Vintage Stop

Boxing Day Sales

2011-12-27T18:55:00.003Z

I always find that depending on the alarm to wake up is horrible to endure, especially during the christmas holidays where my bed is the most warm and comfy thing ever. I surprised myself that I actually managed to leave the house at 9am to go shopping, but alas, the tube strikes affected the central line, so I couldn't hit the Oxford St sales. I was so disappointed because I really wanted to check out the Urban Outfitters sale and buy a few Beyond Retro jumpers. Instead, Mary and I took the bus to Westfield in hope of finding some lovely bargains. Even though we arrived there at 10, it was already jam-packed full of people. Stepping in to the Village was crazy as there were long queues outside Prada, Miu Miu and Gucci amongst others. Having not been there for quite a long time, it was nice to see an American Apparel there (although there wasn't much in the shop) and an Urban Outfitters is going to be opened there soon. There were racks and racks of sale items of clothing in Topshop and even more crazy women trawling through it all. I managed to find a tweed pair of tailored dark green trousers for £20 but they were really itchy inside and nothing else took my fancy so I didn't buy anything. It was the same for all the other shops we went to so the only thing I managed to buy that day was food, and a black bra from M+S for £18 (not on sale), which is now my favourite bra I own. (I'm a sucker for bras - everyone has to own a really expensive M+S bra right?)

no one mourns the wicked.

Luckily, a few days before, I went to Oxford St and found a top with a velvet front and mesh back by Sparkle & Fade in the Urban Outfitters sale for £15. The ribbed riding pants I'm wearing are from H&M which were also £15 and I was so happy when I found them a few months ago because they are literally like a copy of the American Apparel £60-something version. I thought creepers would go more fittingly with these but I still haven't figured out whether I want a standard pair of black Underground ones. Yay or nay? I really like them but they've been outworn by all these hipster kids.

love ox

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T15:52:00.001Z

I apologise for abandoning my blog but I've been so busy recently and have had to prioritise other things. The festive season is always one of my favourite times of year - it's a time for quality family time, movie marathons, great food and wonderful presents! I hope everyone's had a lovely Christmas and have received what you wished for!

For Christmas this year, I got the most cute and comfy frog socks ever (which I'm wearing right now), Nadal's biography, Lush bath fizz, M+S voucher, money, MAC lipstick, Chanel powder, Dior blusher, and Miss Dior Cherie and J'adore Dior perfume samples! I'm off to Oxford St in the morning tomorrow to hit the boxing day sales, so I'll be fighting off the crowds to find some bargain pieces! What did all of you get for Christmas?

Sending you all Christmas kisses with my new Russian Red MAC lipstick!

love ox

New Hair (at last)

2011-11-25T14:28:00.000Z

Hey all to those still reading my bloggy! I haven't been hibernating from this awful weather - my computer got sent to be repaired but it was taking so long so we bought a new computer, touch screen with beats and all (oooh snazzy). Hopefully my overload of posts in the coming weeks will make up for my disappearance to the blogosphere.

I've written in so many posts about wanting to do something drastic with my hair (like here and here), and for so long I did next to nothing as I was too scared to actually do it and see how it would turn out. The last time I had a bob was six years ago and I hated it so much, it was a complete disaster. Not only was it so short, but there were so many layers to add to that which made my hair look ridiculously thin! (Gotta love thick hair, right?) Last week I had a very spontaneous moment, and decided to chop it all off. Yes, that moment I forgot all my problems with short hair and got at least seven inches cut off! I was fed up with it constantly falling out, my hair being caught in my bag, etc so I decided to go for it. I thought, my hair grows pretty fast so it should be alright, right?

Some cool people with cool hair include the teen blogger everyone wants to be - Tavi, super lovely Vicky of ghost trash, Jessie J (I've become a recent fan), the incredibly stylish and beautiful Annie Monroe (who I saw at LFW! Didn't realise it was her at the time though) and the epitome of awesome, blogger of shootin acid.

It has been over a month since I got it cut and I haven't had a chance to take (very crappy webcam) photos until now so it has grown quite a bit (oh yes because I'm missing my long hair)

I got my fringe cut above my eyebrows so you can see that my hair has grown a fair few centimeters during the past month!

love ox

P.S. I just discovered Dani and Bianca's blog and now I'm wishing for my hair to grow another five inches for the summer so I can have insane, colourful hair like theirs.

Hello Goodbye

2011-11-03T08:00:00.001Z

This is just a quick post since I am currently blogging from my phone on the bus to school, to apologise for my long absence in the blogosphere! I have to blame it on the stressful process that is UCAS and the fact that my computer has gone crazy and is now sent off to be repaired, so I can't post until it comes back as all my photos are on the computer. It's so annoying since I have a couple of posts already written! I am now practically on my phone 24/7 as it is my only source of internet. I have enjoyed reading loads of blog posts, so (as hypocritical of me as it sounds) keep blogging everyone!

Love ox

Chelsea Boots

2011-10-01T20:47:00.004+01:00

Shoes, shoes, shoes. I know I can't stop blogging about them but I have a bit of a shoe fetish with chelsea boots. They're just what I need this winter, plus I do need to stock up on new shoes for school since I'm always wearing the same two pairs of shoes looking a bit like a tramp. I've been in the search for the perfect boot to add to my Christmas list (I know, I'm planning my list so soon!) so I decided to collage a few of my favourites from Topshop and Urban Outfitters.

(Sorry about the crap quality. Unfortunately my editing skills don't stretch to Photoshop so I had to use Paint!)

The flats are perfect for everyday wear but having tried on the Topshop flats instore, I don't have the legs for ankle boots so I have my eye on the Topshop green heeled boots or the Urban Outfitters suede tan boots.

What are your current shoe obsessions?

love ox
P.S. I've uploaded a look on my Lookbook which I wore to LFW so please check it out!

LFW Street Style: Shoes

2011-09-25T09:48:00.004+01:00

I thought I had replaced my first batch of LFW photos with my second on the computer so had a mini panic attack when I searched on Google that I wouldn't be able to restore them. Luckily, that didn't happen as some of the photo files had the same name so nothing was copied over.

When Somerset House hosts London Fashion Week, it is always a playground full of inspiration for me. No two outfits are ever the same and I love how any trend which you could name, is always present. This year, the shoes in particular stood out for me. The most popular choice which people seemed to be rocking were creepers and Jeffrey Campbells - both pairs of shoes which I have on my Christmas and birthday lists. However, my favourite pair, which I couldn't believe I had just seen, were the Alexander McQueen SS/11 gold toe-capped heels which a lovely model was sporting - look out for them in the photos below!

Helen Vu's beautiful JC's

Bright socks to liven up the shades of brown

These were my favourite trio of shoes, something I'd wear everyday. I adore the combination of socks and tights.

The shoes of the super stylish Stella.

Habin Kim's Topshop JC alternatives!

Autumnal browns: the perfect season for clogs

Casual flats alert

Attention to detail: gold crucifix clips

Casual undone military boots

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE

Perfect Martin Margiela's for an all black outfit

Pretty and neat

More street style to come!

love ox

P.S. I couldn't stand my long hair any longer so I now have a bob. Regretting it already as I look like a tranny but I shall post more about it soon.

LFW11

2011-09-18T20:25:00.002+01:00

Stuffing ourselves at Pret and taking LFW street style photos has now become an annual event for me and Habin. I wasn't satisfied with the outcome of the photos taken last year with my Fujifilm so I literally begged Mary to let me use her camera. With the help of a little bribe, I successfully borrowed her new Nikon.

Despite my memory card being full only two hours into the day, I had an incredible time. I saw the most amazing people: from Roz of Clothes, Cameras and Coffee who is truly stunning in the flesh and recently won the Vogue writing competition, to Erin O'Connor who has incredible hair and a figure to die for, to the very lovely Cailin of Birds of a feather flock together and Peony Lim who never fails to show up in a statement outfit. I also met Paul of London Fashion by Paul, who is such a funny character with an amazing skill for taking photos having learnt photography for only two months! I really urge you all to stop by, he's definitely the next Satorialist!

I was wearing a jumper I found randomly at home, my mum's old shirt from Taiwan, tapered trousers and boot heels both from Topshop alongside my new Anna Sui Lipstick. I managed to be filmed for Elle TV yet again, but I'm not sure if I'll make the website for a second year running but we'll see... Outfit photos to come in my next post.

I must admit, just standing outside the beautiful Somerset House is much more exciting than London Fashion Weekend itself, so I am going to go there again after school next week to get more street style shots, so until then...

love ox

Don't you wanna see these clothes on me.

2011-09-05T16:25:00.009+01:00

I was lucky to be given a few suitcases full of clothes from relatives which is very handy since school is just round the corner. I did actually attempt to take pictures of them in my sister's empty wardrobe but there was just too much! My favourites include a taupe, suede jacket, a purple embroidered bomber jacket, a pink Chanel-esque tweed jacket, matching floral top and shorts and a bear-printed corduroy shirt amongst other goodies. So for now, I share with you an outfit (at last) photographed by Mary. Hopefully there'll be more in the future when I'm not too busy.

It is time to say goodbye to my favourite season so what better way is there than wearing a sunny yellow Alexander McQueen midi dress with a nude, chiffon American Apparel maxi skirt over it? I haven't camwhored in a while so...

I am in love with my new Nature Republic mascara and Topshop Glow Highlighter. You can't really see it in the photos but it is a beautiful, rusty, pearl shade- my new holy grail. I swear this product is going to live near my tear ducts now.

love ox

P.S. I'm having hair loss problems. Yes, again I seem to have this neverending problem. I was just wondering whether you think I should have a bob with a block fringe, or just a block fringe? Need a new change!

Taiwan: Makeup

2011-08-30T17:26:00.002+01:00

Okay, so before the holidays, I wasn't into makeup at all. I used my sister's Mac eye liner which she had abandoned, a sample Lancome mascara that said sister gave to me, Primark eye lash curlers (and yeah so what, they work a treat and were like a pound), L'Oreal powder, Max Factor eye shadow and rose Vaseline which I'd use as a cheek tint too. Cheapskate or what?!

Alas, all that changed during the three weeks where I was exposed to an exquisitely beautiful Anna Sui counter in a department store along with the recent moans from my other sister about buying better branded products. I must say, I went craaaaaaazy: I went twice, spending a little too much time on both occasions just deciding what to buy (causing Alex to leave me midway) and bought items that I wouldn't even normally wear!

Just look at the gorgeous packaging! Dare I say it, that was probably the main reason I bought into this brand but also because all of the products smell absolutely fantastic - better than any perfume. I really wanted to buy their scented water but unfortunately, I didn't have enough money.

So, the first item I bought was the Rouge Rouge V lipstick #660 which was a very nice cherry red, around £18. After trying it out, I fell in love with the creamy texture and the slight matte appearance so I took another visit there and got the Rouge Rouge V lipstick #361 which is a cute coral tinted orange shade. It came at an offer of around £25 if bought with the Ombre A Paupiere eye shadow so I went for the #300 - such a glittery, pearly pink!

(I also received so many clothes from relatives, I didn't even buy a single piece but I have enough to make up a whole new wardrobe. Summer was calling to me in this depressing weather so I decided to wear this floral, sheer shirt since it just oozes summery vibes. This is just one of the summer items I was given, along with some very appropriate autumnal pieces.)

You can't really see the lipstick colours clearly so here it is when I wiped it off:

Other purchases include a Majolica Majorca black, liquid eye liner, a Skin Food eye liner brush which Liz kindly bought me as well as a pack of 10 natural eye lashes which I managed to buy for 199TWD which is around £4! Again, these were such impulse buys since I never wear liquid eye liner and have only worn fake eyelashes on two occasions...

