L.A. Candy

Lauren Conrad promoting her new book, L.A. Candy; wearing Philip Lim 3.1

Just finished reading Lauren Conrads new book. It's about a girl named Jane, who I imagine is the fictional version of Lauren, who moves to L.A. with her BFF Scarlett -- physically described to look like Audrina, but actually very brainy (HA HA). Anyways, Lauren... I mean, JANE (actual typing error, that I decided not to correct) moves to L.A. to work for high-profile event planner, Fiona Chen, who is a straight-up b&tch (perhaps a hybrid he-woman version of Lisa Love+Kelly Cutrone); and Scarlett starts attending her classes at U.S.C. -- both girls unassumingly living their lives and ready to take on all the excitement and challenges that L.A. has to offer. Then, while out clubbing at Les Deux they get scouted by a producer from PopTV who wants to film their everyday "boring" lives for a new reality-tv show!

The characters are way too simple/predictable: Jane twirling her hair on her finger when she's nervous, Scarlett being frustrated at how idiotic everyone is because we can't all be as smart as her, Fiona Chen the difficult boss lady who pretends to be nice to Jane in front of the cameras, Jesse the bad boy who has a repuation for being Hollywood's resident womanizer but wants to change his ways and be a one woman man, blah blah. You get the point.

Plot and characters aside, you can't help but wonder if that's how The Hills was actually filmed. Actually, the main reason I wanted to read the book was to get a "behind the scenes" process of what it's like the film a "REALITY" TV show. Pretty interesting. OVERALL, this novel stayed mainly on the surface, making it a really easy read. There were lots of parts that lend themselves to further development. I mean, it was no "Devil Wears Prada", but I'll likely go & read the rest of upcoming books in what is supposedly a 3-part series. Maybe even watch the movie too just cuz (and consequently lose all my street cred, but whatev.)

H to the M

H&M

Jimmy Choo will join the likes of Matthew Williamson, Roberto Cavalli, and Viktor & Rolf ( Yes I know I left out Madonna). Yes that's right, H&M is once again graced by fashion genius. Shoes will range from $60-$200 which is a steal right? Let's hope the ladies of Edmonton won't care to pay hundreds, because I know a couple of Edmontonian fashionistas that will be there lining up. See you there.

poise

My FAVORITE darling fashionista is gracing the August 2009 cover of Teen Vogue!!!!

Words cannot express.

Will let the pictures speak for themselves.

I don't know why young girls can't emulate Emma Watson instead of that annoying pouty Miley-character. There's a certain grace and poise to Emma that's so intriguing. Maybe it's a British thing?

(I've got some more Emma Watson to blog about, but am trying to resist the urge to post Fall 2009 goodies ... sigh. I don't know how much longer I can wait. Will keep you posted.)

Beauty at La-Coste

I want one, you want one, Victoria Beckham has tons. Women create such high expectations for themselves when it comes to having the most exclusive item on the market. We've all hyped up the Hermes brand, but there's reason to. Isn't there? Waiting lists that make it seem like you've been waiting all your life to hold your own Birkin or Kelly bag, hand stitched pieces of fine leathers and croc skins, and a membership to the special world of Hermes ( I've heard that Hermes is so confident in their product that if you bring in your 10 yr old wallet that you think is too worn out, they'll replace it for you. Lifetime warranty? sweet) This all comes at a cost of let's say...a car? or a house? Depending on the style and the material you want, you're going to have to fork up at least 10G's and to some women it's worth it.

Recently however, Hermes has taken the next step into making the production of their crocodile bags more efficient and specialized with their own breeding farms in Australia. Certain parts of the body are required for certain parts of the bag ie. the head pieces are used for the handles or the bottoms. You can see how more crocodiles are required in meeting the high demand of croc bags. PETA is not pleased with this latest installation:

"PETA Senior Vice President Dan Mathews speaks out: The thought of purposely breeding and killing crocodiles for an outdated, overpriced handbag should make any fashionista’s skin crawl. If Hermes really wants to be a leader in the fashion industry, it should stop killing animals for cold-blooded vanity and use cruelty-free mock croc and fake snake instead."

