I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

H&M white pearl studded beret // Forever 21 lace dress // Ralph Lauren cable knit sweater (gift)

H&M 200 denier black tights // Mossimo black suede ankle boots //
Lancome red lipstick in Rouge Baroque //

Photography: self, tripod and remote

Today our a cappella group had a performance for some influential individuals of the med center, so I put together this ensemble with my white coat and black pumps. I layered my ivory cable knit sweater underneath to keep warm on the walk to campus - my white coat only shows a peep of the dress so as far as tops and sleeves go, you can be as wild as you want. After a pasta lunch though, this began to feel a little more frumpy and tight. To cozy up with some coffee at home, this pearl-studded white beret and red lips are perfect for a winter wonderland feel and prancing around in the snow. Au contraire, the weather outside was indeed frightful, drizzling in this relatively tepid rain nonstop. That didn't stop us from having a spontaneous girls' night at Cheesecake Factory after reading about how their system can teach us how to standardize and improve health care in surgeon/storyteller extraordinaire Atul Gawande's New Yorker article. Food for thought leads to thinking about food! By the way, their Fresh Banana cheesecake is heavenly - light, frothy, a perfect dessert.

It takes years to develop a sense of personal style, and that's still an ever-changing one. Being a style blogger makes that hard with trends and staying relevant, wandering around boutiques and malls for the sake of doing your research, sponsored pieces to incorporate. After brewing many sartorial concoctions, it seems like my life outfit is not complete without a pancake atop my head (one of 2 H&M new additions to my collection). Back to my true francophile roots - beret, flared dresses, streamlined black bottoms all the way down to my hallex (fancy Latin word for big toe). This forecast for this weekend is plenty of studying, since finals for the muscle & bone block are coming up and it's time to get down to business. Looking forward to a holiday potluck dinner tomorrow with good eats and jingling along with Christmas tunes. Best of luck on your exams/work and break is almost here!

Click to see more pictures → → →

High Tea | SugarLips Royal Inclinations Dress Review

Sugar Lips Apparel Royal Inclinations Dress w/ scarf print and sweetheart neckline detail (S) //

Merona for Target dotted sheer black tights // Mossini for Target black suede ankle boots (get it here) //

H&M segmented gold necklace // Thrifted Goodwill vintage belt //

Photography: self; tripod and remote

Sugar Lips welcomed me to my new place with another little number to style, Royal Inclinations Dress.  The sweetheart neckline makes this dress special, aside from the interesting "vintage scarf print." It features a horse drawn carriage? Horse saddle? Golden pipe? Golden lion head pin? Not really sure but it's mighty pretty (and no, I do not condone smoking!). I chose to style it with my "military jacket" to fit the theme of the prints. This is my first time ever doing milkmaid braids, so be nice. I'm actually quite impressed with myself since I never ever do anything to my hair besides wash it (I may or may not even comb it ... :P) Bobby pins are a brilliant invention. After jumping around for nearly an hour trying to figure out how my new official Canon remote works, I kind of favour the old $3 bootleg Chinese version I got off some weird site. The distance is very very close to my tripod which is terrible for prime lens users and i found that it has trouble focusing too close and too far unless I throw it in auto mode (fine by me as long as it's crisp). Eh ... not worth the $23 and the trouble. Or maybe my lens is just bust from humidity for real :(

The material is a lot thinner than I expected, almost like a satin scarf but with less sheen. From the pictures on Sugar Lips' site, it looked like a sturdy cotton fabric. Still, I was adamant this morning to wear it because I have been looking forward to getting dolled up post-exam for class and I froze my butt off. It was below freezing last night and when I left my apartment it was 41 degrees F and my derrière was not happy in this thin summer piece and sheer tights. Where did the end of summer go? We went from giving our sweat glands a workout to sudden polar bearing without a memo. Shakin mah head.