I went to Boots the other day and my friend bought a Modelsown blusher brush. It's so soft and comes in a vibrant orange! Now I just want to buy loads of their brushes to add to my new makeup collection. I also came across the new highlighter gloss at Topshop - the sheen is frikkin fabulous it reminded me of John Galliano's a/w10 collection.

love ox

P.S. If you like makeup, food, knitting or all of the above, then I recommend you read Resplendently laaaaa. If not, then the images of sushi will change your mind.

Taiwan

2011-08-24T17:37:00.004+01:00

16 hour aeroplane ride, stop at Bangkok, 30-40 degrees, dolphins, whales, the Pacific ocean, water park, sun burn, mosquito bites, pearl tea, sushi, beef ramen, night markets, Etude House, Anna Sui, Skin Food, mountains, cable car rides, Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, arcade, fish pedicure, chocolate fondue, 101, geckos, water fountain fight, McDonalds, beaches, rowing, mud-stepping, cycling, crabs, bowling, massages, omochi ice cream, samples, museums, botanical garden, rushing to shops for ac, MTR, relatives, Nestea lemon/mango tea, Yakult...

I guess that's my lazy and short way of filling you all in about how my holiday went. For a more detailed read, click here, but for now, it's time for a photo overload. As they say, "a picture speaks a thousand words" so hopefully this will make up for the erm, highly descriptive post.

Photos: vickileestyle and ec1papercut

After spending three long weeks in Taiwan, I was looking forward to going home but now that I'm home in this rather atrocious weather, I want to be back in the unbearable heat shopping! (Because exchanging £120 wasn't really enough) I'm so proud of a particular few purchases so I'll be posting about them soon!

It's almost a good-bye to summer but I'm kind of looking forward to start school just to see what my timetable is like, who my teachers are and to use my new stationery!

love ox

Love is what you want

2011-07-27T19:51:00.000+01:00

I have been bombarded with a mountain of summer art homework which included going to visit the V&A's classical sculptures, "The shape of things to come" at my favourite gallery (the Saatchi Gallery) and finally the Hayward Gallery for Tracey Emin's "Love is what you want" exhibition, all in preparation for a new upcoming topic: "The Figure in an Interior/ Exterior"

For me, the Saatchi Gallery always holds the most unique exhibitions, as it displays fresh, modern talent - each piece being so weird yet wonderful at the same time. I remember the first time I went to the Saatchi Gallery, recommended by my art teacher, to see the "The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art". I went to that exhibition three times because I was so impressed and loved pretty much every piece. It was then that I was introduced to Zhang Peng's beautiful yet controversial art which I blogged about here. Anyway, I went to visit their most recent exhibition which delves into different forms of sculptures. Sculptures have always been one of my favourite forms of art, possibly because I find there are more ways in being creative and shocking than say, through paintings. My favourite sculpture was "Marthe" by Berlinde de Bruychere which was a figure made out of wax, epoxy, metal, wood and glass. It seemed so life-like as the surface of the figure was so smooth, pale and was intricately coloured with bruises. However, it also appeared deformed as there were arm-like branches coming out from it's neck which made it almost mesmerising.

I felt so attracted to the other sculptures which had great, contrasting textures or colours. It always makes stare a little longer.

I really recommend going to visit the Saatchi gallery - whatever the exhibition. It's in Chelsea which is such a nice area and has the cutest sock shops and it is also free of entry!

Another gallery I visited which was nicely situated by the London Eye, was the "Love is What You Want" exhibition which showcases the artwork of Tracey Emin. Before, I had never been an Emin fan so I was hoping that going to this gallery would possibly change my mind about her. However, unfortunately it didn't. I may appear to be narrow-minded, but I found the artist herself to be incredibly self-absorbed with art which was very pretentious, overly sexually explicit and uninventive. I really liked "There's a Lot of Money In Chairs" which was a fabricated chair, detailed with lettering but I felt her other fabric appliques were all so similar - a random mixes of moods which couldn't relate to the audience that much. (and some of them had very bad spelling, i'm sorry!) Her neon lights were either cheesy or sexual one-liners which I can imagine to be found in brothels. Some of the work on display wasn't even art - for example, years old used tampons with a journal entry describing her femininity. It's a shame because the art pieces which weren't directly personal to her, such as her sculptures and monoprints I really appreciated. It just seems that she treated this art exhibition like a life exhibition. Just because she is Britain's most celebrated contemporary artist, she doesn't need to rely on that and her background to gather personal objects and display it as art.

Rant over. Agree or disagree - I'd love to hear what you think!

love ox

P.S. Check out my friend's new blog, it is amazing and so is she.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 2 (NO SPOILERS)

2011-07-17T09:29:00.002+01:00

If you are not a fan of Harry Potter, then read away as I delve into what seems like the end of my childhood.

As the second part of the last Harry Potter film came out in the cinemas, it seemed only appropriate to take this chance to dress up as Harry Potter characters. I had bought some glittery, gold hairspray a few days before so wanted to take advantage of this, so who better to dress up as than the part Veela blonde that is Fleur Delacour. Fully equipped with my gold hair, blue bowler/ builders hat, wand, Barry M blue cracked nails, hand-made blue cape and blue shirt tied over a blue dress, I must say I loved being a Beauxbaton girl.

Half of the sixth form centre (the cool half) was filled with Harry Potter outfits, my favourites being:

If you are yet to watch the movie, I urge you all to bring a pack of tissues with you. My friends who had gone to the midnight showing had told me to do that but as they kept going on about how much they cried, I didn't think I would since I was prepared for sad moments to come, but I tell you, as I only had one tissue on me, it definitely wasn't enough as it was filled with tears and snot two thirds of the way in.

love ox

Prada Fall 2011

2011-06-26T20:04:00.001+01:00

I'm sorry I've been such an awful blogger recently. I don't even have an excuse! I am literally watching TV, eating or sleeping. I've just been so uninspired recently so this morning, before I went to work, I went onto fashiongonerogue to see what I've been missing - which seems to be a lot! After seeing the f/w11 Prada campaign, (even though it is a little old) I knew I must share it with you all:

images: fashiongonerogue

Very few Fall 2011 collections stood out to me - Yohji, Jil Sander and Prada being some of them. For me, the chic pastel pilot caps, large sequin dresses, oversized retro aviator glasses and mid-thigh high snake skin boots completed the playful collection. The 60's are back! It was fresh, youthful, innocent, textured colour blocking at it's best. However, it almost seemed as if Prada had switched roles with Miu Miu/ "Prada's little sister" as the latter was a more mature and silhouette filled collection. For once I had preferred a Prada collection over a Miu Miu!

I love how Miuccia uses mainly new faces. She does the same here by using Kelly Mittendorf, Julia Zimmer, Ondria Hardin, Antonia Wesseloh, and the more well known Frida Gustavsson. This has got to be one of my favourite Prada editorials, second only to my all time favourite SS/08 campaign which showcased Sasha Pivovarova against a wall full of whimsical fairies. Pure love.

Congratulations to Prada for making the Hong Kong stock exchange. Hopefully there won't be any more jealous, bitchy comments from Armani...

love ox

P.S. Does anyone know how to get rid of that hideous glowing border around my margins?

P.P.S. If you have missed me (at all) come to my tumblr where I update pretty much every day.

Sample Sales

2011-06-03T22:28:00.003+01:00

Hello my dear lovlies! Yes, I'm back in the blogosphere. Today, I had the most amazing day which I had been planning for what seems like years. Liz and I set off in the morning to the Erdem sample sale which was held at the very modern Future Gallery in Leicester Square. The room was absolutely filled with bright, colourful floral prints and the shoe section was bursting with chunky heels with thick straps - my ideal heaven. However we left the room of pretty goodness eventually as the price range was out of our reach and the people in the room pretty much kept an eye on us the whole time which was beyond annoying.

After a bus trip and a ten minute walk, we found ourselves at the beloved Alexander McQueen sample sale. The previous one found me purchasing my first ever McQueen item - a beautiful white, suede belt with a pearly-marbled buckle which I must admit, I haven't worn yet, mainly because I need to puncture a hole in it (which I'm too scared to do). Bizarrely, the McQueen pieces were a lot cheaper than those at Erdem. I ended up holding a bunch of exquisite beauties but narrowed it down to a buttercup-yellow, long sleeved, tight-fitting midi dress which I managed to get for £40! Not sure when I'll ever wear it though because there are serious vpl and tummy bulging issues when I wear it!

Next stop, Oxford Street. Topshop has never been more disappointing! I went in searching and getting ready to buy a floral one piece swimming suit which has a lovely netting at the waist and a sheer top which was acid pink at the front and bright orange at the back. I was so annoyed because I had been set to buy them for a while now and the Oxford Street store is meant to have everything, right? Well, apparently not. Also, nothing really stood out to me, it was all so sameish. However, I managed to leave with a pair of very cute sixties sunglasses by Squint for Topshop. I originally wanted their lilac John Lennon circle-style pair but I preferred these when I saw them and they also reminded me of these pair of Miu Mius.

Okay, so by now my legs were ridiculously tired and I could feel blisters coming along. Shopping in sandal wedges? Bad idea. After finding zero shoes that I liked in Topshop, I went to the Office in Carnaby Street and in the corner of my eye, I SAW SOME JELLY SHOES! I was so excited that I dragged my sister there and bought them for £15 straight away without any hesitation. That was partly due to my wanting to change out of my wedges and that I needed new shoes since I feel like an absolute tramp wearing the same two pair of shoes to school (both of which are my sisters) but most of all because I have been looking on eBay for a pink, glittery heeled pair! As soon as I paid for them, I switched shoes straight away so I had silver beauties on my feet which were glowing with ultra-violet shininess. Damn, they're so comfortable too. I can see myself wearing them out to the sole. I think this must have been the highlight of my day.

Hype this outfit here.

Primark netted and velvet dress, Asos backless peterpan dress, Topshop vanity satchel, Kurt Geiger sandal wedges.

love ox

P.S. I bought some dark brown dye from Boots today - definitely chickened out from buying blonde. Hopefully my hair will be sun-kissed with ombreness if all goes to plan.
P.P.S. I have been stuck in the world of Tumblr, come find me here.

The Royal Wedding

2011-04-30T10:34:00.000+01:00

Living in London, I experienced the never-ending royal wedding hype which practically followed me everywhere - posters and flags outside house windows on my way to school, TV programmes analysing Will and Kate's relationship, Vogue's guessing of who the designer of the wedding dress would be, Kate's fashion sense in countless newspaper articles, etc. It all bored me a little as I had no interest of the event at all. However, the day off school came, where I spent an amazing day at Eve's watching the wedding, before marching off to her superb street party.

Before the wedding, my dream wedding dress was couture Dior, Elie Saab or Givenchy, but when I saw Kate walk down the aisle, my heart melted and now Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen just beats them all! The dress was perfect - lace sleeves, gorgeous waist fitting, perfectly folded pleats, a veil so delicately thin and an ideal train length. Kate looked absolutely beautiful and the wedding was faultless (apart from the awkward moment where Prince William had to squeeze the ring onto her finger, the few too many tedious choir songs and Beatrice's awful makeup) Although William and Kate - The Movie made my despise their portrayal, the wedding made me very happy for them and want to get married so much!

After watching the wedding, we went to the street party where it was filled with live music, a BBQ, cake, face painting, jubbly, union jack bowler hats, Jeff Brazier presenting for Channel 5, video cameras and the like. The environment was fabulous, so lively and patriotic! The exercise park was also pretty damn fun.

Outfit: Plastic union jack bowler hat, Topshop mustard cropped tie tee, Topshop brown longsleeved cropped top, Primark floral flared trousers, Stam bag copy, Mum's ASA space boot-trainers.

