Me, the Looking Glass and Chanel-

Last Tuesday was my first workshop as a Kansas City Blog Guild member. And what a workshop it was! Macy's of Town Center and CHANEL teamed together so we could learn about and experience the CHANEL line.

Our instructor/makeup artist, Rence, demonstrating the correct way to put on moisturizer.

I do a lot of things well, but I have always muddled through my makeup. Thanks to our makeup artist/instructor Rence, the muddle became much clearer! 

What did I learn? Heavens, where to start. First, I learned how to tight line my eyelids. It turns out that this is very important to someone with eyes like mine. I am a "double whammy" lady with hooded and extremely recessed eyes. Tight lining is the first step in making my eyes stand out better. 

CHANEL'S Tight Liner for the eyes reminds me a a good watercolor brush; soft and very responsive to the touch. This will always now be in my makeup arsenal.

Eye shadow is the second step in bringing out eyes. It's such an easy concept, but I had never thought about it. Rence demonstrated how to apply eye shadow to create a more opened eye. As an Art Teacher, I knew that light colors advance and dark colors recede. But I never translated that rule for my eye lids! 

  First, a light base color is applied to the whole eyelid. Then the darker shadow is applied on the outer third of the eye. This is so easy and makes so much sense. I am thinking if you want a crease line, make it a little higher to further open the eye up.

I don't think you need false eyelashes when you have CHANEL'S Nourishing Mascara Base and Mascara. The combination of these two make for incredible lashes. I have never seen my lashes look this great!

Le Lift before you even start. Le Lift for the eyes is an incredible creme that shows immediate effect in lessening wrinkles and bags. I saw the results on my own eyes when I was at the workshop. Until the research on second skin becomes a reality, I think this will work for me. It's expensive, but when Rence showed us how little you use, I worked the math and it comes to 27 cents a day. Not too bad, when you look at it that way (it's about $100  jar).

Members of the Kansas City Blog Guild trying out Chanel's makeup and skin care products

 
 Before I leave, I have to say something about CHANEL'S CC Cream. I regularly use CC cream and have for quite a while and have never experienced anything like Chanel's. First of all, it has a
SPF of 50. I don't think I've previously seen or at least used any that was over 30. And it just made my skin look dewy and radiant. Bottom line, I was amazed. 

I pulled this from CHANEL'S site. I afraid we didn't get any free samples of this one.

Can you tell that I had a great time? I loved this workshop and learned so much. I was not alone. I love playing with brushes to begin with and to be able to put art theory with makeup was just wonderful. I felt it was an art class for adults!

Goody Bag!

What's a workshop without a goody bag. CHANEL was generous and I have been using my CHANEL samples regularly and will make room in my budget for my favorites. As much as I love perfume, the Coco fragrance is a nice addition to my perfume collection. 

That's it for this time. I will see you next Sunday when I do my regular style post. This one was just something extra. I wanted to share my first workshop experience and these wonderful makeup and skin care products. I didn't even get into the eye shadows we tried and the lip products. Yes, they were equally wonderful also. When I was nail blogging, I always felt that the CHANEL polishes were the Holy Grail of the polish world. Now, I am thinking the same is true of their makeup and skincare line. 

It didn't seem right to have a post about makeup and skin care without showing my face.

I will add that I am wearing CHANEL's Vitalumiére Aqua in 30 Beige as my foundation and my new eyes.

Take care, 

 

The Elegant Haori

Years ago, I was hunting for a Kimono on eBay. After developing a  Japanese Kimono unit for my 5th grade art students, I thought it would be nice to have a genuine Kimono to show them. It's not that I lacked an abundance of reference materials already: a PowerPoint, handouts of Kimono motifs I had put together, part of an Obi sash and samples of vintage Kimono silk. I tend to go overboard and thought the Kimono would be a nice touch.

After seeing the prices of the Kimonos I liked, I decided that my students were doing just fine with what they had; however, a couple of Haoris caught my eye. I was in love and the prices were right, so I had to have a least one (which over the years has lead to three).

