SS06 Makeup Trends: Purple Eye Shadow

Normally I'm not a big eye shadow fan. Don't get me wrong, I think eye shadows are great for brightening up one's looks. But I have always had the problem of oily eyelids, which means that the eye shadow powder tends to gather at the creases after a few hours. I'm still trying to find a solution to this so if you know how to make eye shadow stay on oily eyelids, please let me know!

Anyways back to the topic, just like pink is for our face, purple is apparently the color of the moment for our eyes. (Excuse my lack of knowledge for the names of the different shades and hues of purple.) As seen on the SS06 catwalk:

Twinkle -This is such a pretty purple! This light, shimmery purple is perfect for both day and night.

Badgley Mischka -This is a solid, greyish purple color. Another good day or night color if you prefer to not look so sparkly and more 'proper' and sophisticated.

Missoni -Another solid purple. The pink blush on the models make the whole look 'prettier' than the look in Badgley Mischka.

Libertine -Very strong, shimmery purple. This is serious hardcore purple, so only wear it for parties at night!

The Chanel and Dior eye shadow palettes are both great for the looks above. I prefer the Dior one simply because there are five shades to mix and play with, but Chanel eye shadow is simply too divine to resist!

I'm also loving the Nars SS06 campaign. The purple (and the whole combination of makeup) used here makes Lily Cole look so haunting!
The Nars duo eye shadow gives a more matte effect than the Chanel and Dior palettes, so you may prefer this palette if you don't like shimmery eye shadow.

Purple is especially compliments brown and blue eyes, but it goes for all eye colors so do try it out!

Velvet

One of my current favourite brands is Velvet. I bought my first piece, a gorgeous purple long sleeved v necked piece with a brooch in the middle, from Velvet during the Thanksgiving Sales at Neiman Marcus. Since then, I've been in love with Velvet items. Simple yet trendy, Velvet pieces are elegantly wearable, of high quality, flattering, fitting and super soft. They feel absolutely divine. Designers Jenny Graham and Toni Spencer are genius!

Unfortunately for us, even though Velvet clothes can be found in almost any department store and places like Anthropologie and Brown Focus, there is precious little of it found online (I've spent HOURS looking for them and one cannot very well type 'velvet fashion' to look it up). But here are a few pieces that I did find from Shopbop.

I love all the folds and little details like the twisted strap on the right.

They are the definition of simple yet stylish. Perfect for the effortlessly chic look.

Seriously, it may not look to interesting on the rack, but it feels and looks fabulous on person. So go out and try it on for yourselves!

Changes in Grey's Anatomy

I remember when I first watched Grey's Anatomy, I was so impressed how realistic the makeup was: Everyone’s hair looked normal and all the interns actually looked tired at the end of each episode, (thanks so their 48 hrs shifts.) I mean, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) and Cristina (Sandra Oh) actually had slight dark circles! How rare is it that you see thirty-something actresses on American TV look anything less than perfect?

From Episode 101:

But is it just me or have they suddenly looked prettier in this season (Season 2)? For starters, Meredith obviously had professionally blown-dry hair –see Episode 221 if you don’t believe me. Her hair was perfectly layered and moved beautifully around her throughout the episode! From Episode 221:

And in the episode two weeks ago (Episode 222), her hair was even curled, and again, stayed so perfect to the end. From Episode 222:

If you observe carefully, there are no dark circles under any of the interns’ eyes anymore. Hmm, maybe they’ve simply gotten used to the long shifts. Oh, and has anyone noticed there is virtually NO medical stuff in the show anymore? It's all about drama these days. Thank goodness we still have House for interesting medical stuff!

Even though I do like looking at beautiful people on tv, it’s even better to see slightly more realistic looks. Bring the tired looks from Season 1 back!

Brainless Movies

With the season just starting, there hasn't been too much shopping going on what with everything being full price and all. So what does a shopaholic like me to do with my free time, while I wait for the sales to start? Well, I've started to learn how to drive (which is awesome btw) and watched a tonne of movies. Two of the more recent ones I've seen is Scary Movie 4 and She's the Man. Admittedly both are pretty brainless movies (I have enough intellectual stimulation from school) but as it turns out, there is brainless and then there is brainless.

She's the Man

This modern version of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night was surprisingly good. Viola (Amanda Bynes) dresses up as her twin brother and takes his place in boarding school all in the name of soccer. On the way, lots of hilarious things happen as she struggles to be a boy and falls in love with her hot roomate Duke.

I really enjoyed seeing Amanda Bynes' makeover into a boy. Its a good thing that she's a pretty girl. . .

. . because she doesn't make a very handsome guy (right).

And did I mention that her love interest, Duke, is hot?? (Notice how I managed to fit 4 pictures of him on this post;p) You would never guess with his tragic real name, Channing Tatum, that he looked so fine.

