I won a PDF copy of Danielle Meder's Paperdoll Book! For entering her paperdoll cut up contest. My entry was a little silly but still something I would wear... I only found out about the contest a few hours before the deadline unfortunately... but it was fun to cut up the pieces and try them out in different ways...

Today I went to MAC to get a fresh studio tech foundation for myself. I've been using a crappy drugstore powder foundation for too long. When I asked the price of the Studio Tech I remembered while I had temp switched to the crappy brand. Last foundation shopping trip at MAC I made I picked up Studio Fix Fluid. I tried it on my face in the store and it looked good - but when I got home I found the shade to be ever so slightly darker than my own face... Kind of annoying... I lean towards the paler look... So I got a lighter shade this time, my usual NC15. (I know you can return the product even after giving it a test at home but the shade was so close to my own I couldn't be bothered. Though next time I think I will bother.) I can barely remember what it feels/looks like to wear the Studio Tech at this point, it's been so long. Now I can give it a (re) try and compare it to the Studio Fix. Reading the most recent post at gloss spot makes me think I should really try a new brand altogether sometime...

When I asked a makeup artist as MAC to help me figure out if I was getting the right shade of foundation she said "Oh I know, I like a lighter foundation too because you can always go darker but with a darker foundation you can't go lighter." What???

I'm very excited for some black sequin leggings I picked up on the weekend. They are tiiiiight! I also purchased a vintage top from The Public Butter a couple weeks ago and just got it back from the drycleaners yesterday. Lots of fun things to wear for the holidays!

My Paperdoll Contest Entry for Final Fashion

Some kind of Canadiana

Here is final fashion

What I ended up wearing to see Gaga

I bought batteries and brought my camera along to see Lady Gaga, all ready to take lots of snaps! Then discovered that I left my memory card at home. So I could only take a couple pictures but they're saved onto the harddrive of my camera and I can't find the cable to bring them to my computer! When Steve and I got home, he took some pics of me in my outfit.

It's a nude bodysuit, shiny *tight* high waisted black leggings, (thank you American Apparel), my go to black patent peep toe heels (Aldo), red lace gloves, white double breasted single button jacket (silence and noise for Urban Outfitters), my deadstock flip up glasses, nude colored multi-way bra (Victoria's Secret) and makeup/nail polish.

The concert was awesome, I am so glad that there were giant screens of Gaga since our seats were at a slightly unfortunate angle... I was most excited when she started to sing Speechless, when she was at the piano it was the best... She talked a lot which was awesome and the costumes were very cool... Want to see her again...

High Heels for Men

Stumbled across a fierce blog. It's High Heels for Men. The blog protests for men's right to wear high heels and stockings (and not be considered a crossdresser for doing so.)

I've got Gaga tickets!!!

Seeing Gaga in Toronto on November 28!! It's the second stop on her world tour. Crazily/Impressively she's touring at least into April of 2010. So I've begun to think of what I might like to wear to her concert. Right now I am thinking.....

white and gold Venetian style mask
netting over too-big hair, (crimped, curled, pinned and pinned)
black lipstick
black nail polish
black makeup around eyes
black latex fingerless gloves
nude bra worn under:
black fishnet bodystocking
black 5 ¾ inch platform peeptoe patent heels
multi-layered pearl necklace
black frilly skirt
ivory double breasted jacket

ooohhhhhh, but we'll see... I have so many Gaga inspired and Gaga appropriate items in my closet.... And I couldn't find my black skirt... I remembered some silver stockings and a fringed leather jacket while I was looking around for the items I'm already thinking of... Love Gaga...

Halloween Makeup - Eyebrow Covering

Halloween (the best day of the year) is this Saturday!!! There are parties to hit up and looks to rock. So I've just cleaned the test run off my face... Putting on my makeup and costume takes over an hour! (Feels like my wedding day again, though that was a little more work...) I've been watching youtube video tutorials to learn how to cover up my brows so I could redraw them up higher and more arched on my face. It's not easy. A couple of my favorite videos; the gluestick method by Blanche Babcock (so cute), the gluestick vs. the spirit gum and browwax method by petrilude and the soap method by Glosspot in her how-to Columbia video for Halloween.

These weren't even all the products I used to get my Jessica look... (above)

What's there is:

1) MAC studio fix fluid (foundation) (love this product)

2) MAC lip conditioner (use often)

3) Quo brush cleaner

4) MAC select cover up (concealor)

5) Sally Hanson eyelash curler (I didn't actually use this today to preserve my faux lashes for parties this week)

6) Annabelle Studio - Karma pigment

7) Rimmel blush - 34 Sienna

8) Maybelline Dream Matte Powder

9) Covergirl blush - cheekers

10) Quo brush kit

11) Quo lip brush

12) Lancome Palette - I didn't end up using this actually!

