To All the Gentlemen of the World...

To All the Gentlemen of the World,

 You don't need magic tricks to win the woman of your dreams...

 You just need an ace up your sleeve...

A good suit and tie...

 Plus a fabulous pair of heels to seal the deal.  ^_^  Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Parisian Chic - Part I

First, I will start off by announcing: I will be traveling to Paris in the middle of November.  ^_^

This is definitely a huge dream of mine.  I once traveled to London in a month long study abroad course, and we had a week off from studying where my friends and I decided to go to Paris together.  However, as the fates would have it, I got incredibly sick, and I was bed-ridden for that whole week (plus an extra couple of days).

Fast forward years later, and I am finally going to get to go.  Of course, one of the first things that entered my mind was: What am I going to wear?  I definitely didn't want to look like a tourist, so I've been looking around at some advice that other bloggers and youtubers had posted about their trip.  When I typed in "parisian chic" on the Google search engine, this book also kept popping up, and I knew I had to have it.

Parisian Chic A Style Guide by Inges de la Fressange with Sophie Gachet

Ines de la Fressange was once the muse of Karl Lagerfeld, the current head designer and creative director of the haute couture fashion house, Chanel.  If that wasn't enough, at the age of 51, she walked the runway for the Spring/Summer 2009 collection at the Paris Haute Coutre Fashion Week for the Jean-Paul Gaultier collection.  Did I also mention that she is the daughter of a marquis, which makes her an aristocrat?

No, this is not Ines, but a picture of her eldest daughter, Nine, posing for a series of pictures in this book.  I saw this picture months ago, and I've always wondered who the model was.  It makes me think: Can someone without an inch of Parisian blood in her ever get that kind of style?  According to Ines, apparently you can.

This book also offers some places that Ines recommends to shop while in Paris (clothes, furniture, etc.), where to stay, things to see, etc., so it's not a bad guide for someone who's going to Paris.  Ines only dedicates one section of the book to Parisian apparel, so I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who wants to read it for a full workup of how to dress like a Parisian.  None the less, the advice the Ines gives make it sound amazingly simple.

With that said, I've decided to put the Magnificent Seven (a man's blazer, a trench coat, a navy sweater, a tank top, a little black dress, jeans, and a leather jacket) to the test in the next few months before my trip.  Let's see how it turns out!

Countdown to V-Day: 1 Day

For all those guys out there, roses on Valentine's is a must.  Personally, I love the classic red roses.  For anyone who is a bit behind on buying their flowers, my local Whole Foods is offering two dozen roses for just $20 a bouquet.

I ended up buying one bouquet for my mom, one for me, and one for my brother's girlfriend.  Yes, my brother's girlfriend.  Yes, my brother is an idiot.

This is the last and final day to prepare for the big day, and I think the most important tip I can give everyone is that you need confidence in yourself. Models on the runway can be wearing the most ridiculous outfits, but they will still look confident, poised, and ultimately beautiful because of the confidence they exude.  The key to being beautiful is to find that balance of a confident attitude but not be overly snobby about it.  Believe that you are the most beautiful person in the world (both physically and emotionally), and you will know that you are beautiful.

Countdown to V-Day: 3 Days

With three days left to go to the big day, you'll want to take good care of your skin and personal hygiene.  It's the weekend, so you really don't have any excuse not to pamper yourself these two days.

 A. Body:  Try dry brushing for the body, then take a shower, shave, and moisturize immediately afterwords.  If you have dry, cracked heels, slather on some Vaseline and put clean socks on before you go to bed.  When you wake up, your feet should be crack free and feel smooth.

B.  Teeth:  Don't forget to floss before you brush your teeth and tongue!  It's one of the causes of bad breath, but remember to take a mint on the big day just to make sure.  Try putting on some Crest White Strips to whiten your teeth as well.
 
C.  Hair:  You should wash your hair two times every week, so I would suggest washing it the day before or the morning of Valentine's.  However, this really depends on how oily your hair gets and how you would want to style your hair the day of.  For some hair styles, it's good to have some oil in your hair to give it some texture.  Plan ahead!

D.  Face:  After cleansing and exfoliating your face, put on a mask.  Then, put on your serum, toner, and moisturizer.  A humidifier does wonders for the skin, especially during the cold, winter months.  Consider taking some Omega-3 tablets.  They've been proven to improve your skin.

