Hey Manolo lovers and Jimmy Chooholics… need your help and input. If you’ve been around The Luxe Mix since the good old days when I first started this, you should recall a post I did about high heels and how to wear them comfortably. This is a topic near and dear to my heart. So near and dear to me that I actually invented my own shoe pad. Mmmmmm Hmmmm, that’s right ladies. I have the perfect solution to all your toe boo boos and foot owwies. I tried pretty much every shoe pad out there to try to make my life at work on heels a little more bearable. I’ve tried everything at the store and a ton more tricks that I had up my sleeve.. until finally one day I said screw it I’m going to make my own shoe pad.

Thanks to Choxie Snoops, who has stepped in like the ever-energetic and superpowered leading lady that she is, we are bringing these foot pads to life! We are just getting ready to soft-launch our first batch of them in a couple weeks.

You can get your very first sample of our shoe pad by filling out 10 quick responses on our Heel Habits Survey. This offer is limited to fill it our quick! We’ll be giving away pads to the first 100 respondents. Please be patient for your shoe pad sample as we will be sending these out when we soft-launch our first batch.

Launch Survey

Thanks for you help and participation. One day soon we will end foot pain for all.

Did some damage at Santana Row this weekend.. then decided to put on my own fashion show. Lucky you get front row seats HAHA!

PS. Post-shopping-splurge (generally about 48 hours after the thrill of the kill), both Snoopy and I had some post-shopping second thoughts. I may return at least 1 pair of the 2 pants that I bought, and 1 top. BTW, both these items didn’t make the cut to get featured in my video. The power of the subconscious…

It’s been months since I mean to post these photos of my black beauties… I got them while shopping in the city with Grunchkin back in March (which BTW I really am going to post those videos I took! — just need to find the right video editing software. If anyone has any tips pls let me know!). I had been on the hunt for some black flats.. ok not really but I can keep telling myself that. Anyhow, Chanel done me well. You can never go wrong with Chanel. These still look brand spanking new after around 8 wears. They are so sturdy it’s like cleaning a car when I wipe ‘em down. Due to the solidness of the shoe and them being flats, which mean your feet do a lot of bending in the shoe while walking, the back of my ankles get a little irritated from the rubbing. I have my own little foot comfort remedies for that that of course. Let me know what you all think of these. And keep in mind.. I’m 29 now so I’ve got to start thinking about my back… cut down on those 5 inchers..

Ratings (Scale 1-5)

Design: 5

Comfort factor: 4.5

Quality: 5

Price: $$$$

Purchased: Saks Fifth Avenue, San Francisco

I’ll have to provide a legend for this new rating system I just pulled out of my tushy?

Here’s an interesting twist on fashion retail. At Famous Fashions Found.com you can shop — literally by celebrity, movie, or TV Show. This entire online shop is dedicated towards selling items the celebs have been seen wearing. And we’re talking the real stuff, not imitation pieces or knock-offs. The site design is rather crude at this point which is unfortunate since they market themselves as a luxurious, glamorous, exclusive place to shop.

The concept itself has legs. As I mentioned in Celebrities Changing the Face of Fashion we’re social creatures who look to others for fashion inspiration and identification. It’s through others that we learn about our own tastes — dislikes and likes alike. We get to know celebs on such intimate levels that it makes it easy to identify with them, almost as if we knew them personally. I bet we know more about Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton than the people we work with every day!

Anyway, back to the site… Famous Fashions Found has some great potential and I’ll be watching them over the next year. I may even make a purchase… these leather jackets below are… tempting.

If someone from Famous Fashions Found stumbles on this post… please do something about your site design already. I’ll help you create a new logo and "Buy Now" buttons for you asap if you want. It’s really that bad.

But cool site.

Another Celeb Fashion Site I Dig:

Frugal Fashionista — celeb looks deconstructed for frugal prices

For those of you who don’t know me, I got married last
November, 2006.  Those of you who were there I’m sure
recall how chilly it was that night But I hope you also retained some
fond memories of the ceremony at Villa Montalvo, the reception on the
veranda, YS and my first dance to “Everytime I Close My Eyes” by
Babyface, the pink roses and peonies, the navy satin table dressings
with ivory satin accents, the matching navy satin bows adorning the
4-tiered wedding cake, and the wedding stationary perfectly coordinated
with the wedding invitations… of course you do right??

