That Piece of Metal

Up to now, my favourite and most trust-worthy going-out handbag is a small Vuitton Vernis pouch. While I'm not big on monograms, I do think that the monogram on Vernis isn't as obvious or popular as the typical tan-coloured monograms. But what I really like about the Vernis bag is that it's made of patent leather, meaning that it's not 'the end of the bag' if someone spilt a drink on it. Plus the shininess of patent leather just somehow seems to suit going-out at night. But after using it for a few years, it's beginning to turn yellow and just recently at the back of Teen Vogue, the Vuitton ad was advertising this new Vernis bag:

On first glance, I thought it looked like a pretty and practical going-out bag that could last at least four seasons. But right in the centre of the bag, there's gold piece of metal that says 'Louis Vuitton'. In my mind, that's a con.

Unfortunately, having this big piece of metal on bags seems like a thing Marc Jacobs has been favouring in the recent seasons, whether it's at Vuitton...

or Marc Jacobs. Honestly, when I first saw those Marc Jacobs bags in real life, I remember thinking, 'That's ugly. Why would MJ add that brand-named-metal on such nice, contemporary bags?' And is it really necessary? It's usually pretty obvious when a bag is by Marc Jacobs (to me anyways.)

MJ seemed to have started these metal tags a few seasons back with Vuitton's canvas bags. I remember really not liking the tags back then. The thing is, it's understandably harder now for designers to differentiate their bags in the market from high street ones, especially when high street stores manage to produce the bags so quickly and some stores (eg. Zara) actually manage to make the bags to not look cheap. But is this really what designers are offering us now?

This season, Marc by Marc Jacobs has shrunk their metal tag smaller into this 'standard supply' tag, which is kind of an improvement from last season's metal plates (literally). (If you've visited a Marc boutique last season, you would have probably noticed some of the bags had HUGE Marc metal plates on them.)

Gucci has stitched on italic 'Gucci' on some of its bags in recent seasons too. But for some odd reason, it seemed more artistic and prettier than the Louis Vuitton metal tags -and I'm not even a fan of Gucci bags. (The picture here has a huge 'Gucci' name on it. The Gucci bags I'm referring to have smaller ones stitched on.)

Anyways, back to the first Vuitton bag on the top of this post, what does everyone think about it? I can't decide whether the gold metal tag is horrible enough to make me stop considering it!

Image credits: www.louisvuitton.com, www.guicci.com, www.shopbop.com, www.marcjacobs.com, www.saksfifthavenue.com

Lancome: L.U.C.I

The other day I walked passed the Lancome counter and caught a glimpse of their new SS08 collection. Intrigued by the pretty shell packaging and vibrant colors, I booked an appointment to try out the new collection the very next day!
The theme of this SS08 collection by Gucci Westman is L.U.C.I, Luminescent Colorless Color Intelligence (And yes, I am aware that Colorless starts with a C and not a U. *shrugs* Maybe its a french thing?). The idea is to have a collection of colorless shimmery make-up that changes color all the time adjusting to different skin tones and the reflections of light. Doesn't that concept sound so awesome???
To begin with, the make-up artist did the whole usual cleaning, moisturizer, toner, pore minimizer (it is such a Lancome thing!) routine with me. Then she introduced me to their new make-up primer, La Base, which she applied to my face/nose (to fill in the pores) and under my EYES! Apparently, this is a special oil free formula that is even suitable as a eye primer! I'm not sure I follow the logic of oil free --> suitable for eye thing, but I LOVE the idea of undereye primer. It is SO annoying when the skin there is dry/flaky (even my eye cream has been applied!) and thus looks AWFUL when you apply concealer there. This product is genius. And it might be my imagination or the foundation, but I felt that my pores did look smaller. After all that base, foundation and concealer, she finished off the face with the Photonic Illuminating Powder, which is just loose powder with the sparkly light reflection stuff that is suppose to help highlight and sculpt your features. I really didn't feel the difference.
Moving on we had the eye make-up, where I daresay is where the whole luminescent thing should be at it's best. One of my favourite products out of the whole collection is the Illuminator, which is basically cream eye shadows. that goes on clear but reflects color when light hits it. How totally awesome is that??? I LOVE it. I got the "ray of pink light" shade. You can also use it as a base before you apply powder, but personally I think the powder would just mask the effect. If you get the more neutral apricot shade, you can also use it to highlight your features. After all, it DOES say it is an illuminator for the eyes and face.

