I am so sorry to my readers, I have not been able to post on my blog for sometime now. I have gotten a full time job a few months ago and have been focusing all my time on my job and family. I was so busy and really tired I found it challenging to even find time to relax. Anyways I thought I would try to begin posting a little bit here and there and try to work my way up to at least once a week InshAllah. My next couple blogs will be some reviews on cosmetics(mini eyeshadow palette and eyeliner) and face cleansers(cleansing pads) which I have tried out, there will be some photos as well as some of my thoughts on the products. Please stay tuned for the upcoming reviews InshaAllah. Thank you to all my subscribers.

Salam Ladies,

I apologize for the delay in making this blog post but there were some other more urgent things going on in my life as of late. The next hijab shop I am going to review is MIA hijabs.

I first came across MIA hijabs while browsing hijab pages on facebook, the company was just starting out on facebook at the time with just 300 fans but now they are up to 882 as I write this review, sure to reach 1000 very soon, Insha Allah. I really like the selection offered by MIA hijabs, it is unlike the other companies that I have come across. They always have something new and fresh that other hijab companies do not have. If you are looking for truly beautiful and unique scarves that you will not find in all the other shops, this is the place to be.




The customer service is really great, after I sent my email saying which scarves I have chosen to purchase, I recieved an email within just a few minutes and the transaction was complete. I asked if they could delay the shipment as I was in the middle of a move and they had no problem doing this, which I appreciate greatly.
When I recieved the package, I opened it right away and was pleasantly surprised. All the products were so beautiful and of great quality, better than I had expected. My favorite were the beautiful pins that I had purchased. They were really sturdy and of good quality. I have purchased pins from other places and the pin itself was a little wobbly and hard to pin as it was not made from sturdy material, but these ones are definitely worth the money and they still are in perfect condition.




Over all I will definitely recommend Mia hijabs if you are looking for unique products, with good prices and great quality. I will definitely re-purchase in the future, Insha Allah.


Rating out of 5*: *****

Although I have never bought anything from there yet, I have been looking at this store for awhile now. I really love their selection of modest tops, skirts, pants, and abayas. Although the items are quite pricey, I have seen in the reviews that the clothing is top quality. One day In shaa Allah, I will purchase something from there. But for now, I would like to share with you some of the items I would LOVE to have from Shukr.

(click on the picture to get a larger image)

O.K, I am totally not impressed, I recently did two posts and they have just disappeared from my blog, has anyone else had this happen?

I am loving Dina Toki-0's fashion, it is so modest, yes so fun and stylish. I am wishing I could pull this stuff on, but it just wouldnt look as good, unless I lose some weight of course. I just wanted to share some of her styles that I'm loving! You can check out more on her facebook page.

(I am not claiming ownership, these belong completely to Dina Toki-o)

Salam lovely ladies! I am so sorry I have been missing in action lately, I have just been spending alot of time trying to get my store running smoothly and finding great products to stock, but now I have some spare time and decided to return with another review for my series. Today I am going to be focusing on Alnisa hijabs.

Al nisa Hijabs is a U.K based hijabshop with their own website. They have a proud new owner Lubna Ali, she is doing a great job Mashallah. Al Nisa hijabs has so many beautiful products to choose from. I have had only one experience so far, but I must say that one experience has made a lasting impression. I have been browsing through their shop before,, but did'nt have the funds to make a purchase at the time. As luck would have it(not literally luck, because I don't belive in it but....)there was a contest going on at the time. It was a 'name the hijab' contest and Alhamdulilah I was chosen as the winner. Now I could finally get all the beautiful scarves I have been eyeing for awhile. My prize was a 25 pound voucher for the shop. I did have to add a little bit of funds to get the items i wanted, but even so I got sooo many items for sooooo cheap.

My scarves that I purchased:


I love, love, love all the scarves i recieved, they are all of excellent quality and the prints are just so unique and lovely. They are all great for the summer weather as well. I am also very impressed with the customer service end as well. Quick responses and helpful answers make the shopping experience very satisfying. If it wasnt for me trying to set up my own shop, i would've purchased again and again, but I do not have the funds available now, but maybe in the future Inshallah. If you have been eyeing Alnisa, I say go for it and have fun shopping.

Rating out of 5*: *****

Recently I have picked up my old favorite habit of reading again, I used to read everyday while I was studying Islam, but have become quite busy after having my daughter. Now that my daughter is almost two, things are settling down and I am beginning to have a little more time for myself. When I say little, I mean LITTLE.

So I was out at our local library and picked up two books that seemed of interest to me. The first one was 'The butterfly Mosque' written by G.Willow Wilson. The second was a biography of Muhammad(pbuh), written by Yahiya Emerick in a book series called 'Critical Lives'.

