Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion

Before, I didn't really see the need for eyeshadow primers. You see, I bought the Smashbox eyeshadow/lip primer before and it did nothing, absolutely nothing, for me- except maybe reduced the redness of my eyes so then the color appears better. But I can achieve that with a little application of my YSL Touche Elcat. Nevertheless, being the beauty addict that I am, the other day I got the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion after hearing so many rave reviews about it- and now I am a convert.
At first I wasn't sure if I was just having a good eyeshadow day or it was the potion, but after having had 3 good eyeshadow days I am pretty confident that it was the potion. And by "good eyeshadow day" I mean going a whole day (morning till night) with no crease, no smudging and sharp color! Its really quite incredible. I didn't think it was possible. Oh and another point is that it literally glides on and really creates a nice smooth surface for eyeshadow application that really sticks. And no, I did not just copied that from the blurb on Sephora. And since I'm about the most oblivious person around when it comes to the whether a beauty product works game, this product really DOES make a difference! So if you haven't already- I highly recommend it!

Ps. Happy Halloween!

Image Source: Sephora

Daisy, the Marc by Marc Jacobs Perfume

I'm not a big perfume lover. I spray perfume maybe 10 times a year, usually for nights out. But like most girls, I can't resist browsing at the ever-interesting perfume bottles and sniff all the new scents. There are so many scents that I like, but because of this, I can't possibly buy all the scents I 'like'. Out of all the scents, there's one scent that has grown on me and I have fond memories of, the Marc Jacobs Eau de Parfum. And I've been meaning to buy a bottle for awhile, but I've been slightly hesistant becaues I wasn't sure if the flowery smell was too strong for me to wear for too long of a time so I never got around to buying it.

I was excited when I saw the new ads of Daisy, the Marc by Marc Jacobs scent, in Teen Vogue. It's got that sweet, non-chalent The first time I smelt it, it smelled like any other perfume out there in the market. But at the encouragement of the Marc salesgirls (who told me not to buy the Marc Jacobs perfume but try Daisy instead,) I sprayed both scents onto perfume paper and brought them home to smell for a day. (The salesgirls also told me that their first shipment at the Hong Kong store soldout in 3 days!)

After smelling both scents at least once an hour, I've decided that on the surface, Daisy smelt only like a light, fruity, flowery scent. But later on, the scent smelt musky and most importantly, of Gardenia, the signature scent of the Marc Jacobs perfume. (Yes, I know I think too much before buying things.) According to the Daisy site, Daisy's notes include strawberry, ruby red grapefruit, violet leaves, gardenia, violet leaves, jasmine petals, musk, vanilla and white woods. Not exactly what I smelt, but close enough. And surprisingly, since I've bought it two weeks ago, I've already used it 4 times. Perhaps the reason I haven't been using much perfume before was that I haven't found my right one yet?

What do you think of Daisy? Isn't the bottle simply adorable? Has anyone smelt it or bought it yet?

Image credit: www.sephora.com

Bold Nail Varnish

Having been a devotee of the pale pink/whitish nail varnish for most of my nail varnish wearing life (seriously, I have about 5 bottles of pale pink varnish in slightly different shades), recently I've finally jumped onto the bandwagon of bold (darker) colored nail varnish. I am not exactly sure what go me into it....perhaps its because everyone on TV has it and since I watch so much TV it has subconsciously filtered into me and displaced my initial notion that bold nail colors look old and trashy. About time too! I think the trick is to keep nails short and rounded. Long and sharp...now that is trashy.

My first bold color obsession: red. Bright red. Mine is a similar color to this, An Affair in Red Square, from OPI, except mine is called Fishnet Stockings from Essi. I just couldn't find the Essi website. But yes, I randomly bought the bottle and tried it on and I LOVED it. Its just so SHARP and cool! I actually spent a few minutes in the mirror checking out my new nail color afterwards! :)
The next color I wanted to try was Purple. But not electric purple. And not reddish purple. Cause then it'll just look too purple. It was a tough choice, but in the end I settled on this Russian Navy, from OPI, which has a bluish, purplish tinge. This one actually took me a while to get used to (I think I'm still trying to get used to it), but I think once winter comes on full force, it'll fit my wardrobe perfectly.

