Forgive Me Fashion, For I Have Sinned

It's been a while since I've posted anything, but that's only because I was working hard on breaking the ban, and I actually managed to lift it before the week was over!

Alright, first off, the cafes. The nicest cafe I sat at since I posted last was Supreme Cafe at the Freezone near Villa Moda. Wow. It was absolutely beautiful. First off, there were barely any other people there, which was great because you could actually hold a conversation with someone without yelling across the table. Secondly, the view was beautiful, the cafe is completely glass and you have a gorgeous sea view in front of you. I didn't have my camera on me, but I'm going to try and go back to that area today (all the cafes there have the same view) and I'll be sure to have my camera with me.

Another good one was Lino's Cafe in The Avenues. I like the fact that when you ordered a small drink, it actually looked like a small drink, and not a small one on steroids! I always have trouble finishing my drinks, so this place was perfect for me. It's located on the top floor at the very end of the mall, so it's away from all the crowds and the noise. If you haven't already noticed, I'm not a fan of crowded coffee shops!

On to the shopping!

I bought a couple of things from Express when I was at The Avenues. The reason that I like Express is that they have some simple pieces that can be worn everyday, but at the same time they're not too basic, there's always something about them that makes them look a little different than the plain old t-shirt.

I love the sleeves on this top, and fit so nicely that I got it in black as well.

Again, it was the sleeves that drew me to this top.

Although I have a closet full of boots, I really needed a new comfortable pair to wear to university. Heels show no mercy when your university is built on a hill.

I went a little crazy when I was at Villa Moda. I'm not going to talk about it too much, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Marni

Marni

I know that this looks like a summer colour, but I figured that it would be great in the winter when I'm dressed almost completely in black, it'll add some colour to my outfit.

Yves Saint Laurent

As you can see, I've been limiting my purchases, but that's only so that it doesn't look like I'm buying too much. I just keep going back every other day to pick up the next 3 pieces. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be going back to 360 Mall to pick up a skirt that I really liked.

Day 1 Of My Shopping Ban: Disaster!

So my shopping ban has not been easy on me at all, and it's only been a day! Let me explain a little bit better why this ban came about:

1. Because I've already spent a lot of shopping money in a very short amount of time.
2. Because I pick up whatever I think looks good, and in a week all the stores will have recieved their new collections, which means that I'll probably go back for that.

Therefore, the ban is meant to have me wait for the new collections. It's not going well at all.

Yesterday I was at 360 Mall. For those of you who don't know, the mall has a circular structure, hence making it go around 360 degrees, and so hence the name.

From my window shopping, this is what I noticed:

Mango has some really great pieces. There was a Royal Blue satin top in specific that I was dying to pick up, but my mother did not budge with the ban!

Nothing new or special. Their collections always look very similar. I did like the carry on luggage set that they had, so if anyone's looking few a new carry on, check out the ones at Juicy.

Amazing boots!! I was so tempted to pick a pair up, but I knew that it wouldn't fly by my mum. They looked like hiking boots, yet more feminine and with a platform to it.

They were adorable, and that's the style of boots that are in. So for those of you who aren't banned from shopping, go get yourself a pair.

Horrible. It was absolutely horrible. I don't think anyone should even bother checking it out. I'll update on this when the new collection comes around, but for now there is nothing worth buying.

Karen Millen is never a disappointment. The only problem is that a lot of things from the new collection look similar to the last collection that was out. Also, they have amazing coats on sale, but they're rain coats, and therefore too thin to keep me warm in Beirut's cold. Too bad, isn't it.

On a more cheerful note, once this ban is over I will be getting a number of different things that are definitely worth the wait. I'm not going to mention what they are just yet, so you'll have to wait and see. Trust me, you don't want to miss these purchases!

I remembered also that I forgot to show you all a dress that my mother had previously bought me from River Island. I can't model it because it's completely see through and I haven't bought anything to wear under it yet, but I'm sure you can imagine what it would look like.

Finally, I had McDonalds last night. I love McD's in Beirut, but once you're used to food somewhere else, you'll never be fully satisfied by anything else.

Random thought: even though McD's tastes very different in Kuwait than Lebanon, I sat down in Caribou Coffee yesterday and I got flashbacks of being in Caribou on Hamra, the drinks taste freakishly alike!!

That's all for now, don't forget to check back to see what I'm getting after the ban!!

