Yellow Bag Weekend

Hello Forever21 sale, thank you for giving me a little bonus to smile about this week! Although it was hard to find my size by the time I got there (I went there yesterday, since I had a talk on Friday), but it's not like I went out empty-handed.

These bags were tempting.

Accessories were like a candy buffet! I think I spent a good chunk of my time here looking at very unique earrings, the only piece of jewelry that's a staple to me next to a watch.

I behaved this time, still walking out with my one-bag policy.

Got myself a nice pair of dark denim jeans that finally fit me well and a couple of earrings on sale yesterday in a safe silver color. Plus a while ago, I passed by to get me a pair of socks since I actually have very little socks. I have more stockings than socks! Hahahaha.

I wanted to get the Hello Kitty socks but they were sold out so I got this cuteums owl printed ones instead. Woot - er- hoot-hoot!

Just the basics for me, but I think they'll be needed to stretch up my wardrobe a bit. We still need more of the basics, right?

Old Shirt, New Shirt? Hard To Tell With Ariel, right?

Which among these two shirts worn by these two models have been washed and stained ten times and which was brand new?

On my seat, munching on a plateful of spicy nachos, it was quite hard to tell. I checked one shirt, which didn't seem relatively thinner than the other one. Usually, washing an outfit ten times could result to fading or the fabric wearing thin but both shirts seemed like they came straight from the store. When the answer was revealed, my answer from my seat was proven wrong.

It was another exciting day as some members of the media participated in a game that pitted them with clothing experts from Metropole Laundry and Dry Cleaners, Inc and Bench. Trivia and questions on fashion, laundry, washing machine 101, and even Ariel were asked trimming down the crowd as the questions got harder. Some questions were quite easy, like choose among the choices were Ariel endorsers up to trivial ones like the origin of the iconic T-shirt we know today.

Game host Mo Twister puts Bench Senior Store Operations Manager Patrick Tan's fabric care knowledge to the test. Patrick successfully answers all questions and wins this round. So how about the prizes? The prizes were actually donated to the participant's charity of choice.

Ariel actually is a brand that doesn't disappoint me. Not only do I like the name (since it belongs to my favorite Disney Princess, heeheehee) but it performs quite well, with no chalky extenders that cause the annoying whitish residues on the fabric. Every particle in the powder dissolves right there in the water and my clothes are clean whether I hand wash them or dunk them in the washing machine. Even without fabric softener, my clothes still smell really good and fresh. Even with a (slight) rubbing, the powder didn't feel hot on my skin. The little "O" particles are really cute too!

The little "O" particles weren't just confetti though. They actually do the job. The Oxybleach system of Ariel removes tough stains (even metallic stains like rust, blood, copper, and even dye) with minimal scrubbing and rubbing. Sounding like a superhero to blast the stains to nonexistence yes? There's the bleach activator that decolorixers and removes the stain in the wash and even when drying the clothes out under the sun, Ariel's got photobleach, a light-activated agent that provides additional bleaching effects (like when the work inside the wash isn't enough). If that's not enough, there's fabric care enzymes to care for the clothes to prevent the sadness of the fabric weakening and our wallets thinning as our credit card bill goes up for the need to shop for clothes.

I also got some tips in fabric care, which I ought to use later on so I don't end up buying more clothes with the excuse that my old clothes are faded already. Like when there's a stain, the best way to get rid of it is to act fast and not wait for the next laundry day to remove it, since as time ticks on, the stains set and the fabric weakens. And remember those tags that annoy us that we remove them? Before removing them, it's best to read them since they are fabric care instructions so we know how to make our clothes last longer. If we hate the thought of having them in our skin, maybe we could write them in a notebook so we have a reference to look back on, yes?

