Organic Fashion at Twice Shy

Feel good about yourself and shop green! Unlike the "organic" fashion of hippie days past, top fashion designers are jumping on the band wagon and designing beautiful apparel. Check out this cozy sweater coat by Austria - 100% Organic cotton terry. $120.00 available at Twice Shy.

Oscars 2006 Fashion

Most of the celebs looked lovely! I think the thing we've all got to remember is that all these dresses look so much more fantastic in real life and on tv than in photos. There is nothing that can replace the way the dresses move, and swishes & swashes with the actresses. So try to watch the Oscars and the red carpet action on tv if you can!

Reese Witherspoon looked AMAZING. She wore vintage 1955 Christian Dior, (which she apparently found in a vintage store in Paris and had people fix it up to its original condition,) and looked like royalty. If you can, go find an HQ photo of the dress, looking at it close up will totally awe you. And once again, her smile is just so sweet and relatively natural compared to other stars.

Nicole Kidman wore Balenciaga. Supremely elegant in typical Kidman fashion.

Maggie Gyllenhaal wore Bottega Veneta. She wasn't overly fancy but I love the chiffon and the way she seems to be seemingly carefree.

Keira Knightley also looked STUNNING in Vera Wang. The dress fitted her so well. And she's got one of the best made-up faces there, with eye shadow courtesy of Chanel. This is def one of my FAV looks.

Rachel Weisz wore Narciso Rodriguez. Ok so this dress looks mega boring and plain in the photo, but if you see walking on stage for her acceptance speech for winning Best Supporting Actress, then you'll see the dress is actually really sophisticated. And of course, let's not forget she's seven months pregnant!

Ziyi Zhang in oh surprise surprise, Giorgio Armani. The dress looked great on her, but maybe it's time to try a different designer?

Jessica Alba in Versace. I'm not sure how I feel about this. I mean, the dress fits her scarily well, but that hairstyle is awful on her, making her look older than necessary.

Uma Thurman in Versace. This time, I'm surprised that Versace can look this sophisticated. Uma looked amazing, but maybe because this is not her 'year' (in terms of awards) so not too many people paid attention to her. And her whole hair and makeup was just unbelievable.

The Blacks:

Jennifer Aninston in Rochas; Felicity Huffman in Zac Posen; Hilary Swank in Versace. Aninston and Swank looked beautiful, but I'm not so sure about Huffman's dress.

So many reviews are raving about Michelle William's yellow Vera Wang gown, but personally I don't think it was the best dress there. I didn't like the shoulder/neck bit of the dress.

And finally, well, Charlize Theron probably should pick a slightly more practical and less stiff dress for next year, and Jennifer Lopez really needs to rethink her whole color scheme, in particular how tanned her face should be!

On search for the perfect lip balm

I know winter is almost over, but I still haven't found my perfect lip balm -and certainly not from the lack of trying! I have tried more than five lip balms (which is def more than what my lips need,) but I'm still not satisfied with any of them. Although I do admit I got most of my lip balms for free, one way or another, and only one lip balm was actually purchased personally.

Vaseline Lip Therapy, Cherry - This is the one I've been using ever since I bought it in Japan last August. It certainly does do all that lip protecting thing it's supposed to. My only complaint is that it's got an annoying texture, like the balm on the upper and lower lip stick together. Oh and while lip balms don't necessarily need to be shiny, if they're going to act like lip gloss (annoyingly sticky that is,) then it should at least look good.

Biotherm Moisturizing Balm Protective Lip Care -I think Biotherm has changed the package since I got mine because mine doesn't look like this photo (which is the only lip balm that can be currently found on the Biotherm website.) The one I have is a white tube. The 'lip balm' inside is sort of like a white cream, which is super annoying because after application, it forms a white layer on your lips! AND it didn't even feel moisturising. Thank goodness my dad got this for free from the plane!

Ren Skincare Acacia Blossom Lip Honey -Another freebie from the plane, this time from my mum. This so-called lip balm is like a chunk of hard wax. I literally have to use my nails to scrape some 'balm' from the jar onto my lips and spread it out. After a long bit of heating, the chunk of 'Lip Honey' does melt -and when it does, it's fantastic -but when it cools down afterwards, it's hard and annoying to use again.

Body Shop Born Lippy Lip Balm -My friend gave this to me as a present, (yes I am extremely cheap and hardly ever buy myself lip balm.) When I was younger I loved the smell. But now that I'm older, the smell really irritates me because it makes the water in my water bottle taste funny.

Eve Lom Kiss Mix -I don't actually own this, but a facial lady once put it on me at the end of my Eve Lom facial (which was totally useless btw.) Eve Lom Kiss Mix is mega shiny, and it gives the lips a lovely tingly feeling. I haven't used it enough to comment on how lip-protecting it is, but at 12.5 pounds per jar, I probably won't be running to buy it!

So if there is a lip balm that you think is uber fantastic, let me know please!!

The Osim Slimming Belt

In this day and age, slimming is of utmost importance to our generation. Not only does one look better in clothes slim, but its also healthier for us too. Hence people everywhere are desperately looking for ways to get thin- quickly and easily. That is why the slimming programs and products are thriving. How else does Victoria Beckham look so sickly thin?

My mom's friend recently bought this slimming belt from Osim for $199USD. It claims that it is all you need for slimming, toning, massaging or even indigestion. Basically it is a belt you wrap around your waist that vibrates at varying speeds. You are supposed to wear it for around 15 minutes everyday. I've personally tried it. The vibration comes in varying degrees and it completely effortless and not painful at all.

I'm not sure how that is suppose to help one slim down though. In fact, I'm not convinced that it works at all-doesn't the concept behind it sound a little farfetched to you? But then again, celebs put electrodes on their butts so then the muscles there are 'working' with no effort on their part and they look like it works. So far (its been a month?) I haven't heard of any major improvements. Either it makes very slow progress or it doesn't work. And I think its the latter.

Olay Quench Rapid Repair Hand Lotion

I first read about this hand lotion in Allure last winter. And I thought, Allure and the 50 or so people who they claimed to have tried it, must've been paid to advertise for Olay's new product. I mean, it happens all the time! Especially when they put a lot of random products up and say its for the Christmas theme... .

But having tried it in an travel emergency, I must say, I am impressed! I have very sensitive hands, especially in winter when the weather changes. So I take very good care of it with the L'Occitane hand cream. But after having tried Olay for a few days and actually seeing significant improvement on my own hands at such a low price, I was duly impressed. Allure was right (for once). The people who tested it were right. The Olay Quench hand lotion indeed works miracles!