XOXO

I got the coolest sunglasses ever!





Sunglasses by Alexandra Cassaniti, coat by Jcrew, necklace by Forever 21, sweater dress by 3.1 Phillip Lim (on major sale at Bird!), bracelets by me

I think sunglasses are my new thing. It's possible I may be a highly sensitive person, and I was reading about how those traits are often translated physically too. I have sensitive skin, sensitive eyes; light flashes give me migraines, etc. I'm also highly sensitive to hideous fashion, so I had to get these amazing Face It glasses, to shield me from Uggs, leggings as pants, etc. I love them so much! I saw them originally in Creatures of Comfort, but then found them on the designer's website for way less. They came with a little bag of neoprene scraps labeled "Surfer confetti." SO CUTE.

Some fun DIYs are happening this weekend, will post in a few days! In the meantime, I was so excited to read about Mariko's glitter shoes! I can't wait to see them on! Make your own using my DIY post!

Shibori circle scarves

I'm working on some great new items for the shop! Keep an eye out for silk and wool shibori circle scarves, and some cute new pouches!



I'm also working with Raymond to design a leather color-blocked backpack for him for spring.

Glitter shoes DIY

First I bought these last year on super duper sale:



But I never wore them because that leather flower on the side isn't really my style. So I took it off:



And then realized there's a bunch of holes left in the leather because of the thread that held the flower. So I decided that the only thing to do was to fill those holes with glitter.

First I taped up all the parts that I didn't want glittery, including the heel tap:



Then I scuffed up the to-be-glittered part with sandpaper.



Then I mixed about half ModPodge and half glitter from Michaels in the cut off end of a water bottle and painted it on.



Here they are half dried:



I ended up painting on three coats to get the glitter as opaque as I wanted, but the difference between one coat and three is actually minimal.

I let them dry some more and applied some Angelus Acrylic Finisher and voila!





They're pretty cool! I bought the glitter while at home in Memphis so I didn't compare the colors, and in the future I might get a color more similar to the base color. But I kind of like the spectator look these have now, and I'm happy with how they turned out! Not all of the thread holes are hidden, but I think the glitter distracts.

The Real Chicks of Central Park (Zoo)

I work for a nonprofit, so when I see other nonprofits asking for money, I generally just evaluate their methods to see what I can borrow (ahem). But these baby penguin chicks are so adorable that I totally got a chick magnet for Raymond!



I'm not sure who I love more, the chicks or Juan.

I don't want to grow up...

I picked up the new Jcrew catalog this weekend, and I only want to wear the kids' clothes!



Pretty color schemes, comfy-looking clothes! I think I can knit the sweater dress.



I hope my future daughter is this cute. In the meantime, I really want to wear casual sequins and star-print dresses. You can't see it in the pic, but she's wearing the outfit with desert boots (which I have, naturally)!



Once again, future baby and style icon. I've been wanting that overnight duffle bag for awhile (monogrammed, of course).



The outfit on the left is the only women's version I was really into, and I love that there's a child's version that's almost the same except for the colors. I'll do a combo of the two with my navy coat and some neon arm warmers!

Finger it!

I'm sorry, somehow I left off the best product of all on Connect Design: finger sticky notes!

I need these.

I don't know who's behind Connect Design from Korea, but whoever they are, they've seen inside my mind. I want so many things on their site! I need my planner to be combined with my watch:





I need my mugs to have animal tails:



And I really need 1. an iPhone 4 and 2. this kit to customize my own case!



And I need to be able to not only tell people what time it is, but show them without having to cramp my arm.



So cool!

Jesus is watching you.

First I saw this awesome Jesus watch on a marketer at Refinery 29:



Then I was clicking through a slideshow of detail shots from Paris Fashion Week at NY Mag's The Cut:



What's going on here? Is the Jesus watch a trend? Because I love it! After I saw the first one, I made a mental note to search for it on Ebay but got distracted, and later I just thought, "Well, how many Jesus watches can there be, anyway?" Turns out: A LOT.

So is this a thing now? I'm going to make it official and call it a thing.

Lanvin's fall campaign video

Dance like no one is watching. Let this be the only time I ever speak those words.

I'm an auntie!

And I have been for about a month, but didn't get any pics until today!



Hi baby Kara! Let Fifi Lapin guide you with her joie de vivre. (Fifi's on my shirt.)

Hi, I'm a bunny.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCRUPWDIgYM]

I'm getting excited about the new Muppets movie!

I'd like to thank the little people.

I stumbled across Christopher Boffoli's set, Disparity, while looking at My Modern Met. Aren't these tiny people cute? And the use of food as the set makes everything so bright and happy.









I sent the link to my coworker and we looked on our separate computers, and after a few minutes he said, "This Oscar fellow has some cute pictures here!" and I said, "... who's Oscar?" Somehow he had gotten to a link with these pictures by Oscar Ciutat instead!







And then a quick Google search led me to these photos by Slinkachu.









I love the more urban feel of these, as they seem more relevant to my actual New York life. The first two make me feel like I live in Apartment Therapy, which would be awesome, but is pretty far from reality.

BB Cream

I gotta say, I might be biased, but Americans are totally behind on the skincare and makeup front. Koreans are using awesome things like stem cells and ointments originally developed for burn victims. And there's Japanese mascaras that use wax and silicone to make your eyelashes so lush and thick and curled that you look like one of those dolls that have eyes that fall shut.

via Ebay

Super creepy, no?

 

 

 

 

But lately I've been getting really into it, especially since I read this article in Marie Claire about how Koreans are ahead of the curve as far as technological innovations in skincare. Basically, Koreans are winning when it comes to skin, and the main treatments the article mentions are lasers (SO EFFECTIVE), stem cells (sci-fi), BB creams (so easy) and high-potency collagen. I don't know much about the collagen treatments because it seems like the person that they interviewed for the article bought the rights to distribute in the US, so we don't get to know the names of the international competitors.

This post gets a little long, so read on to find out which products I've tried and which ones have actual results!

Shibori part one!

A scarf and a t-shirt started out like this:



and one got dyed lime green:



then I started to unwrap it:



and then it was this!



I ended up not dyeing the t-shirt that day because I discovered that the black thread left black lines on the silk of the scarf.



It ended up looking kind of cool and veiny, so I don't feel too bad about the scarf, but I did take the shirt apart and re-tie it with some white thread.

The scarf is willow pattern (yanagi shibori), although mine always turns out so white because I tie it so tight.

I did some more great stuff this weekend at home in Memphis, and will post pics as soon as my sister sends them to me!

Whoa, freshness.

Ever since I started "helping" my bf shop, I've been paying a lot more attention to cool things happening in menswear. It's all about the details!










pics via Ronnie Fieg

These Ronnie Fieg x Sebago Spinnakers are so perfect for the look I imagine for him: sexy, sporty prep with just a pinch of edgy dandy to keep it from being too Polo. I love the subtle tonal difference in the colors of the leather on the upper, and the red laces are so saturated! I can see these standing on the floor of the Ace Hotel as well as walking into Vanessa's for some 4-for-$1 dumplings and a bubble tea.

We're probably going to end up going for this one though:



since the Ronnie Fieg ones are sold out in his size.