A Trip to Stockholm

Last week, I spent a few days with a friend sightseeing in Stockholm, Sweden. I have to admit I wasn't expecting much because I don't hear a lot of stories about travelling in Northern Europe from my friends. But Stockholm turned out to be seriously gorgeous and so comfortable.

The weather was absolutely perfect -it was cool, breezy and sunny. The weather definitely made the whole experience more comfortable and relaxing. Not to mention it made the sky and sea look especially blue for photos!

We first went to the Nobel Museum. Admittingly the exhibition was very short and there wasn't much to see. But there is a video room that plays short videos of past Nobel prize winners (mainly old interview footages.) You can sit there for hours and just watch -the videos are mostly pretty interesting. Coincidentally, we got the timing just right -we went there after 5pm on Tuesday so it was free entrance!

The next day we went to the Vasa Museum. It's basically a display of the old, sunk ship with many supporting displays of the old sailor days. It was definitely interesting to see such an old, authentic ship up close. After seeing the exhibition, we were very grateful we weren't sailors (despite our love for the nautical trend)! Afterwards we went to the Nordic Museum, which was frankly boring and not worth the visit.

Afterwards, we went to the Moderna Museet (Museum of Modern Art). The art there was actually fun and interesting to look at as it was modern and made up of artwork of a variety of medium, such as photography, sculptures and paintings. It's a nice change from looking at old paintings.

On the third day, we ventured out to see the Millesgarden, which is used to be the house of an architect. It's basically an exhibition of an amazing garden, his house and collected art pieces. I loved his garden! The fountain at the centre was absolutely gorgeous -especially with the amazing view behind it. It was so nice and relaxing to just sit there and feel the breeze!

Afterwards we went shopping, or at least we tried to. It turns out that the clothes in Stockholm were expensive, even more so than in London. We checked out NK, one of Stockholm's big department stores and were not impressed by the range of clothes or by how messy the sale was. So we ended up chilling at a park nearby, where a band was performing.

On the last day, we went to the Royal Palace, which is one of those must-see sightseeing spots. It was not a very grand palace (compared to the French or some other European ones) but it was still fun to walk in and around it.

Overall, I think it was just the weather and whole chilled out atmosphere of Stockholm that made it such a fabulous holiday! Seriously, look at the view!

Image Credit: My camera

Window Shopping at US Urban Outfitters Online

Last month I online window shopped the UK Urban Outfitters (-no, I didn't end up getting any of those items,) so I decided to do the same for the US site. Boy I tell you, the US UO has a way better selection of clothes at very decent prices. I'll try not to rant too much about the much cheaper prices in the States compared to the UKs.

I love this dress, especially the pink and teal-coloured ones. It's not exactly unique and it really reminds me of the early Rory Becca and Lauren Conrad designs but that's why I love it. It's simple, colourful and looks very versatile. I imagine it would be fantastic for many occasions in the summer. Plus, it's made of chiffon and looks like it's worth the 48usd price tag.

Even I think this dress is boring, but if I still had to go to school everyday, then this would be a great throwing-it-on-in-a-hurry piece. And judging from the photos, the dress provides a good canvas for the accessories to liven up the outfit if you feel like it.

I really liked this dress when I first saw the photo although now that I stare at it more, I'm liking it less. Maybe it's because the design's actually more interesting than the plain dress above. But anyhow, it looks like a fun dress to wear during daytime. And it somehow reminds me of Lauren Conrad too. Oh gosh, why does everything remind me of her?

Even though this dress is really not my style, it just looked too pretty for me not to post it. I can imagine Peyton wearing it in One Tree Hill.

Barneys Girl recently emailed me about this shirt and I love it! It's got small flowers all over the pattern but it's nice in that it doesn't look fussy. The design is clean cut and looks easy to wear. I find it so hard to find pretty blouses like this because most of the high street designs are there are either too boring or has too much detail on them. But this one is just right. I want a red one!

I've always related Urban Outfitters to graphic tees -that was one of the sources for its original success right? Anyhow, I'm a fan of most white tees that have simple or black and white designs on them and these fit the bill. I especially like the scribbled tee -it's all about the designed messiness!

I've been looking for a mid-waisted, structured mini dress for ages. There are loads of black minis out in shops now but they're usually not structured or skintight. The slight A-line silhouette this skirt has is so much more flattering.

