SUCH SWEET-SORROW

My last day sailing the streets of New York prior to returning to school back in N.C. was on Thursday, August 19th. I spent that day hanging out with the greatest, Kadeem (all photo cred to him, edited by moi) just walking around. That is -until the sudden sun-showers put a short-lived halt to our day- and ended up at Chipotle. I was so angry 'cause here I was, experiencing what I knew to be my last day to hang out in the city, and the rain wanted to disrupt my joy. Thank goodness it stopped. I hassled him until he took some decent photographs. Lol I needed some great shots to reminsce over, ya know? The shirt-dress I'm wearing is Armani Exchange and will be sold in my upcoming online store; due open on my 22nd birthday: November 8th. It fits me, but anyone who knows me knows I hate wearing form-fitting clothing. I need my freedom. I need my comfort. The first couple of photographs, I had on nude lipstick and it wasn't photographing quite well, so I switched to L'Oreal's "British-red".

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COLOR ME BOLD

So very recently (well, like, last week), I fawned over the idea that my complexion was dynamic enough to entertain any lip-color, despite the level of unconventionality. After a day or so of waiting for the swelling of my face to go down(remember I had oral surgery), I decided to act on it. In the past, and this is considering your severity of familiarity with my blog's content, I have played with several colors. Ranging from cobalt-blue to black to gold to deep-plum. This time around, I experimented with lime-green, orange, purple and a nude-pink tone. I'll post a video below explaining how I achieved those hues. 'Cause I know you're probably thinking, "where in the world did she find lime-green lipstick?" Though after some mild-editing, it appears yellowish. Hmph.
Side-note: I was gonna collage the photos, but decided to leave 'em as is so you could see the color and spread close-up.


I am no makeup-guru and the sound is seemingly off-sync, just watch:

Hit the jump to see the rest of the photographs.

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MIXTAPE: THE WEEKND x THURSDAY

In light of the expected comparison between Thursday and The Weeknd's previous project titled, House of Balloons, I would like to add my own opinion. I think this project is a great progression from House of Balloons. Simply love it. Mainly because I'm more so a fan The Weeknd's vocals than anything else.
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VIDEO: COMMON x NAS x "GHETTO DREAMS"

Directed by: Matt Alonzo.
Well isn't this one of a Hip-hop fiend's dream collabo?
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CHARM IS THE MOST COMMON FORM OF MAGIC

Above quote by yours truly. While at home in New York, upstate to be exact, I usually opt out of bringing pajamas with me and end up asking my brother for his neglected-oversize-shirts. So he gives me this navy-blue and olive-green Orlando Magic number. Funny enough, my mom used to wear this shirt a lot along with its matching pair of shorts when she was pregnant with my little bro! Lol now he's big enough to fit in it and I'm little enough to drown in it.






Each time I leave NY, it gets harder and harder to cope in the absence of 80% of my family. Ah, they drive me crazy, but I can barely breathe without them.


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AUDIO: THE WEEKND x "THE BIRDS" PART 1

I've never heard anybody make being a "bird" sound so damn desirable. lol sincerely, honestly. I can boldly state that I would die peacefully if it meant a melodic-marathon of nothing, but The Weeknd would be serving as background music.
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SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW, SOMETHING PASTEL

So I can't believe I've gone through most of the year 2011 with bare nails. Yes, that's right; I have not worn nail polish since the year began. I had a feeling being home would induce temptation to just play in color. And also being consumed with idle time tends to implant ideas in one's head that wouldn't naturally dwell there. My mom has most of Revlon's pastel collection and I absolutely adore 'em! I love pastels. Their ability to be subtle, yet vibrant all at once is primarily what attracts me to 'em. I had my eye initially on lilac pastelle, but my indecissiveness led me to tangerine and jade.



Right when I perceived and declared it was safe to photograph the outcome, I began searching for something and my nails got ruined. I'm gonna redo them. Eh. I love these colors. I have to get some for myself.
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VIDEO: JEREMY SCOTT A|W 2011 LOOKBOOK [BTS]

My love and respect for Jeremy Scott as a designer is immense. His character and personal style is so evident and well-portrayed in his collection, season after season, one can't help, but to be impressed. His use of bold and vibrant colors, patterns and designs--wow. Who would've ever thought high-fashion would be so harmoniously integrated with a predominantly sports-line? His collaborative collection with Adidas never, ever, ever ceases to amaze me. I love it. I love him. This video is so great and so fun. He seemingly chooses his models wisely; they wear his creations so effortlessly. His creativity is genius. When I finally launch my clothing line, I hope to achieve the same, if not, supersede his level of ingenuity, boldness, and creativity. Respect.
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RAMBLING ROSE, HOW I WANT YOU

