The Wedding Series: Part 2/2 - The Mehndi, Wedding and Home Shenanigans | Zafira
Hello!
Sometime in July, I did the first part of this series and here I present to you the last. I spoke a little more about traditional Bengali weddings and how the whole process works so I won't go into too much detail here. To conclude what I said in the last post, a typical Bengali wedding has the Cinifan (engagement), the Mehndi (wedding pre-party), the actual wedding and sometimes people like to take it that one step extra and throw a Walima (an after party). It's chaotic and crazy but I love weddings. In this post, I'll show you some of the pictures of the Mehndi, the wedding and a few little bits we did with the new bride after she was welcomed into her new home. I'll explain what is going on for every picture so don't worry if you don't understand. Enjoy!
T H E M E H N D I
At a Mehndi, everyone basically takes pictures with friends, family and the groom or bride.
We boogie.
Get our henna done.
And everyone joins in, including the little ones.
We wear traditional clothing and get dressed up, not overly dressed though, we like to save that for the wedding.
There's always something yummy to eat too like these fruit thaals and those amazing desserts.
Everything is always made to look super duper pretty.
Here's a fun fact. all the little flowers that you see hanging and the ones on the wall are ALL handmade and we hung the curtain bits all by ourselves too. We're pretty handy when it comes to this sort of thing.
Here's one of my uncle dressed in traditional clothing infront of all the food that's been made for him. At the Mehndi, everyone comes and takes a seat next to him, takes a couple of pics and feeds him something.
T H E W E D D I N G
For the wedding we changed the setup a little bit and added some gold chiffon. The bride comes home with the groom at the end of the wedding and they sit here and drink milk and do some other traditional stuff.
We all get very dressed up including the groom.
All the neighbours were out watching us leave the house to the wedding venue and it was just too adorable not to capture this moment.
This is such a good idea for a guestbook! You write your little message to newly weds on the heart and slot it into the frame.
Snap snap.
This is when the bride walked onto the stage to her husband.
Both the groom side and bride side make a necklace of flowers for the couple and these are exchanged on the wedding day.
This is the best bit. There was so much cake leftover.
Aaand this is the bedroom that we decorated for them.
H O M E S H E N A N I G A N S
The next morning or what usually turns out to be afternoon, the new bride will make breakfast for everyone in the house. The breakfast food is given by the bride's family.
The bride then has to cut a fish to cook into a curry.
She grinds all the spices.
After all that she gives everyone a snack and this includes a banana and popcorn most of the time. We also played a few games with her but I can't show you those pictures since all of them have my family in them and I respect their privacy.
I'd like to say a huge congratulations to the newly weds and I wish you the best in life. I can't wait to see the whole family together again for something just as special as this ;)
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Prom! | Zafira
Hello!
So I decided to this weeks blog post on prom. I had my prom on Friday 15th July and it was probably one of the best days in my life! I had so much fun with all my friends dancing the night away and just enjoying myself. I thought it would be quite cool to try out a lookbook sorta thing with this post and show you what I wore, how I did my makeup and jewelry!
M A K E U P :
For the base I used:
L'Oréal Paris Infallible Priming Base - I don't wear primer because I usually don't wear enough makeup to need a primer but this is decently priced and does the job. I applied it around my nose and on my forehead where I get shiny the most.
Bare Minerals Pure Brightening Serum Foundation in the shade Bare Espresso - I'm not much of a foundation person, on a daily basis I'll usually just use concealer and a pressed powder with a little colour or just the powder on its own but when I found this foundation I was so happy. It's very very very light, I felt like I had nothing on all day. It's very liquidy so you can tell it's going to light. The coverage is amazing too, it's very buildable but I'm not a huge fan of full coverage so I usually only stick to one thin layer. The only issue I had with this is that it's not a long wearing foundation. When I came home after prom, I saw that areas like my chin and parts of cheeks had little or no foundation on them.
Freedom Pro Conceal Palette in the shade Medium/Dark - This is the second palette I've owned of this concealer and I love it! Again, I'm not a huge fan of full coverage but this covers enough and Freedom do a huge range of colours that suit many different skin tones which is amazing.
Collection Pressed Powder in Misty Beige - This is a pretty good, cheap drugstore powder as it only costs around £2. It doesn't have a very orangey undertone which is great and keeps your makeup in place. I just wish that I used it all over my face at prom rather than in certain areas.
