31 October 2012

Halloween Costume!

Hey everyone!
Tonight I dressed up as the statue of liberty! The dance in the ballroom was tons of fun!
My friend Caleigh dressed up as Danny from Grease and Lexie went as Sandy! They won best dressed couple! Taryn was LMFAO! 
Happy Halloween!
Larissa Xx

photo challenge for november

For the month of November we decided to do a photo challenge.

Which means theres a list with a word or topic that we have to take a picture of each day in November.


This list that were using is from the blog FATMUMSLIM!

Starting tomorrow the challenge begins! lets see how creative Larissa and I can be!

ilonaxxx

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Tonight a dance is held in the ballroom in the castle! Everyone is dressing up and we're going to have a lot of fun tonight. There are palm readings and games! I'm really excited to see what everyone dresses up as!


There are 35 days left until I come back home! I love it here in  England, but I can't wait to see my family! There next few weeks are going to be busy, because I am going to be travelling most of the weekends! 

Larissa Xx

29 October 2012

Halloween Costume

Hey everyone!

Halloween is approaching and I'm dressing up as the Statue of Liberty! I was inspired from the blogger, Sara Montazami's friend Ashley.  I bought a crown headband from Topshop and  the American Apparel Figure Skater dress in Serpent. 

Talk to you all soon!
Larissa Xx

28 October 2012

Halloween

Happy Halloween! What are all your creative halloween costumes?
Last night me and my friends celebrated not only halloween, but also the end of our busy week filled with midterms. 

I was a loofah, I put the costume together myself, using a cheap tank dress, about 20 metres of tulle and a couple hours of hand sewing! But I loved the way it came out. 
For my makeup, I kept it simple with my natural look and then I wore some false lashes from MAC for fun. I then added some highlighter on my cheeks and nose for that extra glow you would get. 


 Heres a picture of my loofah 
 Me and my friend Julia who was Sandy from Grease
The three girls, a toddler and tiara, sandy and a loofah!

I think on Wednesday I may be minnie mouse... what other suggestions do you have?
ilona xxx

27 October 2012

Toronto Fashion week

Yesterday I has the coolest experience ever! 

Always wanting to go to fashion week, I was disappointed when I found out you have to be 19 to either volunteer or see the shows. So when an opportunity came up to help with Toronto designer Sunny Fong of VAWK designs, I went for an interview and got the job!

There was a small group of fashion students from Ryerson that I met up with to go down to the tent. Once we got there we got sent backstage, where we just took everything in; the models walking back and fourth, the chaos in the makeup/hair room and the preparation that happens backstage. 

My job was to be in the front and give guests their tickets and seats. So I was busy checking peoples names off a list and handing out tickets. It got a bit chaotic, as theres always those people that are not on the list, or don't actually have a seat assigned to them! but thats all part of the fun! I gave David Dixon his ticket!

Once the show started, we got to go and actually watch the fashion show. I fell in love with the whole atmosphere, and can safely say that fashion is the right choice of study for me!

Here are some pictures of the night.

 We had to wear all black, so I borrowed my friends peplum top, and wore my black wedges and black skinny jeggings I bought. 











Happy Saturday!
ilonaxxx












23 October 2012

Last night in Scotland!

Hey everyone!

Tonight is our last night in Edinburgh, Scotland. We have had an extremely long day today! I went to visit 5 different castles today and it was so much fun! Later on in the day we had gone to do some shopping in the Price mall and tried some delicious smoothies! I chose the Perfect peach and Courtney and Lexie had gotten the Monkey Business. It literally tasted like a peanut butter and banana sandwich. We loved them so much that we had to go back and get another! 
Courtney, Caleigh and I are just relaxing on our last night in Edinburgh. Tomorrow we head to Liverpool! I cannot wait!
Talk to you all soon!
Larissa Xx

rainy days

hey,

Today is one of those grey days! luckily I'm stuck inside studying for my midterms... but all I want is to be watching some movies and laying in bed.

Things to do on a rainy day:


Make some crepes, my favourite toppings: brown sugar and fresh orange juice

Watch some movies, all time favourite.


Start planning/making your halloween costume stuck for ideas? 


Can't go wrong with a pile of magazines to read, or look for some fashion/beauty inspiration.

Enjoy your day,
ilonaxxx

20 October 2012

Scotland!

Hey everyone!

Caleigh, Lexie, Courtney, myself and the castle kids are off to Scotland. See you all soon!

Larissa Xx

Ed Sheeran

Hey everyone!
Yesterday night we had gone to see Ed Sheeran in Brighton! Courtney, Taryn, Lexie and I went to see him!





It was the best concert that I've been to! He is absolutely amazing live and everyone should see him perfom if they get the chance! He interacts with the audience and we were his choir!

We were the standing in the second row and had an amazing view!

Guess who showed up to support his friend Ed? Harry Styles! I freaked out when I saw him! It made the experience even better! I could not have had the best night ever!

LarissaXx

Dress up!

Hey!
Two nights ago I created an outfit for my friend Lexie to wear to an Ed Sheeran concert!!

She wore a demin shirt from H&M, White tanktop dress from American Apparel, statement necklace from forever 21, Steve Madden shoulder bag, Michael Kors watch and Black studded combat boots.