Post title just so happens to be one of my favorite songs by the legendary Nat King Cole. I'm really enjoying having the proportions of my face return to a tolerable state of normalcy. Yeah, so about the preceding photos. When I bought this skirt, I immediately had a gallery of images shuffling through my mind expressing different ways to wear it. The fact that it's a maxi-skirt makes the possibilities borderline endless. As I mentioned in the post titled The Garage Bandit, I found my old crewneck in the basement. I entertained the thought of making a little D.I.Y. project out of it, but not just yet. The scarf worn as turban is part of a traditional attire. I found the color to be irresistibly enticing.

Hype?
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FEATURED ON: POWER BY SABA + MORE

Finally getting around to responding to some emails, my apologies if my response to yours is still pending. I'm getting to them as soon as I can. As much as I love being a one woman team, shit does tend to get hectic 'round here. Moving on to the features:
1.)
Much love to Saba of PoweredbySaba.com for her admirable patience and acknowledgment. I wouldn't dare disclose how long it took me to get back to her. Click here to read the interview as well as the beautiful write-up.
2.)
Much love to Nadege for taking it upon herself to award some acknowledgement my way; much appreciated. Click here for the neat write-up.
3.)
I actually found this feature via blogger's stats. You can imagine how amazed I was to learn that it belonged to a French-speaking-individual. Next, you can imagine the confusion that followed as I struggled to translate it. lol I failed and sought out my Facebook compadres for assistance. Thank you, love for the love! It inspires me to know I serve as an inspiration to someone. Click here and click the translate button at the top-right-corner of the screen.
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SUMMER PROJECT: STREET-LIFE SERIES | VOL.2

The summer is coming to an end and I am thankful for the new extents my knowledge of photography has reached. I took it upon myself to capture interests that lies with street-life, street-style, as well as identities this summer, this Autumn, however, will be a slightly different story. Me being a child of spontaneity, the skeleton which I have constructed now for this Autumn's portfolio might change. I'll refrain from disclosing details until I'm certain. Or until I begin executing concepts. If you're new to this blog, further familiarize yourself with my summer project by clicking here and click here to see more.




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TEFFILOSOPHY VOL.6 x LOVE | LUST THEORY

I've dedicated some time to rediscovering the supposed distinction
between the art of love and lust and the methods in which both are expressed. Before I go on, I'd like to go forth as to retract every statement I've made comparing the two. Some say it's the duration, with love superceding lust, some say depth of sincerity and so on. I have the conviction lust is a lot more sincere. Any emotion evoked unvoluntarily is sincere. As is love, but much thought and pressure is applied to love by its practitioners. The definition is often altered, hence, it is often misrepresented by most, making it lose some portions of its sincerity. For the most part, the definition of lust is definite. In terms of duration, who is to say lust is not short-lived love? Or that love is not long-live lust? For a relationship to thrive and prosper, it's imperative that one must be sexually attracted to their partner; considering the fact that sexual attraction is the defining factor of the art of lust. I also have the conviction that both evoke and are filled with equal amounts of passion. The heart is the legitimate-mother of both. Besides, how often have you felt either emotion towards someone and questioned it?
Yes, lust is an emotion. It's engineered by the strength of passion
and sincerity, hence, it is an emotion. We seemingly have little to no control over choosing our whom or what we are attracted to. The heart is wild, powerful, irrational and illogical, therefore, it controls the wildest of all emotions; love, lust. I would include admiration, but it can be mothered by either, or. One shouldn't feel compelled to justify the morality of either or to expect one to yield more joy than the other and so on. In life, love, and lust equally, all that matters, for the most part, is that there's passion and sincerity. It is certain that love precedes lust, and lust precedes love. I say that to say this: despite of whichever consumes you, try to keep an open mind.
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VIDEO: BLU x NIA ANDREWS x "MY SUNSHINE"

Filmed by: Aaronisnotcool.
Beautifully-constructed. Beautiful locations, great colors, overall corresponds harmoniously with the essence of the song. Aaron is one of my favorite visual artists to the underground next to my good friend, Slick Jackson; both incredible talents. And of course, my darlin, Blu.
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AUDIO: JOSH JAKQ x CYHI THE PRYNCE x "FREAK SOME MORE"

