Cheap Monday Jeans

The ultimate skinny jeans by Cheap Monday. Cheap Monday jeans were born from a store called Weekday in Stockholm. Weekday sold high-end denim brands and one of the owners saw a need for cheaper but still hip jeans. Cheap Mondays are super body hugging - almost like denim tights. But they are super comfortable and great for wearing under tunics and bulky sweaters. Available $65 at Pink Mascara

Carnivale of the Couture VII Round Two

Surprise darling! You have just won the lottery! How will you, the super fabulous fashionable blogger, spend your US$10m winnings? Tell us all about your money-spending plan!"

I admit, this is a question I have spent many a lecture pondering. Especially ever since my econ teacher told us the interesting fact that most lottery winners actually end up bankrupt a few years after they win the lottery. I would like to think that should I ever DO win the lottery, I will be more intelligent than that. So just in case I win, here is what I am going to do with it: a nice apartment in HK for my parents and me (2-3M), a nice pad in NYC for me to launch whatever career I want (1.5M?), pay my parents back for college and more (1M), leave some aside for grad school (0.5M?), invest 4M diversly and smartly (once I learn) so I can live relatively comfortably off the interest for the rest of my life, for once set myself free and go on a shopping spree without thought to the cost, versatility and durability (although I'm not sure I can actually do that), buy iamfashion.com and rent a club in NYC and throw myself a fabulous 21st birthday party, flying all my friends, family and fellow fashion bloggers over for the event. Yeah. I know, not very practical when u take tax into account.

Lets see what the rest of our fellow fashionista's came up with:

Darling Andrea from Papier Doll spent it all in a record 30 minutes! Fully into the fantasy of it all, she will be hiring all the rejected models/designers from Project Runway and ANTM for her own catwalk line and pampering herself from head to toe in the best NY has to offer in prep for the celebrity spotlight.

I am humbled by the generosity of the very-stylish-lawyer-to-be's over at Shangrilaw. La Retrosessuale will donate to her favourite animal charities because animals is peoples, too. only better. After going on holiday and replacing the creativty law school has sapped from her, La Zapatotista will then devote the rest to beautifying the minds and body of the yale population. La Dulcinea will give to charities ran by friends-esp the Bolivian Street Children Project, which she will be doing life fulfilling work for. La Quesadilla will be eating shrimps while undertaking worthy public interest work and giving to UNICEF and Zisize. La Arrabiata will invest and give to her parents, relatives, village and non profit charitable organizations- provided that 10m is not enough to buy Jon Stewart for her own amusement & delight.

After giving to her family, the Catwalk Queen, she is going on a superfabulous trip to Vegas, where she will be living at the Venetian and indulging in many frivolous shopping sprees with the likes of manolos, jimmy's, louboutin, chloe, fendi, DvF etc. before settling down and writing a book.

The ladies at Pursed Lips will be starting their own dream handbag lines. Designer Ella has a detailed plan for her 3 lines at the ready and Mallory will make nothing but the best.

At Katy's Theme Party, she will be getting into shape with her personal trainer/chef and driving a mini cooper from her london/italy pad to the magazine office she opened in her Chanel suits.

Bibi at Red Apple will take a plane without baggage for Polynesia, where she will begin her round the world trip buying everything she needs on the way!

Bagsnob, even in the sickbed from the flu, managed to find time to do some spending. After getting all the birkins, kellys and 'trend bags' etc, she will fly off to her suites on an oceanliner, where she will be getting Le Prairie spa treatments from head to toe.

Here, we would like to thank everyone for contributing to the carnivale of the couture VII, your response has been overwhelming and it was our pleasure to read all about how you will spend your lottery winnings. And last but not least, we would like to thank the Manolo, for making this all happen, you are indeed superfantastic.

The Chicago Auto Show 2007

The other day, I went to the Chicago Auto Show and it was a LOT of fun! Surprising that it would even come out of my mouth, since I know next to nothing about cars, right? My friends thought so too, but it turns out, an auto show is more than just cars. . .

