Incense and the Art of Fume

I am preparing for my travel to Japan and I lit an incense tonight. As I was looking at the swirling motion of the fume coming out of it, I was inspired by its beauty to write a blog post and share some pictures with you. So I made this collage. The smoke makes such beautiful patterns that I want later on to reproduce in some of the vitreous enamel jewelry and art that I have been making. I will post about those too, soon. I created some jewelry and paintings that I will bring to me to Japan as gifts to special people I meet there. The themes I am using are from Hungarian folk art, so this way I will be able to share some of the Hungarian culture and the background I am coming from.

Teeth

Source: http://dentalish.com/

On this blog talk a lot about the beauty of the skin, hair, etc. In this post I would like to talk a little bit about the importance of keeping your teeth healthy. At first sight it might sound trivial. Of course you brush your teeth daily, more times a day. I also thought that it was enough and fine. But sometimes this is not enough. In my case, the dentist advised me that I should change my routine to the following steps:

• Brush
• Floss
• Mouthwash

Brushing should be not the usual two seconds, I know we all do it to be over it, but the more thorough and focused brushing. Make sure to reach all teeth. The flossing is important for me because there is little space between my teeth where remaining food can get stuck. The mouth water in the last step not only prevents bad breath but also offers a longer protection to the cavity and gums.

So keep on smiling, beauties!

Blogger Friends - Fashionable Finance: The Costs of Trending

Hi Blogger Friends!

I have been mentioning on my blog that I love cooperating with other bloggers and having guest posts. Ella Moss, a blogger friend found me an asked me to share some thoughts about her article. So for those of you who are interested in the financial aspects of fashion industry, I would like to invite you to read her article. I find it is a well documented and neatly structured review of the financial mechanisms behind the fashion industry. She covers topics related to promotion, research and creating, on stage and revivals and wraps up the article with the controversy around cheap fashion. I invite you to read her article more in depth and share your opinions about it here or on the website where she has posted it.

Excerpt from Fashionable Finance: The Costs of Trending by Ella Moss

Fashion enjoys a vast world of inventiveness and diversity, exploring new trends and redefining identities, but this creativity doesn't come cheap! We investigate the cost of keeping on trend.

Fashion has a deeply integrated relationship with commerce and capital and have introduced new spheres of ingenuity through marketing and setting cultural trends.

This compels not only designers but schools of PR teams to establish the latest brand on the wave of a social shift in style.

But what about the cost of these new waves and revivals, and how do they impact on the greater public?

Read more...

Also I would like to remind you that if you are a blogger, a martial artist wishing to share an article about their dojo or a female aikidoka who would like to share her thoughts on how it is to be a woman in aikido feel free to contact me any time.

GIVEAWAY! Three Years of Beauty and Aikido [CLOSED]

Beauty and Aikido ©

YAAAY! Another year, another GIVEAWAY! Thanks for following me so far. This year I want to offer a special hand made item to one of my lucky readers. I will be knitting the cowl you voted for on the poll. It will be a full cowl, I am starting right now as I am posting this. The bubble pattern that you picked through the poll voting refers back to the circle symbol from aikido. The other item I am offering is a skin care one. It is a black soap that I am using on a daily basis from the famous Hungarian brand of natural products called Ilcsi. I like this brand a lot because it uses only natural ingredients and makes your skin wonderful. The third item is a book. Because for me and I am sure that for the readers also, aikido is not only a path to train your body, but also for training your mind. So I am offering this book in the hope that it will help the winner in his/her spiritual path also. I cannot wait to see who gets to be the winner! Hope you will have fun joining!

Please make sure to perform all FOUR mandatory steps in order to qualify as a winnder! THANKS! <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Three Years of Beauty and Aikido - Blog Giveaway!

Dear Readers,

I started writing this blog when I turned 25. Three years have past since and now as every year, I will have a giveaway for you guys. Through the giveaway I want to thank everyone who has been my reader and welcome all the people who are joining the Beauty and Aikido adventure only this year. I was thinking of making it special this year and offering you a knit item that I am creating for you. I will be adding other surprise items to the package, also. Stay tuned to find out more about this year's GIVEAWAY!

For now here is the poll I would like you guys to answer:

And the winner is the Budding Infinity Scarf Pattern!

Knitting for Friends - The Headband and the Rose

Hi Everyone!

