Living in Texas means that the weather is unpredictable. You’ll wear a coat one day in fall, and the next you’ll want to wear shorts. In an effort to keep things classy, I’ve tried to stay cool but also transition into winter/fall gear. I like to move towards fall fashion when the leaves start falling. Yet since the weather is usually a bit behind I try to incorporate pieces into outfits earlier on.

I say this as I am sitting here all bundled up with a sweatshirt, eggnog and some Brooke Fraser. This cold weather has inspired me to wear more scarfs, more sweaters, boots and good old beanies. So i’m sure some posts will be coming your way with more fall/winter inspirations.

Before that happens let me further my love for school uniforms by showing off my rendition of a vintage school girl. I took some awesome spotted pink see-thru socks and paired them with my flower print heels. I paired my pleated skirt [Of coursssse!] with a button downed army green inspired blouse.

I hope you enjoy and are now inspired to create your own version of a school uniform.

“Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death” - Albert Einstein

xoxo

<3 Jane

Have you ever wished to capture the Galaxy in your hands? To touch it, grasp it, to reach out and catch it? Or even simply to see the beauty of it up close?  The Galaxy: it’s hardly a concept a human being can imagine. Our small realistic minds cannot comprehend the beautifully divine universe.

Even though we can hardly grasp the galaxy in pictures, we can put the galaxy on top of us! If you are highly confused right now then have no fear..I am about to elaborate.

Some people call it a “Fad” others call it a temporary craze. I believe it’s a bit reminiscent of the bright spandex age. Either way, we can’t deny that it is indeed IN STYLE. When something is in style we have to analyze it, find the best possibility for our body type and skin color and try to incorporate it. Unless of course it is a style worth throwing out. So let us travel to the universe as we explore this fad and decide if it’s an overall Thumb’s Up, or a Dislike.

:::THUMBS UP:::

CLOTHE[ING.]

{FEET GARB.}

DiSlIkE - Any relatively good fad can be done wrong. Here’s a few examples:

Overall, I believe there are not only far more thumbs up then dislikes, but this style kinda grows on you. For the most part this new print is most likely only going to be a fun come-and-go type of fad. Yet, while it’s here – why not embrace it? Try to see if it works for you, and if it doesn’t.. no big deal. There are many other temporary fad’s going down right now that you could totally boss. I’m sure of it.

“The stars twinkle in the Milky Way and the wind sighs for songs across the empty fields of a planet a Galaxy away.”

The BEAUTIFUL:

The up and coming new actress from Modern Family:  Sarah Hyland looked darling. I was thankful that she picked an age appropriate dress in her custom-made, coral Christian Siriano coral dress. The slit added an interesting touch, without going too far. The belt was absolutely gorgeous, with the shoes and bracelet coming from the same color to complete the look, without looking  ”Too Together”.

Jayma Mays from Glee looked stunning as usual. She always knows how to rock her hair color, by wearing bolder colors. Yet, this time she went with a softer tone, and in the name of fall…I appreciated that. It was a delicate Zuhair Murad gown and had a transparent bateau neckline with cap sleeves, paired with a tiered tulle skirt. She polished it off with bright pink lipstick and a side-sweep. I wish she would have stepped out a little bit, in regards to her clutch. But, nobody is completely perfect I guess!

Lea Michele’s dresses are on average…quite plungy! [To say it how it is.] Thus, I respected her this time. For going for a bit more conservative look, to welcome fall. The neckline was beautiful, but the rosette-shouldered sleeves were even better. But without the incredible back view, this dress would look a bit too simple, the cowl-back was phenomenal. I fell in love with this Marchesa gown as soon as I saw it, and I forgave her for wearing red…AGAIN.

Even though most fashion commentators were taking a hit on Claire Dane’s Oscar de la Renta’s sequined gown, I was impressed by it. I appreciated the modern look, plus I am a sucker for blue. But not only do I love blue, I love it on her. She did a great job at pulling this off, It fit her splendidly! The hairstyle was a nice touch, though I wouldn’t have picked the earrings she wore. The main reason I loved this risk taker is because of her eye color and hair looked fabulous with the dress. She proved that she knows how to work her colors.

