Thursday, October 21, 2010

Pierced my ears!

I am definitely procrastinating on work that I should be doing. It's almost 4:30 and I'm in the mood to type up a blog post instead of writing an essay. Eh, at least this post will be here forever; my essay will be forgotten in about a week.

Anywho, I got my ears pierced a week ago for the first time ever! My virgin ears were pierced by a nice guy named Ali. NGL, I was afraid that it would hurt and I would be bawling, but it didn't hurt at all. Just slightly uncomfortable. I'm super excited to be able to change these tiny star earrings for some other ones. :)

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Loving Rimmel's Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Gray.

Short entry, but I painted my nails recently in a gray color. I don't usually do neutrals on my nails because I'm such a big fan of color, but considering how much color I've worn on my nails, I thought it would be nice to switch it up and go with a more muted color. I picked up Rimmel's Lasting Finish Pro in Steel Gray at CVS the other day. I actually saw this color a few weeks back but I didn't pick it up because I didn't know if I could pull off that look. But it kept weighing on my mind so I finally cracked and went back a month later to pick it up. Thank god I did. It was the last bottle and I hate that "I totally regret not getting it and it's gone feeling", don't you?

Anyways, I tried it on and I've been wearing it for a week now and I still love it. I didn't put my Seche Vite over it because my bottle got kind of goopy and my order for the thinner didn't come in yet. Surprisingly, it didn't chip all that much. I have a few chips here and there, but the color was able to stay on pretty well considering that I do a lot of work with my hands at work. The color is really nice. It's like a gray, but I feel like it has a slight mauve tint to it. It always seems warm instead of a cool gray which is weird considering the name.

I'll have to repaint my nails and take a pic sometime. :)

As a note, I wear my nails pretty short. Since I have excema, I can't keep them long or else I'm tempted to scratch at my skin whenever a flair up comes. Thus I tend to keep my nails really simple.

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Wants: Jeggings

Jeggings were a trend that I had a hard time accepting. I was a staunch opponent of leggings as pants because it just looks bad. It looks so unkempt. Like you just rolled out of bed and didn't bother to wear pants. Now, let me clarify, I don't mind leggings. I think leggings are great. Though, personally, I stopped wearing the calf length leggings and wear either tights or ankle length leggings because they elongate my legs instead of making them look stumpy.

BUT, I just have a face of horror when I see a girl wear leggings as pants i.e. I can see their crotch/butt. I just don't think this is a cute look. MAYBE... MAYBE as an outfit to the gym, it would be acceptable, but even then, don't you need your bits to breathe? In any case, I don't think I should be seeing anything skin tight around that area. It just looks.. whorish.

But jeggings aren't like that. They actually look like jeans. They're opaque and although they don't have much structure, the material is thicker so you don't get awkward bumps and lumps. And they just make your jeans look like they were made for you.

Sadly, I haven't found a pair that I've liked yet. :'( I'm gonna keep looking, but it's hard to find one that's the right length on me. Also, I don't know if you can tailor it like regular jeans since the spandex needs a different type of stitching.

Wish me luck on finding a good pair!

Monday, August 2, 2010

Pale vs Tan

For those who don't know, I'm ABC, American Born Chinese. Pretty typical, first generation Chinese. I can speak enough to get by (ie, ordering food, asking where the bathroom is) and I read a little (hello, 4 years of Mandarin in high school) but I am by no means fluent in the language. But my parents came off the boat a few years before I as born, got arranged to date and decided to marry. And popped out bb Teresa.

Anyways, the reason for that little back story is that I've always grown up thinking that pale is beautiful. When a child is born, the family's definition of healthy is 非非白白 which means "pale and pudgy". Often it is noted that Asian parents want their child to have porcelain skin. At least this was true for me. My mom would always tell me to stay away from the sun and make sure I wear a hat at all times.

Now I've been pretty diligent in this respect. I took up gaming and programming so I was always in an artificially lit room away from those evil UV rays that darken up my skin. But this summer, I decided to stay in sunny Davis rather than heading home to foggy San Francisco and it's too hard to avoid the flaming ball of heat. And I got tan. OH NOES!

Yes, tan. Actually, I asked my friends and I'm not even that tan. I'm just tanner than my usual pale. But when I first got darker, I started to get a little sad because I thought I was getting uglier (silly, I know) and it took me a while to get used to the darker shade.

