Midweek outfit: Faux real

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I wore: Top from Sportsgirl, Faux Leather Biker Shorts by Neon Hart, from General Pants Co; Shoes from Rivers; Bag from my mother’s wardrobe; Necklace from Colette.

For years my mum has been drilling into me that everything has to be real leather or it’s a complete waste of money. She’s such a leather snob that she tells me she went into the Louis Vuitton boutique last week and complained to them right in the store about their faux-leather range! Due to her constant coaching about buying ‘real leather’, I used to never even look twice at something in a store I knew was faux leather, despite how cute the design was. For someone who was a vegetarian for about two years, this position was so conflicting for me. I wasn’t eating any meat, but yet all the shoes and bags I owned were still leather! I’m trying to get out of this mind set, and today’s outfit features, faux leather shorts and shoes (the bag is cow hide unfortunately!).

Midweek outfit–Anamatastic!

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Wearing: Hat from Asos.com; Top from FELT; Skirt from Forever New; Litas by Jeffrey Campbell

These photos are from my photoshoot with my good friend Nurie! It’s so nice to have another photographer as a friend!

Mid-week outfit–Ahh…the city

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I wore: Blazer by Witchery; T-Shirt by Stussy, from Parliament; Singlet Dress by allabouteve, from Parliament; Shoes by Diavolina from David Jones; necklace, thrifted.

Sometimes a piece of clothing can kind of touch you, or maybe revive a dormant memory – yes, I’m serious. For me recently it was this Stussy T-shirt, with its cityscape silhouette and quote from the song ‘Under the bridge’:

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have a partner, sometimes I feel like my only friend, is the city I live in, the city of angels, lonely as I am, together we cry.

It made me ponder my relationship with the city I was born in, Shenyang, in northeast China. I honestly loved it there as a kid (despite the communism). The city was always alive and there were so many places to go and things to see. From street markets to 10 lane roads, apartment blocks to skyscrapers, there was so much diversity of shapes and sizes, sounds and smells. I can always remember the route I took to school, streets my friends lived in, and the time I fell into a snow covered open well (ah the perils of an enormous city where certain manholes are simply forgotten about)! I identified with the city, and every thing I knew about myself had something to do with a particular location there.

Then when my family migrated to Australia, I lived in small town after small town, hating it, until finally my family settled in Perth, which, with its some 1.5 million people, is hardly what most people would associate with a capital city. I couldn’t wait to get out of there! So after graduating from uni, it was straight to Japan. But unfortunately I was placed in another tiny town called Aioi, where my apartment literally faced off with a mountain range at the back. On a visit to Tokyo that year, I found myself overwhelmed by the number of people and the congested traffic. It was then that I realized, while I had continued to think of myself as a city girl, I had unwittingly become a country girl at heart, and a lover of the peace and quiet. It’s funny how life takes you to places you never expected to go. Now I’m working in Canberra, yet another small town. I wonder if I’ll ever get back to the city, and if I do, if I will be able to survive there.

So after reminiscing, I realize they actually didn’t have this shirt in my size!! So I actually hunted it down at another Parliament shop. The sales assistance probably thought I was such a weirdo, trying so hard to get a hold of this rather generic looking T-shirt.

Mid week outfit featuring Sugarlips Apparel “Rhythm and Hues”

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It’s so nice to know that there are brands out there that really recognize the influence of bloggers in fashion. Sugarlips Apparel is one of them, as can be seen through their enthusiastic take up of blogger endorsement of their products, shown up in lights all over their online store. So I was of course more than delighted to feature one of their pieces in my outfit post.

Having a browse of their extensive range, I could immediately see that this brand’s focus is wearability. While the styles are unique and chic, they are so versatile and are practically begging to be styled in your personal way. I chose the “Rhythem and Hues” top because of its wonderfully harmonic blend of neutral colours that I knew would look good with just about everything. And the cut is so flattering. The front hem of the top is a cropped length, so it has a super elongating effect on your torso, but the back is tastefully long, steering well clear of Britney Spears of 1997, and no crack related wardrobe malfunctions either! Then when I received the item in the mail I was so happy with how soft the material was and how comfortable it was to wear.

I pared the top with a high waist midi skirt, to show off the top’s cropped cut, and a pair of simple nude heels. For me heels are pretty essential with midi lengths, as I look so stumpy otherwise!