I've been looking for simple, long necklaces in the UK Urban Outfitters and found nothing. This necklace (from US UO) is exactly what I'm looking for, and it's so affordable at 18usd (although I would probably wait for it to go on sale.)

All this imaginery shopping is making me want to go to the States just for UO!

Image Credit: www.urbanoutfitter.com

SS08 Trend- Bronze and Blue Hues

One of my absolute favourite things to do every season is to scout out the latest eye shadow palettes. They are almost always drool worthy, making me want a piece of everything, even though I already have more make-up than I need.
This season the consensus for eye shadow seems to be bronze and blue hues. This look above from Sephora is the epitome of these two shades.
Smashbox calls it Desert Chic, with these Heat Wave (left) and Oasis (right) palettes.
Stila (left) just calls it their limited edition summer palette, while Lancome (right) calls it the Brazilian colors.
Shu Uemura has something similar with their Fleur de Rose (left) and Fleur de Source (right) palettes from their 25th Boutique Birthday Make-up Collection. I tried out the look for the Fleur de Rose palette, and besides bronze they also seem to favor a tinge of pink/red. The colors go on really strongly. The pink/red doesn't exactly make me look like somebody punched me (I asked), but let's just say that pink/red, dark purple and bronze (the suggested combo) is not exactly the most flattering colors for my fair skin tone. I think this Fleur de Rose palette has potential though, if you use only one or two colors at a time.
Other brands favouring the metallic bronze trend are Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier. Bobbi Brown also has a pink tinge, with their Bronzed Pink Look using the Bronze Pink metallic shade above (left). Laura Mercier has these really cute eye color pots (right) for their Gold Digger collection (they come up with all sorts of names for bronze....), that has an eye shadow shade AND a complimenting shade of their loose powder. I tried it and combined together, they go on extremely strongly. This is not for the faint heart. As much as I liked the double decker combo, it was definitely not my style.

To be honest, none of these bronze and blue palettes are really my style. Perhaps with the exception of the Fleur de Rose, none of the colors in these palettes seem to go together really well. Maybe it is just me, but despite the "look" shown above from Sephora, I just cannot imagine what I would do with these colors. It is a sad day indeed when this season's eye make-up palettes fail to excite me.

Image Source: Sephora, Shu Uemura, Bobbi Brown and Laura Mercier

Just Admiring the Resort 09 Collections: Stella McCartney

While I was looking for more to blog for about the Resort 09 collections, I've suddenly come to realise that with so many collections a year, the whole 'flipping through style.com' thing really isn't as fun or exciting as before now. While the clothes are still pretty, I just can't get through all the looks for the very long Resort collections, like Chanel, Dior and DvF. And honestly, none of the collections completely grabbed my attention -that is until I saw Stella McCartney's collection.

Admittedly, I was surprised I liked it so much since I usually feel so-and-so about her designs, but there's just something I really liked about this collection. Maybe because her presentation was so refreshing -it wasn't on a typical runway, and it was set outdoors without the usual overdone glam and setup. Everything looked so natural. You can really imagine through the park and in the city in these clothes. They have just the right touch of put-together casualness and stylishness.


The double-breasted jacket with skinny pants combo is nothing new but it looks young and super sleek here. And I'm usually not a fan of jumpsuits but it looks oddly cool and glamorous and again, sleek.


These two dresses are so cute and look so easy to wear. I like how the designs are special enough to make the person to look different but not too out-there. Plus the colours are so sharp.


One of the key elements to the effortless casual and sleek look: neutral colours. Ok, so most of us out here can't actually fit into those tight Capri or carry off those loose, tight-at-the-ankles pants, but they look so cool on the models. And I love the androgynous of the tops.


Imagine walking in the city in these outfits next summer (or if you can replicate them, this summer) -uber-stylishness! I've got to figure out a way to imitate the outfit on the right -it's such an amazing combination of girliness -the loose, bow tie blouse -and androgynous -the long blazer.


What did you think of the Stella McCartney collection? Which Resort collection was your favourite?


Image Credit: www.style.com

Just Admiring the Resort 09 Collections: A Few Favourites

Even though the Resort collections are becoming more and more important, they don't seem to have the directional importance that greatly infleunce trends. But the clothes are usually also a lot more practical and relateable. So this year I actually looked through most of the collection on style.com and picked out my favourite outfits:

3.1 Phillip Lim

As usual, his collection is very loveable. Most of the clothes look so young, modern and perfect for people who have the parties to go to (and the money to spend.)

