To most of us who are already past the trick-or-treating age, Halloween really doesn't mean much. It's not even a public holiday! And what is the point of Halloween anyways? This was what I thought of Halloween -that was until I watched One Tree Hill last week.

I instantly fell in love with Peyton's whole look, esp her makeup. Here, she was supposed to be 'angel of death', and she had a pretty pair of black wings to go with her theme. What really struck me was how well her makeup was done -it was certainly more creative than your usual gothic-style makeup!

Obviously we all put a lot of trust in our facialist. I mean, this is not our legs, arms, feet or anything else that can be easily hidden under clothing if the operation goes awry. This is our FACE, we can't avoid showing that to people unless we plan to hibernate in our room forever. So my question is, how do we know who to trust?

I don't want to judge the quality of the facial just yet, because I'm still giving it a day or two of grace period to recover from all the redness before deciding. But this experience brings up the question of how one should pick their facialist. In my previous experiences, I usually go by the word of mouth (my mom) or pick one that is trustworthy by brand and reputation like Georgette Klinger or spa's located within 5 star hotels. I know that expensive doesn't always mean good, it does buy you a sense of security.

So when trying out new facial places you know little about, what inspires more trust and confident in you- a posh place with an ambience of professionalism, or a no frills place with a more home-made natural approach?

LOL an alliteration. And yes I know. Cardigans are usually a tad old for us. But looking around and seeing girls looking so cozy, cute and effortlessly casual in their chunky cardigans, has made me think that maybe with the right combination, its not so bad after all! So here are some of my inspirations on how to wear a cardigan in a more fashionable and young way.

Taking this the other way around, you can match a plain chunky cardigan, like this one from Top Shop. . .

. . and match it with an interesting, printed/patterned/striped colorful spaghetti strap.

Same idea here with this short sleeved cardigan over a printed long sleeved tee from Urban Outfitters by Lux. The layering of a chunky cardigan over a thin tee is just right and not too messy. Although I must say, I'm not very fond of this xmas color scheme at all.

But my favourite cardigan look is this one from Free People. Actually I'm not even sure if it can be termed as a cardigan, but it IS chunky, cute and cozy right? I just LOVE how they matched this outfit. I saw a designer do it this summer at work, and I thought, "wow, who would've thought a dress shirt and a cardigan would go so well?"

Then there are the more conventional long cardigans, like this one from Anthropoligie. Worn simply like this in a contrast with the simple tee inside, it just soo effortlessly casual. But again, maybe not red and green unless its xmas. Black and magenta? Dark purple and forrest green?

Grey and gold? Grey and red? (this one is from Abercrombie)

Then there is the traditional cream cable cardigan. This look, over a denim blazer and shirt, is so country American, that it can only be from Ralph Lauren, Polo Sport.

Of course, a splash of funky, dangly accessories (this one from UO) always helps to give a touch of style to an outfit!

So go out and have fun with cardigans! Fall is the perfect weather to wear it, don't wait until its too cold!

From the romantic, nostalgic, retro pin up look to the hot sexy Japanese Anima perfect woman look, the new Love Me line of thigh high nylon stocking brings chic sensuality back.

Jess -
a new range of
hold-up nylon stockings from
Love Me

Designed to make women want to wear nylon stockings and for men to fall at their feet, the entire collection is sensual and glamorous yet fun – making it one of this season’s must-have accessories. Especially under those wrap skirts, split skirts, mini skirts and hot pants that have been showing up in designers' collections.

The Love Me line of thigh high nylon stockings is unique and inspired by both the pin-up cartoons of 1950s and Japanese Manga comics and Japanese Anima.

Trendy or chic, the initial Love Me range is distilled into two distinct collections. The Pin-Up collection focuses on classic retro glamour featuring very chic personalized classic nylon stockings in a wide range of colors. There are 20-denier and 40-denier yarns, voile, tulle, designer effect and prints.

Yoko:
new opaque hold-up nylon stockings
from the Japanese Manga inspired
Love Me

While the La Manga collection contains ultra-fashionable nylon stockings in bold prints and classic opaques. Love Me's vision of the Manga girl encompasses "a seductive posture, a warlike attitude, a virtually perfect body with long slender legs, a sexy and well stated wardrobe with daring and flashy colors!"

La Manga collection features bold prints nylon stockings designed to lure younger women into developing a passion for thigh high nylon stockings. A variety of soft 20-denier and 40-denier yarns, voile, tulle, patterns and prints are all carefully-finished with designer silicone tops which makes them not only stunning but comfortable. A pleasure to wear whatever the occasion, they can be relied upon to stay in place. Generous sizing makes them a godsend for ladies with long legs.

