BET AWARDS 2014 - BEST DRESSED

Yesterday the annual BET awards found place in the Nokia Theatre in LA. The BET Awards celebrate African Americans and other minorities in music, acting, sports and other fields of entertainment over the past year. The awards are broadcasted live on BET (Black Entertainment Television network). 

As I live in Belgium, I didn't get to see the show. But I did watch the internet and noticed some great looking ladies. There were definitely a lot of white and natural toned dresses, kind of missed summery bright colors on the red carpet! 

But here are my five best dressed girls from last night!

Jennifer Hudson

Simplicity is key in this look. But the black accents and the short punk hair give the look an interesting edgy feel.

Karrueche Tran

Wow. I follow Karrueche on Instagram and love her sweet girl look. This night the red carpet presenter went a bit more sexy and diva for the occasion, opting for long curly hair and a cut out short dress. But count on her angelic smile to add instant cuteness to the sexy look.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Just like Miss Hudson, Gugu goes for a little white dress. She keeps it basic by pairing her dress with only white accessories. The natural bronzed makeup and pulled back hair make the look complete.

Nicki Minaj

Pills N Potions singer Nicki Minaj is still ditching the bubblegum pink and rainbow shades of hair and it suits her well! For the BET awards she wrapped her curves in a simple black dress. The rapper is certainly sticking to her new and improved style: less is more.

Pia Mia

I love the dark lips on her skin tone and the headband makes the outfit! Maybe a tad too much cleavage for her age (17), but hey we've seen worse right? 

x x x

EXPERIMENT: DOES A UNIVERSAL IDEAL OF BEAUTY EXIST?

Esther Honig is a young American woman who got the idea to put beauty to the test. She sent a barefaced picture of her to 25 worldwide freelance graphic designers and asked them to make her beautiful using photoshop. Only demand was that it had measure up to the standards of the national beauty ideal. 

This is the photo Esther sent out, without any makeup or photoshop.

As you will notice the differences between countries is huge! Some go for over the top makeup and some prefer natural looks.

Australia

Morocco

Italy

Greece

Vietnam

Argentina

Germany

United Kingdom

Israel

Honig could conclude that a universal ideal of beauty doesn't exist. It's ridiculous for women to try to reach something that isn't real. Once again it is proven that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so try to reach your own beauty ideal and no one else's.

x x x

KALEY CUOCO'S NEW PIXIE HAIR

Another pixie beauty is taking over the Hollywood scene. At the beginning of July actress Kaley Cuoco put the scissors into her long blonde locks and this week she decided to go even shorter! 

After sporting a trendy asymetrical bob for some weeks, Kaley went for a drastic short hairstyle. It's definitely a lot more bold than her Girl Next Door Look she has gotten famous for in 8 Simple Rules and The Big Bang Theory. 

Here's Kaley before the cut in the Cosmopolitan May 2014 edition

Here she was in the in between phase with a bob haircut

And this is her latest look from the front...

and from the back.

I personally prefer her with longer hair, although I do like the pixie more than the bob on her. However she's such a cute girl who can wear all lengths of hair. When you think about it, she has been acting for over ten years and has always been seen with her over the shoulder blonde locks. A change was long overdue! 

What do you think of Kaley's new hair? 

x x x

SAVE TIME IN THE MORNING - 5 TIPS

Hair in a ponytail, banana on the go, slamming doors, running for the bus,... One snooze too many and you can check off all of these from your morning list. The working and schoolgoing ladies will definitely recognize it, when you need to be somewhere on time mornings are never fun, they can even be the most stressful time of the day.
 I myself am definitely not a morning person so I try to save as much time as possible and make sure everything goes smooth and easy. I wanted to share some of my personal tips so you can get to your destination relaxed. 

Tip 1: Pick your outfit the day before.
 If you never have anything to wear, like the other 90% of women, this tip will save you a lot of time. Pick out a weatherproof ensemble, from underwear to hair accessories and lay or hang it out. You will look fabulous and put together without spending any time in front of your closet.

Tip 2: Shower in the evening. 
Ten minute saved and super relaxing after a long working day. And why would you need to shower in the morning again? It's not like you do anything that makes you dirty at night, right? Or wait... sometimes you will need to skip this tip!

Tip 3: Don't press the snooze button!
This one speaks for itself, just... don't...do...it!!

