My favourite clothings from this summer

October 22, 2015October 27, 2017 ~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

Summer has long been over, and I survived the hot searing rays, the sticky humidity, and smog in the city. Now the Fall has officially moved in and made itself home. A cool breeze is the daily norm, and everything feels calmer. Now is when I wanted to look back and think about the fashion items I had that made the past summer not only bearable (summer is one of my least fave seasons), but also fun! So here is my Top 5 list:

#4 My Little Distressed Denim Jacket

In Toronto, summer nights are still a bit nippy sometimes. When going out to night time shows and parties, I always had my distressed denim in a basic fitted cut, not too cropped or long, but just right. It went with everything. I mean everything, dresses, shorts, rompers, pants, leggings. And because denim is cotton, it was super breathable and comfy. It also looked so classic and effortlessly stylish. An all purpose cute denim jacket was my jacket staple.

Simple, cute, and easy to use. What more can you ask for in a jacket?

#3 Basic Cotton Romper

I wore my cotton romper consecutively for days during the real hot times this summer. It breathed, it was cute, it was functional, and only one thing to put on in the morning. Fashion heaven! I mentioned this romper before in an earlier entry. This is the strapless $10 romper that I sewed straps onto to make it more wearable… I truly “heart” it.

Every day during the hottest days in August, I wore this thing. My kid was sick of seeing it. ha ha — Every day during the hottest days in August, I wore this thing.

#2 Lacey Kimono

Feminine, and pretty, but casual. An easy cover-up that didn’t add on too much cover. This was my lace trimmed kimono. Blush pink with ivory lace, it is neutral enough of a colour to go with everything, and light and airy enough to want to wear everyday. If only relationships were this easy to coordinate….

The kimono trend is dying down, but this lacey piece was still a cool cover-up during the summer.

#1 Awesome one-piece bathing suit, second hand.

I am not a huge fan of bikinis. To be honest, I don’t think it is flattering on any body type or shape. For me, it’s the lack of support/material of a bikini that makes it a flawed fashion item, and just basically an excuse to show skin. And unless your body is “perfect” (nobody has the perfect body though) any gal can basically feel like crap the minute she puts one on and looks in the mirror. So when my boyfriend sprung a Labour Day beach trip on me with little notice, I scrambled to find a cute one piece suit, while the trends are pushing the “bikini” idea on girls.

For those of you that don’t live in Canada, swimsuit season ends in August. After that, you are left with swim wear duds (mismatched or tacky-looking). I needed the suit soon so I couldn’t turn to online shopping. I went to every store that sold swimwear, but couldn’t find a cute, affordable one piece. This was a nightmare that plagued me until the day before the trip when I found the cutest one-piece ever at a second hand store in my neighborhood. It was also only $15.00 and an American Apparel brand. I liked it for its funky colours and simple design, typical of what makes American Apparel clothes great (if they only were more affordable). What a find and what a miracle!

Such fun colours! Tangerine red, and navy blue, haltered and just super fitted and cute. I really lucked out on this bathing suit find... — Such fun colours! Tangerine red, and navy blue, haltered and just super fitted and cute. One peices don’t have to look matronly. 🙂

What clothing pieces were you most pleased by this summer? Because this season is so short here, and summer fashion has all the fun pieces, the sun dresses, skirts and shorts…I really have to make the most of it, and I feel I did!

Nail design: nude nails and a splash of colour

August 10, 2015 ~ Emmie ~ Leave a comment

I saw this trend a while ago online in various fashion articles. But only recently I tried to get it with a few trial and errors! It is this way of painting each nail with colour polish only partially, so that the nude bare nail still shows up and is part of the look. I think of it as a variation of french tips, where instead of just painting the tips of the nails, you work with other parts of the nail to create negative space and interest. I think partially colouring your nails is super fresh looking, because it shows part of the bare nails, and hints at idea of being naked, natural. It gives the nail a more graphic, designed look as well!

Hello bare clean nails! If you have healthy well-shaped nails, you really can skip polish and rock those! But adding colour never hurts! — Hello bare clean nails! If you have healthy well-shaped nails, you really can skip polish sometimes. But I always feel I need a bit of polish, which is why the partial colour is great. You get a bit of both worlds.

