Jackets!

Ooooh Winter why are you so far away? I am a bit sick of Summer clothes to be honest. Especially during this bullshit humid Summer. Ew ew ew. Not that I've ever liked the hot weather, but I prefer warm and sunny to overcast, sometimes raining and always humid. Like, seriously.

All I want to do is wear jackets and scarves and boots and tights and shiver instead of sweat. My makeup runs much, much less in Winter. Everything is just better in general. Even the rain doesn't bother me so much now that my hair is long and I can just tie it up instead of submitting to the frizz that inevitably came with a short bob.

Anyhoo, I was perusing net-a-porter the other day and am totally lusting over millions of amazing jackets. I can't wait til it's the season and I can just throw a blazer over a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and be 'done'. Le sigh.

3.1 Phillip Lim

Burberry - um, hope it's faux...

Burberry, duh.

 

Chloe

 

Dion Lee

 

Dion Lee from the back - gorgeous, no?

Jil Sander

 

McQueen

 

!!!!!!!

More McQueen

 

And again.

Cape...want...cape...

McQueen

Rebecca Taylor

Reed Krakoff

Rick Owens

Stella McCartney

Stella M in white

'A Long Way Down'

Maybe you've noticed me banging on about Nick Hornby's 'A Long Way Down' in the past, seeing as it is my favourite book of all time. Johnny Depp states that the novel is "masterful" and contains "some of the finest writing, and some of the most outstanding characters [he's] ever had the pleasure of reading". So clearly, you have to read it.

Furthermore, Nick Hornby has to absolutely positively write another book soon that rivals this masterpiece as I am about to jump out of my skin. I spend many endless nights simply looking up quotes from his various works to entertain myself.

Have you ever seen 'The History Boys'? My friend Alissa told me about this film once and like everything she introduces me to, I fucking love it. There's a quote by one of the teachers in it about reading in general:

"The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - that you'd thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you've never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it's as if a hand has come out, and taken yours."

Amazing, right? Anyway, that's how I feel about 'A Long Way Down'. Well, there's lots more amazingness that I could never conceive of, obviously, but you know what I mean. Some of my favourite quotes to entice you to read it:

"How do people, like, not curse? How is it possible? There are these gaps in speech where you just have to put a "fuck." I'll tell you who the most admirable people in the world are: newscasters. If that was me, I'd be like, "And the motherfuckers flew the fucking plane right into the Twin Towers!" How could you not, if you're a human being? Maybe they're not so admirable. Maybe they're robot zombies." - Jess

"We all spend so much time not saying what we want, because we know we can't have it. And because it sounds ungracious, or ungrateful, or disloyal, or childish, or banal. Or because we're so desperate to pretend that things are OK, really, that confessing to ourselves they're not looks like a bad move. Go on, say what you want. ... Whatever it is, say it to yourself. The truth will set you free. Either that or it'll get you a punch in the nose. Surviving in whatever life you're living means lying, and lying corrodes the soul, so take a break from the lies for just one minute." - JJ
(I like this one because I would never, ever do it. But I like the thought of it.)

"Telling me I can do anything I want is like pulling the plug out of the bath and then telling the water it can go anywhere it wants. Try it, and see what happens." - Jess

"The trouble with my generation is that we all think we're fucking geniuses. Making something isn't good enough for us, and neither is selling something, or teaching something, or even just doing something; we have to be something." - JJ

"I don't know you. The only thing I know about you is, you're reading this. I don't know if your happy or not; I don't know whether you're young or not. I sort of hope you're young and sad. If you're old and happy, I can imagine that you'll smile to yourself when you hear me going, he broke my heart. You'll remember someone who broke your heart, and you'll think to yourself, Oh yes, I remember how that feels. But you can't, you smug old git. Oh you'll remember feeling sort of pleasantly sad. You might remember listening to music and eating chocolates in your room, or walking along the embankment on your own, wrapped up in a winter coat and feeling lonely and brave. But can you remember how with every mouthful of food it felt like you were biting into your own stomach? Can you remember the taste of red wine as it came back up and into the toilet bowl? Can you remember dreaming every night that you were still together, that he was talking to you gently and touching you, so that every morning when you woke up you had to go through it all over again?" - Jess

"That’s the thing with the young these days, isn’t it? They watch too many happy endings. Everything has to be wrapped up, with a smile and a tear and a wave. Everyone has learned, found love, seen the error of their ways, discovered the joys of monogamy, or fatherhood, or filial duty, or life itself. In my day, people got shot at the end of films, after learning only that life is hollow, dismal, brutish, and short." - Martin