Most of my friends think I look better tan than pale. So, I'll ask you, what do you think looks better? Have you ever been told that you'd look better either pale or tan? Does it even matter?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Ramblings

It's 10:55AM right now and I'm sitting outside waiting for the Davis-Berkeley shuttle to start letting people in so I'm not freezing in Cal weather. But it's 30 minutes before the shuttle is due to leave and the bus driver is ignoring all requests to let us in. So I figured I would jot down a blog entry while I'm waiting.

Oh, he just got out. I guess that was somewhat anticlimatic. But I'll still write down the entry. I can wait outside.

I've been shopping too much. It's becoming a bad habit. It's not even all clothes or anything, it's just me randomly spending money on things I probably don't need, but want. But you guys probably don't wanna hear about my money issues.

I recently bought a scarf from Forever 21 that I'm wearing right now. In fact, I think I bought it yesterday. It's a pretty white scarf that I've been wanting for a while. I try to avoid white clothing because I am a klutz. A serious klutz. I'm always falling over or toppling over things, it's amazing that I've never broken any bones. I do wake up with occasional scratches and bruises though.

Anyways, back to the scarf. (I ramble too much..) It's a nice lightweight scarf. It's not something that would keep me warm in the winter, but it's a nice piece for fall. It's also a nice piece for spring, but spring has passed and I'm not about to wait for next year before I can wear things.

It's scrunched up on one of the edges so that the scarf falls down into a point instead flat across. It's a nice effect and really works with the dainty look of the scarf.

The bad thing is, I already snagged it. T_T I was taking out my sunglasses and it pulled on fabric and made this little hole. :( Definitely not very durable. But I got it for 8 bucks so I'm not gonna complain. Love the look of it.

Anyways, people are starting to board, so I'll end this here.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Retail Therapy + F21's Love Nerd Collection

Sorry for not updating lately. I've just been kind of swamped with work. Actually, that's a lie. I have a really bad habit of abandoning my blogs after a few entries and this wasn't immune to it. But I'm back and I'm writing another entry.

I was kind of bummed out today because I didn't pass my behind the wheel test (I am still angry over it) and when I got home, there wasn't anything more therapeutic than turning on my computer and shopping online. I wasn't really feeling up to leaving the house so I booted up my trusty little computer and began to shop.

Pretty much instantly, I calmed down while looking at pages upon pages of clothing. You see, when I do this, I usually only shop at places that I can afford stuff, mostly Forever 21. Yeah, I can hear the arguments about how Forever 21 has really bad quality items and stuff, but in my experience, I go through so many different styles that buying cheap, but trendy clothes is the way to go. After all, I don't have to dress up for work or anything. Just let me have my cute cheap clothes before I have to change it out. :3

Anyways, I stumbled upon F21's Love Nerd collection and fell in love with most of the items. Very rarely do I like the Forever 21 collections because most of the time, I think it's very tacky or not wearable. But I guess I just have a nerdy style. Here are some of my favorites:



First off, I LAHVE LAHVE this sweater. When I first looked at it, the little patch on the left reminded me of Harajuku Lovers and their cute little anime mascots (are they mascots? :x). Also, I really liked the pop of red on the blue. I'm a big fan of buttons and the brighter/bigger/cuter they are, the more prone I am to wearing it. And just when I thought I couldn't love this sweater more, I saw the back detailing. So cute and unexpected! The stripes reminded me of Beetlejuice/Tim Burton. Just a bold print on the back that's neither flattering nor unflattering. Love it! It's definitely not boring, but it's also not too over the top. I also really liked how it was styled. The knee-high socks with the oxfords make this look so chic. I'm so glad that I'm still young enough to pull off this look. (Yes, you CAN be too old to wear something like this. Dress your age and you will be beautiful.)



The thing I love about this bowtie sweater is the fact that it could have been a disaster, but was executed well enough that it doesn't look tacky. Normally, I don't really like to wear red things because they tend to bring out the redness in my face (which is from ezcema) so I try to avoid it whenever possible. But I just can't resist this sweater. I love little bowties and since I can't actually tie a bowtie, why not just get one printed on! :D I also like this because it's only printed at the top. A lot of F21's stuff is really over the top and there's just a lot going on, but even with this bold color, this sweater isn't too in your face. Since it doesn't have any crazy designs, pairing it up with the skort that the model is wearing is perfect. I actually really like that bottom, but I haven't found it on the site yet.



