Barneys Girl Cannot Live Without

wIn high school my friend and I used to always fantasized about what we would have on our own private island during economics class. On my island, I had a mall filled with all the latest fashion (naturally), skin care research center, fine dining, military base, a spa and now that I think about it, a few exotic clubs along the coast just for fun. But I guess that is what I would like to live with and not what I cannot live without. So after much thought, I have narrowed it down to just a few items of necessity.

First on my list-a decent pair of denims. I don't know what I would do without my denims. My current favourite: Joe's Jeans Cigarette denims. They are slimming and super soft.

Ok, I'm not sure if this has to be something that you already own. But if I'm going to be stranded on an island for life, I will totally get a pair of superfantastic manolo's. Especially if thats what I'm going to wear for the rest of my life. I want to DIE in manolos!

Then there is my all time favourite accessory- my silver hoop earrings. Basically, I wear it every day except on very special occasions. .

As for bag. . I simply cannot decide which small inpractical shoulder bag of mine that I cannot live without. There's just one for every outfit and mood. So here, I've just randomly picked one that I own. Its a shoulder bag and a clutch.

Inside-besides the usual cell phone, lipgloss, mirror, cash, plastic and ID-is my Canon digital camera. My life will simply not be the same without my baby.

I am going to assume that this lifelong party at the island of superfantasticness is somewhere in the exotic tropics, which includes plenty of time in the sun. Any for me, any time in the sun means sunscreen. So plenty of time in the sun means plenty of sunscreen. The skin is of the utmost importance. At the moment, I am using this one from Dermalogica.

But at the end of the day, the ONE thing I truly cannot live without-are my saltine crackers. I've been eating them everyday since high school, I simply cannot imagine what I'd do without them.

Harrods Girl Cannot Live Without...

In the spirit of the Carnivale of Couture: Qu. You are stranded at a lifelong party on The Island of Superfantasticness. What are the fashion items you simply cannot live without?

First of all if you actually knew me, you would know that there would be no way I would go to a party lasting longer than 5 hours, let alone be stranded at a lifelong party or some deserted island.

And if I ever went to any parties, I would only be carrying one of those little, impractical bags, such as my current favourite -the LV Monogram Vernis Lexington (in Perle.) Inside it would be my usuals: Clean & Clear oil-absorbing paper, pocket mirror, mints, mini pen, mini bottle of deo, hair tie, lip balm, DiorKiss lip gloss in Rose Guimauve/ Pink Marshmellow, Shu Uemura liquid eyeliner, mobile phone, ID card, lots of cash, credit card, and sometimes, iPod Nano.

Outfit-wise, I'm usually in black pants, a pretty top and trusty blazer (my recent fav is a dark purple one by Indivi, sort of like the one in the picture above). And if I'm bothered, maybe a pair of earrings or a necklace.

And umm, what else can't I live without... to be honest, there's not really any fashion item that I can't live without. What I like changes all the time (which is prob what defines part of fashion), so the only thing I can't live without is probably money. Yikes, I need to go finish off my essay and get packing for Spain now!

Dior Gormette and Laura Mercier Liquid Crystals

It's that time of the season again when Dior retails and advertises for yet another makeup-hidden-inside-jewelry. Almost a year ago there was the Paris Hilton-lookalike wearing the Dior cosmetic ring (in the ad.) Then there was the keychain in fall. This time around, Dior took a little leaf out of YSL's books and created a cosmetic braclet: the Dior Gormette.

I'm sure all of you would have seen this ad in magazines by now. I quite like this ad -it's very Dior in a stylish, casual streetwear sort of way. The makeup on the model is basically everything pink. Thank goodness for the dark layer of eyeliner and shadows around her eyes that makes her look sexy girly instead of bubblegum-pop girly.

The braclets are available in two sets of lip colors:

Street Charm

Urban Chic

I couldn't resist talking about the Laura Mercier Liquid Crystal Lip Glaces too. When I first saw the Liquid Crystals, I thought it was such a weird thing! In bottle, the lip gloss looked like a whirl of psychodelic colors, so what would it look if it was on the lips? Out of curiousity and boredom (I was waiting for my facial appointment in Space NK,) I tried on one of the three Liquid Crystals and was so AMAZED! This lip glace is seriously shiny. The amount of color pigments is just right. The colors are quite bright so it's more of a summer lip color than winter. A little bit of warning though, I read in customer reviews that it has terrible staying power. I didn't buy it because I still had a few bottles of unfinished lip glosses at home, but maybe this summer......

A Little Something More. .

Just a little something I observed on the Marc by Marc Jacobs runway.

