Pink Rock Candy – Top fashion trends, news and shopping of 2010

I bought a black and white giraffe print dress from Zara a week ago. I’m not particularly an animal print type of girl— I love prints, but animal prints sort of scare me— but the dress had a very magnetic effect. After wearing it today, I realized what I’ve been missing out on.

Having a slightly obsessive personality, I now want to buy only animal print dresses in non-traditional animal print colors.

The number one contender for my undying love is this Issa One-Shoulder dress.

I don’t have enough one-shoulder dresses, so this dress satisfies that lust. It’s super sexy and great for a night out— plus— and, the spots aren’t completely uniform and cheesy— plus, plus.

I just know I’m going to dream about this dress tonight.

I love being introduced to new music, whether it’s “the next Lady Gaga,” a guy from Indiana and his guitar, or a French/Finnish duo called The Dø (pronounced like dough).

While Dan Levy plays the folky, surfer, dance beats, Olivia Merilahti’s bubbly voice chirps the lyrics making each song a sort of electro-nature call.

It was Olivia’s interest in fashion that initially piqued my interest, “I love Alexander McQueen, Vivienne Westwood, Manish Arora, Chanel, Junko Shimada. I’ve been wearing a lot of Tsumori Chisato and Andrea Crews outfits on stage,” Merilahti says. At a glance you can tell she’s a girl who has carved out a style of her own, whether she’s wearing some secondhand find or designer duds.

“I love independent designer outlets that I come across when I’m abroad, Toronto and NY were my latest faves (I don’t shop much in Paris). I find a lot of designer shops in Helsinki. I also like the customized clothes that some vintage shops sell, like XXL t-shirts that have been changed into dresses, sleeves that become scarves, etc. ‘Episode’ in London is a nice one,” she continues.

The fashion definitely drew me in, but it was the music that made me want to keep listening, and when I say “keep listening,” I mean over and over and over again. After hearing the song “At Last” from their new album A Mouthful— recently released in the US— I couldn’t stop playing it.

It’s romantic. It’s cheesy. It’s tongue-and-cheek. Most of all, it’s addicting.

I’ve spent the weekend singing, “At Last! I found what I was dreaming of / Someone who truly understands me,” under my breathe. Best of all, the rest of the album is just as captivating and fun.

Watch the ‘At Last’ video below.

For those who hadn’t realized, I’m black— shocking right— and as a “woman of color” putting anything sheer on my lips is an exercise in futility. You can imagine my surprise when I applied Jane. Be Pure Mineral Lip Balm for the first time and saw my lips rouge every so sweetly. Since then, I’ve been hooked!

The Be Pure Mineral Lip Balm not only is able to add a nice sheer tint to my darker colored lips, but it keeps them soft, provides natural SPF protection and smells delicious like coco butter.

I initially found this tube of Jane. miracle balm at the bottom of a tote full of makeup from years ago. Jane. and I have been involved, on various levels, since my sister introduced the two of us when I was an overactive sprout of 10 or 11. My sister wore makeup, so I used to sneak and wear makeup too.

Since then, Jane. and I have lost touch a bit. The only place near me to buy their products is at RiteAid, and let’s faces it, finding a RiteAid in the world of CVS, Walgreens and Duane Reade is a feat in itself. The only one I frequent is in at Grand Central Terminal, and those visits are generally geared toward grabbing a bag of chips before rushing to my location.

That being said, I’ve started a small collection in different colors and apply them regularly— I love them when creating a natural look for school.
If you, like me, have no idea where your nearest RiteAid is located, you can buy all Jane. products on their webstore.

It’s almost Mother’s Day, and I could probably write forever about why she means so much to me. However, she doesn’t read my blog, and she’d never know.

I will say my mom is the only person who can affect my wardrobe decisions. Not only do I often go shopping with her, but if I put on a outfit, and she doesn’t like something about it, I’ll complain and try my best to stand by my wardrobe choices but will inevitably go and change.

She’s a genius, she’s caring, she works her ass off, she’s classy, and she’s the reason I wore this surprisingly sexy Calvin Klein wrap dress yesterday.

I bought this dress while shopping with my mom at Marshall’s last weekend. It was the first time in a long while that I’ve made a purchase without trying it on. All I knew was, I needed the dress because it was a wrap dress and it was bright red. What girl doesn’t need a bright red dress?

According to her, the dress inspired her to create the ultimate scheme, a surprise half-birthday diner with my guy. Since I was young, my sister and I would always celebrate our half-birthdays in an effort to score a few more presents. The presents rarely came, but the tradition stuck, and since her death I hadn’t done much toward birthdays or half-birthdays.

In an effort to get me out of my funk, my mom went to my boyfriend with this silly plan, and he went along with it. Their plan was totally successful and beyond cute. My mom not only told me I needed to wear this new Calvin Klein dress, but also told me I “needed to update the shots on my blog.”

Of course, I wore the dress and took the pictures.

Thank you, Mom/Mommy/Madre/Maman. I love you thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis much! You’re most definitely the best.

Click to see What I Wore.