The full range of thigh high nylon stockings includes 21 different products offering a delicious choice of colors such as greedy pink and captivating black. Patterns and styles vary but attention to detail is intense.

New Manga inspired
Love Me Mika
hold-up nylon stockings

Three leg packs – enticingly called ‘the three little rascals’ – add the reassurance of a pair and a spare. Many others come with a free gift - whether it be a garter or "seduction clip" - a range of interchangeable bows, hearts and charms that attach to the top and can be removed and kept forever.

Love Me launched it collection of fashion stockings exclusively through the international on line hosiery retailer StockingsHQ.com.

As David Bradwell of StockingsHQ.com explained: “For us, Love Me was more a case of Love at First Sight. StockingsHQ.com is dedicated to the pursuit of passionately beautiful hosiery.

The stunning designs from Love Me, beautifully made and attractively presented were therefore a must-have addition to our collection. The perfect accompaniment to this season’s trend for retro glamour, they are destined to put legs back into the spotlight.”

For more articles on nylon stockings see our prior stories on Secrets in Lace -"Keep the Romance Alive" and Stockingirl - Zebra - Rattlesnake Legs - Electrify Fashion Week.

Dolce & Gabanna FW05
Dolce & Gabbana FW05
Alexander Mc Queen FW05

Bumble & Bumble Thickening Spray

Secondly, you need a round brush.

Bumble & Bumble Grooming Creme

If you're out for a big night and want some serious volume, spray some super-hold hairspray at the crown of your head and backcomb your hair to give it an extra lift. But don't do this everyday because it could damage the hair cuticle.

A final tip: It's optional whether you use volumising shampoos and conditioners, but do put more conditioner at the hair ends and less at the roots as conditioners tend to make hair softer, thus making your whole hairstyle flatter.

Now you all should know how to get this season's striking 60s hairstyle!

Now that we're in mid-autumn, it's the perfect time to wear blouses. When you see someone wearing blouses, it usually leaves you one of these two impressions: old fashioned or/ and tacky, OR stylish and proper. You obviously don't want to look old-fashioned or tacky, so how do you achieve the latter?

Phew! Today's been a long day. After I did an awful presentation for my Employment Relations class, I had to help out at the signup stall of a society I am a committee member of. So while I was sitting there getting really bored because nobody was signing up, I was thinking about what to blog about today. Then it hit me: school bags and statistics!

Don't freak out. It's more serious than our typical post, but hey, do YOU ever notice what bags people at your campus or your workplace carry? I reckon that bags used in university are pretty similar to the ones used in offices because they serve a similar purpose: to carry paper around.

Back to the point, I was sitting on the main 'street' of my school campus and did a little survey. Basically I counted how many bags of a particular brand walked past the signup stall from 1:45pm to 2:15pm, which is the end of lunch hours. Just some extra information: I go to a London university which has a tiny campus and a high international ratio. Here are the results:

1. 
   67 Guccis -THE most popular bag at my uni. Gucci has a large variety of monogram totes and large bags which are stylish and strong enough to put all the books in.
2. 
   58 Longchamp -Loads of girls carry Longchamps. I personally don't like them but I can understand that they are practical and are available in many colours.
3. 
   6 Louis Vuittons -Quite a few people, male and female carry Vuittons. The most popular one is the messenger bag. But only a few people managed to carry it in style!
4. 3 Pradas and 3 Burberries -The Pradas are usually carried around by seriously stylish people. When I say Prada, there were both the classical nylon bags and the beautiful leather ones. Just to make this a fair survey, I must note that Pradas are usually harder to spot because Prada is just subtly stylish that way, so I may have missed a few. And well, Burberries are always a favourite among students.
5. 1 Dior -There was this girl carrying around a Dior saddle bag on her shoulders and her books in her hand. So impractical!

Another reason I did this survey is because I'm thinking of buying a new school bag myself. Now I have a slightly better idea of what I want. Tell us what school bags the students at your school uses! I'd love to know!

Melissa Quesada, a lawyer from New York, won the 20th annual Miss Latina US pageant.

Melissa Quesada
Miss Latina US
in Bikini

Melissa will represent the USA at the 2006 Miss Latin America world competition.

After seeing her stunning bikini shot and the shot from the bikini competition, it is easy to see why this dazzing Hispanic beauty was chosen as Miss Latina US.

A current resident of New Rochelle, New York, Melissa Quesada was born in the Bronx 26 years ago of Puerto Rican parents. The Latina beauty is a graduate of Hofstra School of Law and is currently employed at a New York law firm, proving intelligence can be combined with beauty.