"Asking the head I have now to explain its own thinking is as pointless as dialing your own telephone number on your own telephone: Either way, you get an engaged signal. Or your own answer message, if you have that kind of phone system." - Martin

"A middle-aged woman who looked like someone's cleaning lady, a shrieking adolescent lunatic and a talkshow host with an orange face... It didn't add up. Suicide wasn't invented for people like this. It was invented for people like Virginia Woolf and Nick Drake. And Me. Suicide was supposed to be cool." - JJ

"People go on about places like Starbucks being unpersonal and all that, but what if that's what you want? I'd be lost if people like that got their way and there was nothing unpersonal in the world. I like to know that there are big places without windows where no one gives a shit. You need confidence to go into small places with regular customers... I'm happiest in the Virgin Megastore and Borders and Starbucks and Pizza Express, where no one gives a shit and no one knows who you are. My mum and dad are always going on about how soulless those places are, and I'm like Der. That's the point." - Jess

"The fuck?” he said.
“The fuck?” said Jess. “The fuck what?”
“It's an American abbreviation,” said Martin. “The fuck?” means “What the fuck?” In America, they’re so busy that they don’t have time to say the “what”." - Jess

"When someone uses the phrase ‘the prick one’, and you know immediately that this is a synonym for the word ‘metaphorically’, you are entitled to wonder whether you know the speaker too well. You are even entitled to wonder whether you should know her at all." - Martin

"I don't think you can call it stalking when it's just phone calls and letters and emails and knocking on the door." - Jess

"Once you stop pretending that everything's shitty and you can't wait to get out of it...then it gets more painful, not less. Telling yourself life is shit is like an anesthetic, and when you stop taking the Advil, then you really can tell how much it hurts, and where, and it's not like that kind of pain does anyone a whole lot of good. " - Martin I think. Or JJ.

Sigh. Maybe out of context it doesn't do much for you, but you really must read it. So many unexplained joys reading about four people who want to commit suicide.

Anyway, tomorrow is Australia Day and I am spending the day at the beach with my family. I would have really liked a new Nick Hornby to read in the sun, but I guess I'll settle for 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest'.

Hope you all have a good one and try and have a BBQ for the floods xx

MAC Pigments

So, I am not living under a rock - I have heard about MAC Pigments a billion times. I have seen them every time I go to Myer/David Jones. However, the thought of a loose, highly pigmented powder eyeshadow never filled me with much desire. In fact, it made me shudder and cringe at the thought of the infinite horrible messes I could create both on my face and in my bathroom.

Especially considering that I once dropped half a container of crumbled black eyeshadow onto a friend's white bedspread once. I don't think she was able to save it. I still feel bad about this. SORRY!

So you can see why MAC Pigments did not really appeal to me. At least, until I saw this incredibly simple and incredibly effective demonstration of how to create a really good smoky eye:




I was intrigued by the beautiful colour he applied so I went and checked it out. Little did I know, 'Mauvement' was a limited edition and wasn't available for a while. And then, because I couldn't get it, I became obsessed with it and decided I had to have it.

Anyway, I went shopping for makeup on the weekend with Maca who, as we have discussed, is a total babe and happens to be my shopping soulmate. On our little expedition I finally found the oh-so-coveted 'Mauvement' and bought it, gleefully. I have been playing around with it and it is truly gorgeous. I haven't even spilled it (yet)! Now I've jinxed myself. Oh well. It's so pretty, it'll probably be worth it. And now I am obsessed and must have more colours! More more more. More.

So far I've decided I want these:

'Vintage Gold' - open to other goldy suggestions though.

'Bloodline'

Better look at 'Bloodline'

'Later'

'Copper Sparkle'

This looks like a more realistic pic of what 'Copper Sparkle' looks like

Or just, you know, any or all of these.

This is 'Mauvement', which I bought.

Aren't they divine? I am particularly keen on 'Copper Sparkle' - apart from coral, bronzey colours are very in you know. And apparently because you need to use so little (seriously - dipping the brush into the powdery residue on the lid is plenty to use on one eye) these babies last forever. A clever investment for $39 Australian. Unless you're going overseas soon, in which case, don't bother everything is cheaper away from here.

Oh and because I don't know how to save my money and when I want something I have no self-restraint, I also bought this stuff:

And yes, it really is as good as everyone says.

Got this in khaki - also folds under and makes a super cute top.

Aaaand I got these in brown - 50% of the sale price. Win.