The other eye make-up product is the eye shadow palette in the pretty white shell shaped box, the L.U.C.I EYES light color in motion duo eye shadows. I was really excited about it. I love eye shadow palettes and the colors looked so vibrant! The white shade that comes with the color is not simply a typical highlighting color, but it is a photonic eye shadow that changes color when light hits it. You can use it for highlighting or blend it with the color to create a third shade! The lady did a combination of ray of green and ray of purple (which is really quite blue) for me and let me say, the colors go on VERY sharply. Unfortunately for me what looked soo pretty in the palette did not go so well with me.... it was so overdramatic that it bordered on tacky on me. Maybe I am just unused to it? I mean, vibrant colors looked SO well on the models! Or could it be that Asian complexion doesn't go well with greens/blues? Well, in the end, as much as I LOVE eye shadow palettes, I had to pass on these ones. And a good thing too. I met up with 3 of my friends after and they were all totally horrified to see me as such!
To complete my eyes, she applied the Courbe Virtuose mascara on me (after the mascara booster of course). This one is suppose to make the lash curve and give divine length, but to me it just felt like any old Lancome mascara for me.... like Hypnose. Another thing I LOVE about this collection is the lip stuff. Even though the packaging is a bit bulky, I really like the Color Fever Shine (left). Especially since they came out with THE perfect ice pale pink color (Pink Flora) that I've been dreaming about. I love it. It applies quite smoothly too. They also have a collection of photonic Color Fever Gloss (right). They have this nice sheer shade that gives the perfect shine by itself and over lipstick. But one must be careful with these lip colors though. They have these two shades that are completely white that are loaded with photonic stuff that when you put it on your lips, it becomes a scary glowing alien color- not good.

Over all, I like the concept of the luminescent thing and subtly it works. But I reserve judgment on the super vibrant colors and the photonic overloaded lip stuff- thats just a little too much for me!

Phew~ well that was a lengthy review of a make-up collection. Kudos for finish reading it!

Image Source: Lancome

Stylish Puffers

Lets face it. As warm as layering and cashmere coats are, the comfy cushiony warmth a puffer provides is hard to beat. Lucky for us, this season designers finally came out with stylish looking puffers! I just LOVE the new designs for the collar. They are so refreshing (if not very practical. I can just HEAR my mom telling me how my neck is exposed to the cold and I will catch a cold....). I especially LOVE this one from Add Down (left), with the wide neck and the belt that gives it shape, it was the puffer that inspired this post! To "protect" the neck, there is also this one from Marc by Marc Jacobs (right), where you can adjust the neckline as needed. I LOVE this puffer as well. Also from Add Down, you can convert the wide collar into a hoodie!!! How CUTE! I also love the neat simple cutting that gives a more flattering body shape. Some other cute designs, there is this high necked puffer from Vince (left). Judging from the puff, it may also be warmer. And for a more biker-ish look, there is this one from Theory (right). For something more classic, we have these ones from Burberry. I've tried on the beige one on the left, and the cutting is actually not that bad and quite flattering! And I think the black one over here is perfect if you want something simple but still with a little bit of a twist (double breasted and high neckline)- your neck will definitely be warm!

Stay stylishly warm everyone!

Image Source: Burberry and Shopbop

SAG 2008 Fashion

Fashion at the SAG Awards this year was a bit of a yawn. There were very few (or argueably no) super impressive dresses. With the fewer number of award red carpets this year, one would imagine the actresses would put more effort into this ceremony, or that more actresses would have turned up. Nevertheless, here are some that I liked:

My favourite was surprisingly Kate Hudson's dress. OK, so her hair is admittedly a bit werid (-it's so shiny and sleek but it looks like something's off about it,) but I love her dress! It's so pretty and flowy-looking. Plus it's got that graceful, bohemian feel to it.

Marcia Cross was gorgeous as usual. Her hair is so perfectly curled. And even though she's wearing green again, that dress has got such gorgeous draping.

Not sure about that hairstyle on Eva Longoria, but this white, backless dress fits her amazingly, as usual. Not a particularly interesting dress though.

