Brazilian

Enjoy the beach like a Brazilian

: It has already been the time when the grandmothers used to stay at home crocheting. The new elderly look younger, have more resources or vanity and they really like to enjoy their lives like you or me. What am I saying that? Because in Brazil the two pieces bikini is very democratic. What does it mean? It signifies that girls and women from 0 to 100 wear bikini and nobody become shocked.

You might think that in Brazil everyone walks almost naked on the streets. It is not true. Topless, for example, is forbidden. However, I think Brazilians have different connection with the beach than Americans, for example. While Americans are very practical, Brazilians want to feel beautiful and powerful on the beach. Bikinis in Brazil have better quality, because the customers are more exigent  and they have better cut and finish. Yes, our swimsuits are bold, low-cut and expose more the body and no, Brazilian do not wear small beachwear just to expose their bodies to men.

The first reason for Brazilian tiny pieces is the sunburn. Despite the fact of Brazilian long summer, they really like to look dark all year round and big bikinis create huge stops on the skin. Many brands have tried to insert big cruise bikinis, but they were not successful.
The second reason is the comfort. I have to confess the first time that I have seen those tankinis I got surprised. I would say most probably very few people in Brazil could wear that. It is tacky, heavy, hot and conservative. Maybe some traditional evangelicals can consider wearing that if they create some sleeves, it is my only guess.

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Tankini

Another reason for not wearing enormous swimsuits is or on body. Big pieces spoil the body. How come? It has more fabric and cover more, how come it damage the body. I can explain it with my own photos, all of them from last summer.


This bikini is from a Turkish brand and have good size. Because it is small, it does not exposes my small but while when I wear a bigger size, I look completely flat. In addition, because the panty has a lot of fabric my belly looks much bigger. Who wants to have large belly and plane butt? Nobody, right?


Now you can see the difference between the white (above) and black (bellow) bikinis. The white my body looks younger, especially my butt, although in the black model my butt looks aged. It is not cool. Please, analyze my photos, and pay attention how enormous bikini can kill your confidence shape.

Moreover, do not say bikinis are for young girls. It is not true. In Brazil, it is democratic, remember? So, it is very common among the elderly women.

Bruna Lombardi is a Brazilian poet, writer, model, and film and TV actress. She is 64 years old.

Betty Faria is a Brazilian actress. She is 75 years old.

Susana Vieira is a Brazilian actress. She is 74 years old.

You might say they are actresses, and famous people do not count. Let me present my aunt, she will turn 70 next year. She is retired now, but she used to word as social worker. Yes, anonymous people go to beach on bikinis more often than famous people do, because they are anonymous and nobody will photography them and put on a gossip magazine.

Ah! You also can say they are skinny. Believe me or not, even obese people wear two pieces bikini and it is wonderful. I love when women fell confident and happy with their own body. You do not have to be a Victoria’s Secret model to be amazing.

Preta Gil is a Brazilian singer and actress. She is the daughter of Gilberto Gil, a famous musician and former Minister of Culture in Brazil. She is 42 years old.

Why am I saying that? Because I do believe that women and anybody can wear whatever they want. This religious feeling that creates a sin on the human body is something very delicate and destructive. Women should wear what they like, what they are comfortable, whats makes themselves to feel gorgeous. Cover the body with ugly and boring outfits would not make you slimmer. Other day I have received a question “how to hide the belly with bikinis”. There is way to let it more beautiful, but how to cover something while it is naked or with spandex? It is impossible, for this reason, just relax and be whoever you want on the beach.

Right now I am developing a large beachwear collection for my portfolio. I will not sell any of my pieces, however I will spoil my collection a little bit and show two outfits because I really loved the results. And of course, the designer, the cuts, the modeling and the confection are Brazilian. I did not write this post to convince you to buy my bikinis, especially because my bikinis are not in the market, but I want that you can have this amazing experience of being beautiful even on the beach. 

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Xoxo,

Debora

How did I say yes to the dress?

Getting married in in New York is very uncomplicated, so when we decided to get married we can do it practically in the next day. First, we have to go to City Hall and apply for the license to marry, 24 hours later we can marry.

For the wedding license, I went with the same white wool dress that I wore on New Year’s Eve in Allentown-PA and it was the most accurate choice. The brides wear white at the City Hall. Some brides prefer more casual style, but I have seen brides with several guests, photographers and wearing long and traditional dresses. I find it very exaggerated, but it is perfectly understandable especially if the couple are not going to have a party after a civil wedding. Therefore, my idea of getting married on the next had changed a little bit. After seeing a lot of brides I had the desire to have a wedding dress, or at least a white dress.