Larissa Xx

Asos Haul

Hey everyone!


I had received a package today!  It was clothing that I ordered from Asos. 

I bought a white dress from Vera moda. It has a really pretty A-line skirt to it. The back is very fun as it had yellow material around the shoulders. 


I had ordered two wedges! One is perfect for my Halloween costume and the other is neutral, but fun at the same time! I had purchased two skirts, one is black and the other is grey. 

Talk to you all soon!
Larissa Xx

18 October 2012

Hurry up Friday...


1. My new necklace I got from a cute boutique downtown
2. The sunrise, up and ready before the sun
3. A never ending project I have for Fundamentals
4. Who needs to study when you can paint your nails?
5. The perfect study buddy
6. A good cup o' tea
7. The "big shirt" assignment
8. Best cupcake from a food truck
9. Me in the "big shirt" 

16 October 2012

Fashion Professional Profile


Hey!

Not too long ago I interviewed the wonderful Leesa Butler, a Canadian Professional in the Toronto Fashion Industry, here is a little biography about her and her work...





        




    
    
        Leesa Butler, an American born Canadian, can be found all over Toronto; managing a gifting service during TIFF, running a fashion blog and teaching the rules of social media to professionals. Focusing her time on promoting Canadian designers in the fashion industry, Leesa “appreciates the underdog” and understands the challenges they face to get a name known. Facing daily challenges herself, Leesa balances her work life and personal life as well as maintaining her 500 plus relationships.  In her own personal style, Leesa admires vintage and one of a-kind pieces, as displayed in her work, which is inspired by her everyday life. 

Fig. 2 Leesa & Jake

         Growing up, Leesa lived all over the United States including Maryland, Baltimore, Pennsylvania and New York City. After falling in love with the fast pace of New York City, and wanting a change Leesa saw Toronto’s potential in becoming an up and coming city. In the early 2000s, Leesa found herself becoming a regular visitor to Toronto, as a newlywed to Jake Gold who worked primarily in Toronto and had family living here. Desiring everything New York had to offer, but in a smaller more condensed environment, she wanted to live near the parks and a transport system, without having to “sacrifice the night life and cosmopolitan vibe” from New York. She found this in the multicultural city of Toronto.

         With a wide variety of work experience in advertising, public relations and marketing, Leesa has used her skills from all of these to create her three companies. Divine Lab, specializing in marketing consultant and digital marketing events was first created to familiarize herself with the World Wide Web and teaching others this knowledge through social media training. “Usually the mandate is ‘we need to be on twitter’ and they start throwing tweets out but they don’t really know what they’re doing with it… I just walk people through how that works, how do you reply to people [and] what kind of content [they] should be throwing out there”. Leesa teachers the most effective way to use social media including Twitter, Facebook, blogs and Instagram to gain interest from followers and build a fan base. Leesa believes that social media and the web have helped her companies achieve success by giving her the opportunities to connect with people she has never met face to face, and being able to promote to such a “vast population of people.” She continues to develop her expertise in this industry, as well as updating many of her own profiles.

Fig. 3 a snapshot from The F-list blog
Leesa has always had an interest for writing, however after graduating from advertising and public relations she was unable to break out as a writer. This influenced her decision to create TheF-list, a fashion blog focusing on Canadian designers and local fashion events. Deciding to promote Canadians on The F-list was a simple choice, knowing that the media coverage for these designers is minimal and their potential to sell is a challenge. In comparison to the United States, Leesa has noticed that the lack of retail opportunities for independent designers is a direct result of boutiques being unwilling to take a risk and sell their merchandise. Using her digital media background and her coverage of fashion week and other events, Leesa has been posting on The F-list for the past six years.


Fig. 4 The gifts from TIFF 2012 Tastemakers Lounge
        Leesa collaborated with her friend Debra Goldblatt to create Tastemakers Lounge at TIFF after the “lack of vision in gift giving.” She believes working with a friend, means an open relationship where both sides have to be honest with one another.  Leesa is also on the board of Fashion Group International, an organization that was founded in 1928 when the need for a fashion forum and a way to express the significance of the women’s role in the business was required. In both companies, Leesa enjoys the energy from the group environment and gets inspired by the people around her.

        
Fig. 5 Leesa's dog Marlon
 Having a busy lifestyle Leesa likes to find quiet time, where she “unplugs for a while”, either taking her dog for walks when she often finds inspiration for upcoming projects, or reading a book. Leesa would like to use her career, and help the next generation by mentoring them in making the right decisions and getting started in the fashion industry. In order to succeed she believes one must be forward and ask questions. 


15 October 2012

Time to work!

Hey!

So I just finished my fall reading week, and am back in class and have loads of studying and assignments to start and finish for next week.

The rest of my day will be spent studying for my first mid term tomorrow eek... hope its not too bad!


I'll try and post as much as I can in the next two weeks, but a warning I am swamped with work and all that fun stuff!

ilona xxx

Red lips

Hey everyone! 

Today I decided to be bold and wear red lipstick. I used Rimmel London Lasting Finish by Kate in Rosseto 01. I really like this colour because it is a deep red and it goes wit my skin tone.


I really do enjoy this lipstick!Have a great day!Larissa Xx