So, what is a Haori? A Haori was worn over the Kimono for extra warmth. Both the Haori and its lining are typically silk. It is used in Western wear as an elegant addition to one's wardrobe. That's me all over and I have worn Haoris to art openings and the ballet.

When I wear a Haori, I try to keep the under layer a single color. In this look, I have added black slim pants from Mango and a black sequin tank top that I picked up at our local farm and home store. Yes, you read it right. You never know where you are going to find style!

A challenge with the Haori is finding a bag that works. With the longer sleeves, I feel cross-over or shoulder bags don't work.  You could wear a small crossover the same color of you pants and top under the Haori, but I think it is easier to just work with a clutch. I have my perfect little clutch in the above photo. It's a wonderful little art deco inspired vintage metal bag from Rodo of Italy. But the obvious snafu is that my smart phone won't fit in it. I have considered hand stitching a pocket to the inside of my Haori to accommodate my phone and will probably add this in the future.

I keep my jewelry simple. This stone piece reminds me of a Japanese brush painting and was a lucky thrift shop find. My earrings are Asian inspired and are some of the pieces that I have picked up at Museum gift shops.

I did a still life because it is hard to see my shoes, which are black textured D'Orsay sandals and face it, I just like doing still-lifes. You can also see that my bag does have a chain so it doesn't always have to be a clutch. I also wanted to point out my Black Onyx bracelet. My daughter Rachelle made it for me as a birthday present and those kinds of things always become my favorites.

Zero Waste

A popular subject on some of the podcasts that I listen to is the Zero Waste movement. Books are written on the subject and a few designers strive to create zero waste designs. There is a good episode from American Fashion Podcast that is a great introduction to this movement. It is 089 Zero Waste Fashion For the Gold. I highly recommend it. 

Where am I going with this? I am trying to make the point that traditional Japanese garments have always been zero waste designs. Every bit of fabric is used in the garment. I have scanned a page from my book Make Your Own Japanese Clothes by John Marshall to demonstrate the point

I've owned this book long before there was eBay. Little did I know when I bought it that in the future I could easily get original garments from Japan. This book is still published and can be purchased through Amazon.
 

The Polish

This part probably should be called "My Life With Zoya," because that seems to be all that I have been wearing lately. This week is no different. I'm wearing one of Zoya's Pixie Dusts, Miranda. Miranda is a deep pink. The Miranda that you are looking at is layered on top of Zoya's Aster and the result is a darker violet leaning pink. That's why I love this polish thing!

This is it for today. I hope you enjoyed my modern take on wearing a traditional piece of clothing. With shipping, a Haori will run you about $25 and takes about two to three weeks to get. I think that price is amazing and I don't mind the wait. It you do the eBay thing, just type in Kimono or Haori and they will pop up. Happy shopping and take care.

Today, I am linking up with Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Shopping My Closet's Style Me Wednesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE,   High Altitude Style's Link-Up, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE and Style Diary By Osy's Friday Link Up Party HERE.

P.S. Here's the bag I carried with it last time. It's another Rodo and I can only use it with warmer weather, but I can get everything in it.
Until next time...

Spring Has Finally Sprung and Its Time For Some Straw

Spring and Summer are finally here! They seem to have come upon us together in the Heartland, because it seems to me that the last two months have been pretty chilly. 

With that said, happy June and hello to this month's Hat Attack. This is my sixth month of doing Hat Attack and that is a small mile stone for me. Originally, I wanted to do Judith's Hat Attack soooo badly, so I started this style blogging and have had such a great time doing it. 

With the warm weather, it was time to bring out my straw. Today's look is centered around mixing straw textures of different color. The snafu with today's shots is that you can't see my feet! I've made up for it below with one of my still life shots. 

There is a problem with great days like we are having. My in-house photographer (a.k.a as Michael the hubby) would rather be in his garden than anywhere else. I decided to be a nice wife and bring the camera and I to him. So we have this beautiful green backdrop in front of the Wisteria, but after downloading the photos, I realized that his taller garden grass and shoes don't mix well. 

This look started when I had just found this "new to me" apostrophe jacket on my Friday night "thrift hunt". I am not sure what I had planned for this post, but when I saw this jacket, everything went out the window.