Though, I have to complain a little bit…[sorry Claire!] Because the harsh eye makeup wasn’t her, and it certainly didn’t complete the look at all. She should have done a bit more of a shimmer eye,  instead of doing such harsh eye liner. With her light complexion, it wasn’t a fit. Plus the lipstick was a bit too conventional. I mean, who DOESN’T wear red lipstick on the red carpet? So, I wished she would have fully dived into the modern look with the makeup as well. Yet, alas…she didn’t, and it did affect her in [i'd say] negative ways, unable to fully complete the look.

Sofia Vergara took quite of a risk with in her coral looking Vera Wang gown. I loved the silhouette, and the intricacy of the dress was impeccable. In the video, the dress looked exceptional. Sadly enough, in pictures the color looked as if it washed her out, and it clashed with the red carpet. The problem: It didn’t have a distinct color. I liked the more nudeish looking coral shade that it was, yet in pictures the color didn’t do the dress justice. Of course, she should have kept in mind that flash photography is pretty bright and can distort colors, but overall this dress was pretty stellar.

Though, the dress is beautiful on its own, the earrings completely tied together the look for me. By taking a step out there and trying green topaz  earrings, she took a big risk, but she pulled it off beautifully. The earrings, which were a bit reminiscent of costume jewelry,  definitely completed the look, in my mind.

Anna Faris went with a safe and simple look,  with her strapless patterned Reem Acra gown. The Fall like sequins on her gown were quite exciting to me. Not only did she completely rock this look, but it highlighted her natural beauty, too. It helped her hair look a bit brighter and stand out. I think it was perfect for her fair complexion. Plus, she’s wearing skin toned lipstick and a vintage clutch! [Oh, what a dear.]

The one with the annoying  British accent, I mean: Cat Deely, reminded me of a Christmas Cinderella in her Monique Lhuillie number. Yet, the warm look, with the golden locks falling softly around her face, soft pearl bracelet and rugged vintage clutch helped me forget and forgive her of her annoying accent.

Kate Winslet has done it again, in her beautifully elegant cap-sleeved Elie Saab gown. She did indeed wear red, which isn’t my favorite. But she wore it well. Her swept back hair in a vintage bun, completely summed up the look. I thought it was completely age appropriate and she looked stunning, as usual.

Evan Rachel Wood  donned a  fabulous sequined Elie Saab Fall 2011 gown. The chunky bracelet and clutch were important aspects of the outfit, along with her vintage hair style. The only critique I had for her is the earrings, I would have liked to see bigger vintage earrings or even longer earrings. With her head shape and hair style, she needs something bigger around her ears.

And that’s it for the beautiful, wonderful dresses!

Now for the ON THE WALL/OFF THE WALL looks. [You Pick!]

Amber Riley did do something right, and that was looking for a dress with ruching around the stomach, to detract attention. She ended up looking smaller in doing so, and looked great! Though, the ruching not only covered the stomach…but all of her front, and there was even ruching right over her crotch area. No lie, that’s a very weird place for it to be. I would liked to have seen a bit more flowy-ness. I think overall there was simply TOO MUCH ruching, and she should have kept it a little more simple. Plus, the hairstyle didn’t flatter her face. :/ Alright, the dress wasn’t THAT bad…just wasn’t the best.

At least Amber Riley’s wasn’t as bad as Melissa McCarthy’s! Geeze, this lady acted as if she never has dressed her body before. *sigh* classic example of…what NOT TO DO. I mean seriously, that large…thing? What is that even supposed to be!??  It kinda reminds me of a pillow case.