Congratulations to the happy couple! ♥

(May there be more bank holidays in the future)

love ox

Blog Sale [CLOSED]

2011-04-20T22:16:00.004+01:00

It's that time of year where I've grown out of most of my clothes so here it is - my mini blog sale. I'm selling a few items, all under £10 which closes on the 10th of May as everything unsold will go toward's Jazzpad's 22nd May Appeal - go check it out and see what you can do to help!

~~1. Vintage, velvet LBD, size 6/8, £6.~~
[SOLD]

2. Topshop floral dress, size 6, £9.

3. Beyond Retro vintage cream straight-cut trousers, size 6/8, £6.

4. M Butterfly chiffon LBD, size 6/8, £9.

5. Topshop Petite floral dress, size 4, £7.

Please note, you must have a PayPal account in order to purchase any of these items. E-mail me at vlee1@rbksch.org if you would like to purchase an item (first come, first serve) or even if you would like more information. P&P to the UK is £2, other destinations may vary.

love ox
P.S. I've been doing a bit of re-vamping to my blog - what do you think?

Hair

2011-04-18T13:06:00.005+01:00

I've been getting incredibly bored and fed up with my hair, so recently, I've been thinking about dying my hair for the summer. Lilac tips, trimmed dark blonde/ ginger ombre, full head chestnut have all been ideas and I've even gone to the desperate attempt to see what it looks like by using my failed Photoshop skills. I know that fantastically coloured hair works so well on blondes but colouring very dark hair could be pretty risky. Finding images of dyed hair on asians/ dark haired girls proved to be difficult but I've come up with a special few. (If you find any more, don't hesitate to e-mail/ tweet/ comment/ Formspring me!)

1. Gwenyth Tang. 2. Bip Ling. 3. Alexa Chung.

Gwenyth is indeed my hair idol although I'm not sure if I could quite pull off the all over bleached hair as well as she does! Isn't it just pastel-rainbow galore?

I leave you with some Frida and Lindsey-loving. Mega girlcrushgirlcrushgirlcrush - Marc's Models.

love ox

P.S. Last week I went to the private viewing of the CSM Foundation Art exhibition - it was incredible! There was such a variety of unique different pieces: jewellery, textiles, fine art, photography, costume design... If you're out and about in London, I urge you all to visit it. Read a bit about it at new blog ec1papercut.

Floating heads in space

2011-04-11T09:12:00.006+01:00

This Easter holiday has so far been filled with Art and more Art as I need to get together my final idea for my final piece, based on the theme of "Mystery and Imagination". I have a clear idea of what it will be like - many alien heads floating in space as the idea of life there fascinates me. I played dress up, putting a pair of tights over my head, and putting excessive amounts of eyeshadow on. Be warned: My face may scare a little.

Photos: Elizabeth Lee

I think I look a bit like Voldemort. Sexy, eh? This was pretty fun, especially scaring my mum whilst she was sleeping.

love ox

Androgyny

2011-04-02T20:26:00.003+01:00

Male? Female? Androgynous models have sure been around for a while and were made a statement by Vivienne Westwood in her Fall 2010 collection. I had never given it much thought, I just found it a little odd as to why it was so popular. The androgynous models of that time didn't interest me - Omahyra Mota, Aggy, Eden Clark, etc. That was until I came across the model Andrej Pejic. At first glance I thought he was an absolutely stunning woman - gorgeous ice blonde hair, feline features and a delicate, feminine bone structure. I did a little more research into it and then discovered his true gender. How can a man be so much more stunning than most women! I love how he does both women and men's shows and I'll be looking forward to seeing more of him in the future! Here he is in his most recent editorial for Viva! Moda.

Source: fashiongonerogue

On another note, thank you to everyone who entered my giveaway! I can now announce that the winner was Freya Marshall of fiction rather than fact - it's a really witty and interesting read which I definitely recommend! I had a lot of fun deciding what to buy so hopefully there'll be loads more to come in the future!

love ox

17

2011-03-25T22:00:00.004Z

17 has always been my favourite number, although somehow, I wasn't looking forward to the 17th of March for my 17th birthday. It's probably because the thought of getting older scares me. However, the day came and it was absolutely lovely and filled with copious amounts of food! My friends baked me the most delicious chocolate cake, decorated with edible glitter! More food was to come as we had a mini indoor picnic at lunch, my mum made a Japanese feast for dinner and finally there were two more cakes for desert. My day in visual aesthetics:

Elizabeth Lee Photography

Birthday gifts included an American Apparel maxi chiffon skirt, Asos acid red peterpan collar dress, Topshop coral lace dress, £10 Topshop voucher, Art Nouveau Rennie Macintosh watch, the much long-awaited Blackberry Torch which I am in love with at the moment, money and YSL rose lipstick!

love ox
P.S. Stay tuned for many more posts to come including the PSA Fashion Show, Max Factor and the 200 Giveaway winner will also be annouced!
P.P.S. They're all meant to be animation gifs - please let me know if they're not working!

(#)

2011-03-13T19:26:00.000Z

Last week, I had Topshop withdrawal symptoms since I couldn't remember when the last time I had bought an item from there was! (Of course I can remember now - it was my pair of swallow wedges which I bought a few months ago) During my weekly Tuesday lunch trip to Kingston, I popped into Topshop and saw a cute, sunny yellow scalloped shirt with a white collar. The long withdrawal must have got to me since I forgot to whip out my trusty student discount card to get £2.40 reduced! I wore it on Friday and my friend commented on my outfit, saying how I looked summery and it made her feel like it was summer too.It's barely even spring yet but to get through this cold weather, I think I shall be wearing more bright colours!

My next purchase is from Primark. I bought some brown brogues, exactly the same as my pink ones a while back, but I got it in the wrong size and after failing to search for the correct pair, I exchanged them for a pair of colourful, floral flared trousers which are awfully comfortable! Alas, my legs are too short in them so I need to take them up. Excuse the grainy photos.

Topshop boater hat £15, Topshop scalloped shirt £24, Primark floral flares £12.

I'm having so much fun making these GIFs! Pity they make the image quality even worse though.

The new Max Factor nail varnishes are such darlings! The colours are to die for and they come in a really cute, small pot. I purchased the coral last week and now have my eye on the gorgeous copper!

love ox

DIY: tie-dye

2011-03-11T19:08:00.003Z

What's not to love about these cute tie dye pairs of socks? But why not re-create this using an old pair of white socks?

Source: Topshop

Socks, elastic band, dye, water, bucket, mix, dry. And as my dear friend meerkat says: Simples!

Do try it out, it's so much fun! I'd love to see how everyone's turns out and how it looks in different colours.

love ox

P.S. Thanks for all who have entered my giveaway! Hello to all new followers - hope you enjoy my blog!

P.P.S. Does anyone know how to make margins larger?

200 Giveaway! (CLOSED)

2011-03-05T20:21:00.006Z

To celebrate Vintage Stop's 200 followers, I'm hosting a giveaway which includes a personal staple in my wardrobe - lots and lots of socks in different colours, patterns, materials and designs, along with a book informing of international bloggers - what could be more suitable!

Style Diaries features today's most compelling fashion bloggers and offers access to a vibrant community of people who may very well be the most influential forces behind tomorrow's trend.

To enter: All you need to do is be a follower and comment below with your e-mail address. For two extra entries, mention/ link this giveaway on your blog or create absolutely anything arty including "Vintage Stop" in it - take a photo of it and e-mail it to me (it could be anything from a photo to a drawing to a blue-tack sculpture) or even both!

Terms & Conditions: Anyone can enter at no cost (p&p will be paid for) and if you do not reply to the "giveaway winner" e-mail, I will reallocate the prize. Winners will be picked by a random number selector. The deadline is the 1st of April 2011. Good luck!

love ox

LFWend

2011-02-28T22:11:00.003Z

My first London Fashion Weekend experience came the day before yesterday where Habin, Yanloi and I trekked to the beautiful Somerset House for the event. Unfortunately, we arrived five minutes late for the catwalk so had to make do with the disappointing "seats" - since it was so packed, we had to stand at the back with a rather poor view of the pieces. For me, the collections shown focusing on acid brights which I adore, was a bit of a let down as they were slightly uninventive and uninspiring for my liking. It all seemed to finish within the space of around ten minutes but luckily it ended with a bang! The Mark Fast collection had a more neutral colour scheme of nudes, off-whites, blacks and sky blues. It was filled with his trade mark intricate webbing but with a gorgeous fringing and crystalled adornment. It could not have been more fabulous! After the show, we browsed through the various designer, jewellery, vintage and make up stalls which were underwhelming. However, there were beautiful pieces of art hanging around the walls and ceilings, none of which I could afford though. This lack of spending caused me to delve into a refreshing fruit box and an olive/garlic/onion/gherkin snackbox which I can honestly say is one of the best snacks I have ever tasted. (I sound like a health freak, I know but trust me I love my junk too!) I now have a craving for pickled garlics and am also quite the expert in taking blurry photos:

Photos of my beautiful friends and my outfit: beeble

Beyond Retro vintage denim shirt, Mary's Topshop Unique denim shorts, Topshop bleached tights, Primark frilly socks, Topshop socks (which were once white but tie dyed - DIY to come), Topshop wedges

Overall, even though it was a worthwhile experience which I definitely do not regret, I don't think I'll be returning to London Fashion Weekend in the coming few years. Next up, I'll be sure to attend The Clothes Show this summer which I've heard is vastly better than London Fashion Weekend although it is not as prestigious. I'm also still yet to watch McQueen and I! Did anyone watch it?

love ox

P.S. Thank you for all my followers: both new and old. Keep your eyes peeled for my giveaway next week in my next post.

LFW

2011-02-22T19:19:00.007Z

I had planned for this to be my giveaway post but since I "lost" my purse yesterday, (was actually sitting at home whilst I was stressing out for a good few hours) I couldn't purchase anything so that'll have to wait until this weekend.

So, yesterday, Habin and I went to Somerset House, home to LFW where we took some street style photos. The cold weather brought us a lot of fur, aviator jackets, leather, wonderfully dyed hair, red lips and turbans. We even got asked by a few bloggers, a style photographer and a magazine for a photo of our outfit which was extremely flattering. The highlight of the day though was being interviewed by ELLE TV. I was so nervous that I kept stumbling on my words and all my answers to their questions were pretty dull and standard since I honestly didn't know what to say! Unfortunately I'm extremely unskilled at thinking fast on my feet and apologies for how awkward I look. I now have a collection of leaflets, magazines and newspapers to get me through this half term.

Photos: beeble

Topshop faux fur leopard print coat, Laura Ashley shirt, Mary's Topshop dress, Topshop boot heels.

For me, the LFW collections have been a mixture of highs and lows. Starting with Erdem, even though I love his trademark girly florals, I was actually quite happy to see them almost non-existant apart from the beautiful poppies since the cosmic prints are just glowing with beauty.

Topshop Unique for me, has always been a hit-and-miss. I'm not really a big fan of the dalmatian theme they've got going here. The shirts and shoes with the dog print and the hair will never be as good as the trademark Miu Miu ones and the hair at Chanel couture S/S11. Maybe they should have kept that bubblegum pink hair throughout but with different colours? The painted on dog noses I find a little tacky too but the genius to this collection are the fur trimmed coats for sure.

Finally, before I bore you all, I will end with my favourite collection so far: Giles. I'll let the perfection speak for itself.

Collection photos: Vogue

Oh, I'm also now the proud new owner of a vintage denim Rodarte style shirt which my sister currently has - I'll do a look including that as soon as I get my hands on it.

love ox

enstyle

2011-02-17T17:54:00.003Z

Launches this Monday!

