Going to the Beach

Heyy sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I finished Physics! Woohoo! And after that I'm going to mexico for a week. Double woohoo!

Anyway, I decided to make a post on everything beach. Because I know the beach can get messy, and everyone wants to look fabulous (especially if there are cute lifeguards). ;]

The Bikini:
This is basically your main weapon to looking nice on the beach. A cute and well fitted bikini can do wonders. Here are some cute ones (and the price next to it is the price of the top and bottom added together, because i find it quite annoying when stores price both peices seperatly well knowing that you're going to buy both pieces anyhow, haha.)

I basically just put Victoria Scet bathing suits, since they're having a sale and some of them were really cute =]

Victoria's Secret, $33


Victoria's Secret, $33


Victoria's Secret, $30



Victoria's Secret, $32



Victoria's Secret, $33


HAIR: Its going to get wet, so I would suggest to bring an extra towel to dry you hair a bit. But for the time being that you're just eating or hanging out, I would go with either gentle wavy hair, or a messy bun or ponytail. It helps to put your hair up, since with the sun you'll probably start to feel hot if you leave your hair down. Also, at public beaches they sometimes have showers- use them to rinse your hair and get some salt and sand out of it when you finish swimming.

MAKEUP: keep it natural, and to a minimum. Honestly I wouldnt bother putting on makeup if I was planning on swimming at the beach, because with a nude face you wont have to worry about the upkeep of your makeup in the harshest conditions cosmetics have to handle- sweat, sun, and water.

But if you insist, everything should be waterproof. Everything. Any foundation should only be applied under the eyes and on the apples of your cheeks. And mascara must must be waterproof, or when you emerge from out of the water you'll end up looking like a raccoon- which, as cute as raccoons are, is not what you're aiming for. Same goes for eyeliner. For lips, use cherry chapstick (my personal favorite) or a lipgloss with SPF.

SKIN:I can't emphasize this enough- use sunblock! And at the highest SPF you can get it. Honestly, I think people look best with their natural skintones. And most of the time, this holds true. Being tan is glamourous for...what, a week or two until it fades? And skin cancer and wrinkles last for how long? Haha there are so many cons to tanning, that I would only use fake tanner. But even this stuff can end up looking orangey and bad. I have Jergens at home, it seems to work okay, I mean it doesn't look natural when you put too much on, but just a little and it'll bring a little color to your skin tone. It look like this (picture below) and you could probably find it at your local pharmacy. Oh, and remember to wear sunglasses to protect your eyes!

FOOD: So its very tempting to bring chips and soda to the beach, but really, I always stay away from soda when I go to the beach...mostly because it ends up making me look pregnant, haha! Stay away from greasy and gas-y foods, so that you don't end up being overly bloated, which will be pretty conspicious if you're wearing a bikini. Instead, bring sliced fruit, water, lemonade, and maybe nice sandwiches. Oh and this may be common sense, but bring the drinks/fruit in a cooler so that you don't end up drinking warm water.

If you ever feel the need to eat icecream, go for frozen yogurt.

Oh, and make sure to DRINK, DRINK, and DRINK -water, of course! It's easy to become dehydrated at the beach, and you don't want to end up fainting. So just make sure to drink in intervals, even if you don't feel thirsty.

DANGERS: So this is another one of my secrets: I'm a little teensy bit afraid of the ocean. I mean I love the beach, I love bikinis, and I love the shore- but I'm one of those people who worry about the dangers that have %1 chance of happening to me, just because thats the way I am. So I thought I should post them, maybe they'll help someone, you never know =]

SHARKS:

This is my number one fear, and I might even have a mild phobia of them, but that fear is something that has been with me since my father brought me to an aquarium when I was five and lifted me up unnexpectedly right next to the clear glass, finding myself face to face with a shark. I had nightmares for a week, haha. But anyway, they're scary fellows, so try not to get bitten by one.

Areas where the most shark attacks occur in the world:
1. United States (without Hawaii)
2. Australia
3. Africa
4. Pacific Islands & Oceania
5. Asia

Note: these are the countries with the most REPORTED attacks. These statistics are basically pretty useless since I feel like a place like Australia would have more attacks than United States, especially since they're not even counting Hawaii.

In case you were wondering, every year there are about 50 to 70 confirmed shark attacks and 5 to 15 shark-attack fatalities around the world.

