Thank You Gifts

Due to limited resources and unlimited wants and the fact that we can't read each other's minds, a few years ago, my friends and I decided that the best gift to give each other was no gift at all. By canceling each other's presents out, we effectively saved each other the trouble of thinking of what to get and wasting resources on something that we do no want. Instead we can concentrate our resources on what WE want, which makes complete logical and economical sense to us.

But on occasions, gifts to friends are warranted. Thank you gifts for example. More specifically for me, thank-you-for-letting-me-stay-at-your-place-rent-free-while-I-visit-the-city gifts. Getting something for your host in that case seems like the polite thing to do. But what to get? That is always a huge headache. Ideally you want to get them something that they'd want/use. Some of my ideas.

For the two times that I stayed with HG in London in the last two years, I've given her the Benefit Realness of Concealness set (left) and the Caudalie eye cream (right). Do be careful giving away concealment make-up though, because anyone not so close to you may think that you are giving them a hint about their zits and dark circles. HG and I don't have this problem, but I get the feeling that it was fun to try out but not so useful in the long term. I understand. Its hard to beat the YSL touche eclat when it comes to dark circles. Ultimately I think she liked the eye cream better since it is more useful. Something more useful and in the moment, would be just to offer to pay for something that you're doing together. For example, I treated my friend to a day at Six Flags this Thanksgiving when I visited her in San Diego (yes, I went all the way to SD just so we can drive 2 hours away to LA for Six Flags). I thought she appreciated that more than if I'd given her something like face cream- especially when I don't know which one she uses!
Even easier, you can take a page from HG and my friend T's book from when they visited me in Chicago last fall, and just treat to a meal. They treated me to my favourite thing of all- steak. A genius, clean, practical and easy gesture that is MUCH appreciated. If your host is a huge family and treating them all to steak is not economical for you, try breakfast. Any meal is appreciated.

But if you encounter a super super super nice, warm and friendly host/family who would simply never let you pay for a meal (and so probably no point trying), you can always resort to chocolates. When it comes to such a situation and there is more than one host, something that everyone likes and can be shared, like chocolate, is the best one can do. These are from See's (above). Usually I'd say go for Godiva, but their site was acting weird.
Always aspiring to be personal etc, I decided to give the more personalize gift another shot. For my weekend in Boston (this weekend), I got my friend E a black and a white kohl eye liner from Mac. I know, it sounds weird. Here are two pencils, thanks. Not exactly a very present looking present. But I like to think that they will be super useful. Who does not need black eye liner? And HG and I personally think that the Mac kohl pencils are the best (we've already converted so many of our friends to it). They go on so smoothly and it smudges less than other brands that we've tried. And the white eyeliner would be perfect to try out the white eye liner trend from last season and to just subtly open the eyes. Fingers cross she'd like it!

And those are my ideas so far. What do you all generally give as thank you gifts to people? Or am I just thinking too much about this topic?

Image Source: Sephora, Mac, See's Candies and Ruth's Chris

S/S08 Trend: Translating the Lanvin Ruffles

Lanvin's S/S08 collection was one of my favourite S/S08 shows. I liked the vibrant colours, the ruffles, the way the silk dresses seemed to flow around the models -everything was just so gorgeous. Unfortunately, Lanvin's not exactly the most accessable brand -its designs are admired by the fashion crowd but they don't get copied too much by highstreet stores (compared to other brands like Balenciaga and Miu Miu,) and of course, most people can't afford Lanvin clothes -maybe some people can afford the accessories.

The huge ruffles was one of the main features. It came as part of a one-sided top and dress.

Ruffles sashaying on both vertical sides of the dress.

Ruffles becoming the main feature of the dresses.

The beige, one-sided, ruffled dress by Lanvin is available at a Zara near you! -In linen (or some other rough material) rather than silk though.

So when I first thought of ruffled clothes, the first thing that came to mind was Rebecca Taylor's ruffled camisole -it's one of the most wearable item, and it's kind of affordable yet still looks classy because it's made of silk. If only I had 212usd to dish out.

Rebecca Taylor's also got this tie-dye dress. Normally I am nota fan of all things tie-dyed, but I love this dress! It's got just the right amount of ruffles and the way it 'ruffles' downwards in the direction of the changing colours -it's so pretty! I imagine it would be such a great day or night summer dress -I want!

For something very casual, Ella Moss's Abbey Tank Dress is a daydress candidate -although I'm not too sure about the elastic band in the middle. For something more girly and that can be for both day and night, I like this purple, layered dress by Madison Marcus.