Having colored textured socks peaking out your boots over black stockings. This is probably not some amazingly new idea, but it just never occured to me before. Its simple, inexpensive, everyone can do it and it just adds a little something more to an otherwise simple outfit. It can be slouchy. .

It can be neat (left), with or without (right) stockings underneath.

Or you can just show a little lace like they did at D&G. Isn't this all so neat? Its probably extra warm too. LOL. Just wanted to share this little observation with everyone to liven up these dreary winter days.

The Beautiful Classicals at Golden Globe Awards 2006

The fashion at this year's Golden Globes was AMAZING! I LOVED the main theme of lux. whites and neutrals. For once, most stars were dressed very up-to-fashion and the dresses actually suited the stars who wore it, (as opposed to stars wearing unsuitable dresses just because they were trendy.) The dresses were mostly SO beautiful that I'm only going to talk about the dresses I liked the most:

Reese Witherspoon -LOVED her haute couture Chanel dress. It's Chanel without looking old, and glamorous without looking over the top. I also love how simple and elegant her shoes were. And Reese just prooves that to outshine everyone, all you need is an incredible and genuine smile. She's such a darling!

The women of Wisteria Lane -Teri Hatcher in Versace, Felicity Huffman in Marchesa, Nicolette Sheridan in Armani, Eva Longoria in Bob Mackie and Marcia Cross in Marc Bouwer. As usual, the colors of the five are conviniently coodernated. The styles of their dresses are very 'them' -Marcia in a red-hair-complimenting-colored dress, Eva being very eye-catching and Teri sleek and glam. Not unexpectedly, breath-stopping beautiful...... just elite as normal.

Charlize Theron -looking exquisite in Dior. I love the whole black lace over nude-color tube design.

Sandra Oh -in a slinky Collette Dinnigan gown. The dress really suited her. Congrats for her winning Best Supporting Actress in Television Series, she def deserved it! For those who don't know, Sandra is an intense surgical intern in Grey's Anatomy. Grey's Anatomy is one of my recent favourite tv show -all the characters in the show are so smart!

Renee Zellweger -in Carolina Herrera. For once, Renee really looked great in her dress, at least not as awkward as she did in previous dresses.

Keira Knightley -possibly one of THE most stunning actress on the red carpet in this Golden Globes. She's wearing a Valentino gown and holding a Tod's clutch. She looks so dazzling I don't know what else to say!

Ziyi Zhang -in a bright, lime Giorgio Armarni gown. This is def one of the more daring dresses on the red carpet, and Ziyi really wore it well.

Kate Beckinsale -another one of my very favourites. She wore a Dior gown. She's also another 'simply stunning' star. The dress is so divine and elegant.

In general the makeup was absolutely luminous -picture porcelin skin with black eyeliner and mascara on a well-highlighted face.

Hairstyles were mostly up-dos. My favourite was the glamorous-looking messy up-do, which made up-dos less stuffy and more youthful. Seriously, look at Keira Knightley, her makeup looked gorgeous and her hair seemingly casual. This is what being young and fabulous should be all about in 2006!

Stripes I: Black and White

The verdict is out everyone. According to the high street stores, the trend that is going to be carried from the catwalks and onto sidewalks next season is stripes-more specifically in this post, black and white ones!

How else did this simple black and white striped tunic from Lux end up on the cover of both the website and catalog of Urban Outfitters?

And it seems that our friends at Top Shop agree with this trend as well. Coming up with almost a whole collection of different variations of black and white tunics. Gee I wonder where they got their inspiration from. . . .

This design from Dior's AW05-06 collection must've haunted them for ages. They were probably kicking themselves for not picking it hot off the runway earlier when they saw these pictures plastered all over the place. Well. . . beter late then never!

Cozy Coats

Ideally I would be wearing something as stylish and slimming as the coats below, from Anthropologie and BCBG, to keep me warm in the winter.

However, as a girl used to subtropical winters, where winter is more of a change of wardrobe than weather, I fear that such thin looking coats will just not be enough to keep me warm under the onslaught of a Chicago winter.

As a result, I find myself turning to puffy down coats, like these two from Polo Sports, to keep me warm. And so far, they've sufficiently kept me warm on most winter days.

For the more extreme days of winter, I have in reserve a long poofy jacket that looks remarkably like this one here from North Face, except mine isn't from Northface and my hood has fur on it. And I'm happy to report that I haven't used this yet after one winter and a half, although I was tempted to today under the attack of wind and freezing ice/rain pouring on us.

But really, as practical as these poofy down jackets are, they're not exactly very flattering. So what I'm wondering is, for those of you who live in extremely cold climates, how do you keep stylishly warm in winter?