Things to Share!!

Matt and Nat

All handbag made by recycled bottles. Yes, it is pretty amazing, isn't it!!!

I fell in love w/ this bag (Style: Laroux)  at the first sight. It comes in two colors, black and white. Both are equally fabulous. You can't tell it is not real leather at all.

It goes perfectly w/ Bibi's outfit. 
Feminine + Punk = Fabulous!!

(Bibi fell into my trick and bought it, just so I can see it, pat it once a year when I am back in Taipei. ) :P 

Their price is fair .... about $250 for this style!

You can take off the chain and carry it as a clutch. The studs are real metal, I mean solid metal. ^^  

Don't you just love to buy something that's eco-friendly and looking gorgeous for a fair price at the same time!



20,000,000 Fragments
A Japanese brand.  Editor-in-chief of Japanese high-fashion magazine Commons&Sense, Sasaki says: "Good Japanese fashion is either about street style or high fashion, and we have selected the best brands at that."

Base in Tokyo, Japan.



Press

They have pretty young and hip vibe for their tweed jackets.  20,000,000 fragments is one of the Japanese brands that carries a mission to Paris to mix sweet and edgy look all at once.  I can't stand the too "cute" outfit that all Japanese magazines portrayed or perhaps it is just me not suitable :P and no matter what, I am glad that I found this brand. 

I ever had a keen desire to buy another Chanel jacket in lighter fabric, but w/o its exorbitant prices, 20,000,000 fragments give me a peace of mind!! ^^

Stay tuned for the best cocktail tonight...(IMO)!!

xoxo Rachel

Permanent hair removal with the E-One

Now that it is officially summer in the City the layers are starting to be peeled off and more often than should probably be allowed the world has to be subjected to my pale legs. Now pale is in itself not a crime, but pale legs that have not been properly 'mowed' are an all together more hideous concern of mine.

Let's talk hair removal ladies. Not a very sexy topic, but one I feel needs to be addressed every now and then so that no woman feels that she is alone in the fight!

I have recently started a laser hair removal course at my local salon. I was so completely fed up with my sensitive skin constantly being red and irritated after shaving, or the painful ingrown hairs from waxing/ epilating that enough was enough! I have so far had two sessions on my underarms (one every 4 weeks) and the results are noticeable (ie. 10 days after laser you can literally pull the hairs out with no pain and fingers crossed they won't come back). The treatment itself was not painful, and since I am the biggest wimp I can wholeheartedly say that all I felt was a little heat, no rubber bands snapping. So far, so good! I shall update you all in a couple of months, but I think (and pray) it is working. However, the treatments in salon are expensive (some places charge £2000 just for lower legs!) and it is quite a hassle, especially if you want to do a larger part of your body as you will be stuck with your beautician for hours. I am not even to go into the other disadvantages.. all I'm saying is that some people get hair in strange, strange places :(.

So with hairy toes on my mind I was excited to be invited to a presentation by E-Swin, the makers of a new revolutionary at home IPL (intense pulsed light) hair removal system called the E-One.

The system itself is quite a beast, it is nothing like the versions available in Boots currently as it aims to be salon quality. If you think about it the heat produced is immense so it has to be large to be able to cool itself down (which makes me skeptical of the tiny Phillips version.. how could it possibly fire a laser powerful enough?).

The E-One promises to not only reduce, but permanently remove hair and after an average of 10 to 12 treatments (approx. 2 months apart), only 1 or 2 uses per year should be required to keep your skin clear and hair free.  It is also very versatile and can even be used on the face. The touch screen lets you select your skin and hair type so you can easily customise it to different parts of your body.

Now comes the big question.. does it hurt? I can honestly say after trying it on my arm a couple of times it didn't hurt at all! All you feel is a slight heating sensation which disappears in a flash (no pun intended). It didn't irritate or burn my skin and there wasn't even any visible redness afterwards. I have also been assured that this system has gone through vigorous tests, which have shown no skin irritations on 100% of users (even with 30% higher energy than required). The E-One was launched in France in 2007 and, even with a full money back guarantee not a single person returned it, which implies that it works and people are seeing results!