Crocodylus Porosus skin makes the most expensive Hermes croc bags because of its symmetrical scales and it's rarity/scarcity. Doesn't this make it more cruel to purchase? Makers of Hermes bags inspect and nit pick the most flawless alligator skins. Any imperfections are unexceptable and you can see how this can be a problem with crocodiles/alligators from the wild. Hence the ideal breeding farms?

I think that luxury comes at a cost, but isn't this a little too much? Can't we stick to good ol' sealed canvas, lamb leather, patent leather...or is using leather cruel as well? Then what is considered luxurious in the fashion world? I sure don't consider Matt & Natt vegan purses as luxury (no offense). Furthermore what will PETA do if they see an Hermes croc bag? They can't spill blood on it cause i'm sure it'll repel somehow (it's so shiny and smooth). So i'm guessing they would key the purse? You know, like keying a car.

I guess I don't need to worry about pissing PETA member off anytimes soon. It's not within my budget to do so.

On a lighter note!!! This is for you CJZ in response to QUOI's first ever submission
Hermes Bike. Oh yes. Thank you purse blog.

TGIF

Some softcore shoe porn for a happy Friday :)

Gareth Pugh Spring/Summer 09

Click here for the rest of the collection

Some Call It "Used". I Call It Vintage.

What Do You COVET?

The Weekend Guide (click me biotch)

My favorite website in the entire world (DailyCandy-you should get their A to Z book too!) posts a Weekend Guide every Thursday with fun and fabulous things to do, eat, make, buy, smell, touch...you get the point.

This week the folks at DC posted a suggestion for a consignment store called Covet. I checked it out and it is un-real. I know we are always complaining that dreary old E-town doesn't have nearly enough (read: any) decent vintage stores for us fashionphiles to get off on. Le sigh.

But I have never been opposed to resorting to the net for goodies before and I am definitely not going to start now.

Be sure to check the shoe section. Excuse me as I mop the puddle of drool that has accumulated on my desk.

ROUGE part 2

Diane Kruger at the CFDA Awards (this post is a little late) in a fantistical red mini dress by Jason Wu. A wise woman once said,"the man can do no wrong." - Carly Jane.

Love it.

L-O-L-O-L-O-L-O...UIS

So since you were all sooo helpful in helping me choose a handbag (nawt!), I have decided for myself. A Louis I will have and a Speedy it will be. But with every solution stems another problem, or so it seems, so now the question is what size?

I've come to the conclusion that a baby Speedy (Speedy 25) is kinda like the default bag that someone who wants to say they have an LV buys. No offense to anyone who has one.

I believe in go big or go home. So do I get the Speedy 35 or the Speedy 40. The obvi answer is the 40 because its bigger but is it toooo big for everyday usage? The last thing I want is to look like I am constantly off to the airport or gym or something.

Quoi-t to do?

Also, and this is really important so fete attention!

LV now lets you personalize your bag. So along with the obvious LV all over the bag you can smack whatever three initials (or 2..or 1..) on the bag in a bright color that sticks out and makes the bag truly "yours" (because paying nearly $900 doesn't do the trick anymore).

But, does monogramming your monogram bag take away from the lustre of it? Or does it make it something that will forever be yours and yours only? Le Confused.

I am actually really stuck on this one so let me know your thoughts!

rouge

Do you have a favorite colour? Usually when asked "what's your favorite colour?" I tend to make something up & choose whatever everyone else is choosing for the sake of convenience, like blue. Truthfully, I'm not the biggest fan of blue! There ARE people out there who have a favorite "go-to" colour (e.g. my friends favorite colour is purple. Everything she owns is purple), but I prefer to base my "favorites" on the colours I like to wear; yknow, like... greys.. blacks... sometimes whites. Unfortunately I've been told that greys, blacks, and whites aren't "colours"... they're SHADES. Lame. So I guess aside from neutrals, red is probably the 2nd most prevalent colour within my wardrobe. Contrary to its neutral counterparts, it's bold. It's bright. It's passionate. It's vibrant. Red is the colour of happiness and prosperity, and the Chinese believe that it may be used to attract good luck! It's everything I could ever ask for in a colour and more cuz DOOD, it matches with greys, blacks, and whites like you would not believe! Rejoice. Because really, all fantastic things come in red: Red Velvet cupcakes, $50 bills (even though it's more of a pink...), beer cups, Red Hot Chili Peppers, sounding super-cool when you say, "I'm taking a red-eye to [insert destination here]", red carpets .... the beloved soles of them LOUBOUTINS!!!