I don't know why, but I'm kind of in love with this button skirt. I think I really do have a button fetish, but the different colors really make this dress pop. Also, the structure of the skirt is pretty interesting. It's kind of like a bubble skirt that doesn't flare out. I'm not quite sure if it'll fit my body type, but I always try on bottoms in the store because I need to make sure it's not too short. Skirts that hang just pass my butt do not make me look classy at all.

Honorable Mention:



I'm not quite sure how I feel about this jacket. As I said, I try to avoid wearing a lot of red and while I made an exception for the red bowtie sweater, I'm not quite sure if I could pull this off. First of all, it's red. Second, the jacket doesn't look very structured on the model and unstructured jackets are kind of a no-no on my body type since it can make me look fat. But, I think I would have to try this on to see if I really like it. When I'm shopping online, it's hard to tell if something would look good on me. I have a general idea of what kind of cuts/prints would work on me, but sometimes I have to try it on to really see if I should buy it. Good thing there's a F21 that's reachable from my location.



When I first saw this jacket, I thought it was really neat. I really dig the kind of military/peacoat combination, but as I zoomed in, I couldn't tell if I like the material. It looks like knit and knit isn't really very warm. It's weird because this jacket looks like it would be very fitting for winter and colder weather, but I don't know if it could hold up to that. The description says there's a houndstooth lining which is very chic, but I'm disappointed that they don't show it in the pictures online. Would have to see it in the store.

Also, they have a cute Lookbook on this style. Check it out. :D

Overall
I really like this collection since a lot of it is wearable, but it reminds me that school is coming back into session. The styles and colors are very private school-esque. I guess summer is finally coming to a close and it's time to buckle down and start gearing up for fall. It looks like a lot of reds coupled with neutrals are coming in with this collection and I wonder if other designers/retailers will follow the trend. But, ngl, I'm excited to start wearing tights and my knee highs again. :)

Also, I love the styling choices! I love the high bun and glasses look. Sexy, yet smart.

Friday, July 16, 2010

SHOES SHOES SHOES

I love shoes. When I was younger, I was only allowed to wear one pair of shoes and I would have to wait till those were worn out or torn before my mom would let me buy a new pair. We were super thrifty back then because we didn't have much of an income. But lately, I've been picking up shoes like mad. LIKE MAD!

It started in the winter, when I stumbled on amiclubwear and found out that they have really cheap shoes! Esp. those on clearance, which was where I bought them. Granted, they're not the most expensive shoes or the best quality, but for the price, I felt that the comfort level of the shoes exceed the price I paid for them. I bought a few pairs of boots that I love, love!

As a side note, the clothes on the site are pretty trashy in my opinion and I wouldn't wear them, but some are actually pretty decent looking. But when I bought some clothes, they were off color or they don't fit correctly so I'm gonna stay away from clothes on that site.

My current wishlist for shoes are some oxfords like these in light brown (thanks to my BFF Sabs for showing me) and some kind of edgy ankle boots like these or these. But I have to get paid before I can buy more shoes. :3

I think shoes that have more of a chunky heel are coming back, but I'm not really in love with those as much, unless it has a motorcycle feel to it. I don't really like chunky heels because I like the stiletto look.

Hopefully, I'll get them soon. ^_____^

Thursday, July 15, 2010

LOVE: Aviators.

I wouldn't mind being pulled over by Donald and Zach.
When aviators first came into vogue, I didn't really like them. They reminded me of dirty 80s cops and perverts. The image of some mustached man asking for your information used to come instantly when I saw these shades. So for a long time, I kind of shied (OT, but this word looks strange) away from this trend in high school, which was when it started coming back.

But now that some time as passed, I've grown to love my aviators. In fact, they're basically my HG (holy grail) style of sunglasses. I think this is because they always seem to fit me. You see, I have an "Asian" nose, so the bridge of my nose is pretty flat. I love my nose, but I have a hard time finding shades that will fit comfortably on my face. Also, I have "Asian" eyes (whatever that means) and my eyes kind of protrude from the plane of my face. That is, if you look at my eyes from profile, you can see that my eyeballs jut out a little. (Maybe I'll show a pic later!) Therefore, sometimes when I try on sunglasses and they don't fit on the bridge of my nose, I try and force it back so they would rest there, but then it would hit my eyeballs. So yeah, pretty odd scenario.