The only issues I have with it are that it is a little bit cumbersome as you have to hold the sides in and then push it into your skin for the flash to 'fire' and you have to wait a few seconds for it reset itself after every flash. This would not be a problem if you were doing a small area, but I can imagine the legs would take quite a long time, still I don't see this as a major concern. The real drawback for me is the price.

The smallest package is priced at £1,450 and includes

• E-One device and preinstalled Optic' cartridge
• 1 pair of glasses
• 2 year guarantee
• 1 working pen
• 1 gel bottle
• 1 optical spray
• 1 guide plate
• 1 Sticker patch (for covering moles etc.) 

Yes, it is much cheaper than a salon treatment (you could do your whole body, your friend's, your boyfriend's!), but it is a large commitment to make. I am therefore very much comforted by their 6 months money back guarantee, which lets you thoroughly test out the system for a long enough period of time to see whether it really works for you and if it doesn't you can send it back and get a refund, no questions asked. I can honestly tell you I am very tempted to start saving. Not only does it work out cheaper than waxing etc. but after the initial time and money invested you are left with real results! Just the thought of never having a rash after shaving, or never having to go through the eye watering pain of waxing makes it worth it for me.

If you are curious about the E-One you can their website here (it is full of information and testimonials and explains the technology, process of usage and expected results really well).

What do you think? Is it worth making such an investment or are you happy to pick up your weapon, (insert any torture devise applicable - razor, wax or epilator) and carry on the fight?

Easy Day to Night Makeup in 5 minutes!

We have all been there, either your boss makes you stay late (and pretends not to notice when you tell him you actually had plans this evening) or you are slumped on the sofa after a long day and would much prefer to have a hot cup of tea to standing in front of the mirror for 20 minutes before rushing out. These days I prefer to keep it simple and efficient, so here are a few of my little tips for getting ready for the evening in five minutes. I hope you find them helpful :) xxx



Products mentioned:
NARS sheer glow foundation in montblanc
MUFE full cover concealer
Besame cashmere powder compact from http://www.cocobeau.co.uk/index.php?m...
Shiseido bronzer
Too faced eye shadow duo
No7 extreme lengths mascara
Liz Earle tonic
MAC Vegas volt lippie

All products mentioned (apart from the besame powder, which was kindly sent to me for review) were bought by myself :). Hope you are all having a good week lovelies! xxx

Hair Extensions Update, Wedding Makeup Trial and my Search for the Perfect Wedding Lipstick

Oh my god, things are getting so crazy with the wedding plans! It's only about 7 and a half weeks to go now and I'm finding myself getting increasingly busy sorting out the details.  I'm loving every minute of it though and I'm really trying to enjoy every second of the build up to it.  I know it will be over so quickly. 

My lovely hairdresser, Leigh, just dropped off my hair extensions today after highlighting them for me (ok, the way I phrased that made it sound very celeb, having my own hairdresser, but you know what I mean!).  Leigh added a slightly darker tone through the extensions underneath so it just shows through slightly and gives them depth.  She also added some blonde highlights so they would blend into my hair colour more.  I have to say that I am absolutely delighted with them and they now match my hair EXACTLY.  They really are great quality extensions and Leigh was saying the same thing so I would highly recommend you take a look at the FoxyLocksExtensions website if you were thinking of buying some.  She treated them with an intensive conditioner so they are really soft and they smell gorgeous...like coconut...yum!

I can't wait to have my hair trial with her next Friday so I can get my hair done with the heated rollers like the inspiration pic of Petra Nemcova I had previously shown you guys...

I really want my hair to be loose and natural looking, I really don't like it when curly/wavy hair looks too contrived so I think heated rollers is the best way to get the look I want.  I might test the look out on my hen night in Aberdeen since I use any excuse to get glammed up! Me and the girls are heading out for an Italian meal (where you get to dance on the tables to Euro pop at the end of the night...I know...classy! But a hen night is no place for being classy).  We are then heading off to a lovely bar for some cocktails in our VIP area and then onto a club for some serious dancing! That reminds me, I need to stock up on some Scholl Party Feet!  Better dig out my bride sash and L plate again...

