Opening Week

Unless you attend a school that enforces a uniform, most students are faced with the task of appearing presentable before their teachers and peers every day in a different set of clothes. I don't know about other people but usually what happens with me is that I make a cursory endeavor to be well-dressed the first few weeks and then the attention put into my clothes slowly declines over the months as the workload piles on, until I'm showing up to class in leggings and an over-sized men's button-down. So while I'm still up to making the effort, here's a week of outfits from September:

click to enlarge!

Monday - H&M dolman-sleeve slouchy cardigan, asymmetrical crepe chiffon tank (over Forever21 cami), Charlotte Russe trouser shorts, Lucky Brand Covela sandals.

Tuesday - Forever21 criss-cross back swiss dot dress, Zara skull print scarf, Wild Diva Timberly combat boots.

Wednesday - Forever21 draped cardigan, Silence + Noise scoop back tank top, Charlotte Russe trouser shorts, Kimchi Blue ribbon tie flats.

Thursday - Piko1988 faux fur drape jacket, Silence + Noise mesh cami, Black Milk Mechanical leggings, Aldo Flomace hi-top sneakers.

Friday - Forever21 boxy alpaca sweater, Line and Dot bird-print silk blouse, ASOS burgundy corduroy skinny jeans, Doctor Marten Victorian Flowers combat boots.


Nothing fancy, as always most of my wardrobe is composed largely of inexpensive pieces from common high-street shops as I lack both the restraint and the patience to entertain the idea of a "capsule" wardrobe composed of a few well-edited pieces. Thus the majority of what I buy tends to be from stores that cater to what is generally considered "fast fashion".

There's a certain stigma in shopping at such stores, namely the notion that clothes from these stores are trendy, shoddily made, and disposable. Often this is true, but it doesn't have to be if you choose and treat your clothes with care--several of the garments I use in these outfits are ones I've owned for years, and I enjoy wearing them and incorporating them into my daily outfits just as much as some of the more expensive things I own.

“Never use the word 'cheap'. Today everybody can look chic in inexpensive clothes (the rich buy them too). There is good clothing design on every level today. You can be the chicest thing in the world in a T-shirt and jeans — it’s up to you.” -Karl Lagerfed

Put Down the Tweezers.

So let's talk eyebrows. If the eyes are the window to the soul, then the eyebrows are probably the curtains framing the windows and making it look nicer. Oft-neglected, your brows actually hold a lot of power over the appearance of your face, and in my opinion is one of the most expressive features. Forget eyes, who--by themselves--can be ubiquitous, enigmatic, and inscrutable. If you're interested in a quick read on someone's mood, check out their brows.

I don't usually treat this blog to many pictures of my face, in part simply because my makeup routine is not that interesting, but also because I shouldn't like to come off as vain or anything (who am I kidding). But showing a cropped picture of my brows in this case wouldn't be particularly useful in gauging their overall presence on my face, so here you are:

Because of the subtleties of brow influence on your face, I have always been an avid groomer of them. Once upon a time I was a fan of the thin shaped arch, which has all the charm of a perfectly pruned garden hedge and is usually the standard pushed by many beauty mavens. You can still see a shadow of that brow here.

Gradually over the past year though I've grown to favor a heavier, more natural brow. Arches are classically beautiful on some, but they simply don't suit my features as well as a minimally shaped brow. As of now, just well-filled brows are a strong enough look alone that I don't feel the need to wear any other makeup (although in the above photo I still am!).

Courtesy of Benefit Cosmetic's book Raising Eyebrows

Being Asian, I've inherited fairly shallow eye sockets and a high-set inner corner of my brows--point A in this handy diagram. Furthermore, points B and C are almost level with point A, since my brows run nearly horizontally to my eyes with almost no natural arch to speak of.

Since forcing a high arch is both risky and high-maintenance, I've since chosen to simply work with I have...which isn't to say that Asians can't achieve arched brows--my favorite Chinese runway model Fei Fei Sun pulls them off stunningly, but I simply haven't got the natural arch she does, and am unable to achieve a high arch without drastically thinning my brows. So I've chosen, slightly painfully at first and then later joyfully, to put down the single-blade razor and Tweezermans, and go au naturel.

