Our sincerest apologies for seeming like we’ve suddenly dropped off the face of the earth! We are currently working to revamp our website so that it’s better suited to our brand. Stay tuned for blog posts on the following:
Dating in Vancouver
Weekend Getaways for the Busy Professional
A Month Without Makeup
Our Favourite Vancouver Hot Spots
We cannot wait for you to see the launch of our new website which is expected to be live towards the end of June!
xxReGals
Happy New Years! Congratulations on having made it another year without zombie apocalypses, alien invasions and whatever else that could possibly cause our demise. As the new year makes a warm welcome… or chilly if you count how cold it is in Vancouver at the moment (sorry we can’t help but whine and yes we know there are much colder places out there) we all do that thing where we purchase a new journal and make a list of things that are going to change this year. Mostly deciding between improving finances, getting fit, finding love and traveling.
Our attempt at New Year’s resolutions while remaining realistic:
Lorena’s:
No more procrastination. I hereby vow that when something needs to be done, I will do it right then and there.
Become a better hugger. For those of you who know me, I am horribly awkward at giving hugs. This year, this shall change. Brace yourselves.
Drink more water. Hydration is important, especially for someone like me who thrives on a diet of caffeine and wine!
Travel. With my crazy work schedule this will have to be in the form of weekend getaways but nevertheless, I hope to explore at least five new places this year! Hint: New York for my birthday. See you then.
Get out of my comfort zone at least once a week. I have a feeling this will result in some interesting scenarios. Stay tuned.
Find out if I am actually allergic to gluten. I am serious. Up to this point, I am a self-diagnosed celiac. I vow that at some point, I will go get an allergy test done. Who knows, maybe I will be able to eat baguettes in Paris after all! Update: I took an allergy test with a Naturopath and it turns out I am Celiac after all with a lactose intolerance and a peanut allergy! Excuse me for being dramatic but what is the point of living now?
Create meaningful relationships. Not just in a lovey-dovey way. I don’t want to let my work life take over my personal life. Overlaps are fine but there needs to be balance.
Heba’s:
For me, this year is about truly being the best woman I can be. How will I do that you may ask?
TRAVEL! TRAVEL! TRAVEL! There are so many places I’ve wanted to travel to, but I’ve always put off my trips for numerous reasons. Well, no more! This year I will start crossing them off my list. To list a few of the places: Paris, South Africa, London, Bali, New Orleans, New York and Istanbul.
To wear makeup less. I use to be the girl who never wore makeup and was fully okay with it, but i’ve found that I have been doing the opposite. I’ve been using it as a security blanket to hide my flaws, but that needs to stop.
I love living with my family, but I truly want to experience independence. So this year I plan to move out and live closer to downtown Vancouver.
Embrace my plus size figure. I want to stop doing things for the goal of being a “skinny girl”. I want to do things to be healthy and I can be healthy with my curves.
Build my wardrobe. I recently got rid of a lot of my old clothes to make room for a professional, but still sexy look.
Embrace my inner Yogi. Last year I really got into hot yoga, but due to a car accident I wasn’t allowed to attend the classes until my neck and back healed. Three months later I’m in the clear and ready to get back into it full force.
To take more pictures and videos. I hope to capture more candid moments with friends and family, especially since I live in a world where I have my cell phone attached to me.
xx ReGals
We’re all entitled to our own opinions and mine is that Lana Del Ray is freaking amazing. I may be obsessed. She’s so beautiful, slightly twisted and sexual, I love it.
Her songs are so full of meaning and I always feel like I can relate to the stories she sings. For example:
A song that so beautifully sings my most anxious thoughts. Will you still love me when I’m no longer young and beautiful?
I particularly love the music video that goes along with this song. The way she’s sitting on her throne ever so nonchalantly with two tigers by her side…the crown of flowers on her head…That is everything I want if I ever decide to make a music video (I won’t ever, don’t worry).
But seriously, this song speaks to me. It’s as if Lana Del Rey took a peek inside my head and decided to write a song about how much of a tough girl I try and make myself out to be when in reality I am scared of getting too close to someone in fear of getting my heart broken.