I promised you guys an update on the makeup trial I attended last weekend in Glasgow.  Myself and three bridesmaids headed down on Saturday to the makeup artist's flat and unfortunately we missed an absolutely gorgeous day in Aberdeen...sod's law!  The makeup artist, Laura, has worked on the Mobo awards, fashion shoots and often travels with a dance company.  She did a great job on everyone. I won't go into too much detail about the trials but one thing I will say is that I've decided that I am going to apply my foundation myself.  I took along my Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation and Laura said she uses it alot on brides so that settled my mind on whether it worked well with flash photography.  She applied it on my with a foundation brush but the result was quite uneven and patchy.  This foundation seems to react alot better to being applied with fingers so I decided I would do that myself on the day as that's how I can get the most flawless coverage.  I am such a perfectionist when it comes to my skin and I really want it to be perfect on the day.  So I will be doing that and my concealer, whilst Laura does everything else.  I have decided to go with individual false lashes since they give the most natural effect and there's less chance of them peeling off at the edges like strip falsies.  I unfortunately forgot to take pics of the finished look but it was sunkissed with pale gold and bronze eyes, flicked brown eyeliner and natural lips.  She did put brown liner on the outer part of my lower eye but it really didn't suit me and made me look tired so I won't be doing that on the day.

I have mentioned before that myself and my friends have been doing Come Dine With Me nights...there's 6 of us and this Saturday, it's my turn! I've decided to have it at my parent's house because they just got a new pergola and chimnea in the garden so we will be dining all fresco!  I have really enjoyed planning the menu and all the little details.  I really love cooking for people and entertaining in general.  Here's my menu that was emailed out to the girls on Monday...

I won't let on too much about it because I know that some of the girls involved read my blog so I don't want to spoil the surprises for them.  I will post some pics of the night next week so you can see how it all went.  I have my fingers crossed that it all goes well!

I have been on the search for the perfect wedding day lippy for all my professional photographs.  Now you know I am a huge fan of nude lips so for the rest of the day, I will be rocking a nude lip (probably my YSL Rouge Volupte in no.1 or Estee Lauder Pure Colour lippy in Vanilla Truffle).   It's a well known fact that you have to wear a darker lip colour for the proper photographs otherwise you're lips become lost and don't stand out.  I will only be dabbing on the darker lip colour as I'm going for a natural effect so I don't want to slather it on and make it obvious that I'm wearing a lip product.  I think I may have found the perfect slightly darker pink based nude that's not outside of my comfort zone.  I often find that darker lip colours just don't suit me but this Estee Lauder Pure Colour Crystal Lipstick in Crystal Baby seems to be just the right colour to define my lips in the photographs without making me look really different...the last thing I want is to not even look like myself in the photos.

I love Estee lauder lippies, they are just so high quality, smooth to apply and long lasting.  They are also non-drying and feel creamy on your lips.  Crystal Baby may be the perfect shade to avoid the washed out look in my wedding photographs.  I was looking into Mac High Tea but it seems to be just slightly too brown for what I'm looking for.  I have heard that Mac Jubilee is a good shade but I haven't got that one in my collection yet.  I was going to wear Mac Angel but I decided that a nude would look better with the pale gold/bronze look I was going for.  It's all about finding the right shade for your skin tone, because lipsticks can look so different on different people.

So that's all my news for today, I must warn you that I may not be posting as often as I normally do because I am so busy at the moment but I will do my best to check in with you guys and give you updates on how everything is going!

Bye for now!

Nick Verreos Judges 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle: Recap and Photos!!

Seattle Goes Red...for the Third Year!!!You Better Work 2010: Nick Verreos on the Runway, 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle (photo courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt)

This last weekend, I flew to Seattle, to enjoy some "Emerald City" Fashion. I was invited to be a very special guest and judge at the 3rd Annual Project Red Dress, as well as the Third Annual Forbidden Fashion Show; all on the same night!

