With Violets

HI!

2011-05-14T22:02:00.000-07:00

I've moved to a new blog, Sparks Ignite ! I hope you all decide to follow me there as I start a new blog that hopefully fits me better as a person! :)

This is super awesome: the Ruche Summer Lookbook

2010-05-30T00:18:00.000-07:00

WHERE HAS THIS BRAND BEEN ALL OF MY LIFE, WHEEEEERE. I could honestly live in these clothes, they're so pretty! Anyways, if you go to their website, you can win a gorgeous nautical-style red and white woven handbag! I've officially fallen in love with it, no joke.
To enter the contest, go here.

Mini mini life update

2010-05-12T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! Life has been hectic, so I've barely been on here lately, sorry :\. However, I only have 3 exams and a presentation left to go! Wheeeeee!

I'm considering getting a new blog, though, just to be able to start a new, y'know...

oh and can you all pleeeeeease check out my last post ? I need some advice on the set-up/layout of my blog posts, please?

You should also all check out this giveaway from In Bug's Drawers. It's the giveaway of an awesome vintage purse, it's so adorable! :)

Hope to hear from all of you,
Laura <3

Help por favor!

2010-05-02T18:12:00.001-07:00

Ok so, I'm planning on making a new blog, I'm just trying to get more of a feel of blogspot.

so now I'm just uploading random pics from my comp, since I remember one of the main troubles was figuring out the placing of pictures.So, I'm discovering that posting pics is really annoying. Every single time, it goes to the top of the post and I have to drag it down all the way!

Does anyone have any ideas, advice, tricks, etc? Or do I just suck it up?

Hiatus

2009-07-08T21:18:00.001-07:00

Sorry, but by the way, there won't be any updates on this blog for the next month or so because I'll be in...

ISRAEL!
*wootwoot*
I'm so excited.

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE!

xo,
L.

Book, books, books! (and contests!)

2009-07-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably don't know this (or you might), but within a day or 2 of knowing me, all of my friends know that I love reading. Honestly, I live off of books.That is why I was supersuperexcitedwhen I heard about mini-reading challenges! They are hosted by various blogs and web sites and they usually set a time frame, subject and an amount of books to read.
I'm participating in over 5 of these challenges. Yes, I'm crazy, but hey, I have almost an entire year to read most of the books required!

1. Read Emma
2. Read Persuasion (re-reading, but whatever)
3. Read Jane Austen's 'minor works' book.
4. Watch Mansfield park 1986'
5. Watch Emma (the one from the 80's...)
6. Watch Persuasion (the one from the 80's...)
- On that note, everyone watch Northanger Abbey from the 80's. It's hilariously tacky in the 80's way :D.

1. Read Wives and Daughters
2. Maybe Watch Wives and Daughters for the 87th time?
OR
2. Read North and South

1. Read Daniel Deronda
2. Watch Daniel Deronda
OR
1. Read Middlemarch
2. Watch Middlemarch
OR
1. Read Daniel Deronda
2. Read Middlemarch

To be determined, but definitely:
1. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte
2. Villette by Charlotte Bronte
3. Evelina by Fanny Burney
4. The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
5. Emma by Jane Austen
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen (re-reading, but whatever).
7. Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell
8. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
9. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (for the 128th (?) time, but whatever.)

There's no time limit and no set amount, so who knows?! Though definitely:
1. Lady of Quality (by GH, duh).

1. Anna Karenina (amazing book, but for some reason I can never get further than approximately halfway in. I've tried maybe 2 or 3 times!)
2. War and Peace.

1. The Pearl (I read it when I was 12 and I liked it even if I didn't understand most of the symbolism. Hey, I was 12).
2. Of mice and men (recommended to me many times!)
3. The Grapes of Wrath (also recommended to me many times!)

I haven't read any of him but I've seen the trailers for 2 movies based on his books, "He knew he was right" and "The way we live now" and they look really good!
1. Read He Knew He was right and 2. Watch the movie
OR
1. Read The Way We live now and 2. Watch the movie.

I really don't know what to read, but I'll discover new books! (Which is kind of the point of all of these challenges...)

1. The Winter's Tale by Shakespeare (16th century)
OR
2. A collection of poems by Veronica Franco (16th century) --> I'll be talking much more about her sooner or later!

I don't know what else... (Probably just books from other challenges that I'll already be reading?).

While I'm at it, there's a fabulous contest hosted by Fashionista 514 to win Badass shampoo and conditioner! :)

xo,
L.

Happy Father's day!

2009-06-21T20:11:00.001-07:00

I love my daddy :). He's amazing and funny and adorable and he's a very handy guy ^^.

<3,
L.

Sewing Trouble + Mascara giveaway!

2009-06-20T20:42:00.000-07:00

Hey lovelies!
The mascara giveaway is here at Fashionista 514. The giveaway is a maybelline pulse perfection mascara, the tube is really pretty ^^.

