Project Ethos: Fashion Design Challenge in SF!!

Hello Everyone,

I was able to attend an event called Project Ethos: Fashion Design Challenge which happens to fall during SF Fashion Week. This event is similar to the show called Project Runway but in a smaller scale.

There were a total of 4 designers that participated and they were all extremely impressive. Basically, after the fashion is over, people can text for who they think have the best design.

I have to say it was a great experience for me and now I get to share with all of you pictures from the event.

When we got there we saw some of the models that I have worked with and hopefully get to work with in the future.
Bethany Pifer (oh, and thanks Bethany for the sushi)

Yulya and her friend getting their hair did before the show.

Behind the Scene craziness: Since my friend Ryan Chua is in "media" we were able to go back stage to see all the other models getting ready.

Then I was dragged to get in front of a camera to say something about one of my friend's design. I will go over my outfit of the night in the next blog.

Here is Wen Guo, one of the designers that participated in this fashion challenge.

At the event, there were some retailers selling their products:
A company called Nest- it is a non-profit organization that empowers female artists around the world. One thing that really stood out to me about this organization is their commitment to teach the women in Dominican Republic how to sew, product design, and basic business training so they can find jobs. "Dominican Republic unemployment rate is nearly 100 percent."

Here are some of their jewelries that they had on display:

As we walked into another room, there were more vendors and one of them is from Jewelmint.com, an online jewelry store that is put together by Cher Coulter and Kate Bosworth. I have mentioned their jewelries in my previous blogs.

Also, Carlton Hair were there to represent. They are the ones that did all the models hair that night.

Before we get into the Fashion show, there were giveaways to people in media. Here are the items that they were handing out.
A bag full of goodies, but not the dog.
Mochi just likes to be nosy.

Inside are:
7 x 7 San Francisco (Eat and Drink). If you like to find good food in the city, this is the magazine to get!

Waffles.... yum!!

Banh Mi sandwich

Even this vegetarian dish looks good.

Also, inside the bag are:
Bonacure- hair repair treatment

Bumble and bumble full size calming cream and shampoo

ByNieves.com: face and skin scrub samples

More Bumble and Bumble samples that we took from the Carlton Hair table. Yep, gotta take some samples.

A stainless steel bottle for cold beverages from Earthlust. Love the bike image on the bottle.

Now, for the fashion show:

The stage:

The clothes:
First designer

Second designer:

Third designer: I love this dress.

Fourth Designer: Wen Guo- Boditecture- Transformation dress. Can have different looks in seconds. Creativity should go to Wen.

During the Fashion show, we also met some people who were Wen's friend too.

Enjoy!!!

<3 <3 <3

OOTD: Flower Print Dress and Pink Puff Cardigan

Hello Everyone,

From my previous blog, I went to one of the events for bloggers during SFFW. Everyone there has their own unique style and here is mine:

Even though it's cold and foggy in the city, I just want to wear a flower printed dress. This dress is from Forever 21 for $22.80.

The dress is very comfortable and with my petite figure, I like the stitched waist for a curvier shape.

With the flower printed dress, I want to go with a nature's theme so I paired it with a wooden bib style necklace from alloy.com $12.50

I have on peacock feather earrings that I got from Claire's for $6.50.

To top the dress off, I want to wear something contemporary and modern. In my previous blogs, I like to mix and match different styles. Since you always need a jacket in the city, I wore my pink puff cardigan from Atseoul.com $35.75

With the puffy shoulders it makes the outfit that much more stylish.

I also like details, so the gold buttons add a touch of vintage to the outfit.

And for the shoes, I want it to match the jacket so I wore these patent leather peep-toe pump in cameo rose from Talbot. $29.99 (They don't have this deal anymore, but it is still on sale for $39.49. I do have a bit of a wide feet so I ordered medium, but it still snug near the toes. Overall, they look great on. The things girls do for fashion.....

Here is the outfit on(taken by my bf):

Have a great weekend!!!

<3 <3 <3

SFFW (San Francisco Fashion Week) 2011: Fashion Blogger Connect and Trunk Show

Hello Everyone,

It was a great experience to be able to attend an event during SFFW and to see other SF/Bay Area bloggers all in the same room. Everyone there were dressed in their own style to express how much they love fashion. This event is more geared towards fashion bloggers who are interested in expanding their work and to share experiences of how to make your blog a success.

There were 4 speakers who talked about how they got inspired to start blogging and the ways they promote themselves. It was informative, but it all comes down to passion. You definitely don't make money from blogging.

Here are the 4 fashion bloggers who have done a lot to get to where they are now.
From right to left: Mira Torres-Montalvo, Alison Messinger, Molly Covert, and Amy Gilmer.

Before the speakers came on, Brad Carrick talked about his shoe company called SOLZ. The shoes are supposed to be ultra-comfortable, lightweight, stylish, and flexible. He showed us how the shoes can be rolled up and fit into a small bag. These reminds me of Dr Scholl's flats that can be folded up, but just a little bit more stylish.

There were also other retail vendors there talking about their websites. The two vendors that were able to display their products are:
Cherie Sherry:
She sells her accessories on etsy.com

and

Sonas Denim

I am looking forward to attending more events this week for SSFW.
Also, on the next blog I will show you what I wore to this event.

Night!

