Arabic Perfume Brands: OPNO loves Ajmal

OPNO loves... Arabic perfumer Ajmal's "Ana Hibeck". "ana hibeck is like the arabic equivelent of Dior's "Ja'adore". It's name means "I Love".

MOP loves... Ajmal's oud scent "Saif Al Hind" http://zahras.com/Perfume/Catalog/Ajmal/default_files/image141.jpg.

There are various Ajmal locations around Muscat, and Oman, including Al Athaiba, on the turn off after the Grande Mosque heading towards Seeb on your right hand side.

And if you are at all interested in learning more about Arabian perfumes, this blog is for you http://www.scents-of-arabia.blogspot.com/.

I was attacked by my sister-in-law: not really

SIL: "Did you sleep this afternoon?"

OPNO: "Yes [then mumbles very quickly], after I climbed the mountain there." [flicks her finger over her shoulder dismissively. It is a VERY small mountain]. [Blinks her eyelashes innocently at SIL].

SIL [eyes wide]: "You seem so young to me."

[This is because OPNO does things Omani women do as little girls, like climb trees and mountains, running around with barefeet and laughing at anything that is funny. In fact, OPNO seems much older to herself, than SIL, because she has lived on her own for many years, and she finds it in no way scary to be alone when at home, or out and about shopping].

OPNO has decided that the way to fit into her new family is to be a little girl at heart, because then her behaviour is forgiven easily. For one thing, she has NO IDEA what to do with long hair. Really, she always cut her hair short, and only grew it long because there was no hairdresser for her to cut it at back in the West where men would not see her hair.So, it had kinda grown into a mess. OPNO almost had dreadlocks. So SIL, like OPNO was her baby sis, patiently slathered it in olive oil and combed it, through which OPNO cried and bit her inner cheek, and screamed. When finished, she was lectured about how Gulf women care for their hair, and the importance of buying olive oil conditioner from Careefoure was stressed.

OPNO endorses the olive oil because it TOTALLY works.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

From my husband the following classic:

My Omani Prince, aka MOP: "Sometimes, my English, it suck."

BTW, the picture on this post is random and had NOTHING to do with the quote of the day. I just like to post with pictures.

Omani Women's Dress

To be honest, I love Omani traditional dress more than any other Gulf fashion. I love the warqiya (shawl) worn on the head [reminds me of a bridal veil] and the delicate embroidered on the hem of the pants that tickles my ankles when I walk. No other Gulf formal dress lets you climb a mountain, or ride a horse with such ease.

Usually only worn for weddings and henna parties now, the traditional dress needs to be taken up by more designers and Omani girls to keep it be being up to date and regularily worn.

These are some of the few designs I have seen based on now non-traditional handwork. Not quite my style, but very girly. What do you think? Do you like them? I love the party veil pictured below. Would PROBABLY never wear it (though I am the girl that wore a birqa to Eid all day to win a bet [not for money])....

OPNO loves.... Amouage Room Sprays

OKay, when it comes to perfume, I wear women's Amouage Gold (when I can afford to). When I can't, I buy the soap and shower gel. Yes, yes I do.

In case you didn't know, Amouage is Oman's national perfume company http://www.amouage.com/history.php. There is a location in the Muwalla City Center if you are interested. They are PRICEY though.
So my favourite souvenir take-away by (still at OMR 20 a pop) are the room sprays. I love "spice road". Mmmm, yum. Honestly, I'd wear it AS perfume, if no one who knew me knew that it is a room spray/ They know I am cheap like that.

Green, Blue, White, and Purple Arabic Eyeshadow

I am going to try and do a more toned-down attempt at this Arabic make-up look as I love the tropical colours.

How to Use Powder Kohl Eye Liner

I was asked for a link on how to wear real powder kohl. I couldn't find a vid: maybe I should make one? But Guerlain sells a powder kohl similar to the Islamic one and here is a vid on how to apply it.

and here is a vid on different designs one can do with powdered kohl (I add a little oil, olive, to my kohl, to make it liquid so it is easier to work with):

WTH do they HAVE UNDER THERE?!!!!!: the lump under the headscarf explained

In answer to the following question:

"What On Earth..

