Last post of 2015-Hello 2016!

        Arghhh!!! I did what I told myself I wouldn't do-I posted WAY.TOO.LITTLE!
What's sad is I think about the blog every single day and sometimes tell myself okay, today I'll sit down and post, even it's just a sentence and pictures but then the e-mails and calls come in, I'm leaving work late, I have places to go to and life just gets in the way and all of  sudden it's a month since I posted! NO! This cannot continue in 2016! POST MORE Brenda! 
I have so many outfits to share (which I do on my Instagram) but I always love having a base- a landing of sorts.
 Enough moping! How are you? How was the year? Well for me, it was a great one, I won't lie! Tears were shed-both of joy and of sorrow and frustration. I'm super excited for 2016 and all the travelling I'm anticipating!

 

Ode to the classic woman

   Some items and looks are forever classic-unshakable, untouchable and will stand the test of time and 1 of them is the belted trench.
I don't care what you look like under it but the belted trench instantly makes you look polished and classy.

Stripes and bows

   When you're cramped in a toilet stall of a public restroom with your little suitcase of outfits and realize the top you intended to wear was forgotten at home..you improvise! lol
Such was the case with this outfit. 

Patched faux wrap dress

Hello Hello!!
First of all, Happy Veterans' Day everyone! May we always remember the sacrifice of others that have made us able to achieve what we have achieved today.
 I just wanted to drop by with this post featuring this bomb dress from Sheinside.

Stripes and florals

Hello November!!
 Wow We're 2 months away from the end of 205! Can you believe it? The days are getting shorter, skirt hems getting longer and I'm mentally preparing for it all. At least I have Christmas and my birthday to look forward to!

Romwe- A premiere destination for affordable clothing

   
   Oh hello from the other side :)
 I hope you all are doing amazing and making the most of the colder temperatures. I'm here battling a cold (no, not from being exposed during my latest photo shoot) but because it's cold in Canada! Lol  

Royal vibes in Vee's Kaftan

  I've always to own a kaftan. They're just so regal and classy and make you look rich without even trying! Well, the opportunity presented itself when Vee's Kaftan gifted me with this stunning black one.

Tropical Queen

    As soon as I saw these photos of myself in this outfit I thought- My gosh, I just need a tray full of fruits to balance on my head and I could look like a tropical island girl. Perhaps the earrings were a bit much? Oh well, at the time I though they were a great touch. I'm never scared to admit that sometimes I make "mistakes" with my style but at the end of the day, what is considered a mistake? One person's over the top is another person's average.

Crop tops in the Fall? Where they do that at?

  Yes, it is officially "Fall" or as the Brits say, "Autumn", which means the dreaded Winter is approaching  but that doesn't mean we don't get some random Summer-like days here and there!
 Well we had one such day today and I busted out this gorgeous set c/o Guiltie for Zuvaa

Lady-like in Lulu Katia

  Whenever I wear this dress, I always feel so lady like. Like a little princess. It's just so cute and still appropriate to where practically anywhere. I've worn it oh so many times since I got it a couple of weeks ago from Kaela Kay for  Zuvaa. 

Tea time!

Hello my lovelies!
 Just a quick drop by to gush about this gorgeous midi dress and how much it looks like something I would wear to a tea party! Haha

 

Nudist?

The color nude is probably one of the most if not THE most subjective color ever. I mean one man's nude is another man's beige right? Is the color of my skirt in this post nude? Light brown? Brownish-pink? Nude? Tan? I think you catch my drift...
 Either way, I had seen this skirt on a fellow blogger and knew it had to be mine! It's so girly with the little bow and poofy enough, the way I like 'em?

A classic look feat Jord Watch

Hey hey hey beautiful people!
 Happy back to school for my youngins who are starting school this week or started last week! It shall be a successful academic year, just make sure to work hard and pray even harder :)

Today's look is featuring 2 pieces which I deem as classic- a sleeveless jacket and wide leg pants. 
With Fall slowly creeping on us, I'm playing around with longer lengths here and there.

I though this watch was the perfect complement to this look as the cut itself is timeless.
I have been seeing these JORD watches all over and for good reason- wood watches with a masculine cut? Sign me up! They are definitely not like any watch I've ever seen. 

Designer Spotlight: Interview with Eloli Designs

   Hello folks! 
Today I am super duper excited to feature the luxury brand-Eloli designs!
Eloli is no stranger to this blog as I had briefly featured them 2 years ago when I met 1 of the members of the team at African Fashion Week Toronto 2 years ago.
I had always known them for their luxury African-inspired leather bags and phone cases-which I might add are the business, but this time, they are impressing me with their latest clothing collection, which was highlighted in a recent showcase aptly entitled: Eloli presents African Luxury, held in Yaounde, Cameroon on August 8th.

While waiting for a new charger...

Hello again dear readers!Happy Mid-week.
 So I can't seem to fin my camera charger for the life of me and so I'm stuck to using my dear nw iPhone6 phone camera for photos until further notice.
*Edit: my charger just arrived in the mail! Yasss! HD pic shall be coming soon :)

Updates upon updates!

