Recently I was in Lagos. It's not my first time in Lagos actually, but everytime I go there, it takes me a while to get used to the hustle and bustle especially the endless traffic.

 I'm used to staying in quiet, laid back cities such as Kaduna, Abuja, Awka, Enugu, Osun etc. I've stayed a while in Lagos but still never can get used to it. For example, whenever you want to plan your day, you always have to factor in traffic jam or plan your movement against traffic. For someone who is visiting the city, it's confusing to know what side of Lagos will experience traffic jams. I think an app for that will be in order...maybe using the heat generated by parked cars to plot the intensity of traffic in a particular area.

Just to be sane, I made my sister (who lives in Lagos and wouldn't live anywhere else) my unofficial personal assistant. I'd tell her what I'd like to do and where I'd like to go for the day and she'd tell me how feasible my plans were for that day.....lol.

It's such a pain because I can't be random with my movement or I'll waste the day in traffic. 

Anyway, one thing I love about Lagos is the fact that there's always an event to brighten up a dull weekend! It could be a wine tasting event, a book reading, poetry recital, food festival, fashion week, etc.....there's always something lined up and I think I can tolerate Lagos just because of that....lol.

Two such events I was able to catch up with were the Beauty Africa Exhibition which took place in Landmark Event Centre, V.I. on Saturday and SheLeadsAfrica shopping event held in Heritage Place, Ikoyi on Sunday.

Due to my program for the day, I missed most of the activities of Beauty Africa Exhibition. I was really surprised to hear they'd wrapped up by 5pm! Anyway it wasn't for naught as I was able to meet up with Kemi Lewis (CEO of KLs Naturals Beauty Bar) and Joshua Lomotey (Design Essentials Representative for Africa, Middle East and Europe) and Kemi shared her secret for laid edges when it comes to bridal styling.

I was also able to indulge in a little retail therapy at the Nectar Beauty Hub stand. I got some new products to try.

Quick question....is my favourite Masque, SheaMoisture Purification Masque being discontinued? I saw this other masque and simply thought it was just rebranding since the ingredients are very similar but when I got home and opened it, it was a totally different product. I'm a bit disappointed but I'll give it a try and know how it goes. If it doesn't work that well, thank God I have another favourite conditioning product Brazen Curls Masque to fall back on. It is a Nigerian Product by the way and a review of this product is long overdue. Please don't be discontinued!!!

I also got a SheaMoisture Lotion. I'm usually wary of Shea butter based lotions for my skin due to the fact that it breaks out easily. I'm quite comfortable with my oil mix which has evolved from simple grapeseed oil to include a much wider range of beneficial oils (I'll dedicate a post to that). My sister swears by SheaMoisture Coconut and Hibiscus Lotion for her dry skin. It was heavy for my oily skin but after trying out their Lavender and Calendula range which is lighter and less greasy, I've been open to trying out (carefully I must add) other ranges of the product.

I'll give you a feedback soon.

On Sunday, thanks to encouragement from Rachael of BeautifullyNappy ( I was still debating if I wanted to go or not), I attended the shopping event of SheLeadsAfrica female entrepreneurship program. I wasn't able to attend the main conference but since the shopping event was going to expose me to Nigerian content, I was game.

I had the pleasure to finally meet for the first time, Rachael of BeautifullyNappy.com (a natural hair and beauty shopping website), Ekene of TheKinkandI.com (a natural hair blog) , Uzo of DontTouchHair.com (a personal beauty blog and resource site for Nigerian products) and bumped into Bukky, a high school classmate ( I rep Zamani College, 04).

The shopping........

There were a lot of vendors with different Nigerian products but what drew me were the shoes!

I've been looking for a long while for black patent leather flats. I like them because they are comfortable and shiny enough to look dressy enough for not so casual occasions.

These are from Thandos.com.

I really like that they are foldable and can easily be smuggled into my bag for those events were it's compulsory to wear heels. I usually do at the beginning of the event but midway, I take off the heels for comfortable flats or sandals.....don't judge me!

I'll be honest, I'm usually sceptical about the quality of Nigerian made shoes not because I'm a snob but because I've had experiences with the shoes falling apart at the worst moments. I'll give these a try and let you know if it's worth buying.

Later in the evening, I met up with Toyin of TwentySix85.com (an online natural and organic hair and beauty store) at The Ice Cream Factory. It was my last day in Lagos and she treated me to ice cream and red velvet cake.

 Yummy!

 I enjoyed the ice cream but after eating ChiChi's (creator of ChiChi's cuisine) red velvet cake, Ice Cream Factory's red velvet was just so so in my opinion.

Speaking of Toyin, your hair and my hair is going to love a new project she's come up with!!!! I'm 50 shades of excited!

On a random ununrelated note, have you tried fiofio and ugba???? I love it with the love of "Abacha" aka "African Salad". My friend, Chi made it for me and I threw away all the etiquette of a house guest by eating, eating and asking for more!

Do you live in Lagos? What do you love about the city?

Did you attend any events in Lagos recently? Gist me!!!