..is under there? "-posted by STYLISH MUSLIMAH.

I give you the answer: Gulf girls call it "Qamboo3a" or "Kammasha". It a giant poufy clawed hair clip with a feathered or fabric pouf shaped like a flower glued on either side. It comes in small, medium, large and EXRTA LARGE and every colour and print imaginable. I DO wear one at times, but try to style my hair around it and so it isn't a bump and I do so for the purposes of making an updo not to style my scarf lol (like lower down on my head, not on the crown). Unlike the girls pictured above.

and Nadia from Dhofari Gucci did a post on it called My Second Head . And size demo taken from this post http://muhajabat.wordpress.com/2010/01/08/better-pictures-of-the-hair-flowers/ from this blog http://muhajabat.wordpress.com/.

More Omani Make-up and Hijab Wrap styles with trad. Jewlery for ya'll

Wowza, I LOVE THESE. Of course, I am girl that wears waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less lol. But pretty.
I forget the name of the model for most of the make-up looks but she's some well-known Omani TV presenter isn't she?

This skintone good with you PhantomX?:p

Pretty Omani Hijab Styles and Make-Up

Omani Bridal Hijab Styles

5haleeji Makeup: Khaleeji Makeup

My post about formal makeup in Oman: OMIGOD!!!! LOL. There are two kinds of formal makeup in Oman, the expat sort which doesn't even make it for daywear for the Arab women who are serious about makeup, and then there is the 5haleeji style. As a girl who just had her makeup done professionally the other day, I can go, um, well, it is different than what I am used to painting on myself. And I am not shy with the eyeshadow, I had thought.
For the khaleeji look, they are absolutely strong on the use of different colours, and their aim is to match the colours to your outfit, not what suits you best personally. I'm a girl who looks good in purple eyeshadows, but the other day I had FIVE different colours of GLITTER pasted out past my natural browline. Concealer was then used to give the shadow a severe shape. I felt like an old Egyptian movie star (THE SHAPE)/ 1920s flapper (THE THICKNESS OF THE UNDERLINING---THIS I LIKED BTW)/ circus trampeze artist (THE GLITTER). With all that colour girls, why the glitter?????
Another feature is re-drawing the shape of the brows, either by bleaching the brows, or actually taping over and repainting the entire natural brow. Not many Omani women I've met pluck since to do is generally thought of to be a sin in most instances (unless you've got a mustache).
The next feature is that there is usually two kinds of eyeliner on the bottom of the eye, the dark black one, and then a white line at the corner of the eye, to create drama and shape.
Fake eyelashes seem to be a must, and also, painting your skin on till it is so cake-thick white. LOL, I am soooooo glad I am already white as ghost, so I get to skip this step, or I'd end up with the worst conditioned skin. I am one of those who is too lazy to wash off lastnight's makeup. As a result, I have no white pillowcases.
This is pretty much (a tamer version) of what my makeup the other day looked like. It kinda made me feel like a cross between a Geisha and a drag Queen.
This reminds me of a friend's wedding photo, where all I could do was stare, horrifies by how UNFLATTERING the eyeliners and shadow was to her face shape.
This one, to me, is actually pretty, because of the shape of the kohl, ad the fact the model kept her natural skin tone apparent.
What do you think about this style of Omani makeup? I don't think it is TRULY the original cosmetic culture of Oman, but was adopted, like black abayas, when Omanis used to be in other countries like Saudi and Bahrain and Kuwait, back in the day.

For Wafa, Omani Hair Styles

Most 5aleeji hairstyles involve alot of volume and hairspray (and often fake hair, yuck).
The hair raised at the crown is a usual feature, with jewels and hair accessories complimenting the style.
I like the use of hair bands.
From curly...
Too sleek...
From purposefully messy...
To refined...
Or dramatic..
...the key is always volume.