Panel Attire

Ladies, you're going to love this! Have you ever wanted to have your legs look thinner and longer??? I think the answer is "YES". A new trend hitting the scene is paneling. A strip going down the sides of your shirt, dress, pants or skirt to give you a skinnier silhouette. The best solution would be a black strip on the outside of your pants which would give this thinning effect but you can try all colors. If your petite, try black pants with white panel strips on the side.I just bought a beautiful panel skirt from Forever 21 which will make me look professional and thin :)

Black Panel Pants

Panel Skirt

Victoria Secret Dress

Take a look at these good buys and look out for more exciting ways to wear paneling.

Oh Great Gatsby!!!

You've seen it on the run way but now we see it mainstream. I saw the Spring 2012 Collection of Gucci that emphasized Art Deco and it was fabulous. I want to put on a nice dress and hit up a jazz club or go to a yatcht for some cocktails.

This collection below is the jewelry collection from Rachel Zoe. Black is in and white is out. Keep a look at how most things will move towards dark colors in the next few months. Replace your white jewerly with geometric jewerly with a touch of black. See this collection at Neiman Marcus.

Rachel Zoe Art Deco Jewerly Collection

Rachel Zoe New Collection



Rachel Zoe Jewelry

So many are already rocking the look, so go buy your art deco piece for the summer or fall. Look below for some more inspiration.

The dress on the left is from Asos named A Wear Beaded Cami and the Art Deco top in the middle is from Asos named A Wear Art Deco Sequin Top. Our favorite Princess on the right, Kate Middleton, is wearing her Art Deco Earrings from Beaut Jewellery (photo Via zimbio.com).



Cupcake Craze

We have all seen the cupcake craze just take over the baking and restaurant industry. My sinful pleasure is Sprinkles but I have my eyes set on a New York bakery called Baked by Melissa.


Mini Cupcakes by BAKED BY MELISSA

 These bite size cupcakes are the size of a quarter and just right for cheating on your diet. I just tried these in my office and I am already ordering my next batch. I had three bites from Peanut Butter and Jelly, Chocolate Mint & Cinnamon Sugar. All beautifully finished and perfectly placed.

Blake Lively at Savage Premiere

 Flawless Beauty... Take a look at Blake Lively at the recent Savage Premiere in Los Angeles on June June 25t





Photo taken by Zach Johnson



This beautiful Nude & Black Silk/Tulle dress by Zuhair Murad has beautiful hand embroidered beads from head to toe is part of their new Spring/Summer 2012 collection. I would love to own any dress from Zuhair Murad. He has dressed to many celebrities over the years and with such detail in his work. Take a look at more couture at his website http://www.zuhairmurad.com/



Read more: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-style/news/blake-lively-flaunts-bombshell-curves-at-savages-premiere-2012266#ixzz1yvoCSOJA

Marrakesh Print

We seen it all around and love the look. The most recent trend in home decor is the Marrakesh Print.
Heard it from the man himself, Barclay Butera who is an amazing designer and has his own company, Barclay Butera. He just launched yet another book called Living on the Coast.

These prints vary is style and design. They are usually coupled with another pattern or solid color to make nice pillows, curtains, rugs, and so on.. About 10 years ago, I made a tile with my favorite of these prints below.


Marrakesh Tile

There are several different prints of which the above is my favorite style. Marrakesh is the capital of Morocco and they use these prints all across their land so it is nothing new to them, but it has lately been a trend for us.

This trend has as also crossed over to fashion so take a look at this Maxi dress below:



Boston Proper Marrakesh Print Dress

Oversize Bags

I've been noticing oversized bags for a while now and this movement has moved from bags to clutchs. Take a look at these celebrities with their oversized clutches. Charlize Theron, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Jessica Biell, Kristen Dunst all have such different looks but they are all carrying a oversized bag. They are great for the day or night and are very practical in careing almost anything in there.

My favorite clutch is the Valentino bag carried by Jessica Beil. I have my eye on it but in Yellow!

B

Alexa Chung with Valentino Studded Oversized Clutch

Find your favorite and match it with your favorite color. Try pastel or neon colors.

Pastel Palette

Pastels are definitely here for the season. Pastel colors like mint green, peach, pink, blue and yellow are the main colors to play around with this season. My favorite of the pastels is how the mint green is playing a big part this season. Take a light colored blouse with a mint skirt and add a gold belt to add some accessories like below:



http://pinterest.com/pin/202380576974979276/

Or take a look at this white oversized blouse with colars and a nice pastel coral mini shorts. Also they are paired with some hot heels that have gold straps matching her watch and bag buckle.

http://pinterest.com/pin/229191068507202497/

Take a look at this grey and yellow Prada dress worn by Diane Kruger at the 17th Annual Critic's Choice Awards. Using the pastels to her advantage along with color blocking with grey, she looks gorgeous.


www.shoppingdam.com

Try this trend before summer is over!!!

