Objects of desire....

*aaarrrrccchhhheeewwww!* had a bad flu/cold thing over the last couple weeks which left me inactive to my detriment, sadly I was unable to attend the plethora of sample sales which i talked about in my last blog. however I probably save a lot of pocket change. ..

Last week Nicolas Kirkwood had a sample sale in Bond Street with some serious fab shoes !!! But the prices weren't the sample sale prices I would have hoped for ... pumps from £200 however his shoe and boots do average about £700 at normal retail prices...

Nicholas Kirkwood Ankle Boots - £790 http://www.thecorner.com 

From Nicholas Kirkwood AW11 Collection

BROWNS Has a little exhibition in its South Molton Boutique called Le Cabinet de Curiosités curated by Thomas Erber, which are cabinets of treasures from a selection of the finest designers, photographers and writers such as Manolo Blanik, Rodarte & Lulu Guinness.These contributors have made one off bespoke pieces which are both exquisite in craftmanship and style and pushes their creativity to the limits. Le Cabinet is as interesting concept that was conceived in Geneva 2009. Recently Thierry W Dupont curated a successful exhibition in New Yorks Marlborough and Steinitz galleries.

Lulu Guiness contributed a fabulous clutch which epitomises her tongue in cheek design and wit. Go along also check out Kata Legrady originally a classically trained musician who has chosen the fine arts pathway. She has attracted international fame for her iconic series “Guns & Candies”. She tends to focus on objects of war and its victims. Her pieces I think depicts the hypocrisy of its original subject, possibly comments on how the objects have a effect on the children of war... 

Lulu Guinness. Eye of Horus - £1995

a Kata Legrady  piece 

To be continued...

Faaaa lalala HAPPY CHRISTMAS ! & A MERRY NEW YEAR

I hope you've had a belly busting, and well watered Chrimbo.

Now this instalment of Rubi Finds has become occupied with Rubi's Locs, I have received a number of compliment on my hair. THANK YOU ALL!! *Blushing*, I am especially proud and delighted of these compliments because my hair is natural and in a beauty obsessed world having a natural, as much as it is praised, is not usually the subject of many desires. I have come across articles and blogs which do dwell over the difficulties of transitioning over to a natural.

The ardious task of looking for inspiring hair styles is a looong and winding road. However i have come across a few ... 'Contemporary Natural Hair' facebook group is by far the BEST i have seen for natural hair styles on the web and believe me i have search! This group displays advant garde styles a such as the pic below, doesn't she look fierce with those sexy african coils !!

More often than not, I come across hair styles such as Miss black britain who is gorgeous with hair that suits...

When the media depicts natural hairstyles is often related to gorgeous mixed raced chicks with mid lenght hair (as above), as a result i think this make it harder for those with tighter colied/african hair to take the step to natural hair. Thus my issue is that when searching for afro hair styles for short to mid to length its difficult!!!! tooooo many sites/blogs/people are obsessed with attaining long hair, instead of being happy with they're own lengths. Ultimately people should be more concerned with the maintenance of good hair and by 'good hair' I mean in good condition !! Check out Chris Rock's documovie - 'Good Hair' which take us on a journey of black women's hair and their trails and tribulations, and sometime unfortunate association with their own hair. I honestly think every young black tween should watch this movie, so to be informed and educated of the beauty that is their afro hair.

My natural hair story began because of my boredom with relaxed hair styles, for the first time since Zhane, a sexy strong individual women burst on to the screens with a bald head! Amber Rose, now love her or loath her, to me this woman looked bad!

By this point I shaved half my relaxed hair .. may I just say I did this way before the whole world decided too as I was inspired by my ol' favorites Salt & Pepa. I digress , so instead of having to wait for my hair to grow i thought why not just shave the other side off ! Then it grew a bit and I played with colour.. roll on 9 months including a huge afro weave. My hair is now a length which i can now play with and because of the limited search, i have had to become my own inspiration which brings me to the reason of the blog.

Part of my play is using two strand twists - youtube have a world on how too's for this.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBQlEA0CqOI&feature=related check this vid out ;0)

I'm often asked how i achieve my most recent hair style, basically i two strand twist the night before, the longer its kept in the better the curl. Therefore;

• The night before two strand twist by parting mid - small sections of your hair. Literally twist the two sections of the hair and then twist together. Then twist round into china bumbs.
• Cover hair with a silk or satin like scarf, be careful not to wrap your hair too tightly.
• In the morning untwist without combing out which leaves the hair with a natural like curl avoiding any heat damage. To assist the hold I use Taliah Waajid Lock it UP, which can be bought online from http://www.afrotherapy.com. This is similar to a gel so will hold hard. I think its best to use on freshly washed hair and let dry naturally overnight.