Incidentally the whole new OPI Russian Collection fits my recent fall/winter mood perfectly. Dark, rich colors of blue, purple and red. Its fabulous. Although I'm not sure about the texture. Maybe its just me, but I find them not to go on as smoothly as my Essi ones.

And lastly, HOW does everyone apply their dark nail varnishes? I am phenomenally bad at application. So I try not to mess up by just applying one layer (no, I'm seriously bad) and for these bold colors, its not too bad since its already so strong. But I can't help that I accidentally apply over the edges and then it just looks like a little kid coloring and going outside the lines. Also, a lot of times, I get streaks. HOW am I suppose to DO this properly??? Please help!

Image Source: OPI

Guilty Pleasures

Having had a stressful few weeks, I decided to treat myself to a day of guilty pleasures.
  1. My top guilty pleasure is sleep. And by that I don't mean the usual 8 hours. I mean sleeping for however long and whenever I want. See, I'm not a morning person. Hence I never feel like waking up in the morning. So this morning (afternoon), I woke up late. And then I went for guilty pleasure number 2......
  2. Romance novels. I find the newer novels these days to be much too formulaic and tedious to go through to find a good one. Hence I love reading the old ones that I know are good. The classics never get boring. They are all the same anyway, its just the quality of the writing that differs. Besides, all I'm looking for is a happy ending to escape from the real world. One of my all time favourites is Jill Mansell's, Miranda's Big Mistake. Its super sweet. Mansell is generally pretty good, though I can't say much for her newer books......And while I was reading by the window next to the warm sunlight, I indulged myself some more and rest my eyes whenever I need to.
  3. Next on my list is endless hours of mindless TV shows. These days I watch just about anything, Greys Anatomy, Samantha Who, Gossip Girl (love it), ANTM etc. But my ultimate favourite is still the chic lives of the girls on Sex and the City. I can never get bored of them. They are classic!
  4. And we must not forget nourishment. Guilty pleasure number four: eating ice cream out of the carton. Then you can really eat as much as you want. And the ultimate pleasure of all? Sleep after you eat. I know that it is highly not recommend it. But succumbing to food coma is just the best thing I can imagine. Even if you cannot sleep for the rest of the night after....
  5. But thats ok, because then you can indulge in guilty pleasure number 5: talking on the phone with an old friend and going down memory lane- for hours. 4 hrs and 5 minutes to be exact. There is no path better than memory lane. Now I really want to read all those Christopher Pike books I loved to read when I was 13...... especially Starlight Crystal. Its about this girl who falls in love with this guy but a few days later she had to go on a spaceship that is designed to be a time capsule that observes human evolution over time. And then something goes wrong and there is this huge time warp and....I just remember it being more cool than it sounds now.
  6. Staring into space and letting your mind wander...and closing your eyes for a few minutes whenever you like. Especially nice if you have a nice view or a clear sky to stare at.
  7. And the last of my guilty pleasures? List making. I love list making. I make lists about everything (observe this blog). And diary writing. It really keeps track of your thoughts and clears your head up. Besides- its awfully entertaining to read a year later....especially if you make interesting lists, like new years resolutions and checklists... I highly recommend it.
And this is my list of guilty pleasures I like to indulge in on my "me" time. What are your guilty pleasures?

Image Source: Amazon.com

Curl Your Lashes

Last year, my routine was just tinted moisturiser and blush (on the days I actually wake up on time). This year, I have officially added eyelash curling as the final step.
If you have read any top beauty secret lists in magazines, then you would remember that curling your lashes is always one of them. Curled lashes are supposed to make your eyes look bigger, make you look more awake -basically, brighten up your whole look. I always took this advice very lightly because it seemed that whenever I curled my lashes and applied mascara, my lashes just became straight after 5 minutes, so what's the point? However recently, I've started curling my lashes at the end of my makeup routine. Surprisingly when I get home after school, my lashes are still curled, and sometimes, people even ask me if I have mascara on.
The point I'm trying to make is, try curling your lashes everyday before leaving the house. It takes less than a minute to do and really livens up your eyes! And at the end of the day, you don't even have to wash it off. Convenient huh? Makes me think we should listen to conventional wisdom more often!
Image credit: www.sephora.com