Today I will be focusing on 'The butterfly Mosque'. The author Willow Wilson is a convert to Islam and this book is a memoir of her journey to Islam and to love. The author was born in New Jersey in 1982 and raised in Colorado. Now spending most of her time between Cairo and Seattle. She also authored a graphic novel,'Cairo'. Below are a few excerpts of what some famous Islamic writers had to say about her book.

"A gorgeously written memoir about what it means to be human in
fractured world, told with warmth and a wit to spare. It will
stay with you for years." -Reza Aslan


"An honest and uplifting memoir...that embraces-not demonizes-
both Muslims and the west as critical foundations for Wilsons
spiritual Journey." -Wahajat Ali


This is the summary of her book, just to put it in a nutshell.

"The extraordinary story of a young North American's conversion to Islam and her ensuing romance with an Egyptian man, The Butterfly Mosque is a stunning articulation of a Westerner embracing the Muslim world

After graduating from university, Willow Wilson, a young American — and newly converted Muslim — impulsively accepts a teaching position in Cairo. There, she meets Omar, a passionate young nationalist with a degree in astrophysics. Omar introduces Willow to the bustling city, and through him she discovers a young, moderate nationalist movement, a movement that both wants to divest itself of western influence and regain cultural pride. When the two find themselves unexpectedly in love, despite their deep cultural differences, they decide that they will try to forge a third culture, a new landscape that will embrace some of each of their cultures, and give their fledgling romance some hope of survival.

Wilson weaves this engaging personal story with deep insights into faith in a fractured world, and gives westerners rare insight into an important young reform movement. Butterfly Mosque is an inspiring account of an unlikely cross-cultural love, and the moving story of two young people working within the boundaries of contemporary religion and culture to forge a life together against the odds."

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although the book got off to a slow start, that quickly changed a few chapters in. I really enjoyed the insights the author gave into her personal life. Her writing catches the trials of an American Muslim after 9/11, but I really think this book could help others to understand why people do convert and some of the things that they go through in their everyday life. In the book the main focus is all about Willow embracing Islam, life and love in Egypt, meanwhile trying to keep her American Identity. In the end she finds something that works for her.
I think one of the reasons I enjoy this story is because being a convert myself I can relate to the things she is going through and I can understand her feelings and attitudes towards some of the things mentioned in the book. I think even for born-muslims, they can get a sense of what it might be like to be a convert, and how the experiences can be quite different.
This story is also about Willow finding love in Egypt and marrying into a middle-class Egyptian family. She explores what it's like marrying into another culture and the trials, surprises, and joys that can come with it. In my opinion you can really feel the connection they have as a couple but also their differences make for a really unique love story. Overall I really enjoyed the experience of this book, but I wish Willow would have went a little deeper with her reasons for converting, because most of the story was after the conversion happened. In my opinion: Recommended Read!

To Purchase this book simply click the link below:

Asalam Alaykum, My next review in the series focuses on 'HijabFashionShop'. This is another lovely hijab shop, they have a website and a facebook fanpage. On the facebook page under the info tab section there is a bit of background information on the sister who owns the shop, here is the excerpt for the info:

"My name is Victoria and I'm convert Muslimah alhamduLlah! It took a while to cover my hairs, perhaps one of the reasons was the lack of hijabs I'd fancy! But now AlhamduLLah I've found beautiful hijabs and would like to share them with you and to encourage you to love your hijab and enjoy wearing it too (of course if you don't yet), that's why in Hijab Fashion Shop every sister or just a girl who wants to be modest and cover her hairs get huge variety of hijab choice so every sister can find exactly what she is looking for to fulfil her hijaaby needs . In fact not only beautiful, luxurious, rare and modest hijabs but also essential accessories like underscarves, hijab pins and even more."

Before I purchased from this shop, I was eyeing it for months before I could make a purchase. There are so many different scarves and accessories available. The thing I love about this shop is that they have many scarves that you don't see anywhere else, they have fancy scarves,limited edition scarves, and they always have a reduced section which is GREAT for the sisters who can't afford to pay full price. There is also a section that has faulty items, but I purchased two from this section and the faults are VERY minimal. I got my chain-linked brooch from this section,and I'm still not sure why it was even in that section.Here are a few photos of the brooch which I absolutely love.





