Make Me Beautiful

Whenever I go shopping, I can’t help but say things like, ‘This Zara top looks very Prada,’ or ‘Hmm, this shop is filled with Marni-esque stuff.’ (Although I have been trying to voice it out loud less.) This year, while browsing through Juicy Couture accessories online, I can’t help but see the similarities between the Juicy bags and bags by other designers. Now I’m not saying Juicy copied other designers. There are just elements of the bags that remind me of other bags.
The first thing I thought was, this looks like a Goyard bag. But after staring at the bag closely for awhile, it occured to me the print is of little puppies. And after staring at it for even longer, it starts to remind me of LAMB bags, which I didn’t think was totally original either. What a web! (Or maybe just a triangle.)
The Gucci one is too cutesy for me and the Juicy one is too preppy and seems to be made of terry cloth (-says it all.) While the two technically have very different designs, they superficially look similar to me.
Reminds me of a Gucci F/W07 bag. I think it may even have been featured in an ad. Does anyone remember it and think so, or did I just imagine it?

It doesn’t look exactly like a Gucci bag but that gold, circle metal piece in the middle is like the metal piece on a lot of the Gucci 08 bags.

Again, it’s the metal plate on this Juicy bag that reminds me of another designer’s bags. Can anyone guess?
I love this type of gold hardware that looks like a lock on handbags. The designer bag that has a lot of gold fake locks is by… it starts with the same letter as the one above.
This one is sort of obvious. One is by Dior and one is by Juicy. One is super expensive and one is relatively affordable. To be fair, both are equally cute, though not exactly my style.

Note that I am not saying Juicy copied the other designers. Nowadays with so many choices and designers out there, designers just seem to be inspired by other designers’ designs or elements of the designs a lot. It reminds me of Derek Lam saying “There’s no such thing as original design…… In a way, that’s what fashion’s about.” Afterall, it’s why certain designers are held higher than others, and why some designer collections are considered ‘directional’ in terms of trend. Anyway, it was fun just to look at the bunch of Juicy accessories together like this, wasn’t it?

Image Credit: http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/ , http://www.shopbop.com/ , http://www.eluxury.com/

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The following photos were included in US Vogue’s July 2008 Issue. This gallery was called Adult Education (photographed by David Sims) for it displays the freshest fashion trends from your favorite fashion designers. I think Daria Werbowy & Raquel Zimmermann poses in these pictures were funny.

Click here to view the rest of the gallery…

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These vintage posters would soo nice framed and scattered throughout your home. I just find them adorable and nostalgic. Visit AllPosters.com to view and purchase many more.

Nijinsky, in the Ballet “Scheherazade” by Rimski-Korsakov, 1912

The culture-changing Charleston

Josephine Baker in her infamous banana skirt

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It seems that reed diffusers have been taking the home fragrancing world by storm these days. My friend Abby has told me how wonderful hers smells and my Aunt Grace is completely in awe about how they work. And me ? I was absolutely clueless as to what a reed diffuser was, how it worked […]

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Your job. Your kids. Your spouse. Bills. Gas prices. Deadlines. The economy. War. Hangnail. Lawn needs mowing. Forgot to pick up a gallon of milk. Need to make that appointment for Fido to go to the vet. Forgot Nancy’s birthday AGAIN.
There is a lot going on in our lives today that creates stress and anxiety […]

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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

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