Inspiration: Fabergé Eggs, Mary Katrantzou AW11, Max Mara gold-encrusted sweater on Vogue UK August 2012

I’ll be honest, this ‘inspiration’ does not stem from some encyclopaedic knowledge of art history, or anything remotely similar… in fact I had to google it at first and on spelling it ‘faberze’ Dr Google gave me all sorts of buying choices for Febreeze. Yes I’m shallow like that, and guess what hubby, we’ll never ever run out of air-refresheners, your clever wife just bought fifteen boxes online! And while I’m confessing and all, over the weekend I watched Ocean’s Twelve where George Clooney, Brad Pitt et al try to steal a Fabergé egg – and you guessed it – that’s where this idea comes from. I’m so deep it hurts sometimes.

A few tips:

• If the nail pen is difficult to control when doing your right hand (or left, if you’re right handed) (screw you if you’re ambidextrous, you superior person), try pushing out a dollop onto a scrap paper, then paint the lines on by ‘leading’ a bit of polish using the tip of the pen. You can also advertise for a flatmate for this nail-do then evict her/him out once you’re done.
• For the criss-crossing pattern, start from the inner corner of the nail and draw to the opposite mid-point, that should set a good angle for the rest of the lines. (Or else you’ll end up doing something like my left hand ring finger)
• If you have flower/star-shaped glitter try making bigger criss-cross pattern, and then add the glitter into the diamond a la Mary Katrantzou AW11

One piece, Three looks: Uniqlo broadcloth check shirt

Look 1:  Floral jacket, Zara. Checked shirt, Uniqlo. Fluffy skirt, Topshop. Scrunched Navy Pencil Skirt, H&M. Python pumps, Alexandre Birman. Watch, GUESS Rose-gold. Clutch, Chanel

Look 2: Moto-jacket raincoat, H&M Trend. Checked shirt, Uniqlo. Shirt as skirt, vintage via Beyond Retro. Platform Booties, Chloe Sevigny x Opening Ceremony. Bag, Topshop

Look 3: Candy Bag, Furla. Clear pumps, Chloe. Check skirt, Paul & Joe Sister

Yup, it’s that time of the month and I have here for you three dodgy ways to wear a picnic blanket (Uniqlo broadcloth check shirt). In fact it’s so perfectly gingham that if ever we play hide and seek in the park I promise you’ll never know where to find me while all that time I’ll have been right under your nose scrunched up next to the lemonade and sandwiches. What can I say, one of my many talents.

Perrier Jouet Press Conference in Happo-en Garden

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Slingback heels, Zara. Necklace, Dannijo

Dress, ASOS Black. Necklace, Dannijo. Tropical Cardigan, COS

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Espadrille, Dune

Haleigh Perrier-Jouet community manager and blogger of Making Magique

Intrecciato bag, Bottega Veneta. Dress, ASOS Black. Slingback heels, Zara. Necklace, Dannijo, Tropical Cardigan, COS. Turquoise Watch, Guess; Thank you Haleigh for the snaps!

I’m thinking of writing into weather-forecasting stations in petition for increased visibility on humidity predictions – an icon, perhaps? Or a full-screen alert? Turns out I’d totally missed out on that little percentage squiggle in the corner while packing for this Japan trip. (Merino-wool cardigan, REALLY) So maybe a cute little animated icon illustrating a steamed-up bus window and a game of tic-tac-toe? The closer to steamroom levels the closer chance to X-ing out? Condensation streaming down sad little O’s who’d lost the game? My dear Far East, believe it or not we Europeans fly in with two cardigans in our carry-on and a bank of layering pieces that make up a considerate portion in our luggage, and let’s not forget that terrifying idea that an ill-caught evening chill will knock out any remaining health coins and hence shorten our already-short life spans. Have a little sympathy for us weaklings! Make a Humidity Reminder song! Maybe Pikachu can sing it!

I digress. Aside from the humidity thing, which actually wasn’t that much of an issue despite the rant (turns out that I’m technically very Asian afterall), the one thing I absolutely dig about Tokyo is how neat and clean the city is. Not just in the manner of garbage or littering, but the fact that the buildings, street detailing (fences, railings, blocks in the pavement) and general life’s accessories (bicycles, cars, little pots on the road) are all in perfect alignment, as if considerate of the overall arrangement. Then you start noticing that kind of consideration in people as well in the etiquette and lifestyle, which I realised is something one specifically needs to be in Japan to experience… it’s such a beautiful city.