Don’t make me sad, don’t make me cry
Sometimes love is not enough and the road gets tough
I don’t know why
Keep making me laugh
Let’s go get high
The road is long, we carry on
Try to have fun in the meantime
Come on take a walk on the wild side
Let me kiss you hard in the pouring rain
You like your girls insane
Choose your last words, this is the last time
Cause you and I, we were born to die
My absolute favourite:
This song brings together my love of dancing and bad boys. I listen to this song and imagine every bad boy I’ve ever been with…
Why I must always attract myself to the bad ones I have no idea. Got commitment issues? Tattoos and piercings? A horrible view of women? I’m all yours, baby.
No other boy ever made me feel beautiful,
When I’m in your arms, feels like I have it all,
Is it your tattoos or golden grill,
That makes me feel this way?
Got me spinning like a ballerina,
Feeling gangsta every time I see ya,
You’re the king and, baby, I’m the queen of
Disaster, disaster.
And simply because I love anything to do with Paris:
This song feeds my ongoing daydream to drop everything and go to Paris. Enough said.
I wanna be that fantasy that you got on your mind
Flying across the sea to somewhere that they’ll never find
We should go out while we’re young
Cause one day we will want to rewind…
Take me to Paris
Let’s go there and never look back
Paris, we can be crazy like that
You’re such a naughty boy
Why you taking that Polaroid
Put on a show you’ll enjoy
Take me to Paris
xx Lorena
Ex-boyfriend nostalgia seems to be more common around the holidays. Especially among my friends and family (you know who you are).
Why people can’t leave me to be single I have no idea but what’s even worse is the constant “Why’d you guys break up? We loved him!” Honestly, asking me that question is a sure way of making me feel uncomfortable because I am never entirely sure how to answer. Do you actually want to know the truth? Sometimes this brings up bad memories and I start crying, telling people I don’t ever want to date again (not my proudest moment).
Yes, I will admit that I – like many young girls, used to have my life perfectly mapped out in a timeline. Get married at 23 to a handsome man, have a baby at 25, have my career figured out by the time I’m in my mid-30s…
And yes, maybe I do have a not-so-secret board on Pinterest titled “My Perfect Wedding” where I’ve collected various colour schemes/pretty dresses/fun party ideas in a collage-type sequence…
In reality I am living my life the complete opposite of what I had hoped for myself at the mere age of seven and a half. Welcome to almost 2014: the year where we can own our careers before ever getting married and thinking about children.
By now, I have gone on way too many dates with people friends and family have tried to hook me up with (think brother’s friend’s older brothers, the son of the neighbor, a friend of a friend of a friend of mine, etc.) that I am even thinking of submitting some stories to Vancity Buzz. Yes, some of them are that good! Especially that time the guy “borrowed” my iPhone and read through all my messages in order to see if i deserved to have my dinner payed for. Such a charmer.
I may not have anyone to host tacky Christmas parties with this year, and mother: you’re going to have to wait at least 10+ years to become a grandparent but at the end of the day, I am smiling in gratefulness. I have girlfriends who are basically my soulmates, family that I adore and a career that fulfills me. Oh yea, and I don’t have to share that bottle of wine or box of chocolates. Ha!
xx Lorena
Recently, I fell in love with Childish Gambino’s new single “3005”. Since I’ve always loved his interviews, I decided to take some time to creep the latest he had done in promotion of his new album. During these interviews, he started touching on how as soon as he left Community, everyone thought he was leaving to be a “rapper” and that he thought that was stupid. He was not leaving to be a rapper, he was leaving to be whatever he wanted to be. He felt as though he was being labeled as one thing, be that a rapper or an actor confined. He simply wanted to do what he could and constantly better himself while breaking the glass ceiling. To me, he raised a good question: why is it that every time we want to try something new or take a new path there has to be a label? Can it not just be?
In a world where a kid can grow up and be more than one thing and individuals in their 30-40s who are supposed to have it “figured out” are returning to school to pursue new interests, why must we be labelled?
