Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Welcome to my blog again guys I know it’s been so long since I last wrote here but I will try to be more punctual now. I’ve been thinking about doing this post for so long but thank God here it is finally time.

I wanted to do this post because I get different kinds of questions on a daily basis in my messages on Instagram (which is @samanwrites, hehe shameless self-promotion, don’t mind me) so I thought why not put all the questions in one place so that it can help everybody at the same time.

Some of the FAQs that I keep answering are: 

How are you self-taught yet so good with makeup?

The thing about makeup, I believe is that everybody can do makeup. It’s clearly just about practice. It’s not something that I’ve learnt in the dark of a night, it’s years and years of practice. I started blogging recently but I know my makeup was horrible back in the day with the most crooked eyeliner, mascara on eyelids and shimmery eyeshadows in the crease. I know you’re probably thinking, “Ew! That’s the worst it can get” but lets just agree we’ve been champions in our own way of making mistakes and there is no denying of the fact that we are all thankful to the mistakes that we made because we’ve learned big time from them. If you scroll down a little on my profile (on Instagram) you will see that my most recent makeup picture is very different than the one that I did a month or two ago. Blogging has really taught me so much more about makeup than you can imagine. In the end, I would say that If you truly want to learn makeup, go look out for good makeup channels on You Tube and watch, watch, watch tutorials.

Some of my favorite You Tube channels are: Glamlifeguru, Nikkitutorials, James Charles, Desi Perkins, Denitslava, Iluvsarahii and Christen Domnique.

Practice is another thing that you need to, need to do in order to learn more and more about your makeup style. 

How do you buy the perfect shade of foundation?

I have a very detailed blog post here about that issue which talks about complexion, undertones, and types of foundation. If you still have further queries do write to me in the form of email or just hit me up on my socials. The link is provided down under:

https://samanwrites.blogspot.com/2017/07/how-to-buy-perfect-foundation.html

How to beat the Instagram Algorithm?

This! This one thing is so messed up about Instagram that I hate it. It doesn’t allow you to grow seriously. To understand growth on Instagram now days you need to know what the new algorithm is. It’s just something that restricts accounts to grow. Why did Instagram do this if it’s a social application? The intense growth on the apps made the creators worry a little too much that they lost their minds and thought it would be a great idea if we make it impossible for new accounts to grow be it the normal public or business accounts haha. Now the only things you see on Instagram are those that have a high rate of engagement. Basically, everything that you see now has a higher rate of likes and comments coming in in the smallest fractions of time. Did you get what I was trying to say? If not, read the last 2-3 lines again. What is engagement? Engagement is the amount of people commenting and liking your posts.

One way to beat this Algorithm is to use the correct hashtags. Hashtags are the only things that can let you engage with other people from around the world. Use famous hashtags in your niche and your post will get to a larger audience. You can use 30 hashtags per post so why use only 2?

Another important thing to increase engagement is to show love to others so that they show love to you in return. To get to the explore page, it is very important to have a good engagement rate on your post in the first hour of posting. If you get 10 comments in the first hour, reply to all. This way you’re not only showing love back and responding but you’re increasing your own engagement.

Now you know some of Instagram’s dirty little secrets, don’t you? 

What is the best foundation?

Have you ever seen 2 people conflicting upon the same foundation, one loving it and the other hating it? Why is that so? Do you ever wonder if a brand was stupid enough to invest in making a foundation that sucks?

It’s not about what a beauty influencer says, it’s more about what you think and feel about something. Your skin is a combination of dry, oily and neutral and it can be different from that of others. If a beauty Guru says that blah blah foundation sucks but has dry skin whereas, you have oily skin, how can you say that the blah blah foundation would suck too for you too?

It’s not bad to take advice from beauty bloggers or beauty gurus and you should definitely do that but what I’m trying to say is that your final answer should be based on your own judgement of the product and should not be influenced by any other being but you because in the end of the day, you’re the one who knows best about your skin.

Another thing that is very important to know what product would work best for you is that you do your own research, beforehand. Go search the product online, go to their website, the official one, look at the ingredients and all the little details until you’re satisfied.

