Opening of first Topshop 'Section' in Germany

Last friday I had the chance to go to the Opening of the first Topshop section in Germany. I call it section because they did not open up a store but rather a small section in a department chain. It opened up in Berlin in the KaDeWe, a huge store full of well known brands. The female section is located on the second floor and on the first floor you'll find the male brand Topman. 

Finally!!! We were waiting like forever to have the british retailer here in Germany, but before, there was the option of ordering the high-street clothes in their online-store. Still, it did not satisfy our passion for shopping because when I shop, I want to go in the store, see the clothes, touch them, try them on and just decide immediately.  Now it's possible in Berlin, stores in Düsseldorf, Munich and Hamburg will follow as well. 

The section includes a range of fall looks with a lot of punk and grunge options like plaid pants, blouses, coats, as well as bomber jackets, fur vests and leather pants. In the male section one will find printed shirts, suits and also accessories like backpacks. 

The Topshop section in the department store might not be that big or versatile as we hoped but nevertheless, we can now enjoy the real shopping experience of the british brand. In secret we're having our fingers crossed for an extension of the selection and maybe one day there will be an independent store. 

I'm wishing you lots of fun topshopping and yes, I admit it, I did buy myself something, 

not sure if I keep it or not, but for now, click through more pictures. What do you think?

P.S.: Read this for the German version at LesMads. 

Body Mist Shinjuku Bloom by & Other Stories

When summer was here, hope it will come back in a few days because right now it's pouring and pouring, I was getting sweaty pretty easily, I did not know what to do. It's not that I was smelling, but I used to rinse off my face and wrists with cold water just to get something refreshing. Around two weeks ago, a friend of mine, got me this: Body Mist Shinjuku Bloom by & Other Stories.

It costs about 15€, I guess 20 $ and comes in nine variations. Mine is a mixture of orange blossoms, cherry, vanilla and sandalwood. I take this when I'm on the run and have it in my purse all the time, so whenever I need a refreshment and something to awaken me up, I spray it onto my face and neck. 

Love the cherry fragrance, but it's really juicy and you have to like it ;-) Go out and try out the other ones. What do you use for as a beauty-summer refreshment?

Black x Gold Fever

Not only do I love love love golden jewelry, I love the mixture of black and gold, especially in jewelry and leather goods, look at my first designer bag Z Spoke by Zac Posen. When I saw the new lookbook of the autumn/winter 2013 collection of & Other stories, I just had to get these!!! The box-chain necklace, the bracelet and these rings. Love the two tones, right now, I just adore everything edgy and black :) Maybe it's because it's getting pretty cold here in Germany.

Additionally the other day I saw a girl with this purse in the elevator, I did ask her where she got it from. It was H&M and on the onlineshop it was just sold out! Super funny! In a couple of days, this minimalistic purse with the imprint LOVE was just sold out. I've got lucky and found it on my satuday shopping spree in a shop and couldn't decide whether I should go for red or black. Decided for classic black then ;-)

I did more shopping this weekend because the first TOPSHOP just made its way to Germany and it was the weekend before leaving Berlin for college. Going back to school I guess, yep, my internship is almost over but I'll show you more of my purchases in a couple of days.

Stay tuned and happy monday :)

Food Friday: Vegetable Pasta x a hint of Garlic

When I was in the U.S. and we were super hungry and needed something very fast, we would do this kind of recipe. Easy peasy, fast and delicious.The kids would love it and it was pretty healthy I guess, since you can add any vegetable you like as well as a salad and some chicken. Have whole grain pasta instead of the usual ones, you will eat less and feel fuller soon.

Ingredients:

Whole grain pasta.

Half an onion, two garlic cloves,

fresh and dried tomatoes, some leeks,

one zucchini, red and green pepper, parsley

just about any kind of vegetable you like.

This was more of a leftover dinner, since these vegetables were the ones I had left. Start with cooking the pasta, since they'd need 8 -10minutes. Cut up the vegetables into small pieces. Put some oil in the pan, stir-fry the onion, tomatoes and one garlic clove.  

Tip: If you're cutting the garlic into big pieces, it won't taste as much, but if you cut it up very tiny and small, the garlic flavor will come out. So, do it as you like, I've cut it up into big slices.

Then add the vegetables, start with zucchini and add the peppers, stir until cooked, put the heat on low. Season with herbs, salt and pepper, add the dried tomatoes. Stir and then add some pasta, mix everything, taste and flavour it. Let it heat up for about 2-5 minutes and then you're done :)

Have some green salad with fruits, and if you like, some protein like stir-fried chicken. I always do chicken very light, until they are cooked instead of brown-fried. Stir the chicken with oil and some seeds, season with pepper, salt and chili pepper. 

Garnish everything with cut up parsley and enjoy your meal!!! :)

Featured on Andy Sparkles

The wonderful Andy Sparkles did an interview with me and has asked me about my internship at the German fashion blog Les Mads, she also asked me about this blog, my must-haves for autumn/winter 2013/14 and what my future plans are.

How come that I know of her? Funny story, though. Back in 2011 I think, we both won a trip to Berlin due to a Glamour magazine hair model contest. We were there to find out who of the hairstylists is getting into the CULT team of Sebastian Professional. We met up there and then I've found out that she was just doing some modeling jobs, too. And now, two years later she has been doing great with modeling and it's so funny whenever I see her on magazines like Neon I'd be like: Hey guys, I know her!!! :) 

This year, she also started blogging and on her personal blog Andy Sparkles, she's showing a lot of outfit posts, but as well as beauty product reviews, her beloved cat and anything what inspires her. The pictures of her outfit posts are taken by her sister Christine, which I like the most because combining the pieces with each other are really striking.

Below are the pictures taken from the CULT style night back in 2011, each with our hair stylists :) .

Unfortunately the interview is in German, but let's see if I'll manage it to translate the whole thing to you ;-) So, to all German readers, follow this link here to read the rest of it! Thank you Andrea for this lovely feature on your personal blog, I hope to see you soon, wish you all the best, much health and many hugs.

Love,

Minh.