Tip 4: Go for easy breakfasts. 
Although the easiest breakfast options are probably cereal or a sandwich, or even worse skipping breakfast completely, these are not the healthiest options. You need to fuel your body after sleeping all night and to boost your metabolism for the entire day. Some fast nutritious meals I like to have in the mornings are:

eggs with slices of chicken + soy milk cappuccino or a black coffee
some slices of whole wheat toast with smoked salmon, cucumber and  avocado
a fruit smoothie (super fast!)
overnight oats

Tip 5: Keep it simple.
Don't overdo it on the makeup when you have a long day ahead of you. It can save you up to ten minutes, but even more important it's not good for your skin to wear makeup the entire day. It clogs up your pores which can cause blemishes and acne. Also the more makeup you wear, the more it can get messy during the day. Think of foundation sweating off, shiny skin, smudged mascara, lipstick on your teeth,... I've noticed the less makeup I put on, the better I look at the end of the day. Keep the full on glam face for the weekends and evenings! 

I hope you found these tips useful and if you have any tricks of your own to save time in the morning, please share below in the comments!

x x x

NEW BAG - FIORELLI BRONTE MEDIUM TOTE BAG

As you might have noticed in my previous blogposts, I'm a pretty big fan of ASOS. I love the simplicity of the site, the brands they offer and the quick and cheap delivery conditions. 

I check the outlet section on the site weekly and wait as long as possible to make a purchase to get the biggest discount. A bit risky to wait it out, but I always feel great and guiltfree when it works!  

For some weeks I had been eyeing on these bags from the brand Fiorelli. There were many ones I liked, but my preference went to this beige, snakeskin one. I thought it was a bit more season appropriate than the black ones and also the shape and size seemed more practical. 

These were the ones I considered buying (and are still available on ASOS.com).

Fiorelli Bronte Medium Tote Bag, black

Fiorelli Florence Large Weave Tote Bag

Fiorelli Bronte Large Tote Bag

And this it the one I purchased. The Fiorelli Bronte Medium Tote Bag, beige, it was originally €105,63 but went down to €84,50. I also got another 20% off because of a coupon code. Definitely subscribe to the ASOS newsletter to receive the latest coupon codes. 

I've been loving my bag and it basically goes with every outfit thanks to the neutral tones. I'll certainly keep Fiorelli in mind next time I'm shopping for a bag! 

x x x 

SPARKLING BEAUTIES AT THE CFDA AWARDS 2014

The CFDA Fashion Awards might not ring a bell, but with all the celebrity parties in Hollywood, New York and France, who can blame you? 

In short the CFDA Fashion Awards is an annual event where outstanding contributions to American fashion from all areas are recognized. Awards are given for womenwear, menswear and accessories, but also for journalism, creative vision and lifetime achievement. Definitely an important fashion event! Which obviously calls for important celebrities with extraordinary fashion choices.. These were the three sparkling beauties who caught my eye.

Solange Knowles

Solange isn't hiding away after the infamous elevator incident. In contrary, she's even making sure all eyes are on her with this sparkling maxi dress. 

I love her big hair. And the bright pink lips go perfectly with her skintone.

Naomi Campbell

Another fierce lady at the CFDA awards was topmodel Naomi Campbell. Although she's already 44, she still gets away with wearing long rapunzel hair and sexy fitting gowns. 

One lucky lady with some great genes! 

Rihanna

After getting banned from Instagram for posting too much nudity on her account, Rihanna went for a different approach to show the world her, yes we have to admit, amazing body. 

She decided to simply show up in a completely see through dress and let the paparazzi do the rest. 

Not very wearable for most of us, but I do enjoy Rihanna's fashion risks! She's exciting to look at and she isn't scared to overstep boundaries. Also, her smokey eye makeup is perfection!

What do you think of all these sparkles? And did Rihanna took it too far with her "naked" dress? 

x x x

MENU MONDAYS

It's been a while since I did one of these, but I'm starting off the month with a Menu Mondays! It was a pretty exciting (but also stressful) day for me as I started working at a new company.
And when your daily life changes it's normal your mind and body need some time to adapt. You will need to readjust your morning routine, your social life, your meal plan, your workouts,... I still have to see how the job will progress, and I'm taking it day by day.

I tried sticking to my usual diet today and I'm pretty pleased of how I did! 

Take a look at what I ate this Monday!

Breakfast

I started off the day with some eggs with chicken and a soy milk cappuccino.

Lunch

I prepared my smoothie (check out the recipe here: http://beautiesmoothie.blogspot.be/2014/03/my-everyday-smoothie-recipe.html) in the morning and took it to work with me in hopes there was (room in) a fridge, luckily there was! I also packed some stevia sweetened granola to snack on in the afternoon.

Dinner

For dinner I had a tuna salad with chick peas, cherry tomatos, cucumber, rucola, red peppers and a yogurt/mustard dressing.

Snack

As final meal of the day I prepared my favorite snack. 1 apple with some peanut butter and granola. Great fuel after my evening workout!

Although I was a bit scared of binging during or after my first working day, I kept it healthy and balanced. And since the first day of the week went well, I'm motivated to keep it up the rest of the week! 

Did you start off June healthy in the kitchen and gym? 

x x x