Find me somewhere around the 50 second mark:

love ox

Weekend

2011-02-13T21:30:00.002Z

My weekend has been a lazy although productive one - if that exists. It's consisted of working, giving a blank tape to my dance teacher, going to a piano lesson, purchasing a few items, looking through old photos, practising the piano, getting to know my camera a bit more by taking random photos around the house, making a ridiculous amount cakes, living in my bed doing Art and eating a little too much. Story of my life in images:

None of these photos have been edited.

Book/ film review:

- I came across The Virgin Suicides on a blog which intrigued me and after discussing to my friend about various films we wanted to see, she told me how sad yet very well written the book is and lent it to me - so far I'm a quarter of the way through and I totally agree. I cannot wait until I've finished the book so I can watch the film which stars Kirsten Dunst.

- I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the other night after wanting to watch it for ages. Unfortunately, I had already read the plot up on trusty Wikipedia a while ago so I already knew what would come up. There were no suprises but I still managed to be moved by the extremely upsetting plot! Even though it's an incredibly long film, it's worth a watch (mainly just for the Brad loving). After I had finished it, I could do nothing except think about death - something that normally happens when I can't get to sleep which I really hate.

Do you have any more film/ book recommendations?

love ox
P.S. Thank you to all my 200 followers! Giveaway coming up very soon!

Birds

2011-02-06T16:05:00.007Z

I had such a lovely weekend with my girls which included watching Tangled which is brilliant, so entertaining and playing Just Dance - a Wii game that I am now planning to purchase. I haven't done an outfit post in ages so here's what I wore. You can find it on LB here. (Please mind my sisters' extremely messy room and my no makeup, post sleepover face)

Beyond Retro jacket, Primark dress, M&S tights, Topshop wedges.

Isn't it so great when you find little treasures from Primark? I was pretty suprised when I found this rip-off Miu Miu printed dress there for £9 and it was so cute I thought I should buy it right away. It also comes in black and turquoise as well as this peach. I'm also fascinated with their new nail foil collection. I've been lusting over a gold foil set right after I saw Shini of Park & Cube wear them about a year ago so now I'm just waiting for Primark to expand their design collection since right now they have leopard print, stripes and skulls - all of which are pretty tacky.

love ox

P.S. I've watched a couple more films than I ought to have done. Marie Antoinette - so beautiful, definitely a yes for the fashion although it was let down by the dull plot. Love and Other Drugs - so predictable and not that great. Moulin Rouge - I suppose I had high expectations for the film and I already knew what the plot was so I didn't find it that amazing but the dances and choices of songs were spectacular. Planning to watch The Curious Incident of Benjamin Button and An Education this week if I have time - hopefully I'll enjoy them!

Never Let Me Go

2011-01-30T19:57:00.005Z

A film recommended to me by my friend, Laura with Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andy Garfield, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. I must admit, it was a little hard to get into in the beginning, partly because the plot was a little confusing and it dragged on for a bit. However, after I had really got into it (and finished multitasking with my Art), I realised it really is quite a beautiful, original plot, with stunning filmography (you'll see later on as I got a bit carried away with all the images) and Carey deserved all those awards and nominations she received for portraying the protagonist. I don't want to spoil it too much, as I urge you all to go and watch it, but it's about three people who live in what seems like an entirely different society and are born to be donors who have to endure a carer and donor process.

I went to Westfield today with Esme and Katy and there was a big board filled with post-it notes with what people hoped for this year. Some of them were quite amusing:

love ox
P.S. One more follower to make 200! Thanks everyone for all your lovely comments. Watch out for a giveaway coming up soon.

Spring

2011-01-28T20:03:00.006Z

As much as I love my new leopard print coat, I can not wait until it is cool enough to not need to wear my coat to school - a sign that spring has come. I must say, after Christmas and the new year, I'm not such a big fan of winter. No matter how many layers I wear, I always find a way to feel cold and there should be a rule about not being allowed to leave for school when it's still dark! My normal winterwear consists of:

Coral and orange chunky scarf that my mum skilfully knitted.

Topshop leopard print coat - ~~£90~~ £45

Topshop fawn tailored trousers, £32

Primark pink brogues, £7

And of course all of that is topped up with a heavy, tartan bag (mainly filled with food) and a hot pink folder.

Although it's not quite spring yet and most shops don't have their full spring/ summer collection out yet, I've been browsing Topshop and have picked out a few favourites, complete with nudes, cupro, coral, leather, suede, tassels, terracotta and chiffon.

Speaking of spring, what do you think of Miu Miu's new campaign? Where has the Miu Miu I've known and loved gone? I'm not really feeling this model or these printed dresses either.

Aah, this is more like it! The last image is so KG.

Source: www.fashiongonerogue.com

love ox
P.S. If you are interested in makeup at all, visit Bobo Lee's giveaway and for bits and bobs, visit her online store.
P.P.S. Hiven have an incredible giveaway of a pair of Jeffrey Campbell heels of your choice! Enter here.

Alexander McQueen Pre-Fall 11

2011-01-22T20:37:00.004Z

After school on Friday, I thought I'd pop to M&S to buy Vogue seeing as I've been feeling fashion-deprived. Alas, there were none left and why is it that this month has the worst celebrities on every single magazine? Justin Bieber - Vanity Fair, Kelly Osbourne - Cosmopolitan, Cheryl Cole - ELLE, Abbey Clancey - Glamour Magazine and others included Kara Tointon and Kate Middleton. There's nothing more irritating than reading about someone I don't really like. I ended up buying £10 worth of salads - very worth it though!

I just saw the new McQueen collection which is lovely - it's chic and fresh but it also makes me annoyed. Is it really the image McQueen has shown from the past few years? The shoes are incredibly plain and I find most of it very Karl-ish with a military twist, although I do really fancy the red oversized coat - probably the only item I really see as a McQueen one. What do you think?

love ox
P.S. I've edited my blog layout a bit. Yay or nay?

Black Swan

2011-01-16T21:29:00.004Z

I recently watched Black Swan, an Aronofsky film which blew me away. It was the first movie I had seen starring Natalie Portman (yes, I admit I haven't watched Star Wars) - and she really is an amazing actress. I did a bit of wiki-ing about her, and I admire her choice of chosing education, being a Harvard student, over acting. I love dance in general and after watching the trailer which did creep me out a little, I decided to watch it online. The plot was very intriguing and dealt with the pressures of being a ballet dancer. I won't go into the plot as I really recommend you watching so here's a little animation - pretty scary!

Source

Expect more GIFS to come. I feel that Tumblr is the place to go for animations so I thought why not bring them to Blogspot? Here are a few Tumblrs which are all full of eye candy:

♥ Dazed In The Flowers ✝

♥ eve-rei

♥ OH SO COCO!

♥ not all bears are the same bear.
♥ Rides A Bike

♥ Supernova

I've also recently come across a bunch of amazing blogs - all extremely contrasting:

♥ are we really all sweet girls inside?

♥ creep

♥ devorelebeauxmonstre.

♥ THE FOX

♥ Violetta E.

I leave you with a piece that I haven't been able to stop listening to - very different to the song I finished with in my previous post!

love ox

Old

2011-01-12T18:45:00.005Z

I haven't used the family computer for what seems like months now since the internet decided to stop working (I'm on the laptop now) so yesterday, as I was printing my Art homework out on the computer, I decided to go through some old photos and videos. I came across a set of photos that my sister, Liz took a year ago which is probably one of my favourite photoshoots of hers and since I haven't taken any photos/ outfit photos in a while, I thought I'd share them with you all.

Liz Photography ©

I've abandoned Capital FM since now they just drive me crazy with their repetitive song choices so I've resorted to playing XFM whilst doing my work. I haven't been into music for the past few years so it was nice to hear that XFM were still playing some old favourites of mine by the Kaiser Chiefs, Jimmy Eat World and Blink-182 and now they've introduced me to Vampire Weekend, Two Door Cinema Club and Neon Trees (I'm slow I know) which I love and so I leave you with Vampire Weekend's Cousins.

love ox

Swallows on my feet

2011-01-10T16:19:00.005Z

Topshop sales, you know how to make a girl happy - I LOVE YOU!

Black swallow cross strap suede wedges = ~~£68~~ ~~£40~~ £36!

This was such an impulsive buy and I'll probably never wear them out - I just walked around my mum's room in them and I managed to twist my ankle twice seeing as the sole is so narrow but they can sit on their throne looking pretty.

love ox

Boxing Day

2010-12-31T13:19:00.001Z

Boxing Day. The one day of the year where teenage girls go mad in the hunt for some special, discounted purchases. Unfortunately, I had a late start to the day as Anchors Aweigh was on TV - a Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra musical and I was enjoying it so much but I couldn't even finish the film as my sisters and I had to head off for Oxford Street at a rather late 2pm. (I'll be purchasing loads of old 40s and 50s musicals now, love them!)

We hit the big department stores - Selfridges, Debenhams and House of Fraser, as I was on the search for Lola by Marc Jacobs. But alas, I was too late as pretty much all the perfumes were gone. Nevertheless, the next stop was Topshop where it was packed with girls. Seriously, I have never seen so many people crowded around one clothes rack. Trying to move was impossible, it was worse than getting on the 65 bus, now that's saying something! To my surprise, half the floor was filled with sale items but because of the massive crowd, I couldn't take a proper look at everything. However, I did pick up a good old faux fur leopard print coat which was £45 (thank god for the student card) reduced from £98! Now, normally I absolutely hate leopard print with a huge passion as I think it looks tacky and rather chavy but I think I've grown to love it on fur. I also bought a mustard cropped tee, £18 which I thought would look pretty cute with some high waisted shorts and scarf-headband. I'm off to Richmond now to buy a buttercup yellow cropped jumper as well as to see what other sale items are still on offer.

Sorry for the bad quality photos, I was in a hurry!

It's just hit me that this is my last post of 2010! I hope everyone has a good new years celebration. What's everyone doing tonight?

love ox

CHRISTMAS!

2010-12-28T14:13:00.004Z

Firstly, sorry this is a tad late. I couldn't find my sister's camera which had all my photos on so couldn't upload anything. Anyway, I was extremely bored a few nights ago, so I thought it was time to dispose of the year old Christmas cards I have stacked up in my cupboard, do something creative with them and make a special Christmas collage for all you special readers.

This year, Christmas day was like no other. My family and I spent the night before playing Mario Kart Wii until 1 am which is why I woke up the next day at noon. I was more excited at seeing my mum's reaction to opening the presents my sisters and I bought her, rather than at the prospect of opening my own. We bought her a sheet of personalised stamps with a family photo on it since she collects stamps, a bottle of Dior cleansing oil which came in a beautiful, pearly box and a Swarovski necklace, which was adorned in tiny crystals. She was ecstatic of course which was lovely to watch. I myself got £60, slippers, £20 M&S voucher, a Topshop knitted headband and as of next week, I will be the 9870988097807th person this Christmas to be the proud owner of a new Blackberry!

(I am currently in love with my sister's Sony Cybershot. It makes even a crap photographer like myself take in my opinion, pretty good photos.

Thank you Background Blur setting!)

Christmas dinner is definitely my favourite part of the day - turkey, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, roast potatoes, brussel sprouts and parsnips, combined together make my perfect festive dish. I was really looking forward to taking photos of the massive feast my parents had prepared but since the Lee household had twenty guests round, I didn't want to get my camera out. Next year, I'll definitely be looking forward to a peaceful family night in as I was forced to make small talk which I don't particularly enjoy and I had such headaches sitting in the living room packing with people who talk to loud! It got so boring that my sister and I resorted to making concoctions with my uncle's vodka. There is also currently a large amount of leftovers in the kitchen so I'll be getting ready for many turkey sandwiches to come!

I hope your Christmas was a good one and now it's time to look forward to new years!

