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Cheers to 2022! Our tips for the new year

Happy new week! The year is still fresh, so Happy New Year from us! We are so grateful for 2022 and hopeful that the year will be a fulfilling one for us all. We are back and energized after a short holiday break and can’t wait to walk 2022 with you!

We begin with some tips for the new year. Tips that we believe we will apply throughout the year.

Be present: Being alive is a blessing. May we soak in the everyday moments of this year. Being intentional about being present will help us a big deal in enjoy our lives even more.
Take the risk: What are you waiting for? Do it today. Begin that routine, start that business, develop those habits. The time is now and you will be so grateful you made the descision to start.
Give your all: We’ve only got one life so let us give it our all. Let us love harder this year, commit more this year, enjoy ourselves more.
Have Faith, be positive and optimistic: We have been granted another year by God. Let us have Faith that things will be great. That our dreams will come to pass. Faith makes things possible.
Appreciate life: Be thankful for what you have, always. Having a grattitude list of five things you are grateful for in the morning and five in the evening when the day ends is a great way to start. Do that consistently and you will realise that the list will grow so quickly; we are blessed abundantly.

Cheers to the new year!

Meet Mwarî Beauty Line Founder: Jacqline

“House of Mwarî is a health/beauty line that’s quickly emerged and is ready to serve all. It has a wholesome range of finely whipped body butters, a powerhouse of hair butter filled with nutrients for both hair and scalp, and a lip balm with unmatched moisturizing capabilities.” says founder Jacqline Njatha.

Mwarî stems from the native language Kikuyu and the noun means female offspring. It is commonly used when referring to daughters. “As a proud Kikuyu, this is my own little way of paying homage and preserving a bit of our culture. My line ‘House of Mwarî’ of which I am the founder and creative chief as a result, got its name. I envision myself as a product/industrial designer with a focus on eco-friendly and sustainable design in creation.”

This has been a long time coming as Jacqline had been creating and reveling in these body butters at least a couple of years before launching and sharing their top-tier vibes with everyone. She would make them for herself as she discovered whatever she was using just wasn’t cutting it and we really all deserve the best.

“Self-care is a key process in self-preservation and should not be taken lightly! I did my research and found out what was needed to lock in all that moisture, as that was the assignment at the time. While doing this I learnt even more than I had signed up for and there was no way I was going to leave my hair out of this party.”

She would then produce and gift her products to close friends and they all raved about them. A few of these rounds caused a frenzy in her inner circles and the rest as they say is history. A few years in, some chances and a whole lot of trust in mother nature, House of Mwarî brings you not only luxury self-care products but an experience.

“We aim to bring you the best with our organic ingredient list, an experience to remember in our butters’ perfectly whipped textures and last but not least, they are divinely scented. The designer in Mwarî always peeks out and you can tell by the packaging which fits well with the product design and compliments them perfectly. I can only advise one to look out for bigger and better from the house’s line as this is not half of it. I will however spill that more is closely coming in this organic lifestyle brand. Something for everyone is our mantra and we want this greatly visualized in our future plans.”

As a resilient visionary, Jacqline’s passion gives her the strength to overcome obstacles and achieve milestones. ‘’We’ll conquer this thing by force, we simply have to keep at it till we crack the code.”

Place your orders today to indulge in these luxurious products made just for you. Follow Mwarî on Instagram.

Our Favourite Holiday Recipes

Happy Wednesday! We are so excited about cooking in and hosting this season. Today we pick our fave recipes just for you.

We are going back to our roots with this delicious sweet potato cake recipe. Decorate it with whipped cream frosting and strawberries. Yum yum! Get the recipe here.

2. Enjoy this decadent chocolate and nut brownie cake sprinkled with desiccated coconut. If you are a chocolate and nut lover, this will be your new best friend. Get the recipe here.

3. Indulge in hearty and healthy meatballs. Have fun with this recipe and enjoy a baked version of the meatball. Get the recipe here.

4. Impress your guests with this upside-down pineapple cake. It is such a fun cake to make and is absolutely beautiful. Click here to get the recipe.

5. A colorful vanilla sprinkle cake that you can make with your young ones this festive season. It is as tasty as it looks. Get the recipe here.

Makeup looks for this festive season

It’s getting festive and we are excited about it. Today we share our fave makeup looks for the holidays.

1. Smokey eyes: Smokey eyes have been with us for a while now and there is no limit to the colours you can use to implement this look. Purple, green, navy blue, brown and the classic grey look amazing. You can combine two colours if you so wish, bring on the drama this season!

