I.B.O.T.M. Yanin Namasonthi

       

      

Inspirational Blogger of the Moment

Why her?

Yanin Namasonthi may be young, but her raw fashion sense and unique style has garnered her fans on tumblr as well as blogspot. When I stumbled upon her tumblr last year, I was drawn in by her simplicity yet sense of elegance. Her maturity and poise at the tender age of eighteen impressed me and made me believe she would be going somewhere in the fashion industry. I always look forward to her sleek, funky, or charming outfit posts and am always inspired to push myself to dress out of my comfort zone and just experiment.

Name: Yanin Namasonthi

Nickname(s): Baitong, Bee & Prettysickly
Blog: www.idressmyselff.blogspot.com
Other sites: www.prettysickly.tumblr.com  
www.idressmyselff.tumblr.com 

Age: 18

Job: I work for myself, mostly designing 

and promoting
Country: England

1. What made you decide to showcase your love of fashion with the rest of the world by creating a fashion blog?

It actually started out as an online scrap book of my outfits to help me choose what to wear for school and events I had to go to cause I had no time and was always in a rush to go to school in the morning.

2. Who are your main fashion influences/role models?

Yoon from AMBUSH designs and Jesse Jo Stark

3. Any tips or advice on becoming a fashionista without breaking the bank?
Charity shops and ebay will or should become your bestfriend. You'll find incredible pieces at low prices on/in there!

4. Any advice on those starting out their blogging careers?
Just make your blog personal and showcase all the things you are great at. Dont let others influence you.

                                                                             

5. What are your favorite go-to beauty products?

Hmmm.... probably any MAC lipstick and bronzer.

6. What are you future goals, dreams, and aspirations, whether fashion-related or not?

Well I want to do a lot of things before I get married. Travel the world, do some kick ass project work and collaborations with other designers or bloggers, learn how to DJ and throw 

awesome parties for charity.

7. Thoughts on the importance of being educated as well as being fashionable? Can only be one or the other? Important to be both?

  I mean to everyone they would say education i the most important thing. To me, its how you learn and everyone has a different way. I just dropped out of college cause I wasnt learning what I wanted to learn and it was restricting my creativity and I would always be going to fashion events and shoots and learning what really interested me. It was something college wasn't giving me. I think if you can balance education with being fashionable thats great, but for me, it wasn't the case.

8. Message to your followers?

Stay positive and express yourself as much as possible. Life is short, live it loud.

9. Where do you usually go to shop for clothes, accessories, purses, shoes, etc?

I mostly do everything online now, so ebay, urban outfitters or ZARA are my main squeeze ;)

10. Please describe your style.

Its been through alot but now I've settled on minimal, modern and simple.

                       

Misty Mornings

Oatmeal colored sweater: Old Navy

Jeans: Kohls

Knit gray circle scarf: gifted

Trapper hat: Forever 21

Looked out the window this morning to be surprised with mist covering most of the buildings. Went outside prepared with my new (Black Friday purchased) trapper hat from Forever 21. Yes, I know I said I wasn't going to do the whole Black Friday thing, but just went with family without any intention of purchasing anything. Forever 21 was the last store for the night, and I just so happened to find a hat in the random accessories pile of the clearance section. Clearance items were 50% off and the hat was already only $5.99, so ended up getting a $3 hat when I was planning to get a more expensive hat to keep me warm in school. A great example of patience and serendipity when it comes to shopping!

Finals week this week, and my first (and toughest) final is tomorrow in the afternoon. I end Friday, so won't be starting vacation until Friday night. One of my roommates just left today because her last final finished earlier this afternoon, so now she can start vacation a few days before the rest of us! Oh well, tough life of a college student. Anyway, to brighten up my week I was finally able to hang one on one with my Big Sib this morning. We had breakfast together, then walked over to a study lounge (got "kicked out" because there was going to be an event and they had to set up, so we ended up back in my dorm's study lounge), then de-stressed by strolling through the arboretum. It was a great way to just bond and get to know my Big Sib more, and he also gave me some advice for the life off campus since he is a third year. Hopefully we can hang out again after my last final, right before we leave for vacation. Definitely a nice, relaxing way to spend my time before my first final. 

