The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Val

  • Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s Val gift

    Abubakar Tafawa Balewa’s Val gift

    Lawyer and owner of top men’s lifestyle magazine, MODE MEN, Abukabar Tafawa Balewa, may soon be out of reach for ladies who have been winking at him. The grandson of Nigeria’s former Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, got engaged to his beau on Valentine’s Day.

    The elated editor-in-chief announced the engagement on social media. All things going smoothly, the Ahmadu Bello University graduate of law will be quitting bachelorhood soon.

    Tafawa Balewa had a stint with legal practice when he worked at Libra Law under the former Attorney General of Lagos State, Mrs. Hariat Balogun, before he moved into publishing. He has shown true leadership on his works as a consultant with an international brand and a supporter of a good cause working for “Rainer Foundation” charity and Wings, mentoring as a volunteer staff.

  • Cute couples outfits for Val

    Cute couples outfits for Val

    Would you be going out for a nice lunch or just go out to have a good time with spouse? Why not try a nicely-cut pencil skirt or pants, which is always a winner. Slip on a nice shirt dress and update the look with platform heels and complement this with a handy handbag or small purse.

    Guys can combine a nice top with a pair of bandless pants, knock-off with blazers. Or a blazer jacket with a shirt or tank top Jeans is indispensable to any man.

    Cocktail/evening date

    Stay stylish and standout on Valentine night with a striking cocktail dress with a touch of red or pink, and keep everything else simple. Now one thing that is very important to note before buying a dress for Valentine’s Day is whether it’s a daytime event or an evening event.

    Guys, the perfect hue for an evening date is black. It’s the most versatile colour of all time. Trainers or sneakers are not allowed. This is the period to flaunt your leathers. So, dress up smart and wear something that reflects your style and attitude.

    But remember these fashion hubs of Valentine’s Day: dresses are not just for those with partners. Singles should also celebrate and go out for Valentine too!

    So whether you plan dining at a fancy, romantic restaurant with your hubby, or you plan to hit town with friends, consider dressing festively for the occasion without seeming too tacky!

  • Flawless makeup application this Val!

    • Apply primer

    After you moisturise, spread on a light primer with silica, which has a filling effect. A foundation that is creamy and moisturising will not settle into fine lines and wrinkles but use it sparingly, the more you add, the more pronounced lines will look.

     

    • Pick foundation wisely

    Choose a liquid foundation with silicone. Avoid luminous or matte ones (they make the skin appear either too moist or too flat to be natural), and instead look for the words “lightweight,” “sheer,” or “invisible.” Some lightweight foundations won’t mask every flaw, for extra coverage, you need more pigment, not a heavier texture. Try M.A.C. Match master Foundation.

     

    • Find your shade

    To find a foundation that matches your complexion, test the colour on your neck. Your skin tone is more uniform there than it is on your face, so you will wind up with a shade that is just right for you. You will also avoid that dreaded demarcation along the jaw line.

     

    • Apply sparingly

    Dab on six dime-size dots of foundation: two on your forehead, one each on the tip and along the sides of your nose, and the last on your chin. Using two fingers spread the colour over your forehead, down your nose, across your cheeks, over your chin, and along the sides of your face. Always blend down or sideways, never up to prevent foundation from catching in peach fuzz.

     

    • Use your fingers

    Blend the liquid toward the perimeter of your face. It will get sheerer as you move closer to your hairline and jaw, preventing any harsh lines.

     

    • Diffuse with a sponge

    Tap a clean, damp makeup sponge around the nose, over wrinkles, and anywhere your base is noticeable to remove excess that could crease or emphasise lines. The Beauty blender’s (sponge) pointed end gets around your nose; its oval base is perfect elsewhere.

     

    • Hide imperfections

     

    • With a fine-tipped brush, dab a solid concealer over blemishes or dark spots that are still visible.

     

    • Get rid of redness with a yellow-based foundation and smooth it over any discolouration with your fingers, and then blur the edges with a damp makeup sponge.

     

    • Hide under-eye circles with a creamy formula, tapping it on with your ring finger.

     

    • Powder your nose, cheeks and fore head. Dip a large, fluffy brush in loose translucent powder. Tap off excess and dust powder where you tend to get shiny.

