Nails, Cocktails, and the Gang at Hester Street

Annie and Christina at the Cirque and Shelter booth at the Hester Street Fair

I've spent the last two bright beautiful Saturdays hanging out with Annie, Christina, Sofia, and Riza while they worked at their new booth at Hester Street Fair.  After months of laboriously mixing colors, experimenting with glitters, and probably breathing in tons of fumes, Annie has finally launched her brand of nailpolishes, Cirque.  Her first collection, Dark Horse, features a dozen shimmer, glitter, and sparkle based colors in shades that you won't find in any drugstore beauty isle.  She gave me a few of her favorite colors to take home, and I've been playing around and mixing them with my own nailpolishes all week.  It's hard deciding a favorite, but Epoch, a holographic bluish-green that's the shade of a beetle wing, is what I'm wearing right now, and I never want to take it off.  I also love how well all of the colors work so well together, and seem to look the best when layered or paired with one another.

Christina has also been hard at work with Shelter, a line of candles she's been making Sofia and Riza.  In addition to their line of beeswax candles shaped like bottles and twigs, they've moved on to making scented candles now (finally!), and are planning on coming up with new scents every season.  My personal favorite is Pink Moon, which has a lovely scent of lavender, citrus, sandalwood and berries.

On both of my visits to Hester Street, I only meant to stop by to say hi, but ended up staying to hang out with my favorite lady friends, taste a sampling of the delectable selection of food from local vendors, sip on secretly spiked drinks, and of course, paint my nails with Cirque.  I even switched my energy from corporate windpower to cheaper, non-corporate windpower.  So productive!  Anyway, both Cirque and Shelter will be at Hester Street Market every other Saturday this summer, so make sure to pay the girls a visit if you're in the city.

All the different shades of Cirque polish, which range cost $12-$16

Today's Cirque manicure: Debris layered over Epoch

Shelter bottle shaped candles

New Shelter mini scented tea lights, $4 each, or $14 for a pack of four

Cirque polishes

Beautiful packaging to take my Cirque nailpolish kit home in!

French manicure using Dark Horse (tips) and Potosi (overcoat), by Cirque, and Nude (base coat) by Urban Outfitters

Tibetan Nights (base coat), Fascination Street (tips), and Potosi (overcoat), all by Cirque

-Tiffany

NORRBACK AW 2012 + Pop-Up Shop Opening Party

I've been working at NORRBACK while I've been in Stockholm, and a while back, I posted some behind the scene photos from the Autumn Winter Lookbook shoot. Here are the results, and a look at the new collection.  My favorite pieces are the zig-zag knit short sleeve jacket, and the illustrated black and white fox print dress.  If you happen to be in Stockholm this Saturday, you can pick up a goodybag with the same print at our Pop-Up shop opening party (invite below).  There will be drinks, snacks, music, giveaways and other surprises--Hope to see you there! 

-Tiffany

Stockholm Shopping: Studio Vintage

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you surely know that I love and adore Swedish fashion designers, and am an ardent collector of their clothes. Nonetheless, since moving to Stockholm, where nearly everyone is very well-dressed, and where nearly everyone buys and supports local talent, I've found myself increasingly likely to run into someone wearing the exact same outfit as my own.  The solution? I've been increasingly drawn to vintage and second hand, something that I've stayed away from in New York recently because of the horrific bedbug epidemic that's unfortunately taken seige of my hometown.  Luckily, my current adopted city is extremely clean, pristine, and bedbug-free, in addition to having a large number of vintage, thrift, and second hand shops.

One of my favorite new discoveries is Studio Vintage.  I don't know why I haven't visited sooner, as my friend Patrik works there, but it is situated in a part of town that I rarely frequent.  Located in the heart of Ostermalm, an area known more for expensive designer boutiques than for quirky and fun finds, the boutique is an unexpected and rather lovely surprise.  Carefully curated by Maria Jonas, the store is a mix of second hand designer finds and amazing vintage pieces, many of them with interesting histories and previous lives that Jonas can tell you about.  On my visit today, I came across 80's era Theirry Mugler suits, previous season Prada sweaters, a Versace dress that was recently knocked off in the H&M collaboration, and a trove of Balmain dresses.  Of course there were plenty of Swedish designers in the mix too, and it's clear that Jonas has an eye for good design.  Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the store is the prices, which are also reasonable, as Jonas believes that vintage allows people to buy unique clothes without having to pay couture prices.  For those of you outside of Stockholm, Studio Vintage will be launching their eBay shop soon!