Then use hair grips to manipulate into place and style as desired. THEN Voila !

Ciao Ciao and see ya in 2011 !!!

Well I did wish for a White Christmas...

If like me you're probably having heart palputations about what presents to buy, we've kinda gotten through the chrimbo parties and sparkles...BUT after the weekends snow stopper, if like me you couldn't get everything online, its off to the shops we go...hi ho hi hoooo.

So here are a few ideas for the kids without being too cliche ...

For Nieces/Nephew/ and other littlens...

If your littlens are lucky enough to have a Wii console, the game of the moment seems to be Epic Mickey.. cheapest place to buy off the high street is HMV £29.99, they also give away a Bonus DVD.

Monsoon Accessorize have the most adorable girl clothes, just incase you haven't noticed . We have been having the most torrential of weathers therefore one can't avoid but invest in weather protection presents, init!

Accessorize has the most adorable wellies and a rain macs of which i'm so getting for one of me nieces! Ssssh

Vintage Rose Rain Mac - £24, Wellies - £14

So, i'm far from being a mum.. however the instincts are starting to brew a little, with my very limited knowledge, I felt the rain mac is heavy enough to protect, but light enough for layering underneath.

If you're more of a trendy momma/aunty/unc/dad how about All Saints eh?!

Without your littlen looking like an extra from Hollyoaks DON'T get too carried away But DO pick out some key pieces such as the boys cardi as shown below Children Fife Cardigan - now £35!! All Saints now have up 50% off in stores ...

Or how about a gorgeous keepsake for a new born Mamas &Papas has the most exquisite silverware including a 'Once Upon A Time' - Silver Musical Box - £20 Click here to see. They also have up to 1/2 price sale on .

Its inevitable but one can't help but come across things for themselves ish.. I'm not quite sure where the obsession with thicker lashes came from .. it seemed to have started about 3yrs ago my first introduction to the world of Bambi lashes was thorugh Shu Uemura peacock lashes (model on the left below).

I digress .. in Fenwicks Bond Street, I came across RevitaLash an intensive lash and brow treatment http://www.revitalash.com/ to be honest the interest in this product was less about me and more about the people closest to me.... It is my belief that one should only enhance ones beauty, not try to make it 'better' by changing into something that they're not..i.e, appreciate your own beauty don't try to chase others.. anywhoo Revitalash is a lash conditioner, this brand also has a Brow conditioner the story behind the brand is ... Revitalash® was developed by Dr. Michael Brinkenhoff as a special gift for his wife, Gayle, while she was recovering from breast cancer. Intensive chemotherapy treatments had damaged Gayle’s once-beautiful eyelashes, leaving them sparse, breakable and fragile.

After extensive research with a team of talented cosmetic chemists, Dr. Brinkenhoff formulated an eyelash conditioner that, after just a few weeks, gave a renewed look of vitality to Gayle’s eyelashes.

Soon friends and family wanted to know Gayle’s secret to beautiful looking eyelashes. Gayle knew immediately the perfect name for the amazing eyelash conditioner that had given her eyelashes a renewed look of vitality: Revitalash®.

Thus, a new product was born; and a formula created originally for just one special woman has become a product available to women everywhere who want to have beautiful looking eyelashes.

Gayle and Michael are committed to donating a portion of the proceeds from RevitaLash® sales to benefit non-profit breast cancer research and education initiatives.

Revitalash is to be used as a treatment, it seems a difference can be noticed in month, over six months is suppose to be the proper period to notice a real difference.

From £69 - 99 for a 3 - 6 month treatment.

LAST THING ...

After My miu miu discovery I had a mini obsession with designer/chic stationery bags for gadjety uses.. gone on have a whirl ... ;)

from top to bottom...

MULBERRY Daria Sleeve for Macbook, £350; MULBERRY Agenda Oak printed leather, 250;Anya Hindmarch Cables & Chargers nylon bag, £95;DVF Mariela printed laptop case,£100 (Net-a-porter.com); What is luxury stationary without Symthson, if like me your a budding entrepreneur this amber card case if so fierce one can;t help but take you seriously !£100.

Ciao Ciao xx