Just in case you ever wondered what I look like as a redhead...

the answer is 'horrendous'. 

Someone once told me that I'm the most transparent person they know, and my thoughts are totally readable in this photo. 

Gazi and story from the salon

It occurs to me that the dual aims of meeting up with friends and eating at new places partially backfired. I got to eat at great places and to see old friends but I have little to show for it. Well, okay, I have my memories but my brain camera doesn't produce photos for the blog. 

Anyway, upon receiving news that I would be back, Gordo organised a lunch at Gazi, George Calombaris' new place (for me). Also present were Gordo's sister (the killing machine - she's in the UK army), Amandine, Pooey, Mischka, and Babby.

Relaxed parent and child. Hilarious scenes later when Babby let fly a giant scream of hunger. Her face squished up like a grapefruit!

While I seem to have forgotten to take a photo of my duck souvlaki (yum), here's what I did manage to photograph!

Crispy lambs brains. You know, I love offal. Some people may thumb their noses at eating organ meats but to those who enjoy this will know the tasty contrast of the crispy batter with the creamy, almost oozing flesh inside. Try it at least once!

Cheesy corn! Amandine cut her kernels off in order to maximise the cheese to corn experience. The rest of us used our hands like the neanderthals we are. 

Chips and dip. No need to explain. 

Dessert time! Loukomathes - greek 'donuts' with nutella. Good, but not as good as the...

BOMBE METAXA!!! Similar to a baked alaska, it was chocolate ice cream covered in meringe, then doused in metaxa and set on fire. Recommended to us by the waitress - credit where it's due, we really enjoyed this. 

Grilled pineapple, popcorn, mousse and coconut sorbet. As I was the first to taste this, when asked what I thought of it, my reply was 'ham'. This confused me and the others as there was no ham inside it, but sure enough, when the others had a taste, they too said it reminded them of ham. Curious.

We all went our separate ways after lunch, except for me and Pooders. We headed off to organise a haircut for me. As you all know, I normally have long flowing hair which I like to curl because I'm super-girly. This time (also on medical advice), I chose to get a short bob. Cue some beauty-box.jp surfing!

My choice. Good length, nice fringe, looks fairly low maintenance for lazy me.

I didn't take any photos of my hair after the cut. It was strange to see all my hair on the floor of salon and even stranger to run my hands through my hair and have it only go so far. But you'll see how it looks soon enough!

Crimes against Fashion

I had forgotten this atrocity but I remember being absolutely gobsmacked that someone would consider these attractive footwear.

Well, anyone other than Hermes or Captain America. 

Crimes against fashion

It has occurred to me recently that I seem to write a lot about food and less about some of the random things that happen to me during la vie quotidienne. It has also occurred to me that it's a lot more difficult to do the Crimes against Fashion segment when I have to quickly pull out my camera and then chase someone to get an unobtrusive picture of their crime. I do however think this one is worth it, especially since examination of the photo on computer reveals two crimes!


Firstly, girl on the left (aka, redface). Skinny jeans...so many people in the world should not wear skinny jeans (myself included) but I respectfully concede that there are many people in the world who can and do successfully look pretty good in them. Wearing acid-wash skinny jeans precludes you from ever looking good in them.

But the real criminal!!! I don't rate wearing leggings as trousers, and I guess she's does have a tiny skirt over them but I was really really REALLY gobsmacked anyone considered wearing shimmery, multi-coloured leggings would be a good look. But the true horror that I don't think is conveyed in this photo is that in real life, those leggings had a plastic sheen! Do you all understand now why I had to chase her across campus? I HAD TO DO IT!!!!

Crimes against fashion

With a new camera at the ready, the old favourite returns!!! I spied this one walking down the street.

Theyre' not CFMs, but I didn't know streetwalker chic was back in fashion!

Compare and contrast!
(source)

Red lipstick

For a while, I have been looking for a F#@$ you red lipstick. Why? Well I figure it's a classic statement that makes one look made up with relatively little effort. I also think the combination of black hair, dark eyes, and red lippie looks hot. Just check out Monica Bellucci!

Today, Dr I-K (aka, The Informed Makeup Maven) and I went shopping for some red lipstick. We first hit one of our favourite brands - Chanel. Believe it or not, I own only two lipsticks, both of which come form the Chanel Aqualumiere range (Montego 70 and Java 49). We went straight to Chanel's Rouge Allure and Hydrabase racks and went nuts. We tried Lover (09), Passion, Audace...I can't remember the numbers or the other names...and I will say it looked as though I was a child who had been drinking red cordial and quickly rubbed my mouth to get rid of the evidence. Okay, that was probably more likely due to my application method. Slightly disheartened, I was pushed onto the Dior section.

Here, I was handed the Rouge Dior Replenishing Lip Colour in Red Premiere (752), the same shade worn by the lovely Monica up there. I put it on using my own substandard technique and figured I looked like The Joker. Dr. I-K begged to disagree, as did the saleswoman who then applied it much more thickly (and better). My mouth all waxy and covered, I said I would continue wearing it for the day to see how I felt with it.

Because my camera is broken (dammit!), this photo comes courtesy of Dr. I-K.

