Of Stripes and Straw Hats

Whoa, it feels like I haven't posted in forever! Been busy with schoolwork, that's why. Right now seems to be the calm before the storm (literally and figuratively, oops) though, so I took the chance to post something new!

This one's from my quick weekend getaway to Davao last November 15 to 17. This is actually why I missed the Apollo Music Festival which I previously posted about. I admit, I would've loved to go to Apollo, but I definitely enjoyed in Davao! I have never been there before, but I have heard wonderful things about the place. So naturally, I was excited.

There wasn't much to do there, really. It was more of a place for chilling and eating haha! (And I assure you, that was just as fun for me.) As someone who grew up in the ever-bustling Manila, I definitely enjoyed the serenity in Davao City. I will be posting a photodiary of my trip though sometime during the holiday break; there, you'll find about the things we did and the places we ate at!

Here's my Day 1 outfit. I never got to post about this on my Instagram. It was my first time wearing an off-shoulder top! This style seems to be the craze lately, so of course I gave it a try. It was just perfect for the hot weather in Davao, actually. I'm kinda not loving how it scrunches in the bottom though, as you can see in the photos.

Top: Greenhills

Shorts: Uniqlo

Boots: Topshop

Rucksack: Ralph Lauren (vintage)

Hat: Kultura

Watch: Swatch (vintage)

Because I wanted to pack light, I brought with me a pair of shoes that would match all my outfits-- my cutout booties. I purposely went for a monochrome look, except my bag kind of ruined it. But hey, I realized I need more rucksacks in my life because they are so handy for traveling!

To top my outfit off, I wore a summer hat everywhere I went. I wanted a floppy hat so bad, so I went looking for one before our trip! It's more of a straw hat rather than the trendy suede one, but it's black, so I believe it's just as chic. I actually just found it in SM Department Store!

So this is my Day 1 outfit; we pretty much just had a foodtrip so I wasn't able to take outfit pictures somewhere fancy. I just had these taken at the poolside of our hotel lol. Day 2 made up for all the scenery though! Will post my Day 2 outfit separately soon.

Wishing for everyone's safety in the coming days! And of course, good luck with hell week!

x Erika Rosales

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Living For The Night Lights

Last August 15, the organization which I am a part of, the Junior Philippine Institute of Accountants - De La Salle University Chapter (JPIA-DLSU), hosted a party to welcome the new school year. It was entitled "Xanadu: Live For The Night Lights", and was held at the APEX Palladium at New World Makati.

I love parties for two things (well three, if you count the company): the music and-- well-- the dressing-up. For club parties like these, I always go with a pair of shorts. And of course, I don't forget about wearing heels. Like most people, I went with black (and white). Huge thanks to our master photographer, Tereynz Mendoza, for taking my outfit shots outside the venue haha!

Top: Topshop

Shorts: Forever 21

Platforms: DAS (custom)

Fitclip: Renouveau Manila

Earrings: Franzl Bajada (custom)

Yes, my friends-- those are heelless shoes. Quite crazy isn't it, especially when I wore it at a party? But I'll have you know, it didn't hinder me from having fun and dancing the night away!

The pair was my gift to myself when I turned eighteen last year. I got it customized based on the Alexander McQueen-esque DAS 17 design. The distinct thing about my pair is the spikes on the mary-jane straps. Please don't mind the stains on the toes-- I cleaned them up after

I'll confess: my top is one size bigger, hence the loose fit. That is what happens when you are too excited to buy a wonderful item that's on sale lol. But it's not just the top that's big! The shorts, too; that is why I took on the help of my ever-reliable fitclip. Here's a photo of what it looks like from the back!

Yup, it's that black strap at the back. Not quite sure if I've mentioned it here on my blog before, but I'm planning to sell some clothes (brand-new and preloved) on Instagram! These pieces might make it to the sale. If you're interested, feel free to follow my soon-to-open store: The Closet Case (there I go with my puns again). I initially planned on opening it in early September, but I'll have to push back the date since I'm busy with school.

