ho-ho-holiday~

Although I haven't posted anything about my last big holiday trip (which was back in 2012!) I'll be going on another big-ish trip soon. I will be going to the land of IKEA... Sweden! Or more specifically, Stockholm.  I have always wanted to visit Scandinavia and when I saw an extremely cheap air fare (~$600 round trip), I just couldn't pass it up!  I also haven't taken a real break from work in about two years (the odd day off here and there doesn't really count in my opinion), so I am really excited!  I have also decided to do a side trip to Copenhagen and I am sure that I will enjoy the design museum and going into various shops.

Although I have been to Europe, this time it has been a bit different in terms of planning.. I will share some travel tips in the next few posts. :)

UK High Street Online Shopping

UK high street clothing companies do make clothes that are more "out there" than their American counterparts.  Perhaps part of the reason is that there are many types of style tribes in London (and maybe the UK in general? I can't say as I have only been to London...)

So how does one get the "London Look"?  Part of the London Look is being individual, but access to their high street brands is available through the magic of the internet!

asos:
free shipping/returns to USA

Dorothy Perkins: A little less trendy than Top Shop, but the clothing is still cute.  DP targets a wider age range and there is something suitable for everyone.  The prices are lower than Top Shop, especially on sale. The prices are listed in US Dollars on the USA website.  The retail prices of items are a bit higher than the GBP price (after conversion).

flat rate shipping to USA @ 75USD

New Look:
flat rate shipping to USA @ 7.50GBP

next:
free shipping for orders $40+, otherwise $5 fee applies.
next pays the duties on all goods.

River Island:
flat rate shipping to USA @ 10GBP

Top Shop: Highly trendy clothes with questionable quality. Most items are Forever 21 quality with Banana Republic prices. Overall shoes and coats are of acceptable quality. Items on the USA site are priced in dollars, so there will not be foreign transaction fees. However the prices are the elevated USA prices despite the fact that the goods are shipped out of the UK. :(

flat rate shipping to USA @ 10USD

There's a few other stores... but these should have the 'big names' covered, no?

Addiction by Ayako

I have a thing for acquiring cosmetics, especially hard to find cosmetics. Discontinued? Not sold in America? SIGN ME UP!

Recently a friend went to Tokyo and although I am really not supposed to acquire more, I had her purchase a few things for me to try out.

After I test them out, I'll do some reviews... but for now, here's a group photo:

Wallpaper Chic :p

A basic pencil skirt pattern that I drafted from scratch. I used a size 4 mannequin, but made it to fit me. To save on fabric I made it extremely short since it was just a basic silhouette. Things like hem length are really easy to alter. Since I had made the mockup in a semi-wearable fabric... I decided to add a panel to make it wearable for myself in real life.

The result is this wannabe Jonathan Adler wallpaper colorblock skirt. Well, it's on trend at least. Heh.

Bumble and Bumble Damage Therapy Masque

This product has been discontinued, so you may find it at outlets or discount places such as TJ Maxx. In fact I bought the 5oz tube on beautyticket.com for $13. I thought this was a reasonable price at the time. The discontinuation of the Damage Therapy Masque is not surprising to me for one reason: it doesn't work.

Perhaps it works if your hair is not as damaged as mine. But my hair has been bleached twice with multiple dye treatments on top... and as a result it is quite dry. While my hair has not melted nor broken to pieces, it is slightly elastic when wet. I apply this mask after shampooing my hair in lieu of hair conditioner and I use it 1-2x per week. This mask does not add much moisture, shine, nor manageability to my hair. Following rinse, my hair is just as tangled and twisted as before... with that slippery feeling of conditioned hair. After blow drying my hair, my hair does not look any better when using this product.

Overall, a product that simply does not work nor deliver.

Pros: Smells good. Easy to dispense with the tube.

Cons: Expensive at full price (~$30), discontinued (perhaps trying the "Mending Masque")

American Apparel Sample Sale

Haha. The review of this sample sale is really late, the sale took place on 05Nov2011 at Herbst Pavillion. It was the first ever AA sample sale in SF and it advertised prices "up to 90% off retail."

Let me tell you, I really hate shit like that. "Up to 90% off" means only a couple items are truly marked down to sample sale prices. Despite that, I went to check it out based on the review on Refinery 29.

So how was it?