I won’t leave this paragraph hanging without telling you what my favorite foundation is, of course. My favorite foundation at the moment is YSL (idk the range guys please bear with me). I am planning on to buy the Maybelline Fit Me one because I have heard really good reviews on it but then again I’ve done my own research and I know that foundation suits my skin combination very well. 

Where to buy makeup from?

There are two ways to buy makeup; online and stores. Now, there is no Sephora in Pakistan but there is this amazing place called Enem, in Lahore where you have so many brands to choose from. Apart from that we have Al-Fateh and Roop Singhar too. Apart from this there are other smaller departmental stores as well where you can easily find makeup but they don’t always have all the range of products.

If you want to buy bigger brands I don’t know if they’re really available in stores but I know that they definitely are available online. Two really good online makeup stores are Cosmetic Planet and Just 4 girls. I have left a link down below in case you want to check the pages out.

With that being said guys please be aware that there are always dupes available in the market. Many businesses on Instagram say that they are selling original products from a high-end brand when they are not. Huda Beauty products are all over the place. I’ve seen her mascaras and brushes that do not even exist, ladies. In the end, I would say that there are businesses who sell products that they themselves would never use on their skin because they know about the harmful ingredients that that product contains.

Links:

http://www.cosmeticplanetpk.com/

https://just4girls.pk/

These were 5 of the frequently asked questions that I keep getting from time to time in my DMs. If you want a FAQs part 2, I’d be more than happy to do another one. If you have questions that you want me to answer, I’d be more than humbled to answer those too. You can hit me up on my socials.

Signing off. Happy New Year to all of you.

Peace <3

Bari Eid!

 Bari Eid is just around the corner and most of us have still not decided what to wear. At least I haven't. If you still haven't decided what you're wearing this Eid, I will try and help you out. 
Fashion and trends keep changing and it is very difficult to upgrade your wardrobe with every ongoing trend. However, There are some things that will forever remain in style for example, plain white Shalwar Kameez with colored Dupattas. If we talk about jewellery, we can see that tassels, jhumkay or statement jewellery pieces will never get old. 

Apart from trends and fashion, the season and weather can have a big impact on what to wear and what not to wear. You cannot wear a brighter than ever yellow color on a hot sunny day in summers. Same is the case with this much awaited Eid. How can you wear a dark color with tons of makeup in this scorching heat? But, does that mean you can't look pretty or put on any makeup at all? No, not at all but i would definitely suggest you don't go with a handful. I don't know about you but I have been wearing black on every single Eid from the past 3 years and it wasn't intentional. Just a coincidence. 
Anyways, I suggest you to wear pastel colors because not only are they super cute, but they will be really comfortable for you in this heat. 

If you take a look at this article from Cross Stitch where Syra Shehroze is wearing this very beautiful light blue shirt in a frock style, you can see that it is really trendy and does not look too much for any occasion. I love their Eid collection and you can get your hands on these from this link: https://www.crossstitch.pk/azure-arches

I hope you found this post helpful. If you did share it with your friends and family. Comment If you want to see more posts like these.

PS: I DO NOT own the copyrights to these images in this post. These are used for reference purposes only.

Follow me on IG for more updates: @samanwrites.

EID MUBARAK 💟💟

Cleaning Out Your Brushes Made Easy!

Cleaning out my makeup brushes has never been easy. I always, always try to skip this step I'll be completely honest with you guys. Most of the times when im in a hurry and do not have time to clean out my brushes, I just use a dry tissue paper and work my brushes on that, and for some reasons it works not the very best but fine. This is one thing I feel the most lazy about and honestly, I keep procrastinating.
 I was just sitting one day on my own with the thought of cleaning my brushes troubling my mind. I had just completed my makeup and i was putting my eye shadow palette back in it's place while wrapping it in a bubble wrap. Just then I thought if i could use this bubble wrap as a textured brush cleaning tool. I instantly took a tape and stick the bubble wrap to the sink to see if it works or not. I then carried on with my normal brush cleaning routine. I took my body wash and dropped a little bit of it on the bubble wrap. I then took my dirty brushes one by one and started rubbing them all across the bubble wrap and all the makeup came out like magic. There was no residue left and my brushes felt sooooo soft and smelled great at the same time.

