Ajda Sitar /

Bali Indonesia travel blog

Truth to be told, my trip to Bali last October was one of the most memorable trips I have ever had. We explored the temples, the culture and religion, met a lot of lovely people, enjoyed some pretty stunning views of the ricefields, tasted the Kopi Luwak coffee, ate traditional Indonesian food, had a couple authentic Balinese massages, tried surfing, walked through the exotic monkey forest, took a trip to the white-sand beaches of Gili islands surrounded by turquoise sea and enjoyed the most stunning sunrises and sunsets. The whole Bali trip is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Traveling has taught me to live the moment, while also taking the time for things that bring back memories.

Photo memories: we took a lot (by a lot, I truly mean A LOT) of photos, which can today easily take me back to the dream island of Bali. I posted some online (check my travel blog posts here), shared some on social media, as well as kept the majority for my close ones and myself. Besides my big and chunky Sony DSLR camera, we also took a smaller Sony HX90 and my (by that time) new Huawei P8, which we extremely useful on-the-go. Travel photography allows you to relive your experiences though the photos, so my advice would be to take a lot of them in order to share your trip with others and help you remember all the lovely moments.

The frangipani scent: frangipanis are everywhere on Bali! The frangipani flower is deeply rooted in the Balinese culture, it’s commonly used in spas, worn as a hair accessory and in religious ceremonies (often in offerings Balinese people give a few times per day). The sweet and flowery scent is something I’ll associate with my Bali trip probably forever. My dear blogger friend Nika (Beautyfull blog) has visited Indonesia in January and brought me a natural essential frangipani oil, which helped make my memories of Bali even more vivid.

The taste of ginger and coffee: taste can be an instant reminder of the past. Besides sweet and unbelievably yummy mangos and maracuyas, the taste of ginger and coffee is the one that takes my back to Bali for sure. Every now and then a cup of coffee reminds me of the day we visited the Kopi Luwak coffee plantation (we also bought some of the expensive Kopi Luwak as well). Ginger in Bali was unbeatable, but a ginger tea or smoothie works here in Slovenia just fine. Mainly, all exotic fruit these days reminds me, that I desperately need to visit one of the exotic fruit homelands soon.

The souvenirs: even though it’s the most touristy thing to do, I like to collect souvenirs. I like picking them out, knowing their background and stories. The conical hat people wear harvesting rice, two wooden masks, sarongs (you need to wear when entering their temples) and a few bits and bobs are a great reminder of our time spent on Bali.

The best thing about memories is making them.

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Ajda Sitar /

Dvorec Trebnik

Beauty bloggers events are always fun to attend. Yesterday I (along with some other Slovenian beauty bloggers) was invited to the Dvorec Trebnik gathering at the Golte ski resort and hotel. For all of you that are not familiar with the brand, Dvorec Trebnik is a brand that offers a wide variety of natural products with a Slovene origin. If you ever come across their cosmetics, I’d highly suggest you check them out.

Our day started really early. We began the journey in Ljubljana, then drove to the cable-car station that took us all the way to the top. At the Hotel Golte we were welcomed by the Dvorec Trebnik team, had a (big) delicious self-service breakfast, which gave us strength for the upcoming activities. They started by introducing the history of the Dvorec Trebnik brand, revealing eight new skincare products they are launching in the next few days as well as giving us an insight into the whole process of bringing a new beauty product onto the market. They reminded us on the importance of natural cosmetics, pointing out all the pros and cons of natural ingredients. After a short coffee break, they organized a grammar and style lecture, which was given by Petra Arula. It was definitely one of the most informative beauty bloggers event’s I’ve been to, reminding me about the importance of improving not only the visual aspects of my blog, but also my grammar and writing style. Full of new knowledge we headed over to lunch, which was delicious (the location looking upon the Golte skiing slopes is definitely a selling point). After our bellies were full, we chatted and some of us even visited the Hotel Golte wellness (a massage was very much needed in my case, my last few weeks were mental!). The Dvorec Trebnik beauty bloggers event was a nice escape from the stressful week I had, it was educational, relaxing and interesting.

8 new skincare products from Dvorec Trebnik

The first step of the DT skincare regime would be a cleansing lotion with hamamelis extract, following up with the refreshing toner made from hamamelis extract. The next step is adding the moisturizing facial serum with rose water and hyaluronic acid followed by a gentle nourishing eye cream with rose water. Depending on your skin type, you can either opt for a nourishing day cream with rose water, hyaluronic acid and coenzyme Q10; anti-imperfection face cream with honey or the spot clearing balsam with propolis. In the evening, it’s time to re-do the cleaning and toning. Dvorec Trebnik suggests ending your day with their luxurious night cream with rose water and coenzyme Q10. I would recommend it to all with normal or dry skin type, those more on the oily side might rather go for one of the daily versions that are more suitable for problematic skin.

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Ajda Sitar /

minimalistic-outfit-fashion-blogger (1)

My blog relaunch event has reminded me of my blogging beginnings. I decided to visit the basics of blogging, mainly because some of you have been asking for some tips and tricks to share on how to start a blog. With my last giveaway, the opportunity to attend a bloggers event has been given to one of my fellow readers, who also has a wish to create her own blog. I promised her a coffee date, where I would share some useful information on how to start a blog. I think it would be a great idea to share some tips with you as well.

