DECONSTRUT

DIY | STRIPED CROSS-BACK SLIP DRESS

August 8, 2017 3 Comments

High summer is finally upon us and with that means scorching temperatures, which in turn means it’s time to break out bare shoulders and higher hemlines. I’ve been really into the simplistic cut of slip dresses and decided to create a DIY version with a striped fabric that could be worn in multiple ways. My favourite way to wear this dress is to have the straps crossed in the back then looped to the front to cinch in the waist. The other is to let the dress hang loose and rock the effortless look. This dress is perfect for those hot summer days and even beach town getaways so if you’d like to recreate this striped little number, keep on reading!

TIME | 3+ hours

COST | $-$$

DIFFICULTY | moderate

DIY

DIY | PEARL SLIDE SANDALS

August 1, 2017 7 Comments

Pearl embellishments seem to be everywhere this year, playing off of geometric shapes and minimalistic style. They influtrated blogger closets and must-have lists with the Miu Miu and the Zara pearl slides, and show no signs of stopping as pearl embellished jeans and denim jackets are also quite popular this season. Wanting to join in on this trend, I decided to recreate the Zara slides as the original ones from Zara did not fit me and were quite pricey for something that screamed DIY. As always if there’s a way to make it for cheap and personalize it to be unique to me, I’m all over it. Read on to see how you can recreate these pearl slides to rock for the rest of summer!

TIME | 3+ hours

COST | $$

DIFFICULTY | easy-moderate

Travel

TRAVEL | WESTERN SHORE OF KAUAI

July 25, 2017 6 Comments

Outlook on the Awa’awapuhi Trail, the sheer drops of the Cathedral Cliffs

In today’s post we go westwards to the sunniest and driest part of the Garden Isle of Kauai. A general rule of thumb and recommendation from locals we encountered, was to head westwards in times of rain or cloudy weather. The western side of the island gets the least amount of rain and tends to stay relatively sunny all year round. It takes approximately an hour to get to the town of Waimea from Ka’paa (eastern side of the island) via a car. It’s a beautiful road trip with beaches along the way, tall grass and the occasional look out as you drive on over to the western side of the island. One of the biggest landmarks out in the western side of the island is Waimea Canyon State Park. We liked it so much that we went twice so we could hike two different trails and do all the outlooks off of the State Park’s main road. I recommend arriving early to beat the crowds and the fog up at the peak lookouts, as parking tends to get quite busy and fog can obstruct views in the afternoon when the clouds rise up. There are quite a few unofficial lookouts along the roads, but be wary and don’t get too close to the cliff edges and explore with caution.

Apart from the Waimea Canyon State Park, there are a lot of beautiful coastline beaches that stretch for miles for everyone to enjoy. The most remote beach being Polihale Beach which exists at the very end of the road that traverses around the whole island. It’s a bumpy ride but you’ll be greeted with untouched sand dunes and Napali Coast cliffs with the rare person here or there as you explore this beach. Read on to see what other beaches and places are not to be missed on the western shores of Kauai!

Beauty

REVIEW | COLOURPOP COSMETICS + SWATCHES

July 18, 2017 3 Comments

Based out of LA, ColourPop Cosmetics is a favourite among people who are in with the beauty trends of Instagram and following all the beauty gurus of Youtube. It’s known as an affordable alternative to many higher end products like the Kylie Lip Kits, and has also done multiple collaborations with inflencer personnels like Jenn Im and Alexis Ren. When I saw that there was free international shipping, I jumped right on that and ordered a few things to try for myself. With the price being so affordable, basically a drugstore equivalent, I wanted to see for myself if the formula and quality of the products were as good as many people claimed them to be. Call me skeptical, but how can products be that cheap and that good?! I’m the type of girl that when it comes to makeup and its a tried and true favourite, it’s very hard to make me stray away to try something new, price tag doesn’t matter if it makes my life easier. I’m a busy person who can’t be bothered with too much fuss on a day to day basis with complicated makeup so I like to have reliable products I can use on the go to look a little bit more put together.

For this order I decided to try a few different items to get an all around feel, focusing on items I could easily incorporate into my daily routine. I ordered some highlighters, liquid lipsticks (because that’s what ColourPop is hyped up about on those social media channels), a lip gloss, lip pencil and one of their new blotted lips. Upon opening the box, you’re greeted with a colourful patterned interior, a pamphlet booklet of the different types of products and a printed hand-written note with the items ordered wrapped under tissue paper. For the price I paid, I was impressed with the packaging as even when ordering items from Sephora (which is has a higher price range), you’re not greeted with the same un-boxing experience. Truly felt like it was a makeup Christmas morning!

Read on for a full review of the items purchased!

Travel

TRAVEL | KAUAI’S NORTH SHORE

July 4, 2017 16 Comments

Back at the end of April, I finally took my first trip to Hawaii. Hawaii has always just been a wishlist item, a faraway dream from the youth of my past. People have this notion that Hawaii is this super luxurious getaway location (which it is!) but I’ve learnt that it’s so much more than that. My boyfriend and I decided to explore the island of Kauai, the smallest of the four most popular islands and also the oldest island of Hawaii. It’s known for being the most lush, with its nickname being the Garden Isle; it boasts of a laid back vibe with less tourists and an abundance of adventure. I would do almost anything to go back right now.

