Swarovski brings sparkle to your holiday season!

 Some years ago while interning in Showroom Seven New York I was admiring custom editorial pieces of costume jewelry made with Swarovski Elements, they would make an average girl turn to glam diva in a snap of a necklace clip! 

I remember coming home from work and telling my boyfriend how bedazzling these pieces were and not all of them were so expensive either, so year later when he got his first real job he would  get me at least one Swarovski jewelry piece a year while we were together, I still have all of them. My favorite are black leather crystallized bracelets.

Imagine my excitement when I was contacted to participate in promotion of this lovely Swarovski Elements Advent Calendar on companies Facebook page. 

I got this elegant Entwined Glamour Bracelet by SWAROVSKI CRYSTALLIZED™ as part of this partnership and I have been wearing it every day since I got it. It really goes with every outfit as it gives a touch of glam to casual day outfit and an additional sparkle to an evening look.

Now, you are probably wondering how this lovely Advent Calendar works, just like you unwrap different candy piece with an old school chocolate calendar same mechanics are applied here, the difference is that here, every day you can come back to this calendar, reveal, share and comment various luxurious items bedazzled with Swarovski Elements, all from gorgeous Casadei shoes, True Religion jeans, Coach rings to Godiva's chocolate and truffle collection shared in first 10 days of December.

This calendar also features a bit sparkly contest where the final winners awards in the grand prize drawing are grown up girls candies - SHOES! Times two! As there are two final winners!

Here I am not talking about any shoes but rather a pair of SHEYLA Stilettoes of Kennel & Schmenger bedazzled with SWAROVSKI®ELEMENTS or as a second prize a pair of SOHO Sneakers of Kennel & Schmenger made with SWAROVSKI®ELEMENTS (both in size 5).

This is an international contest, all you need to do is like the Swarovski Elements Facebook page, enter their Advent Calendar application tab and click on the bottom to enter the brand prize drawing where you need to fill out your email and name. Hurry up, contest ends on Christmas! :)

Good luck lovelies! 

Do you have a Swarovski piece which you wear daily? 

*The raffles will be live from December 1^st until December 25^th, 2012 at 12:00 a.m. CET. The selection of the two (2) winners takes place through a random generator. All winners will be contacted via the email address provided to get their shipping address to send out the prize no later than January 31^st.

Soft step for social butterfy on the go.

Yulia Kharlapanova in “Risky Business” 

by Benjamin Kanarek for Harper’s BAZAAR En Español –November 2011.

The other day, rather late in the evening when I finished responding to all of the work emails, done my house choirs, walked Papi and did my daily pampering routine after quit an exhausting Monday I got a lovely email from Butterfly Twist team which definitely brought a smile to my face in an instant. They wanted to introduce their brand to me and as soon as I saw their product I looked over the screen of my laptop at my toes, wiggled a bit and thought to my self "What a neat idea! I need these in my life!"

Then, I thought about you ladies, my readers, fabulous working women from all over the world running around in heels all day, maybe just like me, from meeting to meeting, from taxi to plane, at home and at the office - we working ladies, we never stop. So...why not give some fabulous rest to our busy feet?

I talked to the Butterfly Twist team to find out what is so special about these fabulous ballerinas!

Cream quilted Oliva - my favorite pair! So Chanelish!

How did you come up with the idea to launch Butterfly Twists? 

It was actually a funny way they came about! 4 guys started it in London! College friends Emmanuel, Frank, Mark and Philippe, came up with a unique fashion-forward idea after one of them (who shall remain nameless!) literally knew what it felt like to be in a woman’s shoes after losing a bet and attending a party wearing a pair of 6 inch stilettos! A long bight of discomfort, for the unfortunate one wearing heels, prompted them to come up with an idea to end high-heel suffering for women.

Butterfly Twists since won UKFT award (United Kingdom Fashion Textile) and are sold in over 30 countries and continue to grow internationally in all kind of stores from Asos to Topshop and Selfridges&Co.

Who is your target customer? 

Our ideal customer is the girl that loves to wear heels but also loves the idea of fashionable comfort and needs it because she is always on the go. The Butterfly Twists girl is a social butterfly that loves fashion, travel, nightlife, and being adventurous not to mention head-to-toe in style wherever she goes, that's why she needs her Butterfly Twists. They take her everywhere she needs to be. 