It's the season, of love and understanding. Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas - Shakin' Stevens

love ox

*

2010-12-18T16:32:00.005Z

I hope everyone is enjoying the run up to Christmas day, being stuffed with chocolates until feeling sick, school Christmas dinners, playing in the several inches of snow and the Christmas shopping. I for one, haven't started the shopping yet so I will find myself extremely busy next week and heavily in debt after wards, especially since I have my eye on a lovely pair of snuggly-looking boots for £50. To buy or not to buy? That is the question.

Topshop never fails to make me feel festive and it makes me want to buy everything the model is wearing. My wardrobe is currently filled with spring/summer items so I shall be hoping to welcome winter outfits to my wardorbe! I cannot wait for Boxing Day Sales. I plan to hit Knightsbridge for Kurt Geiger, Topshop (of course), Zara and H&M.

I will end with my favourite song at the moment which was kindly killed by One Direction last week.

"If I was a sculptor, but then again no. Or a girl who makes potions in, a travelling show."

Your Song - Ellie Goulding

love ox

Alexander McQueen Sample Sale

2010-12-06T17:48:00.001Z

After attending last year's Alexander McQueen sample sale and not being able to afford anything, I was determined to make sure that I would be rich enough this year to be able to buy an item. So, when I received a few emails asking to attend it, I thought why not since my school has generously given us two "snow days" and I have saved up a little bit of money. Luckily, the building which hosts the event is near Liz's school so there was no way of getting lost, unlike last year where we literally walked around the same circle for about twenty minutes.

Head to toe:

- M&S faux fur Cossack hat, £15.

- H&M striped jersey maxi dress, £24.99.

We were greeted by the familiar, grand building - complete with Christmas decorations and handrailings of beautiful clothes. Most of the clothes were from McQueen's Spring/Summer 2007 collection, so the room was mostly filled with intricate embroidery, leather, snakeskin, fur, drapery and chiffon.

Although everything was 50-70% off, my budget couldn't cover the cost of the items that I really had my eyes on, my target was to purchase at least one small accessory. I had my eye on several items including a summery buttercup yellow shawl, a gorgeous white and green skull chiffon scarf and a white cotton top which was lined with silk but in the end, I opted for a white suede belt which had a beautiful gold, pearly buckle, £40.

[Photos by Elizabeth Lee]

"I really want Louis, Dolce Gabbana, Alexander McQueen, eh ou, madam love these minolo."

- Fashion by Lady Gaga

love ox

P.S. There's a Temperly sample sale some time next week in Mayfair. I'm not sure if I'll have enough money left by then but I might go just to see what it's like.
P.P.S. Thanks to all my followers and readers, nearly hitting 200!

FLORENCE!

2010-12-01T18:17:00.005Z

I can now say that I adore two types of Florence: the first that is the red head Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine and also the beautifully structured building-packed Florence of Italy. It's like stepping into a film like Down With Love or Edward Scissorhands where the colour scheme is so consistent and powerful. I had such an amazing four days with arty farties that I can feel an extremely long post coming along.

Starting with places, we went to New Market which was a pretty cool market place which sold beautiful venetian masks, glass beaded bracelets, incredible leather bags, postcards, and other touristy items. I managed to buy a mask, €10, a Firenze bracelet, €2 and with my amazing haggling skills, I managed to buy 5 €5.50 glass bead bracelets for €25 altogether for my sisters, mum and I. Around the corner, there was another stall selling cute antique French postcards, books and magazines and I found an amusing postcard of David's manhood saying "ciao" so at 20 cents, I thought why not? The Duomo was an incredible building, so big with so much intricate detail and colour, it was breathtaking. No amount of photos will do it justice to how it is in real life. Anyway, there was a row of shops there where I bought some pasta in the shape of wheels, €3.50 (you got to buy pasta from Italy right?), silvery-pistacchio glitter nail varnish by Kiko, €3.90 and an "I ♥ Firenze top" for €4. Other places we visited were the Ponte Vecchio, a beautiful view of a bridge over a river with buildings either side of it. Oh and there was a Miu Miu right on the corner of our hotel street which I visited perhaps too often. I am still on a quest to be able to afford something from there. On the penultimate day, we went to Siena, which is similar to Florence but has more of an antique and earthy feeling to it and we spent our time there in a museum, also sitting at the centre of the Piazza del Campo drawing the scenery around us. I had a pizza everyday for lunch, on top of five different flavoured pizzas on the last day. Since the end of the trip, I couldn't eat another pizza for a few weeks! Now time for photo overload:

"In my good times there were always rocks to throw."

- Postcards from Italy by Florence and the Machine

love ox

I want to be a Topshop girl

2010-11-11T18:00:00.002Z

Firstly, sorry I haven't posted about Florence yet even though it's been a few weeks since I've come back. My internet on the computer where my photos are isn't working, so that'll have to wait.

So for now, I leave you with a video of Topshop's winter wear. 44 days until Christmas!

love ox

Pre-Florence!

2010-10-20T20:18:00.001+01:00

On Friday morning, I shall be heading off to Florence with the Art girlies! I'm super duper excited because I've never been to Italy before so hopefully this will be an enjoyable experience, and also I'm more than happy to get away from this typical English weather. I'm not sure whether my Florence trip has been an excuse or not, but I felt a shopping trip was much needed so here's what I bought:

I thought I'd go to Primark to see if I'd still be impressed by it from my last visit there and I certainly am now. I'm not much a jewelry person, just earrings, probably because all the beautiful jewelry at Accessorize are normally so overpriced so when I saw this cute bird cage in Primark, I knew I should pick it up for just £2. There are so many replicas in Accessorize which are slightly bigger but they're all around £10. I also bought a snake bangle/bracelet which was pretty mesmerising. I think it's the diamonds on it, it kind of gives it a luring/ enchanting feeling so for £3, there was definitely no hesitation. My last buy here was a pair of pink heart tights, £2. I had seen them last year in Topshop but for more than three times the price at Primark so I was thrilled to see them there.

I also took a trip to the Antique Store in Kingston as I was determined to buy something after falling in love with the shop from my first visit there. I managed to pick out quite a few beautiful items but had to restrict it to just two so I decided to go with the brown midi skirt, £12 which I thought is perfect for autumn, as well as some very cute navy velvet slippers, £5 which I'll be wearing out (let's hope it doesn't rain much in Florence).

This is probably the only essential item that I need for Florence, and that is a watch! Urban Outfitters have the most lovely range of watches and very good prices so I thought it was completely mandatory to purchase one for £16.

Finally, I've left the best until last. You're probably thinking "wow, the quality of her images has improved quite a bit" or something to that extent. My dad bought me (although I had to contribute £50) a wonderful camera - Fujifilm FinePix S1600, £150. I originally wanted a small digi like the Samsung 2view one but the quality wasn't so great so I went for this one instead. It's so great, it has panorama, 12.8mega-pixels, shutter-settings, x15 zoom, video capture, dual image stabilisation, etc. I'm still playing around with the settings so I am yet to completely master it. (No photos of it because they all turned out pretty bad and my hand looked really fat and wrinkly!)

love ox
P.S Eve, Habin, Rosa and myself have set up a school fashion magazine called FRINGE. You can be updated by going on: http://www.fringe-magazine.blogspot.com/

"Where troubles melt like lemon drops"

2010-10-13T17:33:00.006+01:00

Camel has become one of my favourite colours this year, probably because it has been featured in so many fall/winter collections and that it is such a pleasant, warming neutral colour which complements just about any other colour. Since I need to build up on my skirt collection (none of mine satisfy the school rule), there are conveniently two beautiful camel skirts from Topshop.

First up is a flannel flippy skirt, £35. It seems a bit flimsy and I'd love it if the folds were more sharp and structured. But I'm a sucker for anything pleated so... And next there's the flannel button A-line skirt, also £35. The structure is so perfect and simple, the buttons give it a lovely touch too. It could be a nice change from the usual pleats so I'm swaying more towards this pair but what do you think?

Now for some eye candy, I'm absolutely in love with Tim Walker's recent photoshoot with Karlie Kloss, it's so breathtakingly stunning. The contrast between the black and gold against her pale face is something pretty special. It'd be a dream come true if I was as fierce as Karlie, being shot by my all time favourite photographer!

[Photos: Models]

love ox
P.S I was just flicking around on the Stats section of my Blogger and came across a Style Bubble link. I clicked on it and saw that I was on her "London's Burning with Blogs" list! I couldn't believe it! I was literally staring at the screen for a few minutes with shock and then I clicked on "Vintage Stop" just to check that it was me! Wow, to be in a list with Fifi Lapin and Park &Cube, chosen by Susie herself, thank you! Check it out, here.

I also find it particularly humourous how when "asian girl striped tights", "vintage black doll with huge lips" and "Topshop student shop" is typed into Google, I come up!

Topshop Student Shop

2010-10-02T13:05:00.004+01:00

Kingston Topshop was the host of the Student Shop on Wednesday, where all student-card holders were entitled to 20% off all items instead of the original 10%. Being an annual event, I had heard stories about their giving out of free tops, goody bags and vouchers from last year and so I was determined to make it this year so I quickly applied for an ISIC card just for the event!

Luckily, Eve, Habin, Yanloi and myself, managed to be second in the queue as we got there an hour early. Waiting was pretty intense as it was raining, we saw the queue grow longer and longer past several shops and there was a Topshop employer standing in front of the shop with his megaphone, advertising the event. Another employer spotted me in the queue and asked to take a photo of my outfit for their Student Shop street style which made me very flattered! I also had to answer several questions and being put on the spot, my answers were quite dull. For example, one of the questions were: "How would you describe people's style at school?" and I honestly didn't know what to write down so I just wrote: "Mixed. Huge variety" which he said was fine but I felt so silly for having short and cliche answers. I wore a Topshop Boutique pinafore, my mum's vintage shirt, mum's floral long sleeved top from Laura Ashley, brown stirrups from Taiwan and pink Primark brogues. (The photo isn't up yet on Facebook but I'll be sure to upload it here as soon as possible)

Finally, it was time to go in and they handed everyone flavoured vitamin water - so so nice that I want to only drink vitamin water now. I looked inside shoes, underneath hats and in between railings for any Topshop vouchers but it looked like there were none so instead, I picked up anything relatively nice that I liked, ending up with two very aching arms and about ten items of clothing. Being the indecisive person that I am, it literally took me about half an hour to decide what I wanted to purchase so in the end, taking into account that I have no pairs of trousers for school, I ended up with a pair of tailored camel hareem pants, ~~£38~~ £30, a pair of sky blue-grey wide leg floaty chiffon trousers, ~~£40~~ £32 and a brown ribbed crop long sleeved top, ~~£14~~ £10 with the grand total being ~~£90~~ £72; the wonders of the student card! Because I spend over £40, I was given a free tote bag with sweets and chocolate inside and a Topshop mirror. Although I was sligtly disappointed that there were no goody bags, (which they said everyone would get on the website!) free tops or vouchers, it was overall a very exciting event and I will definitely be returning next year! (Excuse the awful quality of photos, I'm trying to persuade my dad to buy me a camera soon and excuse the crimpledness of my trousers, I had worn them the day before and couldn't be bothered to iron them but I'll post outfit photos with them soon)

To add to my very exciting week, I got chosen to be a Maths and Art prefect! I was so happy that I couldn't stop squealing during assembly and my Maths teacher sitting a few rows behind me told me and my friend to shutup. Unfortunately, I can't be subject associates for both subjects so I'll be chosing Maths for sure.