Charles Jourdan shoes and vintage bag

Versace dress

Louis Vuitton ballet flats

Pucci dress

Vintage Laura Ashley blouse

-Tiffany

In the Grace of Your Love

Since I'm not in New York for fashion week, I've been dutifully deleting and ignoring all invitations to shows and events, trying to avoid any lingering feelings that I'm missing out on all the fun.  Even so, there are two Fashion Week festivities that I would like to share with my fellow New Yorkers, and if you happen to be in town, you should definitely stop by.  The first is a Valentine's celebration at our favorite vintage shop Screaming Mimi's, featuring Triskaidekaphobia, along with our friends Arms and Armory, Flotsam and Jetsam, Chris Habana and Shelter. Champagne and treats will be served, and their will be plenty of perfect gifts for your beloved, or yourself.  The second is a presentation of our friend Collette Ishiyama's new jewelry collection, Isis, and Serichai Traipoom's photography at End of Century.  Drinks will be provided by 42 Below, and music will be provided by our dear friend Adam Crail.  You can RSVP here.  Hope you enjoy both events, I will be there in spirit!

-Tiffany

Camilla Norrback Sample Sale- Stockholm

Just a quick note to let you know that if you're in Stockholm, the company that I'm working at now, Camilla Norrback, is hosting their seasonal sample sale.  Prices start at 100 kr, and there's plenty of super-discounted warm and fuzzy knits that would make a great Christmas gift for yourself, or more generously, someone else.  Additionally, the current Fall collection will be discounted 50%. Make sure to stop by sometime this weekend for some glogg and shopping; the store is at Norrbacksgatan 60, and will be open tomorrow and Sunday from 12-5.

-Tiffany

Issey Miyake TriBeCa 10th Anniversary

On my last night in New York, I stopped by the Issey Miyake TriBeCa store to celebrate their 10th Anniversary with my two favorite boys (outside of my husband), Brandon and Izzy.  Special Birthday shirts were printed up for the occasion, glittering profiteroles were served, and there was a mini-runway show featuring looks from the Spring 2012 collection.  The bloom-inspired pieces blossomed off the body echoing the shapes of petals.  However, my favorite pieces were the electric colored leggings, that were actually made of different colors of cut-out fabric layered on top of one another.  Of course, a night at Issey wouldn't be complete without some of his signature fragrance, which I managed to spill all over myself before the night was complete.  I wasn't one of the lucky few to win a Bao Bao bag (although Brandon walked away with one), so at least I will have something to remember the night with now that I am far away in Sweden!

-Tiffany

CALLING ALL PANDAS, MONSTERS AND ZOMBIES

In case you haven't heard, the Nicola Formichetti store opened in the middle of fashion week, with a big ol' steamy party full of assorted pandas, monsters, and zombies, all hoping to catch a glimpse of Nicola.  Launched as part of BOFFO's Building of Fashion program, Nicola collaborated with Gage/Clemenceau Architects to build the mirror-covered space, which looks a bit like an imploding Bucky ball. It also resembles the famous Telephone Hat that Lady Gaga wore in the Telephone music video, which happens to be on prominent display, along with several other infamous Gaga outfits.  As if being surrounded with a million reflections of yourself wasn't overstimulating enough, there are strobe lights strategically placed around, so the entire interior is constantly flashing and reflecting a trillion watts of lights. Obviously not built for the seizure prone.

Anyway, Christina and I are really proud to have Triskaidekaphobia on sale at the store, alongside some of our besties like Chrishabana and Zana Bayne.  The store is only open until September 21st, so hurry down to check it out before it all disappears!

Telephone hat!
 

Triskaidekaphobia Teeth necklaces
 

Vintage Versace from Screaming Mimi's 
 

Zana Bayne harness

Zombie Boy Skateboards

PANDAS!

-Tiffany