Maca also bought the same clogs (because like I said, we are shopping soulmates and have infallible taste) PLUS I got a grey dress made out of almost tracksuit-y type material (but not quite) which I can't find a picture of online, and cannot be bothered to take a pic of it, so use your imagination. The best bit is everything I bought fits seamlessly into my wardobe and mix and match with each other perfectly. Win win win. I saw another dress I want though and didn't have enough $$$ for it...hmm...must go back. I will become increasingly and steadily obsessed until I get it:

Cute, right? Right.

 Now must devise genius plan to somehow get more money. Note: working hard is not an option. Also: any recommendations for good mascaras? My Rimmel mascara (not Glam Lash, the other one) has pretty much all dried up and turned clumpy. Superfail.

Step it up Hollywood!

So the Golden Globes were on Monday. Jesus fucking Christ what a disappointment. Never have I been so saddened by such a huge cohort of Hollywood celebs and their fashion sense. What is the goddamn excuse to look like shit in a puffball metallic sateen ballgown covered in bows and/or daisies? WHAT?

Ugh, I have lots to vent about so let's get started.

Green
Green was obviously the colour of the night. I don't take particular offence to the colour itself, but rather, the way in which it is worn.

Elisabeth Moss was DEFINITELY the worst of the green wearers. This dress, I heard, was made specifically for her. Then what the hell is the excuse for such a terrible fit? She is a petite girl, why the awkward bunching around the hips? Why the misplaced draping around her midsection? Vom. 

I am kind of ambivalent about Mila Kunis. It's not a disaster, but it's not particularly flattering. Gorgeous colour on her though, nice shape, and beautiful coral makeup to offset the green. Overall: approve.

Angelina Jolie still has me perplexed. I have ranged from overwhelmingly ecstatic that she is wearing colour (!!!) to horrified by the awkward fit on her very thin frame (note how she's still trying to cover her arms) to just 'meh'. So. I dunno.

Catherine Zeta-Jones on the other hand, knocked this outta the park. And thank God, because I miss the divine CZJ. Also, I sniffled when Michael Douglas got a standing ovation when he came onstage and said "there must be an easier way to get a standing ovation than this" - sads! But awe.

Vomit. Just...vomit.
Totally horrified by all of these, for various reasons.

UUUGHHH. She is so talented and yet she makes me despise her so. She is so damn full of Try! Gurl, you are SO YOUNG you don't need to do the ball gown to every damn red carpet. ESPECIALLY not the Globes. ESPECIALLY not in nausea-inducing bubblegum pink. And let's not get started on the overwhelming emotion you felt when your buddy Chris Colfer won. Just quietly, to me, it looked like you were in pain. Like the universe had robbed you of the spotlight you so deserved. Vom to you.

I hate Country Bitch Carrie Underwood. Apparently she is notoriously bitchy and high maintenance so I have the right to irrationally hate her. But more importantly, I hate her style, or lack thereof. It is always sparkly, it is always showgirl and it is always Blah. To further add insult to injury, she has had her hair styled in a french twist (!!!!!!!!) She was not the only one to do so, but her french twist coupled with the two tendrils at her jawline is just too much to handle.

Another french twist. Memo to Hollywood lameshits: stop trying to make them happen, they're not going to happen. I have never been a fan of Eva Longoria. She always seems to be in fishtail gowns (blegh anyway, blegh again for repeated offences) and at the Globes it was patently clear that she was trying to remind us "Hey look! I am getting divorced! I am a victim and mourning for my marriage! I can't even smile or wear lipstick for the Globes!" C'mon now, if you were suffering so bad, why are you there? You're not nominated or anything.

Self-explanatory really. I love you Halle but WHAT. 

Heidi Klum. For me, she is another repeat offender. I always seem to hate her hair and makeup especially. This is no different. What a fucking mess. She looks like a half-assed clown.

I have issues with sparkly and I have issues with ball gowns. Olivia Wilde you disappoint me on both accounts. To further shit all over this, you have not even bothered to put your hair up. A loose, messy chignon would have elevated this already faltering look but instead, your limp tresses leave little to be desired. I don't get you.

HAHAHAHA. Oh J-Lo did you make me LOL or what when I saw this. Seriously. I just...what? What is that? That sparkly veil thing? Are you serious? Is this what you think will endear you to middle America just as you're about to debut on 'American Idol'?You look like you're going to a fancy quincinera. And it's YOUR quincinera.

And at the after party it just got worse. 

Jennifer Love Hewitt despite the fact that this is revolting, I have to forgive you for your Globes outfit. I mean, you were there nominated for your role as a hooker who worked as a manicurist who had to turn to hooking because of the recession. You were nominated alongside Clare Danes as Temple Grandin and Dame Judi Dench. So instead of slaughtering you, I want to thank you for making that happen. 