  • Val’s time management- between the rock and a hard place

    Welcome to the ‘Adventures of Professor Val’. For some weeks now, we have been learning from the experience of Professor Val at an international conference where he displeased the audience by using the time allotted to him. Ironic, isn’t it? He got into trouble for doing the ‘right thing’! So, we have been trying to find out what went wrong. Last week, we examined how Val tried to load his audience with too much information. As Bolade, one of the dear readers of this column put it in his message, Val wanted to make a ‘professor’ out of the audience. We identified that he obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must earn the right to speak to his/her audience by being knowledgeable”. He was, however, ignorant of the exception to the rule, which says, “You cannot teach people in a moment what you learnt in a lifetime”.

    Today, we shall examine another critical element of public speaking that worked against Professor Val. This element is time management. If you have been following the story, you will recall that Val was invited to deliver a one-hour presentation and he did just that. How can we then accuse him of time mismanagement?

    So far in this column, we have presented our dear Professor as the villain of the story but this time, I want us to see him as the victim. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do if you signed a contract to speak for one hour and have been paid, yet the audience got tired after 35 minutes? Would you hastily conclude your presentation to please the audience and face possible refund, or would you bore the audience to sleep to justify the money? Professor Val was definitely between a rock and a hard place?

    As it has become our tradition in this series, we shall state the rule Professor Val obeyed, after which we shall discuss the exception to that rule. Professor Val obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must be mindful of time and limit his/her presentation to the time allotted”. Since we have already established last week that Val had too much to say with too little time to say it, we applause him for managing to keep to the one hour. Nevertheless, he neglected the exception to the rule which says, “A speaker must finish speaking before the audience has finished listening”.

    We cannot overemphasize the fact that a speaker’s success or failure is determined by the audience. If you have the most important information to pass across and the audience isn’t interested in listening, what do you do? A speaker must always keep in mind that audience satisfaction is paramount. In the case of Val, here are a few things we should learn:

    • No organiser likes a sleep audience: Val may have merited his contract-fee by completing his one hour, but guess what will happen when next the organizer is shopping for a speaker? He would definitely be bypassed because he failed to connect with the audience. This fact makes it easy for us to see that completing our allotted time is not as important as communicating with our audience. We shouldn’t get carried away with time; we must focus on our audience.
    • Learn relative importance: relative importance generally means measuring the significance of something in relation to something else. A speaker must learn to measure the significance of his/her presentation in relation to the time given. If you are given one hour to discuss an activity you carried out for five years, then you know that you have to select only the important aspects of it. If you have just five minutes to contribute to a discourse, you must leave out history and procedures. Begin with the most important aspect, and if there is some time left, highlight the procedure.
    • If they don’t feel you, draw them out: when Professor Val realised that he wasn’t communicating with his audience, he should have used a lot of illustrations to make his point. Illustrations always simplify seemingly complex issues. Also, he should have engaged them by turning the rest of his time to a discussion session. He could have asked questions and let them respond, and also allow them to ask him questions.

    Time management is not only when we don’t exceed the time we are given; it is more importantly our ability to know the right time to stop. We still have a lot to learn from Professor Val. Please join me again next week, by the grace of God, as we explore further. I look forward to hearing from you.

  • Val’s time management- between the rock and a hard place

    Welcome to the ‘Adventures of Professor Val’. For some weeks now, we have been learning from the experience of Professor Val at an international conference where he displeased the audience by using the time allotted to him. Ironic, isn’t it? He got into trouble for doing the ‘right thing’! So, we have been trying to find out what went wrong. Last week, we examined how Val tried to load his audience with too much information. As Bolade, one of the dear readers of this column put it in his message, Val wanted to make a ‘professor’ out of the audience. We identified that he obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must earn the right to speak to his/her audience by being knowledgeable”. He was, however, ignorant of the exception to the rule, which says, “You cannot teach people in a moment what you learnt in a lifetime”.

    Today, we shall examine another critical element of public speaking that worked against Professor Val. This element is time management. If you have been following the story, you will recall that Val was invited to deliver a one-hour presentation and he did just that. How can we then accuse him of time mismanagement?

    So far in this column, we have presented our dear Professor as the villain of the story but this time, I want us to see him as the victim. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do if you signed a contract to speak for one hour and have been paid, yet the audience got tired after 35 minutes? Would you hastily conclude your presentation to please the audience and face possible refund, or would you bore the audience to sleep to justify the money? Professor Val was definitely between a rock and a hard place?