And I'm not completely sure about this, but I think the place most at risk for shark attacks in the U.S. are Florida’s New Smyrna Beach the "shark-bite capital of the world" and California’s Tomales Point and Monterey Bay—both are known great white shark hangouts.

How to lessen your chances of getting bitten by a shark:
-Stay out of the water at night, dusk, or dawn. Sharks are most active at night.
-Swim in a group. Sharks prefer to attack lone victims.
-Keep close to shore. It will be easier for help to reach you in an attack.
-Avoid sandbars and sharp drop-offs where fish congregate.
-Stay out of polluted or murky water. (when the water is murky, sharks might bite humans thinking that they are another sea creature)
-Avoid areas being used by fishermen.
-Be wary of feeding birds, or porpoises, which indicate the presence of fish.
-Do not swim if you are bleeding. Sharks can detect tiny amounts of blood. (I've heard this before, and always wondered if that meant I shouldn't swim while on my period? hahah!)
-Do not wear shiny jewelry; underwater it resembles fish scales.
-Avoid bright swimsuits and uneven tanning. Contrasts attract sharks. (well, I guess I'm the devil's advocate since some of the bathing suits I suggested earlier are quite colorful, but oh well. Just try to follow the other safety steps, and I think you'll be okay =])
-Do not splash a lot, since it attracts sharks.
-Keep pets out of the water. Erratic movements attract sharks.
-Never try to touch any type of shark. That's just asking for it.

A few facts about sharks:
-They are made of cartilage. (The stuff of your nose and ears)
-Most sharks live for about 25 years, while some of can live to be a 100.
-Sharks are said to attack more women than men. The reason is still a mystery. (Again, that question about having your period...!)
-Great white sharks can grow about 10 inches every year, so they grow to mature lengths of 12 to 14 feet.

If you see a shark in the water:
Quickly but smoothly swim to shore. If its got your arm/leg in its mouth, then punch its nose/gills/eyes with as much force as you can muster- believe it or not, playing dead when a shark bites you has no effect on the shark. However, punching it will hopefully make the shark release you for a little bit, which gives you time to swim to shore. If you are bleeding (which you probably will be if the shark was just tasting your leg), then make sure to try to swim to shore quickly, because the blood will make the shark try to attack you once again. Unfortunatly, If you can’t get away, and the shark comes back, hitting it on the nose will become less and less effective. Eek.

I honestly tried to keep an open mind about sharks, because I know people who are more fond of the creatures will say "Hey but your chances of getting struck by lightning are greater than getting bitten and sharks are peaceful and blah blah blah". My defense to that arguement is that if I'm running around outside with a radio in my hand while theres thunder and lightning- well yes, I will probably get struck by lightning. The thing that scares me most about sharks is that the beach is a place where thousands of people go and have come to accept as a normal vacation activity- however, the festivities can be cut short when someone is bitten, usually by suprise. I mean, I would feel helpless in the water, humans can't swim half as fast as fish can, and in the water we are almost completely vunerable. Also once you're bitten-even if you don't die- losing an arm makes life never the same. Think about that.

Other dangers
I used to play with jellyfish when I was little, before I knew that they could sting. Haha, thankgoodness those were the ones that didn't sting. Thanks to overfishing, there are fewer predators of jellyfish, and global warming has brought on ideal breeding conditions, all which brin larger and larger populations of jellyfish. The Mediterranean is expected to have the most increase in population, but populations will likely spike in oceans worldwide.

Also, whenever I walk in the ocean, I'm always afraid that the next step I take is going to be on a sting ray. It doesn't help my fear that my uncle stepped on a stingray some years back- supposedly it's the most painful thing he's ever experienced. So try not to step on those, they can be fatal.

Also, watch out for currents...recently on the news, there have been like, what, 7 people who drowned due to currents/rip tides? Its pretty scary, because the current is almost impossible to spot, and most poeple end up panicking, swimming against it, and then tiring out. If you ever get swept by a current, the thing to do is swim parrallel to shore until you are out of the current's reach.

Oh and by the way, for those who read my last post, it might interest you to know that shark attacks are one of those things that the media also like to tamper it, usually not making attacks public and putting them under the rug so that tourism (and money) will continue flowing into the area.