Definitely with this day and age to save, my clothes and linens would definitely last longer with proper care and the right detergent so they still look like new. So how about colored outfits? I was quite impressed that the colors of my dark-colored outfits didn't gray out. As you all know, I wear black most of the time like I'm in perpetual mourning and this is a must since I want my black outfits to still be black for a long time. It worked too for my recent ukay haul where I washed my old-new outfits in Ariel - thrice after having it subjected to hot water and Domex twice. Did it look old? Nawp nawp. The only ukay haulage that looked old on me was the beat-up leather bag I got that was peeling in all places, but I really wanted it that way.

Ariel costs actually Php6.00 per sakto pack, which isn't bad. The sakto packs are actually great for travel when you wash your own clothes or if you want to portion the Ariel you use for your laundry per laundry day.

Before the event closed, a mini-fashion show featuring clothes by Bench was shown.

What I didn't know was that the announcer said that one group was stained and washed ten times, and the other group was brand new. Which was which? Hard to tell, right?

Pretty Little Dresses and Leopard Prints From Carlotta

Don't you just love it when we get dresses in the mail? It's like it's our birthday all the time. So you could imagine my giddy-ness and glee when Carla of Carlotta Manila sent over five pieces for me to love. I was in the shower when the package arrived on a lovely Thursday morning. I was headed to an event so just imagine that I saw the package on my bed waiting for me.

I've worked with the brand for shoots and all and I've been witness to Carla's style. Her styles are usually streamlined, clean lines with no frills or ruffles. Her love for prints and brights are initiation for me to put a bit of print in my wardrobe but she's got an amazing collection of neutral palettes too(black, nonetheless).

So are you all ready to see my Carlotta Manila loot?

First up is this tube dress in my staple color, black. I like that it's such a blank canvas and I could jazz this up with statement accessories or shoes. A pink knit bolero cardigan (shown below) could make it look a bit more wholesome for daytime events.

I love short dresses. They make me look six feet tall. And I don't need heels for this. The thing I like about my "blank canvas" dresses is that they could change my entire look by just adding accessories or layering them (I'll show you what I mean later).

I also got the same short tube dress in white, as shown above. This is actually a very warm white instead of the stark bleachy white that grays my skin. I think this dress is divine, and it kinda reminds me of the white Calvin Klein dress worn by Alicia Silverstone in the movie Clueless:

[picture from iwantpop.com]

Her character Cher covered up with a white chiffon jacket. I could use that as a modification or why not here, where I made the dress a top over the pencil-cut gray skirt I got from Forever 21?

The next dress I got is a dress I nicknamed nice and naughty. Right in front, the cut is very classic with a higher neckline compared with the two dresses I showed earlier. A string of pearls around the neck or a classic choker (bringing back Rachel Green in FRIENDS) would complete the look here.


This classic dress's statement is right at the back. :)
Carla's love for bareback dresses also show in her designs. She's got them also in heart and ribbon cutouts, depending on what you would prefer. To rock dresses like these too, I should remind myself to wear the right underwear so nothing peeks, reflects, or sees right through. For conservative girls, a bandeau top worn under could be used to cover up the back part. I sure can't have enough LBDs.

For my printed stuff, I chose leopard prints practically because I love them more than florals or anything girly or dainty. I got two leopard pieces, each one I love to death.

This cropped top cuts right across the lower abdomen, always reminding me to keep in shape all the time. Here I paired it with white shorts but I could mix this with dark jeans, boots, skinny slacks, or even layer this over a slim dress.

The leopard leggings were quite tricky at first. I stared for a good few minutes at my clothes to come up with an outfit incorporating them while still looking classic. The color was quite light instead of my usual black leggings. I pulled out a long, crisp polo shirt and my comfortable slip-ons from Aerosoles for this classic and clean look. Minimal accesories here save for gold earrings and a watch.

These are made of lightweight fabric that's handwash only. I like how the fabric clings to me to create a silhouette that I like. I could take this to me during travels and just fold it in my bag and not worry about where to press and iron the dress. Actually, I prefer not ironing this since the fabric is quite stretchy. If I do iron, it would be in the lowest possible setting and I'd be ironing with a cloth or sheet in between, just to smooth out kinks.

