Aug 9, 2008

Danish Design

So I had some very distant relatives come to Denmark yesterday and when I say distant I mean VERY distant. This was the first time I met them but I still took the day off and showed them around Copenhagen. We went to different sights but our last stop was the Danish Design Centre, this was only my second visit there and I'm glad I remembered my camera this time. This place is dedicated to exhibiting Danish designs. Danish design have really undergone a renaissance since the slow times in the 70's, 80's and 90's. Danish design sky rocketed in the 50's and 60's with prominent names such as Arne Jacobsen and others. What I like about it is the simplicity and beautiful lines and natural material used. The same can be said about Danish fashion. Simple, yet beautiful.

The picture of the monkey is a children's toy, handcrafted in wood, each one takes a long time to make. An alumni from my study, which I had the luck to meet, told me once that one of his contacts in Tokyo let him know that if he had some danish merchandise, there was this one guy who might be interested. He got the address and when he landed in Tokyo he went to his store. Now, this isn't the ordinary street-level, big facade kind of store we're talking about. Martin, which is is name, had a hard time finding the place, despite having lived and worked in Tokyo for so many years and knowing his way around. Eventually he found this place that was sub-ground, a tiny store with one working there, the owner. The owner of the store was intrigues by this monkey and wanted a total of 2 to keep in his store. He would often make journeys all over the world, find special items that he loved, get 1-2 of them an sell them at his "store". Disappointed that a this was all he was able to sell, Martin sold them and went out to lunch with the store owner and his contact. Now, many many months later, when he had forgotten this incident, the store owner suddenly called him, asking if it was alright if this big shot used the monkey in an advertisement. He cleared it with HQ first and got a go. Fast forward 2 months later, Martin steps on the subway in Tokyo when in the wagons, posters of that monkey are EVERYWHERE! Shocked and pleasantly surprised, he saw that it was an ad for the newest cellphone, with the hottest Japanese actress at the moment and...the monkey next to her. This made demands go through the roof! All stocks worldwide had to be shipped to Japan and even then demands could not be met. It ended in people paying over 300$ for a wooden monkey. Unfortunately it takes a LOONG time to make a handcrafted monkey, so even though HQ did their best, they couldn't supply the demand in Japan.







Items that could be bought. The "crushed" bowl I kinda liked, really special. And the birds! You could turn their bodies upside down, making them thinner or fatter, make them look sad or happy just by moving their body parts!





Very convenient for any backpacker, a spoon and fork in one, takes up minimal space!


These "items" could be found downstairs in a supermarket environment. When I say "items" I mean empty packaging and hadn't it been for the rather pricey tags, I would have gotten a few of these for friends and myself.


































































































The can says inner calmness, sorry my camera made everything blurry.























































This "couch" was inspired by match sticks! I love it the design!




















Designer chairs. The chair to the most right is called the wishbone chair, see why?



























This is actually a rocking chair. It's made of wood and is SOOO unbelievably comfortable. It's called the Stingray!























































That's it for now! Until next blog.

Jul 31, 2008

EOTD for going out!

This is a look I did for going out. It's not that hard to do and I really like the pink/grey color combination.


Eyes: Lancôme khôl pencil eyeliner in black to fill out between lashes.


Maybelline Sky high curves waterproof in black


Lancôme khôl eyeliner pencil in Strass (a glittery black, a drugstore equivalent would be Bourjois, pencil that's also available in a glittery black)


Any pink and grey shadow will do


Glittery black eyeshadow



Pink eyeshadow applied all over lid, up to the crease and on inner corners Grey shadow applied on outer lid and in outer crease and lower lashline. Strass eyeliner lined upper lashes then on top of the liner, I applied glittery black shadow to add some oompf to the look and lightly on outer lower lashline as well.



Thanks for looking! ^_^

Jul 29, 2008

Shoes, shoes and more to come later! Part 1

I love love LOVE shoes! I can't get enough of them and if I could afford it I would buy a new pair every week or so.