Thanks for reading!
-New York Chique

Photoshop and Its Effects On Society

Hey everyone, I wrote alot but it would mean so much to me if you read it all. Trust me, its pretty interesting in my opinion.

Okay so I was browsing the web when I stumbled on this:
Jennifer Hudson, debuting her new album which is to be released in a couple of months
(September 2008).

And of course, the first thing I noticed was woah, since when was she that skinny! So I did some snooping, and I found that she was at the BET awards a month ago. This is how she looked like then:

And I am sorry, but I cannot believe that is the one and the same Jennifer Hudson. They made her look at least 20 pounds lighter! I can't believe that they could possibly release this album cover and expect the public to believe that she's actually that size. Definetly an abuse of photoshop. You may say that its not photoshop, just really really good technique use of lighting. Well you know what I say? Same thing. Who cares if the culprit is photoshop or a thousand high-tech lights, the point is that she doesn't look like that in real life. I mean, what message were they trying to send? Did they seriously think that by her being skinny and a size everyone knows she isn't, they could sell more albums? What were they thinking? "Oh its okay that everyone knows she doesnt look like that in real life. They'll still be more people buying it if she looks skinny, who cares if its fake". NOT okay.

Which is why I think our society has some serious issues.

(notice the tiles behind her are curved, not straight- they must have messed them up when they were making her thinner...and isn't the qoute next to her ironic?)

The fragrance "Believe" was launched in August 2007...mind you, this was post-baby-britney spears, which is why the ad for this fragrance of hers (which doesnt even look like her) came with alot of people saying that it was obviously photoshopped. The company in response told the press that this was in fact, not photoshopped, but a product of expert lighting. Chyeah, okay.

I am by no means saying that all models are photoshopped. But many magazine are guilty of models that have extreme lighting techniques, and are touched-up; I just really don't like it. I feel likewhen I look at a model in a magazine, what I'm looking at isn't a beautiful girl- its what the people in an office working for the magazine want me to think is a beautiful girl. They want people to think that a certain type of beauty exists, when its really doesn't.

I know that its because they want to sell their product. And they want girls to feel like they will be beautiful if they buy that product. But it has gone past a point where everything, everything is fixed, twisted, distorted, all to make us believe in their product! I want to know that if I see a model on the streets, she'll look at least somewhat like the cover she's splashed across.

It's not even just in magazines...in this day and age, everything is distorted. Do you watch fox news? Well don't trust everything they say. This is what I learned at the beginning of this year, it was something I really didn't know or realize before, but when I did, it was frightening.

You probably already know some of this, but for those who don't:
In the United States, there are about five huge companies. They practically own all of the media. For example, the News Corporation is a company that owns FOX, The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones, The New York Post, MarketWatch, and a whole lot of other publications and forms of media, not only in the US, but also in australia, the uk, and in other random places. My point- say it was for some reason profitable for the company to sell grey jeans from one of these huge companies instead of blue. Then the company would put ads up in the New York Times for grey jeans, put an article of it in the Style section, then tell yet ANOTHER newspaper to put up an article about grey jeans to make it look like it was really a growing trend, and tell FOX news to report that all the latest celebrities are wearing grey jeans. The average joe american would see grey jeans everywhere in the media, and be like, "Wow its everywhere, everyone's probably using them, I'll buy them too."

This was just a made up example, but I just find it so scary that everything is owned by these huge companies, and news, ads, and the media can be distorted to the companies own will. Even things like the History Channel and all the news channels- someone owns them, and is probably telling them "Psst you better not publish anything bad about Obama its bad for our advertizement buyers" or turning to the other and saying "Make a big deal about the A-Rod and Madonna fling, Madonna wants the media attention". I remember I read an article that talked about a Colombian politician that had been held captive for seven years. When she was rescued, the article translated (she speaks spanish) it saying "I was so happy. It was like seeing a plane falling to rescue us" Or something to that extent. On the news on a spanish channel, I watched her speak and what she had actually said was "I was so happy to have been rescued, we were all jumping on the rescue plane, and for a moment were afraid it would fall down". As minor as that mistake was, it just shows you really can't always trust the news.

You may not want to believe what I say or think this is complete rubbish, but I thought I should say it because I believe it and it scares me to death that nothing on tv or in newspapers is the plain old black and white truth anymore. Its not only in the fashion industry, its everywhere in our society. Sorry if this came out to be a rant, I really did write alot (thanks if you read it all!), but I hope it maybe informed you a little. Or made you think.