Now that you understand my theory behind Luxe Mixin‘, you can see that I’d most definately mix some luxeness into my own wedding! The goal was to incorporate the most luxurious of things with the most practical and affordable in such a way that the wedding guests would never know what was high-end, low-end, and homemade since it would all come together to create an elegant and tasteful experience.

Here is a peek into my wedding as well as all the resources I collected over the span of those 5 months of madness (hopefully some of you going through the process can leverage). Feel free to ask me any questions!

luxemix@gmail.com

The Venue

Villa Montalvo

Saratoga, California

The Invitations

Letterpress by Hello! Lucky

Wedding Programs, Place Cards, Menus, CD Favors

Luxe Mix Designs (Me!!) — see below for files

Wedding envelopes from Envelope Mall

I printed a “Wedding Playlist” on the other side of the dinner menu which had the playlist of our wedding CD with descriptions of why we loved each song on the CD.

Ribbon was from JKM Ribbon — SOOO much cheaper here than in fabric stores!

Wedding Flowers

by Jacklyn Le of Le Bouquetier

Bride’s Bouquet — peonies, roses

Bridesmaids Bouquets — roses, callalillies

Groom and Groomsmens’ Boutoniers — callalillies

Other Boutoniers — cymbimdium orchids

Table centerpieces — roses, cymbidium orchids

Party Rentals

(Tables, Chivari Chairs, Satin Linens, Heaters, Pin Spot Lighting, Up-lighting)

by Classic Party Rentals (SF)

Bridal Party

Bridesmaid Dresses by Alvina Valenta

Groomsmen Tuxedo’s by After Hours

Flower Girls

Dresses by Little Angels (I got these at their store location in the Great Mall, Milpitas)

Wedding Dress

by Vackyuunzung

Wedding Garter

by Wedding Keepers

Wedding Hair and Makeup

by Jonathon Nguyen

vantoc@aol.com

Wedding Cake

by Bijan Bakery

Flavors: Tiramisu (2 layers) and Chocolate Mousse (2 layers)

Wedding Cake Mongram Crystal Topper

by Toppers with Glitz

Catering

Hors d’ Oeuvres and Main Course by Le Papillon

Photography

by Jade Photo Studio / Jade Studio Productions

Wedding Favors

Apple iPods

Maid of Honor and Bridesmaid Mugs

Bridemaid Dress Sachets (can’t find the link!)

Resources

Bookmarks

Below are all the Kaboodle lists I put together while researching/planning my wedding. They contain all the sites I found and liked, or the items I was considering using within my wedding. Yes, I’m obsessive.

Wedding

Flowers

Cakes

Bridesmaid Gifts

Wedding Favors

Other Helpful Resources

Wedding Itinerary Template – I must give proper credit where credit’s due. The Choister (aka Mayor of San Francisco since she knows just about everyone here) and her friends supplied this template to me. It was a lifesaver. It provides the basic structure for the entire “day-of” timeline. Hope you don’t mind I’m passing this along Choister!

Wedding Program Illustrator Template
page 1 | page 2

This is an Illustrator file I created which if you print it front and back on one sheet of paper can be folded and cut to create a pretty cool wedding program.

Wedding Menu

Wedding CD Playlist

Wedding Invitation Etiquette (how to word stuff).

Last weekend I met up with Grunchkin for some shop till we drop action in San Francisco (BTW Grunchkin = Grouchy Munchkin. We nearly did drop to our knees by the end of our round. I actually recorded a few videos that day which I’m still considering whether to post them or not

We started out at Wich’ Craft, the latest lunch spot next to Bloomies (opened by the Top Chef guy). It was mmmm mmm good. We then proceeded directly to the Forever21 on Market. This has got to be their Flahship store for Northen Cali if I’m not mistaken. It’s 3 floors! Tip: grab one of their shopping totes and cram everything you want to try on into the bag and head to the top floor — the lines are much shorter. Beware though, you end up picking up a lot more stuff!

I did some minor damage, spending about $250 there. For Forever21 that’s quite a load!

Here are a few of the things I got (found them on their site).