First there was a GM 2007 Imagine kick off, which was very interesting because this is where fashion students from International Academy of Design Technology, get a sneak peek at the GM vehicles this year from which they will draw inspiration to design a garment from for the 2007 Imagine Fashion Show in May. I'm intrigued to find out how one goes about designing garment based on a car. Incidentally there were lots of cool cars. For this sexy red Chevy, they even have a photographer there to take a free picture of you inside it. I am checking mine out online, right now!

There were also many other hot cars to take pictures with. Porsche's, Mercedes, BMW's, Lexus (above) and huge trucks that makes me look TINY in comparison. It was quite cool.
Then there were just really cool carsto look at, like this Lambourghini (left)(did I spell this right?) and this fully functional car called the Bullet (right)that was supposedly in some movie. Doesn't it look like a space ship?

At the autushow, you can also do an advertisement for Toyota. You get to stand in front of a green screen and read off a prompter. Afterwards they burn it onto a DVD for you to take home. I highly recommend this. Then at the Army booth, you can rock climb, take pictures with tanks and get your own personalised dogtag! Other cool things we saw on tv but missed out (shame!) is a driving course, where you can drive a jeep up model mountains and rough terrains, moving car video games. . . . . . all the fun stuff.

So if you're in the area this week, definitely stop by the autushow!

Cleaning Routine

Coming back from a night out, the thing I dread most is washing the make-up off my face. I am very anal about having remnants of make-up on my face in fear of break outs, so I try really hard to make sure everything is off. Here is what I have to go through:First off is the eye make-up, which is the most painful to get off. I use Lancome Bi-Facil Double Action Eye Make up Remover, first on cotton to get rid of the mascara, eye shadow and some eye liner. For mascara I put the remover-soaked-cotton on top of my closed eye and gently wipe downwards to try and get the majority off without losing too much lashes (I already don't have that many!). It generally gets really messy and I hate it- is it any wonder that I don't wear mascara all the time? THEN to get rid of eyeliner, I soak a q-tip with remover and gently run it along the eye-lined areas that are especially close to my eyes. Nevertheless its still quite tricky to get rid of eye liner under the upper lid and in between the top lashes for me.

THEN I wipe my face with this gentle Sebium H2O purifying cleanser until no more color (from foundation) comes out. Next I use my usual gentle Cetaphil face cleanser to clean my face just in case. And FINALLY I put wipe on some toner and put on moisturizer and call it a night.

Oh and did I mention before this I will probably also shower and wash my hair to get rid of all the smoke smell? Its a looooong painful process that takes me around an hour or more, but I still do it. Now if only I have a cure for my smokey smelling clothes. Especially my cashmere cardigan, its all smokey now :( . . . . I thought they banned smoking indoors in america?!?!?

Oversized Clutches

On a recent shopping spree, I was bored, waiting outside the changing room, and I started picking up the bags around. After a few bags, I picked up this large Marni clutch, looked into the mirror and got that feeling -that unexpected, novel feeling. After carrying large handbags during daytime for so long, it was SO refreshing to carry this clutch.


OK, so oversized clutches might not be a trend this season, and carrying a bag without the strap is certainly annoying. But it's such a nice feeling to carry a bag with only the things you actually need, instead of the ten million random, useless things you probably have in your bag. Ever since that moment of holding the Marni clutch, I've started to take notice of oversized clutches around me. Zara this season, has very Marni-sh oversized clutches. And I love Ashley's large, red Bottega Veneta one -it's just the right size and adds a touch of colour to her outfit.
J Crew has some classic summer ones, such as this straw clutch.

Here is a canvas one by J Crew that is less beachy.

While the L.A.M.B. Catania clutch isn't 100% my style, but it is very cool.

For something really simple and affordable, these are from Top Shop.

These two are right on trend: (Left) Black patent clutch by Goldenbleu; (Right) Metallic clutch by Lauren Mirkin -great for night time. Both are available at shopbop.

Lastly, one of my favourite ones -the Balenciaga Giant Traveller. It's way out of my budget for a clutch but I'll just continue fantasizing about it.

OK, so I'm probably not going to buy a daytime, oversized clutch anytime soon (unless I happen to see an affordable one,) but it's such a nice alternative to the heavy, huge bags we've been lugging around recently

Chanel Flap Bags

I was going to write the title "classcial Chanel bags" but then I realised that these classical bags must have a name so I went onto the Chanel site and found out that the classical Chanels are actually called the Chanel flap bags. While the Chanel flap bags are always considered very classical, I always thought they were meant for women who are middle-aged, say over thirty years old? Or at least over 25.