2. Red lips: Red is one of the Christmas colours, feel free to incorporate it in your holiday looks. There are different shades of red from the cool raspberry and cherry to warm tomato shades and bright chilli.

3. Brown lipsticks: These have been all the rage and we are here for them. There is a wide variety of brown lipsticks in the market today. You can wear matte brown lipstick, add gloss on brown lipstick or even do a small layer of lipstick and lots of gloss. This classic colour is here to stay and is very versatile.

4. Coloured eyeliner: We are now embracing colour more than ever; rock your coloured eyeliner this festive season. Get creative with red, green, white, blue and purple with a bit of shimmer.

Motivation Monday: What is your Dream job?

Happy new week! We are in the Christmas week, getting ready to relax and enjoy our festivities with friends and loved ones. This time is also one for reflection; how the year has been, what we are grateful for and what we hope to do differently come 2022. Today, we are all about our dream jobs. As we prepare ourselves to get into 2022, we are hopeful that the year will be a great one and that we will even be more passionate about what we do or hoping to do. So, what should you look for in a dream job?

1. Satisfaction: Are you satisfied at the end of the day? Is your work engaging? When you have freedom to decide how to do your work, have a variety of tasks that are well defined; from start to end and feedback, you are able to enjoy your work more.

2. Competence: It is very important to do work that you are good at. Hone your skills. Being competent gives you a sense of achievement which is very important in leading a satisfactory life. You are also able to negotiate for the ability to work on meaningful projects, undertake engaging tasks and earn fair pay, in the workplace and the marketplace as well.

3. Opportunities to serve others: There is so much joy in helping other people. Look at your job as a space to serve others in as much as you are making an income.

4. A positive environment: As a business person, it goes without saying that you need to position yourself where your target market is for your business to flourish. At the office space, it is important to have supportive colleagues and an overall healthy work environment. You may not get along with everyone but in a positive environment, you will grow and enjoy your work.

5. Work that fits with the rest of your life: Your job may pay the bills and give you the flexibility to thrive in a side hustle. If you would like to grow your hobby into a business, you can eg get a part-time job and spend the remaining hours building your enterprise.

Fashion: Colours we are wearing this Christmas

Tis the time to be merry and tis the time for colour too! Today we offer some colour inspiration for outfits and clothing for this season.

Red: You can do this traditional colour in different shades this season. You wear your fave red dress, rock a red pair of pants and top; you can even wear a red jumpsuit.

2. Rock two bright colours at the same time: It is the season of cheer, so you can combine two bright colours eg. orange and pink, purple and yellow, green and blue. Experiment with colour this season. Express yourself!

3. An array of colours: Bring out your favourite Ankara print. We will be most probably making kitenge outfits to attend weddings in, get together and even go upcountry. Wear your outfits with delight this season.

4. You can also opt for black and white in patterns or geometric shapes: Black and white is a classic colour combination and is a versatile one as well. You can rock this combination at the office and even transition to a party.

5. Bring out the leather: Wear leather separates such as a leather jacket with pants or a leather skirt with a top. You can go ahead and even try a head to toe leather look. The choice is absolutely yours!

Get your Ngomabook! Celebrating African Music

Today we are featuring the Ngomabook by Alazetu limited, a company founded by saxophonist Makau Yole. Alazetu is passionate about African music and has published several books to help further its appreciation by local and international audiences.

The Ngomabook is a music book written for a particular musical instrument which contains African songs. The name ‘Ngomabook’ comes from the phrase ‘book ya mangoma’ which means a book of songs. There are Ngomabooks for various musical instruments such as guitar, piano, violin, saxophone and many other instruments. These Ngomabooks for various musical instruments contain the same songs and are all synchronized so that they can be played together. This means that for example you could play piano from your Ngomabook for Piano and your friend plays Saxophone from their Ngomabook for B-flat instruments and you would end up making music.

**Makau (right) with an interested client at the Ngomabook launch**

“The Ngomabook was inspired by the absence of music education material that teaches African music right here in Kenya,” says Makau. “This is a true problem because it means African music is not being taught formally yet it is the music that we consume the most. In order to preserve this music and pass it down to future generations, we need to put it in written form that will outlive us and that can be used to teach.”

This first edition of the Ngomabook contains songs by various Kenyan artistes such as Mokua Rabai, Noel Nderitu, Mwenyehaki and SKITS the band. The Ngomabooks currently available have been written at the intermediate level of complexity and target intermediate instrument players and learners. Beginner and Advanced level Ngomabooks are in the works and shall be available some time next year (2022).

