When you look good, you feel good and after celebrating her 54th birthday earlier this month, it's clear that Halle Berry is feeling good as hell.
Recent photos posted on Instagram prove that although the COVID-19 crisis has indefinitely postponed our Hot Girl Summer, Halle has stuck to the plan and remained true to her fit goals and I, for one, cannot relate. Between buying fast food and hoarding fruit snacks, I've gained more than perspective during this pandemic, but Halle is living proof that it's never too late to get the body of your dreams. Halle previously wrote on Instagram:
"I believe good health and wellness is what real beauty is all about. The beauty world is constantly evolving, building a deeper connection between health, wellness, and what we know as being beautiful."
After taking time to get her mind, body, and soul into alignment, our good sis has been hitting us with the heat all 2020 and we love to see it. According to the internet, Halle spent her most recent birthday skateboarding bottomless, visiting Sin City, walking the beach, and gracing the 'Gram with thirst traps that would make a preacher sweat. On Instagram, Halle explained the secret to looking like a snack for decades at a time is her dedication to her keto diet and a whole lot of self-love:
"Each body is unique! Fine-tuning our workouts to meet our personal fitness goals is the easiest way to see the results we want to see. Being sexy starts with feeling sexy and when you focus on loving ALL of you, watch just how SEXY you'll feel!"
Showing off her perfectly toned abs in the tiniest black bikini, the 54-year-old actress proved that the Art of Thirst Trapping is a skill––one that must be carefully studied to be truly effective.
For tips on how to perfect your craft from the Queen of Trappin' herself, scroll below:
Hit Your Angles
You don't look fat in those jeans, you just took your selfie from the wrong angle. Halle may be a megastar who has been on cameras across the globe, but you don't become the Queen of Thirst without knowing how to capture your own angles. Use mirrors, props, and self-timer to take your photos to the next level.
#TBT: Throwback Trappin'
What's new to us may be old to you, but a throwback trap will have your timeline thirsting nonetheless. Dig deep into your camera roll for old photos that will remind you that you've been fine for a long, long time.
Embrace Your Ass(sets)
When it comes to my body, it's hard to humble myself. I'm sorry, not sorry that my clappas be clappin' and my titties be tittying, and damn it, maybe the world deserves a peek too. Embrace those assets, sis. Even if it's only in a few photos reserved in your camera roll for your eyes only. You'll thank me later.
Get Naturally Lit
I need for you to get into the natural lighting, honey. There's something about sun-kissed melanin that gets me going, and a naturally lit photo is guaranteed to brighten up your timeline. While normally, it's good for your light source to be in front of you when taking your selfies, a lil' window action never hurt nobody.
Featured image by Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.com
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Skylar sees things differently. At the time, she was shooting content on her iPhone. Temi came into the picture with a new perspective, an understanding of tech, and, eventually, a camera. “He doesn't give himself enough credit,” Skylar says. “He wasn't just my tripod. He wasn't just standing behind the camera and going ‘click.’ He was giving advice. He was giving me insight to how I could look at things from a different perspective. And I was like, 'Oh, he’s an artist.' I think it was maybe a heartbeat of that kind of energy of like, ‘Baby, can you take this picture?’ And it turned so quickly into, we're partners. We can work together in a way where we're advancing each other's creative thinking.”
The pair often says they’re two sides of the same coin. Skylar is an Aquarius. She attended art school, paints, and loves poetry. She’s more than happy to let the couple’s management firm and agency, Kensington Grey, handle their admin work. And, she loves to sleep in. Temi, on the other hand, wakes up early. He’s a Virgo. He loves a to-do list and regularly checks in on the couple’s brand partnerships spreadsheet to make sure everything is on track.
Because his storytelling was steeped in his love of technology, he didn’t always think of himself as a creative person. “Where I [am] the dreamer who wants to pluck things out of the sky and spend all day with my head in the clouds, Temi [is] so good at grounding me and helping me figure out how to make things make sense on paper. We just work together in such a complimentary way,” Skylar says.
It’s been more than six years since Brooklyn-based couple Temi and Skylar started dating, and nearly four since they cemented their working relationship. On TikTok and Instagram, the couple’s travel, fashion, and home content regularly rack up hundreds of thousands of views. They’ve worked with brands such as Coach, Aesop, Away, and Liquid IV, bringing their vibrant perspectives to every campaign they execute. Still, nearly two years since both Temi and Skylar committed to full-time content creation and creative directing, the couple says their romantic connection remains their priority.
“We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting,” Skylar says.
Working from home can make it hard to separate work from personal life for any entrepreneur. It can be even more challenging when your business partner is also your lover. Temi and Skylar had already used couples therapy as a tool to help them effectively communicate with one another. When they ran into challenges while working together, their therapist helped them set physical boundaries to help combat the issues.
"We told each other we would much rather go back to full-time jobs and preserve our relationship than to be full-time freelancers, barely getting a night's rest [and] barely kissing each other because we're so busy shooting."
“It actually took us doing very specific physical things to create boundaries between work and play in our relationship,” Skylar says. “So, for instance, we will only have conversations about work when we're out of bed or we're at the table or in the office. Initially, when we started, we had to light a candle to say that, 'Okay, this is a space where we're connecting, we’re not talking about work.' We needed really hard boundaries at the top. And then it became a little bit more organic.”
The boundaries have been crucial to implement, especially because the couple began working together so naturally. When the pair first met, Skylar was NY-based a social strategist for BuzzFeed and was using content creation to drive business to her lingerie company. She was shooting her own content. Temi was working for Microsoft in D.C. He’d recently traded in his DJing equipment for a camera. “I've always loved taking pictures,” he says. “Even when I was a kid, my African mother would wake me up at 3:00 a.m. [during a] party, and be like, 'Come take the family picture.'”
Growing up, Temi says he watched his parents support each other and be the true definition of partners. He knew he wanted the same for his own relationship. But, the couple also wanted to make sure they were being financially responsible. The pair didn’t quit their traditional jobs until they’d saved up two years' worth of their cost of living. And, Temi received his Master of Business Administration from New York University with the knowledge that it could either help him advance in his corporate career or be applicable to his business with Skylar.
Temi and SkylarCj Hart @hartbreakToday, they say their working relationship is more of a “quiet dance.” They still implement some of the boundaries they learned in therapy, but they also lean into their natural strengths and deep love for one another. When we speak, Temi has planned a date for the couple to see Princess Mononoke in 4K IMAX and added it to their Notion so they can factor it into their busy schedules. “I fully plan to date for the rest of my life,” he says.
Skylar says the couple doesn’t just wait for date nights to check in with one another, though. This often happens in the mornings, after Temi has made her peppermint tea and poured himself a cup of coffee. When they ask each other how they slept, she says, it’s not just a “nicety.” It’s a genuine question meant to foster connection.
“A lot of it happens during the day in the midst of work. We'll stop and we'll hug. Or we’ll slow dance in the kitchen,” she says. “Sometimes it's hard to set a whole date night when you have 7,000 things going on. So, we must grasp these moments and check in when we can. And I think it's become so organic to us that I actually didn't even realize how often we do it. But all day long, we're like, 'Are you good? I felt like your energy shifted,' because we're best friends, we just know. We just feel it happen.”
What’s better than being in love? Building wealth while doing it. Watch Making Cents here for real stories of couples who make money moves together.
Featured image by Cj Hart @hartbreak