I’m moving back to Caloocan in about *counting the days in my head* two weeks (wow, time flies!), and with the construction of my new room happening this week, I had to pick a color to paint my walls with. Why thank you, Carrie Bradshaw, for having such a fabulous (fictional) apartment for inspiration. Yesterday, I finally chose my color swatches, deciding on a color that’s familiar and comfortable, not to mention I love: Blue.

Check out these photos of Carrie’s renovated apartment in Sex and the City 2. <3 (Segue: are writers in New York City really earn so much that they’re capable of keeping a pad as snazzy as this one?)

My love affair with blue.

Growing up with two brothers, my juvenile interests leaned towards boy stuff — watching PBA, collecting basketball cards, playing roller blades, championing at pusoy dos, wearing lose shirts and baggy pants, and preferring non-feminine colors like black and blue. I was 16 years old when, taking over my Lola’s room in the second floor of our house in Caloocan, I decided that I wanted to paint the room blue. To be overly redundant, I asked my Mom to buy me blue curtains and blue bed sheets and pillow cases. Turning 18 years old, my parents threw a debut party for me, and it didn’t take me a minute to decide my color motif. Perhaps the only blue thing that I wasn’t crazy about in college were UP’s blue books, lol, can I just say that those little exam booklets were the bane of my college existence??!

Blue books aside, it came to a point when blue, to me, became a safe zone, hence, when I started moving out of life’s little comfort zones, I started exploring a bit on my color preference too. Pink, brown, red, green, purple — my color dateline, in that order, representing eras of my life. Invite me for coffee and I’ll share my color story with you. ;)

And now it’s blue again.

You know how it feels like when you’re back with an old love affair after exploring and testing other options, realizing that he is still the love of your life, maybe you didn’t even stop loving him after all? Forgive me for the tacky illustration, but that’s how blue is like to me. Home, puppy love turned love-of-my-life, the color that I want to wake up to in the morning, surround me the whole day, the last thing I see before I close my eyes. I’ve seen all the other colors, but it all comes back to blue. I can’t wait to see how my blue room is going to look (and feel) like.

I’m getting to know a whole new version of myself lately.

That version of me who welcomes the idea of settling down, who chooses the warmth of the familiar over the thrill of taking risks, who prefers being surrounded by family rather than party-loving friends, who labels things according to whether they’re temporary or eternal and chooses only those which will last.

Choosing blue, somehow, feels like a representation of all that.

And and and.. I’m doing that thing again where I over-analyze on trivial things like color preferences and being all melancholy again about getting old(er) and wondering again about things like, if they say quarter-life ends at 27, does this mean I’m, at this point in time, having mid-life crisis?

What’s my point again?

Whatever.

Oh, and thanks, Carrie Bradshaw.

There’s no doubt about it, Urban Decay’s Alice in Wonderland is by far the prettiest and most photogenic make-up I’ve ever laid eyes on it’s so pretty I want to live inside it! But first things first, I’m not about to make a review or a tutorial because I know nothing about applying make-up I don’t know why I’m even buying make-up to begin with.

(But okay, I’m lying, I do know a thing or two about applying make-up, I kinda enjoy coloring my face with it, and I do know that Urban Decay has got the best eyeshadow palettes out there. As a matter of fact, I’ve been using UD’s Sustainable Shadow Box as my daily ‘shadow for months now and it has not failed me EVER. And now I’m just happy to give that good ol’ thing a break, Alice saves the day.)

So I’ll just take photos instead. Because Alice is pretty. And these are the kinda stuff I’d like to adorn my blog with.

Also, I know that I’m one of the few lucky ones in Manila who get to have Alice ahead of everyone else, so yeah, this is just me making you girls die of envy. *insert evil grin here*

OAN, if you want real, credible, useful reviews and swatches, head over to Liz and Lauren‘s blogs, they’re actually the ones responsible for my ongoing love affair with Alice in Wonderland. (Thank you, ladies, for inviting me and Mara to order with you.)

• Review & Swatches: Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland Book of Shadows by Lauren
• Urban Decay Alice in Wonderland by Liz

Now please please please take me out to coffee so I get an excuse to leave the house and wear make-up.

I bought a body form for TheDreamerie last month coz I initially thought I was doing this whole online boutique thing solo and without a resident model to work with. But now that I’m working with a partner, we both agreed to use real people as models in our product shoots.

I’m sure I’ll still have a use for this mannequin in the future. But for now, I play dress up in my spare time, much like playing with a life-size doll. Hence the mannequin’s name, Barbie. (Yes, I name stuff, deal with it.)

Here’s my own live version of Polyvore. ;)

I abhorred purple my whole life (because it reminds me of Barney), until recently. I’d like to think of it as Xaris‘ crazy addiction with anything purple rubbing on me. Now, I’m crazy about the color too! Not all hues of purple though. I don’t like flashy neon purples. Instead I like the deep shade of plum. (And you know how much I like it with blue.)

Today I put on Barbie these girly colors of pink and plum, balanced out with some yellow gold, bronze and brown.

Knitted muffler from Zara; Brown leather belt from Petit Monde; Purple faux leather purse from Fold and Hung; Floral printed skirt from *ehem* TheDreamerie *ehem*, thrifted

I’m addicted to skirts that are worn as tube dresses.

Also, I’m addicted to skirts and dresses with pretty patterns and fabrics, that even though I don’t like the cut, or it’s too long for my liking, I’d still get it off the rack because I can’t stand turning my back on something so pretty. (Is there some cure to this form of obsession?)

Other than the lovely fabric, there are a lot of things you can do with this skirt so I thought it was worth stocking it up in the shop. It’s garterized and has draw strings, which makes it wearable as a tube dress, or a skirt that falls up to mid-calf, or a high-waisted skirt. And you can just imagine the many colors you can mix and match with this skirt’s pretty floral print!

It reminds me of Reese Witherspoon when she was Melanie Smooter in Sweet Home Alabama. She went back to her home town wearing a black-and-white floral printed mid-calf skirt, a plain black off-shoulder top, and black pointed knee high leather boots. Ahh, I totally digged the Southern look.

How about you? What’s your latest obsession? :)