Bright Dresses at the Met Gala

Ginnifer Goodwin in Monique Lhuillier
Coco Rocha in Givenchy
January Jones in Atelier Versace

If I'm being honest, I don't actually know what goes on at the Met Gala but I do know their red carpet is like fashion porn. There were some really gorgeous dresses this year but these were my 3 favourites. They're unconventional picks and not likely to be on the top of most lists but there was something about each one that interested me. I didn't realize until I was writing this post that all my picks were some of the brightest outfits of the night. The orange looks gorgeous on Ginnifer Goodwin and I love the detail on the top - it's definitely a dress I wouldn't mind wearing. Coco Rocha stood out on the carpet and looked like a ball of happiness and sunshine. I like the colour pairing of the pink and yellow and I think it's cute that she recycled an old outfit of Elizabeth Taylor's. I bet it was super comfy compared to many of the other dresses of the night. I'm not a fan of January Jones but there's something about her yellow dress that I gravitated to. It's a little superhero-esque; maybe my brain is just hinting that I need to get a move on watching The Avengers.

Also, I may be crazy but I like China Chow's dress (more so the top than the bottom).

China Chow in Jean Paul Gaultier

Photo source: Tom & Lorenzo

Music Monday: Boyce Avenue, Robyn, One Direction

It's another edition of Music Monday!

Boyce Avenue - Somebody That I Used To Know (Gotye cover)
The other day Danette texted me and told me to check out Boyce Avenue's cover songs. I've had their version of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream on my iTunes for a while but I never really looked into any of their other covers. Turns out they have 7 albums of acoustic covers! I went on a downloading spree and now my Boyce Avenue songlist has jumped from 1 song to 60 songs. I'm a sucker for acoustic covers.
Other songs to check out: Glad You Came (The Wanted cover), We Found Love (Rihanna cover)

Robyn - Dancing On My Own
I know I'm late on the Robyn bandwagon. I was watching an episode of Girls the other night and this song was played at the end ("All adventurous women do"). Yay for the Shazam app! It's introduced me to a whole bunch of songs. Robyn's songs are catchy and really fun to dance along to while I get ready in the morning.
Other songs to check out: Call Your Girlfriend, Indestructible

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
I can't hide it anymore; I've become a full-fledged One Direction fan. I blame Tumblr, I really do - my dashboard was being flooded with funny interview moments and I could no longer resist anymore. It doesn't help that their songs are really fun and easy to sing along to. I'm still waiting for a karaoke Girls' Night Out just to sing One Direction. P.S. My favourite is Niall, haha. 
Other songs to check out: One Thing, Gotta Be You

A Very Girly Shopping Spree

I've always been a pretty low maintenance girl but lately I've been wearing more makeup (I blame YouTube tutorial videos) and I've also been trying to find a "signature scent". Every time I step into a Sephora though, I just can't seem to get myself to shell out so much money for beauty products. And then my friend introduced me to Lisa's Cosmetics/Fragrance Warehouse Sale...

Smashbox Wish List Gift Set ($18.99 | Retail Price: $56)

• Photo Op Under Eye Brightener
• O-Gloss Gold Shimmer
• Photo Finish Foundation Primer (travel size)
• Fusion Soft Lights Baked Stardust
• Jet Set Black Waterproof Eyeliner

I've never tried any of these products but I've heard good things about them and I can't believe it was only $19! I checked out Sephora the day before and the lip gloss alone costs $22 and the pinwheel powder is about $30. How could I resist? (Actually, I did. And then I regretted it and went back the next day to get it, haha)

Burberry Brit Sheer, 30ml ($25 | Retail Price: $60)
Here's Burberry's marketing spiel:

"Burberry Brit Sheer is a fresh, fruity floral fragrance that is playful and vibrant, embodying the youthful spirit of Burberry Brit. Young and charismatic, the Burberry Brit girl embodies understated elegance and individuality. With a fresh, natural joie de vivre she has a passion for adventure and romance."

That's some pretty good wordsmithing - I wouldn't mind being this Burberry Brit girl. I'm not sure if I'm in love with the scent yet. It has hints of yuzu, pineapple leaves, lychee, mandarin, grapes, pink peony, peach blossom, white musk and creamy Amyris woods...or so they say anyway. I bought a small bottle so I'll see if it grows on me. My first pick was actually Marc Jacobs Eau So Fresh but the smallest size they had was 75ml and I didn't want to pay $59 for a fragrance I wasn't even sure if I would like. $25 on the other hand, I'm cool with. It made it a much easier decision.

