Perfume: The Invisible Accessory That Can Make You Look And Feel Fabulous!

How many perfume bottles do you have sitting out on your bathroom counter? Do you quickly apply whatever scent is closest, or are you a perfume junkie who puts thought into each and every drop that touches your skin?
Like a new Christian Dior dress or a hot pair of Jimmy Choo’s or a dazzling new Valentino handbag, perfume can make you feel stylish and beautiful. It’s an accessory! A couple sprays of the right scent can give you the poise and self-confidence you need to look and feel fabulous for a night out on the town.
So, how do you find the right fragrance for you? Looking for the perfect perfume can be like looking for Mr. Right. In other words, it’s out there but it’s not easy to find.
Sylvie Ganter is the Founder and Creator of Atelier Cologne, a Parisian-based perfume company with several fragrances. She says you don’t have to be in a monogamous relationship with your perfume. In other words, you should have several different perfumes, as there are different scents for different times and occasions.
“Perfume has the ability to set your mood and your spirit at that moment,” says 40 year-old Ganter, who worked in the perfume industry for several years before starting her company, “It’s a little thing that can really change how you’re feeling and make you feel great.”
Ganter says that when people shop for perfume and they are perusing different brands, different things can trigger an emotional reaction and/or attraction to a particular scent, including the scent, obviously, but also the bottle, or the story behind the scent.
“When you find the right perfume, it will awake something emotional and magical and it hits you in a deep place,” she says.
As far as celebrity and fashion designer perfumes, Ganter says they usually sell because it’s a way for women to identify themselves with that person or that brand.
I recently purchased Atelier’s newest scent, Rose Anonyme, an Oriental, floral fragrance with bergamot, ginger and Turkish rose. I think what made me buy it was the mysterious, sexy story behind it, combined with the simple, classy bottle, and most importantly, the scent, clean, yet smoky and sexy and sophisticated.
“Roses are so feminine,” says Ganter of Rose Anonyme, “But, I didn’t want it to be girly or old fashioned, I wanted this rose to be mysterious, dark and a nice balance of innocence and darkness around it. The balance of the two gives it a sense of confidence without it being overly powerful.”
Here’s the key. Like a new outfit, or a manicure, or a stylish piece of jewelry, perfume is meant to give pleasure.
“It has a magical power to bring on an emotion,” says Ganter, who admits to being a complete romantic herself, “How many things in life today can give you something emotional and strong like that? Perfume has that power.”
Three Tips when perfume shopping:
1. Don’t feel limited to wearing only one perfume. It’s okay to have a wardrobe of perfumes, different scents for different occasions. The fragrance you want to wear for a romantic dinner on a Saturday night is completely different than the perfume you want to splash on when you’re just out of the shower and headed to a girlfriend’s house to watch a movie.
2. Try not to focus too much on the bottle, although that does play a role because you have to look at it every day and you want to like the way it looks. But more importantly, think about how the scent makes you feel when you smell it on your skin. If you sample a fragrance you like, don’t buy it right away. Walk around the store for a few minutes, sniff your wrist from time to time and if you love what you’re sniffing, go back and buy it.
3. DO NOT buy perfume for someone as a gift! Perfume is such a personal decision, that the odds she is going to fall in love with a scent that YOU love are slim to none. Instead, you might want to buy her a gift certificate. She’ll love being able to choose her own passion!
Perfume WEARING tip: Too much is NO GOOD! A splash or two goes a long way. Anymore than that, and people won’t think you smell good, they’ll think you just smell!