Before

This picture over here on top is before I had cleaned them out. After i have washed my brushes i let them dry for at least one whole night. Now drying your brushes is another difficult thing that I've struggled with in the past. I searched the whole internet but all I found were fancy and weird ways to do so like buying a brush holder to place your brushes upside down so that the water does not go inside to where the glue area is. Honestly, I'm literally a broke person who cannot afford such fancy useless things when there are other ways to do the same thing for free. So, after wasting a lot of time i finally knew how to do it.

I literally just placed then at the edge of my dressing table so that the water drips out and nothing is left behind, and so that my brushes don't change shape because I'm no youtuber honey this is all I got.
So when they're all dry they look something like this:

After

This is the easiest way I think anyone can wash and clean their brushes with things that we already have in out house. I will soon be making a video on this and the video will be uploaded to me Instagram account which is "@samanwrites" so you can follow me there and stay tuned for more. If you thought this was helpful leave a comment down below so I could get your views on it. Share it with your friends and family so that they can make the best out of bubble wraps too ♡♡

Are You Suffering From Hairfall?

Hair fall can be the most painful things in the entire universe to happen to you. Losing your hair everyday is not something easy to suffer. Honestly, every time I'm facing hair loss i feel like I'm losing my babies (too dramatic but yes). There are many factors that can cause hair fall or lead to it. Some of the major reasons are:

1. Physical or emotional stress.
2. Inadequate protein intake
3. Genetics
4. Anemia
5.Over-styling.

These are just a few or the reasons your hair could be falling. I've decided to put together some of the best ways to stop your hair from falling and to stop with this drama already in your life.

1. Coconut Milk: 
Coconut milk is rich in Vitamin E and fats that helps to keep your hair healthy and moisturized. Whereas, the milk is rich in potassium which is another vital ingredient to hair growth.

2. Aloe Vera:
 Aloe Vera plays a crucial role in balancing the PH levels of the hair and the scalp. It penetrates deep into the scalp and hair promoting hair growth.

  



3. Potatoes:
Potatoes contains Potassium, Vitamin C and Iron all of which are very important to maintain a good hair health. It has also been found that a deficiency of potassium can lead to hair loss.

4. Egg whites:
Eggs are a rich source of Protein, Vitamin B and essential nutrients for optimum hair health.

 5. Lemon Juice:
Lemons are excellent astringents. They tighten the pores in your scalp which makes it difficult to pull hair from their roots. Lemons are rich in Vitamin C. An essential nutrient that helps maintain hair health.

All these things are very easy to use. You can mix it with your favorite oil and put it to the test. Remember, you won't see results too quickly, so be patient and keep doing it. Have amazing hair ladies, that's the goal. If you found this post helpful or if you tried using any of these methods, do let me know by hitting me up on my Instagram that is @samanwrites.

Have a lovely day!💟

So Sharp You Wont Feel A Thing!

So, recently I ran out of my eyeliners and had to buy a new one. Now if you're a Pakistani you would know what a struggle it is to go to the drugstore and buy a new makeup product. It's not because of the wide range of products available but because of the sales girls who would do anything to catch your attention to buy products that they're offering no matter what quality it is, no matter what the price is, no matter if you need that product or not, they will force you to buy it because they consider it to be important! Wth! Something like this happened to me too. This lady at the drugstore took me to the section of Rimmel where all their products were set up. She started showing me all the eyeliners that Rimmel had ever produced. There was one that I liked and thought about buying it because it was super affordable and easy to use. I paid for it, kept it in my hand bag and brought it home. When I opened it up, the product was a look alike of the one that she'd shown me. I was shocked to the core of my existence. I took a deep breath and decided to swatch it on my hand ignoring the fact that it was a different product than the one I had liked. When I swatched it, I was okay but after using it for 2 to 3 times, the product was almost empty. I was pissed.

Rimmel Scandal Eyes - Thick and Thin Eyeliner

Even though I used it for a very short time period, I can tell what the application of the product was like. The product was a pitch black color. It had a liquid consistency.  I bought it for 1050 rupees. Even though the price is quite high for the quantity we get. You only get 1.1ml of the product that does not do justice to you, and for me who literally didn't even get half of the product. This is a waterproof product but it fails for saying so. I was wearing it on my eyes and i literally did the water test, the eyeliner was almost gone. No, it didn't smudge or smear around my eyes but it was just gone! It has a 3D applicator and and you can slightly rotate the applicator to get the desired amount of thickness on your eyes. One thing I struggled quite a lot with this product was that when you apply it once and then you try to correct it from places it is already applied in, it would take away the product from there. another thing is that when you're wearing textured eye shadows or glittery eye shadows it would just not work!! However, in this tug or war against your eyelid and eyeliner, once you've managed to win, it would look beautiful.