I live close to three malls, I went to several stores in the three shopping malls and I did not find a white dress that I liked. I wanted a simple white dress, because it would not have a “bridal shape” so at least it had to be white. I asked my boyfriend, now my husband, to drive me on Saturday to the outlet in Riverhead, I went into all the stores, it did not matter if it was expensive place or not for me, and again, nothing! So I thought about going to David’s Bridal, who sells wedding dresses. I knew that by the title “bride”, it would be a little more expensive, but that was fine. The closest store to us at the time was in Lake Grove and it was great to see the city, ant its malls.

The store’s website suggested that the visit should be scheduled and guided by a salesperson. I hate sellerperson insisting to buy something. I went to David’s Bridal without any reservation, and I knoew it could be an issue because the place was a bridal shop full of white dresses, but I was wrong. We can move freely between the dresses, and try everything that we want. Of course, they have expensive and luxurious ball gowns, but most brides are looking for something more minimalist, or even cheap.

I walked through the store. I was determined to buy a dress above my knees, but I ended up trying on a long dress just to see how it looked. I chose three simple dresses, inside my mannequin. I’m not a demanding customer, I do not try a thousand pieces and I know my body shape and I know there are models that do not look good on me.

The long dress made me look older and fatter. It gave m a barrel silhouette and I eliminated this dress. It had a nice embroidery on the bust, but I felt a grandmother with it.

My doubt was between the two shorter dresses, I tried on them again, I walked for Mohammad. People looked at me, which was a little embarrassing, but I pretended that I did not see them. I know people do not take the groom to buy the wedding dress, but since I do not have a driver’s license, I had no choice. I know I live in New York and I could have bought my dress in Manhattan, but I honestly prefer to shop in quieter places, especially a wedding dress.

I loved the lace of this dress and the pleated skirt was lovely, but I found it with a more springy style, because the fabric and delicacy.

The tube dress I felt well. I do not havw tube dresses, but the thicker fabric looked more winter-like, the all-shinned collar gave the special charm that a wedding dress needed. I just got a little concern with the ruffle in the belly region, which could give me a bigger belly in the photos.

Finally, I decided to wear the tube dress. Because it was more elegant and the fabric ticker.


At the end, I bought both of them, My plan is to wear the other white dress at my husband’s company party in the middle of the year. Since we were in a zone full of malls, I decided to look shoes. I went to Steve Madden, Call it Spring, Aldo, JC Penny … And I did not find anything that I liked. I wanted a simple white or nude pump. I did not want to wear peep toe or sandals, I do not know, for me it is inelegant wearing open-toed shoes in the winter. Also, I do not like super high heels, which I nowadays consider to be dowdy and uncomfortable. I was about to give up when I found a Macy’s, I know there’s one in front of the house, but I decided to come in.
I found several shoes that would match my dress. Luckily, they had all of them on my size, 10. The first shoes I chose because I thought the champagne color was close to the dress color. However, when I put close to the dress I realized it was not! In addition, these strips made the shoe more different, but at the same time, it seemed that I was smaller. Okay, I am six feet tall, but I hate to look smaller. Therefore, I was in doubt between the nude shoe and the white. Surely, the nude I would wear more often. For me white shoe only for bride or women wearing white uniform. Then my boyfriend helped me decide. First, he remembered that I practically do not wear heels anymore. Even though I can wear the nude shoes more time, the chances are small because every time when I have a party I like to buy something new. Consequently, I tried on both shoes for the third or fourth time and Mohammad noticed that the nude model left a gap between my foot and the shoe while the white hugged perfectly my foot. I decided to buy the white pump.

Before I left the mall, I stopped at Uni Qlo, that Japanese shop. I went in to try to persuade Mohammad to buy a yellow flannel shirt I have loved since the start of the season. He did not like it, but in compensation, I found a coat that finished my wedding outfit. I intended to wear my old black long wool coat. When I saw this I fell in love, it was probably more or less the length of the dress, the beige and white would give less contrast than the black and the white. The price was incredible, from $ 150 for $ 50. Very good not to have the average size of the American girls, we find many things in the promotions. I went home extremely excited, I could get married on Monday.
On Sunday, I sent a message to the photographer asking if she could photograph our wedding at the next day. I got a positive response. I texted a friend who would be the witness and she also agreed to come with us, we were getting married on Monday at 8:30 in the morning. I started to get ready, Mohammad helped me with my hair. I ironed our clothes and we ent to Trade Joe to buy flowers for the bouquet.