Pre-Shopping Surprises

In yesterday's post I mentioned that I wasn't going shopping, this is because I had a little high school reunion with a bunch of my friends. It was great seeing everyone and catching up with them. It's crazy to see how much we've all changed and grown since then.

We ate at a Lebanese restaurant in Marina Mall called Ayyame.

The food was pretty good, and so was the whole atmosphere, so all in all it was a good night. I can't wait for the next gathering we have!

As I promised, just because I didn't go to a mall with the purpose of shopping or window shopping, does not mean that I don't have anything fashion related to show you all!

My mother and I have a system, due to the fact that I don't really shop that much in Beirut, every time she finds a nice piece here in Kuwait, she'll pick it up for me. Which means that every time I come back here, I always get little surprises when she shows me what she bought me. There are only 4 pieces, but I love them, so here they are:

Jacket from Express

Top from River Island

Sweater from Express

Top from River Island

Also, I finally bought a new laptop. I was initially thinking of buying myself an iPad, but after asking about 4 iPad owners what they thought about their iPads, and their reactions didn't really fit the specifications that I was looking for. It seemed like the iPad was more for entertainment than anything else, and what I needed wa a computer! So I decided to get myself a VAIO W-Series. It was a huge change from my Toshiba satellite. The first change was going from a 15.4" screen to a 10.1" screen. I bought a mini on purpose, because I wanted a laptop that I could easily slip into my purse, case and all. Let's be honest here, I'm already short, I don't need something that feels like a 5kg laptop weighing down on my shoulders (the VAIO is only 1kg). So this will be the last post I write on my Toshiba, it's been going strong since 2007, but it's time to go now.

Bye bye, Satellite.

Hello, VAIO.

That's all for today! I'm hitting 360 Mall tonight for some window shopping. I've been put on a one week ban because I've apparently spent too much so far. But I will never fail with bringing you all some fashionable news.

Skyscraper Heels & Sushi

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I headed out to Marina Mall in the morning. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen!! There was close to nobody there! It was empty, and there was no noise, and no crowds pushing and shoving, and no baby strollers bumping into you. There was a clear view of the entire mall, and enough space for 5 people to walk side by side. It was amazing.

Usually, Zara would automatically cause me to repel away from it. I'm not saying this because I think that Zara doesn't have nice clothes, I'm saying this for the following reasons:

1. Zara's clothes are always of great quality, but normally look very "deja vu" in the sense that it's nothing new.
2. Everybody shops at Zara, so it's kind of hard to look original.

Yesterday, though, that's where most of my shopping took place. I found a couple of simple pieces that could be used for a number of different looks. That's one good thing about Zara, the fact that a lot of their clothes are basic, and so can be accessorized to be dressed up or dressed down. Here are the pieces that I picked up:

I love the loose fit of the sweater

I found the belt of these shorts really unique.

As you can see, I've started stocking up for the winter.

This is a very cute sweater that can be worn with almost everything. It's beige and the buttons are pearl white.

I cannot wait to add accessories to this dress!

I then made my way over to Oysho, the best place to buy undergarments! The reason I love Oysho so much is that it satisfies my Hello Kitty fetish to the fullest. While I won't be showing you all the pieces that I bought, I will show you a pair of PJ bottoms that I picked up. They just look so comfortable, and they feel equally as comfortable:

Right before I left, I left my phone number at Nine West, because I had seen a pair of shoes online that I just have to have, and that's when I realized that I needed a new pair of black heels. So I made my way to Aldo and found them! They were simple, which is what attracted me to them. All I needed were some black heels, and that's exactly what they were:

It was my sister's birthday, so we went to Edo for dinner. If you're reading this blog from Kuwait and don't know what Edo is, you should be ashamed of yourself! It is, in my opinion, the best Japanese restaurant around. The restaurant was originally a villa, giving it a very home-y feel, the food is amazing, the service is great, and price is superb compared to the quality of the food. You're getting the best tasting sushi for the best prices here; or at least that's what I've seen so far. So if anyone is not in Kuwait but plans to visit some day, don't forget to try out Edo, especially if you're a sushi lover like myself!

That's all for today. I'm off to the hairdressers to pretty myself up. There won't be any shopping done tonight, but don't worry, I never run out of fashionable things to blog about!!

The 3 C's: Coffee, Clothes, & Cheese

Yesterday I hit mall #3: Al-Fanar Mall.

Sorry about the blurry picture, I had to take this while crossing the street!

I decided to break my "shopping to coffee" routine and start with the coffee this time. So I grabbed something at Le Notre. It's got a really nice seating area, but the coffee wasn't all that great in all honesty.