For some weeks now, a close associate of mine, as well as fellow writer/blogger, Frendy has been going on and on, expressing his excitement for his bestfriend and musician, Josh Jakq's upcoming project. The track features G.O.O.D Music's Cyhi tha Prynce . Upon hearing it, I too, shared in the excitement. The track possesses that distinctive pop-funk sound that's seemingly been lacking in music. I have to admit, it excites me to see Cyhi tha Prynce 's on a track that differs from his usual. Thanks for putting me on Frendy. Enjoy.
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THE GARAGE BANDIT

Ever since I left home, I've developed a routine: I go down to the basement and attempt to salvage some old clothing. Not just some of my old clothing, but items that belonged to every single being that lives in my house. Of course with an open mind like mine, I always seem to run into some goooooood luck! Like I mentioned in some posts below, I'm recovering from oral surgery. I woke up to see that I have my face back! The swelling went completely down on both sides; yay! I had to celebrate by doing a self-shoot. Now, as most of you should know by now, I am Nigerian. I have a garage full of native garments, varying in all kinds of designs. You see this ankara the fashion-world is currently raving and fawning over, yeah, I got 'em in abundance. I love my culture. Moving on. I was lucky enough to find this vibrant orange wrap-around-skirt or as we would call it, "wrapper". I decided to warp into a nifty little skirt. I played around with it for a bit, entertained the idea of actually sewing it, but today was a rainy day and my time with natural light was running short. If you wanna know how this skirt was made, I think I'm gonna make a D.I.Y video for you gals tomorrow! *crosses fingers* I pray I find time. Ok, so, most of these shots are long shots and I hate posting long shots, so I'm gonna collage 'em. As I usually do.

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VIDEO: COOPERATIVE DESIGNS A|W 2010 [LOOKBOOK]

In love with CoOperative Designs and the dreary nature of this. Wish they used more faces.
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EVENT: AFRICA FASHION WEEK | AFWNY 2011

I heard about AFWNY last year, I'm not certain when it began, but at the same time, I'm not necessarily filled with enough enthusiasm to consult with Google. Eh. Forgive my laziness. Like I've previously stated, I have been preoccupied with summer classes and what not, but all that is over. I'm currently at my parent's place upstate recovering from oral surgery along with other ailments; I had two wisdom teeth extracted last Monday. I've been here since Wednesday, but that's besides the point. I was especially excited about this year's AFWNY for many reasons. One of them being my little cousin and big sister playing key roles in it; my little cousin modelled, while my big sister was one of the stylists backstage. Being put on my cousin's guestlist for 2 out of the 3 days was beyond um...awesome. Can I just add that AFWNY conveniently fell into the last week of school? Amazing, I know. Anyways, back to the show; I only attended one day out of the three. I can only tolerate being in the company of fashion-loving-individuals for so long. I love fashion. I don't love fashion-lovers. Well, most of them. The shows took place Thursday-Saturday, my older brother and I arrived early on Friday 'cause we apparently had the time mixed up. I came mostly for the visual stimulation, hence, I did not pay much attention to the names of the designers. I enjoyed the collections for the most part. The models were beyond beautiful. Have you ever seen a beauty so immense, it sent shivers down your spine? Yeah, it was that brand of experience. I took A LOT of pictures. I sincerely wish I could find it in me to stain these photographs with a watermark of some sort, but unfortunately, I cannot. Feel free to share these photos as you please, just do not forget to source/credit it correctly. Otherwise.....yeah.






I'll post the rest on my photography page so stay tuned.
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AUDIO: THE WEEKND x "TRUST ISSUES"

As much as I delight in the original version by Drizzy, The Weeknd's vocals just has a unique way of commanding and evoking inexplainable moods of solemnity. And it's damn near addicting.
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VIDEO: RICH P x "BACK BURNER"

Actually one of my favorite tracks off of The Oval Office; glad my good friend and future of music, Rich P. created a visual for it. Enjoy.
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CATER TO THE POWER OF PASSION

After this shoot, Johnny and I decided to head to Jamba Juice to meet up with my little cousin. Being that it was raining, our shoot was unfortunately cut short. Still got some great shots nonetheless. If you're wondering about the post title, it's simply one of my philosophies. You must cater to the power of passion in order for it to cater to you. Yeah, welp, photographs of me were taken by my dear-friend and fellow photographer, Kadeem. You should check his work out. I think you'll delight in it as much as I do.







I really meant it when I said I constructed a uniform for the summer. Yep. It's too hot for all the extra stuff. Leave that up for the season of Autumn. Oh, by the way, that banana-oatmeal business up there rearranged my insides.
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