The island of Kauai houses many roosters and chickens which you will see in abundance, it adds the cutest charm to the island. They will be right there in the mornings calling you awake at daylight and the chirping falls away as the sun fades beyond the horizon during sunset. Kauai can be split up in terms of directional shores when looking into exploring and sightseeing. You can comfortably drive around the whole entire island in about 2-2.5 hrs. It’s a beautiful drive along the coast and inwards through some jungle forests with a leisurely speed; all the while make sure you don’t have any chicken roadkill as the birds tend to like to wander where-ever. Technically you can’t drive around the full island since one of the prized gems of Kauai – the Napali Coast – creates a roadblock. The Napali Coast stretches around the North-Western part of the island with sheer cliffs, which you can only see via hiking, boat or air. These posts will break down the island shore by shore and highlight must sees, food and activities!

Tunnel’s Beach unique sand made up of tiny shells!

Looking down at Ke’e Beach from the Kalalau Trial

DIY

DIY | SCALLOP EDGED BIKINI

June 27, 2017 5 Comments

I first hinted to this post a while back on Instagram, I completed this DIY in time for my trip to Kauai this past spring and couldn’t be happier with this first try at making a bikini!

This was my first attempt at making a bikini and by no means am I a good seamstress; decent is probably where I would land on a scale of sewing professionalism. I would not recommend swimming in this set as it does feel a bit flimsy but I believe it can be easily remedied with a thicker swimsuit material, but it is absolutely divine to lay out in that holiday sun! I was inspired by Marysia Swim and her iconic scalloped edged bathing suits. They’re super pretty, feminine and gorgeous; and I have been lusting after a set for quite some time; I would love to own any of them they’re all so beautiful! Granted those bikinis are out of my budget range so I went to my usual solution to most fashion dilemmas which is trying to make one myself and to put my DIY skills to the test. I love the delicate feminine touch the scalloped edge gives to the bikini and it looked picture perfect for photos on my recent vacation. I chose to make it in black for easy thread matching, but would love to recreate a halter style of this bathing suit in white or a nice rust color!

TIME | 3+ Hours

COST | $10

DIFFICULTY | Some experience sewing required

DIY

DIY | BARDOT RUFFLED TOP

June 20, 2017 18 Comments

I really can’t get enough of the off the shoulder trend and I’m going to hit you guys with another off shoulder tutorial. You can see my previous off shoulder top tutorial here! I promise to post something else soon, but these tops are just so easy and fun to do since you don’t really have to worry about sleeve seam alignment. The off shoulder trend also eliminates the chances of tan lines which is great because my skin takes on colour so quickly that tan-lines happen in a blink.

I was inspired by this Victoria Victoria Beckham top which I saw Lydia Elise Millen try on in her Instagram story and immediately fell in love. Looked up the top and deemed that it could easily be an easy DIY by modifying an existing oxford shirt. The result isn’t as perfect as the original but I think it turned out pretty cute and unique! It’s definitely a lot girlier of a piece than I would normally wear but something about spring and summer makes me want to dress up and twirl around in circles.

I paired the shirt with my Rag & Bone Jeans, Aldo sandals and Le Spec Sunglasses. The earrings are a vintage find which scream Dolce & Gabbana vibes, and they paired beautifully with the top. Do you have any other suggestions on how to style the top? I think it would be interesting to see it with a pair of white pants and slides.

TIME | 2-3 hours

COST | $15-$20

DIFFICULTY | moderate sewing ability needed

DIY

DIY | CIRCLE DROP EARRINGS

June 13, 2017 12 Comments

There’s nothing more perfect than a circle.

Minimalistic and symmetric, with no apparent beginning or an end, it has an overall calm and finite feeling. I absolutely love the over-sized delicate statement of these circle drop hoop earrings. I liked them so much that I made them both in silver and gold. They both use a slightly different way of construction to assemble but you can get this DIY done in a jiffy and be walking out the door with all the materials on hand. For materials, I up-cycled old earrings my mom had into these new on trend pieces. Up-cycling old items is a great way to refresh the wardrobe for cheap, and not to mention its better for the environment; a win-win all around! Keep on reading if you would like to recreate these eye catching hoops and as always, tag it with #DECONSTRUT so I can see your creations!

TIME | 5 Minutes

COST | $0

DIFFICULTY | Easy!

DIY

DIY | OFF SHOULDER TOP

June 6, 2017 8 Comments

American Eagle Vintage Hi-Rise Festival Shorts, Le Specs No Smirking Sunglasses

Spring has me wanting to show a little bit more skin and there’s no better way than to hop onto that off-the-shoulder trend. This top is super easy to make, in fact if you have all the materials on hand, you will have a new top to wear out tonight by the time you’re done reading this post!

I love the white because it just pairs beautifully with everything and after a very dreary winter I’m ready to shed the black and grey layers to make way for lighter and brighter items in my closet. I made this one slightly cropped so it sits perfectly with high waisted shorts and jeans. I’ve made sure that the sleeves aren’t restrictive because a lot of off the shoulder tops tend to render your arms useless; but with this one, full mobility is enabled and your top won’t shift around!

TIME | 30 mins

COST | $ (super inexpensive, in fact I already had all my materials from previous projects so it was essentially free)

DIFFICULTY | Super Easy!

Travel

TRAVEL | A QUICK NEW YORK CITY MINUTE

May 30, 2017 10 Comments

May long weekend, I took a family road trip to the famous New York City! The place where people go to find success, rub shoulders with millions of others from around the world. New York City is in one word… BUSY. There’s never a dull moment, so many things are always happening in the city that there is an abundant endless list of events and activities to keep oneself entertained. Granted while we were there we did do more of the touristy sites because it was my brother’s first time in the city, but it was still a lot of fun! If you have never been to New York City then here’s a quick break down for any short trip you have planned for the future! This post has you covered for activities to keep you busy in New Jersey, Manhattan and Brooklyn!