I did go to the mall in the evening, but this mall is an exception because it's almost never crowded. It was actually quite nice. I checked out Topshop and River Island, and while they had some pretty cool pieces, the material was always a disappointment. I tried on gorgeous dresses which were either completely see-through or just looked plain cheap because of the material.

Before my disappointment could hit rock bottom, I made my way across the street to H&M. While I didn't find everything I wanted from the H&M in Marina Mall, I did manage to pick up a couple of pieces for the upcoming seasons.

I got home at around 12:30am, and that's when I got the news that my mother and sister were hungry, and it was up to me to satisfy that hunger with a quick and light dish.

I'm not all too familiar with the kitchen to be honest, but I did make a promise to myself that I would become more acquainted with cooking this holiday. So I took my ass into the kitchen, and looked around to see what I could whip up in 5 minutes or less.

I found a bag of Mozzarella cheese, and a tub of fresh basil, and decided: Mozzarella salad! It was the only thing I could think of that would be done before hunger started to turn into irritation (and I'm talking about my own hunger as well!).

It was actually pretty good!! Now the presentation in the picture isn't that great, because I just chopped everything up really quickly and put it together. But since it came out tasting really good, I'm going to prepare it again sometime with a more decent presentation. All you need for the salad is: Mozzarella cheese, basil, fresh ground black pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

It's a perfect midnight snack for those who are fasting as well, because you don't really need to add salt, and therefore you won't wake up dying of thirst the next day. Have it with a piece of slightly toasted olive bread on the side, and you're good to go.

And now, the clothes from H&M!!!

I don't know why, but ruffled shirts are constantly grabbing my attention these days.

A more classic shirt, but still ruffled at the collar!

And again with the ruffles, haha. In all honesty though, it was the colour that drew me to this piece.

I bought a leather jacket for when the weather starts to turn a little bit windy. The scarf was bought because I normally cannot stand leopard print anything, but I really wanted to try it out, so I decided to start small.

This leather skirt is beautiful when worn, everyone should own one! Oh and to my big-booty girls out there, don't be alarmed when your regular size of this skirt feels too small, it's leather and we need breathing space. So pick up a bigger size feeling guilt free, God knows I did, because we're lucky enough to have some junk back there (and the good kind of junk!).

These rings came together as a set. They're really cute, and you can always mix and match with them which is great.

That's all I've got for now. I'm off to Marina Mall, this time while the sun's up so that I don't have to force my way through the mall. Oh, and Happy Birthday to my sister!! Finally 15!

Remember: Size doesn't matter, as long as you know you look good, that's all that counts.

Ramadan: The Worst Time To Shop!

As it's Ramadan, you have two choices of when to go shopping. You can either go between 10:00am and 4:00pm. Or wait until 8:30pm onwards. I made the mistake of heading out to The Avenues Mall at 9:00pm last night.

My first stop was Forever 21. It was a pleasant surprise after the disappointment it was in February. I didn't come out with the usual 5 bags or more, but I did manage to properly fill up at least one shopping bag. You do have to look very carefully, because a lot of the good pieces are hidden between a mass of really unattractive pieces.

After my semi-successful buys in Forever 21, I continued on to other stores. Topshop, River Island, Express, and much more were filled with great clothes, shoes and accessories. Unfortunately, because of how crowded the mall was, I actually fell out of my shopping mood, which almost never happens!

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera on my yesterday. So imagine this scene, but minus being able to actually see the floor!

I have therefore made the decision to never go shopping in the evening during Ramadan, because instead of retail therapy, you just get even more stressed out. It was horrible. This is why I am leaving my shopping for Friday and Saturday morning. There were so many great pieces, but the crowded mall completely put me off shopping.

I sat down at Paul to calm down from the near breakdown caused by the masses pushing their way through the mall. Although I'm not that big a fan of Paul in Beirut, I really enjoyed it here! I don't know why, but somehow it seems that I never know what to order in Beirut, yet as soon as I sit down at Paul here, I know exactly what to get.

In short, the stores are filled with great clothes people, so make a shopping date as soon as you can. And if you're in Kuwait, for your own safety and sanity, refrain from shopping in the evening during Ramadan!!!

Here are the things that I picked up from Forever 21.

I found this ring and could not help buying it. It looked very unique, I loved it. They kind of reminded me of brass knuckles!

Remember: shopping is supposed to be relaxing! Don't make it a chore.