Louboutin is Flawless!!

Goth meets Glam with these Christian Louboutin inspired nails. Take a look at these beautiful nails and try in on your next nail salon visit. Paint the top coat black to give it a nice finish. Paint under the nail red to give it the same look like how Christian Louboutin paints all their soles red lacour.

You try these in different colors too so don't get stuck with just red and black; explore your options.

Put a sock in IT!!!

Put a sock in it...tha'ts what she said. And it works! You probably have no clue of what I'm talking about but I found this on the internet not so long ago. I'm talking about the Hair Bun. Basically put a rolled up sock into your hair so it could make a nice smooth finish on your bun.


Take a look at this video to see how it is done:

Another trick to this is to sleep with the sock in damp hair and you have curls the next day. Take a look at this tutorial below for the trick of the century.

The funny thing about trends is that it always comes back around full circle. My grandmother used to do this and it was such a nostalgic moment for her when she saw me do this to my hair.

Wow...happy moments.

Trending Now...

Miley Cyrus has hit the presses with her boyfriend or should I say fiance, Liam Hemsworth. Congrats to Miley!!! She is a newly engaged girl that is the talk of the town.

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/06/miley-cyrus-and-liam-hemsworth-engaged/

Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth met on the set of "Last Song" which was released in 2010. I guess the movie wasn't that far from the true, they fell inlove in the movie as they did in real life. So Cute!!!Let's see pictures of your ring soon!!!

Pinspiration

Now a days, everyone is using social media from Facebook to Twitter and so many others. New sites are popping up overnight with instant success. I wanted to bring to your attention Pinterest. This amazing site was launched not so long ago in March 2010.


This is my new addiction. You can search pictures from fashion to DIY(Do-It-Yourself) projects and so much more. You can follow pictures or create boards. Boards are like an album of photos. You can pin someones photo to your board and have others follow you.


This is so fun and easy to use. I like to make boards for all the fashion trends I follow like the one below. I also have boards of how my wedding should look, goodlooking men, and puppies. I also have a board about all the little treats I want to bake on my next potluck. You can upload your pictures to the boards too and have orginial pictures being followed by others.

Check out Pinterest below and take a look at my boards on my page at http://pinterest.com/cbabalian.

Check it out: http://www.pinterest.com/

Here are a few pictures from my boards:

Double Bikini Top

Double your pleasure, double your fun, double mint....


What I mean to say is...

Double your support, double your fun, Double Bikini top

Found this great idea to help with supporting either a bigger chest or adding cleavage to a smaller chest. Basically grab two bikini tops that are similar in shape, like the halter bikini worn below. Tie them tight and layer them slightly over eachother. You have the control of how much you see of the botttom bikini. You can also completely hide the layers which works best for those very curvy women (Then I would suggest using similar colors).

Pakaloha Bikini
http://pakalohamaui.com/gallery

This double feature is great for adding color or mixing print. Want a more nautical look, wear a red and white strip bikini and the bottom layer with a gold bikini which will add a gold trim. You can adjust at your own will how much skin you want to show.

For a smaller chest, tie them tight and place bikini on the outer part of the chest to give a push up affect. This does wonders and I've seen a few people pull this off great. Take a  look at this website which has amazing bikini's ... http://pakalohamaui.com

Arm Candy Storage

I love my precious arm candy and I want to make sure that it doesn't get ruined. So as I was cleaning out my jewelery box today, I needed a system to help my bracelets stay clean and organized. I came up with a easy way to stack my bracelets together making it look much like they do on my hand.

I grabbed a paper towel roll with half unused. Then I grabbed an old black t-shirt and wrapped it around the paper towel roll. I tucked in the sleeves into the sides which gave it a clean finish.

Simple and Easy...literally took a few minutes.

I can neatly see what I have and what I still need to buy...lol.

Hopefully this was a helpful tip for you.

 

Maui Retreat...with the bestie

Girls just wanna have FUN!!!!


This Memorial Day weekend, I had a blast taking a spontaneous trip to Maui with my bestie. We literally decided in 30 minutes and were on a plane in 3 hours. I had a 5 day trip vacationing from Maui to Honolulu to Kauai then back to LA.

Waterfall, Maui

Our days were filled with laying out on the beach, watching waterfalls, snorkeling at Black Rock, drinks in Waikiki and so much more.  Let's just say that it was an adventure. Hawaii and all it's islands are so beautiful and breathtaking that one visit is not enough. I still have to go back and hike in Twin Falls outside of Hana in Maui, go to the top of the volcanos to watch the sunrise and sunset, and keep tanning on their beach.