But yes, I really love aviators now. That just goes to show that you can hate a trend, but end up loving it in the end. :)


Also, I fell in love with this pair of Carrera bubblegum pink pair of aviators when I went to the Gilroy outlets. I think they were also $120 at the Solstice and I really loved the way they looked on me, but I couldn't buy it because I was pretty certain that I only had $200 in my bank account. :( `Really really liked them though. Sigh, one day~!

The Road to Becoming a Shopaholic.

Confessions of a Shopaholic is one of my favorite chick flick movies because I love looking at all the different outfits that Rebecca Bloomwood would wear. Plus Isla Fisher is so beautiful!

I was genuinely sad that she had to sell off her things to help pay off my debt because I don't think I could ever part with pretty clothes. Then it hit me. I have an unhealthy attachment to my clothes and yet, I want to keep buying more and more new stuff.

While I don't shop like Rebecca, I have been shopping a lot lately. Mostly from stores like H&M and Forever 21. Yes, I know everyone says their clothing isn't of the greatest quality, but when you're a poor college student with student and living fees plus a low paying job, you have to deal with it. Plus, I don't really care if the clothes are "cheap" because they're usually very trendy and I like to play with trends that will come and go without spending too much $$$.

I've never really cared about my appearance. Back in high school, I only wore baggy jeans and tshirts with a jacket all day since San Francisco weather is always this weird cold temperature. So no cute skirts/shorts/dresses/tanks/etc. It was sad. But to be honest, I felt really awkward in my body in high school so I didn't dress up till basically a year ago. My closet is still full of mundane clothes, but give me a little more time and hopefully, it'll be revamped into something I'll love. ^^

Anyways, I'm thinking of maybe taking some pictures of sample outfits that I like to put together, but I'm also kind of camera shy since I don't know who will see these and there are a lot of internet bullies out there. I have some thin skin. T^T

Monday, July 12, 2010

I'M SO BAD AT PAINTING NAILS.

Painting your nails is an easy simple way to achieve a pop of color or spark an interesting conversation, or even just to polish off your look. With that said, I'm horrible at it. I don't know why, but I could never get the right consistency on my nail and it ends up being super lumpy or marked. I think I put on coats that are too thick, but painting my nails usually takes like an hour, mayhaps more. Argh, it's quite frustrating. Maybe I should look online for some techniques, but it seems like such a simple task, that it would be silly to look it up. Hahaha

Also, I think I need a new base coat. I know that no one reads this blog as of now (since I've never told anyone about it yet) but if you are backtracking, I would love suggestions. I'm using the Seche Vite ridge filler one, but as much as I love the Seche Vite topcoat, I don't quite like the base coat. It doesn't really smooth out the surface of my nail. Or maybe I'm putting that on wrong too.

As for colors, I'm currently in love with bright poppy colors. One of my friends went down to San Jose to pick up some nail polishes for cheap, so I might wanna go check that out. I wanna expand on my nail collection. ^___^

Right now, I have a Sally Hansen's The Real Teal on. I like it a lot, but I feel like the first time I used it, it looked better. Probably cause the first time didn't look lumpy. Sigh, so sad.

In any case, I guess I'll look for tutorials (lol, so silly) so I can get this technique down. I feel like a little girl for not knowing how to paint my nails properly. :3 Hopefully, the next time I do them, it won't take me nearly as long.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Make me pretty, please.

All my life, I’ve felt that I’ve been pretty plain. Actually, worse than plain, ugly. You see, I grew up with eczema all my life. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s basically a skin condition that’s characterized by dry, itchy skin. Think of poison ivy, but year round. As a kid, you can imagine how bad it would be to be teased all the time about my appearance. Thus, I’ve always felt that I wasn’t very pretty.

I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin till college. My skin was still pretty bad, but for the most part, I was learning to deal with it. I started to dress a little better, wear a little bit of makeup, and generally adopted a more sunny disposition. And that has made me feel much more content with the way I look.

I think a lot of girls feel that they’re not pretty or there’s some flaw with them. When in reality, most people don’t even care. I strongly believe that any confident woman is beautiful. There are tons of celebrities or models with striking characteristics that could be considered flaws, but because they have full confidence in the way they present themselves, these “flaws” become unique.

In any case, I’m still quite the novice at makeup and fashion. But I want to document this “transformation” because I want to show you that anyone can do this.