake up like that)

Sometimes you just want to look like you've slept for 8 peaceful hours, who doesn't want that? Sadly we don't all wake up looking like that, but, there's this magical thing called makeup, and it actually makes a difference! Now our school has a policy where girls are not allowed to wear makeup, does anyone abide by that rule? No.. But, I won't ever break the rules,so here's how you can just bend them a little.. I'm keeping it simple by just using the necessities.

Beauty Favourites!

Things I have been loving for a long time now! These are the beauty products that I've been really liking and have probably re-purchased because of their awesomeness :P

Thoughts please??

I'm very new to blogging and all that stuff, but I have noticed that a few people have actually read, or "viewed" my blog. I'd love to hear other people's opinion, so please share it! Thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy reading my posts.
Love, Farida Sherif 

Write and Wrong..

Why is it so weird or awkward that you want to be best friends with someone you’ve never spoken to before? Why do I have to write with connectives and proper sentence structure ? Even when the content of my writing is quite good. Why do i procrastinate?Over and over, waiting for the perfect time to start studying, and being healthy, getting it all together. Y’know, the usuals.. The thing about determination, is, you just do it… no if’s buts or maybe’s.. 

But no, reality and too much thinking come in the way of everything, and everyone.. Nowadays, people assume and make their own predictions, and forget that they don’t really know the story.We all have our own story which no one could explain but ourselves. This might lead to the conclusion that everyone around us is judgemental, which is not necessarily well put. Am i making any sense? because i just got lost. 

I’ll break this down, so first to start, I want it to be normal that if you want to be friends with someone you’re not really close with, that you go you to them and introduce yourself, and not be misunderstood.. You know what I mean. This is different.I promise. 

Seconds, I wish that teachers where not employed according to their diploma’s, but only after considering how they actually teach.. To me, diploma’s, certificates and all that what not, is just for hanging on your wall, just to show off, something your parents want to look at every now and then to remind themselves they’ve done a good job on you. That’s why I hide mine, because it shouldn’t be that way. At least not on my wall it isn’t. To avoid further confusion, I’ll link that to what i mean, which is, no matter how well prepared and perfectly put together the CV of your life is, the only thing that matters is your heart, & whether you do things with love. A good teacher is one who teaches from the heart not from her planner, oh and NEVER mix education with intelligence. Which brings us to my third point, that is why i think most people who prefer memorising chapters with their photographic memories are different, and are not necessarily smart or intelligent, it simply means they made the time and effort to memorise their stuff and they’ve done their homework well.

  Alas, I want to let it out there, just to let everyone know, that we are all completely different, and we shouldn’t be judged by what we wear, what schools we went to, who we hang out with etc…Different is not always bad, just like how an illiterate could also be wise, its just the way you put it. 

(This was miscellaneous, really random, and somewhat personal.I thank you for having reached the bottom of this and I promise to write something more interesting next  time ) hope you’ve enjoyed looking through a bit of my scattered thoughts.. 

Farida Sherif 

Potential Gratitude

 Why do we always overlook the things we own? Constantly searching for something pleasurable to do rather than just enjoying the comfort of being surrounded by family, & having a good time. Personally, I’ve always kept wish lists  of small things that I want to get, keeping a goal in mind that once I own everything on that list I will finally be content. Never realising that, the more time spent on completing these lists, the more they grew.My wish lists became ever-expanding.Thinking about it, it somehow means that Im never going to feel happy.. That is actually a fact, translated as scarcity, occurring when people’s wants exceed the available factors of production.

 I wish I had realised this earlier. Not really.. but somehow I’m glad i did. You see, once you stop talking for a while, and you start listening, you’ll realise what will really make you happy, and in order to start the search on what your true happiness comes in, you must consider a few things. First and foremost, find out who actually cares about you.. Since you can’t hold people up to a light to tell which ones are true and which are fake, unfortunately.. you’re going to have to do it the hard way..Perhaps by doing something differently, or instead of greeting everyone you see, wait and see who will come greet you first, then you’ll have a brief idea on whether people actually bother. Results from this step are not final, but they add up to a large number of people, mostly your ‘close’ friends. Maybe you’re lucky and blessed with numerous admirers, then, this is not for you. What you could do is, try disappearing for a week and see who actually calls you, or throw your phone in the back of your closet for a couple days to find out who would really bother reaching you, if someone ends up at your house thinking something happened to you, they’re most probably keepers, unless they ask you for something…

 The second step would be to go out and get yourself something nice, something you’ve always wanted or something that you know you’ll enjoy, no matter how much money you have..(or don’t ). Then go out by yourself, completely alone, to just have a good time,watch a movie, eat dinner at someplace fancy, just go do something you’ve never done before, but do it alone! You will then start to notice things more, things you probably wouldn’t if you were caught up chatting with someone or listening to your mother complain about how the food is not enough and you should’ve just eaten at home for a fraction of the price,etc… Many things go by unnoticed, like the atmosphere of just thinking about anything, being able to hear new sounds and new voices, just free yourself of all that is stressful, and get lost.