Normally I'm not a fan of Debra Messing's red carpet outfits, but I thought she carried off this Oscar de la Renta dress well. I think it's because the gold colour and those embellishment compliment her skin and hair colours well. But the point is, she's looking great and sparkly!

Both Kate Beckingsale and Vanessa Williams wore yellow, but the effect turned out to be very different. Kate looked really elegant and lady-like; kind of Valentino-esque. Vanessa looked feirce -the power of Versace!

I'm not sure how to feel about Amanda Bynes' outfit here. The dress is pretty and fits her well. And her hairstyle is very fun and elegant. But for some odd reasons, the dress kind of reminds me of American prom dresses, (a riduclously well-made prom dress of course.)

Michelle Pfeiffer's outfit looks plain, but everything fits so well and match perfectly. Maybe it's not the most interesting outfit around, but she looks fantastic. I can't get over how she's almost 50 years old!

Becki Newton's white dress is my other favourite dress. I love how it's got such a classy silhouette, but the tiered skirt bit gives it a much more youthful and stylish touch. Loves it!! Plus, I love her perfectly curled and styled hair! (And her Amanda smirk!) As for America Ferrera, I really think she could have done better. Grey and lacy dresses like that should be left for the more mature ladies.

To end this post, I chose this fun photo of Olivia Wilde. I actually really like that dress, and the cool tone matches her cool brunette hair so perfectly!

That's all for now. Hopefully Oscars will still happen and there will be more gorgeous dresses! Whose dress was your favourite?

Image credits: http://justjared.buzznet.com, http://fadedyouthblog.com

27 Dresses

Ever since I heard about this movie a few months ago, I've been waiting in great anticipation to see it. After all, this is probably one of the few chick flicks coming out... since Knocked Up!
Just the name 27 Dresses is a selling point for me. And this cute poster with mention of "Devil Wears Prada" helps too! The actual plot is about how Jane (Katherine Heigl) is a professional bridesmaid, who has willingly donned on some pretty horrible dresses in order to "be there" for her friends on their special day.
In fact, she has 27 of them. Usually I'm quite envious of people's overflowing wardrobes in movies (think Clueless), but I think I'll make an exception in this case.... The story revolves around how Jane's sister, Tess (Malin Akerman) comes into town and falls in love with Jane's boss George- who Jane happens to be in love with for a loooong time! I thought it was quite amazing how they managed to make Katherine Heigl (whom I always thought looked quite pretty in Grey's Anatomy) look like the "plain Jane" in this movie compared to Tess.
During that time, Jane also meets Kevin (James Marsden!) the wedding journalist for the New York Journal- and the chick flick romance begins.
I've loved James Marsden since his appearance in Ally McBeal many years ago (where he sang Frank Sinatra...sigh!) and his recent Prince charming role in Enchanted was not bad either (if a bit dumbed down). But I LOVE LOVE LOVE his look here. While in his other roles, he'd always had that clean, preppy pretty boy look, his role in this movie as a journalist is ruggedly handsome and charming...sigh............ :)

Over all I liked the movie. I love weddings. I love chick flick happy endings. And I LOVE LOVE LOVE James Marsden. It was just the light hearted fun movie I was looking for. I know that many reviews have found this movie to be sexist because it portrays getting married as the life goal of women, but personally I think that is just the opinion of the female lead here and everyone is entitled to their own opinions and so its not reflective of a whole gender. What did everyone else think?

Image Source: Yahoo Movies

Haute Couture S/S08 I

'Tis the week for mega-gorgeous, artistic and unwearable couture!

Christian Dior
Haute Couture S/S08 started off with a bang with the ever-dramatic collection from Christian Dior by John Galliano. As per the collections from the last few haute couture seasons, this collection was composed of strong, bright, vivid colours. The theme of this collection was Madame X, which I know nothing about and am not bothered to Wiki it, but do do so if you're interested. To be honest, while these couture pieces are all truly amazing, I'm not completely awed after Dior's Japanese collection in HC S/S07, my favourite yet. Perhaps it looks more stunning in real life.
The jewel colours are SO gorgeous. Gosh, imagine all the work put into constructing the dress and all those little details!
These are great to look at (in an artistic way) and very unwearable.
Don't the models look like they're wearing super-volumous dresses with capes on? And please don't tell me that the grey dress (left) is made of animal skin because that's just scary. (Hmm, maybe I should look up a closer-up photo.)
Aww, these are so cute and girly! (-in an expensive and unrealistic way of course.)