Sorry for only posting one shoe, the other one is a bit discolored since I got the last pair plus an additional discount. The floral and the white Boss shoes were bought on a sale. 35% off!




Ah, I was a poor student wandering the department stores in Paris, bargain-hunting, when I found these Celine shoes on sale.


Black DKNY heels

Same model, different color.


My friend and his girlfriend gave me these as a combined x-mas and b-day present. Can you tell that I like this model? Hehe...

Jimmy Choo in brown suede. They are a bit stained as I had to walk through a construction site once and I couldn't go barefoot on the sharp rocks and stones. I contemplated taking them off and ignore the pain.




Black Jimmy Choos, I love the laced-up part in front. I've worn them SOOO many times. Whenever I open the shoebox, I smile. It's almost like re-seeing a dear, old friend


Oh! I was in Tokyo, looking through a department store in July (SALES) and I found this corner where there were these crazy colorful Marc Jacobs all in too small sizes. Then my eye caught these absolutely GORGEOUS pair of Christian Lacroix, exactly in my size! The sales assistant, said that she would've loved them but they were the last pair and not her size. That day I felt super lucky that Japanese women in general have smaller feet than me. And they were 40% off!!! This was destiny!
Next post: lesser known brands, but none the less beautiful shoes.
Until next blog!

Jul 26, 2008

Baked goods! *Edit, now with a recipe*

This is dedicated to Etherealprey, she always has the most mouthwatering pictures on her blog and then I wondered why I never post any food pics especially when I love to bake and all. When I tell people I like baking most of the time the reaction I get i surprise. What? You don't believe me? :) Ha ha! Here are a few pics I posted a while ago on another forum.

Enjoy!

peanut brittle

Oat meal balls rolled in coconut


Apple pie
The oatmeal balls looked good, didn't they? And the good news is that they're super-easy to make. You don't even need to turn on the oven!
Recipe for oatmeal balls (approx. 30 balls) Sorry it's metric system since the recipe is in danish but you can use this online converter and this is really easy to use.
100 grams of butter (take out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before use so that it's soft)
1 deciliter of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla sugar
2-3 tablespoons of cocoa powder
3 decilitres of oatmeal
2-3 tablespoons of cold, strong coffee
Decoration: shredded (desiccated) coconut
Mix butter, sugar and vanilla sugar together with a hand mixer. Mix in the cocoa. Then add the oatmeal and the coffee and keep mixing until everything is blended.
Form the dough into small bite sized balls, (approx. 30) and roll them in the coconut. Put them on a tray and keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Voilà, and all there's left to do is enjoy!
That's it for now, until next blog!

Jul 21, 2008

Thank you speech!








Wow... never in a hundred years did I think this would happen to me. Hrm... hrrrmm! (clears throat): Erhm...I'd like to thank my MOM, she's my #1 role model and my...


Ok ok, enough with the academy award-like winning speeches, but to be honest I was surprised, shocked, ecstatic and then a bit confused when my secret lover alienman nominated me. Surprised, because I certainly didn't see this coming. Shocked, because I had no idea even what this was and what to do with it. (Yes, I'm such a n00b when it comes to blogging) Ecstatic because after months and sooo many more months of blogging, I'm finally being recognized for all my hard work!! T-T And last but not least, confused... because...well, to be honest, for one I had no idea such an award existed. Second, I honestly don't think I'm worthy of it and yeees, I know my secret lover only nominated me because I told her I'd leave her if she didn't! ;)


There are so many out there who deserve the nomination more than me (continuing in true academy award style) I'm not very eloquent with words, especially not in English, I wish I was though, and often find myself taking a backseat when it comes to expressing myself. I truly admire a lot of people on my blog roll, wishing I had their writing skills and abilities to draw people in with mere written words.


