fancy face

I stopped by Holt Renfrew to check out the new collection from Lancome designed by fashion icon Alber Elbaz (Lanvin) and ended up bringing a few goodies home with me.

I thought the packaging was really cute and I love the taupe-y shades of the eyeshadow palette. I can see it getting a lot of use during the fall months (I'm still into bronze and gold eyeshadows for the summer).

With the purchase, I got a little gift and it was a travel-size brush set! I thought that was really handy. It comes with a powder brush, foundation brush, eyeshadow brush and concealer brush. There's also room to fit in a lip brush or maybe a crease brush.

While at the Lancome counter, I did get a makeover done and decided to go out of my comfort zone and do a navy smokey eye, which I really liked. I don't know if I will be able to re-create the look at home but it's nice to know what I need and how it's done with this face chart.

khat-sah-lano!

 

Another summer, another Khatsahlano festival! This street festival seems to be getting bigger and bigger every year, with more to see and more to do and more people to push around in the crowds :P

I believe the street festival is now in its third year, and I like how they're always trying out new things to give the masses a unique experience. For instance, the mini art galleries set up in cargo containers provided pockets of creative mediums and experiences to be explored.

I didn't stay very long because it was getting SO crowded but I did manage to take some awesome pictures and check out some really cool and unique crafts and jewellery booths. 

 

summer sales

The summer sales have started already and I did a little bit of on-line retail therapy at Zara. However, as much as I love the convenience of on-line shopping, there are downsides and the main one for me is the fit of the clothes. Unfortunately, I only kept 2 out of the 5 items that I ordered from Zara because it was ill-fitting or it just didn't look good on me.

Sequined blazer: Love the look of it, but it did not fit me at all... the sleeves were too short, the lining kept bunching up in the back and it had shoulder pads. I am not a fan of shoulder pads.

I really, REALLY wanted to love this coat. I love the military style, the navy colour, the pea coat style and the buttons. But... again, it was the fit. While it was fine unbuttoned, it didn't look so hot when it was completed buttoned up. I felt like the collar was too baggy and loose. If there were 6 buttons, it would have been more tailored and therefore, perfect for me.

I thought this sweater was a no-brainer, something that I would wear to death the minute I got it on my body... however... the body of the sweater was really baggy on me and the sleeves were too tight. Proportionately wrong.

Love plaid, love the gold details and love the colour and it FITS. This one is for keeps.

Love the colour but hated the shoulder pads.

Finally, a tuxedo blazer that looks good and doesn't break the bank! Great for special occasions, parties or wanting to look extra spiffy just because you feel like it.

Thank goodness Zara has an excellent return policy. It's one of the reasons why I love shopping on-line :)

oops, I did it again

This wasn't suppose to happen. It completely caught me off guard and in the whirlwind of euphoria, I whipped out my credit card without a second thought and I was out in 20 minutes with a bright pink shopping bag slung over my shoulder.

This is how it went down: I had stopped by Holt Renfrew on Thursday to say hi to a friend. I was heading back into the mall and to get to the overpass, I had to go upstairs and walk past the shoe section. Holt Renfrew had their shoe sale going on for about 2 weeks now, so the racks were out, shoes were strewned on the floor and overall, it was a hot mess. However, out of the corner of my eye, something sparkly caught my attention. With my spidey senses tingling, I zoned in on the sparkle and much to my surprise, it was the Prada sequined loafers that I had been lusting over for months!

When the shoe sale had initially started, I had perused the racks to see if the loafers were discounted. I couldn't find them anyway, so I asked the sales associate if there was any in the back, and she told me that they had sold out of the shoes. Disappointed, I went on my way and never thought about them again, convinced that I had missed out on a lovely pair of shoes.

Well, that obviously wasn't the case, because I managed to find the last pair of size 39's on Thursday! I was chatting with the sales associate who was ringing up my purchase and she mentioned that  there was just so much stock in the back and with the limited space on the floor, it wasn't possible to display all the shoes on sale. So, as they slowly cleared out their backroom, they come across more and more shoes to bring out onto the floor and as luck would have it, the Prada sequined loafers were one of those pairs!

I am madly in love with these shoes. So much so, that I bought a pair for my friend who loves them just as much as me (shoe twinsies!). Now, I'm off to freeze all my credit cards until September!

summer has (almost) arrived

After doing my seasonal shoe closet switch-out (switching out my fall/winter booties and replacing them with summer sandals and shoes), I realized that my favourite pair of black woven flat sandals that I wore to death over the past 3-4 years have gotten to the point where I had to let them go :( But, the upside to my loss is that I get to go shoe shopping :)

I wasn't planning to get new sneakers. This purchase came about when I went to pick up my friend's New Balance 420 shoes on Robson Street (she's ordered the mustard colour on-line), and she asked me to try them on for her to make sure they fit (we're the same shoe size). Being the wonderful friend that I am, I obliged and was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable and cushy they are as I pranced (a little) around the store. It was like walking on a cloud. Of course, I now had to find my own pair and while they were sold out of the orange colour at the New Balance store, I managed to find a pair from Aritzia's on-line shop. Two days later, and they were on my feet :)

The 420's also come in blue, purple, grey and mustard from New Balance.

These Stuart Weitzman sandals I have been eying for a while. I first spotted them when I happened to wander into the Browns shoe store, and saw them from afar. They remind me of a silver and black pair of sandals that I got from H&M, which sadly, only lasted about two summers before they went kaput; the silver metallic discs were peeling off and the black was rubbing off the bottoms of my feet.

After months of looking from afar, Browns finally had a sale and I managed to score the last size 8.5 in these gold beauties. They are a little expensive, even on sale, but I'm hoping that investing in a better quality pair of sandals will mean they'll last longer than two years. Also, they're sparkly :)

My last shoe purchase for the summer (hopefully!) is from Coach. Coach was having a huge shoe sale and I got these for $69. The sales associate had to order this pair from their Florida warehouse because the only sizes they had left in store was a 9. I tried them on, but my foot slipped out of them, so definitely too big for me. I love these shoes; they're so comfortable but can dress up a casual outfit because of the fine glitter (that doesn't flake off as I prefer not to leave a trail of glitter behind me).

I like sparkles as you can see :D

So, those are the shoes that I've purchased (so far!). Now time to hide my wallet, lock away my credit cards and start saving up for fall :D