JVegas ~ Love is life and Life is living~

Polished Culture August Air IMAGEISAMUST

jv3gas — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 18:21:55 +0000

Ads for Polished Culture and AugusteAir brought to you by IMAGEISAMUST

My Fall style Collection

jv3gas — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:40:52 +0000

I’m introducing some looks I style for fall hope you like it there’s something for everyone!

The Dry Skin journal

jv3gas — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:14:40 +0000

Yes I’m obsessed with skin, it’s the first thing people notice, judge and touch when coming in contact with a person. It’s a deal breaker for me, I love a gorgeous tone and smooth skin. Unfortunately, everyone’s not born with great skin but it is achievable. (Just takes a little hard work). Skin is actually an organ and just like the rest of the organs in your body you have to take good care of it. The skin gods decided to give me a hard time and bestowed me with eczema and uneven skin tone. So I have spent many nights studying the ways of great skin. From my notes and research I have concluded that great skin develops through three methods.

1. Great diet

you cannot have great skin with out a great diet. And if you have eczema or dry you have to go the extra mile. Eczema is a result of toxins built up in your body and is also an attack on your immune system. To first get better skin you must change your diet.

2. Natural products

Nothing makes skin happier than nature. You may think the expensive products are helping your skin in some way but I’m not convinced. Chemicals hurt your skin especially skin containing melanin. Soaps, lotions, ointments and moisturizer may seem like an upgrade but it’s not. Treat your skin to natural alternatives inside and out and see better, faster results.

3. Water

Nothing refreshes tired skin like water the essential component to great healthy skin. Flushing your body out with a detox is the best way to reintroduce water into your diet. To have great skin you will need it. I would suggest a colon cleanse detox, it purifies your skin from the inside out, as well as your taste buds. A colon cleanse also changes the way you eat, shrinks your stomach and helps to slim your waist….yeaaaa it does all that, and yea I tried the famed lemonade diet and I had great results , just havent gotten around to trying it again.

Looking great is hard work , it takes discipline and dedication but you only get one body why not make it as perfect. After all, IMAGE IS A MUST!

Black Soap White Lather : skin care for blemishes

jv3gas — Sat, 28 May 2011 14:09:05 +0000

So today I went on a whole foods crusade to find Black licorice soap. According to the Internet, it helps get rid of skin blemishes and discoloration. I’m sure you have heard of black soap, but black licorice soap works a little differently. It’s a natural skin brightener. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to pull a Sammy Sosa, I love my golden brown complexion, but what I don’t love are the dark spots that come from acne , friction and eczema…Anyone who has a hint of melanin in their skin most likely can relate. Here’s the scenario: You get a blemish, you treat it with some homemade remedy or proactive. Feeling like a conqueror you cheer and go to bed feeling confident about your face. The next day you wake up and see it left a mark of vengeance. You now have a brown spot on your face that takes residence for about three weeks. #Fail. Or maybe your elbows were dry as a child and because of neglect they look as if you have been throwing ‘bows’ in a charcoal factory. #epicfail. Whatever you ailment, the best way to combat an uneven skin tone and blemishes is Black Licorice soap. Trust me, im a stylist

Natural Black Soap

C L U X U R Y Relaunch Party

jv3gas — Mon, 23 May 2011 13:49:37 +0000

on June 10 2011 we will be celebrating the relaunch of Cluxury Lifestyle Management LLC. in lieu of the major event, a photot shoot with the CEO took place . I had the privilege of being creative director and designer for the shoot. i put together a look that communicated power and yet glamor… who runs the world? Girls! these are only two picture from a cell phone shot, forgive the quality… but take a look and get a feel for whats in store.

I M A G E I S A M U S T … would you wear it?

jv3gas — Mon, 23 May 2011 06:00:01 +0000

i design , i style so every so often i will put together “looks of the week” for my virtual ideal customer, i use this also to help some of the clients i have now to get a feel for my style. what i have comprised is a “wardrobe” which means each look contains staple pieces that will be used again. this helps the clients to better understand how to rotate a wardrobe successfully. all of the pieces range in price but it the look that should be embraced, i just happen to have expensive taste .. sometimes….

a little added treat for you: below is a group of party dresses i designed for my portfolio. soon i will be uploading pieces from my new collection! enjoy

Revolution! A New Day is Coming!

jv3gas — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 06:44:17 +0000

The recent events in Egypt have inspired me to write again. Only because I fell in love with the place and I’m thrilled at what’s occurring.

