blog changes + salon review + aria in manila

Greetings! Have you noticed anything different with the blog-- other than that it's been updated with a new post after forever? I've fixed the layout and the header a bit and added some links on the side! I felt a bit odd when someone referred to my blog as a fashion blog, because it's not exclusively that. I hope y'all don't think this is a fashion blog, because then I'd feel guilty talking about homework and traveling. This is more of a personal blog and it just so happens that I like fashion a lot. Anyway, I've put up links on the side for when you want to read about a specific topic and do not want to go through all my posts whining about school and all that!

Consider this a blog make-over! I've browsed through all the past posts and realized how lame it was when I used to do short reviews on practically all collections. It was a bit much wasn't it? Well I've stopped doing that, if you noticed, and I guess I'll just do them for the really special collections. Also, I know I used to let out a lot of angst on here, but I have figured out a way to make it all private, so rest assured that this blog will be more polished now, and I can guarantee there will be less "angry-teen-with-a-blog". Also, my blog titles appear in comic sans sometimes even though I made the font different, and it appears right sometimes, but it appears comic sans other times. This is really embarrassing and I'd like to officially state that I am not that kind of person who uses comic sans.

Alright, I've sort of just decided to make a post to tell you about the blog changes, but now I have nothing else to say other than that. Hm, let's talk about what I did this week. Well, I'm officially on summer vacation (since three weeks ago) and I've been doing nothing but sleeping and eating and going online! Yay!

I suppose I can talk about how I got my hair straightened. It'll act a a salon review too! I really was iffy about getting my hair rebonded again, because I wasn't sure how I'd look with it, but I was just so sick of my hair and getting it rebonded would mean less maintenance, so I went for it. My mom told me about a salon near her office called Hair Philosophie and she bought me a coupon for hair rebonding, and I went in last Friday. I got there for my appointment at 10am, and the place was very pretty. They start on me immediately and the guy who did my hair was very nice. He was very chatty, but it wasn't the annoying kind of chatty, he was very warm. They gave me iced tea and gave my maid iced tea too, while she waited for me. He asked me if I had my hair colored and I told him that I did it myself. He said that my hair was very dry and that before rebonding it, we should put a protector. Since I was there alone, I had to call my mom who was paying for everything, and since we know nothing about hair care, and the guy was very insistent on it, my mom said yes to the P1000 protector serum they put on my hair. After that, they went on with the medicine that reeked. The guy who was lathering it on wasn't even wearing gloves, so it couldn't have been that harmful or strong. They got on to the ironing and the whole thing. It lasted around 3 hours-- short compared to my past rebonding in Antonio's which lasted around 4 or 4 1/2. Before he started he asked me if I should get my hair trimmed, and I said I just got a haircut a couple months ago. He said that we should see if I should get a trim when we finished with the process. So when we did finish, he asked me again if he should trim my hair, and I said I'd rather not, because I didn't want it to get shorter. He said he'd just trim the dry ends and kept saying "konti lang" ("just a little"). So I kept bargaining for him to just take out the tiniest bits, and he said yes. So he did that for what was literally 3 minutes and he trimmed a bit of my bangs and he was done. So I thanked him, and got to the car while my mom paid and tipped and all that. I was happy with my hair, but hoped that it would have more of a body after a few weeks. (Btw, I told him beforehand that I wanted a semi-rebond, so I'm hoping that my hair doesn't stay stick straight or else I will be so mad) When we got home, my mom said that my hair looks the same length and I told her of course it does he didn't really cut it. Then my mom told me that they charged P650 for a haircut because she thought I had asked for one. I told her I didn't and the guy just literally took a few snips at the ends. I mean, I've had my hair rebonded and I get treatments at salons and usually when they ask if you want your bangs trimmed or when they insist to get your ends trimmed they don't let you pay for it? I could be wrong, but it just didn't seem like the "haircut" I got was worth what I paid. Other than that, though, it was a fine salon experience. It's just that it's a deal breaker when the salon keeps offering me things and making it seem like I need it or else I'll turn into Medusa. The staff was extremely nice though. My maid, who has been wanting to get her hair colored, was offered a discount price, but she didn't go through with it because my mom objected (lol).

Something very exciting: my family discovered that our favorite restaurant in Boracay has put up a branch here in High Street!

I don't know, I thought this post needed at least once photo, so that's my brother with the restaurant behind him.

So the food was obviously amazing, but the service was terrible! The waiting staff were very kind and apologetic, but they just took forever with everything. The food took so long and it was served one by one, so dad's food wasn't so hot anymore by the time everyone got their food. Dad was ordering beers, but they were taking forever and we decided to just cancel the order rather than wait. But the experience wasn't ruined by the service! The new leg of High Street was so very beautiful. My brother said it looked exactly like the town square in Play Station Home. It was so great there too, because it was breezy and not as crowded as the other parts of High Street. It was a fun Maundy Thursday (whatever the hell that is) considering we all thought everything would be closed.

Well that post turned out really long! xx

end of an era

I know I rarely post separate entries for collections (aside from Givenchy haute couture), but this is an exception. I would not call myself a Raf Simons stan, but man, was I drowned in a tsunami of emotions while watching his last show for Jil Sander! I have loved Raf's collections for Jil since I started getting into fashion. When I discovered menswear only a few months ago, his own label because one of my favorites. Raf has done such a great job at Jil Sander. He has this talent of being ahead of the curve with his masterful shapes and brilliant use of colors. Minimalist, yet always surprising, and never boring. I can't really explain it, but Raf at Jil, will be different from Raf at Dior, and it will definitely be different from Jil at Jil. It's like there's a certain aesthetic that Raf was doing at Jil and I feel like if he leaves, I might never see that again. So I'm in mourning right now.

Designers leaving is always so crazy. There's the consolation that Raf isn't actually going to stop designing, but still, that perfect mesh of Raf Simons and the Jil Sander label created a certain style that won't be the same again. I mean, just look at Olivier Theyskens. His work at Nina Ricci was so flawless and gorgeous. Then he left and now his work at Theory is so subpar. I know that definitely won't happen to Raf, because Dior is a much bigger house, but the style is definitely different. How will Raf work with it? I have a thousand questions, but all I can do is really wait. They haven't even announced Raf for Dior so I am probably getting ahead of myself.

Anyway, here's the flawfree last collection of Raf for Jil Sander. It may be hard to see through the tears, but the collection is absolutely amazing, which makes it even harder to deal with Raf's leaving.

Lizzy Grant

I stumbled upon Lana's video for Video Games last year and I didn't really pay much attention after listening to it once. I saw a link of it again a few months later and after re-listening, fell in love. Her name blew up soon after that and the news of her album, Born to Die, release was set for January (this month!!!). I've been downloading every song of hers every time they leak and I can already tell I will fall on love with the whole album. Her music video for the title track came out and has gotten 12 million views as of now.

Not only is Lana a fantastic artist, but she is also undeniably gorgeous. She was just recently signed to NEXT and is now officially a model. And really her whole aesthetic is just so interesting. She's been called the "gangsta Nancy Sinatra". Her voice is kind of raspy, sultry, seductive and it gives a whole new vibe to the songs. Can you tell I'm obsessed?!

December in pictures

The last month of 2011

This post is a failure because I hate taking photos and I hate being in them but that's why one of my 2012 resolutions is take more pics!