Izmir

WordPress – Month 2

Ne zamandır kaç zamandır görüşmedik
Long time no see
I must admit, I have missed you all dearly
no matter how long we spend apart

I always find myself behind the screen typing away at another post
Sanabazaar.

As much as I would love to grovel and beg forgiveness for my absence , I have another short adventure to share with you. 🙂

Izmir: noun

1.  The third largest city in Turkey, the second biggest transportation port after Istanbul. A rapidly growing city on the Central Aegean coast of Turkey.

2. Ultimately the definition of perfection.

Recently I have been lucky enough to visit  the beautiful city of Izmir, the Pearl of Aegean – which it fully deserves that title. With its thousand year old history, beautiful architecture and being rich in agriculture, Izmir is fairly underrated. The geographical location provides many tourism advantages; a hot Mediterranean climate 300 days of the year, natural beauty and a rich culture. Standing in the Neo Ancient city, I couldn’t help but fall in love with its detailed and vibrant historic markets and bazaars.

Mmm is Izmir not excellence in its physical form? Perhaps the name alone is just universal impeccability.

One picture is worth one hundred words ten fold:

Mimi xox

1st Sunday of June

Hello my Darlings!

It has been a little while, well twelve days to be exact. I know what you are thinking… Naughty but I have the time to share with you something amazing and it all started in the “Great North Wood”, home/former of the great Adele, Sir Sidney Colvin, Ken Livingstone, Andy Zaltzman and the Noisettes!

Have you ever heard of the West Norwood Feast Festival? No… Well neither had I to be completely honest with you and I have lived in the vicinity of West Norwood for the past ten years of my life. Does that make me a bad person?  How could I continue with life not knowing about the spectacular monthly market street festival, a platform that exudes passion, community and all things fabulously British? I don’t know, but I am surely glad I found out about it.

Of course I just had to document my visit to the ‘Food Fair’ section of the Feast festival.. Out of all it is common courtesy.

 

It was absolute torture being surrounded by such amazing food and such delicate cakes, I wanted to kidnap each stall and gobble them all up.. That is normal right?

 

The ‘Salted Chocolate Caramel’ mini cake screamed out to me and I had to buy it, It was so soft and moist, decadent yet light on the palette and filled with salted caramel goodness!  The fresh fruits accented the treats so well that I just had to buy another.. It was a necessity.

 

Rounding up the festivities I joined in on the 50’s dancing to work of the cake that I had devoured, the amazing Diamond Jive had taught me a thing or two with the retro dance steps.

If you are in the area or not, I highly recommend dropping down to visit the West Norwood Feast on the first Sunday of every month. The next is July 6th, I hope to see you there.

 

Mimi x

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where have I been?

First things first, before we get to the good stuff I must start this post of with my most sincere, deep and utter heart felt apologies.

I know it has been a very long time since we last spoke which means I have been a very naughty girl in terms of regularity and posting. I am extremely sorry about that but I can promise you that will be no more. (No need to reprimand me) I really need to develop a clear and concise schedule for posting, as my original goal was four times a week.

For those who would like to know, whilst I was away from Sanabazaar I have been involved in other unique projects some of which will generate new content (I hope), plus Im also in the midst of designing and creating a new website/online portfolio.

Heres a little sneak peak at a potential header for the new site:

 

What do you think? Minimalistic, dark and warm… Isn’t it darling? 

Perhaps I should make an attempt at a Photoshop tutorial…

Mimi x

 

 

Sometimes life throws hardships at you to try and trump your current successes, belittle your confidence and stop you from achieving greatness. Don’t. Let. That. Happen. Never let anyone taint your confidence and make you feel like you cannot achieve what you was set out to do. They may not understand the talents that God has given you, they will set out to stop you, label you with their bitter twisted lies.  To make things worse, those lies could come from those you love and respect the most, but you can’t let that stop you. You can’t let it break you.  It may be hard to recognise the source of the negativity at first, It may even come from your closest family members but you have to master the art of letting go. Letting go of the negativity in your life and replacing it positivity and genuine belief in yourself. Trust in your efforts, believe in the good and good things will happen for you.

You know, when I’m on my deathbed I would like to be able to smile and say that I have lived my life without regrets and taken everything I possibly could from this life. I want to be great, achieve greatness and be happy within myself ,I no longer want to be depressed or unhappy within myself. In order to achieve this, I guess you’ve just got to ‘Believe in your f*cking self.’

 

The brutally honest prints, apparel, drink ware available at Good F*cking Design Advice.

 

Believe in yourself.

 

Mimi x

Kate Moss for Topshop 2014

 

As of tuesday night Kate Moss had officially stopped the streets of London and marked her long awaited return to Topshop  as a designer after 4 years. And I am extremely  happy to tell you all that I attended… Jealous yet? The gorgeous model unveiled her modish collection at Topshop’s Oxford Street Flagship store and I must admit I was slightly star struck, for 40 years old she really didn’t look a day over 28 and she shows absolutely no sign of giving up the supermodel life. Who blames her, she looks absolutely amazing.

The pavements of Oxford Street were absolutely flooded by what seemed like thousands of excited people waiting to get their hands on Kate Moss’s latest collection.

 

(I apologise for the terrible picture as my camera battery had died)

I must admit the whole experience on a whole was pretty lovely, Kate had came out and gracefully opened the collection which was followed by live house music by various UK recording artists. Embodies the vibe of Topshop, does it not?

 

Here are a few of my favourites from the current season, as unfortunately I couldn’t pick them all.. 

 

Congratulations Ms. Moss on the success of the brand launch and the deal with Net-A-Porter. Bringing The HighStreet to Designer est 2014.

 

 

Mimi x

 

 

 

And the Winner is…

 

 

Thank you. Thank you, you’re all far too kind.

I am so happy to be nominated for the for the Liebster Award by the beautiful Rochelle of Being Chelle, I must admit this was nothing I had expected to receive. Whilst standing in the line for Starbucks, a notification of my nomination came through to my phone.. I was rather shocked.. Is someone out there is really interested in me? I mean me.. Wait, why wouldn’t anyone want to know about me?  In the inevitable words of Sir Kanye West, I am Warhol. I am the #1 most impactful artist of our generation. I am Shakespeare in the flesh. Walt Disney. Nike. Google. ….Take note.

… I ordered a Frappuccino, wheres my f*cking Frappuccino.

Lets do this.

“The Liebster award is awarded to bloggers with under 200 followers to try to promote their blog a little and also bring together a community of bloggers. The rules of the competition are as follows:

The nominated user must provide a link back to the person who nominated them.Provide 11 facts about yourself Answer 11 question set by the person who nominated you Choose 11 more people and ask them 11 questions!

11 Facts about me:

1. I am Micah Sanatoro, and I am a self proclaimed peanut butter addict. Naughty…
2. I am an artist of sorts and enjoy everything creative, whether it be cooking, baking, fine arts, photography, music or literature. I. Love. It. All. Which ultimately makes me a perfectionist.
3. I am an adrenaline junkie. Yes, I am that kind of girl.
4. I strongly believe in helping others, in any way possible.
5. I am allergic to bananas.
6. A wardrobe staple of mine happens to be a great handbag and flats.. I must have over 30 pairs of different Hightops and trainers. With that being I am …..
7. …. very tall.
8. In order to rebel against rules I dyed my hair every colour of the rainbow whilst in my early teens at secondary school, including electric blue, red, purple and a dark blonde. Rebel much?
9. I adore hairy fit men with beards, and believe confidence on a man is the most attractive thing ever… Ooohhh.
10. I love horror movies, creepy crawlies etc and have no ‘physical’ fears. Except mould. If I touch mould I might just have a panic attack.
11. I have had my nose pierced 5 times. Both nostrils (not at the same time) and a septum. Currently I have kept two of them 🙂

Look at all of those ‘I am’s.. So bloomin’ repetitive.

Now I nominate Shayananth, Natural489, Jorgie&Patricia & Rachele Cotton.

The questions from Rochelle:

What’s the first thing you think about in the morning?

 Each morning I wake up thinking about how I am going to make my voice heard and better myself more than I had done the day before. Positive thinking equals to a more positive outcome. Think Good Thoughts!

What is your favourite type of food?
  I am a foodaholic, I absolutely love everything but my favourite is probably Creole or Pan Asian… Also Italian, Parisian, my native Jamaican and Creole (Cuban) dishes.. Does that answer the question? 

If the internet didn’t exist and you couldn’t blog, what would you be doing?

 If Sir Tim Bernes-Lee never created the amazing Word Wide Web, I actually don’t know what I would be doing.. Its hard to think of a world without technology when you was born into the digital age.
What is your favourite memory? 

My favourite memory probably was my first ever holiday, I was 5 years old and went to Disneyland Paris. 19 years old and I still go every year since.

A three/four year old me with my beautiful Nana.

What are your hobbies? 

My hobbies include Photography, Graphic design, drawing, baking, exploring and shopping. Ha! 

When was the last time you tried something new? 

The new avocado and chicken sub from Subway. Heaven.

What is happiness to you? 

To me happiness is a journey, a form of discovery in which you are able to be confident and content within oneself.  I am yet to reach that point in my self discovery journey where I feel satisfied and honestly content with myself, but I guess thats why its a journey.

What is the meaning behind your blog name?

 My blog name is actually a merge between my surname, Sanatoro and the topics I write about such as beauty, fashion, photography, DIY, culture, lifestyle etc. I also have Sanatography a Photography blog, which I must admit is in dire need of updating.
Do you speak any other languages?

 When I was younger my grandfather taught me a little Arabic. But I no longer remember enough to uphold a conversation 😦
What is your favourite film?

 I don’t exactly have a favourite film, but it would probably be every Chick-flick, Rom-com and Horror movie under the sun.
What was the last item you purchased? 

The last item I purchased was a refill of my favourite Pink Grapefruit and Burnt sugar perfume by Eyüp Sabri Tuncer in Istanbul a few days ago.

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My questions

1.Who or what inspires you and why?

2. If you had to live with one item of makeup what would it be?

3. What is your wardrobe go-to/staple?

4. What is your favourite food and your least favourite food?

5. What is the saying/motto that you live by?

6. What advice would you give to your younger self and why?

7. Have you always been confident, If so how did you become so? If not what would you do in order to become so?

8.  What is your guilty pleasure?

9.   If you could pick your whole entire life up and leave to venture a ‘new world’, what continent would you settle in?

10. Who is your celebrity crush?

11. If you had the opportunity to be a multi-millionaire (£/$/€) in return for never seeing your family again.. Would you take it?

Dont forget to comment the link to your responses so I could read them too.

 “Where’s my f*cking Frappuccino?”

Mimi x

 

13 Days in Fethiye

Hoş geldiniz!

I have been oh so excited for this post as I get to share my experiences with you all. Who said working couldn’t be fun? For the past two weeks I have been residing in my beautiful apartment in Turkey, which I still haven’t gotten used to the time change and its only two hours ahead from the UK.

In order to get some work done I have literally converted my living room into a massive workspace, which I absolutely adore. (Although I cannot say anyone is too pleased about that haha)  The apartment is so modern and homely, It almost reminds me of a retro bachelor pad with beautiful high white ceilings and light fixtures. As you could see I easily took into nesting and creating my territory from the moment I had stepped in ^.^

 

 

 

 

 

 

“A picture is worth ten thousand words” Needless to say, these images need no further explanation. I present to you all, ‘A Day in Fethiye’.

I feel so blessed to be able to frequently experience the culture within this welcoming city, everyone is so humble, kind and giving.

Whilst walking along the Fethiye Marina and this little buddy popped over to say  a big ‘Hi’.

 

A holiday post is definitely not complete without a shameless poolside bikini selfie.. I was the only person poolside by the way. Im not THAT shameless .

Cost: Plane ticket = £££ + Happiness = PRICELESS

 

I guess the best things in life are free.

 

Mimi x

 

Sanabazaar gets a new makeover?

 

Hey everyone, are you liking the new look?  Yes… Err no? Well I most certainly do. Sanabazaar has received a brand new makeover (tadaaa) and it was much needed to be completely honest.  As much as I loved the personality of my old Bushwick theme, it wasn’t really suitable for the style of posts that I write nor was it suitable for mobile usage either. The old theme was a bit clunky, dark and  pretty complicated in terms of viewing which isn’t what I had envisioned when I had first started blogging.

I am extremely pleased with the new layout of this theme, as it is bright and simple which I believe reflects my personality and compliments my style of writing more, also it translates beautifully across all platforms (what more could one ask). My sidebars are now visible, which should make it easier to navigate and find what you are looking for.  Also I now have a streamline continuous scroll too which is perfect for those, like myself that get lost in the moment of others blogs.

Ah! Yes, before I forget the star of the show. After stumbling across this new theme, I had an almost visionary experience (pretty much like Thats So Raven) for my new simplistic logo, which I had created myself on Photoshop CS6.  I believe it gives my minimalistic blog a slight ornate twist. Pretty much ‘Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice’ is it not?

 

 

Mimi x

 

My current favourite: SS14 Scent

I am so sorry about the delay in posts, I have recently acquired a loss in my family and had slightly lost the inspiration to post as regularly as I had done before.

Libertine: noun

1.  a person who freely indulges in sensual pleasures, without regard to moral restraints.
2.  a freethinker

Recently I have been ever so obsessed with The Body Shop’s new white musk scent, I had always loved the smell of The Body Shop’s White Musk range but it was a bit too heavy. Plus… Not to mention it did smell a bit old lol, as much as I loved the strong scent it does remind me of the inside of my hipster Nan’s handbag (her handbag and clothes always smell good).

Due to the heaviness of the pure musk I had never been interested in the original scent for my own personal use, but recently I had acquired  this new white musk scent and haven’t looked back. So I had received this gift set for my birthday last month (March 25th keep it in your calendars ^.^), after spending a little over two weeks trying it I am now more than happy to share it with you all.  I must admit I have actually fallen in love with it, although it isn’t a shock to me as  I have always been a big fan of their products as they use natural ingredients.

This is the White Musk Libertine set, and although I’m not sure if you could purchase this as a ready made gift hamper, but if you ask I guess they would happily do it for you. This is my first time using a Musk from The Body shop as I normally rear towards the fruitier products, soaps and butters such as the Pink Grapefruit, Mango and Passionfruit products, but the Libertine range  is absolutely beautiful. The scent is young, yet sensual and light floral musk with a turkish delight undertone , that is perfect for those who do not like overpowering scents.

 

The Eau De Toilette is super durable and would last all day alone, but combined with the lotion it amplifies the scent. What I love about this set the most, not only is it light and very moisturising on the skin but it’s also not greasy either. In terms of the shower products in the set, It came with a pair of exfoliating gloves and a soap-free shower gel. I cannot stress how big of a fan I am when it comes to exfoliating the skin, as it removes all of the dead skin cells which is perfect for soft supple skin.  The soap free shower gel is also perfect for those who have sensitive skin like me, as it is void of the harsh chemicals used to create the lather that we all love, BUT it lathers like any other soapy gel.

In a nutshell I highly recommend this range, and if anyone else has tried it I would love to hear your opinions and views in the comments below.

 

Mimi xox

DIY Lightbox |Tutorial

Get creative! We have been programmed to do things the fast, easy, costly capitalist way by simply buying the things we need and don’t need. Well, how about taking some time out and having fun and letting those creative juices flow? One way to have fun and save money is to create your own equipment… I mean who needs to buy things when you could make them just as good yourself?

Here I show you how to make an inexpensive and  impressive Lightbox for product photography. Whether you’re a online seller or interested in Macro photography, good lighting is crucial in taking a great clear shot. However being able to properly light an object to highlight it’s true attributes can often be pretty challenging. I know from first hand experience that lighting equipment could be rather expensive. Why spend hundreds of pounds on lighting equipment when all you need is some Sellotape, an empty used box, a ruler, a pencil and a razor blade or scissors. Frugality in it’s greatest form, utilizing household items.

Cost: FREE + creativity

Step 1: Choosing the right box size

First things first, I had used an old Pampers baby wipes box as it was easy accessible (my household goes through many of these boxes). This is a fairly medium sized box, but I would recommend a larger sized box as the size of the box should be appropriate for the size of the objects to be photographed.

Step 2 : Creating the window

Creating a window using your straight edge/ruler would introduce light into the box, so the smaller the window the less light and the larger the window the more light. Remember to cut the windows in relation to the size of your box, I had personally cut my windows an inch into the box to allow the most light coverage.

Step 3: Continuing to create the Lightbox structure

DISCLAIMER : I had forgotten to include a base and  cut windows into all sides of the box, by doing so structure of the Light box becomes very fragile and flimsy. Always remember to leave a side for the base.

Step 4: Covering the windows

(I had strengthened the box using masking tape, as the box was not as strong as I had anticipated)

As I had A LOT of plain white paper in my printer I experimented by using it paper in opposed to muslin cloth. This kept the  tutorial ‘housebound’ for easy access as I had used plain A4 paper for my diffuse. The white paper is excellent enough to reflect light, and penetrable enough to let light in.

I had originally created the light-box with the intentions of using natural daylight only (hence the size and the amount of windows) but any form of lighting can be used. E.g flashbulbs, photo lights, ring flashes or standard desk lamps.

Here are a few test shots showing the results of the light-box created, none of these photos have been manipulated by retouching. The light-box was placed on an open window ledge using natural daylight.

VS Ring flash

If you enjoyed this and would like to see more follow me!

Mimi x