The School Life

Had a physics test yesterday... But the more important part was that I looked good going into it! Blouses and sweaters are a most necessary combination, so we've got an h&m blouse with a beige (gap?) sweater, which I threw on when I walked out the door.. Polka dot jeans make everything instantly cuter, from Merona. And finally, the most comfortable platformy- heels ever! They're called something like "blue mountain" from dsw, I definitely recommend for those people who are vertically challenged like I am. They're great for casual and somewhat-fancy wear.

Cheers!

The Infamous Red Lip

Still not sure how I feel about it. I would prefer a darker red lip, but here's an experiment-- it's Red Revival by maybelline. I would definitely recommend it if you're interested in rocking a BRIGHT red lip. Goes on smoothly, and is totally affordable. My only complaint would possibly be the drying effect, since I'm more of a lip balm sort of girl. 

Thoughts?

The Cheap Seats

Regina Spektor.

If you haven't heard of the girl (in other words, if you aren't like me, collecting every single song that she's ever produced), you should go look her up as soon as possible. Her music really doesn't disappoint. You may have heard one of her songs in 500 Days of Summer. I can't really compare her to any other artists, because she's really completely unique, and that's part of her charm. Regina was born in Moscow, and she later immigrated along with her parents, where she settled in the Bronx. She studied classical piano and started singing a capella songs when she was 16. The unusual thing about Regina is that she never writes any of her songs down.

 

Style of Regina: She combines her well-ranged voice with unorthodox techniques like beat-boxing and strange buzzing sounds. She also incorporates many different languages in her music, such as French, Latin, and Russian. Her piano creations are surprisingly simple, but her lyrics add a depth unlike most current artists.

Her newest album, What We Saw From The Cheap Seats, recently came out. 

Songs To Look For: Oh Marcello, Firewood, All The Rowboats, Ballad of a Politician, Open, and Call Them Brothers

There wasn't a single flawed song on the entire album. I will say, for true fans, the first few songs may have seemed a bit predictable, because I felt like I'd heard them before. But they grew on me. Her lyrics were still beautiful and sensitive, but I wasn't feeling the shock that I usually get when I listen to her truly inventive pieces. There weren't any stand-out pieces. But then one song caught my attention: "All The Rowboats". 

It pushed all my buttons in the right way. It started out with a heavy beat (some kind of drum?), completely electrifying. Then Regina came in with her amazing lyrics ("When no one's looking I fetch a sculpture, Marble, gold, and soft as satin"). When she got to the chorus, I could have cried. I'm a sucker for dissonance and weird chords, which Regina delivered both at once.

Pleasant Surprises

Regina couldn't be stuck in a rut, nope. She came out with some folky, soothing tunes that get stuck in your head. In "Call Them Brothers", Regina begins by crooning a folksy tune with a Only Son, whose voice is pretty darn nice. "Call Them Brothers" and "Jessica" (both using acoustic guitar) both proved that Regina isn't just an innovative Russian, but she can still try new things.

What We Saw From The Cheap Seats is probably a good introduction to Regina Spektor, it being the easiest to enjoy by any age, but if you want something a little more adventurous, Soviet Kitsch would probably be the way to go. 

All The Rowboats

Call Them Brothers

Us (from a different album)

A Peek At Summer

Finally, the sun has graced our town with it's presence! For whole to days, we've had decent weather. And by decent, I mean not raining. It's been lovely. The days have been passing quickly, and the countdown to summer months is beginning. Sometimes I find myself mourning the non-use of my chunky knit sweaters...  

This inspired me to do a post about the tunes of summer. It's short, and rather boring, but I wanted to blog about SOMETHING. Here are a couple of songs that remind me/make me long for summer. I realized how much I wanted sunscreen and iced tea when I started singing songs by the Cults whenever the teacher wasn't talking.

Persephone's Bees: Nice Day

Spoon: The Way We Get By

Cults: Go Outside

The Drums: Down By The Water

BOY: Little Numbers

On a side note, I'm really digging the Material Girl brand at Macy's. At first, I wasn't to sure about it. But they're really cranking out some amazing stuff! The dresses make me wish I was rich enough to buy all of them! Here's one shirt that my mom surprised me with the other day (I'm a sucker for floral print!). The back is the side with the neon zipper!

It's all pretty cheap, around twenty to thirty bucks depending on what you're buying. I'm really lusting after one of their bandeaus too, because it's getting hot these days!
Here's a link to the Macy's website where you can find the rest of the stuff: Macy's- Material Girl

Birds, Birds, Birds!

I've Got Birds On The Brain

One thing that really caught my eye at H&M during my trip to Portland was a blouse. More specifically, the pattern on the blouse. BIRDS. And even better, it came in two different styles. The first one is $12. 95, and the other is $24.95. I couldn't decide which one I liked more, so I panicked and left without buying either.

I'm pretty sure that the blouse became one of those fashion why-didn't-i-suck-it-up-and-buy-you regrets. I finally decided that I would order the tunic style one when I got home, only to discover YOU CAN'T ORDER ONLINE WITH H&M. (If I'm wrong and I just can't navigate a website, please tell me!)

If I had bought the shirt, I would have paired it with a pair of bright blue jeans like these:

The only similar pair was from H&M for $12.95. They look pretty stretchy and have funny lines running halfway down your thigh, but for that cheap I'd be willing to give them a try!

BUT HEY, LOOK WHAT I DID BUY:

H&M earrings, about 4 bucks

H&M shorts, 10 bucks on sale. The material is really funky, with silvery lines all over it. But they're different, and kind of edgy. 