Here are my nominations:


(G)ail Because you really don't know what you have until you've lost it. I didn't know how much I had grown accustomed to swinging by your blog on an almost daily basis. When your blog was gone I felt a big empty hole of...nothing and the joy and sunshine I felt, coming into my life when I discovered you were back. This deserves a nomination from me.


alienman Because, I don't dare to not nominate her! I nominate her out of pure fear! Naw, just kidding.... Is it even possible to nominate a person who nominated you? I have NO idea... but I'll do it anyways. Truth to be told, I admire and like you a lot. Not just your wicked sense of humor, your eloquence when it comes to writing, your awesome skills when it comes to applying falsies and about a million other reasons. The way you write, one cannot help it but to let oneself be drawn in.


Angie, for being the sweet, adorable person that she is. One cannot help it but to keep going back to your blog, even though I don't always comment. I'm addicted to this blog and this is why you deserve this nomination.


Arashi, a girl I first came to know through abb. Her personality had me so smitten, of course I had to visit her blog. I love her reviews and way of applying make-up. Always so pretty, I always check out her blog for ideas.


Etherealprey This girls keeps me coming back for all the mouthwatering food pictures she always posts! I always get mad at myself for going there because, regardless of just having a 5 course dinner, I still get hungry! I love her writing style and this is one of my personal fav blogs.


Liz I was so happy to have another Europe-residing fellow Asian blogger on nb at first. This joy has then turned into something deeper. Over time I've come to love your writings and personality. A person who is truly beautiful on the inside and outside. I'm happy to have "met" you.


Renren I love viewing her tutorial vids. When I first saw Renren, I thought she reminded me a bit of Gisele from ANTM cycle 1 in one of her pics. To this day I'm still jealous of her great bone structure and I keep going back regularly to check up on her latest looks as inspiration.


Aaw... dang! I only made it through first half of my blog roll. There are so many more I'd like to nominate but unfortunately it is restricted to 7.


Alright here's what you should do if I nominated you:


1) When received, you may post the premio to your blog.


2) Link to the blogger you received it from.


3) Give it to 7 blogs


4) Link to those 7 blogs


5) Leave those seven bloggers a comment about receiving the brilliant premio.


Until next blog!



Jul 16, 2008

I love this thing!!

The last time I had a haircut in May, my hairdresser used this straightening iron on my hair. I liked it so much that I asked her to order one for me too. Now, I use it every time I've washed my hair, after blowdrying it 80%. I don't know how I was able to live without this little gem. The old one I had was too wide for short hair, which I happen to have now and this new one is just perfect!

It's in white and I think I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. As a matter of fact I believe I used those exact words, when she opened the box to show me and she just giggled at how silly I was... Well, these pictures don't do it justice, it looks better up close.

I also got a red lipstick from Estée Lauder, it's a darker red but it makes me feel so glam. Besides it feels good on my lips since it keeps them moisturized and doesn't dry them out. Perfect for a night out where I don't have a lot of time to apply make-up. Shade: Black Cherry.










Jul 10, 2008

Mint bonbons!

Hey lovelies! ^_^

It's been a while since I last posted any looks, as a matter of fact it feels like a decade, mostly because I had lost my camera about 6 months ago but I found it last week and I couldn't wait to start posting again.
I dug out some of my MAC e/s I haven't played with in a while, I had a lot of fun with it and I hope you'll enjoy the result.

Products used:
Face: MAC select cover-up concealer under eyes to hide my dark circles and under my nose.Clinique superbalanced foundation Smashbox O-glow blush
Eyes:Lancôme khôl eye pencil in blackMaybelline sky high curves waterproof mascara in blackMAC e/s in au contraire lined on upper lashlineMAC e/s in Juxt on inner 1/3 of lidMAC e/s in newly minted on outer 2/3 of lid and lower lid
Lips:First applied a brick red lipstick where I took most of it off with a tissue but left a little of it. Then applied my new fav lipstick: Dior High shine in 214 on top, blotted then reapplied.
C&C welcome!
Thanks for looking! ^_^