The bust area on this dress was very loose, and fit more like a usual Medium (or the occasional S at Forever 21) so after fiddling with flimsy double sided tape and hiding this hot mess under my jacket, I finally pinched and pinned with a safety pin. Fixed! So basically, this dress runs big. Next time I would go with an XS, which they do have. On their page they suggested styling this with a trench coat and white pumps - can do! That will be my next outfit with this, and I'm going to try throwing a lightweight sweater or chiffon top under it too to save my poor arms in this chilly weather. Finished off my day with kickboxing my guts abs out and tomorrow I will once again not be able to climb stairs without screaming every step of the way. Exercise, baby - make that fat cry.

Click to see more pictures → → →

Animal Farm

Forever 21 sheep jumper/sweatshirt (S) // Pitaya bunny print peter pan collar top (S) //

H&M pastel pink bird print pencil skirt (Euro 2) // Forever 21 burgundy tights //

Xhilaration wingtip oxford flats in Cognac (5.5) //

Photography: JJ

SHEEP + BUNNIES + DOVES. You guys don't know how long I've been waiting to wear this outfit! (1/30) A few things barring me from just throwing on a massive animal pandemonium: this is a size 2 H&M skirt, meaning it's like a 00. My intake of half chicken tenders/half fries (we call them half and halves here) and other heart-stopping meals makes fitting into that a sick joke. Second, it was "oh ... there's my butt, I suppose it just froze off"-cold. But last week, St. Louis was really dishing out the beautiful weather - 60s to 70s and sunny. What!? in a very, very good way! Alas now it's back to mediocre attempts at snowing and being unjustifiably cold.

I'm not a fan of the way this skirt looks on me - my thighs push up the pencil-skirt-like part on my thighs and there's a poofy balloon thing going on in the front. Either way, at the time a $25 bird print skirt was irresistable for my Miu Miu dupe-hunting craze. The navy shorts with the same print looked way cuter on Jen (herwaisechoice) but never caught them in stores here last spring.

This semester has been utterly fantastic - hanging out with a different group of friends everyday, almost always spontaneously. Classy wine in plastic cups, making a scene in the library cafe at night, laughing and more laughing. Viva esta vida loca. Second semester senior also translates to "more time to ogle architecture on campus" - after all, this is one of the deciding factors for choosing my specific university. Side note: it's already February and I'm still writing my dates like 2.8.11. It's 2012 and my brain is a little slow on the gear-turning process for this factoid. Cray.

Click to see more pictures → → →

Olives and Black Roses

Forever 21 black sheer top w/woven neckline (S) // H&M tan tank top (Euro 4) (as undershirt) //

H&M olive green A-line skirt (Euro 2) // Forever 21 black rose print tights (M/L) //

Wild Diva peep toe suede booties w/ bow accents (5.5) // Jewelmint Astoria necklace (worn as bracelet) (c/o) //

Revlon Colorburst Lipstick in Soft Nude // Coastal Scents 88 Shimmer Palette gunmetal, gold, forest green eyeshadow //

Photography: JJ

THE LATTER IN MY DRINKINI. Day 8 of the 12 Days of Fabulous! (This is like running a freaking marathon, blog-wise.) It's Christmas Eve in all its excitement - there are presents under the tree and candy cane on the faux branches, but most importantly there is delicious homecooked Chinese food on the table and my family gathered around it. Home is the best. I wish that they wouldn't ever stop playing Christmas music, year-round. I will always be the idiot singing out loud in the supermarket to "offer you a simple phrase, for kids from one to ninety-two ... Merry Christmas to you." This was what I wore to Styleta Fashion Night Out 2011 (12/10) to enjoy the on-campus fashion and photograph the runway (the post soon).

SHEER + A-LINE SKIRT. I always had trouble styling this top because it was sheer, long and flowy and generally boxy. Sometimes I wore a belt around it but it never quite felt right. With something black underneath, it kind of lost its sheer charm. So luckily I finally figured out a way to accentuate the sheerness without baring uncomfortable amounts of skin (which for me is any amount of midriff I realize) - layer a nude coloured shirt underneath. Voila! Also finally glad to bring out this skirt, something that finally went on sale for $7 last Christmas and I snatched up a Euro 2 versus the 6 thinking that if I became fit enough, it'd be fine. Hahaha, self, time to exercise and eat healthy ... what were you thinking? Either way, the back would not zip up so I just hid it under the shirt's loose material. LOVING the feminine A-line flared shape and olive green colour.