Egypt is having a revolution! so are we!

So if you don’t know, Egypt is in the middle of a Revolution of the People. ( I call it that ,it’s actually being called an “uprising”). The Egyptian people are demanding the resignation of their leader, Mubarak. He has maintained his office for over 3 decades and the Egyptians are feeling less than satisfied with him to say the least.

While in Egypt, my roommate Karis from Paris and I have many conversations and interactions with the people and grew to love Egypt. We were always treated like family wherever we went. People referred to me as “sister” and “queen”, and went above and beyond to accommodate us. A local family even took us in as her temporary children and cooked for us on several occasions. The best thing I can relate it to, it the equivalent to having loving rural cousins who you stay with in the summer.

Anyway, as wonderful as the people were, they were equally poor. There was no minimum wage for workers, the streets were over crowded , children begged for money in tiny voices that just broke your heart and there was an obvious lack of care from the government. The public transportation systems were filthy, old, run down…etc the building were crumbling, some didn’t have roofs, the cars were old, just extreme poverty. In fact all the rich people live in a suburb called “California”. Weird…..

Now the people of Egypt are demanding that Mubarak be removed from office and that someone replaces him who is better equipped to fix the issues within their country. They are in the middle of a revolution! How beautiful and wonderful that people come out of oppression to demand rights! We must always support the revolutions of the people! I’m confident that Egypt’s revolution will trigger many more to come in the surrounding areas.

There is power in numbers and often the majority are the ones who are oppressed. If people work together change can occur, the world can change! We must get behind the people in every revolution for support.

Maybe this is what the real 2012 is, perhaps there isn’t gonna be an end of the world, or any polar caps switching, perhaps there will be many revolutions for the “have-nots” and the only thing that will shift will be power. … So in support of Egypt, save this pic I made of their flag and post it wherever you want! And lets be apart of the revolution!

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” –Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

No Woman should have alll that POWER

jv3gas — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:06:06 +0000

I can’t always express the things that I feel or see… so i try to find creative ways to share them.

Recently I took up a childhood passion of mine and decided to give it my best shot. Ever since I was small I had wanted to be a fashion designer. But I was discouraged, people didn’t take me seriously and I was told it was too hard of an industry to enter and the money would not be guaranteed. So I forgot about it, which didn’t turn out to be a good idea. See I’ve learned that when you suppress who you are… for any reason …. You risk losing your balance.

My Africa/ Middle eastern travels changed me forever… and it gave me more balance. But I was still in need of something else. I took up the opportunity to design a collection for my senior project at school. My major is Textile and Apparel Management with a concentration in fashion development product management. What am I gonna do with that? Whatever I wanna do .. gosh its cool now! (shameless kanye pub). The other option was a 20 page paper. Which may have been the easier choice BUT I decided to take the road less travelled.

See, I understand that I ALWAYS need a challenge. I know that when I push myself the hardest I get the best results. I like extreme situations… I like to conquer. Now what you must understand is that recently I had been feeling like I there was something I was missing.. I thought I need a companion, but that didn’t help, I lost 13 lbs, but that wasn’t enuff (it was a great start!!). I took my hair from red to jet black and I pierced my nose…again. But at the end of the day I still felt empty… and my apathetic attitude began to grow… life bored me, people disappointed me, and there was no brilliance no love and no art in my life. But a beautiful thing happened as I begin the preliminary sketches for the class… something sparked in my and I become enthralled! I felt infatuation again and I craved more and more of this art form… the fabric… the sewing… the 2D- 3D construction all of it enticed me. Perhaps it was the lack of skill in the area of sewing that prompted my thirst for a challenge. Maybe it was the fact that I DON’T SEW. Or the fact that I had little patience, no direction and no clear understanding of what I was getting into… I mean I have a B.S. from a technical institute.. as my aunt says “I know how to ‘cook’ fabric…but this new passion whatever it was, I fell in love. For me it was the perfect chemistry.