H2O+ Oasis Daily Hydration System ($24 | Retail Price: $72)

• Face Oasis Cleansing Water (60ml)
• Face Oasis Hydrating Treatment (50ml)
• Eye Oasis Moisture Replenishing Treatment (7ml)

I've never tried any H2O products but they seem to be pretty well-liked so I decided to give it a shot since I needed a new face cream anyway. I really only wanted the hydrating gel but it only cost $2 more for the other two so why not? I tried out the cleansing water earlier today and I like that it can wash away my makeup and it leaves my face feeling 'so fresh and so clean'.

I bought more than I expected to but it's fun to have some new products to try out, especially when it's such a good deal. I also bought two Sally Hansen Salon nail polishes in Nasturtium and So Much Fawn for $0.99 each. It's probably a good thing this warehouse sale isn't year round.

New York City: Day 5 - April 25

Last day in New York! Our flight wasn't until the early evening so my mom and I spent the morning visiting the last few places on my "NYC List".

While waiting for Macy's to open, we did a bit of shopping at H&M. We didn't have any room left in our luggage for more clothes but we did have space for accessories! In hindsight, I should have bought an umbrella there - first rainfall back in Toronto and my umbrella broke :( Also, I was watching Fashion Star the previous night in the hotel and that show is much more interesting when I actually have a chance to buy the clothes in stores the next day. To waste more time, we browsed Old Navy. There were a few basic striped tees I wanted to get but I figured they would have them back in Toronto and I didn't need them desperately. Turns out we don't have them in Toronto...why?!

Macy's finally opened at 10am and there were so many people rushing to get in! You'd think they were giving away free handbags or something. We walked all nine floors of Macy's and our feet were dying. We went up to the 9th floor specifically because they were selling furniture up there and we figured we could rest on a couch...but there were sales clerks at every corner! It was so hard to find a spot to hide from them, haha.

At 11pm, we headed back to The New Yorker Hotel to lie down on our bed (5 days of constant walking and shopping, exhaustion was finally catching up) and then we checked out by noon. For lunch, we decided to check out one of New York's best pizza joints: Grimaldi's. Their original restaurant is in Brooklyn but we went to the one on 6th Avenue. Funny story: I had the address of Grimaldi's written down and we were standing at the right intersection but I couldn't find the restaurant! We were standing right across from it...I was not expecting it to be inside a church!

A "small" regular pizza - mozzarella, tomato sauce, basil

The pizza was delicious and super thin. I don't know if I would call it the best pizza I've ever eaten but I'm not that picky with my pizzas. As long as there's no mushrooms or olives, I'm good. After lunch, we walked over to Madison Square Park. The plan was to get a shake from Shake Shack but we were too full (and the line was long) so we just rested on a bench, checked out the Flatiron Building and enjoyed the sunny weather instead.

Our view of Empire State Building from the park

One of the places I've always wanted to check out in the States was Pinkberry. I know we've got Menchie's and a bunch of other frozen yogurt places in Toronto now but I still really wanted to go. Thanks to my pre-vacation researching, I knew there was a Pinkberry in Koreatown so off we went!

I was expecting Pinkberry to be self-serve like Menchie's but everything is behind the counter. The guy working there was really nice and asked if it was my first time. He helped explain everything and let me taste test their yogurts. I ended up going with their peach frozen yogurt and lychee (the Asian in me couldn't resist). To top it off, I got mango, strawberry, sliced almonds, and granola. It was a great mix of flavours and textures. I know I've only been to Menchie's once but I really thought Pinkberry's frozen yogurt was way better. It's not cheap but it sure was a delicious indulgence.

By this time, I ran out of places to check out on my NYC list and my mom is never any good with deciding where to go so we went back to the hotel. We still had a few more hours to waste before heading to the airport but I was tired and admittedly, getting annoyed with my mom's indecisiveness. I planned our whole trip and the one time I asked her to decide what to do, she couldn't decide on anything! I also like being super early at airports so we decided to just check out our luggage and head to LaGuardia. I had a pretty good idea of how to get to the airport but we decided to double check with the concierge at the hotel. Um, they don't know anything. They gave my mom some roundabout route and said after getting off the subway we would have to take a taxi when we knew for a fact that there was a bus since we were on one just 5 days earlier. I don't know if they were doing it just to persuade us to take a taxi but I decided to ignore whatever they said and just go my own way. I was worried about rush hour crowds but everything went off without a hitch and we didn't even have to wait for the bus to the airport. Success!

