Friday, May 20, 2011

Paint It Rouge: a red lipstick experiment

I haven't used a lipstick for quite some years now. Instead I've been wearing all sorts of lip gloss - from pearly to glossy and semi-transparent - and whenever I tried a lipstick on, I felt that it looked too harsh on me - almost vulgar. But we grow up, our tastes change and this season I got swept away by the RED lipstick trend.
Of course, it's a classic, and never really went out of fashion, but suddenly I started seeing it everywhere - from catwalk shows to red carpets, so I decided I simply must get a red one myself - even though it felt (and still feels) quite dashing and experimental to me. So I went and got this "Lady Danger" matte lipstick from MAC - it's my first experience with MAC cosmetics in fact (there were no MAC stores in Kyiv, Ukraine where I lived until recently) and I was totally pleased with its quality. As for my red lip EXPERIMENT - I believe it was successful! I'm still getting used to my red-lipped look but already loving it. I think it was just what I needed to spice up my makeup style.




Below I enclose a number of celebrity and catwalk show pics for more Rouge inspiration...

Julianne Moore

Bonnie Wright

Rihanna
Penelope Cruz
Marc by Marc Jacobs


Gucci

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Best of latest lookbooks: H&M, Zara TRF and Topshop

I decided not to turn my blog and focus more on personal posts and features. However occasional collections of latest looks from my favorite shops can't hurt, right? So here I bring you selected images from latest lookbooks by H&M, ZARA TRF and TOPSHOP.

H&M (Summer 2011 Campaign)




ZARA TRF (May 2011 Lookbook)




TOPSHOP (Gypsy Rocker Summer 2011 Collection)




Wednesday, May 18, 2011

STYLE OBSESSION: Bold nail polish colors


Bold and striking NAIL POLISH colors have been trending over the last few seasons, and they finally got to me too. I want my nails bright and colorful - no more neutral and transparent polishes for me! Color-blocking will be all the rage this summer, and dressing head to foot in blazing colors requires a certain mood and disposition, but you can always discreetly color-block with your nails.
This below is my current nail polish collection - I plan to add another blue tint to it - maybe electric or metallic, and probably green too - even though I never wear green and never was a fan of it before.

Below I've included my favorite bold nail colors of today:

ORANGE
As worn by me (the latest addition to my polish collection), Fergie and Christina Milian



YELLOW
As worn by Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry


BLUE
As worn by, once again, Katy Perry (our rainbow girl) and Jessica Simpson


GREEN
As worn by Anna Lynne McCord

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

"True Blood" returns for season 4 in June


It's less than a month till "TRUE BLOOD" premiers its fourth season - on June 26 to be precise. Surely, all of its fans should be excited, and I kinda am too, though previous season seriously cooled off my sentiments about the show.
Not sure what happened there, the writers were taking to much drugs (read: drinking vampire blood) or what, but the storyline was a total disaster. Rather than having one central plot and a couple supporting ones like in 2 previous seasons, the show completely lost its footing, moving in a dozen different directions at a time, so much that it was almost impossible to keep up with the events. It pretty much turned into a slasher where someone gets brutally murdered or drenched in blood every 5 minutes - TRUE BLOOD indeed. I remember an episode where Bill first almost killed Sookie, than saved her, than they said goodbye forever and then they finished it off by having crazy monkey sex right at the murder scene. By the end of the season one just couldn't help feeling sick of Sookie and Bill, who suddenly lost all of his masculine romantic hero appeal - and considering those 2 are the central characters, it can't be a good sign... The season finale also left innumerable loose ends, so "Previously on True Blood" is a must-see before getting down to watching SEASON 4.
Of course I'm not giving up on "True Blood" just yet - I still hope it has something to surprise me with. After all, I started watching it not because I'm a crazy vampire fan (No "Twillight" for me!), but because of its "Sex, Drugs & Rock'n'roll" attitude and killer opening credits combined with obvious social satire on racism, segregation, religion fanatics and the like. But the latter was almost completely absent from third season, so, please, please, "True Blood," get better!


P.S.: I couldn't help feeling nostalgic about how it all began, so to give you a little feel...

Monday, May 16, 2011

STYLE OBSESSION: Shopper bags

I've always been a fan of BIG bags. And not so much because of style, but because of the freedom it grants me to carry all things I may need and still leaves extra space to squeeze in a water bottle, a cardigan if I get too hot or a magazine. Now lately I've been running around with a rather modestly-sized (by my standards) cross-body bag and it surely has it benefits, but recently I found myself falling deeply in love with the SHOPPER bags. Fact is I've never had a bag exactly like a shopper, also most of them are also supplied with an extra strap for cross-body wearing and of course, the allure of space inside is so hard to resist. The color-blocking shoppers by the Greek brand Fullah Sugah and the classy brown one from ASOS are among my top choices.






Sunday, May 15, 2011

Honesty in online shopping


I fell in love with those FREE PEOPLE wedges the moment I saw them. I'm currently looking for a pair of wedges anyway, and those were some of the coolest sandals are saw so far, plus the price, Euro 62.35 fit in my price range just fine. And I might have already gone ahead and ordered them had I not spotted the "Reviews & Fitting" section, containing 2 comments. The first review was mild, though not especially favorable; the second was quite negative, criticizing a number of QUALITY aspects, and both ended with the authors claiming they'd be returning the shoes.
Naturally that cooled down my excitement, especially considering that I'm generally cautious about buying SHOES online - it's so unpredictable when it comes to feet! But at the same time I couldn't help thinking how thankful I was to Free People for not only allowing comments on their product pages, but also NOT deleting the negative ones! ONLINE shopping is a tricky world, full of possible mishaps, and it's nice when someone gives you a warning.
Of course there is every possibility that the 2 commentators were not truly honest, just feisty or annoyed with the store for whatever reason. But if they were right, they possibly saved me time and disappointment since I'm not a big fan of returning goods do the store, especially by mail and especially in Greece were the post office is only open 5 days a week till 2 p.m. I wish more ONLINE SHOPS where like Free People, but not likely - who wants bad publicity?
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