My my my!
It's been a minute hasn't it? Well I have been active on social media, just not on the blog.
Wow, since the last post I went on a road trip to several cities in Ontario, went to New York City, met Beyonce's stylists Ty Tyrone as well as the editor-in-chief of one of the most popular fashion sites in the world, Claire Sulmers of Fashion Bomb Daily and may I say I was starstruck!! Like, Claire is such a role model and I aspire to reach her level one day. She literally started from the bottom and has worked her way to where she is now-which is everywhere! Haha

Flying without wings

  These photos are some of my favorites ever!
It happened randomly. My photographer and I were walking past an alley and I said I wanted pictures in the alley. He thought it would give the outfit a "New York" vibe and completely agree with him. 

So thick that everybody in the room is so uncomfortable...

Can you tell by now that I'm on a mission to have the largest ankara wardrobe ever? Haha. I get closer to my goal each day...

Infinity Dashiki

  Who doesn't love Dashiki?! It seems like folks can't get enough of this eye catching African print and I can't blame them.
 I have worn so many dashiki pieces myself but one thing that is currently trending-and probably the greatest dashiki invention, is the Infinity dashiki dresses and skirts. I mean, you get multiple outfits with just 1 fabric!





  Ofuure decided to hook me up with both their infinity dashiki dress and jumpsuit and I'll show you my favorite ways to wear them, starting with the dress in this beautiful orange dashiki print!

So how would you style yours?

XOXO

SKiny Bish

In bright colors

Hellooooooooo whoever still reads my blog! Haha
 I have been away (again) thus the lack of posts but I have some posts on backorder and so will be more frequent- I guarantee it!
 As you all know (unless you're a first time reader), I work for Zuvaa as both their Community manager and chief stylist. With that comes tons of perks, like getting amazing pieces in the mail such as this turquoise dashiki skirt from Ms Alaba Shop for Zuvaa. 

Could it be Stella Jean?

I saw this skirt from Stella Jean about a year ago and wanted to own it...until I saw the price tag. At over $300 dollars, it was way more than what I am willing to spend on a skirt, regardless of the designer.
Imagine my joy when Sheinside released a replica... at less than 10% of the original skirt!

Demestiks New York

Happy Monday!
I know, we don't often put those 2 words in the same sentence but look at it this way. Monday=4 more days till Friday!
I have been very fortunate to now own not 1 but 2 Demestiks New York pieces! Ther perks of working for Zuvaa :) His work has been spotted on Beyonce a few times so if it's good enough for Bey, it's good enough for me!

Royal-without the blue

   I tell you folks, having a ton of money doesn't bring you class but rather how you carry yourself in the items you wear!
 I got this dress care of the lovely folks at Sheinside and I was immediately sold!  The wine color, flowiness and ease of wear are just perfect for the summer. Oh and did I mention it costs less than $30?! Score!

Alive and well, I promise!

HELLOOO my dear readers!
Gosh it;s been forever! I haven't abandoned you, I promise. Just been busy buys BUSY!

I really wanted to drop by with a post 2 weeks ago but guess what- these images were with my photographer and it was taking forever for him to send them to me and when I did get them, my photo software couldn't read the files and then I had to Google how to convert them etc etc and I had a headache,lol.

Long weekend over

    Happy Victoria Day to my fellow people of Canada!!  I had such a nice weekend. I spent Saturday working from home for Zuvaa and then taking some photos for the blog. My brother came down from Montreal and we chit-chatted before bed time. Then on Sunday we all headed out to church and to visit the ambassador and his family and had some deeelicious Cameroonian food and drinks and good conversation. I ended up spending the night there as his daughter is one of my oldest besties from time (we're talking the 90s, haha). 
Then Today was BBQ DAY! I had some of the best grilled chicken, beef and pork ever! Topped with home-made cocktails and ice cream cones, it was the perfect Monday!

Busy bee

    My, my , my am I busy these days! It's a good kind of busy though. I hate being idle. Don't get me wrong now, I love a good relaxation but I like to be able to get right back to work! Between Zuvaa, my day job at the embassy, blogging, styling and my nephew, boy does the time fly but I never forget to take in the moments and just enjoy life. 

A diva is the female version of a hustla

Happy mother's day to all my mommy followers and a special shout out to my very lovely,loving and fun-filled mommy!
 I apologize for my less frequent blog posts but my new role at Zuvaa has been keeping me pretty busy!

Pussybow

 That name always gets me giggling..."pussybow"... Who came up with that? Haha
Well, well, hello lovelies! I had an interesting past week. I lost my last living grandparent to Diabetes, started a new job and one of my friends got engaged! In the end I give thanks to God and pray my grandpa rests in perfect peace!