This is the perfect everyday outfit for me. I love to be able to move in my clothes (without going all velure on everyone) rather than feeling all tied up in skin tight jeans or synched dresses.

I wore: Rhythm and Hues Top from Sugarlips Apparel; Skirt by Forever New; Shoes by Tony Bianco; Bag by Saba; Necklace and cuff, thrifted; ring from Diva.

Sugarlips Apparel is a North American based clothing brand that creates fashion forward, high quality, affordable and deliciously wearable fashion. They turn over hundreds of new designs each month, much like well loved Zara and H&M. I hope you check them out!

Midweek outfit–the hidden leopard addiction

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I wore: Top from Sports Girl; Thrifted tassel necklace; Jeans by Ksubi; Jeffrey Campbell Mariel wedges in suede; Bag from ebay (wow I look serious in outfit photos!)

I’ve always been a huge fan of leopard prints, so when animal print came back a few seasons ago I was so excited about all the items I could finally get in leopard. This time round it was all about accessories so I saw bags, belts, scarves and even shoes all in leopard. In particular I was always jonesing to buy a cute pair of luxurious leopard print pony hair ballet slippers.

But, as I am becoming increasingly aware, I have this weird tendency to never get myself the things that I want most. Maybe it’s because with things I really want I take too long to ‘choose the right one’ and never end up making a choice. Or maybe I subconsciously believe I don’t deserve the things I really want. Or maybe I’m afraid that the things I really want will ultimately turn out disappointing…woah, deep! What ever the reason, as a rule I feel fine about handing over my moolah for anything as long as I don’t really, really want it. Weird! So this is the story of this leopard/tiger print oversized T…the item I got out of the leopard print trend that never fully fulfilled my original desire…

Nonetheless I love this T! It’s so comfy and totally wearable with everything :)Oh and did I mention it was on sale?

Midweek outfit: Something simple

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When I’m throwing clothes on in the morning, I always have to stop myself from stacking on bits and pieces like a Christmas tree. I’m a bit all over the place that way. I think when you have one or two great pieces, adding anything on would just crowd your look. I totally love these faux leather pants I picked up from Material Pleasures last weekend – such a great cut and really forgiving on my chunky legs!

I wore: Silk shirt and Faux leather pants both by Zara; Shoes from Windsorsmith.

It’s funny, for the first time in many many years, maybe for the first time ever, I’ve started to feel self-conscious about my figure. I’ve never been those things that most girls want: skinny, tall or busty, but for some reason when I was younger I just didn’t think there was anything to be ashamed of not having these. Maybe I was in denial! Recently my mother has been calling me EVERY DAY to talk to me about losing weight. I can see where she’s coming from, but Bitch be crazy!!! She tells me that it’s healthy to starve yourself every second day, based on some hack study that appeared in the weekend newspaper. Also don’t eat breakfast, then eat only an apple for lunch. Don’t eat Italian food, because cheese is spawned from hell. Throwing up only once in a while when you ‘accidentally’ ate too much isn’t that bad – huh WHAT?!

Chinese people are so obsessed about being skinny it’s scary.

But all outrageous claims aside, can lose any weight? I seriously doubt it. Eating is like a full time hobby for me, and oh did I mention I hate exercise?

Wish me luck haha!

Mid week outfit–The one too many blazer

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Last year I went through something of a blazer purchase frenzy, and this blue number from Asos.com was the ‘one that was too many’, and the final blazer in my collection before I kicked that pesky addiction! Funnily enough this week I wore it for the very first time. I love that it has a striped lining for folding, and that the length is somewhere between tuxedo and boyfriend.

I wore: Blazer from Asos.com; T-shirt from the T-Bar; Shorts three sizes too big thrifted for $2; Jeffrey Campbell Lita's

 

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

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Midweek outfit–mmm curtain fabric blazer!

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If someone said to me, ‘your jacket looks like it was made from curtains’, I’d be like ‘thanks!’. I loved the embroidered pattern on this jacket so much but I bought the skirt and dress in the same fabric >.<

I wore: Necklace by Mimco; Blazer by Review; Jeans by Ksubi; Boots by Diavolina ($40 on sale yay!); Bag from ebay.

