Happy Father's Day

As much as I love my dad I must admit, I hate trying to find a gift for him. I mean, what can he possibly want that I can get him?

I guess one can always stick with the classics. This silk tie from Zegna looks quite nice.

And of course, there is the belt, like this one from Gucci. One can't possibly go wrong with such generic things. (Well, unless you picked out a truly ugly tie).

More practically however, one can get their dad's a leather wallet. My dad uses a Vuitton one similar to this.

Another coveted men's item (I'm told) is leather shoes, especially Tod's and Ferragamo ones. However, my family is pretty conventional with superstitions and giving people shoes and clocks as a present is a big no no-even if they are Tod's/Ferragamo's.

And of course, they do so love the electronics. This set here is a Bose entertainment system. Personally I don't know much about it, so wouldn't know where to begin buying electronics for dad. If this is your inclination, I suggest you ask first.

Another generic gift for men is cologne. I'm not even sure what they are for (is it something they use after shaving?), but I've heard fabulous feedback on Chanel's Allure for men from friends. Although I'm not sure if that apply to dad's. . . .

Men have to take care of their skin too. Last Christmas, I got my dad moisturizer and he actually uses it! Of course, it wasn't exactly from La Mer (although I've heard it works really well on men too), since thats waaaaay out of my price range. But I'm sure my dad wouldn't have wanted such an expensive gift anyway, since ultimately he's paying for it!

Another thing I've bought my dad thats within budget and he loves was a book light, since I know he likes to read. It really is the thought that counts.

This time for Father's Day, I got my dad a classic fit Ralph Lauren Polo. One can never have enough polo's right?

Happy Father's Day!

British Vogue + Teen Vogue July 2006

In a typical month (that is when I'm in school in London,) I read about 4 style magazines: Vogue UK, Elle UK, Tatler and Teen Vogue. Now normally, the July issue of magazines are pretty boring because it's the end of season and it's not time yet to talk about next season's fashion. But surprisingly, this year's July issues have been pretty interesting:

British Vogue has a GORGEOUS cover with Gemma wearing a Prada bra. Isn't it amazing how Vogue always manages to make revealing clothes not look slutty? This photo editorial was shot by Corrine Day.

Also, there is a really interesting feature piece about T-shirts. There is actually more to a T-shirt than you realise. Plus, don't you always find yourself looking for the perfect T-shirt?

Moving on to Teen Vogue. As usual, the writing is not particularly fascinating, and there is an unusually large number of Beauty & Health features in this issue. But there is a fantastic photo editorial on nautical clothes. It shows you how to incorporate normal clothes and ways to style them to look uber chic and casual. So if you're stuck on how to style your clothes, go check it out.

Maybe it's because I've read so many magazines in the past few weeks, that is my normal 4 magazines plus the many I read in the hair salon today. And, I've been shopping and window-shopping quite a lot since I got back to Hong Kong (the sales are on,) so I'm actually quite sick of this season's clothes now. I can't wait for next season to come!

Product Fast

I've been using products for the face (face wash, toners and moisturizers) since forever. I don't even remember the time when simple water would do. But the other day, my friend told me that she'd never used any products before (only soap and water) until a year ago when her skin got dried due to the weather in Chicago. That got me thinking, what does the products I use do for me? Do I really need them or am I using it just for the sake of using something?

And so, during my last finals week when I hibernated in my room for 5 whole days trying to write papers and study (I really was rewatching Sex and the City), I went on a product fast. No toner. No moisturizer. Just soap and water.

The end result was that I got a chance to really go back to the beginning and pinpoint what my skin really need- hydration, exfoliation and more hydration. My skin really really lacked water! Another thing that came out of this product fast of mine was that I got to see if the products I am using made a difference or not. I'm happy to report that it does.

So ultimately, I ended up pretty much where I started with in this product fast of mine. But I feel that this experience was totally worth the nakedness I felt in those five days I didn't go through my beauty ritual, because it made me remember the real reason why I was following a beauty ritual everyday. And now I'm not just doing it for the sake of doing it but because I need it.

Natural-Looking Mascara

Since my makeup fast is now over, not to mention I haven't bought a mascara since last summer, I am now in the market for a new mascara. Last summer I was into the whole dramatic eye look. This summer, I've decided to go for the ever elusive natural look. Some inspiration:

I love the natural look from the Derek Lam SS06 runway.