The material is a 98% Cotton / 2 % Spandex and has a free flowing window pane type of design with off-white, black and grey. Gee, this goes with about 90% of my wardrobe. The jacket is a smock design with darts in the front, back and bottom of the bracelet length sleeves. And bracelet length sleeves are one of my favorites, because, as the name implies, you can show off your bracelets!

A back view, to show the slits I put in the back of my capris. Read below for more about that.

And now to the other choices I made for this look. I was drawn to this particular straw Fedora, because a Fedora always has a masculine flair about it, yet the large straw bow just sort of thumbs its nose at that notion. I picked it up at my favorite KC hat store Exclusively For You.  

The four textured sandals from Liz Claiborne picks up on the textures where the hat leaves off. With jute, suede cloth, straw and vegan leather, they manage to tie it all together with the the neutral tones. I wear them a lot. 

The bag is one of my Eric Javits eBay purchases. This is one of his smaller Squishee bags. Again, a straw texture. I love Javits bags for the summer. This one is such a "ladies who lunch bag".  

The jewelry is silver. There was a time when I was really a purist and would not mix gold with silver. Those days are over. I wear whatever with whatever, whenever -- as long as I feel that they can play nicely together.  

Now you can see the shoes

Now on to my capris, which I made. I used Vogue 2948, which is  discontinued,  unfortunately. I like this pattern because it has princess seaming, and for us who have no fannies, princess seam pants are great for getting a good fit. This point brings up something else. The reason I have always sewn is that my body is a very hard fit. Besides making original looks from scratch, it's nice to have skills to alter something off the rack (which is about 95% of the time when it comes to dresses).

The fabric is 100% Linen and I got it online from Vogue Fabrics out of Chicago. As I alluded to in the back view photo, I did change the pattern a tad. The pattern does not show a Capri style, so I just made them shorter and for some reason, I decided I needed slits up the back. A whim of the moment, I suppose. 

I made a top for my pants using another Vogue Options pattern (also princess seaming), and I found this photo from last summer to show you both pieces together. Wow, my hair was so blond. I started going natural back in February and think I have more of a mixed blond/silver tone now.

At a Claire McCaskill book signing through KC's Rainy Day Books

A scan of my pattern. I really want some pants like the sketch. Oh, I need so much more time!

I found one other princess seamed pants if someone was interested in trying to make a pair. I would first search eBay and ETSY for the original pattern because it is out there. These by Burda look a little more time consuming than my pattern. But, wow, they are stylish. It's a PDF so there would be a lot of taping together after you downloaded it.

Did I mention I made these pants twice? I made the longer version (as the pattern) in a 100% Linen black/white plaid that I purchased at a beloved but "oh, no more" fabric store Cy Rudnicks that was located in Kansas City. I need to do a styling with my longer version this Fall because I wear them all the time. 

And Then There Is the Polish............

I have to show you Zoya's Aster from their 2016 Spring Petals collection. This is another winner. It's Periwinkle (one of my favorite polish tones) with flecks of fuchsia. You can't get more Spring than that! 

I will say goodbye for now. This was suppose to be a short post, but, by the time I talk about styling, sewing and my beloved Zoya, perhaps short posts just aren't in my future. Well, I hope you enjoyed it.

Take care until we meet again. I will be back around the same time next week. I usually publish on Sunday afternoons.

This week, I am linking up with Judith of Style Crone's Hat Attack HERE, Patti's Not Dead Yet Style's Visible Monday HERE, Cherie's  Style Nudge's Shoe and Tell HERE, Catherine's Not Dressed As Lamb's I will Wear What I like HERE, Color and Grace's Link Up Party HERE, Elegantly Dressed and Stylish Turning Heads Tuesday HERE, Shopping My Closet's Style Me Wednesday HERE, Living On Cloud Nine's Style Perspectives HERE, Sydney's Fashion Hunter's Fresh Fashion Forum HERE,   High Altitude Style's Link-Up HERE, Fashion Should Be Fun's Fun Friday Fashion Link Up HERE and Style Diary By Osy's Friday Link Up Party HERE.