Oh Katie Holmes, you are beyond beautiful. But something about this blue gown doesn’t do your beauty justice. I believe my main issue was the neckline. Hrm, what kind of neckline is that, and is it even flattering? Sadly enough, I don’t believe the neckline or simplicity of the dress was…enough. It was just “ok”, nothing more. Come on Katie, you can do better.

Though, I did think Katie’s dress was better than Diana Agron’s! Poor Diana, you could tell she had…dress wrinkling problems. The shimmery blue just wasn’t a good color for this event. The open toed shoes and matronly bun, were a bit boring. Though, I loved the concept of the dress, it reminded me of a Greek goddess’ toga. If only it wasn’t so…blue, and wrinkly. [Maybe try a different fabric next time, ok Diana?]

The last “On or off the fence” look is Gwyneth Paltrow’s Indian-looking garb. Well, I am a bit biased. But I did love the intricacy of this gown, plus you have got to have guts to wear that. Of course someone like her [Such a skinny mini] can pull that off quite well. It’s up to you though, to decide whether you like it or not. I personally did like it. It did, indeed take me around 5 times of seeing it — to finally decide I liked it. She’s a blonde wanna-be Indian, kinda like myself!

^^ That Vs. This:

Whats the difference?

Now we are treading in the [HORRIBLE AND AWFUL GOWN'S] territory. Personally, my favorite to comment on.

Our first victim will be: ding, ding, the wonderful Heidi Klum from project runway! [Side-note: not only do I love that show, her accent is so beautiful.] But I was terribly let down by her dress. It reminded me of an upside down mushroom. Come on, why did you decide to wear this to the Emmy’s? Maybe a different, more extravagant occasion, but not the Emmy’s. It stood out as a costume, and no one wants their dress to do that. The jewelry and makeup were beautiful, though, I thought the hair aged her a bit. No mushrooms next time, got it Heidi?

Well I am sooooo glad SOMEONE decided to wear emerald! [Sarcasm] If you didn’t know already, Olivia Munn: This color not only looks awful in pictures, it’s not a good color for fall [for the most part].  Olivia’s Carolina Herrera dress just looked cheap and the material was too wrinkly. Plus, it didn’t fit her well. Oh, by the way Olivia, everyone stopped spray tanning in August.

I guess Lena Headey just decided to skip fall altogether and clothed herself in a black cloak, that kind of looked like drapes! Not even the pink shoes can save you this time Lena, they actually made me gag even more than before. [Wait...is that even humanly possible?] This dress was beyond ill-fit, and way too boring. For petes sake, if you want to cover every inch of your body, do so with a color that doesn’t make me cry!

Kerry Washington, I am normally so excited to see your new fashion picks, but you greatly disappointed me this time. I guess the saloon girl/swan trend doesn’t work on you eh? Yea, I didn’t think so either. Your dress isn’t supposed to make your viewers mistake you for a lady demon. That’s just not what you should aim for, ok?

Kristen Wiig, you looked like a droopy Basset Hound dog. Need I say more?

Was it just me or did Paz De La Huerta look like a homeless person? That extreme [can I say it again] EXTREME BEDHEAD was not attractive. The dress washed her out, the lipstick came out looking blue and the rest of her makeup looked swiped on and the huge slit added a touch of slutty-ness. Oh, btw: what is up with the random, reallllly long, awkward strand of hair in front? Yeah, you are not guna live this down.

Now we have come to the end of my commentary on the Emmy’s. There were definitely some beautiful dresses and there were some terrible dresses [as always]. But I believe it was a good start to our fall fashion on Hello Chic.

Stay tuned.

xoxo

Jane.

Here’s my attempt a mixed Summer Stripes:

What’s a better way to share the summer love than with the summer makeup and care of your skin? In my opinion…there’s not one. And now that SUMMER HAS INDEED ARRIVED (hopefully you’ve arrived with it), it is time to break out the good times and uh…oh yes…makeup! Okay, so that may not have been the very first thing that came to mind, but in fact the changing seasons do make you change the way that you make yourself look fabulous! Yes, we’re taking it back 70’s and 80’s style and defining makeup by the season. Learning from the classics is usually the only way to go.