 Naturally,before a third step, one would’ve achieved a slight sense of satisfaction if not completely content by the simple things life has to offer. Just like the sun setting, changing the colour of the sky, gradually bringing out the stars till the moon is finally ready to grace us with his presence.. The blues, purples, reds and yellows, hints of green here and there make me feel really comfortable.. 

 They say money can’t buy happiness, after hearing many respond with :”whoever said that simply didn’t know where to shop!!” I’d beg to differ, for I personally find that the best things in life come free, and you need not have anything at all to be happy, but a kind heart and a sweet smile.. 

Farida Sh.

Being Thoughtfull: My view

I’ve always wanted to be a journalist, despite the fact that I change my mind very often, a part of me always knew that journalism tied everything I loved and wanted together. Another part of me didn’t feel right. I’ve hoped to work for a fashion magazine someday, cliché, but, I never pictured myself fitting “in” with my imaginary co-workers. I in vision working for a fashion magazine would be something like how it is in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada”, even if my boss is not as evil as the movie’s, the concept is still the same. The magazine would be filled with pictures of photoshopped ,perfectly polished, feather weight models (who, not to mention, ruin every chocolate loving teenage girl’s dream of looking beautiful) wearing clothes that cost more than what most average people make in a year.

A part from the false image of beauty, and the misconception between fashion and style, these images are directed towards a certain crowd that think, and live in a different way than the less wealthy, yet everyone buys them, and fall into their traps thinking that looking like that is key to gaining respect and popularity among our evil and judgmental society .Those images magically lure us into buying whatever it is they’re promoting, even if it isn’t necessary. Now isn’t that what advertising is all about? Yes, but that’s a whole other story. In other words, your worth is not determined by the price of what you’re wearing, if so, then many of the higher ranked people should be wearing nothing at all.

Personally, growing up, I started to make better choices in my life, and I began to choose “quality” over quantity, not picking up the cheapest things out there, but investing in long lasting and durable goods. What that doesn’t mean is that a handbag can cost 20k, and id still buy it for the quality, or id buy it because its “in”, or because its designer, or due to the fact that it’ll make me more accepted amongst others. NO!! Why do people do these horrible acts? To me, it’s simply not right for someone to spend all that even if they can afford it, when there are people out there picking out their lunch from dump yards, and yes I’ve seen it with my own eyes! Which explains why I’m more furious over the crazy sums of money people spend on pointless possessions.

Disclaimer, I am not saying I’ve never bought designer and that I don’t spend extra money on what I buy, in fact I do own designer objects, many of which I’ve picked up during sales, and from outlets simply because I’m paying for the quality of what I buy rather than buying something cheap elsewhere that won’t last and would be a waste. I am someone who takes good care of what they own, and I prefer that what I get would last me a long time. I just don’t approve of paying the very hefty prices.

Now what did a fashion magazine have to do with all this ? Well, simply, it is the destination for all that is insane, where the idea of saving money is to pay less, when even though you’re paying less, it’s still really expensive. Now why should I pay 1,000 AED for a plain white t-shirt? Do I really not know where else to throw that money away? It’s just bizarre..

Not everything that’s designer is good, it’s not bad either, but every once in a while, we should really take a look back, and re-evaluate, what are we really paying for??? And we should always remind ourselves of the less fortunate out there, and remember that we all end up in the same place anyways..

Despite the fact that many would beg to differ with my opinion, I respect everyone’s point of view, and this is just means that I wish and hope for a better tomorrow, for everyone out there, and for us to be more thoughtful towards others, specifically the less fortunate..

           Farida Sherif.

 

Hello World! My first post.

Hello everyone, my name is Farida, and I wish to begin my journey from here.Choosing to finally begin the "proper" beauty blog I have been putting off for more than a year now.. Here's a bit about me; I strongly enjoy many things in life, finding beauty in everything I see. My obsession with beauty has begun at a very young age for me, a VERY young age, watching my grandmother do her makeup in front of the mirror, I would marvel at every aspect.I first began observing, popping into makeup stores and trying out different products, the texture, colour and feel of makeup was very interesting to me, which helped expand my knowledge in the field. I hope to share my opinion with you and provide you with as many helpful tips and reviews as I can. Enjoy :D xo