My lipstick collection

Lesson nr 1 in make-up: the focus should be either on the eyes or on the lips. 

That lesson (and the fact that I felt too young for lipstick) has made that I have always focused on the eyes. I have never been scared of wearing strong colours a putting a lot of make-up. But over the last two years I have started to put less make-up on the eyes, sometimes just eyeliner and mascara. 

This opened the way for lipstick. 

At the beginning it felt quite strange, especially since I started with a really strong red. But you just have to get used to it. Last week I bought a orange/coral one and a real shocking pink, very YSL, which I am totally in love with! 

I am apparently not the only one to have started wearing lipstick, I see more and more girls wearing lipstick in the street or in the subway, sometimes very young girls. The other day, I was quite surprised by how many girls were wearing lipstick but then I thought that in the 30's and 40's or even in the 60's everyone was wearing lipstick and a lot of make-up. And I am really glad we're going back to being more feminine. I hope this trend will continue and will apply to clothes as well. 

Indeed I have started to wear a lot more dresses lately and I like it. But that will be the subject of another post... 

Chanel

Grès

Last March, I flew quite hastily to France for sad circumstances and I spent a few day in Paris and the champagne region. A few days before that I had read on the Internet about a fashion exhibition about Madame Grès in a sculpture museum. That could sound like a strange idea but when you see the dresses below you realize why this was a genius idea. 

So while I was in Paris, I went there with my mum and my aunt and fell in love with the dresses and Madame Grès' genius... I mean look at that! The dresses below were designed between the 50's and the 70's but could just as well have been shown at fashion week this year. They are so modern...

The orange one is from spring/summer 1977, the black one I don't know. The grey one is a spring/summer 1956 (!!!) collection and the red one on the left is a autumn/winter 1961-62 piece.

Anyone need a wedding dress? Personally there are a couple here above I could think of for my wedding (just need to find a hubby first but that's another question, hehe). 

And speaking of wedding, I just froze when I saw the red dress here below, an autumn/winter 1974-75 model. Turned to mum and told her it reminded me of her own wedding dress. Not a coincidence she told me, my mum designed her dress herself and had it sewn by a seamstress; and she said she was inspired by this very dress. How cool is that? The dress was white though. :)

Chanel and I

That I love fashion is everything but a mistery for people who know me. But you might not all know when it started. Well, early. Very early. The Chanel ad below came out in 1992, I was 13 then. I didn't know much about Chanel then (my mum was still wearing Guerlain at that time, she changed for No 5 much later) and I didn't understand everything but I was just fascinated... It is so aesthetic! And the music is special, almost hypnotising.

Another Chanel ad I remember well from my childhood is the one for the male perfume Egoïste (which means selfish). Again, very aesthetic, very geometric this time as well. And a staccato rythm that makes it a bit hypnotising too, according to me. What I never realized then and which I discovered in Geraldine's post today is that they are reciting verses from Le Cid from Corneille. I might be because I first studied the book a couple of years later, hehe!

And you? Do you remember these ads or other ones from your childhood?

Espadrilles

Do you collect things? I have never collected stamps or perfume bottle or anything. Shoes possibly if that is something you can collect. I don't collect them, it's just that I like shoes a lot, buy too many pairs and have a very hard time throwing away old pairs.

But with my espadrilles you could say it's a collection. They come from St Jean de Luz where I lived the first three years of my life and where I also spent all my summer when I was a child. They have a local brand making espadrillos by hand. I bought the first two pairs two years ago. The turquoise and the pink ones. They are so comfortable I love them! I used them all summer on holidays and then at home instead of slippers. So I decided I would buy a new pair every year. So last year I bought the red ones and this year the aqua ones.

Wonder what colour it will be next year...

Fashion critic

 

I know fashion editors have criticised the Dior Spring Summer 2012 show last month - which was the first one not designed by Galliano - saying it was quite boring and lacking this sense of show that Galliano was a master of.

I personally loved the show. I was quintessentially Dior, very elegant, very timeless, very 60’s but very modern. I mean look at these sunglasses!

To me, this collection was going back to the roots, going back to Christian Dior himself. It was like taking a big breath of fresh air, trying to catch up you breathe before taking a big jump. Before they get on a new designer who will incorporate his/her aesthetics, this was a true Christian Dior collection.

 How about you, did you like the collection? And what do you think about the Dior/Galliano thing?

Cuvée 2011

This *cough* *cough* was not in my luggage three weeks ago... Every year is the same. Or every time I fly back to France I should say. Every time I get home (to Sweden) with my luggage full of more things than I left with... 

I must precise. I didn't buy everything, thank god. I got some stuff from friends or family. Oh and there is one dress missing. Had to have it redone a bit. A 15€ sale from Zara.