Another wise discovery: buying M/L tights instead of S/M has saved me a lot of ripping. My mondo-thighs just seem to hulk out of any normal dainty pair, so sizing up has greatly helped. You might remember this grey pair of the same F21 rose print tights - of course now they're ripped and questionable looking. Too finish off with some ingenuity: my Jewelmint Astoria necklace (read my review) wrapped thrice around my little wrists to make a cool chunky brassy/golden bracelet. Hurray for arm candy!

Readers - how do you wear sheer?

500 Days of Autumn

 

 

 

H&M sheer ruffle dress (euro 2) // H&M 100% leather camel skinny belt (31-32") //

F21 floral tights // F21 red bowtie peep toe pumps (6) //

Photographer: My boyfriend

Whew! Today has been a crazy day and I'm still up past 3 AM, cleaning my room and preparing for Sunday study sessions. All week I've been staring at this beautiful tree with flaming red leaves while running towards the subway station to catch my ride to the med school and I keep thinking, photoshoot photoshoot photoshoot. Today we finally had time and the most gorgeous sunlight, so I put on what I wore yesterday: one of my favourite dresses I recently bought from H&M (for only $15 because of their $10 off anniversary sale deal :D) - a black one with ruffles on the chest and sheer sleeves. I feel like such a doll and mature at the same time, it's the perfect outfit for those warmer fall days when my mind drifts back to summer. I recycled my floral tights and the pattern worked great and traded in the brown oxford flats I wore to work for some fun red pumps I haven't worn all season.

I wanted to make a crown out of the red maple leaves but the waxy stems didn't want to tie together. After much frustration, I just tied a hairtie in a piece of my hair on either side and stuck two tied-together leaves in with my boyfriend's help. It may look dorky but I'm all about the dork. Organic dorkage at your service. This has been my favourite day of fall ever and I snapped a bazillion pictures so that I'll never forget the image. I've always thought it was ironic that when you keep taking pictures, you fail to really look at what you're shooting. So whenever I go somewhere cool like the zoo or a park, I take a ton of pictures and then go back through it with my camera put away so I can really take in the visual effect. Saving a .jpg simply does not supplant a raw memory.

I finally opened up my own bank account and the tellers complimented my dress as well. They ended up turning my awful day yesterday into much happier times with lollipops, a iPod speaker gift, and great customer service. I always love it when good people make your day when you're having an awful one (bikes fell on me and trapped me, woke up late, arrived at work late, didn't have a subway pass, plethora of things not going my way). Yay for being able to keep track of my purchases (and thus refrain) and opening a Paypal account too. I will definitely be gathering up items for a blog sale soon : ) 

My evening finished with a trip to the Asian supermarket with my close friends from college. We've been together since freshman year, all starting out as floormates and becoming couples, best friends, study buddies, moral support. I couldn't ask for better people to surround myself with. All those delicious snacks were no match for us because we bought endless bags of black sesame dessert soup powder, my favourite breakfast cereal mix, sesame ice cream mochi (my first time having them OMG they are sooo good), Japanese cheese puffs, shrimp fries, Calpico and aloe drinks, taro popsicles, almond tofu mix, and mini mooncakes to name a few. We also bought supplies for making dinner together and a grand feast it was. My boyfriend made chicken breast with a scrumptious French brie sauce, I made a tofu and preserved egg (pi-dan) cold dish with cilantro, and my other friends made pork with a creme mushroom sauce + jie-lan with oyster sauce. I was bloated to the max and could only ease my fullness by playing some Final Fantasy XIII, which I had been itching to try forever. Unfortunately gameplay has been lackluster so far and I'm not so sure about the battling system (I actually prefer XII's). Two caramel apples down (also a first time), and much laughter and Mario Kart racing all night. Now this is what I call a Fall Break.