Anne Valerie Hash
I like how this collection feels very delicate, yet still edgy in some ways, (maybe it's the neatral colours or the menswear characteristics.) A very soft and feminine collection, with some current trends incorporated in:
Huge shoulders.
Soft and see-through.
Pencil-dress and menswear.

Giorgio Armani Prive
I think this is the first Armani Prive collection that I have truly liked, (or maybe it's just that I've already forgotten the older collections.) I've always thought Amrani collections as sleek, sophisticated in a slightly outdated fashion. Yet this collection feels more modern and softer.
The suits look somewhat impractical. Good thing people don't actually wear these, but if only we could wear cute, bubbly suitskirts to work!
I especially love the cocktail dresses -so divine! Sigh.
Cocktail dresses as art pieces.
As for the long gowns, they're feminie and glamorous as always.

Image Credit: http://www.style.com/

Kirsten Dunst For Miu Miu SS08 Ads

For people who love to shop, January is a bit of a dry month. But for fashion-lovers, January is pretty exciting as it is when a lot of the SS campaigns are released. One of the campaigns I've been most anticipating is the Miu Miu campagin because a) Kirsten Dunst is Miu Miu's model of the season, and b) I usually love Miu Miu's campaign images. I have to admit I didn't really like Lindsay Lohan's FW07 campaign. Maybe I just didn't think Lindsay suited Miu Miu, or maybe the images just seemed too grown-up for Miu Miu.

The colour scheme of the SS08 campaign seems pretty similar to the FW07 one. But what I like about this campaign is that it really conveys the feeling of the clothing collection - the clothes and bags are very obviously featured, but it still manages to be artistic and dramatic. Also, I think Kirsten did really well. She manages to look coy, theatrical and ladylike while still looking playful. (You have to stare at it for awhile before really feeling the images. Go to the Miu Miu website for larger pictures.)

Now I don't actually love all the images, but I like the campaign as a whole. Plus I may be biased as Kirsten is my favourite actress. And while it would be nice to see Miu Miu use a model to model the campaign, it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon.

I want to say this looks like a good 'look' for work (minus the red bow on the head,) but the skirt is way too short. If only I could go to work looking this chic though! Even the bag looks big and practical for work!

Hmm, I couldn't decide whether I like this image (top)...

or this image (top) more. But these two are definitely my favourite out of the lot. The clothes are SO cute, girly and quirky. I just don't know where one would wear them. Oh well, it's not like I could afford these clothes.

Do you like Kirsten's Miu Miu ads?

Image credit: http://www.miumiu.com/

Sleeping Before 1a.m.

At the beginning of January, BG and I evaluated our New Years Eve celebration on the phone. (We like to evaluate all our activities in great detail. Sometimes our talks are even longer than the actual events!) Then we decided to set out our new year's resolution. Reading back on my 2007 resolutions, I cannot imagine what I was thinking back then so this year, I wanted the resolutions to be beneficial and somewhat achieveable. I think I should admit here that I write new year's resolutions mostly for the fun of it and not 100% because I spend my whole year slaving over them.

So anyways, I suggested one of my last year's resolution for both BG and me, but we modified it: "Aim to sleep before 1a.m. -For the nights I'm not out." I added the last remark to make it realistically achieveable. And it's not like I'm out much anyways, so it's ok.

Usually I'm not one to broadcast my resolutions, but since I think some of you out there might benefit from it, I thought I would share it and maybe you would consider it too. I take skincare pretty seriously. After washing my face at night, I always put on eye moisturiser, (I'm currently using the two in the picture above.) And while this may seem like the norm to many of you, I know people who actually don't use eye moisturiser. Anyways, so in the past few years, I usually go to bed from 2am-6am -not exactly healthy. There are always emails to check, youtube to watch, Facebook to stalk (uh hum, BG,) random sites to surf, books to read...... You get my point.

