Focus Is A Skill. Self-awareness Is A Skill. Being Non-reactive Is A Skill. Conscious Breathing Is A

Go where you’re wanted and cherished, not just tolerated. This applies to every area of your life: relationships, jobs, environments. Our energy is like currency. If we keep investing it in things that give nothing back, we end up drained. But when we pour into what pours back, we grow. You can only try to force alignment for so long before it starts costing you more than it’s worth.

You might not be valuable in everyone’s eyes, but to the right people, you’re exactly the blessing they’ve been praying for. That doesn’t mean settling or forcing yourself into spaces you don’t like; it means opening yourself up to new ones you didn’t know you’d love, and that love you right back.

“You need to make space in your heart for someone who has the capacity to love you just as much as you love them.”

— Unknown

tips for last minute revision for physics, chemistry (phy, inorg, org) and maths? cause i got no clue

hi ml, i wish i had good enough tips to help you, but i'm struggling myself, but i'll try to help.

so, let's talk per subject, for chem, i'd suggest to revise any short notes you have and be thorough with the textbook!! just have a formula sheet ready for physical chem to skim through, for inorganic mug the textbook up, i'm sorry there's no way out, literally and the very same goes for organic, we're all scared but from personal experience, it's that damn book questions are asked from as cliché as it sounds, it is very important!!

for phy, again, short notes, that's all, skim through important theory and formulas, it's important to mug up all the formulas and i'm not even kidding, there are direct formula based problems asked, so fetch as many marks as you can.

for math, it's the subject where nothing much could be done in a short span of time, but if you're confident in some chapters, try and review how to solve the most repeated type of questions asked, identify patterns and practice as much, though personally i'd suggest to focus much more on physics and chemistry.

i hope it helped, good luck 🤍

Five DIY masks to tighten your skin:

🍯 Honey & Cinnamon Mask

Honey moisturizes & hydrates. Contains antioxidants that repair & protect skin & has antibacterial properties that help prevent acne

Cinnamon stimulates blood flow, making your skin glow. Helps with acne & exfoliates & remove dead skin cells.

• 1 tbsp honey, 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• Honey moisturizes and cinnamon boosts circulation, helping firm the skin

• Mix and apply for 10-15 mins and rinse with warm water

🥚 Egg White and Lemon Mask

Egg whites tighten & firm by shrinking pores, helps with elasticity & absorbs excess oil

Lemon juice brightens skin & reduces dark spots & pigmentation. Boosts collagen production and tightens pores

• 1 egg white, 1 tsp lemon juice

• Egg whites tighten, while lemon brightens and minimizes pores

• Whisk & apply for 10-15 mins & rinse

🍦Greek Yogurt and Turmeric Mask

Greek yogurt exfoliates and tightens skin. Soothes irritated skin & creates a smooth complexion

Turmeric has anti inflammatory properties that reduce redness & swelling. Combats free radical damage. Brightens skin & even out skin tone

• 2 tbsp yogurt, 1/2 tsp turmeric

• Yogurt exfoliates & turmeric reduces inflammation

• Mix and apply for 15-20 mins, rinse

🥒 Aloe Vera and Cucumber Mask

Aloe vera soothes irritated skin and reduces redness. Hydrates deeply without clogging pores. Helps with sunburn.

Cucumber hydrates & cools the skin, reducing puffiness. Combats inflammation. Tightens and tones the skin, reducing fine lines.

• 2 tbsp aloe vera gel, 1/2 blended cucumber

• Aloe soothes and hydrates, cucumber cools & tightens

• Blend and apply for 15-20 mins then rinse with cool water

🥑 Avocado and Honey Mask

Avocado nourishes & moisturizes. Promotes collagen production. Soothes dry and irritated skin

• 1/2 ripe avocado, 1 tbsp honey

• Avocado nourishes and honey boosts elasticity

• Mash and apply for 15-20 mins, rinse

wanted to post this on it's own because i spent so much time on it...

#Beautytips #perfume

How do I smell nice all the time?

I am pretty sure the best compliment (okay, if not the top 5 best compliments ever) is something along the lines of ‘you smell so nice’. It inflates my ego just right and I get giddy with happiness. Smelling nice isn’t just about wearing perfume. No, it starts at the shower and ends at after when you spray your perfume. The most important key to smelling good is scent layering. Scent layering is the art of wearing different scents at any one time and it can be traced back to the Middle East. Scent layering either really intensifies the one group of fragrance you are wearing or it helps you create your own bespoke signature scent.

Scent layering starts in the shower. Its actually very simple, if you want to smell very Vanilla- use vanilla scented products, if you want to smell like flowers, use floral shower gels and lotions, if you want to smell like musk… use musk scented shower products. Old rich people love the dove unscented bar and so do I. If you don’t know in the shower what you want to smell like, use a neutral smelling soap. It truly is the best bar of soap because it doesn’t leave an overpowring smell after using it. For your vulva, water is enough. Mild soap if you want to ‘really’ clean the area but stick to the outer labia and don’t put it in you. I use the dove bar after I have been to gym or during my period and I use just water to really clean between the folds. Also change your underwear everyday please. I like to store my underwear with some scented wax tablets or scented sachets. I like to put them in all of my drawers just so my underwears and socks can smell nice.

For everyday shower, I use a loofah, silicone body brush and a muslin cloth to clean my body but every third day I go in with a coarse mitt or a silk glove and exfoiliate my skin that way.  I spend a good minute cleaning both my armpits.  Thats the only place I really sweat so I need that place to be squeaky clean with no odour. I cannot have hair there either because I hate the way armpit hair traps body odour so I wax them every-week. My favourite deodorant is the Salt of the Earth, which hands down is the beat deodorant. I don’t know what they put in it but it is magical. It works against the worst of BO; I know someone whose sweat was very unpleasant and after I have gifted one to her, both of us have been very happy. I have all the spray versions and I rotate through each one depending on what I want to smell like that day. I have a whole foot care routine which I will talk about at some other point but for foot odour, I reccomend  wearing different pairs of clean socks everyday (you should not be sharing shoes and socks). I use the same Salt of Earth deodrant on my feet and if I am going to gym then I use foot powder as well. After I come home, I like spray the insides of my shoes with a shoe deodourizer and then go wash my feet in the shower.

Carrying on, scent layering phase 2 is lotions and oils. The same rule applies, stick to the same smell group. After you start getting the hang of how perfume and smell works you can start mixing different scented lotions and perfume but until then just stick to the basic groups. I use my body serums, lotions, moisturisers and on top of all that I put my scented moisturiser on. This way I can use my body products that help with KP and dryness and still smell nice. Perfumes and especially perfume oils stay on better on moisturised skin as the oils lock onto your skin better so always make sure you put some lotion on before you spray your perfume. I also mix traditional perfume oils that I have collected from all over the Arab world to South Asia into my lotions if I am going for a more traditional smell that day.

Tip🪄: Perfume brands will actually sell scented body lotions, shower gels and even hair mists in their popular acents. The body lotions are usually much cheaper and you can totally buy just that and still smell amazing for the fraction of the cost. They are also great for people who find perfumes in general to be a but too much but still want to smell like something. For my fave perfumes I buy the entire set so I smell like my fave perfume.

Spraying the perfume is phase 3. I use perfume before I put my clothes on. There is a lot of debate on how many sprays and how many whatnots but my rule is maximum one spritz on each and every pulse point and one cloud one. As much as I love perfume I dont like being choked by it. So I am always mindful about how many sprays because your perfume should be lingering and alluring not cloaking and invasive to people’s repository system. I will do one final spritz on my hair (using a hair mist) and that is me done. 

Your home smell is very important as well. You yourself are nose blind to it, but you do smell like your house and that can affect how others view you. What you cook, how you store your clothes, how stagnant the air is in your home, it all adds up. As a South Asian, the smell of my food ending up in my clothes is inevitable. To tackle this, I am strict at having different pairs of home clothes and going out clothes. As soon as I come in, I change into loungewear and spritz my clothes with a deodourizer and fabric freshner and put them away. When I cook I am mindful to open the ventilations, open the windows and keep the doors to my closet and rooms shut and I always wear an aporn.

I like everything to smell nice and that includes my home. I light various Thai/Japanese/Tibetan incense which makes my place smell like a monastery and some bakhoor to add sultry oriental feel. My old Sudanese friend taught me how to smoke my clothes with incense and I do that a lot too. I find it imperative to have mini dehumidifiers in the corners of my shelves and closet and these hanging ones on my clothing rails and in my drawers I have these tiny ones. They are great for humid enviroments and stop mold and mildew forming on the clothes.

Daphne xoxo

Life began feeling so much better after I began embracing my uniqueness and stopped trying to blend in with others and instead continued to water the aspects of me that feel effortless. My racial ambiguity, my overachieving mindset, my sense of fashion and aesthetic likes, my values and beliefs, the way I carry myself, how I structure my relationships and my life, etc. Trying to fit in with others breeds inauthenticity, mediocrity, and even resentment. It’s ok if I’m not exactly like the rest and I stand out, there’s beauty in individuality.