Since adopting my new (old?) brows, I've received a several kindly (and a few not-so-kind) suggestions that perhaps I should shape them into arches; had I ever heard of tweezers? Luckily I'm liking this new brow look a lot--perhaps austerity suits me? Or I just prefer a little more Audrey than Marilyn. I'm pretty okay with that.

School is in Session

Sorry for the long silence! For those of us still in school, classes start up again soon so I hope you've had a nicely relaxing summer vacation because it's back to the grindstone. As disappointing as it is that I can no longer spend the entire day playing video games if I want to, there is a certain excitement in picking out all new notebooks and erasers. Also, naturally there is the thrill of back-to-school clothes shopping. All I have to say is that my shoe collection has grown...but best of all, each pair actually came in my proper size, which is hard to find.

WILD DIVA TIMBERLY FLORAL LACE-UP COMBAT BOOTS | H&M VELVET SKULL HEADBAND 

FOREVER21 DOUBLE BOW HAIR CLIPS | NYX EXTRA CREAMY ROUND LIPSTICK IN BRUISED

 BP SIDNEY OXFORD | QUPID PUFFIN PLATFORM BOOTIES

001. I live in my 1460 Victorian Flower Dr. Martens, but these calf-high boots with ribbon laces are a dead ringer for Dr. Martens 1914 Triumphs with a brighter, cherry red color.

002. Hairbands are one of my favorite accessories due to my ineptitude in hair styling, and this oversized velvet bow reminds me of a macabre Minnie Mouse.

003. These pink crepe bows for when I'm feeling extra girly.

004. Although high-maintenance goes against my preferred makeup style, I love the look of a vampy lip.

005. I've admired these adorable leather oxfords from afar for a year now, and I finally managed to snag them during the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale for a sweet discount!

006. I rarely stray from flat sandals during the summer, but once it gets cooler these pretty pink boots will be getting far more attention.

 

Good luck in the new semester guys!

 

Delicate

I've been on the hunt for the perfect lavender for weeks, and it felt like I was never going to find it.

I wanted something pastel, but not chalky. Something that was clearly purple, but not too saturated. And it couldn't be too pink, or too blue, or too grey.

In the end, I found my perfect lavender...but not in a store. I found it in my existing stash!
Hoarder.jpg

This is another beautiful Forever21 Love&Beauty polish, named "Dusty Lavender". It is the daintiest pale lavender with a whisper of fine magenta shimmer that only comes out in the sun. Shown here I've layered 2 coats of Sally Hansen Glass Slipper, an ethereal clear flakie, over Dusty Lavender.

Dusty Lavender has a really awesome pigmented formula that's 3 thin coats to opacity. You'd probably be able to pull off 2 if you do thicker coats, even more impressive considering how it's such a pale pastel. Application is a breeze, and this polish unexpectedly dries with a matte finish which is very nice on its own, almost a suede or velvety feeling and less chalkboard-like.

Orange Creamsicle

A few weeks ago I came across the cutest dress, made of airy peach cotton speckled with white polka dots. Adorable, but I've already used up my dress budget for this season and this particular one is not exactly cheap. And so I resisted, and all this time that sunny, cheerful peach color lurked in the back of my mind.

Last Thursday I stopped by Sephora to peruse the 50% off display of Sephora by OPI and picked up a bottle of $OPI What's Your Sign, a creamy, shimmery peachy orange that reminded me exactly of that dress.

3 coats to opacity. It somehow manages to require that third coat even though it's fairly pigmented, but the formula is so nice it practically applies itself so it wasn't too bad.

Syrup & Succulents

Those of us entrenched in the nail world tend to know where we fall when it comes to nail art: Lovers, Haters, and Lack of Skill to Execute. I am decidedly in the last category; I love nail art, even the delightfully tacky over-the-top Japanese falsies encrusted with pearls and bows (although the functionality of said falsies means that I'll have to hold off until I can afford to hire a full-time maid).

I'm not much for attempting nail art myself, since any artistic talent I may have does not translate at all to nail polish. I bought a dotting tool set once upon a time and used it once. Luckily these "syrup nails" are easy to do, even for a nail art dummy like me.

 "Syrup nails" are basically a type of gradient manicure that uses a sheer jelly. In my humble opinion it works best with a polish that is very sheer--I feel it gives a smoother looking gradient this way. I did mine with ORLY Beverly Hills Plum, which is a beautiful translucent coral. This is 7 coats of Beverly Hills Plum at its darkest, plus 2 coats of Seche Vite and 1 coat of NYC Grand Central Station. One of my favorite things about wearing this manicure is that all the layers of lacquer gave them the super-glossy gel nails look, which I love. A commented that it looked like I had dipped my nails in blood, which the macabre in me also loved.

