up and running with the crisp fall air x totalbeauty.com & me

As summer temps migrated south with elongating interruptions of chilled dewy air and drugstore isles stocked with fresh notepads in arcane primary colors, I began to get the first inkling of an urge to start writing once again.






That was a month ago when I thought -- MEAD notebooks uncannily resembled the saturated crayola brights that accented the grey knit sweaters, tights and matte, pale skin at AW '07 Dior, Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs and McQueen. Is high fashion allowed to be so easily replicated by a kindergarten schoolboy holding a $1.99 notepad against the back of NY's grey skies!?

He can, but I absolutely will not, unless I was to wear this season's hot item, the Balenciaga napoleon style primly lined jacket with some stacked heel boots...

Explanation: As an ex-nerd and an avid note taker, not the cool MAC-clicking type but rather the pencil-type...and you guessed it - the neat, Asian, two lines per row, A-type - how dare I pick up a pencil again and regenerate those unsightly callouses on the insides of my index and middle fingers?



So solution -- instead of a bright notebook that'll get crinkled anyway, try accenting nails with the hot, bold, colors from ORLY. The HOT STUFF collection out this fall features 24 bright, electrifying lacquers to spice up fingertips when shocking blue notebooks aren't quite edgy enough. A dash of color to pretty up nails adds the right touch of wit and kilowatt energy without those bumps that scream, I write novels, not blogs...wait, which is better?

xox

Flash back to Teenage years - Mass market individualism

My personal fashion statement, which tended to change daily along with my teenage angst, started with the flick of a gooey, lacquer-dipped brush.

When Hard Candy hit counters with bright punchy colors, subdued pastel blues, shimmery purples and vampy goth crimsons, nails became the palette for incorporating Prada orange into daily looks at the price of a mere $7.00. A luxurious habit for a 13 year old perhaps, but an irresistible buy for fashion fanatics...with an empty Chloe wallet.

So when Chanel's beauty team started making their lacquers an essential part of their runway look - of course the beauty tribe followed.

Starting with Black, A/W '06 shows. The silver/gold from S/S '07. Now the crimson, shimmery dark reds of A/W '07 (seen here) is the top "must" color in every, ten pound September issue of Glamour, Lucky, you name it.

Even if you don't regularly check out the awesome resource that is Style.com for the latest runway news (heads up! S/S '08 is hitting NYC in September!) at least take a look at the detailed shots of the Chanel show to decipher what colors will be sold out by next season.

You'll be way ahead on the beauty color forecast radar which:

A: Allows you to come off as a fabulously adventurous soul that couldn't care less about the current big trend - that's old anyway!

B: When the color hits all the magazines and everyone starts wearing it, they'll realize that you are at the cutting edge of beauty trends - YOU DID IT FIRST

xox

A-ha! Beauty Trick #2: layering nail colors!

I lightly touched on this in my S/S 07 the Short French Manicure posting but I've decided that it most definitely deserves a little blurb of it's own:

If you naturally have pink-colored nail beds to start, you're lucky. But, if you have paler, yellow-undertoned skin like me, it's hard to pull off the beiges and super-light milky creme lacquers without the fingertips looking as if they've lost complete circulation.

Then comes Myrdith McCormack (see image with model Solange), celebrity and model-loved manicurist. I saw her do this little trick at the Thakoon S/S 07 show and Vera Wang F/W 07 show back stage and thought it genius. I have been mimicking her ever since with this easy breezy way to get a natural, healthy, look.



HOW TO STEPS:
1. Start with a bonding basecoat to smooth out the nail.
2. Thinly coat the nail with a soft, slightly cremey or sheer, baby pink.
3. Let dry, tadatada...
4. Coat over the first layer with the beige, earthy, or milky creme tone that you wanted your nails to have in the first place, a bit more thickly than the first layer.
5. If you're good, finish off with top coat to secure!

And woala~
The pink layer acts as a natural-looking healthy pink base flattering whatever paler colors comes on top.

Try also with various fun shades - layer manicure colors to adjust the color to flatter your skin tone or to create a new glow, altogether!

xox

a dose of asia in the makeup pouch for a lovely New Year!

Happy New Years everyone!

Almost done with 2006 and I can't wait for the new year. Fresh beginnings and an enhanced outlook, right!? (<--I know I'm being uncannily non-nyc by being so enthusiastic about the one day when the city goes nuts and everything seems a little dismal and lonely...ok, note to self, must change my own outlook...ha)

Either case, having pretty & lovely items in your everyday tote is one effortless, fun and lighthearted way to remind you of your new effort to improve how you act, feel and in effect, how you appear. More the better when the emblem comes with a great beautifying agent and a compact mirror.

Some Feel Exotic & Gorgeous finds to keep at hand as a vampy reminder of what an asian beauty you really are. take your pick!!

Keep these kimono inspired emery boards at hand for perfect fingertips at all times. Easy to tuck into any evening clutch or purse, an instant pick-me-up for dull-manis. Paul & Joe Emery Board ($5.00 each)


What more could a girl long for than to be spritzed all over with a dash of Cartier at moment's whim? Now available in 1oz bottles, the perfectly proportioned petit bottle is ideal for toting around everywhere you go. We love you Bond ⋅9 but Cartier is an eternal obsession. Delices de Cartier, (1oz; $60.00)



Appropriately named Purse Gloss, this petal-coloured shimmery lipgloss is flattering on fair skin tones. A sophisticated yet flirty pink, I love it in the shade, Beijing, which brings a healthy-looking luminosity to the face with just an easy, no mistakes swipe. Plus, gotta love the name. Cargo Purse Gloss ($16.00)



Because I think there are certain eye palette colours that just seems to work for most asian skin tones, because these two palettes capture the two colour ways that I think works unfalteringly well, and because these two ideal palettes come in the most adorable Asian-pop slick compacts, ever, I love the new Tokidoki Eye Shadow Quad from Smashbox. Tip: the darker eye shadows can be used as eye liner on top lash & edges of outer bottom lash by wetting the tip of the eye liner brush (recommended f/ before, Trish McEvoy brush #11) and the lightest colours at the inner corners of the eye for an open eyed highlighting effect.) Harajuku girls, you've got it going on~ Smashbox Tokidoki Eyeshadow Quad ($30.00 each)


Last but not least - turn every touch up into a classic "powdering room" moment with a whisk and a fluff of this gorgeous red tinted all over brush with a black lacquer bottom. Complete with a silky vintage looking drawstring pouch (also good for carrying change and a few credit cards when running to the nearby bodega or sake store), this Lola brush set is a beauty addict's essential makeup & life-touchup tool. Lola Cosmetics All Over Brush ($35)


All products available at Sephora

xox

Short & Sweet - earthy french mani's are back for S/S '07!

Short, sweet and earthy, petal-pink fingertips finished off the natural, pure looks by the hottest designers on the S/S 2007 runway.

Marni used a pale, muted, creamy pink to create the ethereal look while Chloe and Miu Miu took it one step further with a modern, twist to the classic manicure - a short french manicure!

The french manicure, first created by ORLY 30 years ago, is still the mani-of-choice when it comes to the duo work or big event appropriate look. The neutral color flatters many skin tones and the fresh, sophisticated allure of a clean white tip is any-age appropriate. The one big drawback, now solved, has been the length that was required to pull off the look - parrafin tips are just way too scary and SO not good for your nails!

Follow the below tips to get an easy salon-perfect short French Manicure of S/S '07:

1. Prep nails by pushing back cuticles and moisturizing with an intensive hand & nail formula. Go natural with Almond Oil drops to the cuticles. For a short French Mani, you need all the length & smooth fingertip skin as you can get!

2. Swipe a base coat with a bonding agent that will keep the white tips from chipping easily.

3. Put a light coat of sheer, creamy pink or beige (for asian skin, make sure the beige is a more "cappacino-latte white" than i-can't-believe-it's-not-butter yellow to flatter skin tone). Essie Sugar Daddy www.essie.com is a great base pink for short French Manis and SpaRitual's Airy Sopranos collection colours are all great by itself or with the white tip. www.sparitual.com

4. Dip a thin art brush, preferably with a 25-50 hair count, in an ultra-white nail lacquer formula and swipe across the edge of the nail. The thin brush, available at any art store, is much easier to control and allows you to create a natural looking thin white line at the tip rather than turning your entire top 1/2 of the short nails white. SpaRitual's Ultra-white French Tip already comes with an easy-to-use thin art brush for the short manicure. Moreover, the formula has a bonding agent so that the white tip doesn't come off as easily - genius!

5. Once the white tips have dried, coat the nail with another layer of the base colour OR if the initial pink was too strong, coat with a lighter beige or creme coat to reduce the tone, if it was too creamy for your skin tone, use a slightly more shaded sheer pink formula to amp up the flirty look.

6. Apply a Glossy top coat to seal in the deal and give your short nails a ethereal ingenue touch. Try ORLY Glosser for a glossy sheen that lasts.

Toss on a sheer flock or short beige shorts with a cremy sheer top, accent with a bright coloured piece of jewelry or wedges and you're good to go for spring season!

xox