Oh and on the brighter side, i was tagged by la femme chic =]



The Rules:
1) When received, you may post the premio on your blog.
2) Link to the blogger you received from.
3) Give it to 7 blogs
4) And link to those blogs
5) Also, leave those seven bloggers a comment about receiving the brilliant premio.

So, I'm going to tag cheapskatechic, icon, littlepinknotes, adele joanna , vintage vinyl, its called style, and too haute to handle, because they're all wonderful blogs.


EDIT: Here's the famous Dove film that covers the photoshopping problem:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

Thanks for all of your patience with this monster post,
-New York Chique

Yellow

So why the big deal on yellow? Well, I realized I almost have nothing yellow in my wadrobe. I only have a pair of earings that looked like these (to the left; Forever 21, $3.80) and a v-neck tee shirt. Not very impressive for a fashionista. So I decided that I would make a post of lovely clothing that I think are really cute and will aspire to get sometime.

Now, I have no idea how I could be halfway through the summer without yellow! It has so many benefits. Not only is it an attention-grabbing color and will make anyone stand out at the beach, but it's a bright happy color and makes everyone look tanner. A total win-win situation.

So here are some lovely ways to wear yellow! I tried t mix both affordable + splurge items, so hope you enjoy.




Tops:
I love love love the mix white roses and warm sun yellow (Left; Urban Outfitters, $60), and a little out of my price range, but: (Right; Catherine Malandrino, $259)

I never even go to hottopic (With the dark lights, loud music, and strange things they sell I honestly find it a little scary), but I saw this amazing radio shirt online. I'd totally wear it on one of those days where I want to look relaxed but cute. (Left; Hottopic, $22) And something about the pattern on the Mandee's shirt made me fall in love with that top.(Right; Mandees, $26)



The delias top is just really adorable. (Left; Delias, $29) And a little out of my price range, but also cute: (Right; Catherine Malandrino, $225)


The feminine ruffle top also caught my eye, (Right; Bloomingdales, $178).

Bathing Suits:
These are both single peice bathing suits, but they look so flattering! haha I usually opt for the two-peice, but in these cases I think that i wouldnt mind wearing a single peice at all!
(Left; Urban Outfitters, $98) (Right; Delias, $38) .



And then we come to the famous itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. (Below; Urban outfitters, $30)

Bags:
These are both nice and casual bags I could see myself going out to the city with or if I just need to grab a bag to bring around. (Left; Urban outfitters, $150) (Right; Urban outfitters, $68)

This envelope straw clutch looks really dainty- and the other bag is a pretty clutch, and since I love love ombre, I had to throw it in the post! (Left; Urban outfitters, $38) (Right; Bloomingdales, $110)




Ahh how could anyone not love marc jacobs? (Below; Marc Jacobs, $398)

Other Accessories:
I thought the ring was beautiful. (Left; Urban outfitters, $18) The scarf/headwrap has a really sweet print (Right; Urban outfitters, $20).



Ah I actually saw these glasses the other day when I went to Urban, and I tried them on for the bf. I thought the looked pretty good on me, but I wasn't in the mood to spend money on sunglasses when I have a billion already, but I still think they're adorable. (Left; Urban outfitters, $18). the rose earings are also really cute and I could se eit complimenting alot of things in my wadrobe. (Right; Urban outfitters, $3.80)





This bracelet is also very pretty. (Below; Bloomingdales, $88)

Shorts/ Skirts:
The shorts look so chic! And I could see the skirt making an amazing outfit also. these are definetly things i'm going to strive to get before fall comes around. (Left; Neiman Marcus, $165) (Right; Delias, $27)



This mustard colored skirt is beautiful (Left; Malene Birger, $225)

Dresses:
Dresses have become my favorite things to wear for summer.
(Left; Urban outfitters, $48) (Right;Urban Outfitters, $48)


(Left; Urban Outfitters, $48) (Right; Neiman Marcus, $368)


(Left; Mandees, $25) (Right; Vera Wang, $347)



More splurges but this print is lovely: (Right; Marc Jacobs, $252) And this looks so nice and cool for summer (Left; Milly, $274)





Tell me which ones are your favorites- hope this has inspired you to wear some new colors and you like the post,
-New York Chique