ode to the rain

Lanvin clutch; Prada sunglasses; Mother of Pearl top; American Apparel beanie; Circle & Square earrings; Topshop necklace; ASOS flatforms; Alexander McQueen scarf; Vivienne Westwood skirt; Chanel espadrilles; Monki shorts; Alexander Wang dress

Every day this week, it has been and will be raining in Paris. I am utterly furious, does the sky not understand that it is nearly June and I'm simply trying to enjoy my final week in Paris outside in the jardins?  I suppose it's simply another reason for me to get excited about going to Italy. This is my wishlist for the late spring/summer, "wish" being the operative word. I've been trying to deny my love for those Chanel espadrilles for some time now, but my passions cannot be quelled. 

BOY

Shirt from Tokyo, Jacket from Ireland, Zara skirt (similar), ASOS Cap and Sunnies

Me and Dani spent the day running around Harajuku. This is post-extreme shopping day, so that's probably where the glazed look in my eye comes from (the ice cream bubble tea might also have something to do with it). We had a ball, walking around and taking note of the colorfully-dressed residents, taking copious kawaii photos in the photo booths and...maybe a little bit more shopping. 

TOKYO Part Ichi

ASOS hat, Zara handbag, Uniqlo jeans

After what seemed like the longest flight in all of history, I'm finally here in Tokyo!! I got in two days ago, and between being in love with everything I see and being extremely jet-lagged, let's just say it's been an overwhelming time. I couldn't be happier though; Tokyo is SUCH a beautiful and interesting city. I'm really glad I picked up this ASOS cap before I left, because hats are the thing here. Also platforms and ruffles and vintage and everything else cool. Needless to say, my finger has hardly left my camera shutter. Today I'm going to the theater, and then going to meet my kawaii parter in crime Dani in Harajuku. Wish me luck!!

Also, the winner of my giveaway is Telma Leal. Congratulations!! I'll be contacting you shortly about receiving your dress :) 

Baudelaire Blue

Ph: My Tumblr, The Sartorialist; Topshop color block shirt; Topshop beanie; Topshop bra

I swear to god Topshop isn't sponsoring this post; I've just really been digging their new spring wares (same goes for Zara, I swear I'm in that store every day, stalking silk pants like it's my job). And anyway, Topshop is having a big sale right now! Cool pale blue seems so right for spring in Paris, where everyone is definitely excited that it's warm but, being Parisian, can't seem too excited about anything. 

PS- I've extended my giveaway an extra few days; you can now enter until April 28th! Keep sharing, and enter if you haven't already :) 

Not Vermont

 First dress: vintage (similar); Second dress, vintage (similar); Third dress, Anthropologie (similar)

I should probably refer to this as the weekend of the frock: I was in the south of France, Montpellier to be exact, on Friday and Saturday, and then back in Paris on Sunday. For the first time in what seems like decades, the sun peeked its fickle head from behind the clouds and gave us WARMTH. Real warmth! Like, it's Monday and I'm sunburned on my nose warmth.

In other news, I'm the newest fashion writer for Ask Miss A! It's a really awesome website that combines fashion with charitable acts and events, and is based in many major US cities. I'm even doing some Paris-based reporting for them! Check out my first article about Australia Fashion Week, I had such a blast writing it.

Also, don't forget to enter my Oasap giveaway BELOW to win this fabulous galaxy dress! You know you want it...hell, I want it.

GIVEAWAY: To infinity and beyond

For me, Tuesday is always the worst day of the week. Forget the Monday blues, there's something about the inevitable unendingness of Tuesday that just gets me down in the dumps. But instead of feeling like a squashed strawberry, pick yourself up with my new giveaway! It's in honor of this blog's 4 Year Anniversary!!! That's right; this little soldier has been giving you unique and totally biased content since 2009, hehe. So why don't you support a sista and sign up?

I'm collaborating with one of my longtime blog sponsors, Oasap, to give away this fantastic galaxy dress. It will take you from spring, into summer, and beyond!! The dress comes in either purple or blue, and it's absolutely gorgeous and swingy and just a fun friend to have. Here are the rules and guidelines:

* The dress is one size fits most, and I would approximate that being anywhere from a US size 2-8. 

* The giveaway begins TODAY, and ends on Sunday, APRIL 28th. Tell your friends, parents, share share share!

* In order to sign up, you have to comment on this post, follow me on Bloglovin, and sign up on Oasap

* You get an extra vote if you follow me on Twitter and/or Instagram! 