But sadly, not all of us ladies have been told the truth about summer makeup and skin care (i.e. less is more, ESPECIALLY in the situation of makeup). So often, girls (let’s keep it general here ) get caught up in the tans, cute outfits and summer love without taking the necessary steps to care for their skin. Not all correlate here, but I’d like to help the ones who do ignore this vital part to antiquing well. Yes, by that I mean aging. So you might be thinking, ‘I thought this was about summer makeup, *not* Botox??’ Trust me, it’s not. But in order to have the results you want from makeup, you have to set the foundation (no pun intended) for your skin to be healthy.

So what are some exceptional ways to keep your skin looking the way it should?

Here are some ideas that I recommend:

- 1) Facial Masks: (don’t get scared)

Here are some all-natural, homemade *easy* face masks that are very rejuvenating and refreshing for the skin:

Mask #1: Make a puree of ½ a cucumber and 1 tablespoon yogurt in a blender and apply it on the face evenly. Leave it on for 10-15 minutes and then wash it off with cold water.

Mask #2: Honey. Yep, really that’s all there is to it. Don’t go overboard with applying it, though… you don’t want to attract any of the bumblebees in town!

For more specific skin types here are some great masks:

**For oily skin- Milk of Magnesia. It is WONDERFUL for people with oily skin, and it’s simple to use. Just rub it thoroughly on the face and keep it on for 5-10 minutes and then rinse it off with lukewarm water.

**For neutral skin- Mix one raw egg (don’t worry, it’s okay), 1/2 cup of cooked instant oatmeal and one teaspoon of olive oil into a smooth paste. Apply it on the face and let it dry and then rinse it off under room-temperature water.

**For dry skin- Make a mixture of one egg yolk, one teaspoon honey, one teaspoon olive oil and one teaspoon vitamin E oil. (If your skin feels is extra dry or something on a particular day, substitute the vitamin E oil with one teaspoon of baby oil.) Apply this mixture to your face and keep it on for around 10-15 minutes; rinse it off with lukewarm water and dry it off thoroughly with a towel.}

**{Since it is summer, this one is pretty much a must: for a sunburned face, mix 1 tablespoon of plain yogurt and 1 tablespoon of runny honey . }

All of these face masks are easily do-able, and great for the skin! Here are some other tips to help your skin stay fresh and clean for your summer looks:

2) Moisturizers: Make sure it DOES NOT contain chemicals that will back-track your progress of moisturizing your face. Here’s a quote from the EPA talking about some harmful (and yet common) chemicals in skin products: “This is also known as Methylparaben, Propylparaben, IIsoparaben, Butylparaben. Parabens are a group of chemicals widely used as preservatives in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. They have been linked to possible carcinogenicity, as well as an estrogenic effect from being exposed to the continued use of parabens as preservatives. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in their report “Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products in the Environment: Agents of Subtle Change?” reported that the parabens—methyl, propyl, butyl and ethyl displayed estrogenic activity in several tests. It is a known medical fact that estrogen stimulates breast cancer and anything absorbed through the skin may be as high as 10 times the concentration of an oral dose.”)

3) DON’T GO OVERBOARD AND DON’T CHEAT!

Try not to overdo it on the raw sun exposure (keep it to a healthy degree), and as tempting as it may be to cheat and use fake tanning lotion, please refrain yourself. It destroys/damages your skin cells, penetrating your skin to a point that should never be touched. *No drama…promise* Seriously though, that stuff really isn’t good for you… at all. Stay away!!!