In front of City Hall has a boy who sells flowers and bands, inside of the place also has flowers and souvenirs, but everything is expensive. I bought hydrangea, which is one of my favorite flowers, and it looks like a bouquet by itself.

On Monday, everyone woke up early and went to City Hall, I mean, almost everyone, I inadvertently sent the photograph to the Brooklyn unit and we were in Manhattan, which delayed our wedding a little bit. Nevertheless, in the end everything went well. The photos of this post were all taken by my cell phone; soon I will publish the official photos.

Breaking Esterotypes: Brazilian Carnival

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

I remember one of my very first experiences when I came to New York few years ago. I don’t know the year, but it was February.  How did I know? It was Carnival in Brazil, my homeland and people were surprised why I was here in New York City, during this amazing Brazilian festival. My worse experience, when I felt tremendous shy was when a cashier at Victoria’s Secret asked where I came from. When I said Brazil, she pretend to copy a kind of samba, a Brazilian rhythm very popular during carnival days.

Let’s break some myths about this colorful holiday that stop Brazil. First at all, a big number of Brazilians don’t like the traditional Carnival’s party. They like the 4 days that is national holiday to travel and because it is in the middle of summer, the most popular destination are the beaches. Second, even though you see naked girls on the sambobrame (the court where the Carnival’s runway takes place), topless, for instance is forbidden in public areas in Brazil. You can be in trouble for exposing your bust there. Unlike New York, where the Desnudas use Times Square to get some money.

What does a desnuda look like to a child? – The Midtown Gazette:

Times Square, NY

Brazilians don’t like the carnival exactly because it is famous for. Women sexual exploration, alcohol (and maybe drugs) abuse and sex freedom. A lot of tourists go to Brazil just to have sex with girls under 18 years old, for example. Foreigners go to a very poor towns where this bad situation is without control and id doesn’t make us happy. Being knowing about those situations don’t let us proud.

How does the Carnival really is in Brazil?

We have several cities where the carnival is very traditional and the parties are different among them. Let’s talk about the cities and the kind of fest you can expect there.

Samba School Parede – Rio & São Paulo

Most Famous

Foto: Henrique Matos:

Mangueira, Rio de Janeiro, 2016.

A samba school (Portuguese: Escola de samba) is a club or dancing school. They practice and often perform in huge square-compounds (“quadras de samba”) devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an African-Brazilian dance. There is a competition on the sambodrame, where the specialists choose which school is the best that year. There is a huge rivalry between the schools and in the day that they present the scores, there is s huge confusion. Another bad side of many samba schools are the connection with money wash and narcotraffic.

Related image:

Riot in Sao Paulo.

Another tradition for this schools are to choose the Drum’s Queens,  which is the most important role in the runway day. This girl will dande in front of the drum. A beautiful girl, with fit body and probably famous would take this position. Every year is a big fight, the schools want the most famous girls to be their queens, and the girls want to be chosen because it gives them prestigious. There is no ethical, girls take place of friends and schools fire the queen on the eve of the runway without explanation.

Image result for rainha da bateria

Gracyanne Barbosa, one of the most famous Queens.

The runways occur on Friday and Saturday in the Carnival’s nights in São Paulo at Anhembi’s Sambodrame. Sambadrome (Sambódromo in Portuguese) is the name given to an exhibition place for the Samba schools parades during Carnaval in Brazil. A sambadrome generally consists of tiered spectator viewing areas surrounding a long alley for the schools to parade down. In addition, on Sunday and Monday it takes place in Rio de Janeiro, Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí. This is the most famous carnival’s runway in Brazil.

Por do Sol - Foto: José Cordeiro/ SPTuris.:

Anhembi Sambodramo

O Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí é uma comprida passarela construída para os desfiles das escolas de samba do Rio de Janeiro.:

Marques de Sapucai sambodrame

We have sambodromes in another cities such as Manaus, Porto Alegre, Vitória, Florianópolis, Macapá, Belém, Bauru, Cabo Frio, Laguna, Paulinia, Santos and Bebedouro, but they are smaller and much less famous.

Sabrina Sato mostrou seu samba no pé na noite dessa sexta-feira, dia 1º, durante o primeiro ensaio da Gaviões da Fiel, escola da qual é rainha de bateria, para o Carnaval 201...:

Sabrina Sato, assay at Gaviões da Fiel’s Square-Compound

Annually, members of a samba school get together in the square-compounds and decide the theme, so the sambista start to plan the song, the rhythm and the lyric. The members of the community vote for the best melody in case of they have more than one possibility and then they start the assays. A lot of  designers work to develop the costumes. Carnival in Brazil is like a Halloween parade, but much funnier and with more elaborate costumes. I have the feeling that Victoria’s Secret show is based on in Brazilian Carnival.