I don’t know about you but the last thing I want to be is put in a box and labeled as “Heba Yousuf- Public Relations”. I love what I studied in school and I hope to gain a great career out of it, but I don’t want it to be the only thing I’m known for. I also want to be known as a great blogger, a fashionista/stylist, a philanthropist and I wouldn’t even mind being known for acting or as a personal therapist for the amazing people in my life. I want to do it all and I want to be known for it all. I also see the same for my business partner. We want to give our hearts to everything we do. Having just listed a million labels, I guess what I am trying to say is that I’d like to be just me, and everyone to be whomever they want to be! Is that too much to ask for?
xx Heba
Allow me to preface this post by saying something completely blunt and honest: I am not an expert on dating (by any means…trust me). The reason for this post is simply to share with you why falling in love at 14 didn’t work out for me and to hopefully offer someone advice or at the very least, make someone laugh at the hilarity of my life.
I was having coffee the other day with a good friend of mine when the topic of dating came up. We were laughing at my current non-dating life and my past life as a girlfriend when the following question came up: “How did you handle the break-up so well?”
It was then that I realized how much I’ve grown since I ended what some may call a very serious, committed, six-year relationship (I was 14 when it started, I am now on my way to 21). Now, I am not going to get into the details of why we broke up…(this isn’t the Oprah Winfrey show) but I will say that I definitely am not the same person I was when I was 14. A lot has happened since then and it’s all changed me to become the smiley, more confident version of my current self.
Part 1: Travelling
I have a vivid memory of me sitting in the corner of my lonely apartment, for three days straight all while crying and stuffing my face in a tub of ice-cream. Let’s face it – breaking up isn’t pretty and we all go through something similar at one point or another (right?).
For me, the moping around ended after browsing flight deals and coming across a ticket to Mexico City. The first step I took from the corner of my apartment was to my kitchen counter where my purse was. Out came the wallet and just like that – I purchased myself a plane ticket for the following month and sat back looking forward to what has so far been the most memorable chapter in my life.
By immersing myself in a different country and culture, I was able to see just how much the world has to offer. I met some amazing people and realized that life was so much more than a six-year relationship. I said goodbye to the mopey, broken-hearted Lorena and welcomed an adventure full of eating, wandering and exploring.
Part 2: The People Who Matter Most
While in Mexico City, I was lucky enough to spend some good quality time with my mother’s side of the family. I was reunited with my grandmother, going on shopping trips with my aunts, being silly with my cousins and going out to eat with my uncles. All this bonding did me good and helped me learn more about myself.
Building a support system is important and so is having people to share life with. Now that I’m back in Vancouver, I love lounging around the city with friends and sharing good laughs.
Part 3: Me-Time
The perk to being single, I later discovered, is all the time I have to myself. I can do whatever I want, when I want, with whom I want. All those books I wanted to read? I now have Sunday mornings to explore Vancouver’s finest coffee shops and indulge myself in them. Those lessons I wanted to take to improve my French? Well now I can hire a cute French tutor…
For me, all this free time meant being able to focus more on my career and to co-found what is now my joy and pride: Régalien. Take advantage of all that life gives you and just go with the flow – life does this weird thing of always working out in the end.
Cheers to not taking life too seriously.
Xx Lorena
They say listening to someone’s playlist is like reading their diary so perhaps this is the most intimate post we will ever share with you. In no particular order, here at the top ten songs we currently can’t get out of our heads.
Lo’s:
Heba’s
And when we are together we can’t help but sing along to these songs:
Naturally, we had to end with the Spice Girls! Fun fact about us 90’s babies: with Heba’s big curls and at one point blonde highlights, she was known as Scary Spice while the young and lovely Lo was known as Baby Spice in their inner circles.
xx ReGals
Okay, I have a confession – I am a 23 year old Canadian woman and I am what some may call “FAT”. I have parts that jiggle and don’t always fit into the typical sizes stores carry (0-16). Growing up I felt awkward and uncomfortable with my body and lets face it, the media was no help. If you’re plus sized, much like myself, you have been taught to hide your curves under cheap stretchy fabric, hideous shapes and terrible patterns that not even your grandmother would wear.
As a fashion lover and red carpet addict I couldn’t settle for that. I admired amazing bloggers like Aimee Song and Ashley Madekwe but they didn’t fit my demographic. I read all the fashion magazines but they wouldn’t feature plus size women for me to admire.
Not to worry though, I found my way in the end! Times are changing and women of all sizes and shapes are fighting to get their voices heard and although slowly, the media and the fashion industry are taking notice. Thanks to full-figured women in the media such as actors Rebel Wilson and Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, models Ashley Graham, Nadia Aboulhosn and Robyn Lawly, plus size women finally have individuals who they can look up to.
