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

Juicy Couture: Something Looks Familiar

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/

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

A Weekend in Amsterdam

After spending last Friday in Paris (more on that later,) I headed off to meet up my friends (who flew in from London) in Amsterdam for the weekend. We met at the Centraal Station and took the tram to our hotel. The trams make getting around very easy and convenient, although we stayed pretty much within one area for the whole weekend so we mostly walked.

Once we got out of the Centraal Station, we saw this church on the left. We took pictures because it looks so pretty but we weren't bothered to get closer. Throughout the trip, we see other churches around. Afterwards, we went to the famous Anne Frank House, which was very interesting. Unlike most museums you don't actually see a lot of artifacts in the House, but the presentations you see when you walk through each room of the House really gives you a sense of what happened and how it felt.

At night we visited the Red Light District, which was very interesting. I've definitely not seen any 'shops' like the ones there before. It was also really uncomfortably crowded so we didn't stay long.

On Sunday morning, we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I thought it was going to be just another art museum (-I've never studied art so I can't say I know how to fully appreciate art museums,) but it actually turned out to be pretty interesting. The museum splits Van Gogh's work into different time periods and the presentation boards have good descriptions that explain those time periods. As you walk along, you can really see the development and influence in his artwork even if you're not an artist yourself.

My favourite thing to do there was just walking along the canals, admiring the quaint little town feeling of the area and relaxing in the many coffee shops. So pretty and relaxing!

Along the canals, there were some boat houses. Not that I would ever want to live in one but isn't this one look so cute?

Before leaving on Sunday afternoon, we went peddle-boating (-is that the correct term?) Basically we water-cycled in the canals. Even though we didn't seem to be able to master the steering device and kept bumping into the walls and boat houses, it was so fun! It was a great way to just enjoy the sights without getting bored.

Now I understand why people seem to like going to Amsterdam to relax for a weekend!

Image Credit: http://www.vangoghmuseum.com/ and my friend, L