I know summer's just begun, and while my body & mind believe that this hot weather is a million times better than living in the arctic circle for 6+ months, my heart truly belongs to Fall... let me show you why:

Ruffian Fall 2009

Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2009

Cynthia Steffe Fall 2009

Salvatore Ferragamo Fall 2009

Oscar de la Renta Fall 2009

Jason Wu Fall 2009

ADAM Fall 2009

Le siiigh. I should rid my mind of fall-ideas because fall signals COLD and cold is the bane of my existence (minus the fact that I get to take out all my scarves! But let's not get into that obsession). In the meantime, maybe I'll give blue a chance and diversify my wardrobe with some royal blue pieces?

Must restrain myself from posting more Fall 2009 goodies.

I promise nothing.

He hates Heidi Klum.

"Forget the 'economic times' and think about what is right for this moment in your life. There is a certain kind of glamour that is terribly dated. The red carpet look needs to be reinvented, but since you are not a movie star, the only carpet you have to dazzle on is your own."

- Karl Lagerfeld

Rumour: Karl to leave Chanel?

You Make Me Feel Like a Natural...Cake.

Natural Woman (click me please)

This one is for you Marie. With love from the girls at Daily Candy.

Quoi-stion Thursday

Dear Fashionites,

I've decided that every Thursday I will post a dilemma I am having and then y'all can help me out. Because I trust your opinion more than anything else and I more than likely will have some dilemma occurring (however benign it may be).

This week: Handbags.

Some girls are shoe people, some crave diamonds and jewelry, some just have to have the most extravagant home furnishings, but me...I am a handbag whore. Now, it's no surprise that we are in the midst of a recession (which makes us recessionistas) and wallets are looking sorta like LiLo (skin and bones). Lucky for me, I am not in the real working world, nor do I have anyone to provide for but myself, therefore, I am recession proof. Muaha.

I am heading to LA in 2 weeks and those of you who know me know that when I go on vacay I don't do the whole "Spend $1000 on random clothes and shoes and makeup that I impulsively want in the moment, only to get home and question my sanity" (trust, it's happened before). No ma'am I am what marketing students call a "planned purchaser". It's an obsession really that usually consumes a majority of my time leading up to and on vacation (see New York 2008: Marc Jacobs Stam Bag...Palm Beach 2008: Gucci Crystal Engraved Sunglasses...New York 2009: Christian Louboutin Simple 100's...you get the idea.) Thus, it only seems obvious that my trip to LA should warrant a self-gift of extravagance. What do I want: I want classic. Like really classic.

This is where you come in? I need suggestions, and more importantly, reasoning on which bag to get and why. And please don't suggest a Chanel 2.55 or a Birkin bag...it just pains me to not be able to afford one. Woe is me, woe is me.

Sincerely,

The Crazy Bag Lady

Sun-kissed

(Yes, I went a little crazy & did two posts. It is out of desperation to avoid studying for my spring course. BLEH.)

In theory, summer will be upon us very soon here in Edmonton (but who knows, really....) -- maybe one day? Oh the irony of wearing make-up to look "natural" (but my "natural" is straight up pale) & in typical girly-girl style, I like playing with make-up :) So here are some picks & tips, from my cosmetic bag to yours:

1. Moisturizer: During the summer, I like to mix my moisturizer + Coppertone oil-free sunblock in SPF 45 - cuz sun damage ain't cool, yo.

2. Foundation will melt in all the heat & humidity, so keep all of your make-up to a minimum! Just dab on some concealer where there are dark spots on your face (under eyes, nose, etc) & brush with powder to set. If you need more coverage, use a tinted moisturizer (like, mark. Get-a-Tint)

3. Bronzer: bronzer is a fickle friend, and it's something that a lot of people fear (too much & you'll get an Oompa Loompa knocking at your door asking for its complexion back). But trust, with a good bronzer, you too can have that coveted "J Lo Glow" (without the sun damage) :P You wanna put the bronzer where the sun hits your face (cheeks, bridge of nose, top of forehead, and chin). My fave this summer is Too-Faced Sun Bunny/Carribbean in a Compact. There's two shades, so you can use the lighter shade on your cheeks & the darker to contour, or swirl it around.. whatev. Either way, this will FOR SURE give you a nice glow without the bronzer over-kill. I would imagine that NARS blush in Lustre would be wonderful too, but i'm partial.