Thanks Carla for these fabulous and sexy dresses!

Retail Therapy At the Sale Racks

After a long workweek last week, I finally had some time to blog. And for it, I'll be sharing a few retail therapies I got post-typhoon, where I finally had time to shop.

Being intrigued at Forever 21 for the longest time, I thought I'd give the most-talked about store a visit and probably score a few items if I can. When I got in SM Megamall, I asked the conceirge where the Forever 21 store was. They motioned to me which escalator to take that would lead me straight to it.

It wasn't hard to miss. The moment I reached the end of the escalator, I could see the famous logo. Since I brought a larger bag with me since I was going to head off to Meralco after this little side trip, pictures were not taken during the store, even phone ninja shots. The store occupied a huge area transversing two sides of the mall. There were lots of choices, from the summery, frilly, girly, classic, tough-girl, or laid-back vibe. Aside from clothes, they also had dresses, accessories, and shoes.

The first section I went to were the accessories section, where I spotted a great deal of headbands, jewelry, and other knick-knacks to spruce up any outfit. Since I'm not much on the jazz and baubles, I went through the sunglasses section. I'm a sucker for large sunglasses since they not only protect my eyes from the UV rays, but they keep me looking chic in hiding my dark circles during the time when I forget to reach for my concealer.The lenses are tinted red. Me like. But you know what I like more?Do you see the price on that one? It reads Php95.50. I kid you not. The cash register verified that too. I reserved that one for me by holding on to it for dear life as I explored the store.

As I was searching for the dresses, as usual, I went through the neutral palettes. I wanted something that I could use for quite a long time and something that I should have. This posed a challenge for me since most of the items in the store were either embelished, printed, or frilly. I'm not much of a fan of ruffles and pastels and I wanted something with a clean silhouette. What caught my attention though was a pencil-cut knee-length skirt in my signature black color. I picked out the medium thinking it would fit me better since I have full hips. Turns out it was quite loose for me. Unfortunately, they didn't have it in small. The gray variant had it in small though, but since I didn't want to line up again at the fitting room, I used my intuition. Turns out when I tried it at home it fit me fine. So for my second purchase, it was the gray pencil-cut skirt.

It costs less than Php400.00. When I lined up to pay for my purchase, I'm glad that they accept BDO auto-debit (i.e. ATM or cash card) and your purchases add up points in your SM Advantage card.

Forever 21 indeed does have lower prices. Actually, their prices were lower than I expected. It was like shopping imported outfits at department store prices. If you're pressed for time that day though, the store might take a lot of time from you since it's quite big. A time-saving tip would be to know your size already beforehand so it would be easy to choose clothes to fit already.

After Forever 21, I passed by the Promod store seeing that it put up some of its items on sale. Rumaging through the sale racks made me discover a patchwork dress in gray, black, and white. I tried ignoring the dress first but it somehow called to me. Remember incidents where you see a dress and wonder whether to buy it or not but it somehow "calls" to you to buy it? That's how I felt. Looking at the humongous price drop shown was what sealed the deal.


That's a huge markdown! It's a lovely long-sleeved mini-dress that I could work into a top by either tucking it in and pairing it with pants. I could leave this as it is as well if I want to show some leg. The sleeves could be pulled up when the temperature gets warm. I like the open neckline too, which contrasts well with the conservative sleeve. To wash this though, mild detergent like Perwoll was what I used for this. A bad accident with stronger detergent might cause the colors to bleed. Oh, and minimal soaking here.

I like the light jersey material to go with my on-the-go casual style. If I want to go glam, heels would be my best friend. But for just hanging out, flats would be my best bet.

I guess it's great to give myself a bit of reward since I've worked hard during this month. Which reminds me, I have to work on my post birthday post as well. Till then!