Young celebs everywhere are proving my belief wrong. Here are a few lucky girls who have been spotted holding the Chanel flap bags recently:

Ashley Olsen

Mischa Barton -When I think of her, Miss Sixty jeans with a Chanel flap bag automatically spring in mind.

Lindsay Lohan

Christmas Beauty Goodies

Ooo already in Week 7 of my school term, I can sense Christmas approaching! And I'm excited -especially after I went browsing around and saw so many fabulous Christmas gift sets. Now obviously a lot of these 'limited edition' gift sets are repetitive or have many not so great products in them, so I've picked a few that I really like (or new products I simply must mention!) They all make lovely Christmas presents *hint hint*.

Dior DiorPlay -What can I say? No brand does cute, attractive packaging better than Dior. This diamond-studded dice contains a simple pink lip gloss. While it is overpriced for such a simple lip gloss, one must remember that Dior lipglosses never fail to disappoint. And if you're one of those Dior addicts, then no doubt you will need this in your collection!

YSL Multi-usage Palette -This golden charm braclet contains a lip stick colour, lip gloss and highlight powder. While I think it would look super cool has a keychain on your handbag, I really don't think it's such a good idea to actually wear it. I thought you weren't supposed to put makeup near hot things (your wrist?)

MAC Holiday Luxuries -It's like Wow. The colours and products are so dazzling! I love these gift sets. Not only are they pretty to own, but they're actually useful!

MAC Holiday Luxuries Delight -Out of the collection, I think the eye palettes are the most fabulous. I've already bought this one (Trendy,) and am loving it! The colours are really versatile and I think we all know MAC makes excellent quality eyeshadow.

Bumble & Bumble Big Hair Set -60s hair-dos are big this season, and how to get that? It's all in this gift set, which includes the volume shampoo, conditioner, thickening spray and Do-it-all spray. I've tried the first three products and would definitely recommend them. The small bottle sizes are perfect to bring on Christmas vacations. Also, there are actually instructions on how to achieve that mystic perfect 'big hair' inside the box!

Philosophy Holiday Treats -Yum! Talk about sweetness! Philosophy makes absolutely delicious bath & body products. I usually don't care much for bath products, but after smelling a few Philosophy products over the weekend, I'm hooked! If you're stuck on what to get your sweet-tooth friend and love her enough not to buy her Dessert beauty products, then pick up something from Philosophy.

Philosophy The Gingerbread Man Suitcase -If you know which smell you like, then there are such box sets available. The three products included are the shower gel, shimmer body soufflé and lip shine -all in gingerbread flavour of course!

Coach Azalea Boot

I just wanted to take this time to bring your attention to the hottest boot this season.

Seriously. These Coach Azalea boots are positively the most drop dead gorgeous boots I've laid eyes on this season (although of course the season has just begun. . ). We saw it at the store and like seeing a Da Vinci in a museum, had to stop up short to admire such a beautiful work of art. Are the shearling peeking out, the killer heel and the tassle chain wrapped around it like a present not just masterful? Ok, so they are not very practical-esp not in a Chicago winter-but thats art for you.

They look even more tempting in real life. If only they were not $500 a pair. . . . . I guess I'll only be walking in them in my dreams.

The Complimentary Eye Make-Over

The other day while shopping at Lane Crawford (the local department store equivalent to Barneys) I came across the beauty concierge promoting complimentary eye make-overs. And me being the make-up lover that I am, couldn't pass up a chance to get my eyes done to "perfection" by a professional for free now can I? So I immediately signed up and had a lovely 30 minutes discussing make-up, make-up and make-up.

The great thing about the beauty concierge make-over in a department store is that you are not limited to one brand with the cosmetics lady trying to sell you every product in their line (don't you just hate that?). At the beauty concierge, they actually know which brand is good for what and would recommend accordingly.