Top Shop's got these one-shouldered, chiffon-like material, girly dresses. I'm always not sure about these dresses because they seem too formal, or black & white for daytime, I'm don't know where I'll wear them to for nighttime either.

I just think they're so pretty!I really like this Top Shop Boutique dress because the colours are so 'now' and the design is so wearable. Too bad I wasn't in London when it was released because they've run out of sizes online, as usual!

This black dress by Ong is from last season, but I like that it's simple and doesn't scream 'girly', yet the fabric on one side makes the dress more interesting.

Always on top of dress trends, AKA already has a one-shouldered, ruffle top and ruffled, strapless dresses available. They do kind of remind me of the Lanvin style!

This is one of Lauren's more interesting dress choices -usually her choices are sort of boring -and I really like it! I think this Geren Ford dress has got just the right amount of ruffles along both sides to liven up the basic dress, but the dress still feels unfussy. The colour is vibrant and it looks young (short dress) and fun -how very The Hills!

PS. Yes, I realise not all ruffled clothes were inspired by Lanvin, and some of these clothes don't look particularly Lanvin-inspired, but it's convenient to group them all here!

Image Credits: http://www.vogue.co.uk/, http://www.pinkmascara.com/, http://www.activeendeavors.com/, http://www.topshop.com/, http://www.shopbop.com/, http://justjared.buzznet.com/

Pedderazine: Super Natural

Randomly surfing the net today, I came across this really awesome accessory photos (or whatever you call them..) magazine on the On Pedder website. It is called Pedderazine. For those of you who don't know, On Peddar is a very well known group in Asia that specializes in designer accessories. A little like ... the first floor of a department store minus the make-up. They also have more artsy window displays, which are always very cool.Back to the photos. Titled, Super Natural, I love how the cover resembles National Geographic! At a glance, it looks like a feature on oil rigs or construction or something, but looking closer, you see that there is a gorgeous pair of huge Dries van Noten heels. It just casually sits there, as if it belonged to the scene with its muted tone and all, when it so obviously does not. I just love the juxtaposition. Ditto for this one. It feels as if it is just another day on a familiar street, as if giant bags hanging from the sky, sitting on top of buildings is an everyday occurrence.
In the rest of the Pedderazine, they mixed accessories with the human body, with a skeletal feet in those Alaia sandals (left) and a Christian Louboutin handbag in the midst of what appears to be veins and arteries (right).
Then they had these Nicholav Kirkwood heels and Karen Walker shades just floating around in what I think is a culture of bacterias.
They also blended accessories into backgrounds. I love how the Dries van Noten heels and the Erickson Beamon shades just fits in so naturally with its environment. I LOVE the visual effect here. Can you tell that it is made up of lots of white Marni envelop bags and Resin necklaces?
And I thought that this spiraling pair of Givenchy heels was genius!
And lastly the play of these Marni and Jimmy Choo shoes into insect shapes is simply awesome.

Is this Peddarazine cool or is it cool? If you've read this blog for long, you'll know that I'm not usually the one to go on about cool photoshoots etc (thats HG!), because I don't usually know how to appreciate them. But I simply LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! Don't forget to check out the rest of the collection on their site!

Image Source: On Pedder

Bold Umbrellas

A quick look back at our archives revealed that, with the exception of last year, this time each year I have an obsession with umbrellas. It must be the rain. Ironically though, as much as I harp on about cute umbrellas all the time, and despite having a very cute tiny umbrella from Accessorize, I always end up reaching for my sturdy mauve colored foldable umbrella from Walgreens (or when I am at home, whatever I can get my hands on that doesn't have a Mickey Mouse head on it). My cute Accessorize umbrella is just too delicate and cute for practical use. That is probably why I gave up writing about umbrellas last year.

Lately though, after viewing these gorgeously artsy polariods taken by my friend E with her red umbrella, I'm back to obsessing over umbrellas again. Don't you just love them? The red umbrella just "pops" in every picture and makes the picture instantly more interesting. It is the perfect accessory to an otherwise dreary rainy day. I especially LOVE the first picture of the red umbrella against the marble (at least I think its marble) building. The brightness instantly draws attention to the person, who would otherwise be lost in the photo. An artist could not have better composed this picture. (And now I sound like I'm writing an art history paper....).
Since I am always on the pursuit of the perfect picture, these pictures got me back to thinking about umbrellas again. Maybe my previous theory about umbrellas and how we should all get cute small ones was a bit off. Instead, we should get BOLD ones. Like that red umbrella and this colorful stripey one (left) from Accessorize (though again, careful with issues of fragility. You know you're not going to use it if you fear the wind will blow it inside out every other minute). Something bright and bold.