I also want to give a huge hug and kiss to those of you who have been reading The Minx for the past 4 years, as well as to the new readers I have accumulated over time. You're seriously the best, and I'm so happy to have gotten to know so many wonderful people from across the globe. Stay fresh guys!! xx

this is what we call dreaming

 

my tumblr, wolfcub, shopbop, studded hearts

"We live now in an information technology. Flowers have always lived in an information technology. Flowers gather information all day. At night, they process it. This is called photosynthesis.

As our neocortex comes into full use, we, too will practice photosynthesis. As a matter of fact, we already do, but compared to flowers, our kind is primitive and limited.

For one thing, information gathered from daily newspapers, soap operas, sales conferences and coffee klatches is inferior to information gathered from sunlight.

Either because our data is insufficient or because our processing equipment is not fully on line, our own nocturnal processing is part-time work. The information our conscious minds receive during waking hours is processed by our unconscious during so called "deep sleep". We are in deep sleep only two or three hours a night. For the rest of our sleeping session, the unconscious mind is off duty. It gets bored. It craves recreation. So it plays with the material at hand. In a sense, it plays with itself. It scrambles memories, juggles images, rearranges data, invents scary or titillating stories. This is what we call "dreaming"."

 - Tom Robbins

Leather-versary

I'm writing this post as F heads back on the RER B to Charles de Gaulle airport. He came to see me for a week and a half over his spring break, and now I won't see him again for 3 months. We're used to being apart; our entire relationship is based on our mutual acceptance of never being able to be together for more than 2 months at a time. But nevertheless, parting never gets any easier. There's no point being so sad about it though, because the past week has been arguably the happiest time I've had while living in Paris. 

Outfit 1: Zara trousers (similar), Vintage faux fur vest (similar); Outfit 2:Madewell dotted blazer, Zara crop top (similar), Vintage skirt (similar) 

 

We got up to all sorts of trouble- going to the "L'Ange du Bizzare" exhibit at the Musée D'Orsay, getting a little too happy at various happy hours, feeding each other fondue (probably to the mild disgust of other restaurant patrons), etc etc. These photos were taken yesterday: first in the morning when we went to the strangest brunch I've ever been to at Coutume Café in the 7th, and then at night when we went out to celebrate our 3-year anniversary around St. Germain des Près. F bought me this sick faux leather crop top from Zara that hugs in all the right places- made even more awesome by the fact that I just found out that the traditional 3-year anniversary theme is "leather". I didn't even care that the bracing wind made my exposed strip of torso unreasonably cold. 

Now that he's gone, I'll have to assuage my sorrow and loneliness by focusing on other things- applying to more grants and scholarships, planning my upcoming trips to Tokyo and Italy, final exams (help), and generally making the most of my last few months here in the city of lights. 

shades of spring

1//2//3//4//5//6

Spring is coming you guys, I can feel it. Even though it snowed last week in Paris (and might snow this week again, but let's not think about that), the weather is overall warmer, sunnier, and I have hope, dammit! However maybe I should bask in the cool weather while I still have it, because a summer plan that includes Tokyo, Italy, and New Orleans means that it's certainly going to be getting hot in here. Therefore I've made a little list of easy, breezy makeup choices that look great and won't weigh you down. I'm a big fan of the Korres lip butter because I'm still not over the idea of a plum lip, and I might even chuck the ever-present liquid eyeliner for a Clinique chubby stick in shimmery, sheer shades. Throw everything into your schmanzy Stella McCartney holographic clutch, and you're ready to take on the mean streets. 

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White Noise

Look, guys! It is possible for me to take a picture with smiles, who knew? I decided to play around inside because I woke up yesterday and to my absolute horror it had SNOWED in Paris. I'm so mad because foolish me thought that spring might actually be coming, evidenced by last week when it was around 50 degrees every day. So here I am slip-sliding my way around and grudgingly wearing my winter coat yet again. Hoping and praying all this mess melts by the time F. comes to visit, so we can have a nice frolick in the Jardin de Luxembourg. 

 vintage dress (similar), Pia Rossini faux fur stole, Topshop shoes (similar), Michael Kors watch

Anyway, this is approximately what I wore to the Opera Garnier on Monday night to see Rossini's La Cenerentola (I don't know if you noticed, but my girl Freya is wearing almost the same dress in the Bottega Veneta ad on my wall). The performance was excellent, and on that note I wanted to tell you guys that I was accepted into a program to continue my opera studies in Urbania during the month of June! I'm so excited to get to Italy. Paris I love you, but you're bringing me down.