Vivienne Tam Dresses

I am constantly amazed at my mom's ability to be so up to date with the latest going ons in fashion. Her latest discovery are the trendy dresses at Vivienne Tam. Surprising isn't it? I've always related her style as western with oriental influence and wouldn't exactly call it trendy. So when my mom told me she'd bought me a dress from there, I was like, what?
Luckily for me, the dresses over at Vivienne Tam seems to have gone through a revival and are much trendier than I'd imagined. The dress my mom got me was this one, except mine is black and made of a woolish material. Now to be honest, when I first saw the dress (and identified it as this one in the catalog), I didn't like it very much. It was past my knees and it has the most awkwardly positioned tie thing in the middle. That is not exactly the most flattering cut. But after playing around with it, I've tied it at the waist, such that a little puffy effect is created and is shorter, which is kind of cute with ankle boots!
This of course got me looking into the rest of the catalog and now I am lusting for more Vivienne Tam dresses! They have more simple casual (kind of shift) dresses. I especially love the grey one in the middle. The color is also so nice and wintery without being too black.

And check out those silver Mary Janes! I WANT a pair. They look so perfect in the winter with all these cute short dresses!
For something more sophisticated, there are these more polished creations. The dress on the right is my favourite! The bottom frills gives it just the right touch of girliness to the otherwise sophisticated and simple design.
Something a little more fun, there are these printed dresses. The rich silver brocade dress is so adorable! And as a side note, I really like that look on the far right (sorry about the bad scanning). Its so simple to achieve too. All I need is to go out and get myself a cute printed mini!

Who would've thought that these creations were Vivienne Tam?

The Hills Season 3

Season 3 of The Hills is rumoured to be its last season, (because supposedly, Lauren doesn't want cameras to follow her everywhere anymore.) I don't know how many of you watch the Hills or read enough paprazzi to know drama between the characters, but I'm not going to get into it here. Yes, I know the so-called 'reality' isn't quite reality, but sometimes it's just funny watching how dumb and annoying people can get. Plus even more importantly, their clothes look too fantastic not to watch! It's sort of like watching a 'reality', Lalaland-version of Sex and the City mixed with Gossip Girl.

The first thing that I noticed about Season 3 is that the clothes have become more fabulous than before! In episode 1, Audrina looked amazing in this silver dress, (which is by Alice + Olivia). It's perfect for this summer (short, super short,) and a good choice for a date + clubbing.

Throughout the season, there has been scenes of Lauren and Whitney at the Teen Vogue office. Strangely (uh huh,) they didn't actually do much other than compliment on each other's clothes and reviewing Lauren's feelings about things that had just happened to herself. It's always nice to see the clean, pretty interior of the office of Teen Vogue.
And there are scenes of Heidi and Spencer being annoying together. I swear Heidi's decisions never really make sense to me. And Spencer should really shave everyday.

In Season 3, Heidi has felt the need to flash her new assets every oppurtunity possible. Those dresses are seriously low-cut!

Somehow I feel like I've got a similar personality as Lauren, so I really like watching Lauren's funny expressions and reactions to situations.

We're going to miss Lauren's headbands!

One thing I really liked about the show was the group hanging out at cool hot spots. Everything just looks so chic.

Maybe even more importantly, the girls just talking with themselves. It's so nice to hear sort of normal conversations on TV. It's sort of like watching yourself talk with your friends, except they live together (-so jealous!) And any show that has such a strong friendship element in it is definitely my thing!

And of course I'm going to miss the drama. Real or not, it's just so entertaining!

Thankfully, (unfortunately if you hate them,) the cast will probably still be attending events and be photographed for another while. I can't wait to see them in new, fun party dresses. Here, the girls are at the The Hills' Season 3 premiere party. The FCUK dress Lo's wearing is still available at FCUK stores in a few colours. It's actually affordable so I really have to get myself to a store to try it on!
This is one of my favourite Lauren outfits. LOVE the Alexander Wang dress on her. It's prettier and chicer than most of her plain dresses, but still simple enough to be 'her'.