-----curled from http://www.yourcoffeebreak.co.uk

DRINK WATER ON EMPTY STOMACH

It is popular in Japan today to drink water immediately after waking up every morning. Furthermore, scientific tests have proven its value. We publish below a description of use of water for our readers. For old and serious diseases as well as modern illnesses the water treatment had been found successful by a Japanese medical society as a 100% cure for the following diseases:
Headache, body ache, heart system, arthritis, fast heart beat, epilepsy, excess fatness, bronchitis asthma, TB, meningitis, kidney and urine diseases, vomiting, gastritis, diarrhea, piles, diabetes, constipation, all eye diseases, womb, cancer and menstrual disorders, ear nose and throat diseases.
METHOD OF TREATMENT
1. As you wake up in the morning before brushing teeth, drink 4 x 160ml glasses of water
2. Brush and clean the mouth but do not eat or drink anything for 45 minute
3.. After 45 minutes you may eat and drink as normal.
4. After 15 minutes of breakfast, lunch and dinner do not eat or drink anything for 2 hours
5. Those who are old or sick and are unable to drink 4 glasses of water at the beginning may commence by taking little water and gradually increase it to 4 glasses per day.
6. The above method of treatment will cure diseases of the sick and others can enjoy a healthy life.
The following list gives the number of days of treatment required to cure/control/reduce main diseases:
1. High Blood Pressure (30 days)
2. Gastric (10 days)
3. Diabetes (30 days)
4. Constipation (10 days)
5. Cancer (180 days)
6. TB (90 days)
7. Arthritis patients should follow the above treatment only for 3 days in the 1st week, and from 2nd week onwards – daily..
This treatment method has no side effects, however at the commencement of treatment you may have to urinate a few times.
It is better if we continue this and make this procedure as a routine work in our life. Drink Water and Stay healthy and Active.
This makes sense .. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals not cold water. Maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating!!! Nothing to lose, everything to gain...
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you.
It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.
Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine.
Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
A serious note about heart attacks:
• Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting,
• Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
• You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack.
• Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms.
• 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up.
• Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive...

----curled from Pinoy Rap Radio

HYPOCRITICAL NIGERIAN GENERATION

Sent a video of Michelle Williams - Say Yes (ft. Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland) to my colleagues and got a shocking response from two of them. One exclaimed “Hypocrite”! while the other sent me a mail containing “what is this Illuminati girl doing in this video”? she a referring to Beyoncé. This same people few weeks ago were chatting about most of these artists and how good they have been over the years. I was literary shocked  as these responses were coming from people who were well enlightened and are supposed to be “people from this age and time”. But then I remembered the issue that came with the MAVIN team’s “Dorobucci”. Where some people one social media (including some of my colleagues at the office) insinuated that the song is a song for a “god” somewhere.

Personally speaking I am always flabbergasted and overwhelmed when such things come out from peoples mouth. When people sit in the comfort of their homes and inscribe/ attach meaning to things that should not be left as what they are; “entertainment”.

Nigerian youths have so much popularized the Illuminati so much that I still wonder if it is still a “secret cult” as it is tagged. Every celebrity both within and foreign that is successful is definitely a member of Illuminati (sarcastically speaking). We take time to see how much these people earn from tours and shows yet we have a war of believing that these artists/celebrities have other means of increasing their wealth. Ironically, we buy their movies, download their songs and even follow them on all social media. For example, our own Nigerian artist turn singer, Tonto Dike, was seriously criticized when she released her first song. In less than a day the song generated more than 1million hits on various online music sites. Imagine how much she must have made from trending on twitter, hits on YouTube etc. same goes to lady gaga, Justine Bieber, Rihana etc. who have the highest followers on social media platforms. Guess who made them achieve this feet? You and I. The same people who criticize them daily. The same people who call them Illuminati. The same people who call them bad role models (yet watch their movies and/or listen to their music). The same people we claim worship false gods. The same people we now dress like and even name hairstyles by their names.

Let the truth be told, we are all “Hypocrites”. We are worse than most “unbelievers”. It is because we believe we can never be  like them. We have this mindset that we can never achieve what they have achieved. Let us step back for a while to see how myopic we can be. These celebrities that dress half naked on stage and on red carpets, do they wear those clothes outside events? If we were smart enough we should have known that as a celebrity, your selling point is being able to attract attention to yourself so people can see what you have in your “goodie bag” (what you have to offer). If you cannot attract attention to yourself, who on earth will sign you up as a brand ambassador? No one will listen to your song and your videos won’t get air play. How then will you gain the status that you want? Come to think of it, if we really see these people as bad, why then do we attend their shows, hum to their songs, buy their videos etc. In the first place, we shouldn’t even be talking about them.

I don’t know about you all but I like my John legend, Rkelly, Akon, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Drake, Nicky Minaj, Kelly Rowland, 50cent, Eminem, PSquare, Phyno, Don Jazzy (Mavin), Davido, Tiwa Savage, DrSid, Omotola Jalade, Jim Iyke, Adam Sandlers, etc (just to mention a few). I don’t care if Nigerians think they are all Illuminati. They know what they are doing and the do it perfectly well. Their movies are wonderful and their songs are sweet to their ear. I like gospel music from Mary Mary, Kirk Franklin, Samsung, Resonance etc. They do music the way I like it.

We are different and as such should not impose our private (most times selfish) reasons on others believes. Let us take what we want to take from entertainment and leave the rest for others.

I rest my case.

----I am not a professional writer, just a layman

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola

Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola (August 24, 1937 – July 7, 1998), often referred to as M. K. O. Abiola, was a popular Nigerian Yoruba businessman, publisher, politician and aristocrat of the Yoruba Egba clan. He ran for the presidency in 1993, and is widely regarded as the presumed winner of the inconclusive election since no official final results were announced.