4. Eyes: a primer (like Too-Faced Shadow Insurance) would be wise so that you don't get creasing. Then, a sweep of a shimmery neutral + a little bit of eyeliner + mascara & you're good to go!

5. Lips: Use a balm with SPF underneath your lipstick or gloss. I swear by Nivea LipCare with SPF 30 + C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine (don't even get me started. I hoard this gloss like you would not believe.)

6. Lastly, don't forget to carry around Oil Blotting Sheets with you. Boom.

xoxo M

Holy Grail

If you know me, you know about my undying love for NARS blush.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, you obviously don't understand. This stuff is amaaazing; it blends SO well & looks sooo GOOOOD on (almost) any skin tone. It goes for about $30 at Sephora & although the price tag is a little painful (especially if you're like me & want to buy all the shades), it's a good investment. Trust. The formula is really pigmented (i.e. a little goes a long way) so you end up using less of it, which means you won't have to buy another one for a year or two. See? Wonderful, I KNOW! & Yes, everyone and their grandmothers have raved about the "legendary" Orgasm (NARS most popular blush, for those of you that live under a rock); I think I've even heard people say it gives you the "J-Lo Glow"... wow? Honestly, it does give a really nice glow, but it's nothing to write home about. Other shades that I have succumbed to purchasing: Deep Throat (can't tell the difference between DT & O. One is a peachy-pink and the other is a pinky-peach. Ha), and Sin (current fave. Is a berry+gold shimmer shade).

I'm sorry for boring you all by professing my undying love for NARS blush. However, this would be a good segway into my summer make-up picks! (Next post) Boom.

Fallen in Love

Hello my lovely fashionistas!

 This is my first blog post for QUOI?!!? and third day in my new city I like to call home, Vancouver. To be honest I didn't know what to expect. All I knew was that it would be different from my good old hometown. The moment I stepped out of the airport and felt that all too familiar ocean, I knew I was in love! Apparently I just missed the heat wave of last week, but 20 degrees and up is good enough for me! Finally a place where I can actually wear my summer clothes for more than 2 months.

So far I've been out exploring and getting lost in the streets of Downtown Vancouver. Today on my mission to find a summer job, I walked by one of the two Starbucks' right by apartment, and a guy said in French, "Bonjour belle fille...". Call him cheesy but I personally loved it! 

Now enough of the cheesy, but yet very much appreciated french guy, let's talk fashion. Already I feel like I can wear anything I want here. You can't help but feel inspired to look and dress well in a place where heading to the Hermes store to pick up a couple of scarves is just another casual weekend shopping trip. To some this may not be a big deal but for people like me who's Saturday shopping trip consists of going to West Edmonton Mall, it's a pretty big deal. Vancouver is just another one of those cities where you can be, do and wear whatever you want and nothing would be said; unless you're surrounded by a bunch of gay men who's standards are pretty much impossible to reach, but you gotta love them for that. I only say this because I've already met a couple of them; I am happy to say I passed their standards test haha.

The city is obviously no New York but it will definitely do for now. My next mission is to head to the beach and discover some great sushi! See it doesn't take that much to make me happy - City life, fashion, beaches, and sushi are all I need. I'd like to say I can't wait to see what's ahead for the next three months in this city, but I can wait because I know I won't want to leave. 

So while I try to explore this city on my own I'll keep all of you posted on all my finds. Whether it's fashion, people, food, nightlife, I promise to let you all in on my uncovered secrets of Van City.

Until next time!

B

{See}:: Weekend Soiree

Fabulosity At Its Finest.

A few photos from le weekend soiree. It was my bff Geoff's 2-1 bday party on Saturday and, in true Geoff style, he went all out to make the night as fabulous as possible.

These are a just a few pics from the night that my favorite fashonista Jasmine took with her gorg camera. Jaz is very into the "paparazzi" inspired shots and it def. shows.