I've also started wearing a new colour of nail varnish a month. September saw "iced mocha" being worn and this October, it's auburn. (Bloggers being rubbish and not rotating my photos and excuse my nail being contaminated by silver screen print ink)

I hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

love ox

NYFW S/S11

2010-09-17T21:35:00.005+01:00

Wtih New York Fashion Week already in full bloom, we all know that Marchesa is the one that has set the standards incredibly high with it's beautifully intricate paper like cutting designs and couture-like silhouettes. For me, it's up there with Dior couture/ Alexander McQueen which is such a rarity! So, instead I thought I'd share a video on the runway and behind the scenes by Justin Wu. It contains my favourite people; Mr & Mrs J from ANTM, Jourdan Dunn, Chanel Iman, Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick and of course, Karlie Kloss. Speaking of Gossip Girl and Karlie Kloss, has anyone already started watching season 4 online? Watch out for a snippet of Karlie in it!

Boys & Girls of New York Fashion Week SS2011 from Justin Wu on Vimeo.

love ox
P.S. I promise, American vs. British Vogue next!

Trousers Shopping

2010-09-12T18:15:00.002+01:00

I'm a week into 6th form and I'm currently loving it. The novelty of wearing my own choice of clothes has worn off so I decided to go trousers shopping with mother. Marks &Spencers, Topshop, H&M, New Look and River Island failed to meet both my mother and I's requirements so standing there, was Primark, my last hope. I've never really properly shopped in Primark before. If I have, it's always for bits and bobs like tights, eyelash curlers, underwear, the like so you could say that yesterday was my first real experience there. Even though it's September, I was glad to see rows of items on sale so instead of searching for trousers I managed to find a romper, £13, a knitted pink top, £9 £5, a blue chiffon bow top, £8 £3 and a pair of slightly heeled brogues which I am currently in love with at the moment, £12. Move over Topshop, Primark is now my new love. Okay, maybe not but I'll definitely be making more trips there, especially for shoes!

I also bought an "iced mocha" shade of nail varnish by No 7 for £1.75 as I had a £5 voucher. It's Speed Dry so hurrah! My impatience does not come at all handy when painting nails.

love ox
P.S. Next post: American vs. British Vogue. Stay tuned!

Back to School

2010-09-05T15:26:00.001+01:00

My favourite time of year has rapidly come to a close. I think I'd sacrifice Christmas and have spring and summer all year round. Winter; when it goes dark as early as 6PM and the freezing weather which makes my temper go bad and want to stay in bed all day. Anyway, it's time for school now and it's time to say hello to Art, Chemistry, Economics, General Studies, Maths and dare I say it... P.E, as well as free periods, lunch trips to Ham and Kingston, spending forever deciding what to wear that bode with the school uniform rule and the microwave and kettle!

One thing I always look forward to in the beginning of the academic year is stationery shopping! My pencil case is always brimming full in the beginning but by summer, everything manages to disappear.

A photo of most my books. I just ordered two Chemistry books from Amazon yesterday and I'm still waiting for an Art book which I ordered three weeks ago!

love ox

Style Bubble Yard Sale

2010-08-22T21:19:00.004+01:00

Summer: Day Sixty-One
22/08/10
After failing to go to the Emma Cook sample sale, I was determined to make my way to the blogger's yard sale and so with my sister, Liz, we did.

Here's what I wore:

Head to toe:

- Richard Niccol for Topshop striped crop top, ~~£32~~ £10.

- Topshop boutique pinafore, £60.

- M&S knnited maize cardigan. (Mama's)

- M&S cotton tights, £3.

- A-Sa trainers. (Mama's precious shoes which she hasn't even worn before! She was so reluctant for me to wear them since she's worried they'll get dirty but there's no stopping me! Literally, these are the most comfy pairs of shoes in the world. You do not know what comfort is like until you wear these; every step is like stepping in jelly!)

After two bus journeys, one tube journey and half an hour of wandering around the area aimlessly, very much lost, I was starting to give up and go somewhere else but then we decided to retrace our steps and luckily found the location due to a group of very trendy people coming out of a car park.

There were tables, railings and suitcases full of clothes centered in the middle of the car park and free food; hot dogs, satay chicken and lemonade on one side. Stylish people, half of them carrying DSLRs, scattered the space. It was a perfect amount of people; not too little to make it seem awkward and not a large overcrowding amount either. I spotted my friends there; Lily, Gwen, Jazz and Rebecca who also got lost on the way and had bags full of bargains already!

I started to look around and noticed Style Bubble at her stall. Yes, Susie Lau of Style Bubble! Just looking at her and realising that I was less than a meter away from her made me feel nervous some how. As I wrote in my year book, my ambition is "to be happy and successful and to also meet one of my beloved fashion figures in life" and I did. I guess I'm half way there then! Going up to her to ask about prices and asking for a photo (an excuse for a tiny conversation) was difficult since there was always someone talking to her. I do wish I had a proper chat with her though because she seemed really lovely!

I managed to buy a pair of gorgeous and comfortable booty-heels from Susie for £5 and a black mesh long cardigan, orginally from Banana Republic from Kit of Style Slicker. Liz also managed to buy some lovely goodies so click here to check it out.

Here are countless photos of the sale:

Round the corner on the high street was a very large Japanese vintage shop which we browsed in. The prices came in great ranges and I managed to find two cute shirts for £1 each and so I bought them for Mary since she requested for some bargains. More photos:

Items I bought from the sale and from the vintage shop:

That's all for now! I hope everyone's having a lovely summer!

love ox

P.S. 150 followers? You make me smile, all of you!

Food

2010-08-22T15:43:00.003+01:00

Summer: Day Sixty
21/08/10

I spent the day with Alex and her friends, Fred and Sherry and the day was filled with a mountain of food; dim sum and ice cream and arcade games in Trocadero. The best part was that Alex paid for everything for me. Yes, everything, even the £1 tube fare! (How much of a tramp am I?) Here is my day in photos:

love ox
P.S. Look out for my next post on Style Bubble's yard sale! It was an incredible day full of brilliant clothes at brilliant prices, free food and a cute ferret!

Vloggers

2010-08-18T22:06:00.005+01:00

Did anyone manage to see a shooting star a few nights ago? I made the same wish four or five times but I could have mistaken the shooting stars for normal stars and aeroplanes which is why I think aeroplanes shouldn't be allowed to fly out on meteor show nights! I'm not superstitious as such but I just hope at least one of them was a shooting star just for experience you know?

I haven't posted in a while so I thought I'd do a brief one now:

Summer: Day Forty-Eight
11/08/10

Went out to Oxford Street with Habin where we tried on a large array of clothes in Topshop and American Apparel. American Apparel is insanely priced but they do have a few true beauties. I managed to find two items which I'm absolutely lusting for - taupe riding pants and a nude chiffon double-layered full length skirt whilst Habin bought several items herself. For lunch, we went to eat at Arirang, a Korean restaurant just off Oxford St, near Beyond Retro which is so delicious and cheap. They gave us a few side dishes, drinks and watermelon for free as well! Korean/ oriental food is the best. We then met up with Ellie and Yanloi at Carnaby Street as they had just been to visit the Maison Martin Margiela 10 exhibition (I need a pair of Tabi boots!) and back we went to Oxford Street Topshop and Urban Outfitters where we browsed a little.

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Fifty

13/08/10

Esme and Katy-loving day! We relaxed in Richmond, browsed through shops, spent about ten minutes looking at pictures of cakes in recipe books and ate delicious vinegary chips on the green. It was still pretty early so we went back to Esme's and they introduced me to video blogger, Charlie. A big thumbs up for anyone who attempts to drink ketchup! I request everyone to Youtube him now if you haven't heard of him. We then made blueberry muffins (blueberry muffins are always the best type of muffins) and finished watching Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers from last time and started watching a bit of the third before my mother called to request me to come back home. Whenever Aragorn and Eowyn were together onscreen, I couldn't help but stare at their bum chins move as they talked. If it weren't for the beautiful Arwen, they could be made for each other.

In the evening, Liz introduced me to several other video bloggers with my favourite being KevJumbo. To be honest, I think his father is even more hilarious than he himself! I find Asian jokes hilarious because I really understand what Kevin is talking about since my parents, especially my mother, is a strict Chinese.

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Fifty-Two
15/08/10

After work, off I went to Westfield with Mary where we tried on a stack of outfits in Topshop and ate a large amount of food from M&S to eat there and for the long bus journey home too. As you can see, a love for food runs in the family.

"Can we pretend that aeroplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars. I could really use a wish right now."

- Airplanes by B.O.B and Hayley Williams. (I know I've already used this lyric before but it's more relevant here :))

love ox

P.S. I'm thinking of revamping my blog layout - any suggestions? Don't hesitate to be picky in regards to anything, whether it's the font, side bar content, tags, more photos wanted, etc.

Miu Miu F/W10 Campaign

2010-08-10T21:30:00.003+01:00

It feels like summer is quickly going with all these autumnal collections and campaigns coming out and for me, autumn-winter is the worst time of year when it comes to weather and clothes!

Watch fresh-faced beauties Lindsey Wixson, Ginta Lapina, Daphne Groeneveld and Siri Tollerod dripping in everything fabulous and Miu Miu in its' F/W10 ad campaign:

Brilliant campaign though it is, lets be realistic. I love you Prada (I'm even naming my child Miuccia) but sunglasses, adorned strapless dresses and fabulous shoes aren't exactly appropriate for autumn or winter. Does it annoy you when designers and some high street shops have collections a season forward and when the clothes don't fit the particular season?

“It is a time to look toward the future, without denying the past.”

- Miuccia Prada

love ox

BBQ/ London

2010-08-08T13:50:00.008+01:00

Summer: Day Forty-Three
06/08/10

I aimed to leave the house at 8.45 to get to Westfield at their opening time of 10AM to browse through the Topshop sale as they have added new items to the line. From looking at the internet, I spied some lovlies which include a knot front crop top, an oversized sheer striped top, a lace and ribbon slot crop top, a bandeau bodysuit by Annie Greenabelle and a pair of Frances stud sandals. I wanted to be one of the first to check it out in store when it is nice and quiet where I can spend quality time looking at each item and then still be on time to head off to Aashna's for her barbeque in the afternoon but I couldn't bring myself to get out of my warm, comfortable bed so instead I left the house at a later time to browse through the Richmond Topshop instead. I never find any nice pieces of clothes from that particular store but I always discover gorgeous, cheap lingerie and hosiery. However, today there wasn't anything spectacular but I managed to exchange my plum pair of cotton socks that I had bought the previous week for a white pair with a light green ribbon and I also found a pair of plain, cream socks which were £1!

I then made my way to Aashna's house and with Eve, Gwen and Lizzy, we attempted to get the coal burning but with the typical English weather going against us with its' frequent gust of wind, we were unable to get it going so we grilled the food instead and compensated the failed barbeque by eating outside. That succeeded with doses of Friends, House, Indiana Jones, good old Sims 3 and one of the best ice creams alive, that is Solero!

H2T:

(I got like 12034723057 disapproving glares when walking down the street and boarding the bus, mainly from old grannies)

- Marks & Spencer blue collared shirt. (Officially stolen from ma)

- Pink leotard from Ealing Dance Studio. (My first leotard for modern which wasn't actually the proper uniform!)

- American Apparel lilac bloomer pants, £19. (Yanloi's present for my 16th. My parents and Alex were literally begging me not to wear these shorts since they hate them so much because apparantly they resemble knickers/ pjs/ nappies. But of course, I didn't listen to them!)

- Topshop pink flower patterned ankle socks, 3 for £7.

- A-SA white leather velcro trainers. (Officially stolen from ma. The comfiest pair of shoes alive!)