MICHELLE WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? You are like my favourite! I fucking love you! What is going on here? Daisies aren't a thing! Daisies have never been a thing! YOUR DRESS IS BEING HELD UP BY SEASHELLS! SEASHELLS!!!! And despite your divine coral makeup (how long have I been harping on about coral for? Seriously. Gorgeous.) I know what you are capable of. So this makes me sad. Remember this:

 

Groan-worthy acceptance speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLVUwSZtJMs

 Look at it. Look at That Thing that she chose to wear. It gets worse at every angle. It is a fucking pink sheet held up by a sparkly red rose. Is it Valentine's Day? This girl is campaigning HARD for an Oscar. Her bullshit stance on keeping her private life private is bullshit. She is milking her pregnancy and her romance for this Oscar and her speech nearly made me set myself on fire. Never in a million years did I think I would hate on Natalie Portman for anything, but all my love for her is gone. GONE. Also, apparently she is a big bitch. I believe it. Oh and she's also rockin' the french twist. Because it's 1983 and she is a wealthy 45-year-old socialite. 

 




















Kate Hudson is here to remind us that there is NO EXCUSE for looking fug and uncool while pregnant. No excuse!

I like.
All of these following looks appealed to me at the Globes. You may wanna fight me, but I don't care. But there's something about each of them that stands out amongst the shit.

I know, I know. But it's different. It's not a sparkly sugary princess confection. She's not trying to be That Girl and I love her for it. She did it with that AMAHZING Versace number at the Emmy's last year and she did it again. This is how you do. Love her or hate her she is a breath of fresh air. Also, her hair and makeup are always perfection.

Clean, beautiful lines and a gorgeous colour. Emma Stone can do no wrong in my eyes and I really liked the minimalism of this dress. She doesn't need Swarovski crystals.

 

Kyra Sedgwick = uber babe. One half of one of my fave Hollywood couples and totally banging. Love the colour, love the jewellery, love the gorgeous ponytail. This is my new favourite hairstyle.

Annie! Annie was my absolute favourite!!! So glad I have met her and like her now so I can be loving all over this without hating myself. But it's so polished and glam and sexy that I feel like I should be calling her Anne now. Divine. Good job Team Zoe! And good job Anne for pulling it off so splendidly.

Honourable mention: Amber Riley. I know it is sparkly. BUT it fits her so gorgeously, clings in all the right spots and flatters her so perfectly, how can I deny that she knocked this outta the park? Also, like Anne's, it's a bit hardcore and metallic and therefore a bit edgy so Amber and Anne definitely win out of all the sparklies.

Who cares?
These three ladies are so rad and nutso, it really does not matter what the fuck they decide to wear. Team crazy!

Helena Bonham Carter is wearing odd shoes!!! I fucking love her. She's sure to make the 'Worst Dressed' lists next week but I don't know why those mags bother - it's HBC! She can do whatever the fuck she wants! Ditto for Tilda. And actually, Annette does not look half so kooky as I have come to expect. Team Annette for the Best Actress Oscar! Fuck you N.Port.

The Men
Seriously, the men really showed how it's done at the Globes this year. Sure, it's one thing showering and putting on a suit compared to what the women go through but these dudes all showed us how to be elegant, yet stylish and how important it is to wear an outfit that fits right. Rawr.

My new love Andrew Garfield is looking very suave isn't he? I really like his gait. His posture, his body in a suit, that face...so fine. Jake Gyllenhaal is just a given. Any excuse to put him on my blog. On the other hand, it's been a while since R-Pattz got any love from me but I did so love his navy suit the other night. It fit like a dream and he owned it. Nothing much better than a sexy man in a sexy suit. I'm lookin' at you Ryan Gosling.

Cringe-worthy
Ugh. Nicole Kidman. Why must you torture me so? Not only was your outfit completely blah but I was actually physically cringeing when I a) saw your face and b) witnessed your embarrassing and overt false displays of affection. We get it. You love each other. Stop trying to sell it to us. And go back to wearing amazing dresses! I truly used to consider your style infallible. Also, I miss your face.

P.S. Most pics borrowed from LaineyGossip.com, JustJared.com, gofugyourself.com, InStyle.com - I think.
P.P.S. Oh and you've seen Ricky Gervais' monologue right? Amazing, non? I swear I almost came when he referred to the closeted Scientologists (I have been telling all y'all that Tom Cruise and John Travolta are gay for a million years but nobody listens to me!!!) and called out the HFPA for wanting The Brange to come so bad that they bribed them with nominations. So much love. It's here if you haven't seen it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvHXzP2SpLA