**The song “Upendo” by award-winning singer Noel Nderitu featured in the book**

A Ngomabook costs KES 1,490. The books are physically available for viewing and purchase in Nairobi CBD at Ecom-hub – Shop 7, 2nd floor, Kimathi Chambers building, Kimathi Street. They are also available for purchase online at Alazetu.com after which they can be physically picked up at the location above or delivered to an address of your choice.

You should get a Ngomabook if you would like to learn a musical instrument, you are already learning a musical instrument, you play a musical instrument and would like to expand your repertoire to include more Kenyan songs. This is also a great textbook if you teach a musical instrument. Grab your copy today!

Christmas Banana Cake

Behold, the festive season is here with us and we are super excited! Today it’s all about our upside banana cake and we can’t get enough of it. The yummy banana flavour, bright colours of the whipped cream frosting, decadent chocolate and the peanut crunch, what else would we ask for?

Ingredients

10 tablespoons margarine plus extra for greasing

3 ripe bananas

9 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

For decoration

A handful of peanuts

Cocoa

Whipped cream frosting in red and green

Method

1. Beat together 3 tablespoons of margarine and 3 tablespoons of sugar. Spread evenly on the base of the cake tin.

2. Peel and halve 2 bananas lengthways and lay, cut-side down, in the tin.

3. Beat together the margarine, sugar, eggs, vanilla and remaining banana.

4. In a bowl, add flour, baking powder and ground ginger.

5. Stir into the margarine mixture a little at a time, alternating with milk.

6. Carefully spoon the batter into the tin without dislodging the bananas.

7. Bake the cake for 1 hour until a skewer inserted into the center comes out with only moist crumbs.

Decoration

1. Decorate with whipped cream frosting alternating red and green colour. Add beads for a decorative touch.

2. Dust cocoa powder on top and add peanuts.

3. Serve and enjoy!

Beauty Gift Ideas

It’s the most wonderful time of the year; the Christmas season is here with us. Today we are all about gifting your loved ones with beauty items that they will love.

Shower sets and spa dates: You can gift this to a loved one who you know needs some pampering. That may be your hardworking bff or mom who hardly has time for herself. You can include a body scrub, shower gel, face mask and body lotion.

2. Makeup Kit: Surprise a loved one who is into makeup with a makeup kit this holiday. This could also be a sister, cousin or niece who has been gushing about their love for makeup or are just about to begin their makeup course.

3. Gift Voucher: You can give a voucher to family or a friend when you are not too sure what they would like as a beauty gift. They can then choose what they would like to buy.

4. Fragrance: This one is a tricky one as everyone has their own preference and taste. However, if your loved one has been mentioning to you how much they would love to get a certain fragrance you can get that for them. You can go with them to the shop as well for a wholesome experience.

5. DIY gifts: You may be working with a low budget or want to give a personalized and heartfelt gift. Personalized candles and even a sugar scrub could do.

Those are our fave gift ideas for this season. What are you surprising your loved ones with? Comment down below.

Career Monday: Following your passion

When we were younger we had dreams of who we wanted to become when we grew older. Now that we are grown, we most probably are working, running our own businesses or hoping to get into that space. Are you passionate about what you do? Do you love what you are currently doing? Today we are talking about the value of following your heart and doing what you love to do.

You don’t feel like you are working: When you are passionate about what you do, it doesn’t feel like work to you. That doesn’t mean that you won’t work hard, infact you may even work harder as you are enjoying your work. You will have enthusiasm for what you do.
You only have one life: Life is short. Don’t settle and do what you feel everyone is doing. It is important to soul-search and find out what makes you fulfilled and excited and follow it full-force. As a young person, make the most of the time and resources you have right now, you don’t want to live in regret later on.
You become more persistent: When you are pursuing what you love, you naturally become persistent. You are willing to make it work even when faced with obstacles. You think of ways on how you can progress, therefore developing persistence.
You’ll ignore negativity: There will be people who will try to stop you, sometimes making you feel that your ‘crazy dreams’ are not achievable. It is very important to remained focused and not listen to naysayers. When you are passionate about what you do, you will be able to ignore the negativity and press on, regardless.
Your dreams will become a reality: Slowly, just like building a house, as you work on them, your dreams become actualized. By doing what you love, you are already realizing your dream. This also helps you remained focused and achieve so much more that you have ever imagined.

Maybe you are not in your dream career for one reason or another eg responsibilities etc. It’s never too later. You can still start today; follow your heart and pursue what you love on the side. Work hard on it and who knows, you may transition into doing it full-time.