When I arrived home, Alex had bought a box of Krispy Kremes and Forrest Gump so we all watched that. Personally, I think it's a must-see film. I have a new found repect for Tom Hanks and his performance reminded me of Leo's also brilliant performance in What's Eating Gilbert Grape? as both characters have slight disabilities. This film had essences of The Notebook with the whole seperation of the two protagonists and their love and also Titanic with how Forrest retold his story. I find it amusing that one of the Jonas brothers tweeted about it, spelling it "Forest" instead, and then the incorrect spelling becoming a trending topic!

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Forty-Four

07/08/10

Being a loyal follower to Topshop's blog, INSIDE OUT, I found out about Topshop's featured designer, Emma Cook's Sample Sale that was held yesterday and today. I don't own an Emma Cook item, not only because they are over-priced but also because I've never really seen an item that I've absolutely loved but when I read the "£15 bargain rail", I knew I had to give Cook a second chance and visit the sale.

However, this changed when I saw the location of it - near Hackney! Two trains would be needed as well as two buses and a short walk and being my lazy self, I decided I couldn't be bothered to go just as I had boarded the first train, as influenced by my sister, Liz who didn't want to go anyway. Sad face! :(

So, we shot off to Oxford Circus with the first stop being Topshop (as always) as I mainly wanted to check out the sale but when I arrived, I was disappointed as there was no lingerie sale rack which is one of my main priorities during sale times since I always get my lingerie in the Topshop sale; hurrah for £3 bras! I did find many crop tops and strapless bodies at great prices though none came in my size. We drifted off to the boutique and designer area when I spotted the designer sale rack and I immediately reached for the Richard Nicoll items. I grabbed a pink and white striped cropped tee and when I saw the price of just £10, it got me extremely excited regardless of the fact that the smallest size available was a size 10. I then looked to the rack near the designer sale one, where I swear my heart could have stopped beating for a moment.

There it was, a dusty pink pinafore, complete with a lovely set of pleats - my best friends. I looked at the label. Topshop Boutique. My heart melted, I knew the price would be ridiculous so when I saw the £60 price tag, I quickly grabbed the only size 6 that was there, and went to sit down on the silver chairs with my sister to deliberate what I should do and also because my feet were killing me and I could feel a blister coming along. I can never save money however hard I try to and not having pocket money and before a few weeks ago, not having a job didn't help either! So when I received £100 from work experience and £20 from shadowing a leisure assistant at school, I was determined to spend less and I even gave myself a rule not to let my bank account go below £50. I had succeeded in that during the past five weeks. My sister has a student ID card so if I bought both items in my hand, I could save £7! Slightly more reassuring but on the other hand, I could just get the one Richard Niccol top and save £54! Decisions decisions. Liz and I sat there for about half an hour going through the pros and cons, going back and forth until I made up my mind that I would not only get the striped crop top but also the dress. I re-assured myself that I would earn £50 from my leisure assistant job this summer and maybe a bit from tutoring and so I bought both items.

However, when I met Alex after she got her hair cut, she gave me such a disapproving look, not only because she thought what I was wearing was completely hideous, but also because I spent so much when I still owe her a birthday present! (In my defence, I offered to get her a YSL manicure set, £37 a few weeks ago which she wanted but she changed her mind at the last minute) We then went off to Muji, John Lewis, Selfridges, House of Fraser and then lastly Harrods where Liz bought Chanel lipstick, Alex bought a Burberry mascara and we bought mother Ponds cream, two packs of blank face masks and a Shu Uemara toner from Selfridges where the assistant was suprised to hear that we were sisters since she said we look nothing like each other which oddly enough, now that I think about it, is very true! I have also decided that I prefer Selfridges to Harrods because their assistants there are a lot more friendly and it's less busy and I hate crowds.

H2T:

(The weather was dull so I was feeling autumnal colours. You can find this on LB here)

- Topshop beige velvet leotard, £15.

- Marks & Spencer maize knitted cardigan. (Mama's)

- Fake MJ Jessica Stam bag from Hammersmith, £15. (Alex's christmas 2008 present to me)

- Topshop floral chiffon tulle skirt, £32.
- Tan belt from Taiwan. (Mother's)

- Brown cotton stirrips from Taiwan. (Aunt sent them over and they were once black)

- Topshop taupe striped silk socks, 3 for £7.
- Vintage black shell-hooked heels from France. (Stolen from Ma)

I've been getting so annoyed with my hair recently. I stopped taking Biotin supplements after a month because it was getting so expensive and I've seen dozens of strands of hair fall out everyday! In addition, my fringe is being so unmouldable so every few minutes, my fringe will fall in front of my face resulting in me resembling an emo. So, I spontaneously got in front of the mirror and went for the chop. It's still pretty uneven so I need to trim it later. I've decided I'm not going to go for the above-the-eyebrow fringe purely because I couldn't pull it off.

(Please excuse the disgusting after-shower blotchy face!)

So, to end, please reassure me that having just £10 left in the piggy is worth it all!

"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get."

- Forrest Gump. (I had always heard of that quote but never knew where it was from!)

love ox

P.S. If you are at all interested in makeup, do visit Liz's new beauty blog: Bobo Lee Beauty.

London/ Happy Birthday Mama

2010-08-06T19:49:00.008+01:00

Summer: Day Thirty-Six
30/07/10

This three day weekend has literally been all about FOOD with the occassional clothes-buy. Today, I went to Oxford St with Aashna, Eve, Laura and Lizzy, hoping to find a few goodies from the Urban Outfitters sale but it was quite disappointing so we went over to my trusty Topshop where I bought three pairs of socks for £7. I didn't find the right pair that I wanted which was white with green ribbon on the top so I opted for a plum one which I'll exchange in a different Topshop store later. I reunited with the lovely colourful array of Swedish Hasbeen sandals which are just pure love and also encountered with a cute pair of pink suede heels which are very Miu Miu-like, £70. A stop at McDonalds was needed to refuel our shopping energy where I bought a large chips. McDonalds' chips are the best. We then went to Beyond Retro where I bought a long sleeved floral turquoise, chiffon dress, £20 but when I got home to try it on, it looked quite frumpy and I couldn't really pull it off so I'll be exchanging it for a pink jumpsuit which I saw and loved, £12 (if it's still there). We visited several other shops before I went to meet up with Liz and Mary at John Lewis where we browsed the make up area and then went off to McDonalds (again) and the Japan Home Centre where I bought a delicious prawn tempura sushi and a calpico - a Japanese drink, one of my favourite beverages, which tastes a little like Yakult, only way better.

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Thirty-Seven

31/07/10

Today was my mama's birthday and me and my sisters bought her a facial sauna and we still have some money spare at the moment so we're going to buy her some Muji blank face masks to go with Shiseido toner and Ponds light cream. For dinner, Alex wanted to treat us out to lobster but my dad insisted on taking us out so we went out to Monty's, a restaurant which serves Nepalese cuisines. We had a mountain of food which included several already-filling starters and an assortment of different curries with rice. I left feeling very full with that bloated feeling and came home to tweet about it on twitter, describing of my "beer belly food baby" to which somone tweeted me a beer drinking competition website which I found amusing. After an hour, we had pandan cake, which is basically a very nice green sponge cake, despite the appearance.

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Thirty-Eight

01/08/10

Went to Selfridges with Alex, Mary and mama for a browse and it was filled with middle-aged women smothered in designer items so I felt very out of place - a comparison to a tramp would be appropriate; me with my fake Marc Jacobs bag which is nearly tattered to death. We went to the food hall where we found jelly beans! Anyone remember the Harry Potter jelly beans with the ear wax and bogey flavours? Those were indeed the good old days! Anyway, there was a pic n mix so I decided to fill a bag with cappuccino, cafe latte, raspberry, bubble gum, candy floss, etc flavoured jelly bellies. Suprisingly, it wasn't expensive at all which is why I tell you, if ever you feel the need for a Selfridges bag to fit in with the crowd, purchase some jelly beans! Alex's treat from the day before was promised so we went to Misato, a Japanese restaurant in China Town and I can certainly say that it is my favourite restaurant now! We had Japanese tea, calpico, chicken katsu curry, chicken udon, a sushi bento box and a plate of california rolls. ♥ When we got home, my dad had bought fish and chips for his and Liz's dinner but he bought too much so I ate some more! Loads of exercise to be needed this week!

H2T:

- Striped leotard from Taiwan. (Officially stolen from mama)

- Topshop blue cotton blazer, £50. (Shared with Liz)

- Fake Marc Jacobs Stam bag from Hammersmith, £15. (Christmas present from Alex)

- Topshop denim stone washed high-waisted shorts, £22. (Shared with Liz)

- Topshop dark blue cotton tights, £8 £1.

- Topshop plimpsolls, £15. (Alex's)

"He's a one stop, gotcha hot, making all the panties drop, sweet sugar candyman"

- Candyman by Christina Aguilera

love ox

P.S. I'm looking at the Topshop sale and it is looking ridiculously good! I just hope it's as good in store. I don't like having to pay £5 for P&P!

P.P.S. Sorry for the very long post!

Karate Kid

2010-08-02T13:47:00.007+01:00

Summer: Day Thirty-Four
28/07/10

So, it's already half way through to my summer holiday and right now I just wish the weather would get better.

My day in bullet points:

Went to Oxford St. with Liz and Mary and bought Liz her belated birthday present; Dior eye shadow.
Browsed in Topshop and Beyond Retro but alas, didn't find anything particularly special.
Liz wanted to go to the Photographers' Gallery which I was reluctant to agree to, purely because my last couple of trips to the gallery with her were such a bore but I was glad I did because the artwork by Sally Mann was bloody fantastic. I didn't realise that I had one of her photos stuck on my wall as well.
Made our way to Westfield.
We were extremely starving so we bought juice from M&S and rice with beef in black bean sauce from a Chinese restaurant in the food hall. It was one of the best meals in my life but that was probably because I was so hungry. The large dish was finished within a few minutes!
Met Alex who had just got off from work, at Vue, the cinema in Westfield which is incredible. So modern with blue lights on the ceiling, reflecting off the white marble floor creating an alien-like atmosphere.
Planned to watch Shrek 4 in 3D but we had missed the last show so planned to watch Karate Kid instead.
Had to wait until 8.20 for the film so we were still a bit peckish and Alex treated us out to a kebab, coke and potato wedges from Sharwa which was very nice and we also ate chicken teriyaki and rice takeaway from Alex's lunch. (As you can gather, my sisters are I love food)
Still had more time so bought some snacks for the film at M&S Monster Munch, chocolate popcorn and raspberry jelly.
Browsed in Debenhams, House of Fraser, KG, Burberry and Miu Miu. Westfield is so nice at night because there aren't many people and especially employers in posh shops staring at your every move.
I saw the most beautiful pair of round camel sunglasses from Miu Miu which were only £120! Also lusted after their bags and all their shoes and made a promise to myself that I would own at least one Miu Miu item before I hit eighteen.
Saw and fell in love with these Nicole Fahi shoes from KG. I was suprised I loved them because they're plain black, suede court heels with a lovely chunky heel. It's also the most comfortable heels I have ever worn as they have padding at the balls of the feet.
Finally, it was time to watch the movie. At first, I had low expectations for the film because, let's face it, all Jackie Chan movies are a bit of a failure (bar Rush Hour which is too good) so I was nicely suprised about how entertaining it was. The two little children - Mei Ling and Dre were so adorable! Sure, there were a few cheesy and predictable but it was a good film altogether and I was proud that I understood the Chinese without reading the subtitles.

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Thirty-Five

29/07/10

I don't normally have raspberries that often because no one in my family really loves them so never requests for them except for me. My sisters think they're alright but would still eat them if they were sitting in the fridge. For me, raspberries are the one, the queen of all berries so I always get overly excited when my mum buys them. Depending on my mood, I like them by itself with its sometimes bitter quality but if I'm feeling for something a little sweeter, raspberries, double cream and sugar always gets my choice!