He died in 1998, after being denied victory when the entire election results were dubiously annulled by the preceding military president Ibrahim Babangida because of alleged evidence that they were corrupt and unfair.

EARLY DAYS.

Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola was born into a poor family in  Abeokuta, Ogun State. His name, Kashimawo, means "Let us wait and see". Moshood Abiola was his father's twenty-third child but the first of his father's children to survive infancy, hence the name 'Kashimawo'. It was not until he was 15 years old that he was properly named Moshood, by his parents.

MKO showed entrepreneurial talents at a very young age, at the age of nine he started his first business selling firewood. He would wake up at dawn to go to the forest and gather firewood, which he would then cart back to town and sell before going to school, in order to support his old father and his siblings. He later founded a band at age fifteen where he would perform at various ceremonies in exchange for food.

He eventually became famous enough to start demanding payment for his performances and used the money to support his family and his secondary education at the Baptist Boys High School Abeokuta, where he excelled. He was the editor of the school magazine The Trumpeter, Olusegun Obasanjo was deputy editor. At the age of 19 he joined the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons ostensibly because of its stronger pan-Nigerian origin compared with the Obafemi Awolowo-led Action Group.

 CAREER

 In 1956 Moshood Abiola started his professional life as bank clerk with Barclays Bank plc in Ibadan, South-West Nigeria. After two years he joined the Western Region Finance Corporation as an executive accounts officer before leaving for Glasgow, Scotland to pursue his higher education. From Glasgow University he received a first class degree in accountancy.

He also received a distinction from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. On his return to Nigeria, he worked as a senior accountant at the University of Lagos Teaching Hospital, then went on to Pfizer, before joining the ITT Corporation, where he later rose to the position of Vice President, Africa and Middle-East of the entire corporation, which was headquartered in the United States.

As a result, Moshood Abiola spent a lot of his time and made most of his money in the United States, whilst retaining the post of chairman of the corporation's Nigerian subsidiary. In addition to his duties throughout the Middle-East and Africa, Moshood Abiola invested heavily in Nigeria and West Africa. He set up Abiola Farms, Abiola bookshops, Radio Communications Nigeria, Wonder bakeries, Concord Press, Concord Airlines, Summit oil international ltd, Africa Ocean lines, Habib Bank, Decca W.A. ltd, and Abiola football club.

In addition to these, he also managed to perform his duties as Chairman of the G15 business council, President of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Patron of the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation, Patron of the WEB Du Bois foundation, trustee of the Martin Luther King foundation and director of the International Press Institute.

 

PHILANTHROPHY

Moshood Abiola sprang to national and international prominence as a result of his philanthropic activities. The Congressional Black Caucus of the United States of America issued the following tribute to Moshood Abiola:

Because of this man, there is both cause for hope and certainty that the agony and protests of those who suffer injustice shall give way to peace and human dignity. The children of the world shall know the great work of this extraordinary leader and his fervent mission to right wrong, to do justice, and to serve mankind. The enemies which imperil the future of generations to come: poverty, ignorance, disease, hunger, and racism have each seen effects of the valiant work of Chief Abiola. Through him and others like him, never again will freedom rest in the domain of the few. We, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus salute him this day as a hero in the global pursuit to preserve the history and the legacy of the African diaspora.

From 1972 until his death Moshood Abiola had been conferred with 197 traditional titles by 68 different communities in Nigeria, in response to the fact that his financial assistance resulted in the construction of 63 secondary schools, 121 mosques and churches, 41 libraries, 21 water projects in 24 states of Nigeria, and was grand patron to 149 societies or associations in Nigeria.

In this way Abiola reached out and won admiration across the multifarious ethnic and religious divides in Nigeria. In addition to his work in Nigeria, Moshood Abiola was a dedicated supporter of the Southern African Liberation movements from the 1970s and he sponsored the campaign to win reparations for slavery and colonialism in Africa and the diaspora. Chief Abiola, personally rallied every African head of state, and every head of state in the black diaspora to ensure that Africans would speak with one voice on the issues

INVOLVMENT IN POLITICS

Abiola's involvement in politics started early on in life when he joined the NCNC at age 19. In 1979, the military government kept its word and handed over power to the civilian. As Abiola was already involved in politics, he joined the ruling national party of Nigeria in 1980 and was elected the chairman of his party.