Beyond lame. Seriously, things were not even cheap. A regular plain hoodie was around $40. The hosiery was even more expensive than the prices I paid at the outlet (granted, there was a special 80% off promotion going on at the time). Oh and they didn't even stock the winter leggings which I was interested in buying. They had all kinds of basics and tacky leggings... and an ugly vintage clothing section.

Since parking in Marina is a f'ing nightmare, I felt that I needed to buy something to justify the trip there. I ended up buying one item: a thin sheer navy cotton lawn shirt. I think this shirt has potential to be cute layered in the spring. I was interested in the houndstooth or striped jacket... but it was more than what I wanted to pay (~$50 maybe).

I believe I went on the last day (or second to last day), and I was surprised the prices were essentially the same as what was reported by R29. There was however an additional 10% off for some reason... which was not advertised anywhere. Strange.

Basically... American Apparel is one sample sale you may skip out on. The prices are not cheaper than the outlet, so why bother? I can't believe there was a riot in London over this type of sale. Lame lame lame.

A Forgotten Hair Product

I used Redken's Crema Care in combination with Redken's Fresh Curls Curl Boost spray gel when I had a digital perm 3 years ago. That was a winning combination for my hair at the time. It moisturized the permed hair and held the curl after heat styling. These two products helped me maintain my permed style for one year.

A coworker liked my hair so much she got a digital perm as well. Unfortunately, she thought a digital perm was some sort of magic bullet for looking like a JJ model. HAH. It's not, that's a myth! Digitally permed hair still has to be styled to get the magazine-like results. Without proper styling, hair can look messy... or even worse... like it wasn't even permed! My coworker asked me what I used ... but I didn't tell her... I duno... I felt like a copy cat like her should at least try various products and figure it out herself. That's what I did~ ;)

Anyway... I think I have successfully gone to ash blonde hair myself. Yes, I did it myself (with the assistance of my boyfriend). Since bleach and multiple dyes were involved, my hair suffered quite a bit of damage. I don't have elastic hair nor excessive breakage... which is a testament to how much abuse my hair can actually take (it was already damaged from previous dye jobs ^^;;).

I have had to make a few changes to my hair routine to preserve the health of my hair (and the dye job as well). The changes I made were:

1. Switched to sulfate free shampoo
2. Blow dry on low heat setting or cool.
3. Resume hair treatments once a week.
4. Try to wash hair 2-3x per week only.
5. Shampoo once in awhile with purple toning shampoo.
6. Spray hair with Aveda brilliant protecting spray prior to blow drying

Despite all these things, my hair still had a dry texture due to the porosity. I was using rich conditioning treatments (Bumble and Bumble damage therapy), but they seemed to be ineffective. My hair would always feel dry, although it was partially from my styling products (ie volumizing sprays).

The other day I decided to dig out my Redken Crema Care... and I'm so glad I did! This leave in product makes my hair so easy to manage! The problem with dry hair is that it tangles terribly... even my conditioners couldn't really take care of the tangles. But working Crema Care in damp hair after a wash was like magic! I could separate the tangled sections much easier. After blow drying, my hair was voluminous... yet smooth (no frizz!)... and soft! WOW!!! Why didn't I use this earlier? I guess I forgot about it.

I'll continue styling with this product... I'm so glad I took it out of the graveyard of haircare products ~_~;;;

Rachel Zoe

Sometimes I feel like Rachel Zoe with this blonde hair color. Heh.

yesterday's hair

Milk Maid x Princess Leia.

;)

JJ September 2011 Issue

I thought I'd share the images I liked best from JJ's September 2011 issue.

I like blazers:



This sweater is really nice, but super $$$:


I don't really care for the clothes, but the boots and background geometrics are nice:


This hair style is super cute! It reminds me of McQueen's Spring 2010, but tamed down:


The illustrations are just sooo cute. Are you getting a cavity yet?

Loving this image

Photoshoot results

x

Post Vacation Thoughts

Well, people may or may not know I went on vacation two weeks ago to New York. It wasn't my first time there... the first time I went there was long long ago and it was part of an "east coast" tour. But that's really different from exploring the city on your own and doing what you want to do! The main goal of this trip was to have fun, go to museums, shop, and eat.

Even though I spent a week there, I couldn't possibly shop at all the stores I wanted to shop at nor go to all of the foodie places (haha)! I plan on writing a post about the food I ate and another post about the shopping I did. This post is for overall impressions about NY.

City of Trash?

