Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Press Tea Bloggers in Wonderland Event

So you know I am expert of draining my youth away. You know 2 jobs, school, and full time blogger. I had a professor who once told me "Well I had 3 jobs in College, no excuse for you." Bitch, I'm a Visual Merchandiser and a Blogger, your college years ain't got shit on my life. Albeit you can imagine that I dropped that class.

Surprisingly, I do manage to have to have a social life. I mean when my manager is not blowing up my phone and I'm not working open to close in a damn mall, I do get out! Have a drink or two with a few friends, catch up and hang out once every other week. 

But believe it or not, I never managed to hang out with other bloggers. I mean, I do live in Small Town America, but I'm not far from the city and I do occasionally get invites to events (SHOCKERS!). 

Well a friend of mine is an active reader of  Lace and Combat Boots who with partnership with Press Tea, was hosting a blogger's event. 
Press Tea is a little tea shop which is like the tea version of Starbucks. Like omg their menu is amazing with so many drinks and deserts made from tea. 

I was a little hesitate about going because I'm not quite a fashion blogger (I failed at that soo long ago), I consider myself a lifestyle blogger who has a flare for fashion (like who niche blogs anymore anyway). But luckily, I had enough courage to go. 
You can see my nappy head standing in the back. I was probably the youngest and the tallest. I kind of felt awkward speaking at times because my shyness I got the better of me but I can't help but feel I met some really interesting people who had interesting stories (way more interesting than mines) 

I felt so under prepared too. I lost most of my makeup that day, my outfit was slightly ill fitted, and I decided not to wear a bra and just flaunt a bandeau (worst idea ever). 

While we mingled and talked about ranging topic such as travels, love life ans of course tea! 
We were extremely lucky to able to drink samples of their menu. My mother kinda ruined tea for me early on but I still some polite sips of the Caramel Teacuchinno. It amazed me how good it tasted. 

Our amazing barista, Allison just kept the drinks coming! 

The funny thing was when multiple bloggers shouted "Wait don't drink yet, we gotta snap pictures" 

Inception! 
And of course we ended the event with the classic shoe photo.  

Such a good event and Melanie made promises to do more events soon so that'll be cool to look forward to. 

My schedule is kinda full with Sakura Matsuri, A makeup launch event, a fashion show, and a dance show so please forgive me but my blog posts will be backlogged.

Friday, April 4, 2014

A Dream in Paris

                           
 
Call me stupid, silly, underachieving, flunky and unapologetic but all I really wanna do is drop out of college and start leading an exciting life.
 
                                

As I've said before, I was suppose to go to Japan. I was supposed to be smacked dabbed for Tokyo Fashion Week, #100Tokyo, #CoolJapan and be on a week long crazy adventure. 12 hours away, working through my entire spring break, only to take a few hours away to enjoy the pre-bloom of Japanese Cherry Blossoms.
 
                          
 
Welp, if you follow me on Instagram, you obviously know that didn't happen. 4 days before take off, my plans got canceled and hastily re-arranged. I got 2 working efforts that paid off somehow someway. I may not be a famous blogger but hell I know how to get places.
 
                       

One of the locations I went to was Paris, France. I went with lexss than a hundred bucks in pocket, a carry-on full of clothes, a hotel reservation, and a bit of crappy French and Creole.
 
 
                        
 
I can read French fluently but I can't really speak it. I kinda assumed that there would be a big Haitian population concentrated in one area. I found out from a random Haitian-French man on the train that no such things exist and unlike in New York, the Haitian population is spread out and their customs are often churned out. Luckily my creole is somewhat similar to the French of Cote-de-Ivory so I managed to get around only speaking Creole.
 
My mission was to attend a few shows, style-spot what Parisians wear, and overall get inspired by Parisans as a whole. I had only 3 days to make this opportunity into a grand scheme. I took a lot of inspiration from my favorite bloggers who had also made the trip. Primarily Yutaki and Michelle Phan.
                            
 
I had to make the best of what little money I had. No food could cost more than 3 euros and I avoided buying drinks in excess. Most meals costed around 10 euros. I tried to refrain from spending more than 4. Subways, Mcdonalds, and Crepe stands were the wave. Who cares if I missed out on authentic French cuisine, I wasn't on a pleasure trip  anyway.
 
I often had to think twice about eating.

Just note that their porta-potties are way better than ours.

                         
 
I honestly don't know why but I have a tendency to stick out everywhere I go. I got stopped everywhere I went. 
 
                                            
I got photographed several times.


People automatically assumed I was French too, in highly populated tourist areas. I don't know if that was common or not but I could sense a bit of annoyance accompanied by my broken French.

 

 
But one things was for certain, things did change after this trip. For one I can't stand people strolling in the city. Unlike in Manhattan, where people do take their time walking, Parisians walk extremely fast and their bags will hit you if you are in their way. A brief "pardon" and the zoom off. 
 
But more importantly, inspiration was drawn upon. For some reason I didn't find France very romantic like I did for Washington, DC. I found it ambitious and aesthetic. Fashion is different from the states and I was lucky to pack clothes that stood in a bit more. The French are proud in their oxfords, bright scarfs and simple silhouettes. Their silhouettes are flowy and portray a bit of fleeting freedom and yet personify their emotions. I was expecting them to wear a lot more black but instead they wore rustic colors and pastels.
 
And love was a matter of identity. Love was unspoken but can be seen. I saw a lot of different couples. I was in awe at the amount of bi-racial couple I saw and the amount of nannys stringing along a fleet of children. Love was personified in their art. Romance was found in their food. Everything showed the romance of the creation and their creator. 
                           
Still, Paris was not a romantic place  per say. Maybe if I was on a pleasure trip I would be saying something different but I didn't feel it. I felt more artistically inspired.
                   
 
What inspired me the most was the Jardin du Luxemburg. We skipped out on Versailles and took on this free alternative. 
                        
 
In France, spring had only just entered with some temps in the low 60s but Jardin du Luxemburg would make you think we were well into April. Flowers in full bloom everywhere, Kids running and playing meanwhile adults enjoyed their jog or conversation and a picnic. 

      
 
 This was the most romantic place I visited in all honestly. It was pure in unusual ways. It was obviously well taken care of.
                    


Now you must be asking. What will I do with this unkept creativity and what was the final product of my trip to France? Welp, you'll find out soon and I can basically totes that you will love it.

Adieu mes amis. S'il vous plaît aller me suivre sur  instagram, twitter, et tumblr pour mises à jour quotidiennes <3









Saturday, March 29, 2014

Geo Nudy Blue Review


For some girls, falsies are the must wear thing. For others it might just be a bold eyeliner. For me, bright contact lenses are the must do of my look. 

Call it unhealthy, but I dont think I look good if I'm not wearing color contacts and tout them with pride almost all the time. 


As you know, I purchased a pair from Lensvillage last month and got a pair of lenses for free with my order. Its almost obligatory that I give you insights of my newest lenses in my collection. 

You see I'm no stranger to Geo nor am I a stranger to the Nudy Series. This is the 3rd lense I bought from Geo Medical and the second from their Nudy series. 

These lenses have a diameter of 14mm, 8.6 base curve, and a water content of 38%.

Here's my thing with these lenses. Ever since I got hooked to the Dueba Puffy 3-tones, I can't come to love these lenses but I can't hate em either. I hated Eos Natural 3-tones and the Geo Nudy Grays used to be my favorites. Its a complicated relationship.1

For starters, it gives very little enlargement. Which is good for girls with big eyes but not so good for girls like me who don't. 
Versuses---> 
Shes wearing Geo Nudy Browns but you get the gist of the argument. They are perfect on her. 

So in all fairness Enlargement gets a 3.5/5 

However in terms of color. Its really nice in natural way. Would I like it to be a tid more vibrant? Hell yes! But it works very well with what it does. 



However it only fairs so well in different light situations. This score is going to be a bit bias lol.
4/5 for Color 


As far as comfort go, I do believe that Geo Medical as a whole, their contacts are less comfortable than most major circle lenses company. However comfort is the most bias scoring because everyone is different.  My eyes don't get dried out easily  but as far these contacts go 6-7 hours at most without feeling them irritatingly drying out versus 8+ hours for most contacts. Way better than the Geo Angel Blue which could only fare for about 4 hours. Still dryness is always disappointing.

So 3.5/5 for comfort.
  

Overall, these lenses are a good staple lenses for everyday look. Its not as gorgeous as my Puffy 3-tones but it does the job. 


Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Travellog: Bahamas



So I've been neglecting this blog long enough and for good reason. I've been getting a surplus of event invites and I've been traveling.

Its been quite a while since I traveled anywhere by plane (around 10 years). I was quite anxious since the world has became such a different place since I traveled in the past. Its gotten to the point I gotta murmur a prayer every time I get on a bus or train during my daily commute. 

In the wake of Flight 370, it took all that was in me to get on the plane and not spaz out every five minute. Instead I spazzed out every time i felt turbulance and you feel all the turbulance possible when sitting on a Airbus. 

But we landed safely in Nassau, Bahamas with a lot of drunk Spring Breakers. 

And unlucky me, I had lost my ipod chord so no pictures our entire first day. 


Because of the last minute of our trip. (We were originally suppose to go to Tokyo for Tokyo Fashion Week), we had a hard time booking a place to stay. So we rented a house  through Airbnb. Our accomadation was cheaper than staying in a hotel and was conviently very spacious. 

I appologize that pictures dont truly capture how spacious it was nor how pretty cuz we kinda trashed it. It had 2 bedrooms one with a queen size bed and the other with a king size bed so the house easily accomodates 4 people. My only peeve was only the king size bedroom had a vanity mirror (and i obviously didnt get that room).

We were a bit far from the downtown area so we had to travel by jitney. Instead of huge commercial bussing like there is in most cities, Nassau only uses van sizes bussing. We were served by the 14s which never took the same exact route twice but it got us to and from downtown. The only downside was that bussing ended as soon as sundown. Taxis are fairly expensive even the shortest distance will cost you $20


Also another good thing was USD was used on the island and didnt have to be converted as well as have the same worth as Bahamian Dollar.

We didn't get to do much because the trip was actually a working-vacation. So the most we really did was go to the beach. 



On our last day, I was co-hosting beach party so I only have pictures from chilling on the beach during preparations.

In all honestly it was a very relaxing break from New York cold. However there isn't much you can do unless you are on a cruise or at Spring Break event. I also felt a little alienated by locals who were constantly staring at me and I couldn't find out for what the reason. No matter, I really do want to go again. It was a surprisingly safe place to be. 

Well to next time cheries, I have plenty of adventures to share.

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