Bay Area Fashionista

Traveling with Scents

 in Beauty / Fragrance  tagged solid perfume / travel by

The Bay Area, and most of the nation for that matter, has been suffering from strong winter weather. Dealing with heavy rain and snow can make any fashionista hungry for a vacation! Some people will be heading up to Tahoe or Yosemite to enjoy the winter snow pack while others will be hopping on a airplane to warmer climates. Whether you travel by plane, train or automobile the common problem every fashionista will face is how do you pack your favorite perfume bottle? If you travel by airplane, you may not be allowed to carry-on your favorite scent. Unfortunately, packing your $100, $200 or even $300 perfume bottle in your suitcase that will be checked is not ideal. We all know what happens to our checked baggage! The tossing of the suitcase along with the threat of your suitcase being on the bottom of someone else’s 5000 pound baggage can cause even the most carefully packed glass bottle to break. Not only will you lose your precious perfume but everything in your suitcase will be ruined! Thankfully perfume houses have come up with the perfect solution for scent-savvy fashionistas everywhere. The solid perfume.

Solid Perfume has been around for several years, but lately more perfumiers have been creating solid versions of their best selling scents. Marc Jacobs has put his famous scent “Daisy” into a fun daisy style ring that flips up to reveal the solid perfume. Marc Jacobs and Estee Lauder have also put their solids into jewelry such as necklaces. Bond No. 9, the famous New York perfume house that is known for it’s original scents that are inspired by various New York Burroughs has a pretty, gold compact that fits easily into your purse or pocket. There are even recipes on the Internet in places such as “wikihow” that help you make your favorite scent into a solid for your convenience. This is a great alternative to buying the solid perfume as they can run in price from $20-$100+. Whatever your choice, make sure you have at least one solid scent on hand for traveling, your gym bag, your handbag or anywhere you might be in need of smelling fabulous!

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Solid Perfume shown here; Nuits de noho by Bond No. 9

Bay Area Fashion History strikes again!

 in Bay Area Fashion / General Fashion / Trends  tagged casual fashion / denim / historical fashion / spring 2010 / winter 2010 by

Fashionistas in the San Francisco Bay Area are no stranger to the history of blue jeans. The gold rush brought immigrants and Americans from the East Coast to California which in turn found a new population in San Francisco and the city’s outlying areas. Blue jeans were invented by Levi Strauss due to the dire need for strong pants that would not fall apart in the gold rush country. The actual fabric originally came from France and was known as “serge de Nimes” which was a strong blend that included wool and silk. Levi Strauss imported the fabric and used it to make blue jeans. In 1873 Levi’s invented the stitched pocket and added rivets to the pants in order to make the seams strong. The denim fabric has been traced back to the east coast where a cotton version of the fabric was produced as early as the 1700’s and was used in Northern Italy for clothing. Levi Strauss brought denim jeans to the world as the fashion industry and world population knows the popular pants today.

The history behind denim and jeans in general is what makes this Spring 2010 fashion season so exciting for fashionistas in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not only is part of our local history a mainstay in fashion, but this season it is bigger than ever. Soon, fashion savvy locals will be wearing fabulous denim dresses, shorts, jackets, handbags, shoes and tops. This is in addition to all of the fabulous traditional jeans fashionistas everywhere will be wearing. The Paris, Milan and New York runways showed denim in all of it’s glory and in various shades of beautiful blue. A lighter version of denim known as Chambray also dominated the runways. Denim dressing is not only comfortable but practical as well due to the durability of the fabric.

When the fabric of denim is popular, so is the indigo color that is a defined by denim and it’s lighter sibling Chambray. This fabulous and very wearable color is also called Chambray. It is a pretty and soft medium blue that blends well with most colors and fabrics. The color is so wearable that it tends to hit the runways more often than other colors with the exception of black and white. Fashionistas everywhere can expect to see leather handbags, shoes, belts and other fabrics sporting this amazing blue color.

Since denim and chambray have traditionally been mainstays in the American wardrobe, this is a great trend for fashionistas to stock up on. Do not be afraid to buy every denim piece you love and can get your hands on. Denim is always a wise investment and always in style. Be fabulous, Be Bay Area and buy denim!

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Fresh New Nail Polish Colors for Spring!

 in Bay Area Fashion / Beauty / General Fashion / Nail Polish  tagged chanel / chanel nail polish / winter 2010 by

Good news for Bay Area Fashionistas! We no longer feel forced to be fashion victims by wearing dark, dreary, vampy colors on our nails. There is nothing more frustrating than seeing chips on your freshly polished nails 24 hours after you spend time, and maybe even money, painting them. Fashion has taken a turn towards fresh, lighter colors for the Spring season which in turn proves to be more practical. Light colors do not show chips as well!

Every season, fashion savvy women, and some men, look to Chanel for the new color of the moment. Cruise/Resort showed fashionistas everywhere that Chanel was taking a turn away from dark colors and towards more beige and gray nail polish. As style savvy shoppers began to part with  “Vendetta,” a dark purple throwback to Fall 2009, “Trapeze” rolled into stores for Resort 2010. Chanel’s first foray into the new nail polish trend, “Trapeze,” is a fabulous blend of metallic beige and light rose gold. This beautiful color looks great when worn with yellow gold, white gold/silver and of course the gold of the season, Rose Gold! Another side benefit of “Trapeze” is that when it does chip, roughly four days after application, one can hardly notice the chip because the color is so subtle.

Now that Spring 2010 is appearing, and disappearing from store shelves, one can only wonder if every Bay Area Fashionista will be able to get his or her hands on the hot new color of the season by Chanel, “Particuliere.” There is already a wait list for this darker version of “Trapeze” that has slightly less of a metallic sheen to it. “Particuliere” is the ultimate beige nail polish as it offers a cool tone that can easily appear to have a gray undertone when looked at in certain light and against gray-tone clothing. This is definitely the “it” nail polish color for Spring. Every Fashionista will be able to “work it” in either “Trapeze” or “Particuliere” depending on personal preference.

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Chanel Le Vernis Nail Colour; Vendetta, Trapeze

*Why we love Chanel nail polish: Chanel nail polish has preformed better than other nail polish brands in rigorous daily tests such as washing pots and pans, swimming, scrubbing the floor, changing diapers and much more! Here at Bay Area Fashionista we have tested many nail polish brands over the past fifteen years and it is our firm opinion that Chanel not only handles daily life, but offers the most fashion-savvy colors.