Sleek Cream Contour Kit in Medium - This is a really good drugstore cream contour, I love the variation of shades and how you get a range of highlights and contour colours.
Sleek Face Form Contour Kit in Medium- This is my all time fave contour and highlight. More contour as you can see from the first picture as I've used nearly all of it up. I love this so much!
For brushes I used:
Real Techniques Core Collection - I love this collection. It has every brush I would need to do my base makeup and it comes with a case and I think it's very handy to have this.
Sleek 7 Piece Brush Set - As you can tell, I don't have all the brushes from the set in the pictures as I only use the eye ones and the blush brush which is use for putting powder on or highlight. They also fit pretty snug into the Real Techniques case so I have all the brushes that I need in one place.
Real Techniques Miracle Complexion Sponge - I think this is a great alternative to the actual Beautyblenders, they're so much more cheaper and affordable. Even though I haven't used the Beautyblenders, I think the Real Technique sponges do an amazing job at blending everything together and creating a more natural and smooth appearance.
For lips I used:
Barry M Lipliner in No.6 - I love this lipliner so much. I think it's probably my fave. It's a pretty chocolate brown that you can wear on it's own and it stays on all day long or you can pair it with other lipsticks like I had done for prom to achive a nice browny nude.
Rimmel Lasting Finish Lipstick by Kate Moss in shade 08 - When I first bought and tried it on, I really didn't like it. The colour looked too light on my lips but when I paired it with the Barry M lipliner it created the most beautiful nude.
For eyes I used:
Makeup Revolution Palette in Redemption Iconic 1 - This works excellent seeing as it only costs £4. What I did for prom was wet the my brush a little and then picked up some eyeshadow in order to make it really pigmented and stand out but the colours are pretty pigmented on their own.
Collection Brow Kit in Brunette - I don't have brunette hair obviously but I feel like the three shades that come in this particular kit are less harsh and look very natural. I usually use the brown shade in the middle and then a little black right the end of my eyebrow just to make them a bit more fleeky. I also used the lightest brown shade in the crease as well as the darker brown in the outer edge and then put the gold eyeshadow from the Revolution palette more towards the center and inner part of my eye.
Maybelline Lash Sensational Waterproof Mascara in Black - I love this mascara. It's what I use on a more daily basis but for prom this was a necessity as I didn't want mascara all down my face as I was sweating away at prom. You can definitley build up the layers and it doesn't become clumpy at all. I was planning on wearing lashes at first but that was too much hassle and I can barely put them on.
Miss Sporty Studio Lash Liner in Black - This is so good seeing as it's drugstore and so cheap! It's probably one of the best eyeliners I've ever used. The brush is really thin so if you have small eyes like me and only want a thin line, it's really easy to do.
Here's the finished look!
O U T F I T :
I got my dress from a nearby Asian clothing store called Resham. They have amazing quality clothes and I love my dress so much. It's probably one of my fave Asian pieces.
I got my shoes from New Look. You can buy them here:
They're really comfortable and matched my dress really well. They were great to dance in too!
J E W E L R Y :
My earrings are from Dorothy Perkins. I tried looking online for them but I can't find them unfortunately but they're supper pretty and matched my necklace well.
I'm not actually sure where my necklace is from but I'm sure many places sell ones similar to it.
P H O T O G R A P H S :
I didn't take my big Canon EOS 60D because it would have just got in the way. However my dad let me borrow his Canon Powershot G10 and did the job perfectly. Follow me on Instagram as I'll be uploading some pictures from prom on there soon!
The Wedding Series: Part 1/2 - The Engagement | Zafira
Hi guys and welcome to my blog!
Wedding season has officially arrived in my family which means I'll spending most of this summer holiday going to and from weddings. If you didn't know, I am Bengali. Bengali/Asian ish weddings are absolutely crazy and consist usually of 2 or 3 parts. The first part of the whole wedding shindig is the Cinifan. More commonly known as the engagement party which is what I went to on Sunday. The second part is either the actual wedding ceremony or the wedding and the after party which is called a Walima mixed together. Then the last part of the whole procedure is usually the Walima but some families throw the wedding and Walima together.
If you even understood that then you deserve a gold star.