We provide a chic comfort to some famous feet as well like: Megan Fox, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria, Hale Berry, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Cameron Diaz etc.

Cleo Leopard

White Sneakeskin

How did you manage to produce such a useful, good quality product for such an affordable price? 

It was definitely no easy task. A lot of time and research went into finding the right resources that would bring quality, style and comfort into a foldable ballerina at the right price. It's easy to source the most expensive materials and offer a high priced shoe; it is much more difficult to make an affordable shoe with all the high quality attributes that a high-priced shoe has, but that is what makes Butterfly Twists stand out. We are here to provide a product that is exceptional in every way. From price to fit to comfort. 

What are your plans for the future in terms of brand expansion and development? 

We have a few new products that we are launching and are very excited about! Coming soon for SS13 are foldable flip flops! We will continue to expand by bringing women's favourite, go-to products with a twist.

Did you had a chance to check out Butterfly Twists website? Which model is your favorite? 

Mine is definitely Cream quilted Oliva but I got my eye on couple other ones as well! 

Follow my blog's Facebook page and Butterfy Twists Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest pages for upcoming surprises ;)

Dr.Martens limited edition designer collaboration!

Photo: Goran Matijašec | Make up: Žana Kožul | Hair: Keune Academy

Most popular Croatian fashion designer Aleksandra Dojčinović did her first designer shoe collaboration with worldwide known shoe brand - Dr.Martens. Aleksandra designed a three model limited edition line which will be sold in one store only ShoeBeDo store in Zagreb.

With this collaboration Aleksandra joined a group of international fashion elite who already designed their limited edition Dr.Martens shoes such as Raf Simons who is a creative director of house of Dior today, Yohji Yamamoto and fashion model Agyness Deyn. 

Aleksandra gave her unique, elegant designer signature to historic '1460' and 'Vi' motocycle model and in that way she gave a fresh look to dozens of year old, well known and well recognize Dr.Martens boots look. The new limited edition 'Dr.Martens by Aleksandra Dojčinović' line is cool sexy, trendy and very much wearable just like Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović clothing line. 

"It is a great honor for me to become a part of Dr.Martens family, especially knowing that before me some of the greatest world known designer names collaborated with this historic brand. I am also proud that through me Croatian fashion scene has become a part of Dr.Martens trend and that my three Dr.Martens designs are already attracting attention of Croatian fashionistas."

 Aleksandra Dojčinović

This limited edition line Dr.Martens by Aleksandra Dojčinović is available for purchase exclusively in ShoeBeDo Zagreb Gajeva store starting in November, 2012. My favorite ones are motorcycle black and gray ones and I can't wait to rock my pair!

Photo: Goran Matijašec | Make up: Žana Kožul | Hair: Keune Academy

"When designing my Dr.Martens line, like always, I had regular, working girls in mind. I tried to put myself in their shoes first, and start from there.I would like my Dr.Martens booties to be recognizable, unusual, elegant and equally wearable with romantic dresses and skinny jeans. Military trend is very much making a come-back this season so I am sure that Croatian fashionistas will know how to combine them with both day and evening looks."

Aleksandra Dojčinović

You can find more info on this exciting collaboration on ShoeBeDo and Lei Lou Facebook pages. 

Conversating.

"I wear my Chucks with any uniform I need to wear be it a team uniform for travel or a dress up suite for formal occasions. They are one part of my look which I always keep true to who I am."

Ante

This post has been long into making. Every time I am picking up my boyfriends sneakers around the house I tell him -"I really need to write a post about your sneaker collection sometimes soon, you have more shoes then most women I know!" So tonight,  finally this "sometimes soon" time happened.

Other then our love for each other (duhh), playing PlayStation 3 and eating peanut-noodles we also share our love for James Dean t-shirts and Converse sneakers, although my boyfriend definitely has more Chucks then I do, overall my heels pick up the total score to my advantage.