This winter I have been taking care of my skin in a professional way and went monthly to a cosmetician. Also I stopped buying and trying creams because I get some natural products from the cosmetician. Planning to write a longer post about those products and the treatment I am getting because it totally changed my skin for the better. 

So this winter will not be about product reviews but about knitting and other hand crafted goodies. I am also planning to create something handmade for the yearly BLOG BIRTHDAY GIVEAWAY that will happen in January as usual, so stay tuned!!!

Now here is one of the creations I finished not long ago for a dear friend. She asked for the headband but told me she would love to have a knit rose also. Given the color of  the yarn, I was able to create a cute rose for her as a surprise. The creation will reach her today. Hope she will like it.

If you also liked it and would like to make a similar headband, you can find the pattern here.

Current knitting project: Infinity Scarf for a dear friend.

Future knitting projects: Gloves, something special for the giveaway, another scarf

I also made some glass jewelry the past weekend. I had loads of fun!Will post them only after Christmas because I intend to give some of the jewelry as Christmas presents to family and friends.

Happy knitting!

Japanese Days and Manga Self

I know that everyone is supposed to be their own self, but there is this Japanese chick inside of me that sometimes wants to come to the surface and be cute. So the best place for that is a Japanese cultural event, right. I was invited in the last August weekend to such an event. I had a lot of fun and tried out everything. In the big conference room there were movies, martial arts presentations, dancing and singing.

This is the makeup I was wearing for the day. I was using just tinted moisturizer by L'Oreal, NYC eyelash curler and the Maybelline Rocket mascara that I totally love. On top of that some 100% pure organic blush that I love. And that was it. Oh, and I bought a set of cute bow hairpins. Two of them resemble my ombred hair I think (you can see those on the table)

I listened to presentations and I also played karuta and ate some sushi. The guy at the sushi counter asked me whether I have ever eaten any sushi...then he looked at my tee and he smiled. I said I did eat... I really became keen on karuta also, so I bought a pack of them and started learning the poems called Hyakunin Isshu. Not that I understand a lot of it, but I can read Hiragana, so that helps a lot! So beware, some posts might come about karuta! I also bought a tatami on which I will be able to play it. So excited!!!

I also danced on one of those dancing video games. Then I got my manga portrait taken. It was a lot of fun! Do you think it resembles me? The portrait was done by Lainess. You can check her DevianArt profile here. I think she is quite talented.

Reina's Transformation

Beauty and Aikido ©

As you may already know, I was on a training camp for a whole week. Lots of training, kyu exam but also lots of fun with nice people, grilling, swimming in lake Balaton and last but not least, some styling. Our lovely Reina has been transformed from a cute little girl into an even cuter young lady. I think she really liked the end result. However she found that it took a bit too long and that she could not incorporate the whole makeup and hair session into her daily routine.

Special thanks to Mesu and Jazmin who have collaborated and actually taken the initiative of this quick transformation. 

Aikidoka Stylist Strikes Back!

1st kyu aikidoka

Remember when I posted about how I had the hair of some girls done while we were on training camp? If not head to this article. Now I got a request from one of the sweetest sempais to help her prepare for a family dinner. I was more then happy to do so. I did her nails, hair and makeup in turbo speed, but I think it turned out really good. The makeup is a really natural daytime look. As I had to come up with something for her really quick I just did a look that I do on myself really often. Light foundation from La Roche-Posay. Eyebrows defined by NYX eyebrow powder. Brown smudged eyeliner with some eye-shadow on it to soak up the oiliness of the eyeliner pencil and brightening up the inner corner by a peachy shimmery color from my Dior Palette. Some mascara, just a tiny bit of blush (I used the one presented in this post) and Catrice lip tint.

I painted the nails in two tones, a deep red and a golden one. I am getting better in doing accurate work and not fooling around and being sloppy on the edges. I think this combo looks really awesome on her nails. I feel like I need to open up a small beauty shop RIGHT NOW! I love doing this so much.

Charleston Naturally - Skincare Review

- Sponsored post

Beauty and Aikido ©

I got some products sent over by Charleston Naturally and I tried them out for some month, so I am ready now to give you a review about them. All the products came in this nice little linen pouch:

Inside there were a number of nice products for me to test, peek-a-booo!

First one I tried out was the coconut butter cinnamon lip balm, it is yummilicious. It contains a few basic natural ingredients coconut oil, cocoa butter, organic beeswax, organic cardamon and cinnamon oils. I applied it for the first time in the office where I got the package and it just lit up my day. Tastes really natural, a lot more natural then the Japanese chocolate lip balm I purchased earlier from sasa.com. You can check that article here.

The next thing I tried out was the hand cream. I fist used it for the hands only. It is not too oily, very good consistency and gets absorbed in the skin really quickly. Then I checked the ingredients and realized I could sometimes use this as a night cream, like when I am travelling. It contains two basic ingredients: 

• Tamanu: restorative, healing, moisturizing
• Red Clover: soothing, nutritive, purifying

Other organic ingredients are: aloe gel, rose hip seed oil, cocoa butter, vitamin C, grapefruit, lavender and soybean oils, just to mention a few. It is also a vegan and gluten free product.

I was in the meanwhile using this eye cream too. I find it really soothing. I mainly use it in the evening, but sometime I applied it in the morning too under makeup. It absorbs quickly has a nice consistency and a really natural smell. I cannot talk about any regenerating effects as I don't really have any problems in my eye area yet.

Then as a wrap up, I would like to write a bit about the only decorative skincare item that I have received in the package. I was totally amazed by the ingredients and by the fact that these ingredients can give such a nice color (see picture on top of the post): fruit pigments of organic: blackberry, pomegranate, cranberry, raspberry, strawberry, cherry, rosehip oil. Then loads of organic butters: avocado, cocoa, flax seed and also Vitamin C. All the pigments, butters and oils are certified by Oregon Tilth Certification Organic. Here are some pictures of the blush: 

For more organic skincare products, please visit Charleston Naturally.

Winners of the GIVEAWAY!

Beauty and Aikido ©
Hoodie from Coco Fashion

Hi Guys! I was so happy to announce the winners of the giveaway this weekend. 

The Beauty Prize went to Katherine Donovan

The Aikido Prize went to Nicole Lancaster

I already emailed the ladies and got back really quick replys. Your prizes will be mailed really first thing next week. The Beauty Prize will be mailed by me personally to Katherine Donovan as I was sponsoring that part of the giveaway. The Aikido Prize will be mailed by Anne Marie from Aiki Trend.

Katherine, Nicole, looking forward to getting a feedback from you on how you liked the prizes when you get them, maybe even pictures of you wearing them. Would be awesome!

I also want to share with the rest of you  guys that I am actively looking for sponsors for future giveaways, so you most probably won't have to wait another whole year for the blog anniversary to win something!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone!

Young Designers - Frieda Sophie

-Guest Post by Frieda Sophie

I have been artistically influenced greatly by my two grandmothers who were fashion designers and jewelry collectors. I am a self-taught artist. I started out as a painter, then switched to sewing and now work on fashion design and my jewelry collection.

So here are some of the items I have created:

This sterling silver double ring is elegant and timeless. A delicate pair of rings was connected by sterling silver chain to create a perfect modern pair. Each band measures approximately 1 mm and was slightly hammered for added fine texture.

Featuring a single beautiful Midnight Blue Sunstone which was handcrafted into a 14k gold filled bezel set pendant piece. This piece has a pretty natural golden shimmer sparkle. The pendant measures approx.1" long.

This unusual peach-orange Aragonite mineral stone is absolutely stunning in quality and color. This pendant makes a great statement piece to update any tired outfit. The Aragonite is held in 14k gold filled wire wrap setting and hangs from 14k gold filled 18" chain. Gemstone approx. 1-1.5" diameter large. I only have very few of these stunning Natural Mineral Stones in stock and will not get this quality again so get it while it lasts. Each piece varies slightly in shape.

I hope you liked these items displayed. If you would like any of these, just leave a comment here or check out my shop here.

Giveaway - Video Presenting the Items you can WIN!

I am presenting you in this video all the stuff you can win on the GIVEAWAY! Hope you will join and good luck!

GIVEAWAY! Two Years of Beauty and Aikido

CELEBRATION!!!! YAAY!!

Another year of Beauty and Aikido has passed and just as last year, I want to celebrate this great event with a GIVEAWAY. I have prepared an awesome Beauty Prize and an awesome Aikido Prize.

I made it again really easy for you to join, you just have to perform the steps displayed in the Rafflecopter below. And here are some pictures of what you are getting. You can view the items in a youtube video that I have posted on my channel by clicking here.

