Flash Flash, baby ft. Clothes Buffet Manila

A few weeks ago, Clothes Buffet Manila sent me a big zip bag stuffed with loads of clothes. Some of the pieces were so me, some weren't so Ida-ish. However being an experimental girl, I tried styling each of the clothes sent to me by combining it with pieces in my wardrobe. Want to see how I styled them? Well, read on baby girl (or boy??).

Piece #1: The Statement Shirt

Statements shirts appeal to the sight. I dressed up this piece by pairing it with something that would appeal to touch. I added different textures, namely fur and lace. It's always good to experiment with different materials, just don't go too crazy with your color palette if you plan to texturize your look, which is why I stuck to the safe side by going all black on this ensemble.

Fur Jacket by Terranova | Lace trimmed shorts by Zara

Piece #2: The Quilted Skirt

From all black to colorful neutral (lol, is there such a thing?). What I mean to say was that for this outfit, I wore more than two colors but still stuck to the more subtle, non-shocking colors. Maroon, navy blue, grey, with a hint of faded yellow on my shirt's print.

I found the material of this skirt very dressy so I balanced it out by wearing a very 'I don't care what I look like' loose vintage shirt which I then knotted up front to keep my waist's shape. Who says you can't look cool yet feminine wearing your dad's shirt?

Shirt by Nike 

Piece #3: Gold Lion embellished body-con cutout dress

I personally don't like complicated and intricate cuts on my dresses. Not unless the complicated-ness is around the shoulder (straps) and back area then it's fine. However, styled well, these kinds of peices might just work. For this piece, I wore it on its own and accessorized with metallic pieces to complement that little lion detail on my waist, I then topped with whole look with a hat. Keeping it clean and simple, this dress speaks for itself.

Hat by River Island | Watch by Marc Jacobs

Piece #4: Sequined Bolero

This piece was quite a challenge to style for me. Why?

1. The puffy sleeves made a kind of kiddie impression to me
2. Sequins have a high risk of coming off as tacky when not styled carefully

Fixing the kiddie dilemma, I thought I'd build a mature look out of it. As for the tacky dilemma, a straightforward and uncomplicated piece. So I paired it with this slitted fitted maxi skirt to address both dilemmas. Quite nice for formal events I must say. Although I might need to replace my skirt with a more streamlined one.

Skirt acquired from a bazaar | Watch by Marc Jacobs

Piece #5: Knit Sweater

Here's a versatile piece that I love so much. You can practically dress a sweater with anything (especially a plain and neutral colored one). Shorts, pants, or if it's big enough, you can wear it by itself like a dress. Just to be different from how I usually style it, I paired it with a high waist, knee length fitted skirt and to balance out the girly-ness in this look, I topped it with my favorite New Era NY cap. Wear it with sneakers or heels, sweaters go with anything.

Cap by New Era | Skirt by Bershka

And that's my styling take on these pieces! What did you guys think about the outfits? How would you have styled the pieces mentioned to fit your style? Tell me in comments below <3

The Clothes Buffet Manila is currently happening in the Elements Tent, Eton Centris until tomorrow. A great chance to go crazy shopping without even looking at the price tag! Check their site to know more details about it.

Candy Fair 2014

Warning: This post contains a lot of photos… especially photos of hot guys. Last September 27 Candy Magazine celebrated their annual Fair. This time at the Metrotent in Metrowalk, Ortigas and guess who got invited to take part in the fashion sponsored by Shana? Me!

The night before was a nightmare, it was already near dawn and I was still panicking, figuring out what I wanted to wear for the event and overthinking how I was going to amp up the outfit assigned to me by Shana. It’s funny though because I was going through my twitter timeline and saw that my fellow bloggers were also experiencing the same thing. Me, Renee, and Cha were panic texting each other, asking what we were going to wear before and after the event.