I read that they're still filming. When is Season 3 going to end? I hope not anytime soon because it's one of the things where I get LA style inspirations from. Anyways, the Hills is still on air so don't forget to tune in!

Cole Haan Shoes

To be honest, I've never felt much for Cole Haan shoes. They were just one of those classic American brands that I keep getting confused with Kenneth Cole. But walking into the store the other day, drawn by the sales sign, I was quite impressed with their shoe collection this season, especially the ones with their Nike Air cushioning feature. This has probably been around for forever, but I just found out recently. So excuse my babbling....Ever since my summer experience, I've wanted a pair of quality black pumps as I've finally realized the tremendous importance of it in professional wear. Ideally it would be comfortable and the made just right. A pair of perfect Prada black pump jumps to mind. But alas, they are quite out of my reach at the moment. And to be fair, I probably wouldn't want to wear it daily anyway. Hence, when I saw these Fiona's at the Cole Haan store, I fell in love. They shape is made just right. The height is great. The quality is good. It is cheaper than a pair of Pradas (at around $300, though I'll probably wait until it goes on sale to make the final kill). And to top all that, it has Nike Air cushioning embedded in the front for comfort. Now I don't know if this is a new thing or not, but what a genius idea! I tried it on. It really makes all the difference. At 3 1/2", it is very very very comfortable. And I'd give much to be comfortable and chic. Oh and these also come in plain leather, but I thought the patent leather version gives it a bit more of a oomph. Anyway, some more beauties from this comfortable and chic collection. The Carma. For a pair of peep toes, I think these are quite nice as it peeps just enough. And I have a thing for platforms heels. These also come in patent leather and plain leather and all the classic colors, but I just thought I'd show this one just to spice it up a little. At 4", these Dalya are just the thing to wear for a casual day out and into the night. With sturdy chunky heels (which are so cool), platforms AND the cushioning thing, you won't have to rest. Plus, I love the patent leather and suede combo here. And this wine red color is just great if one wants a pair of red shoes, but don't want to it to be too flashy i.e. ME! Then, they have boots. I love the folding thing here. It adds simple detail without being too much. Though I'm not too sure about the squarish looking heel here....though at 4" I guess you need it for extra support. I like the slimmer heels here better. Though of course these two are going after completely different looks. One is simple and classic and the other has more details and is more feminine.

So yes, after seeing this collection and falling love with the Fiona, I don't think I'm going to confuse Cole Haan with Kenneth Cole anymore!

Image Source: Cole Haan

Halloween on the Streets

For more inspiration, I turned to the streets. More specifically, celebs and current pop culture icons.
First off are Lindsay Lohan's outfits for Halloween 2006. Her aerobics outfit is not bad. And as for the other one...well I guess it IS Halloween and looking slutty is a prerogative. After all, didn't they say in Mean Girls that Halloween was an excuse for girls to look let their slutty side out?
More inspiring and less slutty, I love Hilary Duff's gypsy idea. And I think if one is to go for the aerobics look, Haylie Duff knows how to do it. The colors and accessories match perfectly, everything just looks so cute! Also, she doesn't look like she forgot to put pants on i.e. Lohan above.
One of the sources of inspiration for Halloween I believe are movies. Last year it was probably Marie Antoinette and Memoirs of a Geisha. So I tried to think of all the thematic movies out this year.... there weren't that many:Harry Potter, Spider Man- too cliche. Finally, I settled on the Pirates of the Caribbean and Hairspray. For Pirates, you can either go for Kiera's whole Chinese pirate look (not that I think Chinese pirates dress that way) or go for a more simple Pirate look i.e. loose white short, black skinny pants, captain hat, compass and sword. And for Hairspray- 60's fashion and BIG HAIR.
And last but not least, we can all take inspiration from Marc last year and try the Ugly Betty look. I bet you they probably sell that poncho somewhere by now. And for something highly imitable with a trip to Walgreens, there is Betty's Halloween costume last year.