The shipping is also very reasonably priced, for me in Canada, it can be quite pricey to have things shipped here, but for me it was affordable. Every thing is reasonably priced but it is superb quality. I love each and every item I bought, not to mention I didnt break the bank purchasing them. I got 6 scarves and 1 brooch. I can't remember what the total was but it was a really great deal.
The customer service is great, if you have a question it will be answered super quick on the fanpage on facebook, which I love because some other places take days to answer for something you want to buy ASAP. Also in my package I recieved a free gift, it is a cute stick pin with a little heart on it, the stick pin is the longer kind, which is great because I needed one of these. Also in the parcel is a cute note thanking you for your purchase which I thought was thoughtful.

Ok onto the products I recieved, here are the photos I had taken showcasing the products I bought(note the headbands are not from HFS):




Overall I have had a very pleasant experience with HFS, and will definitley be purchasing from here again, I am loving everything from their new crinkle collection. This will definitely be one of my top choices, when I need to buy hijabs and accessories. Keep up the good work Victoria, may Allah continue to bless your shop. Ameen.

Overall rating out of 5*: *****

Asalam,

I just wanted to share my picture i have painted! Yay! I am so proud of this one:p. I just love how the sky turned out and I'm surprised at how my first attempt at my palm trees came out, my husband thought that I did them with stencils. I am not bragging or anything like that, the reason I say I am proud is because honestly about 2 months ago, I didnt even know i could paint that good, but I though I would give it a shot because I love art and used to draw alot. Now I love it and hope to never stop, it's so relaxing and fun too. I suggest to anyone who wants to try, just go ahead and give it a shot, you never know:)or go ahead with anything else you've been wanting to try, you might find your new favorite hobby.

Anywho here is a photograph of the new painting, I might do this one in 40x30 size or something for my living room:( and please do let me know what you think, or even if you would like to purchase this or something similar.

Salams Everyone! I have embarked on the long journey of doing a hijab store review series on all the stores I have shopped from, it is going to be in 6 or 7 parts, 1 for each store. I have chosen to do Pearl Daisy as my first review because it is my favorite, and I have gotten the most items from this store.
So to start off I will give a little bit of background from what I know on the store, the sister who runs it, her name is Amena, she started this store a little over a year ago and has grown tremendously. I remember first visiting her website, she may have had 20 different items. Now her store has well over 200 different items and growing. I remember I came across her store through her youtube videos, she does lovely hijab tutorials, and it was from her videos that I learned to wrap hijab in a pretty way.
Anywho moving onto the review. I have purchased approximately 25 scarves and 5 accessories, I know it's crazy, I haven't purchased lately as I had to curb my Pearl Daisy addiction. My experiences so far have been wonderful, everytime I get my parcel I am so excited to tear into it. I have not yet been disappointed by a purchase. The shipping prices are reasonable and for the most part arrive on time. There have been a few delays when I ordered but I blame it on the holiday seasons. I know with some stores they keep restocking the same items and never get anything new in. Pearl Daisy on the other hand, always has something new to try, but still restocking the old favorite goodies. I must say it is sometimes quite hard to get the item you want, because it gets sold out so fast, but thats a good sign, I guess. My favorite items from Pearl Daisy comes from the brooch and pins sections, the photo below shows some of my top favorite accessories.


She has very pretty chain linked brooches, teekas, and 'Daisy Chains', which you wear around your head on top of your scarf, but you can also use it as a necklace or even a bracelet. Here is a photo showing one of the ways you can wear it.



Moving on to the scarves, there is a huge range of scarves to choose from, with beautiful prints and textures. I absolutely love the thin scarf range which is absolutely perfect for hot weather, which is approaching very fast. Here is a photo showcasing just a few of the many scarves I have purchased.


As you can see from the picture, there are unique prints with beautiful colors, I must say there is something to suit everyone in her shop.
Below is a picture of me wearing a few of the PD scarves.


I definitely recommend this store to anyone who loves beautiful printed scarves and unique products. I'm sure I will be back for more soon, it's been a long time and the craving is coming back(hehe). There was only one downfall I ran into and that was the fact it is difficult to recieve a reply if you email them, or sometimes it takes over a week to get a reply, but I think it is due to the fact that they are sooo busy, trying to get everybodys orders out and answer everyones emails, but overall I am very pleased with the service offered at Pearl Daisy.

Overall rating out of 5 *: *****

Keep the good working coming Pearl Daisy, and may Allah bless your store in the years to come. Ameen.

I know this blog was supposed to be about fashion and hijab styles as these are two things that really interest me, I love pairing up cute things to create modest looks suitable for a muslim lady. This was my original intention for this blog and it still is, but I've been a little obsessed with painting in the last little while. I just keep coming up with new things I wanna paint and create. I am very proud of my painting I did today I just couldn't wait to share it with everyone. It is my favorite so far, I want to sell it but at the same time I don't want to part with it. I call this painting 'Daisy Meadows'.