Striped Metallic Top — $15.80

Striped Tube Top — $18.00

Jersey Babydoll — $17.80

Stitched Jumper Tunic — $24.00

Cherry Blossom Tunic — $17.80

Plaid Linen Mini — $19.80

"Luxe" defined by Dictionary.com:

luxury; elegance; sumptuousness: accommodations providing luxe at low rates.

After talking with some people about my blog I realized I have never really defined what "Luxe" and the "Luxe Mix" is all about. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t even sure if the word "Luxe" existed in the English language. I’ve seen it used here and there in fashion magazine and such and I pretty drew my own conclusions of the meaning.

My own take on luxe…

"Luxe" — something that is luxury in style and essence. This is not constrained to luxury goods in my mind. I believe something that looks or feels "luxe" can be regarded or perceived to be luxury and does not necessarily mean it has to cost a lot of money.

The "Luxe Mix" –  a strategy I use in my personal styling. I don’t believe an individual has to spend exorbitant amounts of money to look "luxury."  There are some key goods that I firmly believe require quality investment such as handbags, shoes, certain jewelery and some beauty products. But other than that there’s so much great fashion and lifestyle products that come at incredibly affordable prices these days (see Luxe for Less).  You can see a huge shift in the fashion industry towards what’s referred to as "disposable clothing." Thanks to retailers like Forever21 and H&M, everyone can afford to look great.

I must caveat that my take on fashion and lifestyle goods works for me but wouldn’t suit others — especially my friend who I call "iRobot". iRobot shops much less frequently than me but anytime she makes a purchase it’s a life long purchase and she typically only buys the high end designer goods f’sho!! I on the other hand crave new things all the time. I get sick of things pretty quickly so it doesn’t make economical sense to purchase luxury goods at luxury prices.

So stay tuned to the Luxe Mix as I continue my quest for the life of Luxe without going for broke!

I’m back!!

Palm Springs was friggin cole’! All those cute skimpy tops and dresses i brought with me ended up staying cozy in the closet. I had to wear and re-wear the only sweatshirt I brought with me all weekend. Being the Virgo that I am I can’t stand it when I am unprepared clothes-wise. I spend a whole day packing so I can have everything planned out perfectly,  suitcase optimized Why can’t Mother Nature just play along?

Anyhow, I wanted to share a few celeb pics I saved over last week that I didn’t get a chance to post.

This was my fav fav fav of the week. Kim Kardashian looks absolutely adorably posh.  I never even liked that prada bag but after seeing it here I’m starting to convert. I’d do this prep school girl gone clubber look anytime!

Lindsay looks great in this dress. I saw this in US mag over the weekend so thought I gotta share this one!

I didn’t even know who this girl was to pretty recently! Carrie Underwood looks poised and perfectly prim here. I love the way these colors complement her skin tone. Her hair is so cute styled up and curled down. And I must say nice choice of shoes. I wouldn’t have thought to pair those myself (I’d normally go with open toes for a dress like that) but these work so well.. I may just have to try this. Too bad I don’t wear dresses like that tho…

I can’t even remember who she is but she lookin pretty good with her angel-esque look and cherub curls.

What to wear to a basketball game… that is the question. Tyra and Beyonce got it right I think. I love the caps but was it planned to both wear them together?

I don’t know what the hype is about Baby Phat. I am not feelin this beige boot and jean look Kimora has going on. Maybe it’s coz I just don’t like her. She seems very monsterish. Where’s your cap Phat Monster?

They have been on the seen for over the year but they don’t seem to be cooling down. Good for me because I can’t seem to get enough of my stripes. I keep buying striped top after striped tunic after striped tank… The variety of striped tops out there is endless but I prefer to stick to blacks, greys, reds, and possibly greens, oh hell they are look great. Now that I think about it I think I”ve got one in every color.

Celebs and their Striped Tops

Luxe for Less Striped Tops

Links to Buy

1. http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2933305/0~2378467~2378483~2378745?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=2378745&P=1

2. http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2934523?Category=&Search=True&SearchType=keywordsearch&keyword=striped+in+Juniors+BP.&origin=searchresults

3. http://www.forever21.com/product.asp?catalog%5Fname=FOREVER21&category%5Fname=casual+tops&product%5Fid=2031420024&showBACK=OK

4. http://store.delias.com/item.do?categoryID=&itemID=46573&sizeFilter=&colorFilter=&brandFilter=