W H I T E HENNA

A major throwback post!

Lol, sorry guys, I had written this more than a year back, but realized I never posted it. My opinion has not changed and they say better late than never…So here we go 😜

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Ever since I heard about white henna I have wanted to try it, just looks so beautiful from what I have seen.

As I was moving to Dubai I thought “here’s my chance”, if anywhere in the world I could get white henna done this would be the place. Unfortunately I came soon to learn that white henna was not that easily found here. In most cases it was actually banned. Why you ask? Because white henna is not natural, and as it became a popular trend henna artists and saloons created white henna out of different chemicals just to be able to cater the trend. This turned out to be very harmful in many cases, thus the ban came into action.

However this summer, somewhere mid-Ramadan I saw an insta-story by one of my fellow Dubai bloggers: @nehan.s. the one and only Henna artist Sara (@SarasHenna), also famously known for being the one to introduce white henna to this world was coming to Dubai for Eid. You can guess my excitement grew!

Sara uses only FDA approved ingredients in her white henna, so I had nothing to worry about. Safe and approved in UAE. The day before Eid I met Sara and had my henna done.

As you can see I got one side white and the other with natural henna. This is what Sara adviced me to do and I am glad I followed her advice.

White henna works differently from natural. Anyone who has had natural henna know that when applied you let it dry and for the most part fall of by itself. The longer it stays the darker the color. After that it will stay on for about a week and then start to fade off.

Now white henna will start to peel off after a little while and if you rub your hands against something it will peel of very quickly. When that starts there is no stain that stays back and gets darker with time, rather no sign you even had henna done. I was told depending on skin and your “hand-usage” it can last from 1-4 days. For me it lasted about 1,5 days. Not long at all, when the design started peeling of it just looked weird, so then I started to rub it all off.

Though it may have lasted very short on me, I could not stop staring at my hand, lol. But white henna truly is something unique and super pretty😍 I loved the design Sara did on me and against my skin the white henna was very bright and beautiful. If you have never tried white henna I would recommend trying it. Follow Saras advice and put one hand white and one hand natural for maximum cost benefit.

Would I do it again?! Yes. And I would actually do both hand white, just because I loved that look. However, I would rather do it for an evening event. Put it on that morning and have it on for the event. For Eid maybe not. It did not last me the whole Eid day as I put it the day before. The white henna is water proof, so no worries in washig your hand. But I felt my left hand was a bit handicapped as I was so scared to rub it against anything.

Have you tried white henna? What are your thoughts on it?

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Transitioning to the Middle East

Salaams everyone,
hope you are all keeping well.

I got asked recently to share a post on how it was moving from Europe to Dubai. I get asked this a lot in my personal life. What do I miss most? How did I adjust to life, climate? How much of a contrast is it ++? So I thought why not share a more in depth blog post on it. Maybe this could be of help to more of you.

I moved to Dubai 2 years ago. I packed up all my things, headed towards Sri Lanka for my waleema, went on our honeymoon and then after a couple more days of post wedding dinners and family time I moved in with my husband here in Dubai.
As I am writing this I am thinking to myself this was one massive adjustment and move, but allhamdulillah, at the time and now it has never felt like anything too scary.

I had about 4-5 months to prepare myself for the move. Dubai/UAE was no strange country for me as I had been here on vacation before and had family who lived here for many years.
But of course, vacation is one thing and living here as an expat is another. On one side Dubai is portrayed as a very glam city full of life and on another there is this scary perception of Dubai being “Middle East”. Honestly speaking, moving to Dubai was never a scary thought for me. And if you know me personally you know how I view the world as one big beautiful book to explore, so it takes a lot for a place to scare me off.
Dubai actually had parts of me very excited. As a muslim woman I feel very free and liberated here. I have just the same freedom as I had in Europe, the bonus being the comfort of not being constantly judged or stared at for wearing my scarf or abaya. We might not like to admit it, but we can’t deny it either. The constant hijab debates in Norway/Europe, scrutiny of muslims, always needing to apologise or excuse yourself from something that has nothing to do with you nor your religion, strangers looking at me with a question mark having a million questions running through their minds. Of course, as I was born and raised there one learns to ignore and look passed that.
Not until I moved here though did I realise how liberating it is to not have this in my presence. To dress the way I want to dress. In Dubai there is no pressure from either side, the two sides I am talking about are the opposite extremes. If you want to wear skinny jeans and tank top go ahead, if you want to wear abaya or full niqab go ahead. If you want to chill at the beach with your bikini or burkini, does not matter.. the choice is yours and the people around you could not care less whichever one you choose.
I could write more on this, but let’s proceed. Oh, another bonus, everything here is halal, so no more hunting down places where you can eat and can’t eat/limited choice.