And these are all my more "creative" ideas so far. Betty Boop, cowgirl, Greek Goddess (actually not bad), playboy bunny, Barbie, Elle Woods, goth, Edie Segwick, pinup girl, Dita von Teese, cheerleader, preppy, American flag, zombie, hobo also comes to mind. But they didn't strike me as very easily achievable or creative. Any more smart and creative ideas to share?

Flared Jeans

For the past year, I've been imagining myself in a pair of plain, black, flared jeans and a simple top. For one thing, flared jeans, in my mind, form part of the going-to-college image. Another thing is, even though I've been favouring the long top and straight/ skinny jeans look in the last year or two, I've got short tops that just don't go well with skinny jeans.

But apparently, finding a pair of such simple jeans was a lot harder than I thought. I visited Barney's, Saks and Neiman Marcus near Rodeo Drive and hardly found any bootcut jeans available -All they had were skinny or high waisted, wide-legged jeans.

So I lowered my expectations and decided that I would even settle for a pair of washed, boot-cut jeans (like the Citizens of Humanity ones above.) In San Francisco, even though the new Bloomingdale's offered a wider selection of jeans, I still couldn't find my dream pair. Luckily, one of you readers suggested I go to the Blues Jean Bar -I loved it there! (Thanks for suggesting I go there btw.) You tell the saleslady what you're looking for and the size and they just pull out a few choices from their shelves. Normally I would hate a store that doesn't organise its clothes by brand names, but this is one exception.
One of the saleslady's recommendation was the new J Brand's Lovestory jeans, (technically, low-rise bell-bottom jeans.) The saleslady wasn't sure about them since they looked more like pants than jeans, but I tried them on and love them! The material is really elastic and they're tight on top and flares out at the knees, so they're comfortable, fits well and look good. If you haven't worn a pair of flared jeans in a while, go try a pair on! It's such a refreshing feeling, (and perhaps slightly odd since it's been awhile.) (I found out later that Kate Moss supposedly wore them in blue recently.)

The truth is, finding jeans that match what you want isn't actually that difficult -just go onto www.shopbop.com. But I'm one of those careful people and I wouldn't buy jeans unless I've tried them on, meaning that I'm limited to the choices sold in shops. Anyways, anyone else been trying on flared jeans again recently? And I don't mean bootcut, I mean flared!

Halloween on the Runway

I've never been much of a dress up for Halloween kind of girl. The last time I did it, I bought a witch hat and put it with the outfit I was wearing- which was a black dress and a denim jacket. Not very inspiring. But since this is my last year of college, I feel like this is my last chance to go all out for Halloween and dress up crazy and everything. With that, I've started to think of what I want to dress up as for Halloween. I don't want to be boring Halloween cliche after all and go as a playboy bunny or anything (not that I know where I am going, but thats beside the point). And so, I've decided to draw inspiration from the most creative and trendy of them all- the fashion designers. After all, there is not reason not to be fashionable on Halloween! The first designer I thought of was naturally John Galliano who loves to dress up so much himself. And luckily for us, his FW07 collection was all about costumes (isn't it always?). Here are two I pulled out: the viking look and what I would like to call, dressing up like a rose look. The viking look here is all about the hair and the rose look is pretty much just one big layered dress- oh and the make-up. Don't forget the scary red make-up. For the most part, there are lots of room for you to also look pretty in. And remember to have fun with the color of your stockings! Halloween is THE time you are allowed to be mismatched! For something more feminine and sophisticated, draw from the Dior Haute Couture show, which to me looks Venetian inspired (first two anyway). Love the cute clowns outfit. And I LOVE the askewed masks. I am currently kicking myself for leaving my Venetian mask at home sitting on my Koala bear..... Oh and there is also this blue look, which for me is in between statue of liberty (the hat, one shoulder strap and pose) and a water nymph (blue flowy skirt). Next on my list for creative talents is Alexander MacQueen. From his FW07 collection, we have the supposedly witch look (left) though to me its more like a vampire look, and the Egyptian Cleopatra look (right). Hmm... I may consider the vampire look.... that would give me a good excuse for very fun make up :P Inspirations from the latest SS08 runway. We have MacQueen again with this bird look. If you must be an animal, at least do so fashionably right? And then there is Gorgio Armani. This is actually my favourite look so far. With those pants, its an almost gypsy/genie look. And probably this is the most economical and fashionable to achieve too! Anything gypsy pants you buy may be considered an investment for next season! Back onto the Haute Coutures, Jean Paul Gaultier has the royalty look. Now all you got to decide is whether to be an western royalty or sultan. A chance to buy something rich, gold and shiny. More from the FW07 runway, we have Balenciaga with the folk people look and Dior with the farming/peasant in expensive clothes look. Any attempt at folk can be considered an investment this season (nice scarf?). And as for the farming/peasant in expensive clothes look- its all in the hat. These two looks can really be considered just looking fashionable. And lastly, try the space age neon look. This is your chance to wear bright colors all over without people wondering what you are thinking!

