I’ve been in this country since the 9th of October, so I’ve already completed one month and I can’t complain one bit.

School has been hectic, but not hard, and so far I haven’t been wasting my mother’s money. In fact if you’d looked at this morning’s tweets you’ll already know that I got a merit (just under distinction) for my first essay. I’m quite proud of myself. The plan now is to keep up the high standard.

As for my blogging, well my camera is playing the ass and I am still unemployed. Working on both of those senarios at the moment, I’m job hunting like crazy, and when I get a job then I can buy a new camera.

My laptop,  a story I’d rather not rehash (check my tweets;synopsis: Amazon UK sucks), I’ll be getting from Dell next week. Then I’ll apply for internet with Virgin Media. But the library has been saving my ass with connecting to the fam and keeping up with research.

Anyways, I’ve got to go.

I don’t know how the gossip mags are making out in these times with  the stiff competition they’re getting from the blogs. I for one not spending a cent on the slackness when I can get it for free online.  It’s no secret that print is suffering, while I’ll still buy fashion magazine (despite my reservations about them) gossip mags just can’t get any play from me.

Why? Let me list my reasons for you:

• Bourgy – The tag line says it all, this is where smart people dump down. It’s bread and butter is Vh1’s roster of tacky reality shows. Charm School, Flavor of Love, I Love Money, all of the mind numbingly foolish shows you love are profiled here. Don’t judge me, my job is stressful (ok as I write this I’m a full-time student) this provides the balance. The blogger goes by the name steupz (I wonder if they’re Trinidadian, I’ll ask) and has the most acid tongue (definitely Trini) and that’s the real clincher for me.
• Bossip -  Of gosh these people don’t have any training, and shamelessly that was the draw for me. They don’t put water in their mouth for anybody so sometimes they’re downright mean. But because I like bachannal this is the kind of thing that got me reading them in the first place.
• TheSuperficial – The guy who writes this is an evil genius, where gossip is concerned. Seriously if I were famous, I’d want him to like me. Scratch that, I’d want him to love me, cause he’s really harsh when he doesn’t.
• GoFugYourself – I get celebrity fashion, in that I believe they should be held to  a different standard than the rest of us. I expect their outfits to be 10x better or weirder, because most have a  stylist or an image to maintain. That said some people  are just wrong with their choices. These days with the internet everybody feels they’re an expert, but for the most part I feel the FugGirls get it right with their criticism. My only complaint is: I think they don’t post enough.
• Tales of a Groupie – The title says it all, this is where groupies spill the beans on their conquests. So if you wanted to know how R&B singer Joe puts it down, read this. If you want to mind Beyoncé’s business you’ve come to the right place. I have nothing more to say click and enjoy.

That’s why gossip mags can’t get my money anymore. But I need to cut down, too much of this crap isn’t good for you.

I recently returned from a trip to MIA to visit my mother. If I’ve never mentioned it before, the woman is shoe obsessed! It was during this trip that she purchased 5 pairs in one weekend, and then tried to blame me for being a bad influence. Truth is she can’t help herself, and this was simply a case of her latent shoe love flaring up.

During one of our trips we found ourselves in Ninewest; a store I love for having lovely shoes I can afford. And I met this gorgeous shoe. It’s so obviously an evening shoe that isn’t ashamed to make a statement, without being tacky. In fact I find it very elegant, and don’t know why I didn’t purchase a pair (OK I know why I didn’t but still).

These however are definitely party shoes. It’s almost like they deserve their own spotlight.  While  I think Christian Louboutin is a genius with platforms,  I love these because the bow on the back is irresistable. This pretty pair will instantly dress up any outfit you have, just brace yourself for all the attention they’ll cause.

But not every evening shoe has to make a statement. I love these Manolos because they’re a classic evening pump.  Sometimes understated elegance is everything, and these d”Orsays fit the bill. They come is many colours (black, gold, raspberry) but purple satin = yum.