Right ahead is a bunch of photos of my face (sorry I'm not sorry). It was my first time putting on falsies! It's amazing how much they liven up the eyes. Unfortunately, my lashes are naturally short, and I can't put on mascara to save my life. I also wore circle lenses-- something that I usually do when I go to special occasions. I have black and brown doll lenses, but these grey ones are my favorite; they look natural yet not-so. (I'm hoping to have blue ones someday, too!) For my lids, I attempted to make them smokey. I also filled my eyebrows (they're the most important part for me!). Since my eyes were already dramatic, I went with a light shade on my lips. I finished the look with some contouring using a bronzer/blush (of course after putting on BB cream as moisturizer and dabbing on some concealer).

I didn't even realize my bottom eyeliner was messed up until I saw this photo lol

Contact lenses: Sparkle

False eyelashes: KAI Beauty Care Eye Decoration (from Sasa)

Eyeshadow: Collection Smokey Eyes palette

Eyebrows: H&M Smokey Eyes palette

Eyeliner: Cyber Colors 24hr Eyeliner Duo (from Sasa)

Bronzer/blush: Benefit Dallas

Lipstick: Collection Satin Bow + MAC Rebel

I also attempted to sport a faux pixie. I rarely do something complicated with my hair when I go to parties; but this time, I felt like trying out something new. I've been so sick of my über long hair that I figured I should do something special with it.

To start off, I sprayed some Sea Salt Spray from Lush. My hair is naturally smooth and straight, so it needs a boost in the texture department which the spray could give. It was my first ever purchase from Lush and I have no regrets at all-- it smells really good, like the beach! What I did next was I tied the bottom part of my hair into a bun. For the remaining sections, I braided. them and pinned them at the back. It's really messy at the back (as you'll see below) though!

Did you see my gorgeous soutache earrings? They're handmade with love from Cebu! The pair is actually customized from the Franzl Bajada's Imperatrice - Belle design! Due to the changes that I wanted, it ended up looking like a hybrid of the Cinderella and the Belle designs, and it was perfect! If you've noticed, her Imperatrice collection is Disney-inspired! When I saw the collection, I knew I had to buy a pair for myself! I was looking for statement earrings to wear with the rest of this outfit, and I ordered right away. The transaction was very quick. A great experience for my first time buying online, really. Ms. Franzl just launched a new collection, Sweet Bonbons, by the way. Feel free to check it out too!

Whew, that was a lengthy post! To end this post, I'm leaving you guys with one of the many photos from the party (spot me!) and the after-party video (both courtesy of Tereynz Mendoza again). These doesn't even show a quarter of how wild and fun the party was! Contrary to popular opinion, accountants do know how to have fun! I definitely can't wait for more parties that our org will throw in the future!

x Erika Rosales

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Mixing Prints

Last July 2, my mother celebrated her birthday (exact age to remain a secret, hehe). I know, that's more than a month ago... talk about backlogs *sigh*! But what can I do, school's been getting the best (and worst) of me. But I'm happy that I'm just around two weeks away from the term break! I have a lot of things planned out already (hint: one of them is catching up on my backlogs, and another is finishing my blog's new layout heh)! Well anyway, here's an account of what transpired on my mom's birthday!

Since my classes are only halfday (but the workload is h e a v y), my family went out for lunch. We make it a point to take advantage of every holiday/special day to head on over to the Fort, for some reason. Of course, I made sure to shoot my outfit! So here's what I wore:

Top: Forever 21 || Skirt: Mango || Watch: Casio

Denim jacket: Guess || Cut-out boots: Topshop

Honestly, I may have underestimated the weather (in terms of temperature, particularly in degrees) with wearing the jacket. But hey, it was cold in class so it worked out at some point! The denim jacket has actually been in my possession ever since I was a kid! No kidding. I'm really happy we kept it though, and I rediscovered it. It feels pretty good to fit again in something that you had when you were a lot younger and tinier. 

From the old and vintage, we go to the new. I wore two new things in this outfit: the skirt, and the boots. The skirt was one of the pieces that I bought as a means of taking advantage of the sale season. I really love the print: I like how it's floral, but not the big-flowers kind of floral. I want more floral and/or flowy skirts; I feel like one can never have enough skirts!