Steps to doing a Colour on Nude Nail Manicure

Start with clean, well shaped nails. This is an obvious must when trying to achieve this half painted look because your nude nails are actually the star of the show! (I wash and moisturize my nail shaft for a day or two resting them without polish, to let it breathe and grow more healthy)
Just before painting them, wipe your nails with a tissue moistened with water, to remove excess oils that can cause the chipping of polishes.
Let your nails dry from the wiping.
First paint your nails with a transparent base coat all over the nail shaft. The base coat helps so much because naked nails don’t receive colour evenly, so it is like a foundation. Base coats also smooth out ridges in the nail, just make sure it is transparent so the nude nail shows.
Carefully paint the design in with the colour of choice. I like to do the moons of the nail, which is the bottom half closest to the cuticle. I do an arched shape. I find middle-toned polishes to work the best with this look: ie. not too dark or not too pastel.
Let the first colour coat dry, then do a second coat of colour, being careful to mirror the shape from before. (This step is optional: intricate designs are not easy to apply a second coat to)
Put on a clear top coat All over the nail shaft to seal it in. I love to use a clear matte polish as a topper just because it looks super natural on an uncoloured nail.

So this is the finished product. A nude nail accented by a burst of colour! There are endless variations of the nude nail with colour! An single coloured stripe would also look cool!

Graphically designed and painted nails that show off the natural gorgeousness of the naked nail! Try it yourself and let me know how you like it. I’ve seen different variations, you can do a vertical strip, do a star shape or even dot nude nails with a few jewels. The possibilities are practically endless. Main point to do is remember to use a base coat and top coat for best results. 🙂

Are circle lenses worth all the hype?

January 31, 2015February 2, 2015 ~ Emmie ~ 3 Comments

So this trend has been happening for a long while now. Circle lenses are contact lenses worn with or without a prescription. They usually change the eye colour and iris size, and are mostly used for cosmetic reasons and cosplay. It’s another asian make-up trend that latched on here in North America, and the goal is to make your eyes appear more dolly-like, more cute and more interesting. Wearers and makers of circle lenses claim many things…that they enhance the eyes, play up colour and intensity, and make the eyes look bigger and brighter, more gorgeous. But do they really do all those things? I kind of doubt how enlarging the iris (the coloured ring around the pupil) can make eyes appear larger. More like a doll’s eyes, yes, but nothing can really make the actual eye appear “bigger”, in my humble opinion. I think the enlarging the eyes thing is just marketing talk.

An example of how cute the culture of circle lens packaging is!

I feel the only thing that these over-seas circle lenses can do is change eye colour. The main obstacle when choosing a coloured lens is how to balance a noticeable change while wearing them and not having it look unnatural or fake on the eyes. I can’t wear circle lenses that are big in diameter (determines the iris size), even though they are all the rage. That is because my eyes are small and my eye surface area to lens ratio is too great for wearing large diameter lenses. They actually look too fake on me. This has been a major bummer for me because I have to use 14mm diameter and that is very minimal iris enlargement. I’ve just been basically changing colours of my eyes. I’ve done blue, grey and purple lenses. Recently, I decided to try red lenses! I got them on sale from Pinky Paradise. 1 pair doesn’t cost that much ($20-25) and shipping is reasonable. Just don’t get addicted to these lenses and feel the need to have every colour of the rainbow. That will rack up quite a bill quickly.

This is my natural eye colour, with no lenses.

With redish coloured lenses. Are my eyes more striking? Or are circle lenses useless? — With Venus brand red lenses. Are my eyes more striking? Or are circle lenses useless?

So what do you think? Is the payoff for wearing circle lenses there? or is it just better to be au naturale when it comes to the eyes? We also need to think about how wearing contacts requires proper cleaning, care and storage, because maintaining eye health is a serious thing. I got some unknown eye condition two years ago while using various circle lenses, and it took me months to heal. I practiced good handling methods so til this day, I wonder if it was from frequent use of these lenses. So in the end is it really worth all the hassle just for a subtle change in eye colour? I am still on the fence whether sporting circle lenses are as great as the trend makes them out to be or something I can go without…

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: