"I hope some of you ladies won't feel offended by this post "
I remember long time ago, I was with my mum in Roxy for a Doctor's appointment, and as we finished we were on our way to the car, a street seller popped out of nowhere and shouted at us (3ayza baddehatt badeehtaaat badeehatttt) do you want bodies? of course he meant bodies as the tops, not bodies as dead people bodies. I remember we got scared first but after that it was a good laugh when we remember how he appeared like that and how he was speaking.
so whenever I saw a Carina shop, I can't help myself but remembering this freaky guy and laughing about it, I hate this Carina thing so badly, (in case you don't know it, Carina is a purely Egyptian brand specialized in undergarments and basic wear) but unfortunately their products got abused by the Egyptian ladies.and also in case you don't know it, Carina is supposed to be a kind of UNDERWEAR, not a thing you wear and go out to face the world with, it's not acceptable by any means for people to see your Carina tops, I got pissed off from girls especially vieled girls who feel free to wear Carina high neck tops and wear above it a lingerie cut top or a cut chemise or worse a strapless evening gown,I swear I once saw a bride wearing a white carina top under her wedding dress. One word yuck
The Veil is supoosed to be something covering your body in a respectable way, and wearing a tight, long sleeved with a high collar lycra top is not the thing that will help you wear normal clothes and look fashionable, neverless it will make you look cheap and ugly. however I think you can look effortlessly chic and fashionable without spending lots of money, if you just know what and how to wear, for example you can pair your blazers with wide pants, maxi dresses, try pleated long skirts (they are so in, right this moment), and for evening gown, why not having something specially custom- made for you ?!! or you can even wear a cropped evening jacket above the dress to cover up, seriously there are million ways to cover up and still look gorgeous, just not the Carina top, and if you guys are interested, I can do some posts to show you how to cover up with style.
Another thing I hate about Carina, is the pore-less stretchy lycra material, it sticks to your skin blocking your pores hence can cause allergies and skin redness, and making the smell of sweet oh lalala, another yuck.And if you like to wear a tube or a spaghetti top under your clothes, you can get loads of cotton ones from H&M and Zara or even Cottonil. Cotton breathes so well and will make you feel more comfortable and fresher,plus it's also cheaper than the Carina ones. and OMG, the big disaster is that, they now have a new line for teens and little girls, to teach them from a young age, about the art of wearing the Carina. (poor little things)
So for God's sake and for Egypt's sake, girls stop wearing Carina. or soon they will change the name of Egypt to Carinaland.
I am a cupcake addict, I just love them, the way they look and how they melt in your mouth, and the fact that they are so tiny so you don't feel so guilty when you eat them, and they give you an excuse to try another one. I have tried so many kinds from different places, and I have to say NOLA is the best place in Cairo to get cupcakes from, their cupcakes are just perfect, whenever I am in Zamalek, I must pass by NOLA. buy a box of cupcakes go home, make a big cup of hot chocolate and lay down on my sofa, watching the latest episode of gossip girl, this for me the perfect end to a busy cold hectic day.
they have this cute little shop in Brazil street all painted in Robbin egg-blue with the cutest decorations ever. my best two flavours that I highly recommend are the apple/cinnamon and the red velvet, oh their red velvet, I once made my husband drive me for an hour just to get a red velvet from their Diplo outlet in North-coast. so imagine how delicious it could be !!!!
so of course when I got the chance, I had to interview the creative minds behind NOLA, The Sedkys Laila and Adel.
How cute is this ?!
My one and only love NOLA's red velvet
the only reason I could eat sheep
Halloween's collection
Tell me a brief a bout your self.
Laila: I’m the risk taker who doesn’t know how to be tied down and like to do things in unorthodox ways.
Adel: I enjoy facing challenging obstacles and finding path to overcome them.
Tell us the NOLA story how and why did you start it?
Laila: NOLA is a family business that is run by Laila and Adel Sedky. The NOLA story began when I moved back from Montreal, after living abroad for seven years. Food has always been my passion so I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the food industry. In 2010 I decided to begin by establishing a high-end bakery specialized in cupcakes, which will eventually allow me to expand into more products and food-related ventures. By the end of 2010, after a year’s worth of hard work, my team and I got NOLA off the ground and opening on October 7th. Due to NOLA’s exponential growth, my brother Adel joined the business to help develop the company further.
What does (NOLA) refers to?
Laila: NOLA refers to Noor and Laila.
What's your cupcake favorite flavor?
Laila: Currently Chocolate.
Adel: LOVES Cookies N' Cream
What part of your job you love the most?
Laila: Meeting our customers. NOLA has the most interesting customers, I always get entertained talking with them and hearing what they have to say. Makes me feel really blessed to meet such interesting people.
Adel: I’m in charge of the product development and catering department so seeing the customer’s expressions and exceeding their expectations is what drives me to work harder, want NOLA to develop and enjoy my job more everyday.
Tell us about the NOLA wedding fairy tale experience.
Laila: NOLA wedding fairytale is that one of NOLA's customers that we had not met before asked to have a meeting with us. When we met him, we were taken by surprise to find out that he was asking us if he could propose to his fiancée at NOLA Cupcakes. It meant so much to us that they chose our little store to share such a special memory with us. We were overwhelmed with joy.
Video for the NOLA fairytale wedding proposal, amazing !!!
Can you explain the cupcake craze in Egypt?
Adel: Cupcake Craze began actually in North America, years before it hit Egypt. However, over the past couple of years people have been seeing many images and designs on facebook and following on the media craze abroad. However it was not accessible for the Egyptian market at your fingertips. You had to always order it in advance. The beauty of the cupcake is once you see it; you feel the need to instantly indulge in it. Cupcakes also play on the behavioral psychographics of customers. Cupcakes tend to trigger happy emotions since cakes are usually related to happy memories in a person’s life of when they were younger, such as birthdays, weddings and happy celebrations.
In America it's all about cupcakes and in france it's all about macaroons, so as the Macaroon places is increasing in number in Egypt, do you think it will be a cupcake Vs Macaroon war?
Adel: No I believe that there is plenty of room for people to enjoy cupcakes as they can enjoy macaroons. Especially that they come in small sizes. Also cupcakes have the advantage of being able to customize them and be more playful with them.
What was the toughest moment and what was the happiest moment in you career so far?
Laila: Toughest moment in my career was realizing that not everything goes to plan and that you have to work around your frustration to get where you want to reach or else you just be stuck so being able to over come frustration and accepting that lack of experience is fine. Happiest moment in my career would definitely have to be the wedding proposal.
Adel: happiest moment: the day I saw NOLAs logo. Toughest Moment: the day I decided to leave my career and to join NOLA full time and committing to making it my number one priority without looking back.
If you have limitless choices what cupcake flavor would you like to invent?
Adel: A flavor that would make everyone happy. It would be the NOLA Cupcake. It’s a work in process.
Laila: the cookie dough cupcake we created for December is by far the best thing I ever tried. It’s not like anything I have ever tried before. I’m sure it will win cupcake wars this time.
What is Cupcake Wars?
Adel: Cupcake Wars is an event NOLA holds on the 25th of every month where two cupcakes battle it out for flavor of the month. Customers come try free cupcakes and they vote on our voting cards between two cupcakes and the one with highest votes wins flavor of the month. This month it’ll be Cookie Dough Cupcakes VS. Crème Brule Cupcakes. However, due to the current events we postponed this cupcake wars to Monday 28th of November.
What role does NOLA play in its community?
Adel: We have the NOLA Gives Back Foundation that gives back to our community in 3 ways: 1) we created a charity cupcake for 10 LE which 100% of it proceedings goes to our sponsored cause (we sponsor causes for four months) including its cost. 2) All unsold cupcakes go to Orphanages over Cairo, as NOLA has a freshness policy and nothing stays over night. 3) We sponsor events such as (breast cancer awareness, UN aids etc).
I Don't know about you ladies, but I am bored to death from all of my skinny jeans or (sticky jeans) as my mum loves to call them, it has been there for more than five years and really every now and then I search in my old wardrobe for my old boot cut or boyfriend jeans for a change.
Now I am so excited to see the flare cut jeans coming back to life again, I saw a lot of celebrities and fashionistas wearing them, I got one from true religion and I love it. and it is time for my skinny jeans to rest in the cupboard for awhile.
if kate Moss is doing it, then the whole world should do it
Rumi of fashiontoast
from the seventies, the magnificent Farah Fawcett
Man repeller
Diane Kruger
The Gorgeous Mila Kunis photo credit: Instyle.com
Claudia Schiffer, Zoe Saldana, Katie Holmes and Rachel Zoe
Olivia Palermo rocking a beige flare jeans, Photo credit: Oliviapalermo.com
Again Olivia, I can't get enough of her
Sienna miller
so tell me ladies what do you think, will you shift to flare or still be loyal to your skinny?
Girls did you see the latest episode of Gossip Girl ?
Blair Waldorf's Tiffany's themed baby shower party had made me go crazy. I love Tiffany's so much, and breakfast at Tiffany's is my favourite, and probably the one and only chick flick movie that I love, when it comes to movies I like them serious and sophisticated.
I could do anything for a bite of this cake, looks yummy
I love the dress Serena (Blake Lively) is wearing
As it's too late now to have a baby shower ( my baby is 7 months old now ), I wouldn't mind having a Tiffany's themed birthday..cough..surprise..cough 1st of April cough
Here are some photos to inspire you, its a great theme for either a baby shower, a classy bridal shower. or for my coming birthday :)
ShoeMint is the newest addition to the fastly growing brand BeachMint, and the O.C/ Hart of Dixie star Rachel Bilson is the newest celebrity to collobarate with the brand, following the steps of her fellow movie Kate Bosworth for JewelMint, Ashely and Mary-Kate Olsen for StyleMint, and Jessica Simpson for BeautyMint.
Rachel wearing the Pauline shoes
Rachel wearing the Jolly
It's no secret that I am completely obsessed with Rachel Bilson, since I was following the O.C years ago, I fall in love with her effortless chic style, she's simply gorgeous plus she looks somehow like one of my dearest friends.Bilson Collaborated with her own stylist Nicole Chavez and with the great shoes designer Steve Madden for her collection for BeachMint, she launched her website on the last Black Friday ( if you are not common with Black Friday, it's the day after Thanksgiving day in America where shops have massive discounts and unbelievable offers).
the shoes are amazing plus they are on the affordable side, I have my eyes on two shoes, the first is the Edith which is a Mary Jane style, I loved the blushed colour more than the black suede one
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Rachel wearing the Edith, that what a walking ad is.
Edith in blush suede
and here is the second style that I loved , the Jolly wedge with the tiger print.
I will leave you with some videos from behind the scence
Hey Guys, first I would like to thank you all so much for making the time to read my blog. second I apologize for not posting anything in the few previous days, due to what was happening in Egypt at Tahrir square, simply I couldn't write anything while innocent youth were falling dead in Tahrir.
Ombré is the french word for shadow it means the deliberate graduation of colour from roots of the hair (Darkest) to the ends (lightest), it was big from couple of seasons ago and I can see it's still in for this season too, a lot of celebrities are getting it done, I guess the one who started it all was Sarah Jessica Parker and honestly it looked good on her.
It is easy to maintain as you don't have to go to the salon every couple of months to redye your roots, and you can easily achieve it, if you have coloured hair, simply let it grow. and it looks great with tanned complexion.
I don't think it suits everyone, works better with slightly light hair but you guys tell me, what do you think? is it a hot or is it a not ?!