Unrelated to my nails, I bought four tiny little potted succulents, and I plan on doing the Blogger-y thing and re-pot them into tiny handmade pots. That's for next week :)

Strawberry Milk

So I rarely come across a color that I dislike, so when I do it comes as a surprise. The color in question is Essie Pop Art Pink, and what prompted me to buy it was Scrangie's swatch which made it look like milky pink perfection.

Where to begin...first of all this looked much cooler-toned than I anticipated, which I'm not fond of. Pop Art Pink is a light milky pink jelly. My skin is very warm and cool toned reds and pinks always seem to clash horribly. It's also a very "Barbie-ish" pink, which while pretty is just not my style. I lean more toward the blush and antique-pink hues.

The formula is very sheer and rather streaky. Shown here is 4 thin coats, because it was patchy and uneven at 3 despite my best application skills. I do love the milkiness and slight translucency of it, though. If I don't swap this away I'm considering tinkering with the color a bit to more suit my taste.

Funnily enough, since this bottle is the "retail" version sold at drugstores rather than the "salon" version, the sticker on top of the cap reads "Poppy Art Pink". I've noticed these changes between the retail and salon versions--i.e. "Lapiz of Luxury" rather than "Lapis of Luxury". Why the unnecessary name changes, Essie? Is it supposed to make the names more personable to the barbaric masses who don't know what Pop Art is and sub Z's for their S's? Hahaha.

Bambi

So despite all my moaning about the heat, it's actually cooled off a bit in the past few days, due in no small part to the endless rain we've been getting. I'm dreading it getting warmer again, because as the temperature climbs my productivity level inevitably drops...the past month all I've wanted to do is laze around and catch up on Season 3 of My Little Pony (yup, I am....a Brony *screams internally* O u O ).

Anyway, enough banter. A couple weeks ago I posted this deer-print dress. I adored the look of it, and could only hope that the actuality was just as cute. Items from Chinese Ebay sellers are very hit-or-miss--sometimes they look nothing like their photo.

Pardon the mess, I've just moved to a new apartment!

Rest of the review after the jump!

Centaurea cyanus

Hello hello! It's been so hot recently that even the thought of wearing warm hues like red and yellow have been unbearable. Give me something cool and icy, even if it's just a color!

It's not much-raved about, but I'm actually a pretty big fan of Forever21's Love&Beauty polish line. They have a lot of unique shades and a big range of (metallic) glitters in practically every color you could want, at $2.80 a pop. The only thing that is a bit disappointing is how uncreative and repetitive they are with their naming--I have 2 different L&B polishes both named "Lavender" and another two both named "Turquoise"--but it's a small qualm.

This is Love&Beauty Light Blue, which is a woefully inadequate name for this dainty cornflower blue packed with silver sparkles. It has the kind of unique shimmer that isn't all uniform, which makes it all the prettier. Shown here is 4 coats; it's not the most pigmented of polishes, plus I've noticed that the L&B polishes have a slightly slower drying time than most of the lacquer I buy, but for $2.80 you really can't complain too much. Plus I suspect that a more heavily pigmented base wouldn't have allowed the shimmer to shine so nicely.

Mintcicle

I have a *lot* of polishes (three guesses how many), and inevitably some of them have never been worn. That number is dwindling since I do my nails 2-3 times a week, and often layer two or more polishes at a time. Essie Mint Candy Apple was one of these. What's a little disheartening is I remember how much I LOVED the color of this polish at the time when I bought it, when it first came out in Winter 2009, but it went untried until now.

This is 2 coats of Mint Candy Apple, which applies fairly easily for a pastel. I was actually expecting it to be too thick just by the look of it, but it has a nice consistency and very good opacity for such a light color. Mint Candy Apple, while certainly minty, actually has a slight turquoise tint to it, more like Wintergreen Tic Tacs than actual straight-up mint green. It dries slightly darker than the color in the bottle.

As a topper, I applied 2 coats of OPI Pirouette My Whistle, which is one of my favorite topping glitters, filled with silver microglitter and pearly white hex glitter.