{ LISTEN } :: Music Monday

Cobra Starship featuring Leighton Meester - Good Girls Go Bad

You kids have probably already heard this song by now. Not usually a fan of actresses-turned-singers (or singers-turned-actresses) but since the conception of QUOI occured post-movie awards, it kind of makes this dress old news -- so I really just needed an excuse to post this picture of Leighton Meester. OKAY?! SO!!!:

1. Leave it to Leighton to pull off this dress without looking like a hussy &

2. I Absolutely LOOOOOVE those purple suede booties.

That is all.

My 2 cents..

She speaks! I apologize to my fellow bloggers MC and Carly J for my late contribution. Only this afternoon was I inspired, or should I say peeved. I walked into Zara hoping to find something to add to my wardrobe and I found it! A pair of porpoise, suede, strappy, wooden wedges. They were perfect and immediately I thought of all these different outfits I could pair it with and the possibilities were endless. Problem- the right shoe was a 36 and the left a 37. WTF??!! Who had the nerve to do that? Of course, being Zara, everything else was a 38,39,and 40. Everyone has different sized feet. One's bound to be slightly larger than the other, but I implore you not to take it out on the rest of the world. I bet everyone's thought of doing a little switcheroo like "hey I can steal this belt from this shirt, noone will notice". No. Nuh-uh. I hope your conscience kicks in from time to time cause that ain't right. This is why we suffer from twist-tied shoes that are so hard to try on. Because of certain stealing, lying shoppers.

To add to this dilemma, Zara has terrible customer service. No internal transfers, no website you can purchase from, and they won't call the other stores for you. Thank you Zara for making it difficult to find what we love. Unless you have friends in cities where they are located, you are out of luck. Snag the thing that you love right away. K I'm sorry..I love you Zara. I didn't mean any of that.


Here's a picture of my deepest desire. I stole it from somewhere and didn't cite. Is that wrong? I don't care.
:

Date: To Be Announced

Sooo I love flowers and everything green and beautiful, but if you know me at all you know that my green thumb is more of a brownish color. I would much rather just hire someone to plant the flowers for me, or better yet, buy them pre-planted and grown. However, everyone knows that the best things are grown from scratch and with love. I came across this little vid on my FAVORITE Saturday past time, Bill Cunningham's On the Street video blog. Although Bill never disappoints, this weeks piece really got my heart racing as he profiled a public garden 20 mins. outside of New York City on a sprawling estate. If you have ever been to the Northeast corridor in the Spring/Summer, you can appreciate the greenery and you can practically smell the Magnolia (my favorite flower for future reference..and bakery too!) coming through your computer screen. This gem of a spot has officially made its way onto my potential wedding destination spots. Guests will be provided with parasols, I will be wearing an ivory Marchesa gown, and yes, you are welcome to wear your most fantastic garden-party hat. But please be courteous of my fellow guests and sit near the back so not to block the views of others. Enjoy the video and please don't plan your wedding the same weekend as mine. Or there will be trouble.

Enjoy xo

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/06/06/fashion/20090607-street-feature/index.html

{ MAKE } :: S'more Cupcakes

But first, a STORY!

Last weekend, Carly and I had quiiite the adventure camping with BSA Council for our team retreat. Armed with an iPod, Starbucks, the latest issue of Vogue (which btw, Cameron D looks absolutely stunning in... perhaps the best she's ever looked in her entire career), some google maps, and a gargantuan bag of trail mix, we hit the road... only to discover that our google map had COMPLETELY WRONG directions (it was taking us east... but we wanted to go west!?) Luckily, we were given another map before we all left campus. Thank goodness.......

After foregoing the opportunity to take the "scenic route to Alaska" (maybe next time!), we finally made it to Hinton - no problem! We stopped for lunch at Tim Hos, then made our way towards the campground. We proceeded down the highway, paying close attention to the signs so that we could keep track of the "landmarks" on our map. In theory, our campground is about 15-20 minutes from Hinton. It wasn't until we had been driving an hour and a half too long and saw a sign that said "Muskeg 5km" & realized we had obviously gone too far. SH&T! We needed a contingency plan! With less than half a tank of gas left in the vehicle, we had no choice but to continue driving to the next town & fill up. Muskeg was nothing short of an epic disappointment, so 2 hours later we found ourselves in Grande Cache (the uphill drive was gorgeous!) Post GC, it was another 2ish hour drive back to find our campground, which ended up being in the most obscure place... how everyone else found it using that map, we will never know. Aggravation aside, Carly & I surrendered to the great outdoors & fresh air. It was interesting to say the least. But it took me a couple of days to get that campfire smell out of my hair!

