Last year, I attended Designer Vault’s “Vintage Designer Trunk” show, which featured so many wonderful vintage designer items, including the most Chanel I’ve ever seen in one place at one time (original post here). It was a lovely event, where a percentage of the sales went to benefit Promises2Kids.
Since then, they’ve been put on the Coco Chanel map due to Miley Cyrus and Refinery 29 (click the link for their blog post). So it’s no surprise that this year, Designer Vault will present another vintage trunk show, but will feature all Chanel clothing, handbags and jewelry, where 10% of the sales will again benefit Promises2Kids.
Promises2Kids annually provides over 3,300 current and former foster youth in San Diego County with the tools, opportunities, and guidance they need to address the circumstances that brought them into foster care, overcome the difficulties of their past, and grow into healthy, happy and successful adults.
All of the details are below on how you can RSVP, and I’ll be in attendance so I hope to see you there!
Need “Something To Do” this weekend? Check out some fun events below!
(Yup, I worked a Depeche Mode song in there…)
Grand Opening of George’s Camera: Friday & Saturday, November 14 & 15 2014
To celebrate the grand opening of George’s Camera on Clairemont Mesa Boulevard, The Tamron Tailgate Tour will be stopping by for a “Fun Educational Photo Experience”, which includes FREE photography mini-sessions, answering all of your photography questions, test driving new products, and a luncheon on the first day of the stop.
Who:George’s Camera
What: Grand Opening at Clairemont Mesa location
Tamron Tailgate Tour
Tailgate lunch
Where:
7475 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111
When:
Friday, November 14, 9am to 5:30pm. The Tamron Tailgate Tour will be stopping in San Diego to provide guests with fun photography training and a tailgate lunch. Participants can get answers from experts and try out the latest Tamron technology. Amateurs, hobbyists and professionals are welcome.
Saturday, November 15, camera manufacturers will have representatives on site. Free classes will be ongoing from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., as well as various photo booths for guests to get behind and in front of the camera.
GRACEDbyGRIT x Core40 Trunk Show: Saturday, November 15 2014
GRACEDbyGRIT is teaming up with CORE40 to bring you another trunk show, and you’re invited!
Based in San Diego, GRACEDbyGRIT gear is designed with a combo of form and fashion, making it the only workout gear you need. Our apparel is multi-functional, meaning you can wear GRACEDbyGRIT to a Pilate’s workout then go for a swim at Solana Beach right after.
GRACEDbyGRIT understands what it takes to be a woman and through their apparel, they celebrate the strength behind every woman’s story.
Attendees will enjoy a raffle, champagne, and more!
Fashion Week San Diego Wearables Workshop: Sunday November 16, 2014
Imagine a purse that charges your phone, or a watch that changes your life. These fashionable accessories will be trending in our society sooner than you probably even realize, and FWSD wants to give you the exclusive insider scoop!
Note: This workshop will feature San Diego Style Bloggers – Vanessa Balli and Maria Von Losch!
Who: Fashion Week San Diego
What: Wearables Workshop featuring speakers and panelists sharing the latest in fashion trends and fashion technology.
A couple of months ago, I posted about a contest to win a Furla Candy Bag from Duty Free City (original post here). Last Thursday, I was invited to attend their official grand opening, with red carpet coverage by none other than Cindy Matalucci of The Pulse! It was a fun and glamorous event, where I saw some familiar faces, like Tiffany (model, fellow San Diego Style Bloggers contributor and blogger of Glitz and Glam pictured above left) and the girls of Nubry (not pictured). I also had the chance to finally chat at length with Katie of La Jolla Mom (pictured above right), and meet someone new, like Heather and her lovely pug, Chloe of The Stylish Bisou (scroll down for our picture below).
As I’ve mentioned previously, Duty Free City is more than just a place to shop for luxury goods. Touted as a “lifestyle destination”, Duty Free City has it all: not only can I pamper myself for an afternoon, but I can take my whole family and they can also enjoy themselves in the process. Thank you to Be Social PR and Duty Free City for a lovely evening and congratulations on your newest location!
Duty Free City is a lifestyle destination that inspires consumers to connect with their favorite brands through a luxurious, service-focused and interactive shopping experience. The company offers consumers an exceptionally crafted and elegant atmosphere, carrying designer accessories and beauty products, fragrances, leather goods, confectionary, wine and spirits and tobacco within its 14,000 square foot space. The store’s talented salon experts and Men Shoppe associates offer guests unique one-on-one services on-site, including personal shopping, manicures, pedicures and hair styling. The store also provides children with an area designed just for them, as well as the convenience of valet parking. Featuring the most sophisticated products in beauty and lifestyle, Duty Free City boasts an impressive brand portfolio, including the entire Estee Lauder Group (Clinique, Smashbox, etc.). Chosen as the only border store to carry its big name brands, Duty Free City offers a wide range of highly reputable products not seen in other border stores.