    As it has become our tradition in this series, we shall state the rule Professor Val obeyed, after which we shall discuss the exception to that rule. Professor Val obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must be mindful of time and limit his/her presentation to the time allotted”. Since we have already established last week that Val had too much to say with too little time to say it, we applause him for managing to keep to the one hour. Nevertheless, he neglected the exception to the rule which says, “A speaker must finish speaking before the audience has finished listening”.

    We cannot overemphasize the fact that a speaker’s success or failure is determined by the audience. If you have the most important information to pass across and the audience isn’t interested in listening, what do you do? A speaker must always keep in mind that audience satisfaction is paramount. In the case of Val, here are a few things we should learn:

    • No organiser likes a sleep audience: Val may have merited his contract-fee by completing his one hour, but guess what will happen when next the organizer is shopping for a speaker? He would definitely be bypassed because he failed to connect with the audience. This fact makes it easy for us to see that completing our allotted time is not as important as communicating with our audience. We shouldn’t get carried away with time; we must focus on our audience.
    • Learn relative importance: relative importance generally means measuring the significance of something in relation to something else. A speaker must learn to measure the significance of his/her presentation in relation to the time given. If you are given one hour to discuss an activity you carried out for five years, then you know that you have to select only the important aspects of it. If you have just five minutes to contribute to a discourse, you must leave out history and procedures. Begin with the most important aspect, and if there is some time left, highlight the procedure.
    • If they don’t feel you, draw them out: when Professor Val realised that he wasn’t communicating with his audience, he should have used a lot of illustrations to make his point. Illustrations always simplify seemingly complex issues. Also, he should have engaged them by turning the rest of his time to a discussion session. He could have asked questions and let them respond, and also allow them to ask him questions.

    Time management is not only when we don’t exceed the time we are given; it is more importantly our ability to know the right time to stop. We still have a lot to learn from Professor Val. Please join me again next week, by the grace of God, as we explore further. I look forward to hearing from you.

  • Val’s time management- between the rock and a hard Place

    Welcome to the ‘Adventures of Professor Val’. For some weeks now, we have been learning from the experience of Professor Val at an international conference where he displeased the audience by using the time allotted to him. Ironic, isn’t it? He got into trouble for doing the ‘right thing’! So, we have been trying to find out what went wrong. Last week, we examined how Val tried to load his audience with too much information. As Bolade, one of the dear readers of this column put it in his message, Val wanted to make a ‘professor’ out of the audience. We identified that he obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must earn the right to speak to his/her audience by being knowledgeable”. He was, however, ignorant of the exception to the rule, which says, “You cannot teach people in a moment what you learnt in a lifetime”.

    Today, we shall examine another critical element of public speaking that worked against Professor Val. This element is time management. If you have been following the story, you will recall that Val was invited to deliver a one-hour presentation and he did just that. How can we then accuse him of time mismanagement?

    So far in this column, we have presented our dear Professor as the villain of the story but this time, I want us to see him as the victim. Put yourself in his shoes. What would you do if you signed a contract to speak for one hour and have been paid, yet the audience got tired after 35 minutes? Would you hastily conclude your presentation to please the audience and face possible refund, or would you bore the audience to sleep to justify the money? Professor Val was definitely between a rock and a hard place?

    As it has become our tradition in this series, we shall state the rule Professor Val obeyed, after which we shall discuss the exception to that rule. Professor Val obeyed the rule which says, “A speaker must be mindful of time and limit his/her presentation to the time allotted”. Since we have already established last week that Val had too much to say with too little time to say it, we applause him for managing to keep to the one hour. Nevertheless, he neglected the exception to the rule which says, “A speaker must finish speaking before the audience has finished listening”.

