TSD San Francisco Edition: UNIQLO, H&M, Snidel, GUESS, Forever XXI

Finally another shopping haul and this one comes especially from San Francisco! Now, I usually go crazy when I go shopping but because I was with my mom, I had to exercise great restraint as she does frown upon crazy shopping habits like the ones that I possess lol. But despite that, I was able to get away with some great finds!

Basic Tanks and Seamless Underwear: This first batch was from UNIQLO, a Japanese brand which I liken to the Gap here in the U.S. I really like this brand for their basics, especially their seamless underwear, which are TRULY seamless and goes great with leggings. Of course, I had to snatch up two pairs of seamless undies ($7.95 each I think) and I decided to go for some basic tanks that were $9.95 each. I didn't get a chance to try on the tanks since there was a special event going on that was going to close the store super early. The white and black tank fits really nicely and the fabric is great. The more beigey-tone one on the far right is a little more loose fitted but still a great layering piece.

Black Leggings: I was super tempted to buy a whole bunch of things from H&M since it is such a great store, but once again, I was with my mom and had to exercise severe restraint. Instead I picked up two pairs of their black leggings since I fell in love with them when I got pair in Vegas a month before. They're only $9.95 and I think that's great for the quality of the fabirc.

Logo Print Tank: I actually got this as a furoku (付録) from the most recent issue of ViVi magazine from Kinokuniya in Japantown. It was ViVi's 30th anniversary and so they teamed up with Snidel to create this collab item! I've been a fan of Snidel, but never got anything because it was quite expensive. I was surprised at the good quality of the fabric for being a furoku. This tank encompasses one of the trends happening in Japan, which is block print logos with random English words.

White Fringe Sleeveless: Before leaving for SF, Guess had notified me by email saying that they were going to have an extra 50% off of their reduced prices for the Memorial Day weekend. I was worried I wouldn't find a nearby Guess but there was one conveniently at the Westfield Mall down the street. Everything I picked out was on extra 50% off, so I got a great deal. Also, I applied my $15 credit for being a Guess List member to my purchases! This first piece was from their music festival collection. I got it because I love the fringe detail cascading down the chest into a V-shape. Not too crazy about the actual material, but I figured it's a great piece for the the price.

Sheer Black Shirt w/ Royal Blue Trim: I absolutely love this because of how sheer the fabric is. I do have a lot of sheer black shirts, but this is even more sheer and I think you can tell by the picture. What sealed the deal was the royal blue trim on the collar and inside the sleeve cuffs. Yeah you cannot really see it when I'm wearing it, but I may roll up the sleeve cuff to show the underside. Also, the triangular studs for buttons is a cute edgy detail.

Blue Plaid w/ Studs: Except for one plaid shirt that doesn't really fit me well, I didn't have anything like this in my closet. To be honest, when I tried it on, I was on the fence with this, but decided to buy it because it was in my size and it was on extra sale. Plus, if I truly wanted to return it, I could do so at my local store. I think this ended up being one of my favorite pieces from this trip because it did fit pretty well for a plaid flannel shirt. They usually don't look right on me because of the fit, but this was about 90% perfect. Also, I love using this as an accessory piece by tying it around my waist! Then when it gets a little cool during the evenings, I can easily slip this on.

Star Patterned Knit: Now this was in the Forever 21 store; it was in the Forever XXI store. Now for someone like me, I would be like what is the difference? It's the same name but one is in roman numerals. According to my cousin who goes to USF over there, XXI is supposed to be better quality and more classier. I definitely got the better quality part. I saw this knit and knew I had to have it. While I'm not a big fan of star-patterned prints as I believe they look kind of juvenile on me, which is ironic as I got all star-patterned print items for XXI, this seemed to suit me well. I think that F21 knits are, for the most part, good quality and this did not disappoint.

High-Waisted Star Patterned Denim Shorts: This is my other favorite purchase of the entire trip. This is what got me into the store. Actually, the mannequin was wearing a slightly different star-patterned denim short than this one, but I ended up liking this one much better when I found it. I think the trend of high-waisted shorts and pants is super cool and chic, but when it comes to shorts, all the ones that I've tried had been too cheeky for my taste. When I tried this pair on, it was on the verge of being too cheeky, but I found it to be acceptable enough. The fit and quality is superb and I plan on wearing this for 4th of July!

Thanks for sticking around for this ep of the Shopping Diaries. I have a few more to post, so look forward to that!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN

Travel Through Photos: San Francisco Part 3

Hello! Sorry for the lack of activity on my blog all of a sudden. I got lazy, but I'm glad to be back and finish up the rest of the San Francisco pics! To be honest, I didn't take a lot of pictures after Monterey Bay. I did take a lot of pictures at the California Academy of Sciences and Alcatraz, but I ended up making some combination clips so as not to overwhelm this post. This will be the last SF post as I am eager to share with you some shopping hauls, especially from SF, and just a wrap up of June! I'll also try to get a June Favorites post out there too :)

I wish I had taken more pictures at Japantown since it was one of my favorite places in San Francisco. I really liked the touristy Japanese shops, which made me wonder why we didn't have more of these in Hawaii lol. Probably because most of our tourists are from Japan and they don't want to see stuff that they can get at home hehe. Anyways, here's a pic of my Mom.

Lovely Union Square facing Macy's.

The SF Taiko Club, or something like that, put on a demonstration for the crowd. I always enjoy taiko performances!

From the top of the Mark Hopkins hotel. I can't believe my Mom made me walk up Mount Everest just to get to this damn hotel -_-

The reef environment at the California Academy of Sciences! This place was super cool as each section was stimulated to recreate the natural environment.

They also had some cute penguins too! I forget what breed this was but they were originally from Africa. On the left, the caretaker was in the midst of cleaning the glass. Their oldest penguin was 30+  years old. Normally, a penguin's lifespan is 15-20 years, but this is due to scarcity of food and predators in the wild.

(top) The albino alligator was in the swamp section of the Academy. It took me a while to realize it was real because it was so still lol. There were some huge turtles as well in the same tank, which made me wonder how they survive. But I suppose as long as they're being fed, he has no need to eat his neighbors. (bottom) I thought this guy was so cute! I've always thought pig-snouted turtles were on the cute side and seeing them in real life established my thought :)

I'm glad that I got to visit Alcatraz. Yes, I was afraid of those humongous sea gulls crapping on my head since this place doubles as a bird sanctuary. The prison, of course, was the most interesting part. I didn't realize how tiny jail cells could be and that you really don't get any privacy. A cool fact about Alcatraz is that there were two people who "escaped" from Alcatraz, but one ended up getting recaptured and later released and jailed again for something else in which he spent the rest of life in prison. The other made it all the way back to SF but nearly died and was recaptured.

Of course, I need to end this post with a fashion pic! I missed Uniqlo since coming back from Japan in 2011, so I was ecstatic to enter the store again. I love their basic tanks and their seamless undies!

Finally we're finished with SF! I can't wait to go back again as there were so many things that I didn't get to see. The next post will be my shopping haul from SF, so I might get that up later today or tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

-LAUREN