And we go down to the boots. I think this pair may just be the best bargain ever!! Another steal from the oh-so wonderful sale season, I got these Topshop boots for only P600!! YES, you read that right. Have I mentioned how much I love Topshop sales, particularly their markdowns on shoes?! This lovely pair of booties is actually my 3rd pair of Topshop shoes, and all of them were on sale when I got them. (Fun fact: they're all suede too!) The best thing is, I've been wanting a pair of cut-out booties for so long, and I've been eyeing these in particular! So when my I saw them on sale, my jaw literally dropped; and I knew I had to snag it at once. Talk about 'meant to be' hahaha!

As can be seen, I wore two prints together. Some say that mixing prints is a no-no, but I believe there are exceptions. I feel like one of the fool-proof pattern combinations are stripes and florals. It would work especially better too if at least one of them are "minimal" in nature. 

For example, the thin stripes of my top works well the small flowers of my skirt; but even if the print of my skirt was an explosion big floral patterns, it would still look nice. But if both of then were big, meaning the flowers are big and the stipes are thick, it might be a bit too much. That's just me and how I see it though; what do you think? :)

Moving on, we ate lunch somewhere we've never tried before: Mamou. My parents heard word of how delectable their steak is, so we figured to try it out for ourselves.

We decided to get a salad for a starter. We originally wanted the one with soft shell crab, but unfortunately crabs weren't in season that time. So instead. we got the Harvest salad instead. It's got lettuce (duh), tomatoes, cheese, pecans, and cranberries. It was pretty delicious and reminiscent of  one of Project Pie's salads (which costs a lot more less, by the way).

We also decided to get the Truffle Cream pasta. It was perfect. To be honest, I'm not a fan of pasta-- well, Italian food, in general; so I'm really picky when it comes to them. But this one's really good! And if it's coming from me, one who's not exactly a fan of pasta, then that should say something, right?

And here comes the star of the meal-- the Angus Rib-eye USDA Prime Grade Steak Twin. We got the Twin size, which is good for sharing. We got it in medium well, our usual preference when it comes to steak. The photo below may not do it justice, but I tell you: it's h e a v e n l y. It's so tender, it almost melts in your mouth. It's juicy too which, ironically, makes it sinful. But it really is good! I didn't even bother leaving out the fat of the beef because its got so much flavor. But at least we all shared on it; at least the guilt is shared too hehe. Aside from sea salt, the steak is also served with a gravy. But as it is usual in most steaks, the gravy should be left untouched in order to taste the pure goodness of the steak. However, I did sprinkle some sea salt on my portion because I'm kind of fond of salty food on times that I don't worry about water retention, that is, lol. I suggest you add some salt too! It makes it even more flavorful.

An order of the steak also comes with two free side dishes. We got creamy spinach and mountain rice. The creamy spinach kind of reminded me of laing, while the latter was something new for my taste buds. It was rice left unpolished, so it had this earthy kind of taste. It served well to balance out the slight saltiness of the steak.

Mamou

Serendra

Bonifacio Global City, Taguig

We then did some walking around Bonifacio High Street, and eventually ended up at Toys R' Us, where we found these cute walls! Of course, I decided to pose for some photos.

We then decided to eat dessert at Magnum Cafe (again-- read about my first visit there on a previous post of mine). But this time, instead of making our own ice cream bars, we decided to dine in and try their gourmet creations. We got the Death By Chocolate, which is a pan of brownie served with Magnum and cream. It smelled good, like chocolate, the same as the rest of the restaurant. In my opinion though, it was just so-so. The whole thing was too sweet. Also, I would have preferred if the brownie was chewy, instead of gooey. But then, maybe that's just me. (Wasn't able to take any photo, sorry.)

So that was my day! I didn't post a photo of my mom here because she's pretty shy; but if you're curious, feel free to check out my Instagram. I posted a photo with her during her birthday.It'd be great if you followed me there; I'm a lot more active there than here. Follow me also on GFC and/or Bloglovin! I've also just joined Chictopia, so join me there too! I'm sorry it's taking me a while to get back to your comments and/or follow back, but I promise I'll do them all in time. :)

x Erika Rosales