This weekend it was my uncle's Cinifan (engagement) and I took a couple of pictures of my family making things for it and of the event its self. At Bengali weddings, people usually take these things called Thaals. The only way I can describe it as is a decorative platter but you'll understand it better when you see the pictures. Anyway, it was a hectic weekend of madness and I had so much fun. Congratulations to my uncle on his engagement and I can't wait till the wedding!
Here's a couple of pics!
Make sure to follow me on Instagram as I'll be posting more pictures from the Cinifan on there. Links to everything is at the end of this blog post!
Get to Know Me | Zafira
Hey ❀
It's a sad, gloomy Saturday afternoon and the weather has put me in such a relaxed yet creative mood and I've been making notes and plans like crazy for this blog and also some photography projects. I'm so excited for the future of this blog! Today I decided that I would do a get to know me tag. I've had this blog for a year now (whoop whoop!!!) and I don't think that you know me very well. I think it's about time you get to know who I am. Enjoy ♡
What is your name?
My name is Zafira Ahmed if you couldn't already tell by the title of this bloggie.
What is your favourite subject in school?
I really enjoy art now. I consider myself a very creative person so me and art go together very well. It's a great way to express yourself.
What’s your favourite song at the moment?
I can never just have one favourite. I'm liking 3 songs right now and these are...
- Alive by Sia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2NgsJrrAyM
- Heartstrings by Leighton Meester
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUoKS89yZiU
- Technicolour Beat by Oh Wonder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9FfYWp_d5w
What’s your favourite book?
I have two and these are Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen and Misery by Stephen King.
What are you reading at the moment?
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
What’s your favourite colour?
I love most shades of blue. Especially navy blue and turquoise.
What’s your favourite animal?
I'm not a huge fan of that many animals but I adore wolves. I think that they're so beautiful and majestic.
What’s your favourite perfume?
Flower by Kenzo is definitley one of them. I featured the miserable empty bottle on my vintage collection blog post last month.
Click here if you haven't read it yet!
It's smells very clean and fresh.
It's a really nice everyday scent. I also love J'adore by Dior. This is more of a floral scent and the bottle for it is so pretty.
Do you speak any other languages?
Yep I speak Bengali as well as English.
Do you have any siblings?
A younger brother who is 10.
What’s your favourite store?
I really TK Maxx or TJ Maxx as they call it in America. It's a great place to buy branded things for less.
Do you like school?
Erm NO. I dread going everyday and I pretty much hate it when I'm there 99% of the time but I know it'll be worth it in the end when I get my GCSEs.
Who are some of your favourite YouTubers?
I have so many but here's three of my current faves:
- The Michalaks are absolutely amazing. They are small family consisting of the lovely Hannah, the hilarious Stef and little Grayson and the quality of their vlogs are phenomenal.
It's literally like watching a mini movie of their lives every Sunday. And THEY'RE DOING VLOGMAS!
Check them out:
-
Samantha Maria (previously known as beautycrush) is probably my favourite fashion blogger as well as Youtuber. Her style and taste in fashion is stunning and she always looks incredible.
Check her out here:
-
Meghan Rienks is my last fave at the moment. She is so down to Earth and also so funny. I've really enjoyed watching her for the past couple of months.
Check her out here:
What’s your favourite movie?
I LOVE anything by Wes Anderson. His movies are so beautiful and vintagey. They are really quirky too and my favourites so far are The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. I really like Requiem for a Dream and Trainspotting too. Requiem for a Dream is the stroy of 4 drug addicts and how their addiction progresses and Trainspotting is similar but more about overcoming an addiction.
What TV shows are you currently watching?
I'm now watching Empire, Suits, Scream Queens and Twin Peaks whenever I'm free. They're all really wonderful TV shows.
What phone do you have?
I have the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.
What colour are your eyes?
I have really dark brown eyes, sometimes they even look black. It's kinda cool.
When is your birthday?
June 24th. I have the same birthday as Gustav Wood from Young Guns and also Mindy Kaling.
If you could travel anywhere in the world where would you go?
I'd love to go to Italy, especially Florence. It seems like such a dreamy, serene place and I can't wait to go one day.
Who are your favourite band?
Brand New and The NBHD are joint first on my list of favourite bands. Both very different but still amazing bands.
Favourite photographers?
A majority of my favourite photographers are on instagram but one photographer that has always stood out to me is David Bailey. He was a big hit in the 60-70s and I fell in love with his portraits of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton.
If there are any more questions you'd like to know the answers to then feel free to leave them down below on Instagram!
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