Cindy from The Pulse with Philippe Dray, CEO of Duty Free City.
Beer & spirits with wine tasting, a cigar lounge, sweets & treats, and a little café are all available to enhance the shopping experience!
Cindy interviewing La Jolla Mom writer, Katie Dillon in the “Kids Town” section, a fun place for kids to hang out and play!
Music for the evening provided by world-renowned Gypsy Band
With Cindy of The Pulse. She is so gorgeous!
With Heather and Chloe of The Stylish Bisou. I absolutely adore this lady, and it so lovely to finally meet her and her stylish pug!
My outfit details: House of Cannon Silver Robot Summer Dress; Forever 21 coat (old); Nine West “Genarosao” Boots (bought on ebay); Furla Candy Bag won from Duty Free City (original post here); Topshop necklace; Lookmatic “Tippi” glasses; ring by Suki Bijoux
To quote the charismatic actor Matthew McConaughey: “Alright, alright, alright!” Here is my recap of the San Diego Style Bloggers at Bellus Academy in Poway. Along with yummy desserts, coffee and goodie bags, it was a fun day filled with learning all about wonderful beauty tips for hair, make-up and nails. I arrived a bit late, so I came in during the hair styling demonstration given by stylist Erik Thrane. He did an amazing updo style. While pinning up the model’s hair, he mentioned that a good way to keep one’s hair pinned up securely was to weave the hair into the bobby pin, then pin it up into the hair.
Stylist Erik Thrane: Follow him on Instagram at @erikthranecolorist
After the hair styling session came a wonderful makeup demonstration by artist Marina Estrella. She gave so many useful tips. For instance, she explained that for mature skin (like myself), avoid shimmer and don’t do full coverage. Instead, mix color with moisturizer to give a more satin look rather than matte. A tip I used pretty much right away was regarding applying lip color: put the majority of the lip color while your mouth is relaxed, then smile to place the rest of the color. My favorite tip of the day: “Blending is everything. Blending is the secret of life…” This is something I will carry with me forever!
Makeup artist Marina Estrella: Follow her on Instagram at @marinaaestrellamua
The last demonstration of the day was nail art by Ally Caraveo. The entire time she spoke, she painted the nails you will see in the middle picture below. She stated she draws her inspiration from street art, graffiti, and tattoos. Wherever she draws her inspiration, it results in something incredible! Then the Director Of Spa Nails, Trudy Reynolds (pictured with Director of Community Relations, Leilani Angel), gave us some information regarding shellac and what it means in relation to nail care. This truly was a lovely event presented by Be Social PR, and our hosts at Bellus Academy were perfect!
Nail artist Ally Caraveo: Follow her on Instagram at @allycaraveo
Leilani Angel and Trudy Reynolds of Bellus Academy
Top photo: A quick selfie with Nicholle of Topknots and Pearls and Tiffany of Glitz and Glam. Bottom photos: Another shot of my lovely shirt from Wardrobe Ritual and my vintage Céline clutch purse (outfit post here).
Oh, and I won the raffle! Day of relaxation, here I come!
Last week, my British shopping dreams came true in my hometown: I had the pleasure and privilege of attending some lovely events related to the TOPSHOP/TOPMAN grand opening at Fashion Valley Mall! A very lucky few of us were able to attend a press preview event the night before, where we got the chance to tour and shop this beautiful space before the grand opening. Upon entering the store, I felt like there was something special happening. Even though I’ve been to the New York and Las Vegas locations, in addition to two locations in London (Oxford Circus and Knightsbridge), there was just something wonderful about having a location in San Diego. I guess I feel like there is a tiny bit of London that I could visit whenever I wanted to, right in my own backyard. I’ve captured everything in pictures and split them up between the different events. Thank you to Noelle and Chris of Fashion Valley, and to Camille and Marisa of TOPSHOP/TOPMAN for allowing me to attend these wonderful events for the grand opening of one of my all time favorite shops. Cheers!
THE PREVIEW NIGHT
It was nice to walk around while the store was nearly empty, as I’m sure I’ll never get to see it like that again!
A section called “Jersey”, which houses all of their basics.
Yes it does! I think that will be my next sweatshirt…
I’m taking the hubby here soon!
The shoe wall. Glorious, isn’t it?
The TOPSHOP Stylist section. It’s an adorable area!
Thank you to stylist Sierra for helping me out for the evening and making me feel special. And yes, I bought that poncho!
A couple of mini-hauls: Picture 1 – Our gift bag from TOPSHOP; Picture 2 – My purchases for the evening, which was an adorable necklace, a hat, and the poncho I tried on in the picture above.