Okay, I'm not Monica (dammit). Thoughts?

Update: It's now about 4 hours after I put it on. I haven't eaten drunken anything since then and despite a little bit of bleeding, it seems to have held up alright. Hmmmm...

Hollywood Hair - Redux

I've had long hair....pretty much all my life. I prefer it, it makes me feel nice and girly. But I do get tired of the effort I put in washing, blow drying, curling...not to mention all the hair balls when it falls out during those those events. So I've been thinking of cutting it short.

You know that that means. A trip back to the InStyle Hollywood Makeover site!!!

After a few goes doing a few styles that I'd never EVER wear...

Carey Mulligan, Christina Hendricks (Why do I look like a man? Don't answer)

Rihanna!!! Whitney!!!

I then moved on to trying other things out.

Mmmmm, I don't think a heavy fringe is me (Vanessa Hudgens)

Katie Holmes Aunty Hair

Camilla Belle Aunty Hair (with perm!)

Ashley someone bob

Jennifer Hudson bob with swept fringe.

I kinda think this might be poll-worthy!

Crimes against fashion

Yesterday's lovely weather was perfect for weddings and sure enough, we came across some wedding parties taking photos in the lush gardens on the eastern side of the city. As a result, we also came across some real shockers of bridesmaid dresses, the *cough* 'best' of which was this one.

Believe it or not, as a family we actually stood watching and wondered what the bride was thinking when she decided to wrap her bridesmaids in gold foil. Even if the fabric wasn't such an eye-gouging colour and texture, the cut of the dress made us all decide it was a deliberate attempt to surround herself something people would look at. The cap sleeves making their arms look chunkier, the lack of structure giving the girls absolutely no shape, the drape resulting in the middle bridesmaid looking as through she's wearing Batman's utility belt. On the other hand, because there appears to be little tailoring they could cut the dress up and use the fabric for....something else! And the overall appearance leads a new meaning to the word 'Trophy Bride(smaid).'

We also saw some dresses that had leg o'mutton sleeves. But that's another story.

Crimes against fashion

(Asian) Nightclubbing. Looking for fashion crimes here is about on par with Oaks Day. It was requested that I revive the Crimes Against Fashion tag to comment on a particularly heinous and incredibly common crime - the clear plastic bra strap.

Now in theory, they kind of make sense - they're clear ergo they are nigh on invisible, right? Except...they're so bloody not! In daylight, you end up with shiney shoulders. And it's even worse when you're in a nightclub with multi-coloured lights going off which then reflect off the plastic so they become even more highly visible. If you don't want your bra straps to be visible, invest in a good strapless bra.

On the topic of visible bras, we also saw a lot of this action going on in the club

The backless dress with the visible bra.

Just...no.
(Photos from google image search)

Me + Hollywood Hair = Skank

So Vanillabear felt like she should get a hair makeover and to help her decide which style to use, she decided to use the InStyle Hollywood Makeover website. I will confess to being slightly fascinated by these types of programmes - which girl hasn't wondered what she'd look like if she could be made up to look like a movie star?!

With Jessica Alba's hair... ummm....no, doesn't suit.

They're also quite fun for doing things like messing with hair colour - clearly I would look terrible with blonde hair in real life but with the magic of The Interwebz, we can now tell how it would go!

Blonde like Amanda Seyfried (Mama Mia!/Mean Girls)

One thing I also noticed while using this was that Hollywood women have HUGE hair. Like....HUGE!!! And a lot of it too! I know this is due to hair extensions/weaves to make their hair look more lustrous and full but on an ordinary person (i.e. Me), it looked downright ridiculous.

With Blake Lively's (Gossip Girl) HUGE hair

Or as Pooey said when I showed this pic to her - OMG!!! YOU LOOK LIKE ONE OF THOSE ASIAN SKANKS IN THE CLUBS!!!

Highly recommended for a good afternoon laugh or procrastination time!

Crimes against Fashion

This country has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. Among other thing, it is recommended that you wear a hat and sunglasses to shade their faces and eyes when outside so as to decrease exposure to cancer-causing UVA and UVB radiation. Some people really hate wearing hats because they don't think they have a *hat face*. Some people (like me) find it difficult to find an appropriate and fashionable pair of sunglasses. And then some people just wear these:

This is not the person Mischka and I saw casually walking down the Italian strip near Uni.
(Source)

Apparently these full-face visors are popular in China! And if it's not that sunny, they can always double as up as liquid nitrogen face protectors!

This person however is contravening EHS regulations by handling liquid nitrogen while wearing birkenstocks instead of closed shoes (Source)

Crimes against Fashion

This was spotted on a Return To Form Friday but for some reason, the computer won't let me upload the pic - possibly because it was so heinous - so please make do with this Paint recreation.

I'm not sure if you can tell what it's meant to be but basically a girl was wearing a backless dress where her bra was fully visible. Looking at the photo, the bra was a bright colour completely different to that of her dress. In my mind, it then looks as though she wanted her bra to be some sort of feature item/accessory.

NONONONONONONONONO.

On the other hand, good one for spotting this Lydia!