Image result for atelies escola de samba

Costume office, the costumes in this office cost between $15,000 to 50,000

Of course the high amount of costumes in a run way are not those super expensive. However, it is not even close to the price of a Batman’s costume at Burlington. In Rio de Janeiro, the normal costume is from $260 to $800.

Fantasia de indígena é uma das mais frescas da Mangueira e custa R$ 1,5 mil (Foto: Divulgação / Mangueira):

Indigena costume from Mangueira, Rio de Janeiro. It custs 500.

If you want to see this parade, be read to spend between $130 and $1,600.

Carnival Blocks – Bloquinhos de Carnaval 

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Vem ver a programação dos blocos este ano! – inspired by julia:

Bexiga Block, São Paulo.

Carnival blocks are small and organized parties on the street where they have music (often fallowed by percussion instruments) and they walk in some streets in the city. Last year, São Paulo had at least 500 blocks divided in all the neighborhoods. Those are the most popular party in the country and you can easily find this block in big cities or small towns. Some blocks the participants wear costumes, some blocks are thematic like, men dressed like women, homemade costume…

carnaval de ouro preto uma das melhores festas de carnavais do brasil:

Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais

Among the small towns, Ouro Preto has one of the busiest carnival in the country. This city has a lot of students and the city gets completely crazy during the carnival. This city also has the oldest Carnival Block, O Zé Pereida dos Lacaios, that started in 1867!

Olinda Dolls – Boneco de Olinda

carnaval de olinda entre as melhores festas de carnavais do brasil

Giant dolls

In Olinda, Pernambuco the carnival parade or blocks is called the lyric block, because it is full of folklore from the region. Between the parade participants, we can see giant dolls, and this party started in 1932.They play frevo and old carnival marchinhas. 
Eletric Trio – Trio Elétrico em Salvador

The Longest

Use two fingers to move the map. Bahia Salvador: Revelers with their abadás

I would say Salvador has its carnival all year around. They have pre and post parties, carnival on Christmas… A truck, called electric trio, carry a band or famous singer and you have to buy the abadá,  or the ticket-t-shirt to participate on that. The prices vary a lot, from $50 to $1,000.

Ideias de Abadás Customizados Pra Você Arrasar no Carnaval camila coelho elaborados:

Hand made customized abadás

The participants follow the truck dancing, drinking and kissing. I haven’t been there but a friend said they have to kiss everyone, the smell is terrible bad because there aren’t enough bathrooms and sometimes you can be even robbed.

carnaval de salvador entre os melhores destinos de carnavais do Brasil:

Electric trio.

However, most people want to avoid this parties, and just enjoy the long holiday. it says that the year in Brazil just starts after the carnival.

Places to Shop for Bathing Suits in Queens, New York

As a Brazilian girl I always try to find the most familiar bikini for me.

For those Brazilian who live in New York summer is the ideal time to complain about the American bikinis, the panties seems Melitta Coffee filter.  Am I wrong? Ok. It is not only Americans, but Chinese, South Americans or Europeans bikinis they are huge, like baby diaper. In fact, just Brazilian women wear small bikini. Brazilians like to go to the beach stylist and beautiful, the US women are more basic and practical, they focus more on comfort. So every Brazilian I know complains about having to buy bikinis here in New York. However it has been changing and every year is easier to find a good tiny bikini. I mean, it is not that easy, but it is possible, especially in brands for young girls. 🙂

Can I say something? In Brazil bikini is for everyone, it is a democratic outfit for all, even overweight or elderly women, children, former-president, fitness muse, teen age girls… wear two pieces bikini, and nobody will stare on them with an unapproved look.

I’m not like most Brazilian, because I like big bikini, I have several huge tow pieces bikini, like vintage, retro or pin up style… On the other hand, I have minimal bikinis too, I’m not thong bikini fan, but I’m almost there.Bikini is my favorite fashion item. If you look at my wardrobe right now, you will not believe that live in New York, you will think that I’m living in Hawaii, even thought I still having many bikinis in my wardrobe in Brazil.