Another thing I am thinking about is long umbrellas. I've always been a practical foldable umbrella kind of girl. But somehow, somewhere, it got into my head that long umbrellas were cool. I have an image of myself walking down a quaint European street on a cloudy day swinging my long umbrella around on my arm looking cool and sophisticated. Naturally in my imagination, I have conveniently swept away the image of myself struggling with my all my things and finally spilling tea all over myself because one of my hand was too occupied holding an umbrella. I don't know why I think long umbrellas are cool. Perhaps it is the long, thin and elongated quality of the long umbrella, which I hope will reflect upon me and make me look long, thin and elongated as well, by just carrying it around with me? Sorry, art history coming in again.

This black/white long umbrella (right) from Top Shop fits my image perfectly. The simple horizontal stripes and the contrasting black/white color creates a sharp and bold vision that will work just as well as the red umbrella in terms of eye-popping-ness. Plus, there is the added advantage of being black/white and so will literally match all your outfits! Wow, now I REALLY REALLY want this umbrella!
And then there is the long clear umbrellas. I think this idea was sparked by a movie I saw, where in this scene the camera just follows a girl around in a busy city, and she's just holding this completely refreshing clear umbrella, while everyone else were holding black or some other equally somber looking umbrellas. I've been thinking about them ever since, especially this summer when I saw them selling in a local supermarket. Somehow though it just didn't seem right- and you want to make sure that it is right, because a clear umbrella go wrong can just look cheap. I finally realized why the other day. It was the shape. It was just too bland and normal.

These bubble umbrellas (above) on the other hand, from UO, are just right. I love the deep shape and the simple stripe of color outlining it. The shape is just so ... Mary Poppin-esque (I think). So cute! Plus, this will also match all your outfits! And if you still want a bold "pop," the pink/red version is perfect.

Now I think the question is, do I really need another umbrella? And if/when I convince myself that I do need another one, which one??

Image Source: Top Shop, Accessorize and Urban Outfitters

Stud Earrings

When I first got my ears pierced back in high school, I only ever wore studs. They were simple, cheap (25hkd/ 3usd for a pair) and most importantly, super easy to wear. I would have one pair on and not have to take it off for a few months at a time. Sure, my habit with earrings wasn't particularly stylish or exciting, but I didn't know about the variety of earrings out there and I was mainly concerned about keeping the skin from growing back. Then I grew up and realised that there are so many pretty and wide range of earrings out there that I stopped buying studs. At the same time, I got even lazier (as if it was possible,) and I've been wearing earrings only about once a month, again just to keep my ears pierced. I've mainly been buying long, dangly earrings and usually only wear them for nights out.

But recently, I bought a pair of pale green, rose studs (like the image above,) and now I'm addicted! I've never really worn colourful earrings before so that was a new thing for me. Also, wearing studs just suddenly seemed so much simplier and easier compared to dangly earrings and hoops. So now I'm on a lookout for studs. I want them simple, but not boring.

The ones I want to avoid are the ones that spell out the brand name. Most of them look a bit tacky and just simply too obvious. The only ones I think are potentially cute are Chanel ones -not really sure why.

This pair of wing studs by Giles & Brothers is SO cool! I love them! The details to the metal make the earrings look stylish in that vintage-y way.

I've always wanted something that had skulls on it but I never thought they were worth it. I think this pair is ok though-it's got tiny crystals in the eyes so it would look more designed and hopefully less juvenile. Yes, I know skulls are so two seasons ago but I still like them. This pair is by Tom Binns.

Even though I usually prefer things to be symmetrical, I think these are too cute to dislike. I prefer the XO pair by Giles & Brother, but the LOVE studs by Jennifer Zener are really cute too!

I usually think style items in the shape of lips look cheap and tacky, but I think this pair is done really well and are quite adorable! Although for 242usd, they really should look classier than most! Gosh, I really need to keep an eye out for any sales and discounts now!

Sure, stud earrings aren't the epitome of the earring trend (whatever it is at the moment), but they just look too charming and easy to wear to resist!

Image Credits: www.shopbop.com, www.chanel.com, www.eluxury.com, www.dior.com, www.net-a-porter.com