And of course, like all shows of this genre, there was a happy ending. I walked out of the cinema with a smile on my face :D

Scary Movie 4

Out of sheer-we have nothing better to watch but we don't want to do work- frame of mind, we watched Scary Movie 4. I saw the first one and thought it was the stupidest thing I've ever seen. But I noticed that it was #1 in the Box Office this week, so I thought, maybe it improved?

I am stupid. It did not improve at all. But in fact got even stupider- and I didn't even think that was possible. The sexual jokes were lame and disgusting. The reference to the scary Japanese ghost was dumb. The aliens were pathetic. The reference to Brokeback mountain was random. And the link between all these random references was just weak. I think I actually lost brain cells watching that movie. What is America thinking putting it #1 in the Box Office??

So you see, there is the brainless that just makes you smile and then there is the brainless that actually does make makes your brain LESS.

Red-striped tops

Remember a few months back, black & white striped tops were all the rage? Now that we're in Spring/ Summer, it seems like red striped tops are the way to go. As demonstrated by the trend-setting girls of LA:

Nicole Richie -This top has got much more 'design' on it than the other celebs' tops, so it's def not a basic striped top. I love the bits of solid red -makes the top more different.

Mary Kate Olsen -As expected from MK, it's oversized. I know some people are always complaining how MK dresses too oversized, but has it occured to these people that maybe MK simply feels more comfortable in oversized clothes? She's been a much watched-out for celeb since she was a baby, so maybe she doesn't feel the need to wear obviously very styled outfits all the time and impress people (such as Nicole.) Oops rambling, anyways, this grey & red thick striped top of MK's is perfect for very casual outtings.

Mischa Barton -Very simple basic white & red striped top. Notice that she's also got a black & white striped scarf on -it sort of blends in with the top.

This long T-shirt is by Lux (Urban Outfitters.) I'm not a big fan of how long the top is because it's not flattering on a lot of people, but if you fit, then ya...

This top is by Ben Sherman (also found on the Urban Outfitters website.) Unfortunately there aren't a lot of red striped tops on the internet. If you like this trend, look around your local shops and you'll be sure to find some.

Couture Tanks?

So after all that research I did on tanks the other day, I was suddenly struck by how ridiculously expensive some of the plain tanks were! Check this out:

These two from YaYa for example costs $58 and $49 respectively. The reason for the discrepancy in price here from the same brand is because the one on the left is longer and is a cashmere blend while the black one is shorter and merely cotton- sounds reasonable. A cashmere blend definitely deserves to be more expensive. But appearance wise they DO look very similar.

Then there is this grey tank from T (which I've never heard of) for $51 and this brown tank from Vince for $40. No especially expensive material here.

Next there is the unfinished edge tank (left) from Joie for $48 (at least there is SOME design) and orange tank from Adam + Eve for $42.

Usually I can appreciate and love the difference between the expensive and the cheap. But in this case, I really cannot see why. Do you? Above are two almost identical white tanks. One is $14.50 and one is $55. Which one is the couture tank? (I'll post the answer in the comments later today)

Style Journal: Rachel Bilson

Mischa Barton may steal the limelight on the red carpet, but Rachel Bilson is the real darling when it comes to day-to-day style. Personally I think Rachel's got more of a sense of style, but Mischa simply looks gorgeous in almost anything because she's got that whole tall and skinny frame, (not to mention that beautiful face and hair). Anyways, here are some recent Rachel photos:

I really like that green half-length cardigan thingy Rachel's got on top of the white top -it's perfect to liven up an otherwise ordinary outfit.

This purple top has totally got that modern-vintage feel going on. Simple and effortless, which is very different from some celebrities' great layering efforts.

This outfit is so cute and daring. Before you start to criticise, wearing a black mini skirt and black stockings underneath oversized tops is so Kate Moss 2006. Be prepared to see more of it around!

The sweetheart couple who are amazingly (in celeb standards) still together are just sweeter than ever! I'm the type of girl who drools over Rachel's clothes rather than Adam Brody, but hey, if you don't like Rachel's style, you could stare at Adam instead!

I'm not much of a fan for wearing plain splandex as pants, but let's just divert our attention to the tops.The tops are soo adorable and colorful -perfect for summer.

So this is how real life people wear Chanel jackets with jeans (very Daria in Chanel ads.) The key is to wear something casual-looking underneath so you won't look too old or formal.

Rachel shopping with friends in a very pretty dress. It's such a casual, girly dress. Where where where does one get such dresses?

Wearing a black long sleeve top underneath a dress is a very practical trend right now (and you could probably try it again next winter.) The way to wear it is that the dress should be made of silk like Rachel's here. It gives a better contrast.

OK, this is not a very normal-day outfit, but it's stylish in a non-showy way. The lesson here is that when you're wearing a plain color dress (esp if it's neautral-colored,) then carry a bright-colored clutch.