It's probably a good idea to start planning on what you want to wear on that day.  You'll perhaps want to take into consideration that Valentine's is on a Tuesday, so you might have to get to class or go to work.  Consider where you'll be going and take a look at the weather forecast as well so you can dress accordingly.  Remember that you don't necessarily need a brand new outfit for the day... but it's a good excuse to go shopping anyway. ^_^

With that said, I'll start off with my first outfit post and bag reveal.

 Hat: old black beret from Talbots

Top: black sleeveless lace top from Forever 21

Earrings: gold hoops from Forever 21

Bottom: petite bootcut jeans from Citizen's of Humanity

I didn't want my head to be cut off in my outfit pictures, so I figured a pair of dark sunglasses would work just as well.  The sunglasses I'm wearing here are from LoveCulture.  They're big and cover my face relatively well.  I absolutely love this lace top from Forever 21.  It makes me feel so ladylike.  Finally, the bag that I'm wearing is Chanel's small, caviar classic flap with gold hardware.

I love my new Chanel bag!  It's exactly what I wanted.  I opted for the gold hardware, because I wanted the classic look.  When it came to lambskin or caviar, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted the caviar, but what I wavered the most on was the size.  I really love big bags, but I got the smaller version of the classic flap because I figure I would be using this bag mostly for going out.  Here's a picture of the bag below with the dust bag and box:

I apologize for the expressionless face and blurry pictures.  I basically stacked some boxes on top of one another, put on the ten second timer to my point and shot, and quickly rushed to strike a pose.  I want to give big props to those bloggers out there who have such amazing outfit pictures.  It's a lot harder than it looks.

Countdown to V-Day: 5 Days

Sleep.  That's what I'll be doing right after I finish writing this post, but it's also my V-Day tip #2.  While you sleep, your body basically restores itself from your day's events.  If you have been exercising, this restoration process is basically what's going to give you your toned muscles.  It has also been proven that you'll also lose weight if you sleep, regardless of whether or not you do exercise.  Don't believe me?  Take a look at this article here and here.

How many hours of sleep should you get?  The recommended amount is 7-9 hours.  However, some people just can't sleep at night.  Perhaps, it's just too much coffee or energy drinks, but I'd like to share some advice on how I usually get to sleep.

1. Take a shower before going to bed.
2. Treat yourself to a minifacial.
3. Drink some warm milk.
4. Read a relaxing book.

Since it's Valentine's Day, why not treat yourself to a romance novel?  Personally, I've been loving Red Roses Mean Love by Jacquie D'Alessandro.  Here's a summary from the back cover:

Yellow for friendship.
Pink for passion. But . . .
Red Roses Mean Love.

She dreamed of roses....

Orphaned and abandoned by her fiancé, Hayley Albright is determined to care for her younger siblings even if it means having to give up her own dreams. She doesn't expect to ever find love or get married . . . until one moonlit night when she saves the life of a mysterious stranger.

. . . And he wants only to make her dreams come true....

Lord Stephen Barrett woke up gazing at the face of an angel. He was alive. And safe, for now, from the killer stalking his every move. Allowing Hayley to believe he is just a tutor of modest means, Stephen stays on for reasons of his own, never anticipating the passions Hayley would stir in his cold, wary heart. Her innocence is pure seduction. Her touch is sweet temptation. And suddenly the man who has everything is willing to risk it all--for a woman who has nothing to give . . . but all her heart. . . .

In the beginning, it won't look like it'll be a very interesting book, but trust me: you'll be laughing and cheering for each character in the book in no time.  Give it a chance!

Countdown to V-Day: 7 Days

For any of you who are thinking of looking gorgeous this Valentines, like I am, I would like to offer some suggestions.  First off, start exercising.  Yes, I know.  I said the "E" word.  With a week left till February 14th, it's necessary to start now.  A little goes a long way after all.  You won't lose 100, 50, or even 10 pounds in a week, but exercising will make you look better that somehow cannot be defined.  I don't know if any of you have noticed, but after you exercise your flushed face actually looks very beautiful.  To translate that into guy terms, I guess, it looks like you had a great round of sex.  (Saying the "S" word doesn't make this blog rated R does it?)