And then, she showed me how to do this very simple eye make-up that works for almost all eye shapes. I'm sure its nothing new to a lot of you make-up professionals out there, but since I've never thought to do it myself I thought it was brilliant and bought more colors so I can do the look myself at home. Purple (and green) apparently are my color, and she basically just outlined the rim of my eyes with the darker color, covered the rest of the lid with a lighter shade and highlighted the arched area with this beige-ish color since she thought white was too dramatic for day time.

She then finished the look with Dior Snow mascara (which she claims to be better than the Lancome one) and curled with this Shu Uemura eye lash curler. I'd always known these were good products, but I seriously never knew that my eye lashes could be THAT long and curled. Now I'm a convert. Although I suspect that this may be due to her superior technique. I noticed how she inched the eye lash curler up bit by bit while curling it. And I remembered my friend (who has been experimenting with make-up for much longer) telling me how happy she was to have finally mastered this inching technique the other day. So i'm guessing this is one and the same.

Anyway, I LOVED the consultation. Afterwards, she gave me a diagram of all the stuff she used, and then took me around the various counters showing me the products in detail. It was like having my very own personal shopper, except for cosmetics! And she was sooo knowledgeable about the art of beauty too, showing me good exfoliators, eye creams and how I shouldn't drink water half a hour before bed cause it makes your eyes puffy. All great fun! All department stores should have this service. It really does help boost sales-because even if it does say its complimentary, one would at least buy something just for such excellent service!

Coming Tomorrow. . .

Jennifer Love Hewitt was caught on the street wearing them. They were featured on Instyle.com , Life & Style where Mena Suvari picked one of their shoes, , Lucky Mag for Molly Simms and in next month's Harpers Bazaar and Vanity Fair: They are C Label shoes! And coming tomorrow we have a special behind the scenes interview with Chai Vasquez, the designer and founder of the ever so lovely C Label shoes, such as these very gorgeous ones below:

So stay tune tomorrow to learn more about Chai, C Label and their fabulous shoes!

2005 CFDA Awards Mentionables

Oh my gosh, I am so tired I hardly have the energy to gush over pretty people in pretty clothes. Who knew that a day of simple work experience could be so tiring? More of a physical stress -lots of heavy lifting, but will talk about this on a later day. But it was still fun.

OK, back to the topic: the CFDA Awards. You probably don't remember, but I mentioned about Kate recieving a Fashion Influence Award two months ago. Well, Monday night was the big night when many fashion designers were honoured at the Award. My favourite snippets from the night:

Kate Moss in a goorgeous and nobody-can-top-her Dior dress, perfectly matched with simple black heels and clutch. She proves that she more than deserves the Fashion Influence Award.

Vera Wang won the Women Fashion Designer of the Year Award. Three cheers for her and her very lovely deigns.

Diane von Furstenberg got the Lifetime Achievement Award. It's always heartwarming when females get awards.

Marc Jacobs got the Accessory Designer of the Year Award. Ah yes, I do so love his designs. But poor Marc, look at his receding hairline!

No fashion award is a fashion award without the almighty fashion industry Queen and Vogue editor Anna Wintour. And my gosh, does Bee not feel embarrassed that she is still following her mum around?

Daria Werbowy, who is now in the supermodel league, looking pretty in Stella McCartney. She didn't get any awards, but this photo captured the moment so lovely-ly I am in awe.

How to Wear This Season's Nautical Influences

So I was talking about the nautical look yesterday. Remember that is it not Halloween so don't dress like a navy form head to toe. To help you out, here are some tips:

- This year it's all about mixing the trends: Mix the goddess look with the nautical look, or match a boho piece with blue shorts. Striped blazer with a bow is great for outerwear.
- To look extra stylish, focus on white, gold and blue. Gold is only for accessories or small details on the clothes. - The aim is to look YOUNG and even sophisticated, so use light-colored makeup. For example, pale pink lip gloss with very light eyeshadow (such as shimmery white,) OR light layer of dark eyeshadow (such as blackish bronze color.)

Whistles Spring 2005

We all know and love the fashion by Anthropologie. Their style is always trendy, yet still manages to retain elegance. Unfortunately, Anthropologie is only available in the US. So I present you the UK answer's to Anthropologie: Whistles! Whistles' clothes are just as elegant and stylish as Anthropologie's clothes. Even Whistles' prices are similar!