    We cannot overemphasize the fact that a speaker’s success or failure is determined by the audience. If you have the most important information to pass across and the audience isn’t interested in listening, what do you do? A speaker must always keep in mind that audience satisfaction is paramount. In the case of Val, here are a few things we should learn:

    • No organiser likes a sleep audience: Val may have merited his contract-fee by completing his one hour, but guess what will happen when next the organizer is shopping for a speaker? He would definitely be bypassed because he failed to connect with the audience. This fact makes it easy for us to see that completing our allotted time is not as important as communicating with our audience. We shouldn’t get carried away with time; we must focus on our audience.
    • Learn relative importance: relative importance generally means measuring the significance of something in relation to something else. A speaker must learn to measure the significance of his/her presentation in relation to the time given. If you are given one hour to discuss an activity you carried out for five years, then you know that you have to select only the important aspects of it. If you have just five minutes to contribute to a discourse, you must leave out history and procedures. Begin with the most important aspect, and if there is some time left, highlight the procedure.
    • If they don’t feel you, draw them out: when Professor Val realised that he wasn’t communicating with his audience, he should have used a lot of illustrations to make his point. Illustrations always simplify seemingly complex issues. Also, he should have engaged them by turning the rest of his time to a discussion session. He could have asked questions and let them respond, and also allow them to ask him questions.

    Time management is not only when we don’t exceed the time we are given; it is more importantly our ability to know the right time to stop. We still have a lot to learn from Professor Val. Please join me again next week, by the grace of God, as we explore further. I look forward to hearing from you.

  • Val boom for Lagos traders

    The shift of the elections turned out to be a blessing for traders and other businesses who took advantage of the Valentine’s Day celebration to make good sales. TONIA ‘DIYAN reports. 

    It had hitherto clashed with the Presidential election, but when there was an announcement shifting the election from February 14, a sigh of relief came for both lovers that had planned to have a frolicking time for the day, as well as for traders and other business owners, whose businesses would have suffered considerable loss where the election to hold that day.

    Indeed, over the years, St Valentine’s Day has proved to be an annual business opportunity for entrepreneurs in Lagos. With the election rescheduled from February 14th, traders recorded moderate sales. Chiama Uzor, a clothing retailer at the Arena said “I was actually worried for the fact that it was election and it was also valentine, but thank God it was postponed.  I am happy we had fun making sales, it was a good one. “

    Mutiat Adepoju, a gift items trader at Iponrin market, Surulere , explained that sales of Valentine goods on Valentine Day  is always  a fire brigade approach. We saw more last minute shopping where everybody wanted to go home with something for their partner. Adepoju recalled one of her customers who said to her “ I won’t be able to go home today if I don’t get this scented flowers” when the item was becoming difficult to find in her store.

    For Mary Agbator, a shopper, Valentine items were not too expensive on valentine day.  They were only a little different compared to last year’s.

    On display at some shops in Lagos Island were attractive gift items, and fanciful clothings, which never failed to attract buyers. They were to match blouses and skirts, club tops and trousers, bondage skirts, red bomb short,  white bumshort with club top. Their prices varied between seven thousand and seven thousand five hundred. These prices are attributed to the dollar rate increment, which has gone high.

    For some other retailers at the Oke-Arin market, prices of Valentine items went up a little higher but, retailers at this market said they were able to cope.  And shoppers who visited the Oke Arin market to buy Valentine items said despite the hike in the prices of items on this day, they still had to buy gifts because it was valentine.

    Gloria Thomson sells clothing and beauty accessories, she said She could not travel this year to get stuffs because the exchange rate is high. “I have loads of leftovers from last year’s valentine sales so I just did a little bit of out sourcing from those items I had last year, so I could also sell Valentine stuffs. I was able to outsource and I got some things i didn’t have before and I was able to make sales.” She said.

    Most of the gift items of these retail outlets were imported products. The weak Naira to Dollar exchange rate at N200, has a negative impact on prices, and  for this reason personal budget had to follow scale of preference.

  • Spaces open for Val

    There are new stores and spaces opened this weekend specifically for Valentine. They offer just about everything a shopper needs to indulge in  this season. Despite their vast sizes, these places, which offer offline and online sales are open to the public with colourful items and mix-and-match household items.

    But surprisingly, everything found at theses places are for sale, “from the candle burning, to the  CDs playing and the sofa one would sit on,” says a space creative personnel Gloria Harrison. “They are  like open, shoppable private homes for everyone to hang out in.” She said.

    At the bazaar in Illupeju- Lagos,  women and men assemble with fashion items amongst other things. And while clothing brand makes the best of the season, local talents are also represented as they indulge in various entertaining activities. From findings, the choice of multifaceted spaces for shopping is making some neighbourhoods become more and more global during festive seasons.

  • Val Day: Close Up launches game for consumers

    Val Day: Close Up launches game for consumers

    Close Up, a premium brand from the stable of Unilever, has launched a new campaign, Cupid Games, to win over the youth.

    The Cupid Game, which signed on A-list musical stars Yemi Alade and Davido as campaign ambassador for the game, is expected to challenge young people to express themselves to loved ones without feeling timid.

    During the launch, Davido and Yemi Alade demonstrated how the game could be played before a participatory observation by The Nation.

    Top 10 creative participants will be rewarded with exciting prizes like Beats by Dre headphones and get invites to cupid games grand event where they get to hang out with Davido and Yemi Alade.

    The grand prize winner will go home with a brand new MV Agusta Brutale 800cc power bike, second and third will get a pair of personalised Apple Mac Books and Ipads respectively.

    The Brand Building Director, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Mr David Okeme, during the launch said Cupid game is an engagement platform by Closeup for young adults to connect and show their loved ones how much they care, especially at valentine.

    Also, the Category Manager Oral Care, Oiza Gyang, added that Closeup Cupids Dare Game is a conversation starter meant to get people closer while demonstrating the extent they would go for love.

    Closeup over the years has been able to reinforce its understanding of Nigeria’s oral care needs and re-state its commitment towards sustaining its position as the best oral care product in the market.

  • Want a gift for Val? Branded Coke is it!

    Want a gift for Val? Branded Coke is it!

    Three weeks away from February 14, a date commemorated worldwide as Valentine Day otherwise known as lovers’ day, there is already a flurry of activities in major cities across the federation as shopping frenzy for gift items by all and sundry has started.

    Interestingly, one gift that seems to have stolen the heart of many is the new branded Coca Cola drink. The drink seems to be the shoppers’ choice.

    Shoppers, who were sighted buying the new coke at Shoprite, Ikeja, expressed satisfaction as they bought coke in large quantities with their name written on its acns and plastic.

    For Babajide Adebayo, the innovation should be replicated by other brands. “This is a laudable concept. I have always known Coca Cola to set the pace, while other follows. I am not surprised,” he said.

    Adebayo added that the innovation would help him spend less this Valentine.

    “I will spend less for Valentine this year. All I need do is to purchase a pack or half of the new branded Coca Cola with my girl’s name and I know she would love it. The brain behind this innovation must have had Valentine in mind when they inscribed ‘Share a Coke with Ibrahim’ on its bottle. It could be someone else’s name, he said.

    Ikechukwu Nworfor, another shopper who is excited about the  innovation said it gives him the opportunity to find affordable gift items for his loved ones. “The timing is right. These people surely know how to arrange things; this is a good gift concept any day, any time.”

    Besides serving as gift packs for Valentine, most people also consider them as souvenirs. Sharing his experience with The Nation Shopping, Fred Nwosisi said it is a special collectors’ item anytime, any day.

    Justifying the need for the products, a representative of the Coca Cola Company, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak on behalf of the company, confided in The Nation Shopping that those customers who want branded bottles in large quantity will have to be referred to the company’s head office where the contractor and the producer will take such orders, according to him, this offer is available only to customers who want to purchase hundred cartons and more.

    “The unique thing about this whole thing is that the price remains the same despite all the interesting features in designs and labeling,” he said.

    The source advised that a customer who is not patient enough to look for a coke can or plastic branded in his name, can decide to pick for his/her spouse, family members or friends. This, he said, is   encouraging people to share and show love to others around them which is one of the essences of the idea aside to boosting sales and make profit.

    To help the search process easy for the shopper, the item is placed in batches with names from the western part of the country placed separately from those from the east and the north, and English names such as Henry and Ann were on display.

    The  idea of separating the name came up when shoppers’ complained of how difficult it was for them to identify their names or name of loved ones.

    Believe Odiase, a shopper said he gave up after searching for a can of coke with his name branded on it. “When I couldn’t continue with the search to buy a bottle of Coke, because I have other things to do in the mall, I gave up and picked a bottle for my daughter whose name is Cynthia. Perhaps, I will find time to come search for mine at weekend; it is worth the fun and sharing,” he said.