Miss Latina US
Bikini Contest

The New York delegate beat out 17 other delegates from 13 states: Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Oregon, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas and Utah. Four delegates represented Colombian, Guatemalan, Mexican and Panamanian women who live in the US and not the states where they reside.

Karina De la Rosa, a Dominican psychology student from Rhode Island was First Runner-Up, followed by pre-Med student Keren Kinglow, Miss Panama U.S. Latina. Completing the top 7 were Jessica Garcia of Utah, Argentina Ruiz of Arizona, Laritza Garcia of Maryland, and Angeles Gonzalez, Miss Mexico US Latina.

Melissa Quesada
Miss Latina US

Quesada will represent the US at the 2006 Miss Latin America Pageant, competing with delegates from North, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.

The Pageant also featured Reggaeton performers, including the Reggaeton group La Familia.

This year pageant was held at the Barceló Maya Beach Resort, site of the 2003 National and International Pageants in Riviera Maya-Cancun, Mexico.

Looking to earn some extra money for the holidays.

Well, there are a number of survey sites that pay between $1 to $20 per completed surveys and
between $20 to $200 for web site usability surveys or for participating in focus groups.

We have compiled a list of
these survey companies. None of these companies will charge you a fee for joining their survey panels.

Most people who read fashion magazines or gossip pages would only notice and read about models who have reached the celeb or 'supermodel' status, such as Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss and Carmen Kass. (BTW, you know the model has made it if she reaches a single name status, such as Gisele.)

So while argueably, supermodels don't exist anymore, at least not as strongly as they did in the 80s, once in every few years, there is always one or two certain models who are obviously successful and memorable. In the late 90s/ early 00s, there was Gisele, (who of course was made extra famous because of her boyfriend, Leonardo Dicaprio.) Now in the mid-2000, we have Daria Werbowy.

Chanel S/S05

Zara F/W05

Gloria Vanderbilt, (left to right:) Gisele, Kate, Daria

It seems the trend in the fashion industry today is to join fashion with charity. The Ralph Lauren Pink Pony collection for the Pink Pony Fund for Cancer Care, is an excellent example of that. The latest brand name to join their leagues is Lacoste in collaboration with Barneys for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatrics AIDS Foundation. The way I see it, they are targetting two markets. The super-rich market and the not-so-rich market.
For the super rich market, the genius' from the Lacoste/Barneys marketing team came up with the one of a kind celebrity made polo to be bidded on bidz.com. "One of a kind celebrity" being the 5 magic words. Like this one where Teri Hatcher draws a beach scene on a plain white polo top-fetching for (at the moment) $301!

But thats not all. The bidding price for this white polo with crystal button, by the designers behind the brand Chrome Hearts, is a whooping $800!!

As for the not so rich consumers, they came up with the limited edition black golden alligator polo. And for "limited edition" and "golden alligator" they raised the price of the average Lacoste polo from $72 to $150! And from the fact that I cannot find any pictures or information of it anymore (they officially came out this Thursday) I reckon they're already sold out! I commend the marketing team of this campaign.

It's already mid-autumn so there's no way that you haven't seen at least one big 'Black is the New Black' plastered over style magazines and newspapers. And you must have seen lots of photos of gorgeous black clothes draped over the beautiful models from the fashion shows. The question is, how do normal people, aka we wear so much black and not look like we're simply boring. So today, I've decided to see how two of my fav. inspirations, Mary Kate aned Ashley are wearing this trend.

The great thing about looking at the Olsens is that there's two of them, meaning that you can see two very different styles but of similar trends. Ashley's outfits are always more polished and ladylike -totally cosmo city girl style (with flip flops.) Mary Kate's outfits as we all know, are more bohemian luxe influenced, always seemingly carelessly thrown together and gives off a really relaxed vibe.

Olsens' black diary:

30th Aug: MKA makes appearance at Much Music in seriously stylish flocks. I LOVE their outfits here. Two things to note here: Ash's sleeves are clinched, which transforms the loose sleeves into this season's big volume look. MK not suprisingly opted for a vintage-looking creation. And see that thick belt around her waist? -another big trend this season.

10th Sept: Ash arrrives at the Calvin Klein SS06 fashion show in New York. She's wearing a classy military-style mini-dress. Mini-dresses are great this season -wearing heels like Ash here is great, but in winter, put on some stockings and leather boots!

19th Oct: MK shops in LA in all black. She's so black that she looks weirdly lady-like and elegant! Remember ladies, if your coat has a belt/ sash on it, remember to tie it around your waist to make it look more defined. And how does MK avoid looking 50 years old in all black? By using her special talent, accessorising of course!

Hope everyone managed to get a few inspirations from the oh-so-stylish Mary Kate and Ashley!