The event started around 11 AM but our call time was around 6:30 AM. Wow, right? I’m definitely not a morning person but of course I had to drag myself to Ortigas. Me & Cha were a bit late and arrived at the venue together with our naked faces and matching loose shirt + shorts outfit.

There was a lot of free time from 6:30 AM to 11 PM since we only rehearsed on stage for 30 minutes. After that, me, Cha, Jennica, Renee, and Nicole went to Starbucks and then grabbed a cab and had lunch at the nearest Mcdo. I must say that even though it was my first time to meet Jennica and Renee (I met Cha and Nicole from this River Island opening we attended), we all clicked and chatted like we were all the best of friends! There was never a * croo * moment with them!

After that we went back to the Metrotent and was surprised to see that there was already a long line outside! Taking note that we are all bare-faced and lacked sleep from last night’s panic, we grabbed whatever we had to disguise ourselves. Renee put on her cap, and the rest of us wore our sunnies. I don’t know, it was funny how we reacted.

A few minutes after we returned, the fair grounds were opened. We got dolled up and we went around the venue and checked out the booths. I was also surprised to see the DJ for the event was my classmate, Rammy Bitong! Bruh, sick DJ.

Being the vain girls that we are, we took loads of selfies! These aren’t even the half of it.

Left to right: Jennica, Renee, me, Nicole, Cha

Another highlight of the day was how we somehow felt like Mascots when we were just hanging around the fair grounds. A lot approached us and asked for a photo or two! There was a point where my face hurt ‘cause I was smiling for the longest time. Now don’t get me wrong, the whole thing was just surreal and we were all touched! The support from our readers is just….. wew.

A little message for my readers: Thank you so much and it was really nice meeting all of you. I can’t wait to meet you guys again some other time! It was really fun posing with such awesome people and the photos you tweeted and tagged me were all so adorable!

Oh and hello! What’s a candy fair without the Candy Cuties? During this time we were already cooped up backstage but we could hear all the girly screams and squeals from there! Well, glad to know that the girls there were enjoying themselves!

Before these cuties went up onstage though, there were all lined up backstage. One Cutie started a conversation with Cha, and after a while, suddenly sat between us and continued the conversation. Boy, that guy is super fun to talk with! He even asked if it was appropriate for him to take off his shirt onstage then he suddenly realized by himself that it wasn’t such a good idea since the audience consisted of young girls. I can’t haha! Too bad I forgot his name. Ugh, I’m such a forgetful person.

The event was studded with celebrities! One of them the lovely Joyce Pring that every guy drools for! My all time favorite model, LA Aguinaldo, was also there and woop woop, I was able to snap a selfie with him too!

And so the fashion show starts! Sponsored by one of the most adorable brands around,Shana! All the clothes that the models and bloggers wore were all from them.

Here I come! I was actually pretty nervous backstage. Me and Cha were at extreme sides of the stage and we were hyping each other from afar.

More celebs! Elmo Magalona with his song number.

My entourage for the day, Josh and Duff! Hehe kidding. So thankful for these two boys who accompanied and watched me walk that day! I sort of feel guilty 'cause I wasn’t able to hang out with them during the event much. I was running around with my fellow bloggers most of the time but Josh called me up right before we were supposed to walk and asked me to meet him just to wish me luck! Aw~

I wasn’t able to finish the event. Right after the Fashion show, we got dressed and packed up. I’m sure it ended with a bang though! I mean look at this crowd?

Post fashion show photo-ops! Of course.

Halter top & Plaid shirt: Forever 21 |  High waist shorts: Levis | Snapback: Black Bakery | Socks: Nike | Shoes: Vans

Overall the Candy Fair was just a w e s o m e. Not only was it a once in a lifetime opportunity to model for one of the major brands in the country, or to meet a lot of celebrities and Candy Cuties, but I was able to meet a lot of great people and make good friends that day. The day won’t be as epic if it wasn’t for my fellow bloggers who I bonded the whole day with. Also to my readers who were all so friendly. It was a pleasure to meet all of you!

'Til the next event!