I’m intrigued by glitter. There’s a fine line between really stylish and too-flipping coskelle. The thing about glitter is that it’s soo attention getting that the shoe itself should be simple. That’s why I highlighted the Louboutin pumps, but had to showcase the Privé. It’s lovely platform, open-toe pump, but the glitter finish makes it new. I highly recommend it!

Of course ruffles and glitter aren’t the typical features of most evening shoes. Satin in metallic colours usually does the job. Add some rhineshoes and you’re good to go. Personally,  I’d sooner purchase a gold or silver shoe to start my evening show wardrobe. For the silver shoe lover, the options are endless.  I found this shoe on Endless.com. I’m not sure how it would actually look on my foot, I find it busy yet intriguing.

Gold is also a welcome addition to any evening shoe wardrobe, but I don’t mean this. Gold is my goto evening neutral, it punches up black and compliments my skintone fabulously. According to Shoe Closet this shoe was one of Elle Magazine’s picks for March, and I can see why. It’s Lovely.

I don’t think you have to spend a lot of money on shoes, but I couldn’t not link to Manolo and Christian, cause a girl can dream can’t she?  At any rate I don’t know if I’ll be getting any opportunity to try these styles out myself anytime soon. If I do, however, I’ll keep you informed. Until then, stay cute.

I really love Drake‘s song – You’re the Best. It’s nice to hear a rap song about fidelity and commitment, however it’s couched. I then because men aren’t really encouraged to show emotion, and according to the media, they’re supposed to treat romantic entanglements as a search for more sex.  When an artist goes against the grain, or laughs at the status-quo, the result is often, funny, catchy and relatable.

I started thinking about the other “sprung” songs I liked, and came up with this list:

• Drake – You’re The Best This is the version of this song that I replay in my head everytime I hear it.  Loved it instantly. Homeboy is sprung, and I like that.
• T-Pain – I’m Sprung I’ve been a fan of T-Pain’s auto-tune path to success, and this song is why. Mr. Man is showing all the signs of a player who is fighting a growing emotional attachment to just one girl. Quelle horreur, or is it?
• Jackie O – Pussy Real Good This hilariously camp song is soo bad it’s good. The selling point for me is the obviously pussy whipped guy singing the chorus.
• Blackie – Ah Hook Calypsonian Blackie experienced a career boost after this song was released. Kaiso has a long tradition of recounting the adventures of the Village Ram.  Conversely songs about the anti-Ram (hee hee) are very popular too. Blackie’s song falls into the latter category. Make note of the quintessential West Indian proof that you’re pussy whipped: washing the panties of your beloved.

Of course there are more but these are my favourite. I know it’s mean to laugh at other’s misfortunes, but these songs are sharing the joke with you.

And I thought I’d share a clip from one of the cartoon’s world most sprung of chracters. I mean, as soon as Popeye’s pisses her off, Olive takes up with Bluto. And yes Popeye the spineless man takes her back each and everytime.

The International Soca Awards will take place on the island of Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos on October 30th.  The awards  were started in 2003 by Colin Jackman as a way to recognise the work of our hard-working soca artists.

Well the list of nominees is out: http://bit.ly/EakCc To be eligible your song should have been released between June 1st 2008 to May 31st 2009.

I wasn’t too pleased with some of the selections, but that’s always the case with me and awards. Some of the usual suspects were there, and some weren’t.

So in a moment of idleness I decided to put up my picks for who should win. In other words here’s the list of my favourites in each category:

• Best New Female Artist:  Shyane Baliey – Squeeze Me
• Favourite Up-Tempo Soca (Female):  Faye-Ann Lyons – Meet Superblue
• Best New Male Soca Artist:  Pupa L’eendi – Rum Oh (Special mention to TC for Frontline)
• Favourite Up-Tempo Soca (Male):  Stabby De Guard – Go Stabby
• Female Soca Vocalist of the Year:  Zoelah – Wine Up On Me
• Male Soca Vocalist of the Year: Edwin Yearwood – Not Missing Me
• Female Soca Performer of the Year: Faye-Ann Lyons -Heavy T Bumper
• Male Soca Performer of the Year:  Machel Montano – Push Bumper
• Soca Duo or Group of the Year: 3 Canal – Boom Up History
• Soca Song Writer of the Year:  KMC  – I’m Not Drunk, Yeast, I Will (Special Mention Benjai)
• Best Soca Collaboration Groove: Shurwayne Winchester & Maxi Priest – Make it Yours
• Best Soca Collaboration Up-Tempo: ?
• Over All Female Soca Artist of the Year:  Faye-Ann Lyons – Meet Superblue
• Over All Male Soca Artist of the Year: Machel Montano – Push Bumper
• International Soca DJ: ?
• Best Soca Compilation Album/  CD of the Year:  Machel Montano – HD Family
• Favourite Groovy Soca: Female:  Zoelah – Wine Up On Me
• Favourite Groovy Soca: Male:  Machel Montano – Push Bumper (Special mention KMC)
• Soca Artist Album/ CD of the Year: Machel Montano – Heavenly Drum
• Soca Song of the Year: Faye-Ann Lyons – Meet Superblue (Special mention Destra & Dark Horse: Benjai)
• Favourite Soca Info Website:  toronto-lime.com
• All Over Soca Band of the Year: Machel Montano HD (no question about that)
• Soca Producer of the Year: Sheldon $hel $hok Benjamin (RIP)
• Best Soca Music Video: KMC – I’m Not Drunk (Special mention Destra Garcia for Hott)
• Best Soca Chutney Music Video: Hunter & Friends – Jep Sting Naina
• Best Soca Re-Mix Collaboration: Tizzy & Richard Trumpet – Wuk Meh
• Over All Soca Chutney Artist of the Year:  Ravi B – Dularie Nanny
• Over all Soca Chutney Band of the Year: ?
• Favourite Soca Online Radio: ?
• Best Soca Chutnet Collaboration of the Year:  Patch & Da Mastermind – Rum & Roti (But it really should be Jep Sting Naina which wasn’t nominated)
• Best DJ Soca Artist (DJ that sings): TC – Frontline
• Ragga Soca Song of the Year:  Peter Ram – Tight (I prefer the version of Bunji’s Plenty Gyul without Beenie)
• Soca Chutney Artist of the Year: Kennath Salick – Radica

So what do you think of my list or of the nominees themselves? I wish the Soca Awards were televised and broadcast around the region. I wonder if Tempo would be interested…

I used to be a nail polish fiend. But that was when I was in primary school and had just discovered that when I don’t bite them down to the quick, my nails grow fast and long. They also get too hard to bite easily. In other words discovering nail polish helped me discover that I had nice nails naturally.

I decided early that traditional nail colours were cool, but funky colours were better. Hence the reds, greens, purples and yellows. I was never into black because of it’s link to the occult. That has since changed, now everyone wears black nail polish. At the time though I used Revlon’s Vixen nail polish: a colour I genuinely loved.  It was (as you can seen in the link)  a really dark burgundy.

I remember wanting to paint my nails in Rasta colours. I refused to rest until I found the perfect green and yellow shades to complete the look.

But my love was short-lived, school started and I had to stop wearing my nail polish. Also, it’s difficult for me to apply neatly, and the waiting for it to dry is a pain. Every now and then I buy some colours. Even if I don’t paint my finger nails, my toes will be done.

Since I’m on vacation, I bought come cheepie nail polish from the icing and painted each nail in a different colour. This time the practise has a name, it’s called Skittling, like the rainbow coloured candies I used to love. I was younger it had no such name other than playing with nail polish, but whatever.

Here’s a peek at my efforts.

The pictures don’t show the horrible streaking on my nails. And oddly enough it looks OK in the sunlight. But seriously, buy quality nail polish. You get better coverage, truer colour application and the formulations are much safer. It’s still on my nails as I type this, but they’re coming off today.