My advice to accepting your curves:
Whether you’re a size 00 or a size 24, you have likely hated what you have seen in the mirror at one point or another. No one is perfect and sometimes it’s hard to see the beauty we each have to offer. I’m not going to pretend that my growth in self confidence has stopped me from having these moments where I think negative thoughts about myself. That being said, I have learned that as long as you learn to love yourself and take everyday to quiet those thoughts, you’ll get to a place where no one can knock you down…Not even yourself.
The best way to quiet those thoughts:
Shop by what looks best on you rather than going by the number on the label. Different stores have different sizing, so a size 16 may fit differently on you from one store to another. As long as it looks great on you, that all that matters!
Shopping:
http://www.newlook.com/shop/inspire-plus-sizes/view-all-inspire_2030089
http://www.asos.com/Women/Curve-Plus-Size/Cat/pgecategory.aspx?cid=9577&via=top
http://www.dorothyperkins.com/?geoip=home
I also find it helps to look at other women who look great in all sizes. When you’re constantly looking at individuals who are styled for a body type that’s not yours, it can become discouraging. However, seeing women much like yourself exuding confidence and pride in their shape will show you that you too can have those qualities.
Bloggers:
In Hollywood, I’m obese. I’m considered a fat actress. I eat like a caveman. I’ll be the only actress that doesn’t have anorexia rumors! I’m never going to starve myself for a part. I’m invincible. I don’t want little girls to be like, “Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner!” -Jennifer Lawrence
xx Heba
After reading the ever so hilarious article, 25 Guys I Can’t Date, we decided that we had to take the matter into our own hands and share with you the 10 guys we cannot date. While we know that there is always an exception to the rule, we hereby declare that we cannot date any guy who:
Takes issue with the fact that we both spend the better part of our weekends on Netflix binges (specifically watching 90210 reruns, Orange is the New Black, Bones and House of Cards).
Makes a big deal out of our dietary preferences (Lorena: gluten-free – hey, at least you can have my bread, Heba: nothing that comes from a pig).
Wears socks and sandals together, at the same time.
Isn’t adventurous with food (we love to eat…no joke).
While we’re on the topic of food, we both cannot stand those who chew loudly and make noises while they eat.
Wears any of the following: Ed Hardy, Christian Audigier, Tapout and anything else with excessive bling.
Doesn’t appreciate Vancouver, this is our city and we love it too much to have you bash it.
Someone who doesn’t have an inner child. As the Joker says, “Why so serious?”
Doesn’t read and appreciate literature (we don’t care what you’re reading, just do it).
Bad hygiene. No explanations necessary.
xo ReGals
As two professional women in Vancouver (who are constantly on the go), looking fabulous while doing five million things at once is crucial to the life of a PR girl. Over time, we all find looks that suit us best. Here are our three signature beauty looks.
Lorena’s:
Au Natural: I am notorious for leaving the house with little to no makeup on. Yes, I admit it – I am lazy when it comes to my look. In fact, I’ve even caught myself makeup-less on a few dates…Thank goodness for tinted moisturizer.
This picture is a total flash-back to when I had my hair super short (something I think every girl should do at least once in her life)!
Bright Lipstick & Curls: This is my easy go-to for when I want to add some excitement and a pop of colour to my look. My favourite colours to rock are pink and red (the brighter, the better).
Up-Do With A Smoky Eye: Occasionally, when I am feeling sassy, I will tie my hair up in a messy bun or ponytail and play around with a darker eyeshadow.
Heba’s:
Bold Braids: Braids are a great way to add a little character to your hair, especially on days when you find it laying flat. I find it is quick and when I pair it with a bold dark lip, I feel ready to take on the world!
Classic Red Lip and Cat Eye: Blame it on Marilyn Monroe or all the old Hollywood movies I’ve watched, but I will now and forever break out the classic red lip and cat eye. Its feminine charm and elegance makes it a statement look, especially when paired with soft waves.
Fresh Faced: With a mix of sensitive skin and laziness, I often opt for no make up, hidden behind big framed glasses and my natural curls. It is my way of embracing what mother nature gave me.
xx ReGals
Régalien Public Relations 