My brother subscribes to Women's Health Magazine for me at a discount.  He tells me that he buys them here.  I've been reading their magazine for a few years now, and I absolutely love it.  I cut out all the exercises and articles that I love, and I keep them in a binder on my desk.  Here's one that I did today:

Recently, I've been addicted to Kung Fu Panda (yes, I'm a kid at heart), and I've had the Kung Fu Fighting song in my head these past couple of days.  I would be humming it while I'm at work.  When I'm at home, I would put Kung Fu Panda on, and I'll just lift weights.  Hey, whatever works, right?  Find your favorite song or movie that just simply makes you want to move, and just move!  Don't just sit there mindlessly watching it.  With that I'll leave you all with my song of inspiration:

Setting Up a Blog Roll

I've recently spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out how to set up a blog roll of all my favorite bloggers.  Isn't that supposed to be easy?  You'd think so.  However, after spending hours online with Blogger Help and doing searches in Google using various key words, I finally managed to figure it out, and here's the final product:

(You can see this up top too, but I thought that it deserved its own picture and tutorial.)

There is a gadget in blogger called Blog List that will post all the bloggers that you are following (either alphabetically or the most recently updated, depending on what you want).  It's actually very useful, and I wouldn't actually have to type a list of all the blogs I followed all the time.  However, you can only post it on your sidebar.  I didn't want it on my sidebar, but on another page or horizontal tab under my header, and that's what made it so much harder.  At first, I thought I could just drag the gadget under my header, but that turned out looking really weird, and it basically listed all the blogs I followed underneath my header (not like in a nice, condensed page).

While searching on Google, I came across an article called Create a Custom Feed Reader with Blogger Blog List, which you can find here.  The author basically created a website on Blogger, added the Blog List gadget, and got rid of everything else, making the Blog List the only thing you could see on that site.  I thought that it was simply genius, but I couldn't seem to figure out all the html stuff she was talking about (a computer science person I am not).  Nevertheless, I gave it a shot, so follow the first two steps on that site, and here's how I "strip[ped] the Blogger blog layout of everything that isn't necessary."  Please note that I am using the newer version and not the classic to set everything up.

1.   After I got rid of every gadget that I didn't need, by clicking on the Layout > Edit > Remove buttons, I'm left with my header, Navbar, Favicon, Blog Posts, Attribution, and of course, my Blog List. Click on Template Designer that's located just above the Navbar.  You should see this:

I just clicked on the Simple template since that is what my original blog layout uses.  If you have a complicated, custom layout design however, I'm not really sure if everything will be setup correctly, but give it a try, and if it doesn't work just follow the steps I'm using.

2.   Next, click on Layout, and select this for the Body and Footer layout:

Click on Apply to Blog, and once that's saved click on Back to Blogger on the top right.

3.   Go back to the Layout page so that you can arrange your gadgets to look something like this:

The most important part is probably that My Blog List is on top of Blog Posts.  You can arrange your sidebars, headers, and footers as you like.  However, if you want your Blog List to show up on your original blog as a tab beside the Home page (like I did on my first picture from above), you'll need to add the gadget Pages.  For me, as you can see I put it under my Header.

4.  Click on Pages > Edit, and change your Home tab to Blog Roll (or whatever you want to call it; this is just basically to say it's our Blog List).  Click on New Page and select Web Address.  Label the Page title Home and copy and paste your original blog's web address.  Click on Save.  Move your Home tab so that it comes first.  Finally, for Show pages as, I choose Top tabs.  It should look something like this:

Click on Save arrangement on the top right.

5.   Log out of your Blog List blog, and log into your original blog.  Follow the instructions from Step 4, except you want to copy and paste the web address to your Blog List and save it as a tab.  Now you're done!  ^_^  Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions.

To Find Your Own Style (Part I)

I don't understand how a woman can leave the house without fixing herself up a little... [M]aybe that's the day she has a date with destiny[, a]nd it's best to be as pretty as possible for destiny.

It is undeniable that Coco Chanel was, is, and will continue to be a fashion icon.  I am especially inspired by this quote above, and I try to live by it.  It is always so easy to just put on any old thing on a lazy day or when we're just rushing out of the house, but who knows if you were supposed to meet that special someone on that day.  You probably wouldn't want to look like a slob in front of some hottie right? ^_^

With that said, what about those of us who can use some help in the style department?  Perhaps you're young, and you're just starting to figure out who you are and how you want to dress the part.  Or, perhaps you're another Madonna and you would like to reinvent yourself every few decades.  Whatever the case may be there's always a starting point. 

PART I:   Measure.