THE GRAND OPENING!
The outdoors DJ for the day, greeting the shoppers who came in droves for the opening!
People who made purchases were treated to an exclusive TOPSHOP screen printed shirt (while supplies lasted)!
So sad that I missed Cold War Kids…but I had to get home early to finish Halloween costumes for the family!
We saw so many fellow bloggers that night. It was lovely (as always) to hang out again with Laura of the blog Laura Neuzeth, and especially to help her capture her meeting one of her favorite musical artists, Devendra Banhart.
I brought my BFF Janice as my “+1” for the evening, and here are a couple of snapshots from our PHHHOTO videos (I’m wearing that hat I bought at the preview night). One of the videos is below. Such a fun camera!
Here’s a full video from TOPSHOP’s official You Tube channel of the San Diego store grand opening!
TOPSHOP/TOPMAN launch the brand’s first store in San Diego, California, to open at Fashion Valley
TOPSHOP/TOPMAN is proud to announce the opening of their first store in San Diego, California on October 30th, 2014. The 17,500 square foot store will be located in the beautiful outdoor Fashion Valley in Mission Valley.
TOPSHOP will encompass 8,500 square feet of the first floor. This floor will feature the brand’s premium lines, mainline collections, denim, accessories, TOPSHOP beauty and petite. A bright interior of whites and pastels will accentuate the product.
TOPMAN will occupy the basement floor in a 5,000 square foot space. The curated products will include a sophisticated range of suits and smart wear, denim in various fits, the TOPMAN mainline range and footwear. Sleek dark wood interiors, LED lights and tinted windows set TOPMAN apart from its feminine upstairs counterpart.
The basement will also house key TOPSHOP products such as shoes, lingerie, maternity and swimwear. The TOPSHOP/TOPMAN stylist service is also housed on this level.
Celebrate TOPSHOP & TOPMAN in their stylish new store.
Opening October 30th at 11:00am.
Exclusive Giveaways available for the first 100 customers through the door.
First 10 people receive tickets to the VIP Party and $100 Topshop Topman Gift Card.
Next 50 people receive a $50 Topshop Topman Gift Card.
Next 40 people receive priority T-Shirt Printing.
Pick a Print
Live T-shirt printing with six exclusive prints.
In a Spin
Local DJ’s on the decks.
Stylish Snaps
Get snapped in our pop-up booth and share with your friends.
Earlier this month, I attended the grand opening of ROYALIE Boutique in Oceanside (which I posted about on the San Diego Style Bloggers site here). I originally met Alison Choi when she had a space in the Vixen Pop-Up Boutique at Flower Hill Promenade last year (original post here). How wonderful to see her space and website evolve into her very own boutique, which is as stylish and adorable as she is! Guests for the evening were treated to live music, craft cocktails and yummy food. In the picture above, I had one of the special drinks made for the evening called a “Blueberry Royalie” from Melange. Not to be left out, Dominic (who insisted on accompanying me to my “blogger thingie”) had a wonderful virgin lemonade craft creation, which he loved (his exact words were “Mama, this is YUMMY!”). I want to thank Jordanne from Julep Marketing, and another big congratulations to Alison on the lovely boutique (which I will be patronizing in the near future). Cheers and have a great weekend!
How beautiful is this sitting/photo-op area for guests to enjoy? Very chic!
I love the Curiocity Catering food truck, who provided light bites for the evening!
A few shots from inside the boutique. So quaint and stylish.
Love this outfit! I’m going back to see if that sweater is still there…
Dominic wanted in on my selfie. This is the jacket that appears in my most recent outfit post (here).
With Alison Choi, owner of ROYALIE. Congratulations again on your fabulous new boutique!
As mentioned previously, I’ll be doing a lot of catch up posts on events I’ve been to in the past couple of months. I was trying to figure out how to post these events, since they are a mix of store events and fashion shows. Since the fashion shows apply to the whole fall/winter season, I will post the store events since they are more timely and based on current lines and store openings. On September 23rd, I attended the introduction of The Limited’s newest collection inspired by the hit TV show Scandal. The collection was designed to be smart, sexy, and chic, just like the character Olivia Pope (played by Kerry Washington) and all gladiators out there.
The models at The Limited’s Scandal event at Fashion Valley were styled by Dean Hall (Style and Men). They then walked around the store to show just how the these fabulously fearless fashions moved in real-time. One of the models was none other than Tiffany of the blog Glitz and Glam and fellow contributor to San Diego Style Bloggers (she’s seen in the picture above behind Dean, and one of the pictures below). It is a beautiful collection, full of classic pieces and shapes. I fell in love with the coats, and especially that cape below! I want to thank The Limited for inviting me to this lovely event (even though I couldn’t stay very long). The collection is available now in stores and online!