Re-election was done in 1983 and everything looked promising since the re-elected president was from Abiola’s party and based on the true transition to power in 1979; Abiola was eligible to go for the post of presidential candidate after the tenure of the re-elected president. However, his hope to become the president was shortly dashed away for the first time in 1983 when a military coup d'état swept away the re-elected president of his party and ended civilian rule in the country.

After a decade of military rule, General Ibrahim Babangida came under pressure to return democratic rule to Nigeria. After an aborted initial primary, Abiola stood for the presidential nomination of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and beat Ambassador Baba Gana Kingibe and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to secure the presidential nomination of the SDP ahead of the June 12th 1993 presidential elections. Abiola had managed to work his way out of poverty through hard work and symbolised the aspirations of many downtrodden Nigerians.

His commitment to the plight of ordinary Nigerians included establishing Abiola bookshops to provide affordable, locally produced textbooks in the 1980s when imported textbooks became out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians as the naira was devalued. He also made available daily necessities such as rice and soap at affordable prices in the market.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

 For the 12 June 1993 presidential elections, Abiola's running mate was Baba Gana Kingibe. He overwhelmingly defeated his rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention.

The election was declared Nigeria's freest and fairest presidential election by national and international observers, with Abiola even winning in his Northern opponent's home state. Abiola won at the national capital, Abuja, the military polling stations, and over two-thirds of Nigerian states.

The reason why the election was so historic, was because men of Northern descent had largely dominated Nigeria's political landscape since independence. The fact that Moshood Abiola (a Southern Muslim) was able to secure a national mandate freely and fairly remains unprecedented in Nigeria's history.

However, the election was annulled by Ibrahim Babangida, a political crisis that ensued which led to General Sani Abacha seizing power later that year. During preparations for the 2011 Nigerian Presidential elections there were calls from several quarters to remember MKO Abiola

The famed Nigerian Pastor Tunde Bakare is said to have predicted the annulment to Abiola and warned him against contesting.

 IMPRISONMENT

In 1994 Moshood Abiola declared himself the lawful president of Nigeria in the Epetedo area of Lagos island, an area mainly populated by (Yoruba) Lagos Indigenes. He had recently returned from a trip to win the support of the international community for his mandate.

After declaring himself president he was declared wanted and was accused of treason and arrested on the orders of military President General Sani Abacha, who sent 200 police vehicles to bring him into custody. MKO Abiola has been referred to as Nigeria's greatest statesman.

Moshood Abiola was detained for four years, largely in solitary confinement with a Bible, Qur'an, and fourteen guards as companions. During that time, Pope John Paul II, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and human rights activists from all over the world lobbied the Nigerian government for his release.

The sole condition attached to the release of Chief Abiola was that he renounce his mandate, something that he refused to do, although the military government offered to compensate him and refund his extensive election expenses. For this reason Chief Abiola became extremely troubled when Kofi Annan and Emeka Anyaoku reported to the world that he had agreed to renounce his mandate after they met with him to tell him that the world would not recognize a five year old election.

DEATH

Abiola died under suspicious circumstances shortly after the death of General Abacha. Moshood Abiola died on the day that he was due to be released, on July 7, 1998. While the official autopsy state that Abiola died of natural causes, Abacha's Chief Security Officer, al-Mustapha has alleged that Moshood Abiola was in fact beaten to death. al-Mustapha, who was detained by the Nigerian government, but later released, claims to have video and audiotapes showing how Abiola was beaten to death.

The final autopsy report, which was produced by a group of international coroners has never been publicly released. Irrespective of the exact circumstances of his death, it is clear that Chief Abiola received insufficient medical attention for his existing health conditions.

As recounted at the time in a BBC interview with special envoy Thomas R. Pickering, an American delegation, which included Susan Rice, visited Abiola and during their meeting with him, Abiola fell ill, with what was presumed to be a heart attack which caused his death

LEGACY AND HONOURS

 Moshood Abiola was twice voted international businessman of the year and received numerous honorary doctorates from universities all over the world. In 1987 he was bestowed with the golden key to the city of Washington D.C. and he was bestowed with awards from the NAACP and the King center in the USA, as well as the International Committee on Education for Teaching in Paris, amongst many others.

In Nigeria, the Oloye Abiola was made the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland. It is the highest chieftaincy title available to commoners amongst the Yoruba, and has only been conferred by the tribe 14 times in its history.

This in effect rendered Abiola the ceremonial War Viceroy of all of his tribespeople. According to the folklore of the tribe as recounted by the Yoruba elders, the Aare Ona Kakanfo is expected to die a warrior in the defense of his nation in order to prove himself in the eyes of both the divine and the mortal as having been worthy of his title .