<3 <3 <3

OOTN: Brown Cocktail Dress

Hello Everyone,

Having a cocktail dress in your closet can always come in handy. Spotting this brown dress from the website Hautelook.com was a great find. With the flower detail on one side and ruffle heart shaped top makes it a perfect dress to be worn at any special occasion. The quality of the dress is very well-made and the fabric is not flimsy at all. Definitely a brand to check out.

Rosette Dress by Romeo and Juliet Couture: $65 Original: $113

Because the dress is one solid color, it is easy to pair any sort of jewelry with it. I went with a simple gold matchstick necklace from Forever 21: $7.80

Here is the dress on:

For the hair, I clipped the bangs to the side or left it down.

It would've been nice to have worn this out.....
Have a great night!

<3 <3 <3

My Side Project as MUA with Danielle Lo

Hello Everyone,

Another fun model that I have a pleasure working with. When I first met Danielle, she is so pretty and adorable (she totally looks like Jessica Alba). Danielle's mom is Chinese and her dad is Irish, German, and Austrian. Such a cute mix!! Not only is she beautiful, she was telling me about her goal of going back to school. She is currently affiliated with Prestigious Models and also on model mayhem. We had a great time talking about her experiences and what got her started in this industry. Not to mention, we also talked about Mr Ryan Chua and how cool of a guy he is to work with.

With Danielle's perfect skin and smile, it makes my work so much easier.

Here is Danielle Lo

Face: Clinique moisturizing gel

Smash box photo finish primer

Foundation: Maybelline Fit Me in color 245

Maybelline Fit Me pressed powder in 245

ELF High Definition Powder

Lid primer: Smashbox photo finish lid primer

Eyeshadows: Urban Decay ammo palette: Maui Wowie for brow bone and inner tear duct

Sigma Bare palette: Hitch (dark brown for all over lid)

Urban Decay ammo palette: Oil Slick to create a smokey affect

Urban Decay ammo palette: Smog for the center of her lid

Fake Lashes: NYX

Blush: Milani baked- Dolce Pink

Bronzer: Hoola

Brow: Anastasia

Lips: Victoria's Secret

Have a great weekend!

<3 <3 <3

Wet n Wild "I'm Feeling Retro" trio eyeshadow palette

Hello Everyone,

I am obsessed with the Wet n Wild trio palettes!!! I have only gotten their permanent collection line and still waiting for the Dream Weavers limited edition to come out in the city. Some palettes have fun bright colors that is also wearable on a everyday basis, just make sure you pack on the colors in moderation. Having too many and too much colors on your eyelid can look a bit funny.... in other words, crazy.

The one I have here is called "I'm Feeling Retro." Be careful about packing the colors onto your brush because the eyeshadows are a bit soft and can crack easily. That's my only complaint... well.... maybe stronger packaging too. Again, it's only $2.99 so I can't complain too much.

Here are the swatches without any primer

Lid: Magenta/purple
Outer lid and crease: blue
Brow bone: white
These palettes all have a bit of a shimmer.

FYI, The colors look more vibrant in person than in pictures.

I also added a pop of color on the bottom lid using the blue. To finish up the look you can also add some fake lashes which I didn't do here.

Have fun playing with colors because I know I do!

<3 <3 <3

A hidden Gem

Hello Everyone,

It's always exciting to find a boutique store that sells affordable jewelries and clothes. As I was strolling along Castro Street in Mountain View, I came across a cute boutique store that is "hidden" by great restaurants in that area. On the outside, the store doesn't really stand out if you are just driving by, but it's a whole different story when you walk in. I didn't even notice the poster that says "Voted for Best Boutique of 2010 Mountain View" before I went in. And after going in there, I feel that they do deserve that title.

The store is called Boutique 4. It's nicely decorated and very spacious. The store is opened by two sisters who enjoy shopping. I talked to one of the owners, Tamera, who is extremely nice. I told her it's a nice surprise to stumble upon a cute store like this during my lunch time. She said her and her sister would always go shopping during their lunchtime and not until four years ago was when they decided to open their own store. I am always on a hunt for cute boutique stores because you can always find unique items that not everyone has.

They have these cute mannequins wearing clothes made out of candy wrappers/boxes.

The clothes that they carry are hip and edgy. The clothes are a bit expensive, but affordable. They also have some clothes that are 40% off in the sales rack so watch out for those.

What I enjoy looking at the most are their jewelries. They have more jewelries in the store than what I displayed below. Some of them feels a bit cheap, but most of them are good quality, not like forever 21. They feel like jewelries that you would get from Jewelmint. I saw quite a few jewelries that I would like to have, but they can add up in price, so I selected 3 pieces. I really wanted that green flower necklace on the bottom right hand corner... but it cost about $68-$95. Yikes!!!

The three pieces:

Here, I have a sparrow carrying a love letter from an envelope. I love how it looks simple and romantic.

The envelope opens up too. How adorable!

The next piece here is a colorful circle pattern bib that just caught my eyes as I was walking by. I find this piece unique because it looks like there are strings woven into the circles but it's actually metal, but at the same time some of the circles does have strings connected. That sounded kinda funny..... it's hard to describe. I will just leave at that.

The last piece I got is a ring that has a large octopus in the center with little rhinestones on it's tentacles.
I just thought it is cute and something fun to wear with a plain outfit. If you look closely, there is a fish in one of the tentacles.

The service was great and Tamera was just so fun to talk to. She allowed me to take pictures of her store to post on my blog.

I will definitely go back there if I am ever in that area.

<3 <3 <3