Halloween!

Before I set off on the great task of sharing the details of my New York City trip, I'll make a quick post about Halloween.

I love Halloween. I am not the kind of girl who buys a cheap polyester "sexy cop/nurse/nun/angel/elephant/shoe" costume from a bag and then calls it a day. I like to put my ensembles together myself and I like a bit of gore. Halloween isn't about looking outrageously attractive. In my book, it's about being a total creep!

My costume was Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby (post-birth of the Spawn-of-You-Know-Who). I had a lot of fun putting this costume together. It was super-easy and cheap, considering I already owned most of the items for it. I'd wanted to be Rosemary last year, but I had a horrible flu and didn't do a single thing for Halloween. I'm glad I got to make up for it in 2009.

Costume inspiration.

Vintage 60's babydoll nightdress and bedjacket; the doll was from thrift store ($1.99), I added some black nail polish to the eyes and mouth to make it a bit more demonic, and wrapped it in a blanket my grandmother had knit when I was a baby. The wig was from a Halloween store and I cut and coloured it myself. It would have looked better if I could have cut it a bit shorter, and added a wave to it. But a) any shorter and you'd see my black hair underneath, and b) you can't use a hot curling iron on plastic hair!

It was chilly out so I wore my vintage fur-trimmed pink wool coat.

My sister and I. She went as some sort of 80's fitness superstar.

Resting with my baby!

Some costumes I saw during the night. Can you guess who they are? Clockwise from top: Inspector Gadget, inspecting my baby; Edward Cullen from "Twilight" (he even sparkled); and the Scientist and Beaker from Muppets.

How was everyone else's Halloween? What did you dress up as? Show me pictures!

xo Hannah

I'm home

Hey everyone, I'm finally home from New York. I have lots to post about, lots of photos to share. Unfortunately, I can't find my camera cord at the moment. Still very disorganized! I haven't unpacked and I've been bumming around in pyjamas since I got home.

When I do finally post the updates, they'll be in two parts. One will be just a recap of everything, and two will be more about the fashion and all of the shopping I did.

I look forward to sharing my adventures with you all, thanks for being so patient!

Au revoir!

Hey guys, I leave for New York tonight and will be there for a week. I'll be busy so updates will be sparse or limited to zero! I will be constantly tweeting though, so follow my Twitter if you're interested in my NYC adventures.

If you were wondering, I'm headed to New York for Teen Vogue's Fashion University. This is my third year attending. It's always a blast, great to meet other young people who love fashion as much as I do, along with designers and business insiders who have first-hand knowledge of being in the fashion world. I will take lots of pictures and bring back in-depth coverage!

P.S. I started up my Project 365 and the first few photos are up on my flickr already.

Bye!

Hello, I didn't die!

[ vintage skirt, H&M cardigan, Threadless Select t-shirt, Old Navy necklace, and the hair is a WIG! ]

Hello readers of an Aesthetic Feast! I am here, and I am alive. I know, I've been completely M.I.A. lately. The past few weeks have involved my 20th birthday, and getting ready to leave for New York City (tomorrow). I promise updates will become more lively in the future but I am so swamped. I have packing to do! Agh, hate packing.

Let me know what's going on in your lives!

Bonne anniversaire!

Happy 69th birthday to the one and only, Anna Karina!

Happy Face

[ Striped tee shirt and cotton skirt, H&M ]

Today I had a nice day off to myself. I wore some heels for the first time in awhile and headed out shopping. I picked up a few goods at the Dior cosmetics counter, some trousers at H&M (I'll show those sometime later ...), and more lipstick from Joe Fresh.

I know everyone and their mother loves to take photos of pretty "stuff", but that's probably because it's fun. When you collect as many things as I do it's nice to get them out, remember where they came from, who gave them to you, and maybe find something you completely forgot you had. The above Chanel book was a surprise gift from one of my best friends. It's so sweet when people drop by and say, "hey, I saw this and thought of you," for no occasion at all! And being that I'm a coffee table book addict, it meant all the more.

There are also some of the scores I got at Dior today, some Essie polish in Bordeaux, a very tiny selection of my baubles, great YSL lipstick mentioned in the last post, and some Salvador Dali 'It Is Love' and Marc Jacobs Basil perfume. Quite a group of things, I'd say.

Also picked up this bracelet at H&M today. I love the little enamel daisies, I have earrings that match.

So speaking of taking photos and all of that, I've decided to take another shot at doing the Project 365. I tried earlier this year but didn't stick with it and was just generally uninspired. However, my 20th birthday is on the 30th of this month and I'm feeling the need to chronicle this year coming up. So I'm starting a new paper journal, and I'll be doing the Project 365. Hopefully I can actually stick to it, and if I do, I'll have at least 365 photos showing the days of my life between age 20-21. Pretty neat. Send me your motivational good vibes!

I'm off to watch the Twilight Zone! I hope everyone's having a great weekend.

- Hannah

Lipstick Queen

Top to bottom:

Benefit Benetint with Burt's Bee's Lip Shimmer in Rhubarb

Revlon's Matte Collection in Nude Attitude

Dior's Rouge Dior in Pink Preview

YSL Lip Twins Duo in Fuchsia/Orange, wearing the Fuchsia shade***

Joe Fresh's Matte Lipstick in Berry

Now, I'm a bit of a beauty junkie. If there's one thing I have a problem with indulging in, it's cosmetics (and food too, but we're not talking about that). I think one of the most fun ways to change up your look, especially for a night on the town, is to go with a bold lip colour. I tried to photograph my favourite shades. They didn't show up QUITE as vibrant as they do in person, but I guess that's the problem with bathroom lighting, oh well!

The first combination is what I wear nearly every day, along with some faithful Rosebud Salve. Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Black Honey is awesome too for a day-to-day shade. It's a sheer blackberry colour that looks good on anyone and you can layer it if you want it darker.

When I'm feeling a bit mod, I go for Revlon's Nude Attitude. This is THE MOST PERFECT NUDE LIPSTICK. No really. It's matte, which I love because I hate shimmer/glitter/sparkle on lips. It's the perfect mix of peach, pink, and beige, and I think it is really flattering and very 60's. It looks a bit yucksville in the photo because my lips are a bit dry, but when properly applied to well moisturized lips it is all kinds of Bond girl awesome.

The third lipstick from Dior was a favourite of mine this Spring and Summer. It is the ultimate bubble gum/Barbie pink. It doesn't show well in the photo but it is very cotton candy, dreamy, sickly sweet pink and it looks great with a bare face and mascara coated long lashes. I can see myself still bringing this out in the Fall, but it is a great shade to wear with florals and other girly patterns. It'll turn your lips into an accessory.

*** The third shade is from YSL's now defunct Lip Twins collection. I linked to a page where you can still pick up a tube of the stuff, and I'm sure eBay carries it too. If you're looking for something more convenient, YSL's Rouge Volupté in Rose Culte is basically identical to the Fuchsia shade I'm wearing. Fuchsia is a very fun fun FUN colour to wear at night, and I'll even put it on during the day too. And the models on the Marc by Marc Jacobs S/S '10 runways were wearing a similar shade by Shiseido, so I don't think fuchsia is going out of style anytime soon!

Lastly I've got Joe Fresh's Matte Lipstick in Berry on. This is my go-to shade for Fall. A dark, almost purple matte shade that can be picked up in Superstores across Canada. If you're South of the border, Sephora has a feature on various berry shades. Urban Decay's "Confession" is looking particularly beguiling ...

Obligatory Photobooth shot!

What are your favourite lipstick shades? And are there any make-up trends you're looking forward to this Fall?