However, why do American like huge bikinis? Are they more modest? I don’t think so, I was impressed on the first time that  I went to a club here in New York. The girls went almost naked with transparent dresses, dance lowering up to the ground and rubbing themselves on the guys, I felt in a strip show, I’ve never seen anything like it in Brazil.

Or maybe American women want to hide some imperfections? So that’s why they would choose big bikini. In my research prove that huge bikinis are not always good for my shape. Sometimes it emphasized a defect or created a new one.  I chose black models and smaller size of the store. Generally panties are S and bras are XS. See my photos:

This is my bikini, a good design and size for my body. I took this photo in my bedroom and I used this photo as compared to all experienced bikinis.


In Century 21 I wore a Donna Karan bikini set, her panties had like a skirt that covered the bottom. Besides the horizontal lines let me fattier, the bottom left me with a straighter ass. The top was beautiful, but to be wore with another panties style, these was a set that they did not sell separately.

These panties was high waist and with wide side. The side had a wrinkled, that gave to me few pounds. These huge panties emphasized my rectangular shape. It’s more for a curvy girl, I guess. The bra had a pan inside, it was good to give me more volume. Although It was large for me, my boobs were swimming inside.

The short style model is the worst for my body type, because it emphasizes where I have the high amount of fat, between my legs and my navel. I was straight with no waist. Another thing, being faixinha style, let my butt “flat”. The bra I liked, sometimes it’s hard to find small bra the bastante.

In Kohls with the panty was a little lower, my body became more interesting, it appeared to be thinner and had waist. 🙂 The part behind was the very large as normal American panties and left me with a grandma’s butt. The bra was huge for my boobs but it was the smaller size. 😦

In Burlington the bikini emphasized my belly, I looked like an obese woman, although it was a small sized set. I wonder what kind of woman this bikini is good. The detail in the belly lured me much ass looks chicken.

Old Navy an JCPenny had very similar panties.

…But the back of these panties were too big! In this case the Old Navy I chose XS ba and S panties. I like the bra.

In the JCPenney the bra was a little smaller, and these fringes gave me more volume. Great! ❤

I swear I do not have that huge belly, and I am not a panda bear. I think the Express did not want to sell bikinis. What a horrible light in the dressing room.

The back part of the bra was very beautiful, swimming style, love it. The underwear is very basic, but it would not take this bikini felt good ridiculous because the illumination, I gained 10 pounds at least. I also have cellulite on my legs, but they did not exist… 😦

In Victoria’s Secret a smaller bikini fit pretty well. Look when I said I supposed to avoid huge bikinis, just because sometimes it is not good for me. In this time I had waist, butt and breasts. Actually, my boobs were quite big, they are not like this, good design for girls who does not like having small chest.  This bikini did not let me as a ironing board. Did I prove for you that little bikinis sometimes are better? Of course depending on of my shape. So, I would like to advice American girls who are fit to try to buy Brazilian style bikinis. You can buy it on Ebay (for cool and cheap sets) or with real Brazlian brands. Now the Brazilian currency Real is very undervalued, it is the best time to import stuff from there. 😉

These brands for high school kids are the best finding Brazilian style bikinis. My favorite set in all this research was the Aerie’s bikini.SO cute, unfortunately the photo is blurry.

The bra style is curtain and had an internal cup that made me feel more confident and beautiful. The panties was small, the same size on the front and on the back, exactly like in Brazil.:)  They also had an asymmetrical ruffle, which started narrow on my right and increased on the  the left side of my body. I had waist and butt.

The Aéropostale’s bikini was is also cute. I was sad when I realized that the brand  is closing some stores in the USA, it is one of the few brands that clothes fit on me. The panties was low waist, medium on the sides but small on the butt. The top is so beautiful, I regretted not having bought it.

While making this post, I saw a picture of the model Marquita Pring wearing a top from the brand Balance Tech on the beach. I have 6 bras like that, 3 are large in three different colors that they made it, and 3 are small in three colors too, I love them much. On the other hand, I do not wear them as a bra for beach, they are huge for this propose on my opinion. It is perfectly fine to wear on the beach  but what amazed me, was that Marquita said:

“‘I usually wear small two pieces bikini, with the minimal amount of material as possible. I love to feel free when I’m on the beach.”

But this is not a small bikini at least for Brazilian girls, neither the top nor panties. Then I thought maybe it is tiny for Americans, who knows? I also have one photo where mo mother and I were wearing the top to do exercise last January.

Finally, I realized that the style of bikini is super important for my body. Not always a huge bikini will cover my defects, actually it can create new ones.

None of my photos were treated in Photoshop. My bikini I bought on Ebay.