Friday, August 20, 2010

Sasa haul!

I made an order from Sasa a couple weeks ago and it arrived today, which is a good thing because I've had a wretched week but now I'm all giddily excited. Here's my stuff!

Sasa haul 1

These three are all Love Bath brand. The top thing is a hair-drying towel cap - it's microfibre and apparently sucks the water out of your hair after you wash it. Fun! (The link goes to the one sized for medium length hair, but mine is for long hair and there's also a short one.) I'm super excited to use this - I'll try it out tomorrow morning. (My hair-washing is a fine schedule - Monday night, Wednesday night, Saturday morning. Is that weird and neurotic, or do other people have schedules too?)

The lower two packets are bath salts (3 sachets per pack). The left one is "Chapter of Dating" (three days til you can be beautiful for your date!) and the right one is "Chapter of Sweat" (which, uh, I can't really explain in depth, and it's gone from the Sasa website right now. Sweating makes you thinner. I'll get to that next photo.)

Sasa haul 2

This photo is sort of awful. Sorry. Anyway, these are sweat-promoting bath salts from Bison, and a moisturising Q10 mask from Kokubo. The Bison ones are, in no real order, Rose Champagne, Royal Honey Milk, 7 Hot Spices, Ginger Lemon, and Hot Ginger.

So why a sweat bath? They're very popular in Japan as a method of weight loss - in fact, a lot of girls' magazines recommend taking a bath for at least half an hour every night as part of an overall weight loss program. This is for two reasons - firstly, because a hot bath increases your metabolism, but more importantly, because sweating expels toxins. If you have a lot of toxins in your system, then your body needs to retain water in order to dilute them. Get rid of the toxins, and you can get rid of a lot of your excess water. Of course, too much sweating can dehydrate you, so it's important to take a cool drink with you to sip while bathing.

So anyhow, I have a lot of bath salts to choose from! Sadly we still haven't moved house, so I don't have a bath to use them in yet. But within a month I will be able to test them out and report back.

Sasa haul 3

This is the fangirl section. I've got the super-quick hair bun pin that Cheesie blogged about earlier this year; the Essential Nuance Airy treatment that Xiaxue is sponsored by, and DOLLY WINK HECK YES. (Except all the lashes were sold out, so I got the lash case, lash glue... and then a random pair of non-Dolly lashes.) I'm so excited about the Dolly Wink stuff. I tried to get some last time we were in Japan but EVERYTHING was sold out EVERYWHERE. I'd really like to get their liquid eyeliner too - next time!

So that's my untouched haul. I'll post again when I've tried the products to review them! Until then!

-Hayley xoxo

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Fast fashion fix

So last weekend, I went shopping for a couple of hours. I was tired of spending all my money on house things and nothing on me. But I didn't want to spend too much, because a) house things still need to be bought, and that stuff is not cheap, and b) I'm losing a bit of weight right now, so I didn't want to buy anything too expensive that won't fit me a few months from now. So where to for a fast fashion fix? Two places, in my case - Forever New, and Ally.

I only picked up one thing at Forever New, a pale pink version of a hoodie Ruthie bought a few weeks ago. (And I got it on sale. Sorry Ruffus.)

Pale pink fur hoodie

I LOVE it. The fur lining is so snuggly on these cold mornings we've been having recently, and it's got enough cute details to make it feel like it's not just a regular slobby hoodie.

Then onto Ally, where I picked up four items for a grand total of $60. Yup. Here they are:

Ribbon cardigan

This ribbon-patterned cardigan. It looks bulgy around the middle in this photo but I assure you that it fits snug and cute.

Ribbon back dress - back view

This super-cute back-detailed dress. This is the back view, obviously. The front is scoop-necked. I was a bit worried about how to hide my bra while wearing this, but it turns out that the loop around the middle of the second bow is big enough to thread a bra strap through. It does require a bit of contortionism to get it all done up but it's well worth it. Wore this to work today but spent almost all day with a jacket over the top because my office is damn cold.

If anyone reads my tumblr (haha, I know that literally nobody does) then they'd know that I have a crush on this outfit:



So I've decided to build the components of it (I think they're all pretty versatile individually too) and found this kicky lace skirt for $10. Yay for cheap thrills!

Cream lace skirt

And finally, this t-shirt:

Polka dot top

I needed another t-shirt for work, and this one fit the bill fine. Apparently ribbons are my thing now.

So that's that. This shopping trip was definitely more 109 gyaru style than the previous outings I've shown on this blog, which was really fun to buy. Until next time!

- Hayley xoxo

Monday, August 9, 2010

Latest Shopping News

Guess what? You will never believe this… I bought my first piece of red clothing, as in ever. Well, first piece of clothing that I have wanted to wear. My primary school uniform was red and I think I had a red cardigan when I was 6 which my Mum knitted, but they are the only times I can remember owning red clothing. And now that I think about it, I’m probably not attracted to red because I wore it 5 days a week for 8 years.

I don’t really have anything against red clothing, I think it looks great when I see it on other people, I just don’t really like it on me. I even feel a bit self conscious when I wear red nail polish, and it’s not because it’s bright, I feel perfectly normal wearing fluro pink on my nails. It’s just one of those weird things I guess, maybe I have a red phobia? Come to think of it, I never used to wear black either, the first time I wore a lot of black in one outfit was probably 4 or 5 years ago. I even remember the first black top I bought, I still have it! Anyway, yeah, I’m weird.

