dress & blazer, vintage. bag, giani bernini (via macy's). heels, zalora (similar). socks, marshall's (I think...? I don't remember anymore...)
Feeling playful on a Saturday because it is a Saturday. Except it's gloomy-ish with cloudy weather but it's alright. It's perfect beach weather...sadly, I'm not in one though they are close, like, just a drive or so away, when here.
Today's music mood, Faky - Sugar Sweet:
I am not entirely sure why the preview shows up and not the full video when Avex on youtube uploaded it eons ago... If this music teaser/preview makes you want to see the music video and listen to the music in full, you can just look Faky's Suga Sweet up on the site.
tank, bench ph. shorts, secondhand lowry's. bag, vintage. boots, rubi by cotton on. bangles and cat ears ring, forever21.
It's been one week after another of intermittent all day rain and just all around gloomy, cloudy days thanks to typhoon Lan that hovered close to the Philippines' area of responsibility. It's course was different and soon moved away to Japan so there wasn't much damage (flooding, etc) much to all of our (here in the Ph islands) collective sighs of relief. Still, it's the wet season in this area so I'm expecting more typhoons coming our way. Hopefully, they just don't become as scarily devastating and damaging as category 5 ones similar to typhoon Haiyan way back in 2013.
Anyway, yes, sun! I miss this kind of cheery sunny day that makes me want to go to the beach and just be a bum or something else there...
I've currently taken to starting my day with streaming Highlight's Can Be Better MV from their official youtube channel. The 1theK upload is getting more attention but the official Highlight youtube channel one, I feel, needs more of the attention from us fans. Hmn...I don't even stream Da-iCE stuff much and this one has a Vevo account on youtube... Either way, both are fandoms I discretely belong to so that explains this portion of this post. Haha. Can Be Better by Highlight just is such a relaxing and fun song that it's great to start the day with it and with their Pls. Don't Be Sad, as well. Both just are now my happy pills and they tend to set the tone of the day for me nowadays. I'm falling deeper into the Highlight fandom, I suppose. Mostly, it's because of their music which is a 360 from their regular dark, all-about-heartbreak-and-everything-grim ones back when they were under Cube Entertainment as Beast. I like this 360 degree turn they took in the direction of their music and all. Like, I really, really like it to the point I'm in love with it. This is the same feeling I had when Da-iCE came out with their debut album as then-indie artists way back in 2011. Beast debuted earlier than Da-iCE, though...around 2009.
t dress, shopwagw (what a girl wants). tights, random store/s. heels, forever21. clutch, gifted by an aunt.
The vacillating rain and non-rain this really, really gloomy day had me springing for something comfortably warm, thus the all black with bits of gold, silver and a beige-ish shade outfit. This day has succeeded in making me even more depressed than I already am. It's only thanks to Highlight's new release, their music video for Can Be Better that I've survived today and continue to do so tonight. Seasonal depression can be such a bitch bleep to deal with. Depression and anxiety in tandem being all the more harder to deal with. If there's anything I learned in this lifetime, it is to never fx@# with it and seek help when needed. Never disregard mental health's wellness as it goes hand in hand with physical fitness/wellness, both being integral in the making of a healthy human being. (Wasn't it World Mental Health Day a couple of days ago? Yes? This post is quite timely, then. *insert smiley face/emoticon here*) Anyway, yes, Highlight:
It's my feel good song today and for the rest of the night. The music video is such a happy pill, too, with all the randomness in it and of course, the 5 members lovely members (I am pretty biased on main vocal Yang Yoseob but I love all of them equally, to be honest...kind of like how I love all members of my favorite jpop boygroup, Da-iCE). Everything: the song and the music video is sunshine and happiness that it's worth playing over and over. RIP the play button on their official youtube channel's upload of this...
top, something borrowed via zalora (similar here). shorts, tally weijl. bag, gift from aunt. heels, zalora. black braided headband, diy-ed/handmade.
A versatile top makes for many fun outfits and is well worth the price. Although I admittedly got it on sale then along with another top of the lace detailed kind, in the same solid black color. I got this two years ago or so, maybe three and still I've yet to exhaust its uses. Many a blog post on here like this one which is the most recent and this from last year, I think (?), where this has been good to use so far so that proves this piece's versatility.