My brother lived in NY over the summer and he called NY the "city of trash." I laughed at the time, because it was funny. However... it is also true. There is trash piled on the sidewalks and I saw the piles grow in size slowly day by day. At one point, they were as high as the parked cars! GROSS! No wonder they have rats and roaches there! I can't even imagine the stench of garbage in the humid summer heat.

How do I throw away my trash?

I'm not joking here. Here in California we are hippie-tree-hugging-sunscreen-wearing-mother-earth-worshippers. Uh, kind of. What we do have is: sorted trash bins (paper, trash, compost, recyclable cans/bottles) at home, public transit areas, and schools.


In NY, people just seem to throw everything in the trash (even cans/bottles). Maybe it gets sorted at the plant? I don't know. But I only saw one business that separated their trash. For those who are curious, it was a bagel shop owned by Thai people.

Anyway, imagine the poor California girl who was confused about trash disposal. "Where should I put this bottle?" No choice but the trash... :*(

No ecotainers? :(

I first saw ecotainers (ecological containers) and biodegradable disposable utensils made of soy, corn, potato, etc. at my workplace. I thought it was a funny idea... but the reality is plastic can only be recycled once. That is why plastic containers are not made up of 100% recycled material. Lately, I have noticed more and more local businesses using these ecological products... from fancy organic ice cream shops to cheap Chinese restaurants that sell plates for $5. Perhaps they are getting a subsidy from the state of California? I wouldn't be surprised.

But anyway, back to NY. I saw so much styrofoam and plastic there that I missed those damn ecotainers in California!!! LOL... there must be something wrong with me I sound like this tree loving country bumpkin. Maybe I am one... ;)

The streets are chaos!

What's the point of having traffic signals and laws... if NO ONE abides by them? Pedestrians jay walk like mad. I saw a rich lady in a mink coat just step out in the middle of the road. Her chauffeur held her shopping bags and held up his hand to stop traffic. Um really? Unbelievable. Not just that... but pedestrians start crossing the street before the signal light changes to give them the right of way. And they step out onto the intersection to "wait" for the signal. Errr... Anyway, I have come to the conclusion that NYers jaywalk because their traffic lights are inefficient. There is a slight lag between light changes... and they simply can't abide waiting that extra 10-20 seconds...

Cars run red lights all the time. Also, when they are turning and a pedestrian is crossing the road... they don't actually stop! They just slow down a touch and assume you'll keep walking. It is really disconcerting!

Cyclists also do not follow the road rules/laws. I saw a cyclist hit a woman and that cyclist almost did a "hit and run." He only stuck around because other people saw what happened and told him to "At least see if she was okay." :X

I don't really see how there aren't accidents everyday. Every city has a "flow," I guess NY's is just more chaotic? -_- I suppose I might sound like a country bumpkin again... but the reason why we can't do these things in California is because of TRAFFIC TICKETS.

You can get a ticket for jay walking... not yielding to pedestrians... blocking the cross walk... not wearing your seat belt... talking on the cell phone whilst driving... etc! Perhaps NY should start doing the same? It would make things a little more orderly and generate some revenue? I can't believe I just wrote that. :X

Night schedules for subway?

Well NYC is the city that never sleeps .. and it has 24 hour subways. Wow. nekoball and I were worried about the lines changing for the "night schedule." But as we found out "night schedule" means 1AM-5AM. COOOL!

A First Look at All Saints San Francisco

I have been looking forward to the opening of AllSaints for a few reasons:
1. we didn't have one in SF
2. I love asymmetrical clothes, which they have plenty of
3. I wanted to try these items on, not just blindly order the smallest one online and hope it would fit my flat chested self (yeah... I know that's sad)
4. They clearly rip off a lot of avant garde $$$ designers (Rick Owens, Vivienne Westwood, Ann Demeulemeester, etc.). Not everyone can afford to buy those pieces!

I had not realized the shop opened around Halloween so imagine my surprise as I walked down Geary and spotted a store window chock full of vintage sewing machines and then seeing it was actually AllSaints! (I LOVE vintage machines btw). The store was closed at the time, so I vowed to return.

I returned... and I was overwhelmed to say the least. This store ranks up there with Forever 21 in terms of horrible store layout and overly cluttered merchandising. There's just so much stuff everywhere in a tight space that I didn't even want to browse that much! It was really a shame because I had been looking forward to it too! I was out of there in about 5 minutes. I will give it another try when I am well rested.

I was greeted by a couple employees, so service seems ok.

