New Years Resolution

For today's tutorial, I decided to scrounge around the attic for a book I bought back in 2006, called Burlesque and the Art of the Teese, remember when the Lovely von Teese was married to our loveable shock rocker Marilyn Manson ? Ever since they started dating, I was instantly smitten with this soft spoken, surreal beauty from the past. One side of the book reveals the art of burlesque glamour and the other side her fetish fantasies equipped with latex and leather.

I was introduced to the "cuban manicure" via Ms. Teese, and so I wanted to give it a whirl myself.

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My copy of Burlesque and the Art of the Teese 

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1. top coat, pale pink nail polish, dark red nail polish, and a tooth pick to clean up mistakes

2./3. Start with the pink polish and paint your nails. This will be your bottom coat.

4./5./6. Go ahead and with a steady hand start off with 3 strokes, the middle and sides of your nail forming a moon shape as you go. Finally take the brush as if you were going to paint a canvas and horizontally paint a curve in order to clean up your strokes from before, this will make your moon look more precise.

Voila !

If you need to, you can use binder stickers, or french manicure stickers to make your moon. I like to paint the moon's free hand.
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coat, sweater&pants, second hand; hat, H&M; shoes, Jeffrey Campbell; crow skull ring&long necklace, Thomas Sabo; assorted rings&pendant, Ebay
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oh and by the way.......HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 !

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Show me the Body and Others, Back from the Past

Body con dresses, or also known as the body conscious dress, are popping up around the internet like flies at a dung party. ASOS, Nasty Gal and H&M are a few stores that come to mind, if you happen to have been looking for that special something outfit for this New Year's Eve bash, or as the Mayan calendar puts it frankly, 2012 be the last year to get your groove on, cause the world is about to end, so please choose the right dress this year to greet the cataclysmic event.

Not only body con, thus body hugging, but to throw a wrench in the mix, I've chosen a few of the traditional body cons mixed with geomterical cutout and batwing-esque/mesh insert features below.

Nasty Gal

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ASOS

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The very prowess-sexiness these skin tight dresses exude, actually originate from the French designer Herve Leger which was founded in 1985 and was acquired by the BCBG Max Azria group back in 1998, was the first ever acquisition of a French couturier by an American designer. Leger had in mind a dress that would shape the wearer's figure with his signature bondage-like strip dresses.

Herve Leger Bandage Dress

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Lets rewind a bit. Back when Saved By The Bell, Clarissa Explains It All, Beverly Hills 90210 and Married with Children was on your TV Guide list of need-to-get-home-to-watch-the-next-episode shows, shoulder padded blazers, suspenders, high waisted Levis jeans, oversized leather jackets, hats with huge floral adornments, cowboy boots to peep toe platforms to Doc Martens, knee-high socks (salute!), crochet knit sweaters, buttons galore on jackets, baggy sweaters over leggings, tie-your-shirt-in-a-low-knot style, crop vests and yep, body con dresses were the fad of the day, "here today, gone tomorrow" doesn't ring true. This second skin dress was seen all over TV, from Kelly Bundy to Tori Spelling. And now today, this second skin dress has made its debut all over again, like in the movie "Groundhog Day", now you know what Bill Murray was going through.

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Clarissa Explains It All on Nickelodeon,
vests adorned w/pins, printed leggings

The 90210 characters,
Tori Spelling wearing a floral Bodycon Dress
Jennie Garth
crochet-knit sweater

The kids from Saved By the Bell,
high waisted jeans, crop vests, oversized sweaters, scrunchy socks and cowboy boots 


The cast of Clueless,
knee-high socks : check 

...And the best for last, the great, the fabulous, Kelly Bundy sporting all 90s goodness..
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....And my New Years Eve outfit choice n˚ 1 (not too sure between this dress or a batwing one with one shoulder)....
coat, H&M; dress, Motel Rocks; tights, Gypsy; shoes, bought in Spain; headband, bought in Paris; necklace, gift; rings, Ebay

C'est La Vie

In the land of Metz, France, Taxi cars are either Mercedes Benz or Jaguar,the bakeries serve fresh pastries every day to make you stare into their window with longing and desire in your foreign eyes, the Lafayette department store titillates and evokes materialistic temptation deep inside your stylish soul and the picturesque alleyways beckon you to explore some more.

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This afternoon a quick 25/30 minute car ride to Metz, located in France (see google map screen-shot), had me squirreling around the city looking for a new pair of shoes (who could've guessed), allowed me to taste some french cuisine and to enjoy the city of Metz's lovely small boutiques as I strolled the winding stone paved pedestrian walkway.

A few snapshots from today's excursion...


A French license plate

As Im snapping away, I read this. If my rusty French allows me to understand, I believe some person has lost his desire to be photographed, and would like to retrieve this desire, so if you find it, then contact him. Someone wrote next to it in blue ballpoint pen, "but how?" as the fellow/gal unfortunately did not leave a forwarding address.

My incessant need for socks has metamorphosized itself into a store. Yes. A store just for socks and tights. I no longer need to admit myself into a I-need-a-million-pairs-of-knee-highs-for-no-apparent-reason-addiction or the socks anonymous group,  because Metz and I just "get" each other.


Newfound love for the Danish jewelry brand Pandora, with its adorable charm bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings galore.

FNAC is the French equivalent to a Virgin megastore with books, CD's, DVD's, electronic gadgets and knick knacks
 
A book titled "The old man who didn't want to celebrate his birthday".


No matter how far you travel, "The Walking Dead" (ya'know that unknown zombie show on AMC) will surely already be there holding out an umbrella for you.

My infatuation with pretzels goes as far as me making a physical effort to take a picture of some hanging in a bakery window. Yep. So tastey, you'd most likely eat your fingers off too. ♦♦♦ coat, Mom's; sweater, second hand; leggings, Aritzia; Hat, H&M; heels, Jeffrey Campbell Lana; rings, Ebay; necklace, Thomas Sabo, gifted; assorted bracelets, gifte d