13) MAC lipstick - Ruby Woo (one of my fave shades)

14) Covergirl loose powder

15) MAC prime and prep lip (a luxury for lips)

16) Maybelline mascara

17) Annabelle lip liner (for brows too!)

18) Bonnebelle - noir eyeliner

19) MAC brow gel -ha I so didn't need this, after glueing my brows down!! (another luxury - nice to have)

20) MAC liquid last liner - point black (a brush is a must to get this one right)

21) L'Oreal HIP duo pigment - flamboyant (an affordable decent quality product)

What's missing is:

G & T gluestick

style 110 eyelashes and lash adhesive by Sephora (so fun)

Quo cosmetic wedges (sponges)

black eyeliner

Covergirl neutralizer (concealor - to cover brows)

A bunch of these products I use fairly often or are part of my arsenal already. Some I picked up just for Halloween, such as, extra purple shadow and the lashes and glue... MAC is my hands-down favorite maker of products. Some of the other brands are great too, but tend to be a little pricier. Then I pick up a lot of products that aren't as good of quality, but are a little more affordable. I've had to start using a medium size handbag to keep all my makeup in.

So here it is! (below) I'm hoping to get some better photos on Halloween. I needed to practise the makeup and I wanted to take a photo of the whole thing as I cannot wear this dress to work. It's a little too slutty... I am planning on wearing the shoes/gloves/makeup/stockings/hair with a more conservative outfit... My new highwaisted skirt and a red top.

Here I am mid brow covering: (below)

Beautiful Woman.... Lizzi Miller

Been a bit too busy for blogging recently, or even tweeting.... But here is something worth blogging about; look at this gorgeous woman that Glamour put in their September issue:

She hasn't been touched by an airbrush and... she... glows!

On the other hand we have Keira Knightly:

(Article) And nothing against Keira, I've read that she gets pretty agitated by people altering her image... The blame should be on the marketing crew of Chanel. If she wanted those she could damn well buy them. Women do come in every shape and size after all. But it's SO GOOD to see that image of Lizzi Miller, untouched!

Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara! and Mascara Giveaway!

For a couple of weeks now I've been trying out a new mascara... It's Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara . It's a mascara with a vibrating wand. It honestly sounds a little scary to me, it did at first, but I had the opportunity to give this mascara a try, for free! Courtesy of Matchstick, a word of mouth marketing agency in Toronto. I actually love trying out new mascaras. This one isn't available for purchase yet in Canada. Even though it's been a couple of weeks, I'm still trying to like the 'pulse' - the vibrating part. It's not scary at all. You have to be a little more careful while applying of course and you need to get close to the mirror - leaning across the countertop in a public restroom isn't really going to work, nor is trying to apply right after a wicked arm workout at the gym. I find the vibrating action really forces you to apply the mascara a lot more slowly. Maybe that's a good thing... In the end I can't really tell if the vibrating helps thicken or benefit in anway the appearance of lashes. I do think this is an exceptional mascara - I like the wand and the make up of the product does the trick, it's thick but not too thick and it's kinda wet-ish... Doesn't feel dry on application and it's not tricky to clean it off. It does make lashes appear thicker, longer and if you don't get too carried away separated. If you keep applying and applying then the lashes will start to stick together.


I'm going to keep using the mascara - keep testing the vibrating aspect.... Sometimes I don't even bother, it seems faster/easier to not use it. I still get great looking lashes. I'm thinking the vibrating aspect is pretty much a gimmick - and it's a great product without that... Which without would make it more affordable to the consumer and still reliable. I guess Maybelline is really interested in selling this mascara, perhaps there is a mascara war of sorts among makeup companies. I think a great ad/marketing campaign and providing free samples or demos to customers and relying on the prospect of... well... reliability... would do just fine.

I've given a couple of the tubes to my girlfriends so I'll have to ask them how they're liking theirs.

Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara GIVEAWAY:

So I received a few extra tubes of Maybelline Pulse Perfection Mascara, if you would like me to send you one all ya hafta do is answer me this: (a question tied somewhat to my career and my other passion; animation!) What designer recently put together an ad campaign with animated characters alongside models wearing her/his line? Please leave your answer as a comment and include your e-mail. (Please, only Canadian and U.S. residents)

Awesomeness

Amber Rose

Guerilla Shoe Photography

I saw these adorable swede mossy green shoes tucked under a bench at the gym yesterday morning and had to snap a shot with my cel phone camera... There was a label on the sole under the green insoles, but it was a little faded, looked like myas or myras or something... there may have been more letters before those that were completely rubbed off... Anyone know the brand?