Thank you Perrier-Jouët for such a wonderful experience, more to come!

Collecting goods at Vestiaire Collective

Bikerjacket style raincoat, H&M Trend. Dress, Casson London. Python-print Bag, Marc by Marc Jacobs. Shoes, Alexander Wang. Belt, Louis Vuitton; both via Vestiaire Collective

So we’ve established that I don’t even wake up for the fire alarm nowadays, but there was a time – before the dentures – when I’d jolt up a the sound of DOINK from an auction page at dead-hour and basically I’d have about 18 minutes to scramble out of bed and judge whether I’m willing to bid over £11 on a glitchy Playboy Colour. Fast forward a few years later and I’d have all kinds of tricks up my sleeves (i.e search for ‘Channel’ for neglected ‘Chanel’ mis-spells, or bidding on a pair of Chloé pumps in the last 3 seconds and hearing YOU A-HOLE‘s from bidders across the globe), nobody called me a bucktooth loser back then. YUH. But from a certain point it got really tiresome to constantly dig into the double-digit pages and then the keeping on track of items of questionable quality, so I stopped shopping secondhand clothes/accessories online… until I heard about the peer to peer resale platform Vestiaire Collective. What bought me over initially was the fact that all items are made sure of its genuineness and quality by being sent to Paris where they are checked by a team of experts, but their edits are quite clever too especially for squirrels as indecisive as me. So here’s a few I scored: Alexander Wang Abbey heels from forever seasons ago which now happen to be my favourite go-to black heels (the seller of which happened to be one of my lovely readers!), the LV black classic belt and a Jessica Barensfield hammered initials bangle which is part of one of their mini-series. And of course, that designer heels you’ve been saving only for ‘special occasions’ – those impossible-to-walk-in ones, you sure ain’t profiting from cost-per-wear by letting it gather dust on the DVD shelf so you might as well sign up and sell that one off for a piece that’ll be worn more than that one time it came out of the packaging. (yes I’m looking at you, self)

Haro Tokyo!

Alain Ducasse ‘Beige’ at the top of Chanel building in Ginza district

Wearing a DIY Scarf dress made by Kit, second to last photo thanks to Haleigh, community manager of Perrier Jouet & blogger (Making Magique)

So yeaahh, Tokyo’s alright.

The mad lady who usually writes here is now sitting in a corner with a cone hat for putting ‘alright’ in a sentence with Tokyo. Hear me out though, practically everything in this blog is categorized into either ‘box of kittens with rainbow tails’ or ‘bag of steaming camel poop’, but you and I both know Tokyo doesn’t fall into either or even that curt space in between, so I believe we’re in desperate need of a new adjective. ‘Alright’ will have to do for now – plus, I’ve booked in six hours of Redbull-fused intranet trawling in hopes of finding something that might trump a litter of kittens (let’s give pugs and pandas a chance) but I’m also open to suggestions. Let me help by saying how fantastic it is to be here. To me, this is the source of my childhood – Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, One Piece, Detective Conan, Azumanga Daioh… and oh my goodness, POKÉMON. Actually, if we include Pokémon then it’s the source of most of my adult life as well. I also believe I had a successful primary-school education thanks to some genius at the TV station who thought it was a good idea to play Dragonball Z at 7:30 in the morning which meant my brother and I got up like clockwork and didn’t stage morning coups with the alarm (aka mother). Nowadays I don’t even get up for the damn fire alarm. It’s not just that, but growing up a foreigner in Poland meant I permanently carried this silent heart longing for a ‘home town’ and so many things in Tokyo reminded me of the frequent dreams I’d have of Seoul as a kid. The journey was 17 hours with a layover in Dubai, but by the time we were out of the airport parking my half wilting body didn’t seem to remember, or mind, as I craned forward determined not to miss a single thing.

A massive thank you to Perrier-Jouët for the most generous invitation; much more to come, keep your eyes peeled!