The Beauty Prize:

• Hair Dehumidifier Spray (review coming soon about it)
• Yves Rocher Pore Cleaning Masque
• Yves Rocher Night Cream
• Several organic natural masques
• 2 necklaces
• 1 Catrice Lip Tint (tutorial coming up how to do cute doll looks with it)
• 1 Floral Perfume
• 1 Apple iPhone 4 Bunny Rabbit case

The Aikido Prize:

• This beautiful silver Aikido pendant offered by the courtesy of Aiki Trend

Aiki Trend Silver Pendant

Please make sure to perform all FOUR mandatory steps in order to qualify as a winner! THANKS! <3

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As seen on CashNet Sweepstakes

Two Years of Beauty and Aikido! GIVEAWAY coming SOON!



Source: http://katy-doll.deviantart.com



As I have already announced, I am having a giveaway for you guys this year, too. I would like to thank katy doll for making it possible to use this cute little picture for my second anniversary celebration.

In the giveaway, there will be again an Aikido prize and a Beauty related prize. The Aikido prize will be sponsored by the lovely Anne Marie from Aikitrend. You can read more about Aikitrend here. If you are a reader of my blog then you are already familiar with Aikitrend because we cooperate pretty often. The Beauty package will be sponsored by me and will contain a lot of nice goodies. Hope you are happy and will be celebrating along with me! Stay tuned for the details!

Tattooed Aikidoka - Gary's Story

-Guest post by Gary Fox

I saw this piece as a computer-painted image about 3-4 years ago on a website called Deviant-Art. When I finally decided to get the tattoo I had searched for the user who produced the art to gain their consent to have it tattooed but I was not able to find the user or the piece on that website, I'm still looking for him/her. As for the piece, there was something about it that caught my eye. I had been training for a few years already when I stumbled upon it and the theme correlated with my life so much so that I printed it out and hung it from my wall. It reminded me of how challenging the art of Aikido is, to take years of naturally acquired psycho-motor functioning that is gained from growing up and playing, pushing, pulling, shoving, fighting and then learning to just "let it all go" is one of the most challenging and ongoing internal conflicts that I face. It's almost as if I was reborn when the concept of blending with energy finally clicked. This piece spoke of the just how ominous some of these negative energies that we face in life can be and the oni reminds me of how much of a struggle it is to overcome myself at times. 

A few years back I finally had the opportunity to test the art in a real situation. Shortly after receiving my Ikkyū (brown belt), my little brother (Nikyū or green belt for us) and I were jumped at a concert by 8 guys in the middle of a mosh pit. I had never been in a fight before so I was scared at first but as soon as that first punch was thrown it became a game to me, all of the sudden it was randori with 8 attackers who had no training haha. After dealing with a few of my attackers and being pushed down by somebody in the crowd I looked up and saw my little brother getting wailed on by 5 guys who had a good hold on his sweater. I jumped over there and somehow managed to get 4 of them off of him. He went down with one guy on top of him and I just rolled my forearm across his forehead and the guy peeled right off. We just so happened to end up next to my friend Jace who picked up my brother who was a little dazed from being kicked in the face. After seeing that my brother was being taken care of I turned around and dropped in to hanmei (ready stance) waiting for the next attacker but they had all disappeared. I don't know why, maybe because I wasn't striking anybody and in between all the commotion they forgot that I was the one they jumped initially. We were essentially able to dog-pile all of them and diffuse the fight without performing atemi (strike), name a single martial art that can do the same. It was at that moment that I thought to myself "Holy shit, this is the real deal!" I came out unscathed somehow and my little brother got away with a busted lip, but we were kept out of the hospital and that's what mattered to me. 

Colors used

So earlier this summer after staring at this picture on my wall for about 3 years I decided to find an artist who could make this mine. About an hour away from my home an artist named Joshua Newman out of Fresno, Ca caught my eye after a referral from my cousin who has work done by him and after looking at some of his work on Instagram. I contacted him and got him the original photo and after about a week he had a sketch ready for me. It took me 3 sessions and 16 hours to finish it and I love it. It's helped me. These past few years have been a struggle for me, going through a complete lifestyle change, recently single from a long-term relationship and starting a undergraduate RN program with my ex would have broken me if it weren't for Aiki. It's given me the tools to blend and adapt with whatever struggles life throws at me. Hopefully with more time and practice I will learn a grace about it, just as those before me. So now everyday that I wake up and look at this piece of the mirror I am reminded that the training never ends, you cannot put a number to something that is infinite. Masakatsu agatsu.

The dojo where Gary trains