Anyways, I followed a strict diet of smokies and s'mores for the weekend (because unlike Carly, I did not think of bringing the entire contents of my fridge. Will make note for next time). Have you guys ever seen a contraption like such?:

That thing is tres amusant! It provided many a s'more for the duration of the weekend.

To keep with the theme of s'mores, I baked some s'more cupcakes for our council meeting this week. Y'know, just in case anyone was feeling withdrawal, or for the ones who wish they went camping too.

These were really easy to make, and you can use any chocolate cupcake recipe. Just bake 'em, spread with chocolate frosting (I used Nutella), pipe some marshmallow frosting on top, sprinkle with some graham cracker crumbs, and garnish with a chunk of chocolate if you're feeling indulgent. Boom. The marshmallow frosting was easy to whip up as well! Mix up a jar of Marshmallow sauce, 1/2 C of butter, and some icing sugar. I eyeball the sugar when I make frosting (so that it doesn't get too sweet), so I'm not really sure how much I actually used in this recipe.. definitely somewhere between 1-2 C, depending how sweet you'd like it to be.

Campfire goes gourmet. BOOM.

Shoe Porn

It is no secret that every girl loves shoes. However, some ladies take their lust for shoes to a whole new level. The Shoe Porn level. As a self-professed shoe porn addict, I probably should check into some sort of rehab centre. But where is the fun in that? Instead, I will live vicariously through the Barney's mega sale that saw the likes of Monsieur Louboutin and Mr. Blahnik bare those four little letters...you know what they are...S-A-L-E! No wonder the ladies of NYC were going buck-wild, literally banging down the doors to immerse themselves in department store bliss. This sale truly is the exception to the rule: "Oh, those never go on sale".

"Her father shouted something in French, to which she swung her hair like Rita Hayworth in “Gilda” and asked, “Quoi?” with wide innocent eyes and a $70,000 pout. "

I just had to post this link because not only does it document the sale in all its glory, it also gives a shout out to Quoi! Yes, if you read down to the part where the real French girl, trying on real Louboutin's, speaking real French( it's almost too perfect really) is arguing with her Papa over a pair of strappy pumps (he obviously doesn't understand that these shoes literally never go on sale...but it might have to do with her being 14...), you will see our fav. word "Quoi" right there in black and white. It was just too perfect to not post. I mean an article that combines an unheard of shoe sale, with a chic Parisian, AND the word Quoi. Enjoy :)





http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/fashion/04CRITIC.html?_r=1&ref=fashion

Is that you, Hermione?

Emma Watson sure is turning into a little fashionista; it really warms my heart to see Miss Hermione Granger all growed up & getting seduced by Karl Lagerfeld (no big deal).

Seriously, girl is working the camera! So natural, non? Here, this self-professed "tomboy" is photographed on her way to a Harvy Nichols private dinner of some sort in a scandalous Rodarte dress sure to tickle Ron's fancy.

Ride This

So now that it has been above 20 Celsius for at least 3 days, I finally feel like it might be summer. Lately I have been thinking about getting a bike. Not a boyish mountain bike but a cute cruiser. It seems like bikes are cool everywhere but Edmonton. I don't know if it is because our bike lanes are non existent and people are too scared to get run off the road but there is something tres chic about being able to cruise around on a bike..no matter the wardrobe. It really is a pity that these bikes aren't made for snow or trails because if they were I think I would ride them everywhere. I mean, how unreal does Miss Agnes Deyne look on the street of Paris. Granted it is Paris.... I think a cruiser would be the perfect way to get between classes on campus, plus it's good for the environ. Perhaps I will invest. Thoughts?

say QUOI ?!

"A girl should be two things:

classy and fabulous."

- Coco Chanel