These day dresses are so cute. I love the colour combinations -of the jacket with the navy dress and of the light green dress with the dark green belt. I'm really loving the long jacket with mini dress combination at the moment.

Phillip Lim's cocktail dresses never disappoint. They look so customer-friendly and imagine if you had loads of events to attend about town, then the dresses look like they'll be suitable for so many dresses.

Nina Ricci

Everything is so delicate and so etheral looking (-maybe it's just the models,) with a bit of edge.

Lanvin

The Lanvin collection was great to ooh and ahh over as usual, but there's a bit too much of eveningwear and expensive dresses to truly imagine them being worn by myself in real life. I love the loose-fitting, silk, white jacket with those large pockets (on the right.) It's so casual yet cool and luxurious at the same time.

There were a lot of sharp colours, as expected from Lanvin, although it seems to be the general trend for next year too, especially yellow and orange.

OK, this post is obviously not so much of a fashion analysis post and more of a ooh-this-is-so-pretty post. These clothes somehow look so much cooler and more modern than this season's floral dresses.

Image Credit: www.style.com

S/S08 Trend: The Luella Way

So I've been meaning to write about this ever since this look started appearing around London back in early March (-yes, that's early March or maybe even late February. Girls actually willingly wear skirts in the cold just so they look fashionable.) And maybe this post is coming too late but oh well, it's only June. You can still wear this look for another few months.

High street stores have really supported making the Luella look into the street look of the season. The easiest stores to find those cutsey floral skirts are Top Shop and Urban Outfitters.

The Luella skirt is of the tiny flower printed on ra ra skirts. The left skirt is by Top Shop and the right one is by Miss Selfridge.

For something that are less obviously Luella-wannabes and more 'individual', there are other cute options by Top Shop. The one of the left has that found-in-a-thrift-store look to it, and the one the right gives off a rock chic vibe.

If you're wearing a floral top then make your skirt a solid-coloured one. A mid-waisted, A-line skirt that ends above the knees is the way to go.

If you want to adhere to Leulla's Superheroes theme, choose a superhero-themed t-shirt. The two shirts in the image are from Urban Outfitters UK. But really, any t-shirt will do. Just make sure it is solid-coloured and the graphic have solid colours too.

Sneakers (normal or high-heeled) will make your outfit hip and unfussy.

The key to this look is making sure that the floral skirt or top is the only fussy item in your outfit. The other items should be solid and tough-looking, like a leather jacket and patent leather booties. Your hair and accessories shouldn't be overly girly either. Take note of the messy, imperfect hairstyles, the very natural makeup and if you can carry them off, the oh-so-trendy nerd glasses. (This image is by the Urban Outfitters UK website from awhile ago. Just more styling ideas for you!)

Have you been wearing the Luella look this spring? Thoughts?

Image Credits: http://www.style.com/, http://www.urbanoutfitters.co.uk, www.topshop.com, www.aldoshoes.com

FCUK S/S08

Remember the FCUK dress post I did before last Christmas? Alas, I didn't end up getting any of those dresses, but I've continued to stalk FCUK clothes, especially the dresses online. For S/S08, FCUK had less shift dresses and more 20's and high-waisted style dresses, but I still found plenty to like.


The dress that I've been ogling since the start of the season is the Ray dress. I love that even though it's covered with beads, it's not too sparkly and I love the combination of pale colours in horizontal stripes. I don't have an event in mind to wear it to, which is why I can't quite justify paying full price (120 pounds) for it. But if it goes on sale, should I get it? Or is it too disco-y?


I'm a fan of t-shirt dresses so I briefly considered this dress, but the ruffles were too small for my taste and the edges had that cheap-looking ripped effect.

Like I said, I love t-shirt dresses. The weird purple and green beaded pattern made me hesitent at first (-the dress is named Alien dress,) but I think it's growing on me. It looks so easy to wear and it's colourful without being too multi-coloured.

Then there is this tank dress, which is similar but less weird looking than the Alien Dress. It's sold out online though, so I assume it's sold out in stores too. I actually like the horizontal patterned stripes more but the t-shirt style is so much easier to wear.

A cute shift dress with a classic design.

This dress makes me think of fancy lunches. That's it. Since I have no fancy lunches to go to, perhaps it's not quite useful for me. But it's so pretty!