 

You might have noticed that I got a much needed haircut this weekend! My fringe was getting out of control. I don’t have any scheduling as such when it comes to getting hair cuts, and I always end up going to my hairdresser when the situation becomes desperate and I can’t even style it anymore.

I have just one guy who I trust to cut my hair in Canberra, Kelvin from o2 hair on Childer St in Civic. I just don’t know why it’s so hard for any other hair dresser to cut my fringe the way I want! It’s always too thin, too straight or too slanty. All I want is a side swept fringe! It seems most hair dressers don’t understand that a fringe can naturally sweep to the side without having to cut it at an angle. Maybe it’s a more complicated concept than I though. I’ve had a few people at work ask me how I get my fringe to sit to the side. I’m like…it just does!

Midweek outfit–Think retro

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I wore: Scarf, thrifted; Sunglasses from Asos.com; top from American Apparel; belt by Country Road; Skirt by Forever New; Oroton Vintage bag; Clog from See by Chloe

For tips on scarf head bow making, check out my tutorial!

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In other news, recently I was tagged by Chihime in this cool question/answer thing!

I have to apologize that I rarely pass on tags now because I never have the time and then later I can’t remember what it was I was tagged in!

Rules:
Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
No tag backs.

11 things about me:

1. What's your favorite makeup item?

This is hard!! Not only are there so many items I love but my preferences are always changing. At the moment I am loving my Stila 4 tone palettes (used in my Okarie makeup tutorial). It just has all the perfect colours I need for every look!

2. When you need some inspiration for styling yourself, where do you search first?

I have a lot of trouble with this! Obviously peering in my wardrobe doesn’t help at all, because it’s a freak’n mess in there! So I have a inspiration wall type deal up in my walk-in where I stick up pictures of looks I’ve liked from magazines, to remind myself of my own aesthetic – yes I sometimes can’t remember!

3. What color does describe your personality the best?

Probably red. It’s flashy, but a safe an obvious choice

4. What's your favorite sweet drink?

Aloe juice!!

5. What matches you better: powder eyeshadow or cream eyeshadow? Why?

I don’t know about ‘matches’, but I do prefer cream, for the foil look. My skin tone is tanned, so a lot of colours just don’t show up that well on me!

6. What's your favorite thing in your room?

My cat! haha

7. What's the best way for you to laugh loudly?

Russel Peters. Good natured racial humour gets me every time!

8. A place you would love to go, but you had never been before?

A cat cafe. But I wonder what they do about all the malting.

9. What's your favorite song?

At the moment, it has to be You & I by adorable IU!

10. How is your morning routine?

Wake up. Remember what I am. Go to work within the next 5 minutes because I’m late as usual!

11. Do you usually doll up yourself for going to work and/or school? If yes, please describe.
Thank you so much girls!!

Nope! I let my ugly side show at work. People who know about my blog can’t believe the dramatic transformation haha.

Tagging 11:

Rinny

Marion

MissFeelo

Anna Katharina

Jennifer Huang

nJennnifer

Natalie

Tifuani Haruka

L e n a

Banny

xphoebelinax

Now I know many of you don’t do tags, so don’t worry about it!

 

Questions for you, the fellowship of 11!!! DUN DUN DUN!

I’m not going easy on you guys! Hard profound questions about the meaning of life coming your way!

1. Cosmetic surgery. Stupidity beyond belief, or a must for those of the nose bridge challenged?
2. When you see a hot guy on the street, what is your first reaction?
3. When you see a really pretty girl on the street, what is your first reaction?
4. What’s more important about how others see you, your personality, or your looks?
5. How do you explain to other people why you take so many pictures of yourself?
6. Whose opinion matters to you more, your real life friends, or your blog followers?
7. How much money do you think you’ve spent on things you only bought because it would help you write interest blog posts?
8. When you are asked to review products on your blog, do you feel pressured to say you liked them even when you didn’t?
9. What does the future hold for your blog, say in 2 or 3 years?
10. Do you think there is an age limit for beauty or fashion bloggers? what’s this limit?
11. Pirate or Ninja? Where do you stand? – your answer will shape my opinion of you for ever >:)
    

Mid week outfit–huge purple skirt

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I was browsing my favourite antique store a while ago and I came across this weird huge purple skirt. I just couldn’t think why someone would have had something like this, and where they wore it to, but I loved how out of context it was-the colour, the shape, and the heavy sew-in petticoat that makes it all puffy. I love anything with a petticoat so I had to have it! It was only $10 – such a bargain for the amount of(albeit unnecessary) material. I think the shop lady was also wondering, as she took my money, where the heck is this girl going to wear it to!