Looking for a cute and quick way to accessorize your look? Try the fabric necklace which is very popular this spring and summer. They come in many different colors and styles. From ribbons, to flowers, to pearls, you will find something that will suit your personal style. They are very hijabi friendly, some of them you can wear on your scarf and it will blend in and complete the look. I'm gonna grab a few of these styles this season myself. Check these cute ones out!

I know there are many ways I can improve my paintings, many techniques I have yet to learn as I am just in the beginning stages. I tried painting my first flower painting the other day. Although it did look a little bit better than I thought for my first time, there is LOTS of room for improvement. I know the painting is far from realistic, far from neat, and very far from professional but I feel it's a good start. I will call it my abstract garden as it doesnt really look like a real garden but 'hey, it could be worse'. I also added some sparkle paint called 'hologram' to make it a little more interesting and a little more appealing to the eye. Here is a picture of my painting:

Asalam Walaikum,

I just wanted to share my latest canvas painting with all the readers. I feel like I'm improving on my sunset sky blending. Before I would only use red and orange, but I have kind of learned how to blend in some other colors like black, blue, and purple. Personally I like how it turned out, I may even do a bigger version for my living room. I'm pretty excited about that.
I would love to start selling some of my paintings but just don't know how to get started, I'm sure I will figure something out. I have heard of a website where you can have your own little paintings shop among a whole bunch of other artists but I have forgotten the name. If anyone knows please do let me know. So anyways here is a picture of my painting, it is a painting of a man making Dua out in the desert by a mosque at sunset. I find this painting has a powerful message and gives me a feeling of serenity. Hope you all like it:)

Here is another recent painting of mine:

Asalam Alaikum,

I have decided to do a new series of blogs and possibly youtube videos on the different hijab stores that I have shopped at. I think I have about 6 of them to do. I will be doing one at a time, sharing how I feel about the customer service and the products. I will also be sharing the photos of the items I have got and other details. Stay tuned Inshallah!

Asalam Alaikum,

I have decided to write about my recent struggle to find something that I would love to do for business, hobby etc. Since high school I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I really enjoyed the artistic world, but I just didn't think it could be practical. So for that reason I have yet to go college for any degree. I have finally found something I would love to do and I have given it a go. I have opened a hijab shop on facebook. Now I dont expect to make a fortune or anything but Inshallah it will allow me to work part time, so I can stay home with my daughter who is now 20 months old. More than anything I would love to supply all the lovely hijabi sisters of the world with a beautiful and affordable selection of hijabs, pins, and modest clothing. If Allah wills, I can continue to do this for a long time and continue to grow.
I have decided to name my shop 'The Preserved Pearl Hijabs'. I know some people don't like the analogy of Muslimahs being compared to pearls, but I think it is an accurate description. Just like the pearl preserved in its shell, our dignity and pride is preserved behind our modest dressing. So I decided to go ahead with that name as it means something to me.

I recently had a logo contest going on my page, whoever would create the most suiting logo would win a scarf and pin. I would just like to share the logo that was created by facebook user 'Bambo Crambo'.This will be my new store logo.

Here are a few examples of the things I am selling now, to give you an idea of what I will be provinding now and in the future, Inshallah.

A beautiful printed maxi.

A beautiful sparkling hijab pin

A thin flower printed scarf.

For more pictures you can visit my facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/Kitchener-ON/The-Preserved-Pearl-Hijabs/186700761369350