I in MIA for a bit visiting my mother before I fly off AGAIN for school in LON. I hate flying, but I know my fear isn’t rational. Plus I love traveling, so I fight through it.

I had my camera with me in flight so I decided to take some pics to share with you.

My fear isn’t paralysing, thank God, but it makes the process all the more stressful. Hope you like the pics.

Fashion to me should be fun. And jewelry should be special. If I had to describe my style, it would be classic with a kick. By that I mean: rings shaped like squares, matte gold jewelry, you know stuff like that. That’s why  I was so attracted to the whole concept of coloured diamonds.

Oddly enough though, I find the best jewelry comes from the smaller jeweller. The ones who are so into their designs, and create really original pieces. I know there are some standard settings, but sometimes what limits you can inspire greatness. I love the jewelers who are really artists and used metal and precious stones as their medium.

I’m not an artist myself, but I have ideas in my head for jewelry, and once the funds are there plan to “design” some pieces with a trusted jeweler. I’m very picky and custom jewelry fits my control-freak personality.

In real life I don’t wear alot. My only mandatory jewelry is my rosary ring, I always try to have a gold and a silver one so I can always wear one when I go out. I don’t wear earrings regularly, though I want to. I plan to get some studs for my ears. They’re pierced twice, and I need to keep the newer holes open. I’ve just been slack.

Since my lack of funds makes owning the type of jewelry I like difficult, I browse.

Costume jewelry is great for a girl with a budget (once she’s ot allergic to it) amd during Carnival I really look towards my assessories to bring colour and drama to my fete gear. That’s why I love plastic jewelry; they’re cheap and wonderful. A ring like this creates a nice playful touch, that carries well throughout the year. I would wear this with a nice sun dress, or with jeans for a run to the mall. There’s this whole culture on etsy dedicated to qwirky plastic rings. A lot of them are made with Japanese toys and glued to an adjustable base. Many of them I really like as presents for little girls. Any one of the flower rings I linked too could work for young girls, pre-adoloescent and up. As an adult you’d probably only wear it out once or twice anyway, after which you could give it away to the little girl in your life.

Please note this cassette ring, it’s hilarious!

As for classic ring options, once I saw a pavé diamond knuckle- ring  set in white gold in a MarieClaire magazine article. It’s been 5 years and I haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. They’re such  a masculine, and violent concept, but the ring was elegant and slim. I found this option on Daily Candy’s website, and it’s quite nice. I keep pairing them with evening wear, either a lovely cocktail dress or satin suit. The overall finish would be quite stunning I imagine.

I’m also partial to simple geometric designs. This ring is a series of squares joined together. Also I really love Liz Mannette’s steelpan line. Her tenor pan ring is to die for!

Recently I’ve been really attracted to natural looking rings. Shells, Wood and Mother of Pearl rings call my name.

So what say you, What’s your ring type? I just think I need more!

I’ve just completed one year as a blogger. My first blog was called GoodFaith, but I couldn’t keep up with 2 blogs, so I cancelled it and moved those posts here.

I love music, and some of my favourite posts feature the songs I love. Traditionally my first posts featured this song by Joseph “Culture” Hill, which is easily my favourite reggae song. It’s hard to pick a favourite out of my favourites, but I tend to play these songs the most, UpTown Top Rankin by Tight’n Up, Aap Jaisa Koi, Buy You A Drank by T-Pain, and  Read a Book by Bomani Armah. But I have to say Firey by Mastro is probably my favourite of my Favourites (does that even make sense). I didn’t know him before so I started playing the other songs on the YouTube playlist and loved them. Firey has been described as the most perfect soca song ever. Ask your parents, they’ll tell you.

Easily my most popular posts are My Favourite Movies: a list of the chick flicks I like, I Not Playing Mas Eh: my ode to de mas I not playing and Pen Addict: still addicted, need therapy but won’t go.  My content is best described as a callaloo (a little bit of everything in one place), I move from serious, to silly, mostly self-indulgent and idealistic. Occassionally I get on my soapbox. My posts on Celebrity Death, Diamonds, Racism and Current Affairs fit into this category. And everyone seems to agree with my low opinion of Barbados’ Culture Minister.