This red shirt was a great find by my mom from a sales rack (where else would I be?) at Macy's. It's by a Paris-based Italian designer named Giambattista Valli. Every other line in the area made me want to cry from the sheer expensiveness. I would peek at the price, then think something like "holysweetbejeezus", then flip the price tag back over and pretend that I never saw it, skipping back to the sale racks. The fabric is sheer, flowy, and really beautiful. My dad thought that it was covered in flames (I'm pretty sure they're roses) and I think that's pretty cool. Now every time I wear it, it'll be like LILLIAN, the GIRL. ON. FIRE! Yeah, I still have The Hunger Games on the brain.

Lillian's Lace

Lillian's Lace

Here's my first attempt at blogging! I've always been interested in making one (they're like beautiful, well-crafted diaries, which I've never had much luck in since I don't like crafts) but have always thought that blogs were too ambitious for someone with very little time and no practice. But then I was inspired by The Style Rookie (surely you've heard of her?). Here's a link to her blog The Style Rookie. I was like, she's young, I'm young, what's stopping me from trying? I didn't just want to blog about fashion, because in my mind, inspiration comes from people, fashions, music, books, and just plain visual things. So the main subject of my entries will change depending on what's floating my boat at the time.



Girl On Fire
So, without further ado: the focus of this entry is Media. A movie, specifically. The Hunger Games has received so much hype over the last few night, I thought that I should give my two cents. It's one of the biggest franchises since Harry Potter (I'm not even going to count Twilight) and it's logo, the mockingjay,

is now a well-known sign for teenagers everywhere. And I think it actually deserves the hype, too, which is rare for me. I read the first two books when they first came out, and I don't think the pure awesomeness really sank in until I looked back at some of the plot. As if the badassery of Katniss Everdeen (there's just something about a girl with a bow and arrow, don't you think?), a courageous female character, wasn't enough, it has the never boring theme of rebellion and the corruption of society. I'm a sucker for political intrigue combined with great action.
If you have no idea what on earth I'm talking about, here's a link to a summary of the story: Story

I'm reluctant to buy into popular movies these days, especially ones geared towards teenagers (i.e Twilight). I was perfectly content to wait until the movie hit the dollar-fifty theater... I'm a cheapskate. It seemed like a movie with pretty faces (the likes of Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth (<3) and Jennifer Lawrence (whose breakout role in Winter's Bone I have YET TO SEE). At the time of the cast revealing, I just couldn't care less.

Josh Hutcherson: Peeta Mellark

 Liam Hemsworth: Gale Hawthorne

Jennifer Lawrence: Katniss Everdeen


Woody Harrelson: Haymitch (a performance I'm really looking forward to).

Amandla Stenberg: Rue (ain't she adorable??)





But THIS changed my mind: Hunger Games Trailer

And I knew that I needed to get ahold of some tickets when I started whistling the little tune that was at the end of the trailer while I was walking down the hall at school... over and over... Now I definitely have to grab myself a copy and reread all the books.

What really got me wasn't the touching scenes between Katniss and Gale, or Katniss's selfishness by sacrificing herself for her sister, or the pretty trees in the forest. Or how comically young Josh Hutchertson looked. No, THIS LADY'S FACE-- 

...was cinematic brilliance. She was so pink and pale and contrived, it was a great start to the cut-throat Hunger Games. Her makeup captures my interest, but the buildings of the Capital made me want to throw myself on the Hunger Games train.

Like this:

                                                                          And this:

I had to appreciate the irony in a way that I couldn't as a child. The whole competition is so glamorized, that the violence is just part of a show for everyone watching in the Districts and the capital. Until you're actually fighting for your life.

Highlight of the trailer:
                  Peeta: "I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me.
If I'm gonna die, I want to still be me."

A noble sentiment, to which Katniss responds: "I just can't afford to think about that."

At this point, I'm torn between which one of them is right. Katniss knows what it is to fight for someone, but Peeta knows the importance of pride for ones self. Can't wait to see them fight it out on the big screen!

Forget Team Peeta or Team Gale... I'm Team Katniss, the girl on fire! From the looks of things, Jennifer Lawrence has brought a different kind of spark to the character of Katniss. She's mature, she's strong, she's loyal... and she may just be the female protagonist that I've been waiting to take over the mantel since Hermione Granger stepped down. But hey, maybe I'll do another post on historical female characters?

The first taste I got of the Hunger Games films was the single "Safe and Sound." I'm not a big Taylor Swift fan (please, don't kill me!) but the Civil wars lend their calm guitar notes to make it a real heart-wrenching melody. "Safe and Sound" is a beautiful song that really brought back all the memories of The Hunger Games that I'd buried since sixth grade. Kudos to great song-writing, I loved every second of it.

And did anyone catch Jennifer Lawrence's dress at the Hunger Games premiere?

HOT DAMN. She was stunning in that gold beauty! It was such an unusual, bold dress that it really made me envision a confident and strong Katniss on the big screen. For the first time, I was like "wow, I really need to go see this girl in action!". The color made her skin look amazing, her blue eyes popped, and it was perfect for the leading lady of such (predicted) successful franchise. I can't wait to see more of Jennifer.





Here's some fashion inspired by the Hunger Games (I couldn't resist):

 


Little Rue reminded me of Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard Of Oz, and Wicked, all at the same time. Her blue dress is kind of House on the Prairie and Glinda looking. For her style, I went back a few decades: Babypink Bluebird thirddress

May the odds be ever in your favor.