Increasing your care for your skin, will greatly increase the benefit (and purpose) of wearing makeup. Now here comes the fun part…

…but before I can share all the fun color palettes, we have to first determine if you are in fact a “summer girl” (I’ll be doing an Autumn/Winter makeup post when that rolls around, but for right now, we’re going to be displaying the fun that all you summer tone girls can have. This does NOT mean that if you don’t have a “summery skin tone” that none of this applies to you. Take notice of what you *can* do for your skin tone right now, and don’t worry about the rest. )

Here is a color palette that will let you decide if your skin undertones are more specific to cooler or warmer shades:

(If you can’t view all of the photo here is the link: http://modernglamwoc.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/cool-and-warm-skintone-overview-map.jpg)

So, now that you’ve *hopefully* decided whether you’re on the ”cool side” or ”warm side” we can pinpoint if you’re a summer tone or a winter tone. If you’re on the ”cool side”, you’re a summer tone, and if you’re on the ”warm side”, you’re a winter tone. Ironic, I know. From now on, I’m going to make it a bit more specific to the summer side and see all you winter babes here in about 6 months! ***Note: unless you already have a darker complexion, then you will need check to see how much your skin tone changes over the year.***

(http://modernglamwoc.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/cool-and-warm-makeup-colours.jpg)

So, for you summer tone ladies, embrace those beautiful blues, pinks and purples! This is one way that I recommend you complete your summer look for a fun day:

• Concealer: Nothing quite covers up those unwanted blemishes quite like concealer.
• Foundation, liquid: This is where the color palette for skin tones will really be fantastic. Don’t get the foundation color wrong– take some time to really look through the liquid foundations so you can pick one that blends well and evenly into your skin.
• Foundation, powder: *Fun tip- when you’re applying your powder foundation, apply in a circular motion for the best results.
• Blush: *Fun tip- blush how-to-apply’s can be misleading. Usually if you buy a typical blush, it comes with a very small brush. The best way to apply your blush is with a medium to large sized brush. It blends more evenly with your skin, giving it a rosy glow that doesn’t look like you just dumped all your blush onto your cheeks, because ewwwwthat’sreallynotattractive. Here are the brushes that I use… and LOVE:

See that big fat brush on the very end? Yep, that’s your blush brush! One of the things that I absolutely love about these brushes is 1. The handles are made of bamboo (yay for being eco-friendly and pretty at the same time!) and 2. I’ve never had one of the brush bristles come out. You can order these offline from EcoTools.com or Ulta carries them as well.

• Eye Shadow: (If you do wear eye-liner, make sure that you apply it before your eye shadow so that everything blends better). Have fun in your new found joy of pretty summer pastels!

Annnnnd………with the perfect lip color, you will be set! Just have fun with it, and don’t go too dark on the color– it won’t compliment your new look as well.

Enjoy your summer, ladies, and adieu for now!

For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone. ~Audrey Hepburn

The twist today is this: An outfit with all different shades of purple. I paired a purple skirt with grey stripes with a light cotton black spaghetti strap shirt. This shirt is a life saver. It is multi faceted, thus I can wear this shirt with black, green, or purple. To add the finishing touches to this hipster outfit, I put a purple headband on, purple sparkly shoes and some retro style glasses. I really think it ended up working. All the different colors of purple kind of pulled together by adding the extra pieces.

Now you go find you’re favorite color and use it to twist you’re outfits up!

Which really got me thinking about how much I adore wearing flowers in the hair.  Thanks to shows like Sex and the City and Gossip Girl, floral headgear has really made a comeback in the past few years.

Growing up in Hawaii I’m definitely a huge fan of this trend.  I naturally gravitate to putting real flora in my hair!  Just the other day, I shocked my co-workers by showing up with a flower behind my ear.  Everyone thought it was fake at first, and were shocked when they learned that my lovely gardenia was actually picked right from my backyard!

For me, wearing flowers in your hair isn’t just a fashionable thing to do, how you wear it has significance.  If you’re single you are supposed to wear your flower above your right ear, but if you’re taken you need to wear it on the left (because it’s above your heart).

The twist today is basically the centerpiece of the outfit: the scarf. What was once a normal, cute dress — just became a statement. I even think that the Man Repeller would be proud of me. O.o

[Statue Pose]

Good luck with the twisting!
<3Jane