We were 2.5 hours early for our flight and we found out that there was another flight to Toronto in 20 minutes. They put us on the standby list and we powered our way to security (which only took like 5 minutes) and got to the gate with 10 minutes until takeoff. I felt like we were on The Amazing Race! And then we found out it cost $75 per person so...never mind. Maybe it's all those long commutes to school but I'm totally cool with spending an hour listening to my iPod and doing a crossword.

After a delayed flight and finishing up the latter half of The Descendants, we were home! I love travelling and visiting new places but there really is nothing like home.

New York City: Day 4 - April 24

Two more days to go! Let's get cracking.

New York has been known to have some of the best bagels so after doing some research, I decided to check out Murray's Bagels in Greenwich Village. They've got a great selection of bagels to choose from; I ended up going with their garlic bagel and my mom chose the Health Grain. I don't know what it is but their bagels really do taste pretty darn good. I am a carbs girl though so I'm happy snacking on any fresh bread.

We got our bagels buttered but it wasn't really necessary.
I scraped off a lot of my butter.

After getting our bagels, we walked over to Union Square to eat our breakfast. Then we took a walk around Whole Foods (they've got special escalators for shopping carts!) and we did a bit of shopping at Forever 21 (where Michelle got separated from Nicole and me two years prior, hehe).

As I mentioned in a previous post, we went back to Rockefeller Center for the third and final time. My mom bought her customary magnet souvenir and we returned to Uniqlo (yet again) to do a return. The stores are so big in New York; when we walked into Uniqlo I knew we had been there before but we went up the escalator and it was like we were there for the first time, nothing looked familiar! Turns out the first time we were there, we took the stairs and missed a whole chunk of the store. 

30 Rock!
5 points to Mom for spotting the Canadian flag first (not pictured)

I was watching Gossip Girl one day and the moment I saw Blair lining up outside a Laduree store in NYC, I knew I had to go there. It's funny that I've had their macarons twice (thanks Michelle!) but have never actually stepped foot in a Laduree store. Their macarons are a little pricy but they really are the best. We bought a box of 6 for my sister to return the favour and bought two for ourselves to enjoy in Central Park.

Such a cute display of macarons!

We kept going back and forth on the subway going downtown and then uptown and then back downtown (yay for Metrocards!). I forgot all about Strand Books when we were at Union Square so we went back down to check it out. It's like book heaven! We browsed through the books and I ended up getting a Hooty the Owl Pouch as a souvenir.

By this time, we were looking for something to snack on since we weren't hungry enough for an early dinner but we also couldn't wait until Death of a Salesman was over to eat - so Pommes Frites was the perfect place to go! It's a tiny little place near NYU I read about online. They only serve fries but they have an extensive list of sauces to choose from ($1 each). The guy working there was so nice! He gave us a sampling of different sauces and some fries to test out. My mom liked the Mexican ketchup (a mix of jalapeno, cilantro, and a bunch of other stuff) since she liked the spicy kick. The guy also gave us the Parmesan Peppercorn sauce on the house since it was his favourite. After finding out we were Canadian, he also offered some gravy (since they serve poutine) but we were too full.

The bottom of the cone had little crispy bits, yum!
Green sauce = mexican ketchup; white sauce = parmesan peppercorn
Red sauce = Especial (frite sauce, ketchup, and raw onion)

After a nap and some freshening up at the hotel, my mom and I headed up to the Barrymore Theatre to watch Death of a Salesman featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield (and Fran Kranz, woot woot! haha). We were there early so we walked over to Duffy Square at Times Square to sit on the red steps and do some people watching.

I spy Nick Jonas!

I was in the same room as Andrew Garfield! :)

The play was super intense. I read the play before we went to New York but it was way more dramatic in person. Kudos to Philip Seymour Hoffman and Andrew Garfield; the two of them were amazing. There's so much emotion behind every word they say. I can't even imagine having to be in that fragile state for 6 shows a week. Also...Fran Kranz! Even when he's playing the super geeky Bernard, I can't help but love him (Reminder: I need to re-watch Dollhouse).

All I could think while watching was: ARMS!

Aww, I just wanted to give Andrew Garfield a big hug at the end :(

Seeing Death of a Salesman on Broadway was half the reason why I wanted to go to New York City. It was as good as I expected and it's obvious how talented Andrew Garfield and Philip Seymour Hoffman are. Tthere may have been a tear or two of mine...