However, no matter where in the world you choose to live, each place has its ups and downs. What I miss most about Norway are my family and friends. You move away from your whole network and start from scratch, that could be a bit daunting at first.
My husband and I both have some close relations here which did feel comforting.
But Dubai is a lively city with constant happenings, don’t be afraid to join and take part. Other than through work and colleagues, this is the best way to get to know people. If you are of the reserved personality you will have to step out of your comfort zone and not be afraid to approach or be approached. But know that most people here are in the same boat as you. Most people are here as expats and have moved away from their homes, family and friends. The people you have here will become your family abroad.
Tbh this is not as scary and new as it may sound. Some, if not most of you reading this would realise that our parents did the same. In my familys case leaving everything and anything they knew in Sri Lanka to move to an almost unheard of country (at the time) which was and is Norway, which also had its own (for them at the time) strange/unknown language. Because Dubai is as cosmopolitan as it is language is not a worry. English is one of the most used languages next to hindi and arabic, many people live here for years and years with only English. This makes the whole move very smooth as you don’t have communication struggles.

When it comes to work-life balance this is very different from Norway. Unfortunately I can only speak and compare to Norway/scandinavia. Working in Scandinavia, compared to Dubai, is very laid back. The pressure here is intense and job security can be fluctuating. Dubai/UAE is a tax free country (or up until recently they just added 5% VAT on everything, but income is tax free). This could sound pretty amazing, but the reality of it means you have to on your own organise and manage your finances. Health care/insurance is different from company to company, retirement plans, schooling, children, savings and so on.. you yourself have to figure out how to do that.
Cost of living here in Dubai is high and makes it all the more important to manage your finances  to the best of your ability.

I also got questions asking how often I am able to travel back to see my family.
Norway is not as close as I would like, but allhamdulillah not too far off either. My husband and I try to make it to Norway at least once a year together. But allhamdulillah the world gets smaller and smaller, in a good way, and travel is not as hard as it used to be before. Though we make it back once a year together, we have got to meet them a lot more often than that allhamdulillah. My family tries to do the same by coming here once a year too and we have been blessed enough to otherwise meet in other countries such as Sri Lanka and U.K. I could not be more grateful for all these opportunities and possibilities allhamdulillah allhamdulillah.
I do miss my friends a lot though as I don’t get to see them as often as I would like, but whenever I do travel to Norway I always make it a point to meet them and catch up for however long I can. Because again, growing up in Norway without actual family (meaning obvs not my immediate family consisting of parents and sibling), they become just like family.

However, this is all part of life. And thats the beauty of it I believe. Go where life takes you, explore, learn and experience (that goes for both moving and/or traveling).
It can be scary moving away from everything you know and find comfort in, no doubt in that. But what you gain is so much more.
If Dubai is long-term or short-term, I don’t know. But I am grateful for whatever time, experience, friends and family that I have gained. And all of it will follow us no matter where life takes us. Allhamdulillah.

I hope I answered all your questions, but if I left something out please do ask me in the comment section and I will get back to you ❤

Max Factor Face Contour

A couple weeks ago I received another VoxBox from Influenster containing more Max Factor goodies to try out and share my opinion.

The box contained:
Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation
Max Factor Miracle Contouring Palette
Max Factor Miracle Glow Duo Pro Illuminator
Max Factor Facefinity Compact Foundation

The base done before the rest of the makeup is crucial to how it all turns out in the end and therefor I wanted to give these products a proper go before giving my thoughts on them.

Max Factor Face Finity All Day Flawless 3 in 1 Foundation – soft honey

Firstly I must mention that the color I received was way too light for me. That made it a little harder to give it a proper test and also a full review, more so on the hold of the formula. They don’t have the biggest range of shades, but they definitely have darker shades than this.