It’s been awhile since I’ve done an outfit post! I wanted to end this week with one, because it will lead well into several catch up posts of fab fashion events I’ve attended recently. My company has just approved casual dress at work, which is nice because I can really experiment with my wardrobe, mixing up the extremely casual with my regular office wear. So this “dressy sweatshirt” trend will fall nicely into all of my upcoming wardrobe plans. It’s the easiest to elevate up with fab shoes and a sparkly purse, then dress it down a bit with jeans and great sneakers. This orchid sweatshirt by Altuzarra for Target is one of my favorites, especially paired with the ankle boots from the same line. Other than my deep adoration for the Furla Candy Bag I recently won from Duty Free City, I am completely obsessed with lip products from Lime Crime makeup. I’ve already bought the Velvetine matte lipstains in “Salem”, “Wicked” and “Red Velvet” (not pictured below), and one of the Unicorn lipsticks in “Coquette”. Of all of the lip products I’ve tried in the past, Lime Crime’s lipsticks and lipstains give me the best and longest lasting coverage ever. Have a great weekend, cheers!
Outfit – Altuzarra for Target orchid sweatshirt and ankle boots; Sans Souci jacket through a gift certificate c/o Royalie; Madewell denim leggings; Furla Candy Bag won from Duty Free City; BonLook Keiko sunnies in Roxy Noir; Kate Spade Goreski Glasses Bangle; Karl Lagerfeld pyramid stud watch; Rings by Wendy Brandes and Suki Bijoux; Lime Crime “Salem” Velvetine lipstain (“Wicked” Velevtine & “Coquette” Unicorn Lipstick also pictured below)
(Post title from “Crime & Passion” by Duran Duran, All outfit photos by Rholnna Jiao.)
“Every amazing outfit first starts with a fabulous pair of shoes.”
– Marie Claire Creative Director, Nina Garcia
Love that quote by Nina Garcia! And I am all about great shoes, so I’m up for anything that allows me the ability to step up my shoe game! I just learned that Simon Malls has teamed up with the extremely popular worldwide publication, Marie Claire, on an exclusive shoe shopping guide called SHOES FIRST, and Fashion Valley Mall is one of four locations nationwide chosen to release it! As a part of the multi-platform release, if you snap a picture of your favorite shoe style from the SHOES FIRST Shopping Guide at one of the “Pop-Up Selfie Stations” sprinkled throughout the mall, you could win a $500 Simon gift card to spend towards enhancing your own shoe wardrobe! Check out all the information in the press release below, including a digital copy of the guide. Happy shopping!
FASHION VALLEY AND MARIE CLAIRE COLLABORATE ON AN EXCLUSIVE SHOES FIRST™ SHOPPING GUIDE, INVITING WOMEN TO STEP INTO THE SEASON WITH STYLE
SAN DIEGO, Calif. (October 13, 2014) – Fashion Valley,aSimon shopping destination, is one of four locations nationwide announcing the release of an exclusive SHOES FIRST™ Shopping Guide, inspired by Marie Claire Creative Director Nina Garcia’s famous fashion philosophy that, “Every amazing outfit first starts with a fabulous pair of shoes.”
Showcasing the season’s most covetable heels, boots, and flats, the SHOES FIRST™ Shopping Guide, a portable print booklet available at Guest Services, in common seating areas and at participating retailers, features the latest looks from H&M, Jimmy Choo, Michael Kors, Max Mara, GUESS, and more—all available for purchase at Fashion Valley.
Pop-up selfie stations are now strategically located throughout the center, encouraging shoppers to snap and share a photo of their personal favorite SHOES FIRST™ style using #foundatsimon and #contest for a chance to win a $500 Simon Giftcard.
“Our SHOES FIRST™ Shopping Guide brings the joy of discovering fashion to life via a beautifully curated style guide featuring shoes found at our malls,” said Chris Lane, director of marketing and business development at Fashion Valley. “We are excited to offer unique style insight from Marie Claire exclusively to our fashion-conscious, shoe-hungry shoppers, who are the tastemakers of the San Diego market. We hope everyone takes advantage of the opportunity to showcase their style-savvy with our fun Shoe Selfie Stations.”
“Now in our second year of celebrating SHOES FIRST™, we’re beyond thrilled to extend the power—and reach—of this multiplatform movement,” said Nancy Berger Cardone, Vice President/Publisher/Chief Revenue Officer of Marie Claire. “The Marie Claire woman is shoe-obsessed, as is the Simon shopper, so it’s only fitting that we partner together on this special shopping initiative.”
This month, consumers nationwide are invited to visit simon.com to view a digital copy of the SHOES FIRST™ Shopping Guide, plus read an exclusive shoe-centric Q&A with Elana Zajdman, Associate Accessories Editor at Marie Claire.