As for the headband, I made this with others of its kind to give away for Christmas to people as gifts. I like how the black stands out with the bleached and color creamed hair to the point that I don't mind keeping this color of the hair despite the massive damage it has brought to it. Apparently, there's no saving my hair at the moment...but the moisturizing shampoos and conditioners I use seem to liven it up a very tiny bit so there's that, at least.
And, I have been chilling to this today:
I'm not really a huge fan of regular Filipino/Tagalog OPM. Although, say, I grew up listening to Eraserheads and Rivermaya, aunts and uncles were fans in their hay days, OPM never really stuck to me growing up. Instead of OPM in the 90s for instance, I wallowed in western boyband music courtesy of groups like the Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, Westlife, Boyzone and more. But since having attended a music festival that's a regular annual event in Dumaguete City, I've become a fan of really local, as in regional pop music here in the Bisaya region. The only problem stanning this kind of music is that it never reaches national levels of popularity and instead, they are found in spotify (maybe, I'm not sure since I don't use this...weirdly, I might be the only one not using spotify...yet), youtube and well, in just the locale. In CD form, they're definitely not easily found in the music and video chain stores. Good thing I was able to score a CD compilation of songs featured on the music festival I attended with a friend, then. It was 200 Php well-spent as I still have the CD in the bedroom. The event is called the "Belltower Project," and I am pretty sure it is still going on once a year since it's launching. There is not much known on the music of this kind and it's really only heard of in this region but I'm finding really good music here and I hope the genre or type of music gets known nationally in the long run. There is still such a long way to go before that happens.
Vispop is pretty inventive. This one is giving me really chill deep house vibes for instance. Just the kind of music I like to chill to during the weekends.
top and choker/necklace, forever21. shorts, secondhand lowry's. boots, rubi by cotton on via zalora ph. bag, giani bernini via macy's.
Some things are meant to be had in twos...or in every color it is available in. Such is the case of the top here from f21 I got in black and white.
Meanwhile, something pretty exciting to look out for:
The snippets they released on this clip tells me the mini album is going to be good. It would be awesome if they chart high this year. They're the only kpop group I really follow nowadays anyway... Most of the time, I'm still more into jpop, western pop, and occasionally the really local, regional (Bisaya/Cebuano) pop.
And therefore follows that music of the day is:
Highlight of lol's recently released first full length album titled 'lolol' is this song, Hanauta (english translation: 'Flower Song' though it really gives more of a springtime vibe when the rest of the album screams 'summer!!!'). The music video for this is just so good. I've been hoping for the song to be released in a single or some other but it got released in a full length album so this one really made my year complete since. I still maintain then that lolol is still the summer (rather, lifetime?) album to have this year. Ah, why is it that summer jpop releases are frequently the best ever? I don't really know the answer to that either...haha. It's been the case since Da-iCE Paradive was released a year or two ago...
dress, zara. boots, rubi by cotton on. bangles, from souvenir shop in dumaguete city and vintage. bag, kohl's (? I'm not sure...)
This Zara dress hasn't seen the light of day since I acquired it from the year end/season end sale around late 2015 to early 2016. This was basically two or three seasons ago. I've only taken it out of its hanger, from the rack with the most pieces I get most wear from on a daily basis, today. And I've just removed it's tag today as well. I know, really weird, right? I have the habit of keeping some pieces I get that I find I really like still tagged and left hanging on a rack in the bedroom until the mood and the occasion calls for me to get them out and finally wear them out with. I'm pretty sure I was able to get something else from that particular sale apart from this one but I forget what that was...hmn...
And in fandom news: there's only 5 days left until Highlight (the only male quintet kpop group I really stan where that part of pop is concerned...) releases Celebrate. Needless to say, I am pumped! I can't wait to listen to what this is going to be like. Highlight, since their period as Beast, has been delivering really well on the music front since time immemorial. Also, for the Jpop side of things, I've been obsessing with Da-iCE's 君色 (romaji: Kimi Iro) single/EP since last night. I love, love, loooove the b-side that is Fly Higher as much as I do the title track, 君色 (Kimi Iro). One is as good as the other. Yudai and Sota's solos are really, really good too. I rarely do get disappointed by any Da-iCE release. I'm finding lately that I rarely get disappointed by lol's releases as well. I suppose this is me getting used to anything Avex Japan, which is the main Japanese entertainment management agency I'm really into.
And so, until the next post, I leave you with this pretty, pretty (I'm not at all sure if I've attached this one to a previous post last month...it's taking me long nowadays to update this space with things for personal life/issues reasons...):