I still wanted to test the formula through it’s initial application.
It being a 3 in 1 flawless foundation I was expecting it to be a full coverage foundation. With the first layer I could still see my skin color peeking through, but gave a solid medium coverage. Had I been any lighter I could have almost gotten away with the first layer.

However, the foundation is definitely buildable. I went in with 2 more layers for the purpose of testing the coverage and how cakey the formula might me. On my dry skin I must say I was impressed, it did not start to look cakey. But I did start to look more and more beige, the coverage for sure started to add up.
(Noteworthy: I always use a beautyblender with any foundation/cream products. And due to my dry skin I always use a hydrating primer/moisturizer underneath).

The foundation has an SPF of 20. To me personally that does not make much of a difference as I always wear SPF underneath anyways. And I recommend you do too, please take care of your skin! However, more SPF is always an added bonus in my books.
Many people do not like SPF in their foundations due to flashback in photography. If you do take flash photography a lot that might be something to keep in mind. Personally SPF in my foundation does not impact my pictures, atleast it hasn’t up to date.

Due to this being the wrong shade I could unfortunately not test the foundation on it’s own much more than this. Therefor I can’t say how much it lives up to the name “All day”.
But one thing I was keen to test out was how well this would blend with my Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. I love this foundation, but the shade I have (Macao) is now very dark for me. But it is so good (and also expensive) so I did not want to chuck it away.
Now that I had a foundation that was on the opposite end and very light for me I really wanted to see if I could get use out of both.

I must say – This has now become my new favorite combo. Both formulas blend well and together I can get my perfect shade. Since both the Max Factor Face Finity Foundation and Nars Sheer Glow foundation are solid medium to full coverage foundations, the combo definitely gave me wedding ready coverage, but yet natural looking finish. One layer of this combo was plenty enough for me, but if you want full on flawless coverage you could go in with another layer.

Now I would not recommend you going out and getting these two in your wrong shade. Don’t waste your money, get whichever one in the right shade. I did want to mention this as not always all formulas blend well together. And if you happen to have a bit contrasting shades in your vanity try mixing up the formulas and maybe you might end up having “your own” foundation.

Max Factor Miracle Contouring Palette

This palette impressed me more than I expected. I know many people tend to be scared of cream contouring, personally I am a big fan. My all time favorite cream contour is the MAC richly honed pro sculpting cream. Having this as my go to I was a bit sceptical to how this would compare. I would not say this replaces my MAC cream contour, but it sure is a close alternative and a cheaper option too.

This palette is divided into 3: Contour, lift and highlight
For contouring and my skin tone I use the two darkest shades. One is cool toned contour and the other a more warm bronze. Depending on the look I am going for I will either mix the two or use the dark cool toned contour. The darker shade when swatched is just the same as my MAC cream contour. However the Max Factor blends a lot easier and quicker into the skin. This is good if you are new to contouring or scared of the harshness a cream contour could give, as you can build up the darkness of your contour.  I like a contoured cheek so I build this one up a bit.

There are a lot of shades, depending on your skin tone and how highlighted you want your face to be you have a flexibility to choose and mix which to contour, lift and highlight.
And this palette is refillable, which if I am not mistaken means you should be able to buy singles of the ones you might run out of.

Max Factor Miracle Glow Duo Pro Illuminator

I was most excited to try out this product when I received the parcel.
For the longest time I was not that into highlight – still not into the very glittery/bang on highlight, but anything to add to that natural glow I am all about it. From the looks of it this seems just like that.

When I finally started to test out the product I was neither impressed nor put off, just stuck a little in between. The lightest shade definitely adds that natural lift to the cheekbones. Does not contain any shimmer, so if I want a little bit more to the cheekbones I add another shimmer on top. But for day-to-day lift this is a decent one.

The bronze shade is what made it a “meh” product for me. I could neither use this as a shimmer on top of the other shade as it was just a little too dark. But at the same time it was a little too pale to use for a glowy bronzed look. If you are paler than me it might work out perfectly for a glowy bronzed look, and if you are darker than me this might work as a beautiful cream highlighter. Unfortunately for my skintone it does not do too much for the face. Keep in mind I got the shade “deep” in this glow duo. The one in “medium” might have been a better match as a highlighter duo. Since I have it tough I do use it on my eyelids every so often. When in rush out the door this is easy to slap on for super quick eye look.

Max Factor Facefinity Compact Foundation

Are you a no-makeup-makeup gal?
This one might be just what you want. With a big powder brush this will give you a very subtle coverage and with a kabuki brush a little bit more coverage. Light to medium-light coverage. You could build it up for more coverage, but personally I felt that to be very heavy on my face. I could feel the product sitting on my skin and that is not a very comfortable feeling.

If you know me personally you will know that if I am to go for a ‘no-makeup-look’ I will literally not wear makeup. But I also know that not everyone is that comfortable with that. If you do prefer putting on some makeup rather than no makeup, then this might be what you want.

How I for the most part end up using this product is either:
1. To set my liquid foundation and add that slightly bit more coverage. Due to this being a foundation and not a translucent powder, I don’t use this to set a medium to full coverage foundation. But rather something along the lines of The Ordinary Serum foundation.
2. Or I will just use it to set my contour.

Here I am wearing a mix of the Max Factor Face Finity Foundation and the Nars Sheer Glow Foundation. I have set my contour with the powder foundation and used both the lightest shade in the pro glow duo + one of the lightest shades in the contour palette to highlight my cheekbone, t-zone and upper lip.

Other products also used on the face:

UD naked heat palette, Max Factor brow contour, UD 24/7 glide on pencil in perversion, Max Factor brow Shaper, L’oreal double extend mascara, Max Factor blush in gorgeous berries, Becca shimmering skin perfector in Opal and MAC lustre lipstick in Capricious.

Thank you to Influenster Middle East for sending me this #VoxBox with products from Max Factor Arabia.

What are you favorite products from Max Factor?

Buda-pest

Hey guys!

Hope you are all keeping well.

As mentioned earlier I was lucky enough to explore Budapest together with my best friend. She is a med student and currently finishing up her studies in this beautiful city.

I was so lucky with the weather during my stay. Allhamdulillah for the most part I did not even need to wear a jacket. That is big considering just the week before it had been snowing ❄️

There was so much to see and as long as you are comfortable walking you can explore the whole city by foot. The city is very European and that is highly visible through the buildings in the city and their architecture.

The city is divided in two: Buda & Pest, both connected by the bridge. On the pest side of the city you can climb up towards the Statue of Liberty and see how the city is connected. Truly a beautiful walk. Be prepared, it is a bit steep in the beginning, but once half way the rest is a piece of cake.

Have you been to Budapest?

Follow me on Instagram for more updates @nuhasgram

Long time no see

Salams everyone!

Hope you are keeping well. It has been a while since I was able to update you guys.

Now if you follow me on Instagram (@nuhasgram) you will know I have been away. I got the chance to finally visit my best friend studying in Hungary. It had been long time coming Allhamdulillah.

And right after that it was Easter so we took that chance to meet up with my family in UK and boy was that an amazing vacation together too Allhamdulillah.

Might share more on that with you later, but for now here’s a picture from this passed weekend.

Outfit details: Abaya from Podur, handbag from Prada, shoes from Steve Madden and hijab from Sharjah central souk.

ID design 2018 catalogue launch

Salaams everyone!

Hope you are keeping well.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending ID Designs 2018 catalogue launch at Mall of Emirates. It was a beautiful event and I had the pleasure of meeting some amazing people.

ID design draws inspiration from Scandinavian design – simplicity and fine lines. I can’t deny that brings a certain pride being from Norway 😇

Their new pieces are intended to make your home flourish and bloom.

And they certainly got you covered in that area no matter your style.

Some of my favorite pieces though has to be their decor pieces. They are quirky and they are sleek. I get the combo of being “in bloom” while inspired by Scandinavian design. I wish I could take them all home, but I did get some pictures to share with you.

Check out their new catalogue and latest pieces at one of their showrooms in MOE or Mirdiff city center.

Be sure to follow me on IG @nuhasgram for updates ✨

ALL BLACK 🖤

Salaams everyone,

Have you guys seen all the hype around the black ice cream? It has been popping up all over social media and the hype is real.

Now the hype is ice cream made of charcoal. But I had the pleasure of trying an Oreo version of black ice cream. If I am not mistaken that is usually a mix of charcoal and Oreo. Charcoal for colour and Oreo for flavor.

It was delicious. So smooth and creamy! You know how sometimes when you have something Oreo flavored you can get the grittyness of the cookies. This was not like that. Super smooth and creamy. I would definitely recommend to check it out. I got mine from black cab coffee (sister company to my much loved depresso coffee). They have pop up stalls all over Dubai inc La Met and CityWalk.

Could not help myself, it was so delicious! 💁🏽‍♀️

One of the most gorgeous mall

This is where pictures speak for itself…

Honestly, isn’t this so stunning? 😍

Just love the interior, feels like walking through the streets of Paris.

Check it out for yourself by visiting Mercato Mall in Dubai.

THE ORDINARY – FOUNDATIONS

Salaams everyone!

I finally got some time to write down my thoughts on the foundations from The Ordinary.

I got both the serum foundation and the coverage foundation in the shade 3.0 Y.
Now I must say I do hope they extend their shade range for darker complexions as it is not the best, however it is better than many others. What I do like is how they have shades for the different undertones: Pink (P), Red (R), Neutral (N), Yellow (Y).
This is definitely something we need to see a lot more of, specially in the drugstore/high street brands.

The Serum Foundation

As I have dry skin this was the foundation I was most excited to try out.
It has a very thin and light consistency, it is one of those foundations you can hear when you shake the bottle.

As it is a serum foundation I did not expect much coverage and thats what I had heard about it too. I was however surprised on just how light of a coverage it gives, but in a good way. I always use a beautyblender with my foundations which generally does give foundations a lighter and more blended look in my opinion. I did try it with a brush, but was not a fan.
You can build up the coverage, but for me it never went more than a medium-light coverage.

This for me is the perfect everyday foundation, it smooths out the skintone/pigmentation and just gives an overall natural and dewy look. For those days you just need to look awake while running errands.

The Coverage Foundation

This foundation was a pleasant surprise for me. I did not expect too much due to my dry skin, and was therefor a little unsure on how it would work for me.
But this is now a foundation I am truly enjoying. It has a slightly thicker consistency than the serum foundation, but not much. However the coverage is a step up from the serum foundation. Because of the name and from what I had heard I was expecting quite a full coverage foundation, but that I did not get. This foundation is a medium-high coverage for me, a little more buildable than the other.

Because of the difference in coverage between the two I love switching between them depending on how much coverage I need for that particular occasion.
I would call this a work appropriate/lunching out foundation, hoping that makes sense.

I should mention that I always prime my skin before applying makeup, regardless of what foundation/base I use. And I did test both foundations without priming, both foundations did not react well with my dry spots… Serum foundation was slightly better, but still not something I personally would want to see enhanced with a foundation. That might be something to keep in mind if you are someone that does not prime beforehand.

Two more common bonuses from both foundations is:
1. The fact that they have SPF 15. For some this may not be a positive due to possible flashback. I am not someone too exposed to flash photography, so thats not my biggest concern. However I live in a country with high sun exposure. Obviously SPF 15 is not enough and I do use higher SPF in my skincare. But I won’t complain about layered protection in that area.
2. The fact that the packaging is so small and compact. This little bottle contains the same as most liquid foundations (30 ml), but is in a container smaller than half the size of most. It is also very simple and matte. I am not someone to make a big fuss over plastic or glass as each of them has their positives with it. This is in a plastic, but due to the matte finish it has a higher end feel and look to it. Glass always looks and feels more highend, however plastic is more travel friendly. So each to their own there, and comes down to personal preference. If I like a foundation I will take it with me regardless of packaging.

Have you tried the foundations from the ordinary – thoughts?

Also, rumor has it that The Ordinary will be extending their makeup line soon 😀

Click here to read my review on the EyeSerum.

The Dubai Frame

Salaams everyone!

Yesterday I was finally able to check out the Dubai Frame. If you live in Dubai you know what I am talking about, if not you might be slightly confused.

It is basically this huge landmark they opened this January. It has been in the works for some time and it is so huge you can spot it miles away.

As you can see it is a giant gold frame. The height of the team is between the height of The Eiffel Tower and The Statue of Liberty.

When you go to the top you will be able to clearly see the difference between Old Dubai and New Dubai. And it is a breathtaking sight from each side of the frame, subhanallah.

If you ever visit Dubai you should check out the Dubai Frame. For sure #Recommended.

Follow me on IG for up to date posts @nuha.mcke

Xx,

Nuha