Now bear with me… this journey I am on , of graduating and seeing the world and establishing myself is actually my way of introducing myself into womanhood. I can’t explain what I feel but my priorities are changing, my intellect is growing and I have never loved myself sooo much. God has placed so many different women in my life and for the ones that were already there, he has opened my eyes… I look at everything differently; beauty, love, sex, learning, serving, praying, passion… everything has new meaning to me now. It began in Egypt and Dubai where I was so inspired by these women whom the world may see as oppressed…but I found strength in their modesty… something very different from who I was in my teenage years. I found beauty in how the women in Africa and Dubai chose to identify. I took my inspiration and applied it to my own life. And this collection is what I gave birth to.

http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/7880392

I used Dj Kue’s Remix to Kanye West “Power” if your smart enuff u already kno why

Click to view slideshow.

Being a woman is such a beautiful journey and I have only begun.

jv3gas — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 12:49:54 +0000

Dubai

THE DAY CAME, FOR THE MOST AWAITED TRIP OF THIS WHOLE STUDY ABROAD…. You can’t imagine how anxious everyone is, people “miraculously” got over sicknesses and everyone is pumped to leave the dirty clutter of Cairo and get to the illustrious Dubai. It seems like a fairy tale, middle earth or Hogwarts… I can’t even imagine what it will look like. There is still a remorseful feeling in the air from the news of the death of our professor’s brother. The tragedy is heavy on everyone’s hearts and we are all looking for Dubai to make everything better.

Were up at 6 am. The night before I skyped my loved ones till about 4am, packed and barley closed my eyes before my alarm went off to get up. I pack all that I can think of to bring grab my iPod make a quick playlist and hope of the big Benz bus to the airport…

Three hours later we arrive

Snap shot as we arrived in teh Airport

e in Dubai… the temperature outside is 106 degrees as we hit the runway… We do the airport shuffle ( I get another stamp on my passport yay me!) and immediately notice a huge difference. All the men wear (bear with my description)these garments, they look like white dress shirt dresses and these head pieces. They are the emirates, the native people of the UAE but only 10% of the population in Dubai). Four Emirate women and five men greet us at the airport they are our guides for the next six days. The women wear a berja, an all black dress that covers ankles to wrist and hair. Their “modest” attire and next to the men they make good pairs. It looks great together actually.

Dubai is amazing, everyone just looks in awe as we ride to our hotel because it looks more like America than Cairo; there are paved streets, luxury vehicles and sky scrapers, construction and its soooo clean. It so refreshing to see what everyone called “civilization”. In a way it kind of looks like a place off the Jetsons. Everything is so new and modern looking. The bus feels like a party right now… the energy is soo high!

Entering the CityCity Of Dubai

We arrive at the hotel and by hotel I mean the Address in Dubai. Pause… now I’ve been all over to five star places but there is no Five Star like in Dubai, it is extravagance at its best! Immediately it spoils you and makes it hard for you to want to ever be in any other place..

thsi is what was on when i turned the tv on cute

From the Burj Khalifa100 + stories up

The model of the building at the foot on the entrance

100 + stories up

Its literally like something from a movie the illuminated tunnel we walk through are screens of hi tech animation of the building of the tower, pictures and interesting facts you feel as if your walking through time. We step onto the elevator and make our ascent to the observatory 194 floors about the ground. The rest are office buildings on top and we have restricted access. The ride up is so amazing smoothed, not to mention the entire elevator inside is a screen and your mesmerized by the images about the Burj Khalifa that you forget your on a elevator, it feels like you’re going to space, I expected to arrive on space ship once the doors opened. ….

the day day we go to aquarium and under water zoo! i looove the zoo and it was a nice break from seeing all the monkeys from home … just kidding… some people we were with even went scuba diving in the aquarium… i didnt wanna mess up my hair…

lil blow fishy!

cute lil penguins!

the next night we decided to go skiing… in Dubai

needless to say you wont see any pictures after!

In Abu Dhabi, we visited mosque, met with parliament and many government branches to get a better understand of the newly formed nation. We visited the Dubai sch0ool of government who had a prestigious program recruiting college students from all over to come and be a part of the newly forming nation. They needed students to do public policy , finance, government structure and industy management. Their incentive was offering high paid positions that would normally take Americans 15years of experience to achieve. Many of my classmates loved the idea, so did I , at first it is very alluring ot think you could have such a position of power in a new nation. But then I thought about my family and what I need to contribute to my birth place and brushed off the thought… besides, everything aint what it seems.,.

Visit to MBC

Visit MBC Middle East Broad Casting

Dinner boat ride from the Prince

: Karis and i went for din one night and got a lil appetizer

visit to the most extravagant Mosque in the Middle East, during our tour they talked sooo much about the white marble , mother of pearl and largest Swarovski Crystal chandelier in the world that i forgot it was a place of worship… i wanted to have a party there!

Overall the trip to the lavish and beautiful Dubai/Abu Dhabi put my mind on a more global perspective and helped me to understand where I want to be in life. It was a priceless trip and everything was funded by the crown prince so no way could we have had a better experience. Dubai is a very extravagant place and for a second it has the ability to put you into a false sense of reality and you begin to blur the lines between what is real and attainable and what is just shiny and deceiving. It all depends on what you understand. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime!

i will keep adding pic

Dubai Tomorrow

jv3gas — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 23:02:03 +0000

An epidemic has hit our group…

The instructors (our professors) told us that in the five years they have done study abroad; it has never been this bad. Three people have had to go to the hospital, one of them being my roommate. Of the three people who were admitted into the hospital, two may have to go home. One of the two being my roommate for Dubai! Smh seems to me sickness was after me … the symptoms of the sick people are flu symptoms including: diarrhea, vomiting, severe headaches, dehydrations, body aches and mixtures of all of those. It’s starting to get creepy. I skipped three classes this week to sleep some and avoid getting sick.

Right now I feel it’s all mental. Whatever is making people sick is accelerated by negative thoughts and feelings. I observed my roommate stay sick for 6 days because she became uber negative about her situation. I can recall myself beginning to feel woozy when I got homesick and got upset for no reason. After getting a few pep talks, gaining control and praying, all of my symptoms disappeared. My hunbun even suggested that I do some meditating to help myself not get homesick which actually worked wonders. The mind is that powerful. If you tell yourself your sick, you will be sick but if you tell yourself you are well… then you will be well. Needless to say after being exposed to every germ possible, viruses, bacteria etc… I am well, because I said so.

Yesterday we went to see some swirling dervishes, men who dance and play the drums. It was an awesome experience. We were in old Islamic Cairo in an old semi covered building. After sitting for 3 hours, Egyptian time is very similar to CP time (there’s an indication of their true ancestors) the show started and it was magnificent. There was a lot of traditional African drum beating combined with Arab dance. The dervishes are a mystic group of Islam that dance (swirl) and play music (praise and worship) to find God. The music is a call and response type, and the dance consisted of… well, you guessed it… swirling (ever seen ANTM with the swirl brothers?)… Forty five minutes into the dazzling spinning musical show, the entire building goes black… everyone assumed it was part of the show… I knew as soon as the fans stopped spinning that either way, my time was up. The power had actually blown… the whole experience summed up Egypt in a nutshell and everyone laughed our way back to the streets. After the half ass show we went to the Egyptian version of Canal Street meets the shopping district. I tried my first bit at hustling some items and needless to say Oprah (as I was called that day) got it done! That night I was sooo exhausted I skipped dinner, showered and went straight to bed.

The next morning we woke up and headed to the Art museum. This by far was one of the best experiences I’ve had the entire trip. It brought back my love for art and reminded me of when I was little. My aunt Lavern often took me and Courtney to art galleries, and jazz festivals and all sorts of things in downtown Durham to give up a better appreciation for art much and afro centric things. As I walked through the museum listening to Janelle Monae “Archandroid” and taking my time looking at each piece of art , I couldn’t help but be reminded of those times. Thanks Auntie! I took a lot of pictures of pieces that stuck out to me. We had class after so we had to rush but I managed to snag some good shots on my digital and my cell! I think the best way to understand and learn about a culture is through their art. ( soo I took these pictures with my black berry! )

at the top of the cross it says "King of the Jews"

Well tomorrow we leave for Dubai and it is the much awaited vacation everyone is looking forward to. My roommate that was supposed to go isn’t going to be able to go so now I have an entire room to myself. God just keeps on blessing me *holy dances* finally and good night’s rest and some MUCH needed alone time. Now hopefully I will be able to blog in Dubai, if not then this is fare well for a while. When we return we will have a week left until it’s time to go home. Wow time has passed… slow. But I’m grateful and I have defiantly taken this whole experience in!

ps heres the website for the hotel where we are staying in Dubai… http://www.theaddress.com/en

best part: The Art Museum

Worst Part: learning our instructor’s brother passed today. Please pray for him