Marc by Marc Jacobs and Lanvin SS06 runways also have fantastic natural looks. To make the face look 'natural' instead of 'plain', lengthening mascara is a must. So I have been doing a bit of research to see which mascara people think are good for everyday use:

The No. 1 favourite mascara for natural-looking lashes seems to be Shu Uemera Mascara Basic. I am very tempted to try this, but at US$27, it was a bit too pricey.

The Shiseido Natural Finishing Combing Mascara is one of the quite-good mascaras I have used before. It's great for lenthening lashes to look naturally long. Unfortunately it wasn't as water/oil-proof as I would have liked it to be.

When I tried the Maybelline Sky High Curves Mascara, I thought it was another quite-good mascara. It gave some length and slight volume, which means the lashes weren't quite natural-looking. But it also left me with racoon eyes at the end of the day.

Another pretty good 'natural' mascara MUA users seem to think is the Clinique Natural Glossy Mascara. This one I'm considering at the moment.

When Lancome L'Extreme was launched last summer, Barneys Girl and I went to try it out, and I thought it was one of the best lengthening mascaras I have ever tried. Obviously my lashes didn't look as amazing as the lashes in the L'Extreme ad, but the lengthening was still pretty darn amazing. So L'Extreme is high up on my possible-buy list.

If you have any favourite mascaras for lengthening lashes and the natural-look, or you have used a mascara I wrote about, please let me know what you think!

Summer Lookin'

I'm HOME. That of course, merits some welcome-back-home shopping. So I was sitting in Chanel with my mom and in walks the coolest dressed girl I've seen all day- and she was wearing this dress:

I instantly recognized her dress was Marc by Marc Jacobs because I just bought the hot pink shirt version of this print hours before on sale. And she translated this runway look into streetwear very well. Here is what she wore:

The dress (of course).

And really, the dress is very loose and wasn't meant to be worn by itself like how the model above is. So, she had on Marc by MJ's long skinny sleeved top (in exactly the same shade as shown in this picture) underneath. And yes, although they look very similar here, the two colors do have contrast. Although I think the contrast worked especially well because her complexion was really pale.

In addition to that, she was also carrying this Vuitton Antigua tote and last season's Dior Vintage Flower ballet flats.

I was very impressed that I was able to recognize the brand of everything she was wearing (I bet if I had a close-up I'd also be able to identify her dangling earrings as Dior). But anyway, back to the point, I LOVED the overall look and feel she was emanating. It was effortlessly cool, girly, chic and casual- the perfect street translation of the dress's runway look.

SS06 Accessories Trend: Clipframe Bags

I've been seeing clipframe bags everywhere in shops, and they can be so lady-like and chic, but you've got to be careful to buy one that looks modern and not cheap.

This season's Prada's version of huge clipframe bags -practical and stylish!

Marc Jacobs Quilted Clutch -I love this bag. It looks like a mini version of the oh-so-popular and gorgeous Stam bag.

Miu Miu has this range of "Summer Frames" out. I love them. The red one is perfect for daytime and the gold one for evening. They're so pretty that I'm displaying four colours!

OK let's see what high street shops have:
Lady Luck Handbag and Rose Noir Handbag, both from the ever funky, lady-like Anthropologie. Just picture 50s skirts/ dresses with these clipframe bags!

Luncheon Purse by Anthropologie -The name says it all: Take it to a chic lunch with friends!

By Miss Selfridge -The leather band on the chains makes it more comfortable for the bag to hang from your shoulders, but the colour is not quite appealing.

Chanel look-alike from Top Shop.

Another choice from Top Shop if you like clipframe clutches. But I wonder if this bag looks cheap in real life.

By Miss Selfridge. This clutch is SO adorable! And so so so girly -loves it!

Packing and Going Home

Phew. The last few days have been hectic. After finishing exams, Barneys Girl and I did a bit of express shopping. Then BG packed up her whole room and had movers transfer the boxes to storage while I swept and mopped my flat, (who knew there was so much dust lying around?) And right now? BG is on the plane flying back to Hong Kong and I'm packing. I'm desperately trying to fit 25 novels, a few textbooks, the past few issues of Vogue and Teen Vogue, and all my clothes, beauty products and gadgets into my baggage weight limit (-that's 30kg only!) I'm obviously not going to get much sleep tonight.

Anyways, the point is, there will be no new posts this weekend. So let me point you to our posts in JANE's fashion & beauty blog: The links are on the right hand column right under "About I am Fashion". If you haven't, then go take a look! See you all on Monday!