David

*****I'd like to thank all of my followers and commentors for your kinds words during this time. Even though I may not have commented back or replied, I'd like you all to know that I read them and it moved me to know that you are all so caring.*****

The boy I told you about who was burned in the fire has died. He passed away Sunday April 20th from burn wounds he sustained on the April 14th fire.

His name is David, 19 years old, a rugby player, and econ major.

I didn't know David, but he is familiar to me. I saw him coming into the building, in line at the caf, perhaps around campus or maybe in a few of my classes. He may have held the door open for me a few times. He came from Toronto. He went to private school. He and I had many similarities, but there is so much I don't know about him.

I don't know if he liked being called David or Dave. I don't know if he was funny or a good cook. I don't know how he treated other people. I don't know if he had a cat or dog. Or who his best friend was. I don't even know if he ever fell in love.

Here is his photo:


He looked like a fun guy. This is a picture of him from Halloween:


I can't express how truly sorry I am for his family. I cannot imagine the pain they are feeling right now. Although he was medicated, David's last days were spent in pain. To watch a loved one go through six days of suffering is about as bad as going through it yourself.

Rest in peace David. I'm sure you will be missed.

Fire In My Residence

My dorm caught fire this past Tuesday at about 6:15 p.m.

I was in the building when the fire alarm went off, and as always I thought it was a fake as I have been in so many real fire alarm situations yet none was an actual fire. I had an exam at 6:30 and was concerned with getting out of the building as well as gathering my pencils, etc. As I was leaving I heard that a guy was badly burned on the 4th floor.

Here are some pictures of fireman putting out the fire:




When I returned from my exam, there were police men, firemen, and my home was blocked by police tape. We were not allowed in. I was let known that there would be a meeting later on that night for all dorm residents. At the meeting they let us know a guy was burned badly and in critical condition. He remains in critical condition til today, Thursday.

This is what it looked like when I came home from my exam:





And some pictures of the day after:



Here are some pictures of when we were allowed to go back in for 5 minutes to grab some stuff the next day. We had to wear masks to avoid carbon monoxide inhalation:

The school has done an excellent job of coordinating hotels for us to stay as well as supporting us in every way. This was not easy for anyone, but the only true victims of this ordeal was the boy and his family.

My heart goes out for the affected boy and his family. The emotional pain of the parents and the physical pain of the boy must be unbearable. The fire exact details of how the fire was started have not been released but I know so far that in no way was the fire the boys fault. He will suffer now everyday for the rest of his life as a result of a freak accident. People will see him differently. Friends he thought he had will slowly drift away. I can just hope that adversity will make him stronger and that true friends will appear in places he never looked. I did not personally know the victim, but I more likely than not passed him in the hallway or stood behind him in line at the cafeteria. It saddens me to see how a lot of his life has been ruined before it even really began. I keep him and his family in my prayers and hope you will too.

I know we have all heard of fires and burns, but I would like to give you a real idea of the excruciating pain, suffering, and complications that come along with it.

Here is a picture of a burn victim:

If any of you have ever been burned before it was most likely very small and very painful. Now you can start to imagine the immense pain that is spread over all his body. At this stage, he is fighting off infection, shock, as well as a myriad of other possible infections.

When this happened, I thought of America's Next Top Model contestant Tahlia who was a burn victim as a child. As an adult, she still struggles with self-esteem and confidence issues that stem from her scars. However, over America's Next Top Model I saw her start to grow out of her shell and start gaining confidence in herself and her looks. She is an inspiration for any burn victims out there:


I know I have missed some things and will have to come back to this post to re-edit and maybe make another post on fire safety, but I just wanted to let you all know what is happening.

Let your loved ones know how much you truly care for them and give them a hug as you never know how long you have of them. Put aside trivial things and pursue what makes you happy in life. You are never guaranteed tomorrow. Please, please, please start living your life today. Don't let anything hold you back. And remember you're always loved.

Hair Bow & Frog Princess & Banana Hair Mask

Hi guys!!

So I did a little shopping this week and picked up this lovely thing. It was from the dollar store ($1 CAD) and came in a few colours (browns & black). The browns were to pale for me, so I choose to go with the black. The dollar store carries a lot of pre-teen, colourful hair accessories but if you're willing to look and have an eye for goodies I'm sure you'll find some steals.


I really like this bow because it can really spice up an otherwise plain hairdo. It's so preppy, but fun at the same time. I can already imagine paired with my pale blue cropped cardigan. Also, it's very versatile. I can wear it with my hair down or up in a bun. I really like it.

Here's how it came out looking on me:




I am really excited to tell you that... Disney is finally having it's first black princess!!! The name of the movie is THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG and will be released DECEMBER 11, 2009. Take all the black kids you know to see it!!

Growing up watching Disney films, I never had a chance to see somebody who looked like me on film. So I'm happy that as of Dec. 11, 09 black girls growing up will have the chance to see themselves reflected in a princesses in a movie.

Here's a list of other races that have had a princess/main character in Disney movies:

• White ......................................Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Ariel
• Native American ....................Pocahontas
• Asian...................................... Mulan
• Arab........................................Aladdin
• Gypsy .....................................The Hunchback of Notre Dame

And now I'm adding to the list of Disney royalty Princess Tiana, have a look:




So I'm leaving it off with a hair mask. Today was my hair washing day, and for my deep conditioning treatment I did a banana hair mask. I try to do it a few times a month. Personally, I love this treatment and find it works really well for me. It's great for all hair types and races so everybody can do it!

The riper the banana the better, so you can save even more by getting the overripe bananas from the store. It's cheap and convenient, which is perfect for a student like me.



What you'll need is:

• an overripe banana
• a tbsp full-fat mayonnaise
  
• a tbsp avocado
• few drops of your favorite essential oils

Mix it all together in a blender or with a hand mixer. Leave it on for 20 minutes and rinse out. If you find you're having problems with the banana chunks/seeds sticking in your hair, switching to banana baby food help eliminate that problem. And there you have it. A perfectly natural, cost-effective deep conditioning treatment.

Getting Your Nails Done

Hi everybody!!

So I choose today as my mani/pedi day. I usually like to do my manicure and pedicure, but if you find yourself needing to touch up your pedicure but you don't need to redo your manicure, latex gloves should help you avoid ruining your mani from the nail polish remover.

I buy pharmacy nail polish as most of it is good quality and budget-friendly. I try to pick up different colours even though it is really tempting to get a matte yellow as well as metallic, but I realize very few people would realize the difference. Once I've found a good brand I'll stick with it. A word of caution, dollar store nail varnishes seem great except for you'll find that the darker colors can really stain your nails. So I advise you to pick lighter colors or just stay away. Some brands I've found I really the quality and price of are: L'Oreal, Sally Hansen, and NYC for bright colors.

So, you've chosen a colour (or the Americanized color :):


I'm a bit lazy when it comes to my nails. I don't break out all the spa tools every time that I paint my nails. I find that a nail file (or clipper if you're in a pinch), some nail polish remover, a q-tip (to get off the nail polish that makes its way onto your skin), and some clear nail polish will do. I also have an ONYX aerosol nail dryer and Caramel Bliss foot mask here as well. Nice, not necessary. I'll do a review on them later on in the post. I also really recommend the ONYX nail polish removers. It gets the old polish off fast.

Now it's time to prepare your tools:


When you're choosing a nail shape, it's important to remember a few things. Dark colors work best with short, round nails and light colors- you can do whatever you want really. Also keep in mind that round nails tend to break less often than square nails. Do whatever works with you.

So time to file the nails. I choose to go short and round because I was using a darker nail color:

I'm not a very picky girl and use a top coat as my base coat. I find it works well enough in preventing nail stains and works pretty well as a base. After that I applied two coats of color. If you find yourself needing to apply more than two coats to get the same color as in the bottle, try a different brand. The one you're using is probably cheap and takes more energy than it's worth.

I also sprayed after each layer with the ONYX nail dryer and I found it really reduced the amount of time that I spent waiting for my nails to dry. PLUS it smells like baby powder. No more bad chemical smell.

So this is the color in the bottle:



This is how it turned out on my nails:

So, all it took was a base coat, two layers of color, and a top coat. This normally lasts me around 6-7 days before it starts chipping and I have to redo them.



Caramel Bliss Foot Mask
This is a foot mask I bought from Pier1. It's from the Caramel Bliss line from Toe Toppers and retails around $20 CAD. It's basically a clay mask for the feet. It smells like caramel and really makes your feet soft. It makes your feet look a bit ashy when you put it on, and be careful not to get it on your floor before it dries, but I really like it. For the price, I wouldn't buy it again though.
4/5 stars



ONYX Professional Nail Dryer
I love, love, love this. I picked it up at Wal-mart (sorry small businesses) for about $3 CAD. It cuts my drying time in half and the baby powder scent makes polishing my nails much more pleasant. I would recommend you get this. Great product, great price.
5/5 Stars

Welcome to my blog!!

Hi everybody!!

Welcome to my blog. I'm a girl who loves make-up, fashion, and all things beauty related. Even though I find it fun to alter my outsides with make-up, I truly believe that beauty inner beauty shines brightest and that being a good person trumps having a straight nose any day.

I know it's annoying when you follow somebody's blog and they kind of disappear on you for months at a time. I will try my best to write posts weekly if not several times a week. Just realize that as a university student, I do have finals, assignments, etc that take priority. My blog is mainly geared at beauty, but I will occasionally include others points of interest.

I'm not a make-up artist or certified in any field of the beauty business. I'm just here to share my passion with you.

I believe that beauty is an art and that each person will have a different way of expressing themselves. It's about having fun on your journey to discovering what fits you. The reason I'm starting this blog is to document my journey and document what works (and doesn't!) for me. Hopefully from my experiences, you will take some ideas that you can incorporate into your routine.

So let's get to it!

I recently bought some make-up brushes online. They came in a pack of 24. It's great to have so many brushes, but I'm finding that the travel cases they come in are no longer working for me. It's time to find my brushes a new home.


Here's a picture of my make-up brushes before:

As you can tell, it's difficult to sort through this when I'm trying to do a simple makeup look in the morning. So my solution was to make a make-up brush holder.

All I needed was:

A cute container, some sand, and a few decorative stones. This container was courtesy of my wonderful sister (Thank you!! It's perfect, you know me so well!!).

I filled my container 3/4 of the way full so it would leave me some room to add the decorative stones on top.

Here's what it looked like:


Then I added my make-up brushes and the decorative stones:


I am a person who is very attracted to color, so the stones really added oomph to my brush holders for me. But if you're a more conservative person, I would just leave it at the sand.


And here's my final product: