Noura | A stunning Bride!

Noura is one of those sweet, open, kind-hearted people who just seem to have a natural gift with people. You feel better just by being around her. She called me a couple of months ago when an old high school friend recommended she get in touch with me for her wedding makeup. She had no idea where to go and frankly was too scared to try out salons. (We've all heard, and probably seen, a few horror stories.)

After the trial (which took about two hours), Noura booked me. We decided on keeping the eyes fresh and without black kohl inside the eyes because it seemed way too cliche. 

Noura was stunning on her wedding day. She was chilled out and not a nervous wreck as I had imagined. The makeup took about two hours in total, including hair touch up by the hairdresser. 

So, without further adue, here are the photos from the wedding. Photography credit goes to Sherif from Mokbelography. 

 

 

death at 26 from too much tanning

This is a pretty scary article about a girl who had been tanning so much she got cancer and passed away. Although the doctors misdiagnosed her condition, the story serves as a wake up call for anyone who wants to be tanned. 

By Stephanie Booth

A Death by Suntan at Age 26

For years, Glenna Kohl pursued a tan, both in the sun and in tanning beds — which new research shows are far deadlier than once thought. By 22, she was battling the most lethal form of skin cancer.

In April 2005, while working out at her college gym in Rhode Island, 22-year-old Glenna Kohl detected a hard, golf ball-size lump near her groin. She left the gym and went home to put ice on what seemed like a sports injury.

When her roommate, Courtney Caulfield, now 25, returned to their apartment that evening, Glenna asked her to feel the lump. "I told Glenna she probably pulled a muscle," recalls Courtney. "She wasn't overly worried; she seemed more upset about cutting short her workout."

But the lump hadn't gone away by the time she graduated from Salve Regina University the next month. So Glenna, then living at her parents' home in Massachusetts, visited her family doctor. Puzzled, she referred Glenna to a surgeon, who scheduled a biopsy.

A few days later, the surgeon handed Glenna and her family a terrifying diagnosis: The lump was melanoma, the deadliest of the three forms of skin cancer. When caught at an earlier stage, melanoma — which typically begins as an irregular-shaped mole or a bump on the skin — is highly curable. But by the time it reaches stage III, as Glenna's had, the cancer has spread beyond the skin and into the lymph nodes (that's why the lump she felt was in her groin, where there's a cluster of lymph nodes). Only about half the people with her level of stage III melanoma survive for 10 years.

The news came as a total shock. "No one in our family knew what melanoma was," recalls Glenna's mother, Colleen Kohl. "We did a lot of crying."

Mystified about how the cancer had reached stage III without Glenna spotting any suspicious moles on her body, the surgeon eventually pored over her medical records. He found something disturbing: In high school, Glenna did have an irregular mole removed from her leg. A pathology report identified it as benign, but the surgeon tested it again. The lab had made an error: The mole was an early stage melanoma.

"We can't know for sure, but her odds of beating melanoma would have been greater had it been diagnosed earlier," says Donald Lawrence, Glenna's oncologist and clinical director of the Center for Melanoma at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center, in Boston.

The misdiagnosis infuriated Glenna's parents. But she didn't share their anger, says her mother. Even when the Kohls' lawyer confirmed they had a case of medical negligence, Glenna — positive thinking and not one to dwell on the what-ifs — agreed to let the lab settle out of court. "She wasn't resentful; she focused on getting better," says her father, Bob. "Back when we all first got the news, it wasn't a matter of if but how soon she'd be cancer-free."

A Deadly Habit
It's hard to imagine a less likely cancer victim than Glenna. Growing up on Cape Cod, she'd always been a stickler for health. A vegetarian, she did yoga, hiked, jogged, and rowed regularly. She was just 5-foot-3 and 105 pounds, yet she was strong enough to work as a beach lifeguard five summers in a row. Health interested her so much that she applied for jobs in nutrition before graduating from college, despite having majored in finance.

But Glenna did indulge in one unhealthy practice: tanning. Like millions of young women, she believed that a bronzed look made her more attractive. While life-guarding, she exposed her naturally pale skin to the sun's rays for 40 hours each week, protected only by sunscreen with an SPF of 4, says her friend and fellow lifeguard Jillian Blumberg. (Dermatologists say that sunscreen with an SPF of 15 is the minimum needed to safeguard skin.)

To maintain that copper glow, Glenna booked time at tanning salons. She began at age 16 and continued through college, baking under a sunlamp as often as once a week.

Though she knew that all that outdoor sun and indoor-tanning time were bad for her skin, she didn't think there was a serious risk. "As health-conscious as Glenna was, she didn't connect tanning with skin cancer," says Colleen.

Yet tanning is connected to skin cancer. Studies have shown that exposure to UV rays can trigger changes to the DNA in skin cells that may lead to cancerous growths. The two most common types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma, are almost always linked to UV exposure. And 90 percent of cases of the less common but more deadly form, melanoma, also are attributed to UV exposure, says Darrell S. Rigel, MD, a professor of clinical dermatology at New York University.

Sun exposure sans sunscreen is a big culprit. But indoor-tanning beds also can result in cancer. A major report released this past August reclassified tanning beds as "carcinogenic to humans." And a person's melanoma risk rises 75 percent if he or she started using a tanning bed before age 30.

Glenna's diagnosis was, sadly, part of a trend: Melanoma is the second most frequently reported cancer in women in their 20s, and it's third only to breast and thyroid cancers for women in their 30s, reports the National Cancer Institute. "Melanoma is one of the few forms of cancer that's on the rise," says Dr. Rigel. The tan look so desired by young women may explain why 20- and 30-somethings are diagnosed with the disease at alarming rates, he adds.

Baby wipes for your face!

Ladies, get ready to find the best makeup remover wipes on the market! They are biodegradable, paraben-, mineral oil-, and alcohol-free, hypoallergenic, and can be used on the most sensitive skin.

On the endless search of products to care for my skin, I grabbed these a few nights ago off the grocery store shelf where the baby products were (don't you just love the way they smell?) and used them to take off my makeup that very same night. I was shocked at the amount of makeup that came off my face! They cannot even compare to other brands that I have used in the past.

Without mentioning any particular brand names, I'll resort to saying that you must keep these by your bedside table or on your bathroom shelf.

Use them to cleanse your face or to remove your makeup. 

xo

A Day with TRESemmé

One of the best things about being a blogger - although I haven't blogged in what seems like forever - is not only getting free products and services, but meeting professional, pleasant people whom I can recommend to my readers.

I have been acquainted with TRESemmé for a while now, and they have been so kind, giving me a multitude of products for myself and my clients. I can vouch for this line, which not only smells great, but does what it says it does.

One of my favorite TRESemmé products is the volumizing hairspray. For fine and thin hair like mine, a quick spray in the morning just at the roots gives my mane the lift and body it needs without having to tease it. Un-luckily for me, though, I can't use the shampoos because I'm undergoing treatment. 

TRESemmé booked me in with Raymond, their regional stylist in the Middle East at Moussan Beauty Salon in Samaya Hotel in Dubai last week. I went in wanting a cut, color and highlights; but because I was meeting a friend for dinner within an hour, I asked Ray what he thought I should do. The ends were a bit stiff, so he suggested to give me a quick trim and style. In all honesty, I can’t recall the last time I was given a proper trim by a hairdresser. Practically every hairdresser has had a field day with my hair. Once, a hairdresser chopped it all off until I had only bits of spikes left. It didn't look bad, quite rock 'n roll actually, but definitely not what I had in mind. 

I said a little prayer that Raymond wouldn't make me look like a teenage boy again and let the universe take its course. He pulled off a couple of strands and said he was only going to cut off a tiny bit. "This much, it's okay?" I nodded in approval. 

He took his time, measuring every strand and taking super good care not to take off too much. "Because your hair is so fine," he explained, "every detail counts. I have to be very precise."

Previously, my hair had been cut into Rihanna's bob - the "Chanel" - as it's named in this part of the world. The front was a bit too long and it showed. My bangs were also growing a bit longer than I normally keep them but I loved the flirty effect they had when they dropped across my eyes and cheeks. I explained this to Ray and so he kept the bangs long and only chopped a few layers to give balance and shape to the haircut. 

My old, grown-out "Chanel" was gone and a new haircut emerged - one that was bouncy, full of life and that gave me the same effect to my personality I loved. One that was similar to The Rachel.

I was so surprised to see that something so simple could so dramatically change the shape of my face, lift my mood and allow my shimmering highlights to sparkle ever so brightly. I looked a couple of times in the mirror, felt every hair through my fingers,  took in the little changes and realized a very important lesson: sometimes we think we have to make dramatic changes to change the way we look and how we feel. In reality, it only takes an expert, a few minutes, and a bit of trust that the right thing will happen.

Sometimes, the biggest changes are made when you take one tiny step, and allow the rest to unfold. 

RAYMOND'S HAIR TIPS

• Hair is a science. Most people want a quick fix, but that's not possible, because although hair is dead, the follicles are very much alive and need nurture and care. Raymond suggests that we educate ourselves about the science of hair before we go into any type of treatment and even before choosing a shampoo!
• We should only be washing our hair two to three times per week, three being the maximum number of washes. 
• Thin hair should never, ever be razored. If you see your stylist coming at your hair with a razor, stop him. The only exception is very thick hair.

TRESemmé products range from shampoos and conditioners to heat protectors and hairsprays; and, most recently, an all-natural line. 

Makeup Tips from Hala Ajam Herself

If you’ve been following Lebanese makeup, you would surely have heard of Hala Ajam - the makeup artist to stars like Sherine and Nawal Al Zoghbi. She has painted the faces of a myriad of celebrities and has been my heroine since I was in my mid-teens. 

I was getting sick of seeing the over-done Arab makeup that most makeup artists were doing at the time and once I set eyes on Ajam's work, I was hooked. "This is it,” I thought. “This is the look I love."

It’s been ten years and her magical touch has not changed. Ajam has a way of transforming the face without making her client look painted. She blends eyeshadows beautifully. She lifts the eyes, gives them depth and warmth, and adds to the face a gorgeous glow that cannot be replicated.

Hala was in town a couple of months ago and when she called me, I was ecstatic. We got together over coffee and she went on to tell me all about her career - how she started, the ups and downs of being so close to high-profile people, and (most importantly) shared her insider tips on how to do great makeup. 

And that’s what this post is about. I’m here to give you the list of tips and tricks she shared with me.

“You don’t need a lot of products,” she said. “I know what I use and the effect I want to achieve. I have certain colors I love and I stick with them.” 

FOUNDATION

• Use cream foundations. 
• Spread foundation with a brush. 
• Use three colors of foundation on any face for correction.
• Correct the face to create a symmetrical effect. 

CONCEALER

• Apply concealer as a triangle underneath the eyes, depending on the face shape of course. 
• Blend the lines with a damp sponge. She swears by Make Up For Ever's non-latex sponge.

POWDER

• Apply MAC’s Studio Fix powder with a brush to set. 

As she was getting ready for her next job, she allowed me to poke around her makeup kit. You would be surprised at how tiny it was. “You don’t need a lot of products,” she said. “I know what I use and the effect I want to achieve. I have certain colors I love and I stick with them.” 

I knew, then that it's not about quantity at all … it's about quality. 

We always seem to get caught up in the notion that the more we have, the more we can do, but today I learned a great lesson, and that is: it's about having the right stuff, and then doing your best with THAT.