Bridal Shower

I wish I took more photos of what I wear day to day... I would like to post that sort of thing more often... But I don't have a very glamorous (or remotely glamorous) setting to take photos on a daily basis, I don't have a tripod, and the boyfriend's schedule is different enough from mine that I would be pretty lucky to have him take a snap during sunlight hours...
This weekend I went to bridal shower part deux and got my mom and the b/f to snap a couple shots of me. I switched into the cowboy boots after the shower since to get into my home right now I have to walk through dirt and mud (my entire street is under construction) and heels tend to sink into that. Plus the swede doesn't stand up so well to such treatment...And a photo of Le Select, the incredible cafe restaurant I was taken to. The menu was wonderful and the decor gorgeous... Plus I was in the company of some pretty wonderful ladies! To spend a few hours with me and celebrate my upcoming nupitals were Laura, Laurie, Dana, Lisa, Lilly and my mom.My mom and Laura came over to my place after lunch to help assemble the silk flowers I ordered into bouquets and we enjoyed each other's company with my favorite caramel coffee. Thank you ladies for all your help and generosity!!

Day 4 at FAT

So I made it to the last night of FAT with my friend (and bridesmaid) KT. I found the whole event to be so inspirational! The shows that stand out most in my mind right now are Jennifer Allison and Heidi Ackerman. Jennifer's work seemed was feminine and light. Lavish with intense texture and detail. A cut about the knee A-line dress comes to mind that was made very volumous with so much tulle a fabric. The styling of the whole show was gorgeous and very consistent. Antlers poked out of mass curls and textured hair. At Heidi's show there was a great exploration of shapes and ideas. The skirt that graces the promotional material for FAT is a Heidi Ackerman piece. I wish could find more photos of Heidi's work! I remember a black dress with very large and sharp shoulders and an egg-like kitted form that fit around of of the models that restricted her arm movement... There was some very futuristic and gorgeous work by Martha Sharpe. If you go to the FAT about page you will see one of my favorites. I posted it below as well. And the LOVAS line by Wesley Badanjak I think stood out from the other collections in a way... It was very chic, something you could easily wear to work or to functions and you would look ultra smart and edgy. I enjoyed the cool blue aquamarine fabric against the blacks and greys. I remember seeing a lot of fantastic shoes and gloves, (I think gloves by Wesley Badanjak and shoes by Martha Sharpe...) So unique and exciting... There was a lot of awesome stuff all night. My camera is no match for low-light model strutting goodness so I didn't bother to try. I just enjoyed the visual feast and occasionally shared thoughts with KT. I'm going to check back at the FAT site soon and see what photos get put online. For now a fantastic set of photos can be seen at the FAT photostream on flicker.

Plastic Chandelier by Katharine Harvey

Today I went to Waterloo to have a gown fitting and discuss day of details with my wedding photographer. Steve picked me up at the train station when I got back into Toronto and on the way down Bay Street to get home I spotted something dazzling in the window of a Brookfield place. It turned out to be a massive chandelier made of plastic containers pulled out of recycle bins made by Katharine Harvey. From the street the thing really was dazzling, sparkly and bright and drew you in like a moth. up closer it didn't seem to sparkle so much and all the individual pieces were visible.On the train ride to and from Waterloo I was delving into my copy of Concepts of Pattern Grading by Carolyn L. Moore, Kathy K. Mullet and Margaret Prevatt young. The cartesian graph sent me right back to grade 10 math! I am so interested in it all though, so it's not such a heavy read as I thought it would be. For me when something comes naturally or is very well understood by a person, I call that being liquid. Music is liquid to Bach. I can't wait for pattern grading to be liquid to me.

FAT - April 21-24 2009

Is anyone else planning to check out FAT this week?

Sussman's and Preloved Sale

My new goal: bring camera with me more often. Sick of gross cel phone snaps.

I found the most amaaaaaaazing trim shop on Queen Street today!!! It's Sussman's Bridal Supplies. They specialise in trimmings and they have so many sequins.... Loose by the bunch, as pieces to add to garments, in ribbon, as masks, they have ribbon and fringe and wigs and feathers and even sparkly false eyelashes!! It's spilling out of boxes and off the shelves and it's wonderful... I've actually been in Sussman's at least once before, way long ago, but wasn't into it like now. But now... I must return with a project calling for fabulous trim...I also noticed when walking past Preloved that until Wednesday April 22st, if you b.y.o.b. (bring your own bag!) you will receive %15 off of a purchase at Preloved. Sweet Earth Day!