My posts have chronicled my fashion ideals and thoughts about health. I mean everyone who reads my blog knows I love shoes, and hats. I have a conflicted relationship with magazines and I am working on getting my brain to truly love my natural hair. I also have some great tips on healthy eating, particularly for Caribbean people.

I love my photography themed posts best.  They’ve covered my cooking projects, natural disasters cricket at de Oval and my favourite: the Belmont Tour with the National Museum. They are so fun to do and I like to think of myself as an amateur photographer;  just without the fancy equipment.

I get bored easily, and most blogs have a high failure rate. What is hampering my posting is that I’m in a pretty high stress time-consuming field. So my time home is spend recovering. Twitter: which I’d been ducking has been great for my blog. I now average 30 to 40 clicks a day as opposed to 15, because of it and Polyvore. What’s been great is that twitter has let me continue blogging, just on a smaller scale. With the mini-feed widget I get to combine the two.

I may be starting a new chapter of my life soon. That adventure will definitely be fodder for future posts. So what ever happens, thanks for stopping by. I hope it’s been fun. I have plans to make it more so in the near future.

So thanks for reading and please, have some cake.

I have been  so converted by the Twitter that I’ve been neglecting my blog. That and it’s been hella stressful at work. At any rate come September/October I should be in school in the UK, and that should provide much fodder for my blog or distract me from it completely. We’ll see.

I’ve been following some amazing beauty bloggers on Twitter, some others I discovered using WordPress’ search function. As you know I’ve become obsessed with hair blogs, well it has morphed into an all round beauty binge. For that I blame the following:

• Lauren the Queen of Blending. Just google her. She has a YouTube channel and it is inspiring! Kinda of like Kevyn Aucoin’s makeup books; I don’t have her skills, but she’s so down to earth she makes it seem easy. She really likes crazy bright eye make-up, the kind I almost wish more women in Trinidad and Tobago would wear regularly. At least for playtime. She has me dreaming about OCC’s lip tars, yum!

• Brittany from Clumps of Mascara I follow her on Twitter mostly. I started drinking green smoothies because she raves about them always. Since I don’t have a juicer anymore, the smoothie thing is doable. She’s a veggie and proud, and while I not giving up meat, I love the health and beauty tips she gives.
• Amanda Franken of Dr. Frankenpolish is the owner of the blog that got me excited about nail polish again! Seriously. She makes her own colours mixing polishes with glitter, pigment or each other to create some amazing things. I have a weakness for greens and blues. Trust me if you read her blog you may have seen me gushing in the comments section. Shameless I know, but the colours are amazing!
• Molly from Polish Mayhem is my Twitter fave! Didn’t know about jellies, glass flecks or halos until I read this blog. But you could just read the blog to drool over the amazing colours she gets to model.
• Scrangie of the blog with the same name has some of the best looking nails I’ve seen. Honestly, if she’d hand over her nail polish stash I’d be a happy woman. I’m new to the Scrangie fan club, but she’s so big  Rescue Beauty Lounge invited her to create her own colour. It’s now available for pre-order. Here are her colour swatches, aren’t they amazing?
• The Beauty Maven behind Her Juvenescent Elixir does everything Fokti, WordPress and YouTube. And She’s accomplished in natural hair and make-up so yes I’m jealous, but in a you- go- girl sentiment not a hateration kind of way (if that makes sense to you).  With regular FOTD and NOTD updates plus detailed instructions when necessary, you may have to add this to your blogroll. I’m just saying.

And don’t get me started about fotki and twitter. They could be deadly for a beauty addict. Because of twitter I discovered black lip gloss, as a VIABLE option. I’ve been tweeting up a storm, so follow me or drop by the blog for updates and fabu links.

Love Ya!

Got to go What Not to Wear is on!