I hope you found this post helpful. If you did, do share it with your friends and family. What next should I post? Did I forget to mention something? Was this helpful? Leave a comment down below. Have a very nice day 💟

Look Boujee on a Budget!

In this world of expensive shit going on, how much can you spend on clothing, accessories or makeup? Aan Aan! You need to compete and live. You can't just give up due to inflation. You need to take your wardrobe up a notch without having to splurge all your savings or income! What? Yes! You can totally stay on a budget and look expensive. Here are some of the things you can do that can make you look more expensive and boujee.
First of all you need to make sure you have a list of neutral colored clothes like whites and blacks and nudes. This is the first thing you NEED to have in your closet. Simplicity is the KEY. White is the most luxurious color in my opinion. wear white and maybe pair it with black or red or whatever color you think compliments your complexion or character.
Now to takes those neutral colors to a higher level, look for something that adds texture for example  jackets, dupattas, faux fur and anything else that you like. Jackets like bomber jackets or denim jackets can really make your look poppin'. Satin fabric is also a status symbol in many places and can look really expensive.

Good looking shoes are another way to make your look a little more put together. Investing in a good pair of shoes won't hurt. Always remember, your shoes are the first thing people would notice. Another fact about Shoes is that they can reflect your personality. Heels and especially pointed ones are a REAL status symbol out there. All celebrities flaunt them and you can really be out there by wearing them. It may hurt but we girls are the bosses and we can do anything to look beautiful!! Another ones are boots. NO matter what you pair them with, they will slay your life right away!!

Accessorize yourself and you'll be the talk of the town. The correct accessories can take you from ZERO to HERO. A little dramatic but pffttt. Look for SALES ladies!! Every now and then big stores are having bigger sales then ever. buy a pair of good stuff like a good hat, bracelet, rings, bags, necklaces, chokers and a cool pair of sunglasses and you're ready to steal the show!

Last but not the least, Your makeup can really define your background. Less makeup is really the key to look more luxurious. YES. The more natural you look the more luxurious you look. .

These were my tips and tricks to make you look the way you deserve. Remember, no matter what community or clan you belong to, no matter what color you are, there's not even a single person like you in this whole universe and you're one of a kind and this is what makes you special. wearing makeup does not mean that you're trying to hide your insecurities! Makeup is a way to enhance your looks, it does not mean you're faking it. Do what makes you feel better. Wear what makes you look better. Be you and do you! You're the queen of your own kingdom and nobody can force you into doing anything. Believe in yourself and enjoy every little moment in life 💟

Sick of your Tailor? Read this.

"Im sorry i had to go to a funeral back in my village and i couldn't meet the deadline to stitch your clothes",  the exact same dialogue every single one of us has heard maybe only once in our lifetime. What sucks more is to visit him every time by managing your time and being disappointed in the end. In such conditions you wish your tailor would have come to you by himself. Well if then you're one of those people who wished this, then you should know that your wish has been granted. A friend of mine has started this business majoring in stitched and unstitched fabrics, and tailoring for both male and female customers. If you're sick of driving to your tailor, it's time your tailor drives up to you. Yes, Zrafted makes it possible now.

They are an online business where you can buy Shalwar Kameez's fabric and get it stitched according to your personal preference. Not only this, they stitch within 24 hours and deliver is for free within Lahore. They deliver to other cities too. They have a wide variety of fabrics for both men and women. You can either find a printed fabric or one in a solid color.

They also have a wide variety of already stitched clothes again for both genders. You can find your perfect size and get your hands on these pretty good quality fabrics and clothes. The best part is that you can get them delivered at your doorstep for free*.

For more information go check out their socials:
Instagram: @zrafted
Twitter: @_zrafted
Facebook: facebook.com/zrafted
Web: Www.zrafted.com

*Free delivery is subject to your region.