The Braided Hair Trend

Are you into the braided hair look? I think it's pretty cool... It's only really been on my radar recently but a quick search shows that a lot of celebs are sporting this look, especially Jessica Simpson and Nicole Richie it seems... Gaga has the most unique/unusual interpretation that I've seen... I want to braid my hair... I remember loving a side ponytail when I was a little girl. You can actually purchase braid and hair accessories that do the braid trick for you, if your personal stylist isn't about... Here are some products by Tonytail and Flora Designs as well as some snaps of celebs sporting the look:

Gaga goes purple

And some shoes I love from the theoutnet.com; Marni metallic leather flats: Giuseppe Zanotti metallic knot mules:Bally Imra platform pumps:

Why I play it safe at work

So today my boss (one of 'em) noticed my bright yellow nailpolish. I tend to play it really safe at work, fashion-dressing wise. (On the weekend heading out with mom and sis to have my trial updo for the wedding I wore stuff I really love to wear... 5 inch lace up 'construction' heels, fresh yellow nail polish, Green lacy patterned stockings over a frilly black cotton skirt and my trusty 'bride' shirt that I designed. My makeup mimicked what I'll have on my wedding day just so I could see how it looked with wed hair.) Well, today I wore very little make up, a basics Urban Outs shirt, jeans and cowboys. So later in the day (after monsieur director had his reaction and even unglamorously pointed out my nails to a fellow co-worker just for good measure,) him, myself and a few other animators were chatting about how to handle a prop issue in some shorts we're working on and when I tried to describe that I thought the prop might be floaty (I meant floaty, weightless animation) I got some smiles and the boss said he thought it was the nail polish talking.

ugh.

So for the rest of the day when he was around I hid my nails from him.

I hate having to 'tone down' my style for work... And I work in an artistic industry too!! But I can't stand to have people look at my clothes and not me at my job... The office is not the runway... (Everywhere is the runway in my head.)

As for the trial updo on the weekend, it was so frickin' awesome! Shannon (my stylist at Redd) was super excited about the look I want. It was such a pleasure to have her go for it with my hair and see the gorgeous results. I had a hairsyle picked out from an Anne Barge ad and Shannon told me most salons wouldn't even try to attempt the hairstyle or they'd do a crap job. Whether that's totally true, I don't really know... But it was not the easiest do and she was excited to create it for me. To get the volume needed, I have to apply a mousse to my hair after showering the day before the wedding and blow dry it, not shower day-of, and then she will pin a hair net full of hair extensions to the base of my head and build all the volumous curls on top and around of that.I was wondering if maybe my wed look would actually be kinda safe... I hate safe... You know, white dress, necklace, earrings.... But the way my hair turned out, and thinking of the trial makeup I had done at MAC, and describing the 3/4 length black beaded gloves to Shannon, my black satin 5 inch stilletto platforms and that even some of my flowers are black, finally testing out the white birdcage veil when my hair was done... It was very exciting to start to see it all come together and realise how un-safe my wed look will be...

Bolero Jacket Gift

I finally finished my surprise gift! I had blogged earlier about something I was making but didn't want to post any details in case my sister (and maid of honor) stumbled across the entry since she was the recipient of the gift! It is a black bolero style jacket, lined with purple satin and there are white stripe details around the collar. It fits the colour scheme of my wedding (coming up fast!!) so she can wear it with her dress that day, and any day after. I don't have any photos of her wearing the jacket yet, (waiting) but it looks so much better on Karen than on me, or my judy. That's because it was made for her! I do have a couple photos of the jacket in progress, this is while I was working on the lining and the jacket is inside out:And here is a sad photo of me with the jacket on, just to see how it's coming along... The on me is ill and the sleeve lining wasn't attached to the insides of the sleeves yet... It's kind of a sexy thing, with the low, single (vintage) button in the front, (I'm holding the button since it's not actually sewn on yet) but it was designed to go over Karen's dress which is a cocktail dress with a square neckline.Below, my new yellow nail polish. I also picked up hot pink and I really want neon orange and green.Window shopping on Queen street. Another cel phone picture (I really need to take my camera with me more often) of the display at Red Tea Box who I wish had a website.Window shopping on Queen street. Anothe cel phone picture (I really need to take my camera with me more often) of the display at Red Tea Box who I wish had a website.