I would definitely want this mascara in the hopes that it will actually work! I have long eyelashes and they're dark (and beautiful, if I do say myself *bats eyelashes*) but a bit flat and even if they're 'voluminous' they can get a bit clumpy at the outer corners of my eyes and no other mascara seems to fix that, so I'm hoping to be able to try this one :). It's also a motivation to (finally) put contacts on! You see, since my eyelashes are insanely long if I make them longer the mascara will smudge onto my glasses (or my eyelashes will just continuously hit my glasses, which is also a bad thing). Thus, contacts! AKA nothing blocking my eyes! Problem is that no matter how many times I've tried I can't get the contacts in my eyes (which may have something to do with my eyelashes being in the way, but who knows). However, I'm thinking if maybe I have tangible motivation that might actually work I might be more determined! :)

Now I don't wear mascara at all (bad experiences...) I'm not really sure what kind of look would actually look good on me. However, I think I would try and go for this kind of look:For that look I would use a) mascara, a tinytiny bit of black eyeshadow on my lids (applied as eyeliner) with b) a pink-red lipgloss, I'm thinking this lipgloss I have from Lipfusion called "Bloom" or this dark pink lipgloss from Nivea that I think is called Rasberry (the name was only on the package which I threw out a while ago), c) I'd also put on a little bit of blush ;), d) my hair in waves or loose curls.

I could also go with this look:

I would use a) mascara, multiple layers of it, and b) Clinique lipstick in "sugar poppy" under a bright red lipgloss from Nivea that also doesn't have a name, c) loose and big curls.

One last look that would look good is:

No matter how crazy Brigitte Bardot was, I really loved her hair and makeup. For this look, all I would need is a)mascara with a bit of black eyeliner on, applied thinly closer to the inner corners and thicker closer to the outer corners, b) my bronzer/blush, which is really Hard Candy liquid blush in honey (or something like that, the name got scratched off over time), c) a bit of barely there nude/clear lipgloss, like another Nivea lipgloss I have, which is also nameless, but a kind of beige-y baby pink colour that (on me) looks kind of clear-ish, d) relaxed, no-fuss hair that looked a bit like the bedhead look but more sophisticated. Waves, I guess.

**SEWING TROUBLE**
Does anyone here use a "Europro computerized sewing machine"? If you do, could you help me out? I got my sewing maching about 2 years ago for my birthday and it still doesn't work! There's something different that's wrong everytime... *sigh*.
If you can help, please tell me and I can either e-mail you a full description of what's wrong, or I can message you, or write a post about it here...
Thanks!

<3,
L.

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

2009-06-15T22:16:00.000-07:00

Vintage Earrings Tutorial and GIVEAWAY!!!!

Ok I just discovered this new blog, it's called "grosgrain" and it's soooo cool. I want to sew like she does! (If only I could get my sewing maching to work...*sigh*).
Anyways, she gave a fantastic tutorial to make these really pretty earrings:

Ack they're so pretty!! So pretty much you just paint the flower whatever colour you want (if you want to change the colour to begin with), break off the back loop and hot glue the post onto the back! :) It looks quite simple, actually :).

<3,
L.

Style Inspiration: Grace Kelly in "To Catch a Thief" (1955)

2009-06-10T12:46:00.000-07:00

My 2nd style inspiration is, as you can see from the entry title, GRACE KELLY!
I've only seen her in one movie but she's still one of my favourite actresses - I was so impressed with her (and every other aspect of this movie) when I watched To Catch a Thief! One of the amazing aspects is, of course, the clothes. Unfortunately, this movie is underrated and unpopular, so there aren't that many good pictures, but here are pictures of my favourite looks:

(click on the picture to see a bigger and clearer version of it)
- The dress on the bottom that looks white is actually pink.
- I love all of the vibrant colours, especially on the top left picture of the blue dress! I'm also a fan of the scarves draped across to the back like it is in that picture.
- I want the yellow bathing suit she's wearing. Really badly.
- I really want the hat she's wearing when she's wearing the black and white outfit.
- I want the pink scarf she's wearing.
Hmmmm, I'm quite greedy, aren't I? Oh well.

Here's the trailer for the movie. Have I mentioned that I love the movie? Hehe.

xo,
L.

Style inspiration: Florence & The Machine

2009-05-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

I just discovered this singer and I love her, she's an amazing singer! She also has amazing style!
This is clearly shown in these 2 music videos:

"Rabbit Heart (Raise it up)" : the lyrics are extremely poignant, I love the overall ethereal look and the clothes are gorgeous!

"Kiss with a First" : A very fun song, I very desperately want her flower top and her purple skirt. Very, very badly. ;)

http://www.myspace.com/florenceandthemachinemusic

I can't wait until their debut cd comes out! (I'm assuming it hasn't, considering "Rabit Heart (Raise it up)" is coming out on June 21st, I might be wrong).

<3,
L.

First post: introductions and one of my favourite dresses

2009-05-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Hola! I suppose this should be my formal introduction post, but I'm really bad with introductions, so first I'll say:
1-To find out what this blog is all about, look at the "About" section at the top of the sidebar.
2- To give you a general idea of my style, I now present to you...
My favourite dress!

See better quality pictures here on my flickr. (There are also descriptions, etc...)
I'm wearing it for graduation on Thursday, I'm so excited! You may not see it from the pictures, but the skirt part is actually quite poufy and twirly!
<3,
L.

Suggestions, comments and feedback post

2009-05-19T19:04:00.000-07:00

Do you have a certain style, trend, city, fashion icon you'd like me to cover? Do you have any questions, suggestions, good and/or bad feedback? (Though be nice, only constructive criticism).
This is the place for you!

This is you (and Sabrina) writing to me.

xo,
L.