Sacred Pools, Maui

Maui is a beautiful island that they say is shaped like a women. It has a face that faces west with a neck then a body. This way its easy to map out were all the siteseeing places are like Lahaina which is known for its shops and restruarants is around the nose of the face. The famous Ka'anapali beach is right above along the eyes. Our hotel was of Kaanapali Beach and Black rock was next door. Black Rock is known as the snorkeling spot of the island. We snorkeled in Black Rock and laid out for a nice tan in Ka'anapali. At nights we would head to Lahaina for a dinner on the beach and shopping after hours.

Black Beach, Maui

One of the days we picked to take the Road to Hana tour. We used Polynesian Tours which had the best tour guides. It was a 10 hour tour so be ready to sit for long hours at a time and pickup is at 7am (didnt like this part so much since I'm not an early bird)....but all in all, loved the tour. They pick you up at your hotel and take you throught the coast along side the body of the Maui and Hana is on the most east south corner of the island and then back to your hotel. The tour has at least 5-6 stops along with 2 stops at 2 beaches. We saw many waterfalls and took pictures by them. One one of my stops I climbed the side of the mountain to get close to the waterfall. Another kool site to see is the Black Beach with black sand. We climbed in caves and spent over 30 minutes exploring. LIke always, I climbed into some trees and some roots. Did I mention I love to climb!!!!!!!!!!!

Flight from Honolulu to Kauai

After a few days in Maui we went island hoping to Honolulu. We stayed by the famous Waikiki Beach and had dinner at Yard House(not the most llocal food but I love this place). Honolulu is such a unique and different place. A completely different feeling than Maui. These islands couldn't be more far apart. Let's just say that Honolulu probably has the best shopping I have seen in America. They have multiple malls that are all open late and street shops with american and european brands. After a day in Honolulu we went to Kauai. We had minimal time their so we quickly rented a car, drove around the island and found a nice hotspot on the beach. We had lunch at Duke's which was beachfront hotel and they has amazinnnnnnnnnng food. They also had an indoor waterfall with a bridge (so pretty). We learned after the fact, that Brandon Jenner got married the same time we were on the island. For those of you who don't know, he is the brother of Brody Jenner (YUM) and step brothers to the Kardashian sisters. We were so close but yet so far.

Waikik, Honolulu

After all this fun, we headed back home on our 5th day. My advice, MAUI is a must see. This place is beautiful filled with fun in the sun and breathtaking sites. When visiting the Hawaiian Islands, make sure you stop by Maui and Ka'anapali beach.

The Talk around Town

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James is the talk around town. Have you heard about this Novel yet??? I heard it on the radio, I see it on TV, and my friend just bought the book. It is New York Times #1 bestselling erotic fiction novel...yes you heard me. Erotic Fiction. Here is a funny clip from Ellen Degeneres reading a few pages from the book to her audience...

I just ordered mine on Amazon after seeing this clip. This is definitely a must have book for the summer and I think we will all enjoy it ;)

Wrap arounds!!

With the recent trend in bracelets or should I say wristbands, take a look at these wrap around cuffs for your arm. These are such cute styles that you can add to any outfit and stack them along with other bracelets. Here are some cuffs/bracelets you should take a look at:

Cartier nail bracelet: The original piece was released in the 70's and this timeless piece was released by Cartier a few weeks ago on April 13, 2012. This piece is such a statement, you should most likely wear this alone.

http://www.cartier.com/

Double Cross Cuff: This handmade pretty double cross cuff bracelet was introduced to me by my best friend and ever since I can't keep my mind off of it. I shopped around and found a beautifully made cuff off etsy by Mamavava. So reasonable and only for $15 it could be yours. Take a look at the shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamavava

House of Harlow Arrow Cuff: Such a delicate piece that has pave style cyrstals. You can buy this bracelet at Bloomingdales, Amazon, Zappos and so many other online stores. Google this item and add it to your bracelet collection becuase this is a must have.

Feather Cuff: Double ended feather cuff that is sold on Anthropologie. This Huyana Feather Cuff made from brass is just another light touch to finish off your arm candy.

Have a great weekend Everyone!!! Try to find these items on sale this weekend since it's Memorial Day weekend. Shop! Shop! Shop! Till you drop. Tan a bit too.

The trend of music, fashion and colors are so amazing at this exact moment in time. I love the music I hear and the styles I see. The colors are so whimsical yet so appealing.

Here is a great tune I heard this morning and I wanted to share: Wide Awake by Katy Perry. 

The lyrics are great and just made my ride into work so much fun. Hope you love it as much as I do.

Trend Noted Introduction

Sooooo much on my mind and I want to make sure I share with all of you. I have a lifetime worth of fashion advice and trend spotting.  I’m going to start blogging about fashion finds, looks, things to do and not to do and so much more. This isn’t just going to be about fashion but more of a lifestyle. I’m also going to help you with some do it yourself tips…keep reading because you have no idea what’s in store for you!! Thank you all.