Whistles' Spring 2005 collection features two themes: the Roman Holiday and the LA Style. The key to the Roman Holiday look is sophistication, whereas the LA Style offers a more laid-back and casual look.

Here are some of my favourite items:

My absolute favourite item by Whistles this season. So pretty and flowy. Unfortunately for me, it costs 95 pounds.

Purple cardigan that can be worn for a polite, sophisticated look, and for the boho look.

A pair of fun boho looking wedges. This style is very commonly seen in UK shops this season.

Can be worn with long pants for a more mature look, or worn with shorts for a more casual take. Are Whistles' clothes versatile or what?

Whistles denim that is obviously taken out from the LA Style collection.

One thing that is very unfortunate about UK brands is that their sites are usually not as complete as US brands' sites. But it's always worth going to the Whistles site to have a look because it is well designed and oh so pretty!

Dior Summer Princess Cosmetic

Dior really has the eye in the market for girls. I'm talking about the girly girls, and the rich party-type girls. Following last winter's success with the cosmetic compact keychain, this season Dior launches the "Dior Summer Princess" collection. The main features are the cosmetic rings -one ring with eye shadow, and another ring with lip colors.

This ring is filled with two shades of eye shadow. So if it's a long night out and we all know that girly clutches are riduculously impractical, your can still have access to touch up your eye makeup with this chic-looking ring.

This is the ring filled with two shades of lip colors. OK, so maybe the rings are cute, and maybe the mirrors on both rings are perfect for the vain people who can't resist checking out themselves out every oppurtunity that they've got. But like, eww, doesn't makeup like lip glosses melt? Wouldn't the heat from your fingers melt the makeup inside the ring? I guess that's why it comes with a little chain for you to hook it onto your bag. But then again, what would the point of it being a ring?

Costume Institute Gala Fashion 2005

The Costume Institute Gala is THE party of the year in the fashion world. It took place this monday evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art . The theme this year is none other than the House of Chanel. Co-hosted by Anna Wintour, Karl Lagerfeld and Nicole Kidman, the event was attending by the cream of the fashion, designer and hollywood world. Naturally the fashion was completely amazing.

A party is nothing if it has not been given the stamp of approval by Anna Wintour's fleeting 10 minute appearance at the peak of it. This time, not only did Anna Wintour appear and co hosted it, but she actually turned up 10 minutes early! And looked absolutely stunning too in this white Chanel couture gown.

The other co host, Nicole Kidman, very glamly represented the Hollywood crowd in this very sleek and elegant blue dress also by Chanel of course. Some of my other favourite dresses include. . .
This artistically tailored black dress on Plum Sykes, one of Harrods girl and mine's favourite author of Bergdorf Blondes (simply a MUST read) and fashion journalist.

I also LOVE this very stylishly white dress on Naomi Watts, by Calvin Klein. She simply looks amazing and elegant in it!

Calvin Klein must be on the roll, because this green gown also by Calvin Klein also looks very stunning and flirtatious on Ella Macpherson. I think its especially smart and cute that she has paired it with those oh-so-casual and comfortable flip flops.

And we must not forget Harrods Girl's favourite, Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's outfit! Personally I like Ashley's gold lace dress by Oscar de la Renta more. It just looks very elegant and more suited for the event. Although, Mary Kate's vintage dress from What comes around goes around, defintely reflects her signature boho luxe look. Other notables include. . .

Marcia Cross (or Brie as I like to think of her) in this very elegant and well, very Brie, dress from Louis Vuitton.

Melania Trump, in a fishtail dress by Alexander Macqueen. Apparently she also risked complete exposure while getting out the car in this dress-luckily for her, her husband acted as a human screen while she pulled the dress back up. YIKES!

Jessica Simpson, in a red and black gown by Michael Kors (also her date for the event).

Gemma Ward (Harrod girl's favourite model) and Victoria Traina, both looking like Greece goddess' in Proenza Schouler.

And the list of notables just goes on and on and on from Selma Blair's Chanel couture to Karolina Kurkova white Viktor Rolfe dress and on and on. . . . . there is just not enough time and space here to give each gorgeous outfit the attention and credit it deserves! So go check them out yourself here and report back! I am sure to have missed some amazing gowns!