Not much food this year, no space in the luggage. Need to learn to leave more space. But shoes and make-up as usual. And handbags. Only things I need of course. ;)

Summer is here

Summer has come. On the paper at least. When it comes to the temperatures, we're not exactly there yet in Sweden. We had around 25 degrees at the beginning of the month but now this week, it's more 15-16 degrees, brrrr. But in a way, not so surprising since this week it's Midsummer, a big celebration in Sweden about summer where, ironically the weather is usually bad, cold and with rain. But that's not what I wanted to write about.

Back to summer and warm temperatures. That's when I change my perfume to Pamplelune from Guerlain. I've had it for several years. The strange thing for me about perfume is that I have a very hard time to change, for a very long time I had only two, one in the winter and one in the summer. Pamplelune being the summer fragrance. And I can't wear it until the thermometer reaches a certain level. That's when summer is here for me. Summer, warmth, holidays, strawberries, swimmingpool... That's the associations I have to my perfume. No wonder I love it!

PAMPLELUNE: L’ESPRIT DU PAMPLEMOUSSE ET UNE NOTE DE BERGAMOTE

Au petit matin, les volets s’ouvrent
Le soleil se lève et réchauffe
Vue sur un verger d’agrumes 

Source: Guerlain.fr 

How about you and your perfumes? Do you change often? Do you have any summer favourites?

Handicraft

How fabulous is that?

Elle + I = true

Elle US gets me. By telling them I like Sancerre and my ideal holiday would be snorkeling in Costa Rica, they can tell I'm more of the classic type. Amazing, uh? 

Source: ELLE USA

And you? What type does Elle say you are?

Converse

You remember my virtual design (see here)?

Converse themselves did a special shoe for the 25th anniversary of Super Mario. How cool is it? Check the star. And what? Mario is 25 already, are we that old? Let's put it that way: we're the Super Mario generation. It sounds better doesn't it? ;)

Shades of pink

Pink à la sping 2011.

Shoes

I love shoes. That's a fact. Think if I could design shoes some days. Well I can and I have. OK, I started with an easy model: Converse but still it's my design, my colours. They even have my name on it! Do you like them? 

Do you want to design yours? Go there: www.converse.com. Unfortunately they deliver only in the US... So I'll have to wait until I can see and feel my masterpiece in real life...

Woman and child

There's a woman and a child in me. The woman likes fashion and magazines, the little girl remembers eating Dinausorus biscuits when she was younger. They both got to take something back from France. Everybody's happy! 

Stripes

An obsession for stripes? I don't know what you mean...


PS: all from H&M...

Russian Red

I went out with red lipstick tonight. For the first time. Russian red from Mac. Not quite used to it but still I like it. :)

Do you?

How to become a star style blogger

Click on the picture to make it larger.

Source : http://www.onesocialmedia.com/blog/2010/11/how-to-become-a-star-style-blogger-infographic/

Liselotte Watkins

The other day, while ready Metro in the morning I stumble upon this ad. And I immediately fell in love with it. It's so different from all the glasses ads I've seen before.
I recognized Liselotte's style directly and wanted to see if there were more ads. And I found this one.
Now the marketer in me is talking but I really like the fact that you really can see the product, the brand (both Lensway and Givenchy/Diesel) and the price. What else do you need in an ad? Perfect realisation!

And of course I love the fashion touch! ;)

I saw those ads last week and just a couple of days later, I saw this ad, for Absolut Vodka this time.
Do you recognize the style on the bottle? Yes, it's Liselotte Watkins again! She even got her own limited edition. Woaw! Impressive. It's with a coffee flavor apparently.

But who's Liselotte Watkins? are you thinking now. She's a Swedish fashion stylist and illustrator that now lives in Milan, Italy. And since she's Swedish we've see quite a lot of her work here in Sweden. But even if you don't live in Sweden, you may have already seen some of her work.

Remember the Marimekko collection that H&M did a couple of years ago? She did the illustrations.


She got famous internationally when Miucca Prada noticed her and asked her to design some print in 2008 for the Miu Miu brand. Here are some pics from the collection:



If you want to see more of her work: click here (her agency's website).
If you want to see some of her but also her inspiration and her life, check her blog.

Surprise

Some of you have already seen it on FB but... Tadaa!

The red coat

Yes or no? I've always wanted to have a red coat. Well to tell the truth, I'd like to have many coats with bold colours and patterns but let's start with a red one, you can wear it more often. I've already bought a winter coast last month, a bit more sporty and with fake sheep skin inside. Not super chic but oh so cosy! I love it! I told myself I wouldn't buy any other then for the season but then I saw this one. Red, a bit militar style, the big button, the stand-up collar... Ah!!!

What do you think, yes or no?