I have had a small breakthrough, I bought something red! It’s mixed with white so it’s not entirely red, but at least we’re half way there. Well, red is more dominant on this piece of clothing, so I’d say we’re almost there!

Kimono

It’s kind of like a kimono shape, isn’t it pretty? It’s very floaty and feminine, I’m really looking forward to wearing this. I hope the weather warms up fast so I can. I’m going to Singapore in a couple of days so it’ll get its first wear then. Yippeeee, warm weather! I’m not quite sure what to wear it with though, maybe a pair of denim shorts and sandals? Or even over a dress? The picture on the Sportsgirl website has the model wearing it with a pair of army green skinny cargo pants, which works, but I don’t think I can pull of a pair of skinny cargo pants. So if you have suggestions, let me know!

While I’m here I guess I’ll also show you a bag I also bought. I was on the prowl for this, not this one in particular, but a cream leather duffel bag. Kind of funny that I found it only weeks after thinking that I wanted one. And I wasn’t really on the prowl, I just saw this while looking for nothing in particular. It was about 50% off, so that was pretty awesome! It’s not a real Balenciaga (I wish), it’s from Witchery.

Duffle Bag

I actually started writing the above comments a couple of weeks ago, yes, I’ve been very lazy with blogging! I have a couple more things that I have bought in the mean time. I am trying to get as much shopping in as possible, because in a couple of weeks, when I get back from holidays, it’s serious saving time! We really need to do a few things around the house, and we need to start saving for our next holiday, so no more crazy splurging from me for a while. But we all know I’m not good with keeping shopping promises!

Okay, I’m not sure if you read my post a few weeks ago about the frenzy I was in over the new Mimco collection? Anyway, I have calmed down considerable since then, hallelujah! And I have only bought one item! Which is a bit boring considering I was ready to buy a Mimco franchise, but it is good for my bank balance. However, I have been secretly waiting until I get to Singapore, I’m really wishing it’s cheaper over there, but I don’t think it will be. I will be on holidays though, so that will justify any amount of Mimco purchases.

I got these gold hoop earrings, an item to cross of my wishlist! I love Mimco earrings, I think I have 4 pairs now. You can’t really see in the picture but the crystals are a pale pink, sort of champagne colour and they’re very sparkly. I really love them and I’m so happy that I now have a pair of hold earrings! My gold jewellery collection is slowly building.

Hoops

My next purchase is also an item from my wishlist… The clog! You either love them or you despise them, I happen to love them and are happily embracing their revival. I decided to go with a peep toe style, so I can wear them all summer long baby! I’m thinking I should wear them to death this summer because next year they will probably be really uncool. They’re probably one of those fashion fads where you look back at in a few years and think ‘what the heck was I thinking?’. I’m going to have fun with them this season, and at least in a couple of years I’ll have something to laugh at, fashion is fun! I’m now recalling a pair of foam platform sneakers I had, I got them when the Spice Girls we’re big, I loved them. Oh golly, if only I had taken some pictures I could post them for your entertainment. And we all remember Jelly’s, I had a blue pair and a clear glitter pair, my sister had a pink glitter pair which I wanted, she was the tom boy so I don’t know how she ended up with the pink pair? So unfair.

Anyway, I’ll show you my new clogs!

Clogs

I’m going to sign off now because I really need to get back to work. I’m going away tomorrow, I’m so darn excited! I should come back with some things to blog about (possibly even a Miu Miu bag, but not getting my hopes up!) so I’ll touch base in a couple of weeks!!

Buy Buy for now,
Ishia

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Signature style

I've been thinking for a long time now about signature style, be it a whole look or a signature piece. There are certain combinations that call to mind a specific person - a bob and dark sunglasses? That's Anna Wintour. Ponytail, suit and leather gloves? Kaiser Karl Lagerfeld. There are hundreds of other examples, but the bottom line is that these people have found a look that defines them, and for better or worse, stuck with it.

This is something I just can't do right now, though I've played with the notion before. The reason I can't do it is that I vacillate wildly between styles based on mood and season. Sometimes I want to be Very Serious And Wealthy Eurochic (often in the colder months), and then other times, like now, I'm leaning more towards cute, vaguely gyaru looks, as typified by Xiaxue, Cheesie and Jenny. And these two things are crazily incompatible as far as I can tell - sure, there will be various Euro collections that are cute (the Louis Vuitton-Murakami collaboration springs to mind) but by almost by definition, cute fashion is not French chic. The crossover is, I suppose, motte-kei style as seen in CanCam magazine, but it's not something I always feel like.

So basically, I haven't settled on a signature style for life. And that's OK - it just means I need clothes to indulge both styles. So that's what I'm working towards once I get back to shopping - clothes from both styles, with some pieces that can overlap the two, like a cute ruffled trenchcoat or similar.

I do feel that I should point out, though, that the other two lovelies who run this blog have particular styles that, to me, are very easy to see. Sometimes I'll be shopping and find something that I know Tris would love, and occasionally if I'm shopping with Ant, even he will point something out as "just like something Ish would buy". So maybe I do have a style that other people can categorize, but I can't? Perhaps it's an external thing. I hope if I do, that it's not too unflattering.

Now, off to YesStyle for some window shopping.