Choose your niche and do the research
Ask yourself what you want to blog about. Do you want to be a fashion, beauty, lifestyle or travel blogger? Maybe a mix of everything? There’s no rule in choosing your niche, you can write just about anything. In order to keep it interesting, I would highly suggest “you do your own thing”, find something that will help you stand out from the crowds. Before starting with your own blog, I would suggest you do some research. Check out other people’s blogs and sites, find tips that other bloggers share on how to start a blog. Don’t be a copycat, find your own way, however there’s nothing wrong with finding inspiration in others.

Choose a website
After figuring out what you want to blog about, the first big step is to choose a website. There are three main ones to choose from – Blogger, WordPress and Squarespace. They all have some pros and cons, so choose wisely. I started my blog on Blogger (run by Google), which is free, relatively reliable and easy to use. You don’t have tons of options for personalization, the things you can do with blogspot are definitely limited. After three and a half years of blogging, my blog has grown and it was about time for an update. I decided to swap for WordPress, invest some money and a lot of time, but I finally have a blog I am truly proud of. If you’re a blogger (and web design) newbie, I would say, go for Blogger, since you can always import and upgrade to either WordPress or Squarespace (when you really know blogging is something you are committed to).

Choose your blog name and domain
You want to pick a good domain name for your blog from the start, because most likely you will be stuck with it for quite some time. Think and rethink your decision, you might regret it relatively soon. I started on a wrong foot for sure, choosing a name I didn’t feel strongly connected to. I changed it after more than a year later and it definitely “cost” me, it’s like starting all over again regarding traffic and an already built up brand. Most of the websites you host your blog at will offer you a free domain (ending with .blogspot at Blogger for example), but I would highly suggest you buy your own domain as soon as you’re sure about the name of your blog. The important tip is to first check if it’s already taken, you can do that at loads of different domain registrar websites. It will cost you around 10€ per year (some may cost more).

Set up social media
Social media are vital to any beauty, fashion, lifestyle or travel blog. The best thing you can do is opt for the same name for all your social media accounts, preferably similar to your blog name and domain. My blog is named Ajdas (Ajda is my name, in case you missed that), so all of my social media usernames are @ajdasitar. Set up your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter (and other) social media accounts as soon as possible, add the social icons with links to your blog and promote your blog posts there consistently.

Set up Google Analytics
The last tip regarding today’s “how to start a blog” post is to set up Google Analytics. Why? Because statistics found on Blogger or WordPress are not accurate and knowing what kind of blog posts your readers love is very important. You can observe your most popular posts there, where your readers come from, how many of them you have and also do some in depth research if needed. Setting up Google Analytics is easy and extremely useful.

I hope you find my blogging tips on how to start a blog useful and I wish you good luck on starting your own blog!

outfit:
Only trousers
Primark turtleneck
Vero Moda waistcoat
Converse All Star sneakers (trgovina Mass)
Daniel Wellington watch
ZeroUV sunglasses
Viva’s Leather Goods purse

photo: Katarina Veselič

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Ajda Sitar /

Ajdas-lepotni-modni-blog-11

I am super excited to share with you my relaunched Ajdas blog. Finally, after all the wait, the headaches and hours spent online, here it is just for you! I can’t even explain how excited I am about the new design, which took about 4 months to come together. After growing and evolving over the past 3 and a half years of blogging, it was about time to refresh the look, making it more functional, user-friendly and a bit more trendy. The changes were made mainly for you, my dear readers, to make the whole browsing experience better – after all, you are the main reason, why I keep going with my blog. Domen Blenkuš is my friend and photographer (and software developer), who helped me get through the whole process of choosing the right visuals and made it come to life. The young graphic designer Vida Igličar added an artistic touch with her unique calligraphy and drawings.

The occasion was about right to host an event in order to share my big news with the media world. Vichy is the brand I feel strongly connected to and they were up for helping me organize a lovely meetup at the newest Zvezda café in the National gallery here in Ljubljana. The atmosphere and ambiance were lovely and relaxed; my blogger colleges, editors and journalists truly were great company. I decided to share a glimpse into the blogging world through a casual conversation with two lovely ladies – the editor-in-chief of Grazia Slovenia Špela Štamol and the online editor Živa Slokan. I am happy to have such nice and supportive people around me and they are definitely one of those that recognize all the hard work, effort and heart us bloggers put into our posts. Cannot wait to have another chat with them soon!

Chatting with all the lovely people, drinking great coffee, snacking on delicious macarons and pampering the taste buds with the traditional Luiza cake accompanied by Cubiton premium French wine in trendy packaging made my blog relaunch day even more special.

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

outfit:
Marina Yachting dress SS2016
Perla necklace Noah
Cinti pumps SS2016
photo: Domen Blenkuš

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Ajda Sitar /

what-to-wear-to-prom (2)

Last, but not least, my third answer to the “what to wear to prom” dilemma is the jumpsuit. Whether dresses aren’t really your thing or you’re going for a super fashionable vibe, a black jumpsuit might be a great idea. Pants are not only reserved for boys on prom night, more and more ladies are proving that wearing jumpsuit is a bold fashion statement that can be as feminine and glamorous as the classic dress choice. This Max&Co. jumpsuit could almost be mistaken for a dress (especially when you’re standing with your legs close to each other) thanks to the loose fabric. You can obviously see it’s a jumpsuit when walking. I’d say it’s the prefect look it you want the comfort of pants with the glam factor of a long-length gown.

outfit: Max&Co.
photo: Domen Blenkuš
location: Grand Hotel Union, Ljubljana

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