And while it was totally fine and not os obvious when I was younger, I've noticed that when I sleep very late now, the skin around my eyes have starting to age. Think dark circles, puffy eyebags and most scarily, fine lines. So in an attempt to stop all these from happening so soon (-I'm not that old!), I have decided to really try sleeping before 1, or erm, maybe at 2.

What are your beauty-related New Year resolutions?

Image credit: http://www.sephora.com/

How do you imagine yourself ten years from now?

Funny comment from a reader:

This is SO interesting. I'm an "old lady" by anyone's standards posting on this site. I was curious about this whole "emo" and "scene" thing as my niece has recently changed her look and style pretty drastically.

In some ways, in reading all these posts, I can only laugh... But the majority, I can totally relate to, appreciate, (and sigh!... remember) what it was like growing up, ESPECIALLY "coming of age" through the **`70's!** and partying even harder through the `80's (guess that tells you how really ancient I am..LOL)

...Anyway, we had the same diverse groups and identities, just with different names or interests than you do today. I'm sure it was all a little more "regionally" based back in my day too. We didn't have, or couldn't even fathom the the incredible technology available that you all have at your fingertips today. ("gasp"...Imagine to your horror, no cell phones, im, texting, ipods, video games, computers, internet etc..hell, even microwaves weren't really even around when i was in middle and high school)

...OK, all this "banter' is to prove my point. Styles, tastes, and interests change multiple,multiple, multiple times during your life. Enjoy it all while you're young, and hopefully have the sense to maintain your individuality and "morality", through out it all. Stay safe, show tolerance, and don't judge one another too harshly. Years from now when you're a wise, (but still cool!) aunt/parent etc. like me, you can look back at all the "stages" and decades of your life, and die of embarrassment, and laugh at yourself, on some of what you once thought was so cutting edge or cool!

Light-Coloured Blazer With Black Satin Lapels

Hey, so you may have noticed that the blog has been on a short standstill. BG is currently enjoying a chilled, though rainy holiday in Sydney. As for me, I've been MIA for a week because the thingy that gives off the wireless broadband signal broke down at home! (I feel the need to explain because my friend, J was nice enough to make sure I was alive on Facebook, and to apologise for sending out panicked texts and emails from the library to some friends.) So basically, I've been living in an Internet-less environment for 5.5 LONG days. Very long days. I don't know about you, but I'm extemely Broadband-dependent. After digging out all the wires at home and attempting all possible ways to access the Internet and failing, all I thought was, OMG how am I going to survive? Omg, save me. The situation was somewhat like the situation descibed in this NYT article.

So obviously, I finally have broadband wireless at home, (thank goodness!) and can blog again. Today's post is about one of my favourite item of clothing, the blazer. Specifically, light-coloured blazers with black satin lapels. I'm not 100% sure that the black bits are called lapel but I basically mean the collar and the flap of fabric along the V-neck. (Yes, I know I lack fashion knowledge.)

Even though I only own one black blazer, I realised that black blazers sometimes look too boring or formal for casualwear. So when I saw this Marc by Marc Jacobs blazer I really wanted it. It's so sleek, well-cut and cool. And since it's cropped, the length looks really flattering and perfect. Unfortunately it costs 398USD -well above my budget for a not-too-practical blazer. If you think about it, white jackets get dirty really easily, and this blazer is definitely not one for the worn-out look.

After searching awhile, I found another one. This one is by Lux at Urban Outfitters. OK, so it's not white and doesn't look as sleek as the Marc one. Just in case the picture isn't clear, it's light grey and has grey stripes on it. But at 55 pounds, it's way more affordable and worth it for casual-going-out wear.

What does everyone think of these blazers?

Image credit: http://www.shopbop.com/, http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk/

Get a celebrity updo in minutes--by yourself

Are you amazed by all the celebrity updo hair styles you see at all the awards ceremonies? Love the look, but don't have a $300/hour hair stylist that can create the same updo for you?

Then, you will want to check out this cool new hair tool called the Twistii. It is a very simple tool that you can use to create a celebrity style on your very own. (This tool will work for even the most challenged person when it comes to creating updos)

All you do is put your hair between the rubber band and plastic bending part and roll your hair up, pinning in place with a long stick.

Check it out here: Twistii - The Up Do Hair Styling Tool