"I never thought I could feel this power. I never thought that I could feel this free."

- Never Say Never by Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith. (This song has the worst lyrics but it's the only lyric I could think of appropriate to this post)

love ox

"Spot the new supermodels" Rant

2010-07-29T14:04:00.007+01:00

Has anyone read the Thursday 22nd of July issue of the Evening Standard paper? My sister told me about their "Spot the new supermodels" article and knew I would get annoyed with it so I thought it would be suitable to write a post about it to see everyones views on it, etc.

The article below basically tells of new supermodels being Sasha Pivovarova, Karlie Kloss, Freja Beha, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Chanel Iman, Eniko Mihailik and Lily Donaldson and how they have the potential to live up to the standards of the original supermodels; Claudia, Kate, Naomi and Cindy.

It's true, Sasha, Karlie and the like are not as big as the power houses and they could very well manage to achieve their vast amount of supermodel fame. However, I find it at fault to start the article with "At last there might be a genuine new wave of supermodels" because all these models that they have stated are all definitely classed as supermodels who have been around the fashion industry for quite a long time. Take Enikő Mihalik for example, she made her debut at the summer couture shows in 2006 with the rest being current in 2007 including 17 year old Kloss. Within these couple of years, they have all featured in countless numbers of editorials and campaigns which definitely proves "the latest big names are powerful to snatch perfume campaigns, as well as covers, away from the old guard" completely wrong. Not only is that false, it is also slightly rude and offensive as to say that all their modelling work has gone unnoticed. The "Nineties warhorses" don't even do much modelling anymore. All I'm saying, is that these "new" models aren't at all new and the person who wrote the article should have done some researching beforehand. Here are a selection of photos that shows their incredible work from their careers:

[Photos: Models.com]

For me, my choice of "supermodels of the future" would be Frida Gustavsson, Lindsey Wixon and Dorothea Barth Jörgensen.

What do you think?

love ox

Inception

2010-07-27T16:45:00.007+01:00

Firstly, thank you to Izzy of All Swamped In Flowers for an interview, you can read it here.

Summer: Day Twenty-Nine
23/07/10

So, these two days were like movie days where I went to see Inception with Katy and Esme. We were very late leaving Esme's house but we eventually managed to find our way to our seats, being ten minutes into the film already. At first, it was a little confusing but after another ten minutes I was already getting really into it. The plot is really clever, about extractors who enter dreams to view ideas and who are trying to test inception, planting new ideas into a dream. There are some lovable and funny characters but it was so annoying that the film ended with a cliff-hanger which I will not say what it was here. We then went back to Esme's and watched the first half of Lord of the Rings before switching to watch Ponyo which was incredibly cute but did not have the same exciting creativity as Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away and I managed to fall asleep half way in through that.

[Images: Google, Google, Google, Google]

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Thirty

24/07/10

We started the day by finishing off Lord of the Rings 1 which was very entertaining but had an awful ending and we started watching the second movie, the Two Towers. Legolas and Merry! ♥ So now I need to finish this movie as well as Ponyo and watch the third Lord of the Rings because they are all really very good films which I think I should have watched ages ago.

"Po-ta-toes. Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in the stew."

- Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers

love ox

Wicked

2010-07-24T18:41:00.005+01:00

Summer: Day Twenty-Seven

21/07/10

So after not seeing my friends for what seems like years, it was nice to meet up with a trip to China town for dinner, where we had a buffet meal at Little Wu for £6.50 which was lovely and very filling and off we went to the Apollo Theatre to watch Wicked. A few of my friends have seen this musical and all said it was really amazing, the best musical ever so I have always been intrigued to see it and luckily, Lizzy managed to find some really cheap tickets for ~~£60~~ £22.50 in the dress circle, row F! I was so excited and not one bit of the two and a half hours disappointed me. The cast was fabulous with Rachel Tucker (from I'd do Anything) as Elphaba who at first, I had low expectations for but was truly phenomenal and Lee Mead as Fiyero. The songs are all so catchy and memorable with the costumes being extremely beautiful sights. Especially when they were at the Emerald City; each costume was so wonderfully green and different in their own way and some could even pass off as proper couture. The set design was also so impressive. Even before it had started, the large robotic dragon at the top front of the stage blew me away. I really recommend going to watch this musical as you can only understand how great I am saying it is until you watch it! We were all buzzing about it on the tube and we then went back to Lizzy's for a sleepover.

[Image: Google]

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Twenty-Eight

22/07/10

Not getting woken up by Aashna, asking "is anyone awake?", pancakes for breakfast and pizza for lunch is the one. Not to mention a little Brad Pitt marathon (in this case, a marathon being two films) starting with Ocean's Eleven which has a very clever plot with big stars such as George Clooney, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and of course Brad Pitt. I totally recommend this and need to watch Ocean's Thirteen. (Apparantly Ocean's Twelve isn't very good) Next we had Fight Club with Brad Pitt playing a rather mad and derranged character. I wouldn't quite recommend this film; it was very slow moving at the beginning and the plot is quite strange until the twist at the very end.

[Images: Google, Google]

What I wore these two days, head to toe:

♥

- Beyond Retro sheer floral jacket, £14.

- Topshop lime sheer lace pocket lined shorts, £30 £15.

- Sky blue plaited socks. (Aunt gave them to us)

- Kurt Geiger white patent t-bar wedge sandals, £90 £59. (Alex bought for my 16th)

"The eighth rule of Fight Club is if this is your first night at Fight Club, you have to fight."

- Tyler Durgen, Fight Club

love ox

Dance Show/ Happy Birthday Liz!

2010-07-22T19:55:00.007+01:00

Summer: Day Twenty-Three to Twenty-Four

Summer. A stressful term for dance as the annual summer dance show takes place. This weekend were the three hour long matinee and evening shows in which I performed in the modern and tap dances. I've only been at my dance school for four years now but each dance show is always filled with awfully hideous costumes, layers of makeup like I never wear ever, hard hair from all the hair spray and excessive amounts of glitter (which I have a new found appreciation for). This years themes were Sister Act and Copacabana to which costumes consisted of a nuns outfit and a one-shoulder red sequin dress (best outfit yet!) for modern and a neon orange, green and purple ruffle and black and white stripe skirt and crop top set for tap. Ballet outfits are always the best! All in all, it went very well and luckily I didn't make any major mistakes.

[Images: Joely's photos]

-♥-♥-♥-

Summer: Day Twenty-Five

Today was my sister, Liz's 18th birthday (19th of July) and we went out to Ealing Broadway first so I could process my lovely cheque into my bank account and we also went to HMV to buy Shrek3. My family were going to go and watch it on Sunday without me because of my dance, but I managed to persuade them not to go so we brought Shrek 3 to remind outselves of what happened since we've seen the first and second films too many times! We then went to Westfield as Liz had vouchers and she bought some Clinique products and I had to stop at Inglot to test their glitter shimmer powders out on my hand and I saw the nicest pearly-alien shade 53 that I adore but alas, it is £12 for a teeny pot. Here's an image of all the glitter that I tested.

Note: My hand is not actually that freakily thin, Liz's shadow makes it look anorexic!

A Westfield trip wouldn't be a proper trip without looking in Topshop and I didn't find anything nice so I tried on some heels and was really tempted to buy three pairs of socks for £7 but Liz managed to persuade me not to and to remind me that this is how I always seem to be bankrupt so frequently so I had to resist but now I regret it so next time I go out, I'll definitely be buying them!

H2T:

♥

- Topshop gold zip layered sleeve peach top, ~~£40~~ £36.

- American Apparel lilac bloomer pants, £19. (Yanloi bought for my 16th)

- Susan Smith black patent tortoise shell bag. (Some old bag my dad had stashed away which he gave me)

- Topshop navy cotton tights, £8 £1. (Bleached which created a marble effect)

- Kurt Geiger t-bar white sandal wedges, ~~£90~~ £59. (Alex bought for my 16th)

We were really hungry so we went to M&S where I bought a shaker salad (the nicest things ever) whilst Liz bought two cartons of juice. However, we still weren't completely hunger-satisfied, so I treated us out to a juicy tiger prawn noddle soup from Pho, a Vietnamese restaurant bar.

We were going to head off to Oxford Street but we were feeling lazy and thought a Lost marathon would be more appropriate. Thanks to Eve, I'm on Season 3 already (shh, no spoilers please!) after being introduced to it in little under a month and I've got Mary and Liz quite addicted to it too. When Alex came home from work, she had with her bags of Nandos take out; chips, olives, pitta and houmous as well as a large box of Krispy Kremes so we had that for dinner whilst watching Shrek simultaneously. All in all, a very good day!

Now it's a disco, but not for Lola. Still in the dress she used to wear, faded feathers in her hair.

- Copacabana lyrics by Barry Banilow

love ox

Couture F/W10 Part Two

2010-07-08T20:42:00.003+01:00

More couture fall reviews:

Chanel

When looking through this collection on http://www.vogue.co.uk/, for me it went through a terrible start and a fabulous finish but then I realised the order of garment showing went from "peasant chic to medeival princess". The "peasant" outfits didn't seem couture to me but after the first few garments, out came the princesses! I'm not quite sure if the hair over face works with the pieces and the medieval inspiration, I would have preferred plaited buns maybe? Besides, only Dorethea can pull off the whole hair over face thing. Overall, beautiful, simple structures with exquisite, rich fabrics. However, the close to the collection; have the White Witch and Aslan finally reunited? Not quite getting that.

Jean Paul Gaultier

This whole collection was wonderfully unusual! The round and angular shoulders, draping, pleats, fabulous head pieces, (in competition with those of Dior!) and the ability to make fish net tights look sophisticated and sexy rather than prostitute-ish. I can totally see Lady Gaga in some of these designs. Maybe she should decide what's couture and what's not?

Elie Saab

More and more texture, my favourite! I would also quite like that last dress as my own wedding dress.

Valentino

Most were very simple, something I wouldn't particularly class as couture (such as the first two images) and there were other simple designs which were just divine. My favourite is the off-white caged dress, just look at it and you'll know why. Overall, very baby-dollish, that was mainly filled with pastel pink.

[Images: http://www.fashiongonerogue.co.uk/]

"I'm not good with advice. Can I interest you with a sarcastic comment?"

- Chandler of Friends.

love ox

Couture F/W10

2010-07-06T23:18:00.003+01:00

I thought I'd take a little break from blogging about my own life and update my thoughts on the recent couture lines which were shown in Paris this week.

Dior

With horticulture as a main inspiration to John Galliano, he has used this brilliantly as reflected in these pieces but ever since his geisha inspired haute couture spring/summer collection in 2008, I feel he has never been able to return to that amazing peak again. Nevertheless, Karlie Kloss opened the show, (hurrah!) the pale, porcelain doll-like skin is something I want (go to vogue.co.uk and zoom to see the real beauty of it) and what looks like plastic sweet-like wrappers/ plastic flower wrappings on their head are just genius. If I could look normal wearing that out, I totally would. Anyway, from a collection of thirty or so pieces, here are my favourite twelve from the god of texture:

Armani

I know couture is meant to be about the attention to detail and the richness of the material etc, but can't ready to wear quality be as good as this? And can't couture be ambitious silhouettes and textures like that of Dior? Just saying...

Givenchy

The Bone Collector Collection. Beautifully feminine and delicate. However, there's something about this which screams Alexander McQueen (look to the late McQueen's final collection for the back drop) but there's also something about the designs... I'm thinking the softer half of his spring 2009 collection merged together with the stronger pieces of his final collection.

[All images: www.fashiongonerogue.com]

That's all folks. What do you think?

“I want to make couture even more special than it is, and not just another catwalk show.”

- Givenchy.

love ox