Wearing: Top by Prilgrim; Skirt, Vintage; cuff from Diva, Raleigh Wedge by Dolce Vita

What’s your latest random vintage buy?

Mid-week outfit: prickly but worth it!

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After taking pictures in my backyard for the past few weeks, I’ve decided it’s totally past due for me to change up the background! Fortunately, over the spring, all this wonderful tall grass has sprung up in the nature strip behind my neighbourhood. Shooting with a remote among the grass was a little challenging, and not to mention, damn prickly, but I’m happy I got some depth into my photos for once.

Anna from http://fenuabeaute.blogspot.com/ was telling me that my blog is somewhat like a photography blog, because of all the high res photos I upload. I think she’s right. I kept on upgrading my skills and gear to get better quality pics for my blog, but in the mean time I actually developed a real passion for photography. Especially after getting the opportunity to do some commercial shoots for material pleasures, I felt like it’s probably time for me to submit myself to some formal training, rather than just messing around with this trial and error bs. I remember when I took drawing lessons my illustration skills improved more in two weeks than it had in two years!

Wearing: Shirt, thrifted; belt by Country Road (I love Country Road belts!); Skirt from ebay.com; Jeffrey Campbell Litas.

Moving on to other business…

A while ago when Jen from http://nynb.blogspot.com/ commented on my Bambi Almond Brown review that she really wanted a pair – so I sent her one! I didn’t expect anything back, but a pleasant surprise package from Jen was waiting for me earlier this week! This is officially the first thing a blogger friend has sent me something in the mail since I published my first post back in April last year.

How cute is the stationary!

So many masks to try – thanks so much Jen!

Oh a side note. Those of you who read my random and sporadic twitter rantings have been kept up to date with my break up from my boyfriend of 7 years in November last year. This inevitably lead to me being absent from the blogsphere for the next couple of months while I got my life back in order. Luckily, or perhaps unwisely, I have someone new in my life :)

You always hear those stories about people suddenly taking up uncharacteristic hobbies after a breakup. Well I’m no exception to that stereotype, as it turns out. I thought I might share with you, via self indulgent photos, what random things I’ve been up to the past few months.

Cooking!

Like…what?? Yeah the fact that I’d never set foot in the kitchen before was clear to everyone when I kept on asking where the salt was kept!

Gardening?!!

This is even lower on the scale of likely things Jiawa would do. You know, because I hate dirt, and bugs, and being damp…oh and I’ve killed more plants than I have grown. But my boyfriend’s been the one out watering the little shoots everyday…still haven’t quite figured that part out yet!

 

On that note, I’ll end this unnecessarily long post with a random camwhore flash!!

Mid Week Outfit–Lime green shorts: and they say I have no taste!

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It seems like recently I’ve been reminiscing so much about my past fashion misadventures :). Back in high school I used to wear these lime green skinny pants and all the other kids would laugh at me. But I thought they were super unique. I wouldn’t say I was very fashionable back in those days, but no one could deny that I had a of ‘style’ going on haha – the kind where you wake up too late and don’t have time to look in the mirror before leaving home! Ironically one day I had an epic fall (tripping over my own feet as always) and grazed a hole right through the knee, in front of everyone.

These shorts from Asos.com ticked all the boxes for me:

• Lime green - tick
• High waisted - tick
• Super short – tick
• Tailored - tick
• only $25 – triple tick!

I need shorts to be super short because I have enormous thighs, and longish shorts make my legs look like tree trunks. I don’t understand the science behind it but hot pants seem to be much more forgiving for my figure~

Unfortunately these turned out to be quite poor quality, like many asos.com ‘home brand’ items – the hook fastener fell off immediately - but they still look super cute!

My indoor cat, Maris has this obsession about the outdoors lol. She begged to be let out when I was taking pictures in the garden. I’m somewhat a slave to her whims because she’ll just be a bitch to me if I don’t lol. Look at that face!

I wore: Shirt, thrifted; Shorts, Asos.com; Patent nude pumps by Tony Bianco.