Unique Me:

As most of you know from my last shoot I've been working with Raeesah Randeree an international makeup artist, beauty blogger and now a dear friend to me. She is a lady of many talents and to add to the pile she sells top of the range make up too! Follow her account on Instagram @laboutiquedemaquillage to keep up to date with what she has on offer.

Here are some of the products she sells

Contact her via email at makeup@raeesahr.com for sales information

Raeesah was kind enough to sponsor an amazing giveaway for RMfashionary. The winner of the giveaway will receive one of the newest Samsung cameras as well as mascara from the Benefit cosmetics range. Raeesah and I collaborated with each other for this post to come up with something unique in terms of makeup and fashion which is how the competition will be judged.

 To enter you will need to:

1) Show us your most unique photo (it can be anything unique to you) by posting it on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.
2) Use the hash tag #myuniquetake
3) Follow @blueblu.blue, @laboutiquedemaquillage, @la_maquillage_byrae and @rmfashionary

 Terms and conditions:

1) You can enter up to three times only.
2) Be creative and have fun.
3) The competition will run for ten days, starting today.
4) Make sure your account is not on private in order for us to see your entry.
The most unique look will win!

For my unique fashion and make up look:

Last year I asked my gran to make me something special to wear for fashion week, and so she made me this black tutu which is one of my favorite pieces in my closet. It’s unique to me because it’s one of a kind made, with love by Mama Haju. To complement the look I wore vintage earrings, given to me by mum and a black polar neck (a trend I love at the moment).

 
Shoes and quirky socks are something people usually associate with me. I bought these socks from Kid Sister at a recent market day; the unique thing about them is that they're see-through! Finally my buckle shoes are a unique find from MRP.

 

Of course hair and makeup are also essential, I was inspired by Margot Robbie's unique hairstyles from the movie 'Focus' and so my talented friend Raeesa Ebrahim helped me achieve one of the looks. Last but not least Raeesah Randeree did a unique take on the make up by doing a maroon smokey eye paired with a bold lip.

 

I absolutely adored every aspect of making this look come together and I can’t wait to see what all of you come up with. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Infusion of Talent

A few weeks ago, I was approached by Rafeeyah Hassim, who is the distributor of the Nomada bag range in Johannesburg. Nomada accessories is an international brand that can be found in Dubai and Mumbai and now for the first time it will be available in Johannesburg. I was so excited to do this shoot to launch the bags and so I really went all out to make it amazing. Thank you to the creative team who helped me pull it off.

I was fortunate to have Raeesah Randeree taking care of my make up for the shoot. She is an international make up artist who studied at the London College of Make Up and is based in both Dubai and Johannesburg. Raeesah has an amazing eye for detail and she loves using make up that is good for the skin which are just some of the reasons I enjoyed working with her. Her top tip for me was to use a Dermologica skin primer, this serves as a ''cling wrap'' for the skin (to be applied before the use of foundation) to block the make up from entering the pores of your skin. This in turn makes sure your skin still remains healthy and flawless. Raeesah is by far my favourite make up artist and if you're looking for someone to make you feel as well as look beautiful, I would highly recommend her.

The first step was to brief the creative team on my outfit and bag details, the beauty look was therefore all based around the garments and accessories. My hair was done by one of my closest friends Raeesa Ebrahim and my nails were done by Jahaan Kajee. Follow these lovely ladies on Instagram to see more of what they do.

 

 

The make up products used by Raeesah for this shoot.

 

As for the Nomada bags they are commonly associated with class, elegance and perfection. Nomada is derived from the word Nomad - which is a person who cannot remain in one place for too long and loves to travel! The bags are thus made on the ideal that woman anywhere in the world can wear a Nomada bag and look good. Anyone who loves playing dress up and looking great with an extra touch of sparkle will love these bags too, in my opinion. Nomada was founded in India in 2014 and has since been a growing sensation. I'm so excited to announce that the Nomada bags will now be available on home soil to enrich our fashion sense that much more. Here's to the launch of a new stunning product in Joburg, how lucky are we?

 

There are a wide variety of clutch bags to choose from. I was meant to pick three for the shoot but ended up picking way more because I couldn't decide on which bag I loved most! The bags can be used either for a more casual look (note the big clutch bags used) or for a dressy look (note the dainty beaded clutch bags).

 

This was my favourite bag from the Nomada range.

 

Last but not least a big shout out goes to the South African designer label Lunar, who so kindly provided the garments for this shoot! "Lunar is about finding inspiration in the small things around us'', and boy was I feeling inspired the minute I put on the clothing, majestic isn't a great enough word to describe how I felt. Lunar is also well known in the wedding dress market, make a trip to their store at 44 Stanley to see more.

 

 My photographer Layla and I had a ton of fun shooting at the Westcliff Hotel, if only I could do this everyday.

 

 

The Fashion Internship:

                          
I took a bit of time off from blogging over the past few weeks because during my campus holiday I started working as a fashion intern at the Sunday Times Fashion Weekly. On my first day of work I was greeted by a smiling lady, Khomotso, who is the permanent fashion intern at The Times. Her first words to me or rather her question was "Have you watched the Devil Wears Prada?'' - I nodded excitedly because of course I've watched my favourite movie about 17 times- She laughed back at me and said well this is it! From then I already knew I'd love my internship experience.

 

The working world is all work and no play they say? Not in my industry! I firmly believe if you love what you do and make the most of even the smallest tasks you're given it will take you to great lengths in where you want to go in your career and general life. While working at the Sunday Times I got to meet several designers and retailers such as Lunar, Vesselina Pentcheva and Shaldon Kopman to name a few from an endless list. I got to work under amazing creatives such as Roxanne (The Sunday Times Fashion Editor) and Tiaan (The Fashion Weekly editor).

I, along with the other fashion interns were involved in several processes that lead up to the editorials that you see weekly in the Sunday Times Fashion Weekly section. First and foremost in the process we are given briefs about what items of clothing and accessories will be needed for the shoot that week, thereafter we are tasked to source goods that fit the brief of the shoot from various retailers and designers around Johannesburg. A lot of lugging around of designer goods later we add them to our fashion closet back at the office to be used for the shoot.

Another important aspect about editorials besides the clothes are the locations at which it may be shot at! My task this past week was to look for a suitable location, with the team, for us to do a fashion shoot at. The museum MOAD was used this week as the end result. To cut a long story short everybody at The Times is given a little packet of fairy dust in order to make an editorial come to life, what comes out at the end of it, is what I'd like to call magic. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working with an amazing Sunday Times team who have turned out to be more like friends than colleagues.

 

 The process of an editorial:

Choosing themes, garments and models to be styled and shot on the day of the shoot.

 Choosing an appropriate location for the editorial.

 Hiring the correct crew in terms of photographers, models and make up artists to help get the job done.

 Care of the garments on the shoot day as well as dressing of models.

 

 

In next weeks paper what you'll see is a beautiful end result.

 

It makes me sad to have to leave, but duty calls, back to fashion school it is.

PS: All geared up and ready for some more exciting posts, watch this space - there is a huge upcoming collaboration I'm working on for next week!