„Only the gentle are ever really strong.“ 

James Dean 

So today we pulled out his favorite sneakers from one of his shoe cabinets and realized that more then eighty percent of his sneakers are Converse. This must be worth of a blog post I thought :)

When we first started dating I noticed that he is wearing Chucks for..well..every occasion. He wore them for clubbing, for going to the beach, I was only surprised he didn't play basketball in them, which he probably would, if he could, so he told me the story of his oldest pair of slip-on Chucks and on how he got hooked for life to wearing Converse sneakers daily.

These red leather John Varvatos limited edition ones are my favorite pair

Ante got his first pair of cream color slip-on All Star Converse sneakers in Summer 2008. in New York where he went to participate on NBA draft. He paid them almost $100 at the time and wore them so much since that they broke at couple of places so his dad fixed them with superglue.

Although Ante keeps buying new pairs and various designer limited edition Converse sneakers, he remains quite emotional about his first pair of Chucks so he still slips them on occasionally. As you can see from the photo bellow - these really earned their retirement ;)

Few days ago we got Ante walked through the door coming from practice and he said: "They arrived!" with his face stretched in a big kid smile showing me the newest edition to his vast shoe collection - high top gray leather Converse shoes. I really like the round stamp logo on their inner sides and dark shoe laces. 

Knowing how hard it is for Ante to find cool casual clothes and shoes in his size I found the story he told me about his first pair of Chucks really heart-warming. I was surprised to find that he remembers all of the details so vividly and still has this emotional connection to his first pair of Converse sneakers which he bought on his own. 

Seems like not only us girls get emotional when talking about shoes! ;)

What time it is?

Is time to buy Clox!

I get a lot of media requests from various brands to publish some information about their new collections daily, I seldom pick pieces from collections which I really like and present them to you, my lovely lady readers.

After yesterdays post Balancing it all where I was talking about how hard it is for a women today to find a proper work life balance and to find time for herself in her busy daily schedule where 24 hours just doesn't seem to be enough to do it all....I got information about new collection of Clox! It must be a sign! Shoes come to girl''s rescue! In every single fairytale there is a prince, OK, maybe sometimes a horse..but always and I mean ALWAYS there are shoes.

When I was little, you could ask me to tell you back a story about Cinderella or a Snow White and I would not remember the whole story from start to finish and I would probably make it up as I go, BUT I could remember and in details explain and elaborate on her dress, and her shoes.

Once again...as it happens in a fairytale, shoes come to rescue. 

CLOX is the first brand of stilettos with working clocks (yes, they tick-tack on your fit). Clock hands are actually legs, running in circles day after day, showing the irony of steps and time and its connection in the life of every modern woman.

Clox collections are produced in very limited editions in a small family-run factory in Croatia, and is available worldwide through the web shop.

Clox woman is never lost. Even when she wanders into The White Forest, she uses her intuition to find the very tree rich in juicy fruits of fashion. Passion Fruit Collection is nothing but a reflection of herself - uninhibited, independent, different. It's made for women who always choose to take the hidden path and dare reach for the forbidden fruit.

 Photographer: Mladen Šarić | Model: Martina Marinić  | Mia Marić, Igor Manasteriotti

Be sure to follow Clox via Facebook & Twitter. 

All I want for Christmas is....

Many of us are kind of planning Christmas shopping for weeks and then all of a sudden some anomaly in scheduled week happens its like the black hole in time continuum and all of a sudden - upsss…tomorrow is Christmas Eve and you still don’t have all of the presents and you are terrified to enter the stores because all of those nice-mannered fashionistas all of a sudden start acting like they have been let out of prison early and didn’t have time to adjust back to civilization so they are pushing and pulling each other while waiting in lines to pay or to try on stuff.

So, if you don’t have time to look around or you are scared to get hurt during Christmas shopping mania you can be sure some of my recommended gift ideas bellow, all made by Croatian designers will  look fabulous under every fashionistas Christmas tree!

All Croatian designers:

Elfs / Lei Lou by Alex Dojčinović / Juraj Zigman / Ledenko shoes / Fensice / Ženski rokovnik

In my next  post, tomorrow, I will write about some quick and simple ideas on how each of you very busy working girls can decorate your home in a bit of a less traditional and less expensive way for holidays as well as about some cool ideas on how to make some of the presents on your own. J It is 2 am now and I am finalizing one of the 2 presents I am making for my boyfriend.

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.

Roy L. Smith