Crimes against fashion - Oaks Day special!!!

Spring Carnival. It's like a giant party in the city and everyone's invited! But like Halloween, a lot of girls think that Race Days is a reason to throw out the rules of fashion and (usually) dress like skanks. Here's a review of the biggest criminals in my line of sight, which as you can see in that pic below, was not insignificant.

The bra top that barely contains her modesty, the ultra-short skirt made out of transparent dress...It says something when some of the male friends I was with even said this outfit was too skanky for their liking. But the true horror which I couldn't capture in this pic were her snakeskin shoes.

I didn't want to pick on woman of a larger size or mutton dressed as lamb but I couldn't let these pass. *sigh*
Please pick a dress which supports you well. This woman was clearly too mature for this kind of dress and it did nothing to support her.

At the same time, while this woman is more covered up....she kinda looks like a caterpillar.

The true horror in this dress is when that girl bent over.Think about it. But not too hard.

I am highly amused that this girl wore a strapless bra...which is still visible.

On the topic of underwear, I would like to make a comment about how important it is to wear appropriate underwear for your dress. Not just to avoid VPL...
but to also make sure that people can't tell your underwear is lace-edged.

Ahh...I could have written an entire entry about this girl. Where do I start? The fake tan? The trashy glasses? The dress that's too tight and too short (I don't think I saw her sit down all day and I can't blame her)? The fact that she's wearing control top undies which making her bulge up and over and the fact the too-tight dress shows that?

Yes, criminals, criminals everywhere yesterday! And to close out this entry, here's a pic of some male crims. I'm out!

Crimes against Fashion

Number 100 - Never slavishly follow trends.
Number 101 - If you feel you must follow a trend, choose your style carefully!!!

Heroin chic is not my favourite trend - for one, I don't see the appeal of looking like a druggie. Euw. But if you feel that's all you can pull off, Kate Moss will do as someone who may be addicted to drugs but outwardly seems fine. Amy Winehouse is another story altogether.

L - Amy's beehive in all its glory (source)
R - Sometimes she keeps it up by tying a cloth around it (source)

I don't know what's horrified me more - the fact that this girl has chosen to emulate someone who's so obviously self-destructing (although I suppose beehives have a late 50s-early 60s kind of cool to them) or that her hair was actually in such a condition to recreate that scraggy-held-up-with-a-cloth look.

Crimes against fashion

Number.....oh god, this crime is so heinous I can't give it a number.(this entry refers to the girl on the left, the one wearing a hanky as a shirt)

Trinny and Susannah are right - DRESS FOR YOUR SHAPE, YOUR AGE, AND BE BLOODY APPROPRIATE. Me, Nance, Dr Kelly, Silly Natty and Kenny were having a pleasant walk around the city last night when we came across this shocker. We were heading up the Paris End of Collins which isn't exactly known for being a hotbed of strip joints. If I could have bottled the looks we gave each other in response to this, priceless.

And to add insult to injury, the front did not compensate for the shocker of the back, although Kenny did note that at least we couldn't see a Whale Tail. That bit was solved later when we saw the girl walking towards us wearing a completely see-through dress and black underwear.

Crimes against fashion

Number 42 - Accessorising is a great way to build on an outfit. Sometimes a clashing accessory can become the centrepiece of what you're wearing - for example, a chic silk scarf or a beautiful handbag.

However if you do it wrong, well, judge for yourself:It takes a certain personality to pull off a bowler hat. Or you are a Tramp. Or perhaps even a member of the Orange Order. Either way, I don't think it's the right thing to go with a jeans and runners.

Crimes against Fashion

Number 12 - Unfortunately this post does not come with a picture of the offender as there was absolutely no way I could get it without them noticing, but I knew just the person who could demonstrate what I wanted to show.

Tammy Faye Baker. (Pardon me for speaking ill of the dead)

Yes, application of mascara can and will make your lashes look longer and thicker and, by extension, your eyes will look more attractive. But excessive application will make you look like...err...yeah. The girl I saw had very long lashes (real or fake, I don't know and it doesn't matter) and with all that mascara, it looked like she had huntsmen spiders around her eyes. I could see the mascara clumps despite sitting a row away from her on the bus! Don't do it!

Crimes against fashion

Number 5241 - Hosiery, especially opaque hosiery, is back in fashion. But I'm pretty sure coloured hosiery will forever remain in the realm of costuming rather than streetwear unless of course you are aiming to look like a jester, Shakespearean hero, or in this case, intergalactic space traveller.
(Sorry for the poor photo.)

Crimes against fashion

I never thought I'd see the day that I'd have to designate what is the worst crime against fashion. But I remember being so absolutely aghast at seeing that below that my mind was made up.

NUMBER ONE - BUTT CRACK. Everyone has been guilty of this at some point in time, and everyone I'm sure has felt the shame. This photo was taken in a bar on Anzac Eve. I don't remember which, all I remember is the absolute feeling of stupefaction at the amount of crack revealed.

This is never, never, NEVER an attractive look. I apologise for the poor quality photo but I fear using a better camera might make the lens crack.
No pun intended.