Today I'm going to share with you my experience and journey to Islam. Although its nothing magical,miraculous or breathtaking it is still my story and I am glad i found my way home. I dont want to bore you with too much information, but I will start my story with my childhood years.
I grew up in a small town in Canada, the population was very small with about 3,000 people. My parents were not very religous, but they did believe in God. My grandmother would always come every sunday morning to pick my sister and I up for Sunday school in our local Baptist church.Sometimes we went with her but other times, we didnt answer our front door, pretending we were still fast asleep.Although we went with her for many years it was something we didn't enjoy doing.Until eventually we were old enough to let her know we were no longer interested in going anymore. Our life went on normally without any sunday school. Fastforward to highschool and my story continues.
In highschool,grade 9, I was still aware that God existed but never really gave it a priority or thought much about it. I was too busy being young and having fun I guess.One weekend in particular, While I was at my best friends house, her younger cousin was there and we became great friends after that. Her cousin which I will name 'Jane' was a bit younger than me but she had a love for God and she introduced me to Christianity once again. Her family owned a Christian summer camp and invited me to go for a month in the summer. I thought it would be a great idea as I didnt have much going on anyways, I wasnt one for partying so I wasnt missing anything anyways.
During our evening Bible sessions, I learned alot that I never knew as a child or just didnt pay attention to. I learned about the sacrifice of Jesus, I learned that Jesus was actually thought of as God. I learned how if we don't believe in his sacrifice we would be destined for hell. All these things scared me so much, week after week I would leave those meetings feeling so scared. One of the last weeks I was there, I finally realized I have to accept this message or I will be doomed.I asked 'Jane" to lead me through the prayer to accept Jesus into my life, and so my new chapter began.
For the next few years of my life I tried to live according to the Bible, tried to forsake the evil and live the good. I found a Church I could call home where I felt welcome, but some of their practices made me feel uneasy. To me it was a church that thrived on 'experiences'. People would worship God and scream,shout,dance,vibrate,fall back on the ground and just lay there.Eventually I couldnt handle all the 'chaotic worship' and wanted something peaceful.I would always wonder what is so different between them and me? Do I not believe enough to have these experiences? Or do they not happen because I don't want them to? I always had times
throughout my Christian life where I had doubts and thought to myself,"Do I really believe this?". I would end of feeling so guilty of these thoughts and just shook them off. I thought it had to be true as there is nothing else out there.
After graduation, I began working and had little time to go to church any more as my shift always fell on Sundays. I still believed but my christian life slowly began to fade away and took a spot on the backburner. I met my second boyfriend at my job, he was nice but had his problems, he would smoke weed and party alot! I never had time for any of those things in my life, they just didn't intrigue me. The fact is that he dragged me even further away from God until I never thought about it, ever. We dated for about two years until it just wasnt working anymore and we had to go seperate ways, feeling very lonely I began my search for my next 'love of my life'. I had met some friends in the city, which was about 30 mins away. They invited me out to a bar, even though I didn't feel up to it, I went out of the feeling of being lonely. On this night I met my husband who has guided me to the right path, but at this time he was not on the right path either. He was a born muslim but because he was in university at the time, he got influenced by some negative people and was doing some things he should not have been doing.(Alhamdulilah, he doesnt do these now)So anyways, we met that night and continued to see eachother after that. I never really cared that he was muslim and we didnt ever touch on the topic. He had to be relocated for a job and invited me to move with him, how could I refuse we were in love. So we started our new life together. The more time we spent together the more we began to get on religous topics, this caused me to begin reading the Bible again, especially if I wanted to win him to Christianity.
I began telling him what I believe and why, but he was never convinced, and would always say "Thank Allah I was born a muslim". I always thought how can he be so confident with his belief, even I was never like that. So I began to research Islam on the internet to get more information about what it was and how I could convince him that it wasn't true. This research period made me hate Islam, as all the information I was coming across was all so negative from ignorant minds who do not know. Always slandering prophet Muhammad(saw), so I believed it. This caused arguments throughout the night, sometimes we wouldn't sleep because i wanted to convince him so badly to leave this 'evil religion', or so I thought at the time. Eventually he gave me the Q'uran to read, to try to ease my mind and show me it isnt evil at all. I did read a little but still wasnt convinced. I started going to our local library and finding all the books i could on Islamic topics and belief. At the same time I was studying the history of Christianty and found out some devastating news about forgeries and contradictions in the Bible. They didn't even know who wrote some of the books of the Bible,or when for that matter. I didnt take this topic lightly, I wouldnt stop reading until there was nothing left to read from my library. Once I discovered so many discrepancies in Christianty, especially regarding Jesus not being God, I had nothing to lose studying Islam. Finally I was convinced about the true message of the Q'uran and the final prophet Muhammad(saw).Finally I converted to the religion of truth,Islam,it was January 2010 when I took Shahadah with Allah as my witness. Inshallah I will never turn back to the life without light. My family still does not know to this day, but they do know that I cover with hijab. So they probably do have an idea, but I have not told them directly. I do not think it will be a big problem as they are usually fairly open minded, and they do really like my husband and do not have a problem with him. I still have to work on convincing them of the truth, but that will be a journey in and of itself.
So this ends the story of my journey to Islam, but its not the end of the journey, to me it's just the beginning. There is so much to learn and implicate into my life. I have found my way home, but the journey still continues until my last breath. May Allah guide us all. Ameen.

The style find of the day are maxi cardis. This is one style no hijabi can be without!!:)Choose a basic neutral color to match with many pieces, or choose a floral look for a bold statement piece.

I thought I would share with everyone what I wore to go shopping today, I'm sorry for the bad quality, I really need to get a better camera! The ruffle scarf is from princess rockz, the maxi dress is from walmart and the jacket from a thriftshop:)