First Up, Project Red Dress: Project Red Dress Seattle is the brainchild of Monir Zandghoreishi (above) Regional Director of Fashion Group International/FGI Seattle, whom I have had the pleasure of working with on past Project Red Dress Seattle events. As I arrived in Seattle and checked into my Hotel Monaco Suite, there was a gorgeous "Welcome To Seattle Goodie Bag" filled with gifts waiting for me. Who could this be from, I wondered? Of course, it was from an old friend of mine and David; the most gracious Cindy Tsuji, who lives in Seattle and was actually coming to the show--just for me (love her!). Once I arrived at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel, site of the 3rd Annual Project Red Dress, I spotted Cindy and her nephew Kyle and niece Eva and thanked her for such a classy "welcome" (photo above).Judges Step-and-Repeat: Nicole Vogel, Rose Dennis, Luly Yang, Nick Verreos, 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle

Project Red Dress Seattle is a fundraiser/fashion show/competition which involves fashion design students from local design colleges--including the Internatonal Academy of Design and Technology/IADT Seattle, The Art Institute of Seattle, Washington State University, and the New York Fashion Academy--in which they have only 16 hours, a budget of $200 for fabric and trim, to design and create a gown/dress in the color red.
Nice Construction: Nick Verreos checks out designer Jason Arrington's silk Shantung dress-coat, 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle (photo courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt)

The annual show benefits the American Heart Association's Go Red Campaign supporting heart health awareness for women. Joining me as part of the esteemed panel of judges, were Seattle's leading Couture Designer, Luly Yang; Nicole Vogel, Founder and Publisher of Seattle Met Magazine; and Rose Dennis, Seattle's ruling taste-maker, pr and fund-raising Doyenne.
Rose Picks: Judge Rose Dennis, 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle Judging Room (photo courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt)

Before the show, we spent over an hour inspecting each and every one of the designer's creations on their respective models, provided by SMG/Seattle Models Guild, and very thoroughly deliberated, over our top picks. The show, produced beautifully by my Venezuelan-born friend Eduardo Khawam, was presided by...Photo courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

Poison Waters (seen above, right) Portland and Seattle's Diva Hostess with the Mostest, who interviewed me briefly on my thoughts regarding Seattle's "fashion sense", Croqs and Plaid.
Photo Courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

The Winner of the 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle was International Academy of Design and Technology's/IADT's Rebecca Beesley, who also won the Audience Award. Her design was a strapless iridescent Cabernet-red peplum bustier-top with a fitted "mermaid" gown skirt with train (photo above). Photo Courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

The entire gown fit the model to perfection and combined a great sense of drama, Couture-like sensibility as well as runway "razzle-dazzle" to gain its rightful place as our unanimous favorite.
Photo Courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

Second Place went to IADT's (that school is on a roll!) Gingerlyn Bellus's red crepe cocktail halter dress with pleated detail. It was made PERFECTLY, and was both elegant, salable, and right for that Microsoft Millionaire's wife...or her daughter!Photo Courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

Finally, the 2nd Runner Up was Jason Arrington's design, from the New York Fashion Academy (NYFA). To be honest, this was one of my favorites. It was a deep-red silk Shantung coat-dress featuring boning and wires to shape it into a mini-ball gown. It also featured bell sleeves, an exaggerated "Sailor Collar" and zip-front opening. Photo Courtesy of Danielle Bortone-Holt

The styling--from the funky hairstyle (Gene Suarez Salon and Spas) to the black knee-high stockings--was ON POINT! Very editorial, creative and directional. Trench Diva: Nick Verreos, 3rd Annual Project Red Dress Seattle

The show was a HUGE success and I, for one, was honored to have been part of another Project Red Dress Seattle. And now, it was onto to Seattle "After-Dark Fashion" with The Forbidden Fashion Show...See you next time kiddies!