As far as the clothing goes, everything is in UK sizes (as expected) and everything was neatly folded and on the appropriate racks. I tried on an asymmetric leather jacket (maybe it was called the Lana?). The leather was soft, but somehow the cutting/sewing was not very good. One arm hole was clearly tighter than the other and the zipper had multiple "waves" when it was zipped up.

Yes, I know they are cheaper than the afore mentioned brands. But it is also not cheap. For those that are buying clothes here, I suggest to check the quality of its construction and try on multiple garments of the same size to ensure you get the best one.

Je Reve Encore photos

Here are some photos from the show :)

I loved the silly models :)

He was a fun model :)

Looks better with sunglasses? :)

Guys... don't look at me like that =_=

This is my second favorite item I created. This is backstage!

This is the my favorite ensemble that I created. There isn't a good photo of it on the runway

I need to pose with the models I picked :)

One of my favorite models... I did not make this outfit :P

Pic from finale

Designer team photo :D

Liberty of London Wishlist

While I do have a lot of fabric... these Liberty of London prints are pretty fabulous! I want some... maybe for a dress? :)

Je Reve Encore ... Photoshoot Results

I'm working on a fashion show with two friends. Here are a couple images from our photoshoot. When the graphic designer comes up with the final image I'll post it here!



I made the male model's boxer briefs and did his makeup. :)

Being Short is Rather ... Unfortunate

It's rather sad sometimes when clothes don't look the same on me as on the model. It's not that I'm fat.. but I'm just not a six foot tall Amazon with super long legs. The dress that hits the model above at mid calf... is down to my ankles. :(

Such is the pain of being short. But I still like this dress. I think I'll wear it on my birthday.

New Glasses YAY

I decided on SALT. optics frames instead of Mykitas. They cost a lot less and the color is pretty cool! The frames have these sparkley bits in the front. I don't have any cat eye frames... so these fill a hole in my glasses wardrobe. I also haven't done black frames for three years... so it'll be nice go to back to them. <3

Too bad my wallet is bleeding now.

Barneys Warehouse Sale : Day 1 Review

My thoughts on the sale :

Shoes: Sucked, the selection was really small. Only ugly ones had additional 25% off. I might get the CL miss chief if they go on further markdown. I already knew from last year the beginning of the sale would have markdowns equivalent to final cut at the store.

Designer items: Not too bad... I found things i liked. Not ALL designer items had an additional 25% off. Only ones with the "WHSE" stamp on the tag. Too bad the things I liked were 300, 600, 1700 respectively (and they didnt have the WHSE stamp). -_- I have my eye on some Alaia, Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto and Ann Demeulemeester items. I can certainly live without them though... so I'm waiting for ADDITIONAL MARKDOWNS!

Ready to wear/co-op items: There's a lot... but prices weren't low enough for me. It was also not very organized and annoying to look through

Denim: Seems like an okay selection, but I didn't look too closely since I own too many jeans. I randomly picked up a pair to check out the price and it was $89.

Outerwear: There was a lot of it, not many small sizes. Mainly co-op items.

As-is items: Some items are barely damaged (e.g. strap unattached, button loose at cuff). However the prices weren't super low for damaged goods! I saw a cute "stained" Moncler windbreaker for $350. It was super cute and I couldn't see the stains, but maybe I was in a state of delirium as I went after work?

Bags: I saw the teal PS1 but it damaged somehow from cleaning. It didnt look that bad to me? but it was only $95 off, what the hell? I also saw a Givenchy nightingale... but didn't look to see what was wrong with it. There were also some ugly sissi rossi bags and many other ugly things no one would ever buy even on sale.

Hosiery: It's all mixed up.. didn't even want to look in the bin but I spied some Balenciaga tights for $60.

Sscarves: Saw virginia johnson cotton ones, I wish they had the merino wool ones. There were various random silk scarves. I almost bought a funny cotton scarf for $40... but decided I wanted to wait for a markdown.

Mens: Seemed like a good selection, more than last year. I liked the selection of mens hats.

My purchases: A purple wool co-op branded swing coat for $109. It's super cute and fairly light. I would've waited for further markdown, but I didn't see many others in this style. Since I saw some other girls trying it on and not returning it to the rack, I decided I liked it enough to pay $109.

THE END

Verdict: I shall return at the end of the sale for leftover designer items. ;) I don't think this sale was all that great. In fact I'd rather buy the co-op brands I'm familiar with online since I can get better deals a lot of times (and the ability to RETURN!). So perhaps it's not really worth a trip right now unless there's something you're DYING to have. And nobody should die for clothes these days right? :)