Champs-Élysées & Ladurée

Photo Credit: Cristian Alexandrescu Photography

Our second day in Paris was all about showcasing our project in the competition. Therefore, we spent all the day in the museum and arrived in our hotel room around 8 PM. What to do in such a short amount of time? Visit the Champs-Élysées Boulevard, famous for the shopping spots, cool places to eat and the flawless Christmas decorations. It was truly fortunate we got to visit it during the night and most of all, in December!! The view is breathtaking, although we took many photos of the street (from one end to another) , when I think of our walk a quote of Alan Furst comes to my mind:

"The best Paris I know now is in my head."

The shops were so perfect, there was magic in the air, but the streets are overcrowded, therefore taking a photo is almost impossible. Also quite an unattainble thing for us: the shops. Although there are many high street shops, you can only find their most expensive lines, I only had the heart to spend my money at Gap shopping for four members of my family, because it's their favourite shop. Now, I had to spoil myself as well so I went to Ladurée, because macarons are some of my favourite sweets and I've heard they're the best in the world in Paris. I waited in line for like 30 minutes, and I feel like it's the right place to thank Cristi one more time for agreeing to wait with me instead of walking around the boulevard. I bought 4 flavours: chocolate, raspberry, praline and coffee. What can I say about my Ladurée experience ?

1. The macarons are absolutely divine. I've heard that the Pierre Hermé ones are better, but how many times can you torture a guy while in Paris and in a crazy rush to wait for you?

2. I've eaten other macarons during my stay in Paris and also in Romania and I just can't compare them to Ladurée. Laduree has this special mix between smooth and crisp, just the right amount of filling, flawless shape.

3. Every single person who bought macarons took a picture in front of the shop , which I thought was so sweet so I asked Cristi to snap a photo of me with my Iphone.

4. Praline is absolutely my favourite flavour, I would go back to Paris just to stock on praline macarons!

5. I couldn't help myself and bought a golden/floral printed Ladurée notebook, which goes so great with my phone!

L'Arc de Triomphe- it may not seem so grand in this photo, but trust me, it's a truly immense and breathtaking monument!

My Laduree moment!

I found this incredible fountain on Instagram one day before we left for Paris and we were both like "We have to find it, it looks amazing!"

We visited Paris just when Kristina Bazan of Kayture was staying at Fouquet's, a famous hotel on Champs Élysées

The other end of this magical boulevard

With Cristi, my amazing friend and colleague who took all these beautiful pictures. It was nearly impossible to get pictures together because you don't really know who to trust in such a big city, especially when it comes to his fancy camera.

New Year's look & trends

Happy (belated) New Year everyone! I hope you're having a fresh start, I've been a weird mood lately, I kinda lack energy and I just feel it's something I can't quite control. What do I do when I feel like this? I blog about trends!

I told you in a previous post this New Year my friends and I chose comfort (jeans), but I still felt like I had to wear something festive. Therefore, I opted for a sequined sweater, which matched (unexpectedly) with my studded statement necklace and clutch. Studs and sequins- who knew? The footwear I chose brings me to the main topic for today: winter boots for teenagers.

There are two type of purchases teens make for the fall:
1. impossible high heels, which are excruciating to walk in during winter time (unless you live in LA- then you kinda don't need boots at all), but we still buy them because we want to look fabulous during winter as well and we think 'I can totally pull this off, I'm young so heels won't be a problem for me'. I've been down this road for two winters, I resigned and bought some UGGs to comfort my feet.

As your looking at my 3 inch wedges from Zara I bet you're thinking "She's done it again!". Believe me, I'm surprised to say it's not the case! Zara has been my favourite store for 5 years, but lately it disappointed me with all the masculine cuts and absolutely no emphasis on the waist, but on the hips. Okay, I get that's cool to look like you're from a Celine ad, but there are still some girls with curves out here (me!) who would like to buy some feminine clothes, and the section was almost inexistent in the last two seasons. Therefore, I banned myself (more precisely: my wallet) from my dream store. Until the 30th of December when I was in desperate need of some cool boots and it was the last store I hadn't checked.  I saw this perfect pair, I fell in love but then I thought: "Uh, they won't fit me, Zara shoes are always hard to wear for me!". But they felt like they were made for my feet and I couldn't tell they had a 7 cm heel. I checked the label to see if they're made from genuine leather and then it hit me: the price! I had to call my mom to lend me some money, because I just knew they were the right pair for me!

I guess that in the end you can actually find some impossibly high boots to walk in and feel great in them, but please make sure they're worth the money, or at least try to use a  6pm Coupon Code 2014 if you can order them online.

2. comfy, cool boots: They keep your feet happy and warm, and you can face a blizzard wearing them. The problem is it's hard to find this type of boots in a fashionable form. Brands like Sorel specialize on this type of footwear so I believe this Sorel Coupon Code 2014 can come in handy if you're still looking for the perfect winter boots.

Details of my look:  I'm even matching with my Iphone 5S, I must have a thing for gold and nude tones! Everything is ZARA (I know I said I haven't shopped there much in the last two seasons, but still , 80% of my closet is Zara)