Study Sesh

Pink knit sweater: Forever 21

Zipper jeans: Forever 21

Gray knit circle scarf: gifted

Coat: (gifted) Old Navy

Finals week coming up, so woke up early to participate in a study group at the library. Took a while to get up, but definitely worth it. Will review as hard as I can for my tests this week. Thankfully I have a "fun" day Tuesday. I get to see my Big Sib and bond one on one for the first time! Going to grab breakfast with him then have a study session together. One more week to get through, then I get to enjoy the sweetness of winter vacation. 

Lips Lips Lips

(From left to right)

Fresh Sugar Rose tinted lip balm

Burt's Bees Replenishing lip balm

Revlon Lip Butter in Sweet Tart

Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple

NYX lip cream in Antwerp

MAC glaze lip stick in Hue

C.O. Bigelow Mentha Organics lip gloss in Barely There

Finally brought out my DSLR! Yay to more detailed looking photos with crisper images in the future! These are in my collection of lip products that I brought with me to college! This is pretty much all of it, but I probably left one or two lipglosses or lipbalms at home. The newest one to the collection is the red lipstick in the center, Revlon Lip Butter in Candy Apple. Absolutely loved the creamy, moisturizing formula from my first lip butter in Sweet Tart, a bright pink hue, and decided to get another one. I have been on the look out for a red lipstick, and decided to just try out Revlon's. So far so good! Only had one use so far, so will let you guys know how that turns out.

Below is my first ever "splurge" lip product and consequently first ever MAC product. Got a frosty neutral in Hue and not really loving the formula. Becomes dry looking and emphasizes dry parts of my lips, but probably looks great if applied properly. As a newbie to these higher-end products, not sure how to handle them quite yet. I guess I'll just stick to my Revlon Lip Butters for now.

Skin White as Snow, Lips Red as Blood

High-low sheer gray button up: Forever 21

Jeans: Forever 21

White knit sweater: Abercrombie & Fitch

Gray beanie: H&M

Maroon socks: Cotton On

Black Studded Flats: Nine West

Red lipstick: Revlon Lip Butter "Candy Apple"

Last night caroling and singing my solo with choir tonight! It was bittersweet, but at the same time nice to end it (for the quarter)! I think the most members came to this last night and even more people were in the audience waiting to see what we would perform next. I could tell both nights, everyone enjoyed listening to the medley because I noticed more people would actually stay to watch when we would change from song to song. It was also nice to have done a solo and that was definitely a great learning experience. I hope to improve and earn more solos in the future, but if not, it's all good because I genuinely enjoy performing with my choir buddies, especially the girls! We became so close so quickly, I would never have imagined. Two junior transfers already claim to be our "adopted/foster Big Sibs" to me and another first year, and both try to "fight" for our favor! One of them also wants to just hang and even host a slumber party to get even closer with one another! Amazing people and amazing experiences while at a new school...and the quarter hasn't even ended yet. 

Sophisticately Simple

Sweater: Aeropostale

Blue Striped Oxford Shirt: Old Navy

Black jeggings: PacSun

Went out caroling for choir two nights this week. Decided to dress the part since we were singing holiday songs with my warm sweater. Did my solo both nights and I am surprisingly getting more comfortable singing in public with other people. However, still practicing to belt out my voice more! It was a great night to show off to the rest of school what our choir is made of and just share our holiday medley with them! 

Winter Grays

Dress: Forever21

Leggings: gifted

Pink blazer: Forever21

Knee high oatmeal-colored socks: Cotton On

Boots: Macy's

Scarf: gifted

WARNING: Super long post about Fil-Am, MK Choir, and Big Sib/Lil Sib stuff!

Today was the official last day of choir for this 2012 year! We may still be caroling this week, but it won't be the same because we will be in much smaller numbers due to everyone's different schedules. It still felt bittersweet at tonight's practice. We may have felt tired, singing our songs over and over to get the right take for our recordings, but it was definitely the most memorable and most fun practice so far. 

I initially thought up the idea to find some way to thank our choir representative for driving us freshmen around to different events we performed at. However, I also wanted to thank our choir directors for working so hard on composing our amazing holiday medley. I shared my idea to some girls after one of our events, then the idea was never brought back again. It still came back to my thoughts every so often for a couple of weeks until I decided to just go for it and share it with the rest of the choir members. I typed out a super long message describing my plan, but I felt absolutely discouraged when I kept seeing who have read the message, but there were no replies with thoughts or opinions (that feature on Facebook where it shows you who has read the message so far). I thought my plan would just fail and have at most 4 people sign my handmade cards. I felt nervous as the time came closer for all the members to meet secretly and sign the cards I created. However, when more people came, I felt reassured as the card got filled up. 