The fringe collab

        Fringe is officially a Spring/Summer 2015 trend and what better way to get trend-inspired than seeing a bunch of females rock it in different ways!
The beautiful thing about trends is you can either go big or start small. For once I decided to go with the latter and opted for a fringe-detailed clutch from Zara.

That doesn't give you the permission to assault me

I've been noticing a lot of females on social media opening up about their personal experiences being ogled, cat-called and yes, even physically and sexually assaulted so I decided to dedicate this post to just that.
Yes, I know males get assaulted too but we can't deny it is nowhere near the frequency with which females do. 
I have a love/hate relationship with Spring and Summer because yes I get to wear less clothing but unfortunately it calls for unwanted attention and advances from men who can become quite aggressive and scary.

The unexpected pop of color

    I promise you that there is no better wardrobe staple for this Spring season than a midi skirt. It could be pleated, in bright colors and it can even be made of tulle but a midi skirt will be your best friend. I have "invested" in a good number of them from both Sheinside and Choies because they have a variety of really really affordable ones in all sorts of colors and prints. You can add a blazer for a more appropriate work attire or just a crop top for an outing.

Spring 2015 mini shoe haul- Video

    Happy Saturday lovelies and welcome to the weekend!
I'm looking forward to walking around downtown today with my camera and enjoying the beautiful weather and hope you have awesome weather wherever you are.
 First off I would like to thank everyone who has shown me love since yesterday when I was featured on Fashion Bomb Daily as Fashion Bombshell of the day! Hello to all my new followers and welcome!

The versatile Dashiki dress

Happy Friday-eve my loves! Oooh, I can't wait for the weekend! With the warmer weather here, I always look so much more forward to the weekend than before. Sunset occurs later in the day which means I get to stay out longer strolling, hanging out with friends or taking blog photos!
 Today I bring you a gorgeous "illusion" Dashiki dress from Miss Beida Fashion, who by the way is going to be killing you softly with Dashiki prints from her summer collection all Summer long!

Almost married

    Confession- I've actually been proposed to once...and I said yes jokingly...and then said no. Yikes.
It was done over Skype and the relationship was rocky and I could have sworn he was joking but I wasn't too sure so apologized for hurting his feelings and oh dear it all seemed weird at the time but guess what- I haven't spoken or heard from said proposer in over 4 years so I guess it's for the best right? No regrets here.

Just feel like getting some stuff off my chest

Here we go, another more reflective post. I personally prefer these type of posts where I (kinda) let you into my life and my mind without completely baring my soul to you all because let's face it, the only person I want to bare myself completely to would be my husband. You guys come in at a tight second place, no worries.
     I've always tried to be as honest as I can on my blog-from admitting to buying knock offs to admitting to struggles with my weight, insecurities etc etc and today I decided to share with you something which may be even more personal-my struggle to feel like I am where I belong or headed towards where I need to be. 

Chicwish midi skirt obsession

Happy Easter Monday lovelies! 
I hope you enjoyed the weekend and ate tons :)
I had quite a packed week with a brief trip to Toronto and then back to Ottawa and was able to meet up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while. It was such an amazing week with tons of love and food and relaxation. We all need that every once in a while don't we?
 I decided to share with you some very trendy skirts I have been eyeing for a while now-some of them date as far back as last year!

Olivia Pope inspired

Hello folks and Happy New week!
In case you hadn't noticed or in case you don't follow me on Instagram, I've been posting a few outfits which have been inspired by Scandal's lead character, Olivia Pope.
 To re-create this style, it's all about structure, clean cuts, crisp lines and classic pieces.
How to start building a wardrobe worthy of Ms Pope? 

Thrifting 101 featuring Jackline from Sincerely Miss J

Happy Thursday folks!
 Today I decided to turn the tables a bit. If you've noticed, I've been doing way more thrifting in the last few months than ever before. I've found it fun and have scored some amazing gems that no one else will be seen wearing-well at least not at the same time as me!
 I've tried to give you tips here and there but thought, hmm, why not call in an expert at thrifting to give you all the thrifting steps you need if you're going to be giving it a shot!
  

If I had $1000 to spend on Spring shopping...

Money is a good thing, believe it or not. You especially realize this when you're as broke as I am! Haha
With Spring approaching, I find myself ogling over tons of pieces that I wish I could wear this season.
Why not share these with you? They're too amazing to keep to myself anyways.

Shop the looks here:

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1- HERE  2-HERE  3-HERE  4-HERE  5-HERE  6-HERE  7-HERE  8-HERE

1- HERE  2-HERE  3-HERE  4-HERE  5-HERE  6-HERE  7-HERE  8-HERE

P.S. ASOS is currently offering 20% regular-priced items! You may want to take advantage of that.
                                                                         XOXO
                                                                         SKinny Bish

White fluffiness

    I love when I can try something new at an affordable price! This skirt was on sale on Missguided and I had always wanted to try either a dress or skirt with a sort of faux fur fluffiness going on. I seized the opportunity and grabbed this skirt for $22 knowing I would create an outfit with a sort of blush themes going on.