Take out a tape measure, and measure around your bust, waist, hips, and from your head down to your hips, your hips to your toes, and from your head to your toes (your total height).  People's measurements change all the time (I'm sure every child and female knows that.), so it is important to know your current measurements.  Take accurate measurements!  Don't suck in, and don't slouch.

A.   Determine Your Horizontal Body Type

To take your bust measurements, take the tape measure and loop it under your arms across your bust.  The tape measure should be covering your nipples.  To take your waist measurements, measure the smallest part of your body that is usually located a few inches above your belly button.  To take your hip measurements, measure around your where your butt is fullest.

• Apple:  Your waist is bigger than your bust and hips, and you have little to no waist definition.  There is at least a 6 inch difference between your waist and bust/hip.
• Pear:  Your bust is smaller than your waist and hips, and you have waist definition.  There is at least a 6 inch difference between your waist and hip.
• Hourglass:  Your bust and waist are the same or similar in width, and you have waist definition.  There is at least a 6 inch difference in your bust/hip and waist, and less than 3 inch difference between your bust and hip.
• Rectangle:  Your bust, waist, and hips are the same or similar in width, and you have little to no waist definition.  The difference between your bust, waist, and hip measurements should be less than 5 inches.

 A lot of people fall between these shapes, such as in the picture below:

So it is my personal opinion that you should look at tips for the shapes you think you are in between of, and depending on your personal style, decide which tips to follow and which ones that work best for you.

Apples should aim for V-neck or low necklines to draw attention to that fabulous bust line (if you have it, flaunt it!).  Wear loose or semi-fitted clothes that skims over your stomach.  Empire dresses are your best friend here, and pants with a high waist will hide any tummy trouble .  Wear earrings and/or necklaces that draw attention to your face.  Stick with monochromatic, solid colors.

Pears should wear skirts/dress and pants/jeans that are slightly flared.  Put on a belt to emphasize your waist, and earrings/necklaces to emphasize your face.  Wear medium to high necklines, such as a turtleneck.  Short sleeved tops also work for this body type.

Hourglass shapes should wear fitted to semi-fitted clothes that flaunts your curves.  Stick with monochromatic, solid colors.  Wear belts and dress that define your waistline.  A low neckline will also draw attention to your bust.  Flared pants will also work well for you.

Rectangle shapes should wear semi-fitted clothes.  If you have nice arms, aim for short sleeved or sleeveless tops.  You can wear prints, lace, bows, and frills to draw attention to any part of your body, such as your bust, with medium to high necklines.  Wear a belt to fake a waist.

B.   Determine Your Vertical Body Type

With the width measurements out of the way, let's move on to the length measurements, which I feel is often neglected in fashion magazines, or that it's clumped together with the width measurements.  That just doesn't make any sense.

• Petite: less than 5 feet 4 inches in total height
• Average: between 5 feet 4 inches and 5 feet 8 inches
• Tall: 5 feet 9 inches or more

It is my opinion that it matters less whether or not you're petite, average, or tall.  While most clothing stores will use your total height to determine how long your clothes should be, what really matters is what type of vertical body shape you have.

You have a balanced body if your upper body (from your hips up), or torso, is the same length as your lower body (from your hips down).  You can wear low rise, flared, or straight pants that hit you at the hips.  Since you have a balanced body, it will cut you at exactly the right place.  Wearing a single, solid color will make you appear taller than you seem.

You have short legs and a long torso if your measurements from the top of your head to your hips is greater than your hip to toe.  You want to make your legs appear longer, so wear heels.  If you're new to wearing heels start off with a kitten heel or 1-2 inches.  Tuck in your tops, or go for cropped tops or shorter jackets.  Wear straight line skirts and pants.

You have long legs and a short torso when your head to hip is less than your hip to toe.  You can wear longer tops or a deep V-neckline.  Cropped pants will shorten your legs and draw your eyes downward.  Low-rise and hipster pants will also work well.  Wear longer tops, and don't tuck your tops in.  Wear skinny belts.

C.   Putting It All Together

Some of this advice probably conflicts with one another.  What if you have an apple horizontal body type but a balanced body for your vertical body type?  I just told you to put on pants with a high waist for your horizontal body type advice but wear low rise pants for your vertical body type.  Remember that despite all this advice, wear what you feel most comfortable in, and what you think looks beautiful on you.  Each person is different (that's what makes us special), and to quote Chanel again:

 Fashion fades, only style remains the same.