Beauty Feature: Skin

Blessed!

The festive season is upon us and the madness of friends, family, food and fun reigns supreme for a few glorious days. It is also a time of reflection, celebration, growth and change as we prepare to welcome the new year and I wish you all the best as 2014 approaches ever closer.

The shoot featured in this post is a favourite of mine for a few reasons. With the help of one of my best friends, Kopo Meswele as my model and the wildly talented Kalvin K Kol Kes as make-up artist and stylist, we created a goddess!

The shoot accompanied a beauty article featured in Peolwane, the AirBotswana in-flight magazine a few months ago. The article now appears in every issue of Peolwane, and tackles beauty concerns unique to those travelling in and around Botswana. The first one of the series was focussed on skin.

The Botswana heat is no joke, and the first step to a good skin regime is hydration! Water water water water water! Drink it like your skin depends on it! The sun here is ruthless! We lose tonnes of water when we sweat; our skin burns and this can leave permanent damage, so it is important to drink enough water to counteract this.

Hydration goes hand in hand with a great moisturiser. We need to help replenish our skin and the best way is to find a good moisturiser with a strong SPF factor for those sunny days.

Also don't forget sunscreen! The rest of your body needs love and protection too!

< The most important thing to remember is to love the skin you're in! We are beautiful, radiant beings and we glow when we are at our most comfortable and confident.

Fashion Feature: Roots By Culture- Storytellers Of Fashionkynd

Blessed,

This post is to profile my dear friend Gorata Blackdotah Aiah and her fashion and lifestyle brand, Roots By Culture: Storytellers of Fashionkynd. I remember us sitting together a few years ago, her eyes lit up as she shared her vision with me: a brand that was about more than trends, more than price tags, an idea of fashion as identity, self-expression and visual communication. Now in 2013, the dream has come alive! Aiah is more than a fashion designer, she is also a stylist, make-up artist, image consultant,and is also proficient in jewellery design and beadwork. She recently opened her shop in Johannesburg's stylish Maboneng Precinct on the corner of Main Road and Maritzburg Street. The space is unique, a large showroom filled with shipping containers where various artists, crafters and traders have space to showcase and sell their work. There is a definite sense of community, youth and a fresh outlook on life and design. It is the perfect place for Aiah to birth her dream!

Aiah explains, "In fashion theory I learnt in depth how fashion is more than just
clothes, bags and shoes that are showcased by famous people and celebrities.
That is what Aiah call adding “style” to fashion. Fashion is a lifestyle, a way
of life or a livity. It’s an external expression of what's going on internally;
our mind, body and spirit portrayed through our image...

My point is music or sound energy and other things like
books/magazines/articles/journals/blogs/websites we read, the content we watch
on TV, if we watch TV play a bigger role than we are aware of in our well beings
as humans. If you listen to dirty music for example, you will become dirty music
eventually because it’s something which you chant or recite. It’s repetitive and
so it will live in your sub conscience and eventually it becomes habitual making
it a ritual and a rituals purpose is to make manifest. So, eventually dirty is
what you will become. Technology also plays its part in identifying one on a
social standard."

So what is Aiah saying? "At Storytellers of Fashionkynd we have realized
that if we can all identify who we are on the inside then we can easily let
people know who we truly are from the outside. Aren’t you tired of being
mislabelled coz of how you appear?"

To find out more about her, check out her website at: http://www.storytellersoffashionkynd.com

Fashion Feature: Gilded Sands By Aobakwe Molosiwa

Blessed, This post is dedicated to my dear friend Aobakwe Molosiwa, the brains behind the sensational brand, Gilded Sands. This wildly talented young man has greatness leaking from his fingers and every piece of fabric he touches turns to gold. Yes I know I am hugely biased in my praises because I have had the pleasure of his friendship for many years, now I think it's time I share him with you all. Gilded Sands oozes an effortless luxury, simplicity and ease. The Gilded Sands woman is confident, thoughtful and stylish. The following shoot was made possible with clothing designed by Aobakwe Molosiwa of Gilded Sands, styled by the talented Kalvin K Kol Kes of Kode Style, make-up by Jennifer Osei-Mensah of Evolushon Images, and our lovely models, Nature Inger, Jessica Lejowa, Sibongile Phiri and Boitumelo Kanelli. I am so blessed to have such beautiful, talented people around me and I am thrilled with the results. Fashion photography often feels over-edited in my eyes so I have kept the photos as simple as possible. Enjoy! If you would like to contact and/ or hire anyone from the team I will be attaching their contact details in a few days on the Facebook page, Faith In A Jar. We start with the gorgeous Nature Inger in Gilded Sands.

The beautiful Sibongile Phiri.

The striking Boitumelo Kanneli

And the stunning Jessica Lejowa

And the man behind the magic! Mr Aobakwe Molosiwa himself.