Image Source: Style.com

Velvet Torch

All summer long, HG and I have been wondering- where does one go to buy nice cheap but chic dresses to go with all the dress trends that have been so popular recently. I mean, dresses aren't quite the cheapest thing on the menu.
So the other day when I was shopping at Nordstrom on my way to pick up a baby gift, I passed by the Juniors section and saw a number of cute dresses. Intrigued I took a closer look- and found some more really cute looking dresses at a REALLY cheap price ($50's)! Now I know the quality and cutting might not be the same, but since I have a slight frame anyway, I picked up a bunch and gave them a try- and was impressed to find that the fit was quite good- better than Forever 21! After much debating and taking photos of myself in the changing room (the lighting is so bad though), I finally settled on this silver shift dress. I thought it was simple and chic, perfect for dinner and a night out! I spent the longest time trying to decide between silver and gold too. I finally decided on silver because I thought it contrasted with my pale skin tone better and would match my grey boot, but now that I'm home I'm not too sure.....thoughts?
Anyway, that dress was by this brand called Velvet Torch. With a little googling, I found the rest of the collection on the Nordstrom website and thought- wow, not bad at all! These two are my favourite for fall. The black one with the bell sleeves is super cute. And the grey check one is prim and ladylike, with the neckline adding some fun to it.
Cute eyelet dresses. Though these were probably better for summer.
I love the simple cutting of the plain black dress (left). Its great for....all day. And the grey/black dress (right) is just the thing to wear going out during the day.
And then there are these adorable printed dresses.

Sigh, these are so cute! I can't wait to go back when it goes on sale and buy some more. Who knew shopping in the Juniors section could be so fruitful?

Image Source: Nordstrom

Tom Ford Sunglasses

I've never been much of a sunglasses girl. Don't get me wrong, I think they look very cool on celebs and most people around me. But personally, I just don't want to spend 300usd on an accessory that I'm going to use probably 5 times a year, (and then it'll probably go out of season.) Which is why I don't pay much attention to sunglasses in general. That is until I got bored shopping one day, I remembered that Ashley Olsen wore Tom Ford's Hawkings (iamge above,) and I tried a few pairs on. (No, I'm not trying them on only because I'm a fan of Ashley's. We have a similar face shape, which as you know, is key to whether glasses look good on one or not.)

I first tried on this pair. When it comes to sunglasses, I prefer metal frames because in my mind, metal frames seem more classic and less cheap-looking. This is one pair of sunglasses that looks trendy but basic enough that I could wear for the next few years. Unfortunately, it looked awful on me.

Then I tried on this extremely trendy-looking pair (called Whitney.) I LOVED it! It suited my roundish face and looked so cool. I liked them so much I tried them on at 3 different shops. But a pair of Tom Fords is about 1.5 times the price of a pair of Marc Jacobs, meaning that they're really expensive, even in this time when accessory prices are going up and up.


The saleslady told me that Tom Ford doesn't exactly have a FW07 collection of sunglasses, but the newer styles that the shops have at the moment are generally new colours of the SS07 styles. This is slightly comforting in that if you bought yours in the SS season, at least you'll know they're still 'in season' for the FW season. But for now, since it's almost winter, I should probably just wait for the SS08 collection. Plus, I'm really not ready to part with 300+usd for a pair of Tom Fords.

 

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