I thought this dress looked frumpy on the French Connection website, but I love it on the model. It's such a cute, fashionable twist to the polo shirt dress. The skirt bit is high-waisted, which is supposed to make one's legs look longer. Plus a daytime dress would be so much more useful to me than a going out dress. I didn't see it at my local store but hopefully I'll see it at the Oxford Circus store. Isn't it cute?

I touched this top at a store and the quality is great! You can wear it as a loose top, or as I saw it on display, tucked into a high-waisted skirt, which is oh-so-fashionable these days. It's so versatile, but I imagine the reason why there are still so many left in stores is that it costs 50 pounds!

I've been eyeing this Veronica top ever since the start of the season. I'm not one for blouses but the bow is just right and the slightly puffy sleeves are cute. I'll definitely be looking out for this.

I didn't think much of this top until I saw it (in another colour with yellow spots) on a salesgirl and it looked great on her. The design is a bit too interesting for me and it looks more like fall clothes than summer clothes but maybe I should just try it on first.

Now that the sales are about to start soon (-still waiting!), I'm trying to narrow down the list of items to look out for in the sale becuase obviously I can't buy everything. Which few items do you think I should pick?

Image Credits: www.fcuk.co.uk, www.bloomingdales.com, www.nordstrom.com

Stress Causes Acne

I've read before in various magazines and websites that stress causes acne. And sure, I believe them -afterall, it's a scientific finding that doctors tell us and not something off a new beauty product advertisement. But now I really care and believe this because it just happened to me! Last Tuesday, the day of my last exams, I woke up and felt some inflammation pain on my face but didn't have time to check it out properly. But at night, I checked out my face properly and was not happy -there were five new pimiples! So many breakouts within one day has not happened to me for a few years!

Not surprisingly, I freaked out and looked for a scientific explanation. I found that The Acne Resource Center Online has an understandable summary of why stress causes ance. Basically, stress causes stress hormones, which cause more sebum secretion and thus more acne. Plus, during time of stress, we tend to get lazy about our skincare regime.

It's always nice to know the explanation behind things, but at the end of the day, it's not like we can control our brains and not be stressed just so we don't get breakouts. So my solution is: damage control! I really recommend Origins Spot Remover. It's one of the only over-the-counter acne products that has actually helped calm and minimise my pimples. (When I say it works, I mean it helps. It does not work miralces!) No, I'm not getting paid to promote it! If you have other recommendations, leave it a comment.

Now the next problem is getting rid of the horrible red marks left behind on my skin. It takes ages, and I mean ages for the marks to fade. Unfortunately, I have yet to discover any product that actually helps fade the red spots. Does anyone know a good product for this? Help!

Image Credit: www.origins.co.uk

You may have noticed

...that our blog has been a bit lacking in updates recently. Barneys Girl is busy enjoying her last week as a college student (without needing to attend classes,) and I'm still recuperating from the six hours of exams I had yesterday. So yeah. We'll be back very soon!

Just wanted to leave you guys with a bit of advice. If you happen to live in the lucky part of the world where sales have already started, go shop! Otherwise, unless you need something urgently or it's from the pre-fall collections, wait for the sale! That's sadly what I'm doing now.

Graduation Caps

So the other day, I went to buy my graduation cap/gown. This is the first (and probably the only) time I will be wearing a graduation cap/gown, because my high school never had it and at the moment I don't plan to pursue any further studies. So I was super excited to try on my cap/gown and see how it looked.
I was a bit disappointed to find that apparently undergraduates in the US only get to wear plain black gowns, because the pretty color stripes I'd always imagined myself wearing are reserved for people with higher degrees than mine. But then, I remembered that even Rory in her Yale graduation had to wear the same black monstrosity (probably made of cheap plastic-ky unbreathable material as mine too) and felt a bit better. Though even the people over at Tufts have bits of blue in their tassels. Mine is just all black.
But the thing that bugs me the most is my graduation cap. I look like an idiot. It is an one size fits all cap, it is too big for me and the elastic-ky things on the side don't work. I wear it and there are irregular poofy bumps coming from all sides! A bit like how there is a bumpy bit on the back of Ashley's (right) cap, except multiplied by 10.
How come everyone else's (i.e. Rory and Marissa above) caps looks so nicely fitted on them? Is there something I am missing? Or is the cap from my school just badly designed?

Image Source: TV Addict