Welcome to Style Apotheca's first blog post. I can't believe it's actually here. I've thought about doing this for a long time, but faced many barriers and insecurities in getting here.  

“Should I start a blog? Isn't it embarrassing? Am I a narcissist? Won't people laugh? How much does it cost? Am I good enough? Will anyone care?”

I went to school to be a pharmacist for a total of nine years; 5 years of undergrad to get my Biology degree, then 4 years to get my BSc Pharm. After countless hours of studying, cramming, and poor posture, there wasn't really any room for creativity in that academic world.  I couldn't remember the last time I drew a picture or read a book in that time. When I passed my National Pharmacy exam and finally got my full-time job I figured that was it. I achieved what I was supposed to. Well done. Goal attained. Your grandparents approve. Everybody’s proud of you. Except, now what? 

I felt absolutely lost, like I didn't have anything to work towards anymore. I had no end game. I got my licence to practice and wear the coveted white coat (note: I don’t wear the white coat. Ever.). I got my job. Fin. But was that it? For a while, I shifted my focus towards learning as much as I could to be a “good pharmacist”, because this was now my profession and I thought it was what was meant to define me as “Me”.

I tried to dive more into perfecting my field, but found reading journal articles or medical texts numbingly boring and completely uninspiring as a way to pass my time on evenings and weekends. Gross. But I learned what I was lacking: inspiration and a creative outlet. 

For as long as I can remember, I have ALWAYS been into fashion and beauty. I've always loved to keep up with the latest trends, and style my clothes to emulate what I saw in magazines or on Pinterest (in later years). I loved spending time creating looks in my head and thinking of the perfect places to wear them. Hours would go by and I wouldn’t even notice. That’s what happens when you find an interest. It becomes easy. But for an equal number of hours gone by, I didn’t think I could really make anything of this or “do anything” with fashion. Styling clothes, playing with make-up…these were not “serious” interests.

I spent A LOT of time after work watching other men and women create content, from fashion, to beauty, to fitness, to food, and YouTube. I always thought, "I'm a watcher, not a creator," -- I could never do what "they" do. But even after getting my full-time job, I still came home after work and spent hours looking at photos, styling outfits, re-creating makeup looks and researching skincare and wellness. These were the things that excited me, and I wanted to do more and share my interests in a creative way.

Looking back, it was one year ago exactly in February 2016 that my friend and colleague encouraged me to buy my first DSLR camera when I kept talking about wanting to start a fashion blog and learn photography (thanks, AS <3). I had no idea what I needed, so just bought what he suggested (a Nikon D7100 - not really a "beginner" camera by any means...). After a lot of trial and error, and finally figuring out how to turn it "ON", I started shooting. I shot fruit bowls, cell phones, coffee mugs, my toothbrush...anything and everything I could to start learning photography and get better (in AUTO mode at the time…I eventually graduated to manual mode…). I was absolutely hooked, and then I started thinking, "Maybe I CAN do this". And so I did.

So this is how “Style Apotheca” was born. It’s my “Apothecary of Style”. I’m just a pharmacist who loves fashion, beauty, health and now photography. I live a very left-brained life during the day. This is me nurturing that other side. I hope you like what you find here, because this is “Me”.

xo

Christina