We had fun during practice, but when the time almost came for the end of practice, I was worrying on how we would introduce our surprise and if it would be totally awkward trying to hand them their cards and cupcakes. Then one of our choir directors started closing the meeting, and one of my friends who helped with the planning said, "Wait! Choir has something for you guys!" and it was our cue to get the cupcakes, cookies, and cards. As I walked down the steps from my chair and handed them my cards that most of the members signed, I was so thrilled. I could feel their excitement and happiness when they squealed over our surprise, and the choir co-directors were so overwhelmed, they said, "Wait, was this recorded?! Do it again!" since they were just so excited. Then one of our directors started speaking, saying thank you, and that the little things like the surprise and just coming to practices make them really happy and proud. They brought up how they talk about choir more than their studies and their roommate can testify that! I knew then that what seemed to be a dumb idea to me was the best thing to have done to end the 2012 year with choir. Then we all huddled up for a group hug and did our choir group hand-huddle, yelling out "Attack!"

I also didn't forget about my big sib, and of course had my two sketches of us together for him. These portraits are of two of my favorite pictures we have together so far. One is of our very first meeting at the Big sib Lil sib revealing and the second is at our first performance together at FATD's (Filipino American Thanksgiving Dinner) where we made silly faces. Of course I had to write a super long, cheesy message on the back of one of them. I was reluctant to hand it to him, saying it doesn't look right, but he was excitedly prompting me to see it, saying "what is it?" so I finally handed them over to him. I saw his face break out into a smile and I could see he loved it, despite my rusty drawing skills (haven't practiced drawing over the summer since AP Studio Art). He thanked me, saying "you're the best lil ever!" and hugged each other. Later that night, when I got back to my dorm, he texted saying he read the message and loved it and that we have to meet up before vacation to study for finals together or just destress, ending his text with "I love you, lil <3". Of course when I read that I broke out into a smile and in that instant I knew we were infinite...no just kidding (The Perks of Being a Wallflower reference). I knew that he somehow was meant to be my Big Sib, because I have never had such strong, special bonds with people in high school and I never made the effort. However, the Fil-Am community here is so welcoming, friendly, and caring I crave for their company everytime there are socials or events with them. My Big always looks out for me and I just wanted to show my thanks with a "lil" gift from myself.

Peter Pan Collared

Winter sweater: Forever 21

Peter pan collared sheer dress: H&M

Leggings: Ross

Rainboots (not shown): SM Mall (Philippines) 

Sunny day for church this past Sunday. It's been raining all week, and finally the sun comes out. Finals week is coming up, so I'll be gone for a bit. But until then, I will try to take some outfit shots when I can find the time. Definitely played around with layering in today's outfit to keep warm. 

Giving Thanks

Dress: Cotton On

Knit cardigan: hand me down

Oatmeal-colored knee high socks: Cotton On

Finally back home for the Thanksgiving Holiday! Having the family party at our house, so enjoying the familiar smells of home cooked holiday foods wafting throughout the house. Haven't felt any holiday spirit yet since my school isn't decorated in any way fancy. However, I will definitely feel it when family friends come over and share just good company. As I grow older, there are less family parties and less people attend them. So these holiday parties where most of us gather is always a great way for us to reconnect and catch up on our lives. I hope all of you guys enjoy your time with family and friends, and remember to be thankful for whatever it is you are thankful for. 

p.s. I really hate the fuss of Black Friday shopping, but for those who are going tonight, or in the early hours of the morning tomorrow, just be safe and watch out for all your belongings! As for me, I'll wait around until the after Christmas sales.

Masqueradin'

Dress: gifted

Purple cardigan: H&M

Gold twin hearts necklace: Flea market

Ring: Forever21

Gold feather ear cuff: Icing

Steve Madden Black Flats: borrowed from a friend

Dressed up despite the gloomy weather. Went out for a Filipino American Thanksgiving Dinner with my amazing Fil-Amily! Performed with my choir group I joined this year, and our holiday medley was so much fun! Especially with the audience's energy! It made me realize how much I miss performing with other people who love to sing as much as I do, and performing in front of your friends just makes it even more exciting. This night was a great way for me to bond with my choir girls and hang with my Big Sib! I definitely can't wait for future performances and next year's Thanksgiving Dinner!