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Life & Loves › MFP Resident Blogger GILLIAN
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07-17-2012

Just recently came back from Vegas and I must say the place never seems to disappoint every time I visit. I’ve been there god knows how many times with my family but still, in each visit I gain a bigger appreciation for the place. Haha. I’ll get more into that with my vacation posts later, in the meantime here are some shots of what I wore during one of our site seeing days. :)

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These shoes, I must say, are the most comfortable I’ve ever worn on a trip so far! My brogues are very close to retirement so I thought it was time to find new ones I can constantly wear that will match nearly everything. Luckily, I ran into these babies during my last H&M haul and boy am I satisfied with this purchase! Yay for comfy shoes! :D

Striped Tube Top | H&M
High Waisted Peach Trousers | H&M
Dark Blue Flats | H&M
Vintage Oscar de la Renta Bag | Salvation Army

April 2012

Self portrait session from last April. Thank you Meat Market Vintage for letting me use this beautiful vintage dress with the incredible collar detail! I must say, I had the most incredible time interning for MMV! Loved my bosses, coworkers, duties…everything! This is one of the few photo sessions I had before I took a break from the world. I don’t mean anything serious when I say that, but I guess it was just my way of treating myself and celebrating my college graduation. :)

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Photography:  Gillian Tomimbang
Wardrobe:  Meat Market Vintage

Sweetest and Most Thoughtful

Last night, the boyfriend took me to a really nice restaurant called Dhaba where we ate yummy Chicken Tikka Masala, among other delicious things. After dinner, I was surprised by the most thoughtful and sweetest gift I’ve ever received on my birthday…a camera! I have a liking for vintage things and photography so I was taken aback when my boyfriend handed me a camera case. He told me to open the bag and lo and behold inside sat a film camera similar to what I used for my photo classes during my junior year in college. My DSLR has been glitchy for a while now, ever since my last trip to Vegas during winter break, so I haven’t shot anything  (artistic) for who knows how long now. :/ But regardless I was so happy that he got me this because it made me want to take pictures again. Cheeseballs! It definitely made me miss the whole process as well. Oh photo memories—developing film, printing, late nights in the lab, etc. Haha. I didn’t waste time either. I started using it today and have been thinking about making my own little lab at home…well, maybe at least. In the meantime, I can get everything done (developed and printed) at Tempe Camera and other local places so definitely no rush with the personal dark room. Haha. Most definitely when I get my own place though, for sure! :D

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Boyfriend, you’re the greatest! <3

Trend: Eyebrows

A very popular trend this Spring season are strong eyebrows. Models graced countless runways donned in the most defined eyebrows I’ve ever seen. Who knew that thick eyebrows could be so trendy? Since finding out about this trend I’ve been hooked and have been trying to sport this all Spring long. However, I struggled in figuring out the right amount of thickness to give my eyebrows—too much made me look less trendy and more like someone with unnaturally thick brows; too little application of the fillers (eyeshadow/eyebrow pencil) made me look like I didn’t do anything to them at all. *Sigh* Like with any other thing, this didn’t come easy to me in the beginning. I remember when I first tried it out, my best friend asked me what was wrong with my eyebrows…LMAO! It was so embarrassing!!! Of course, through trial and error I figured out the right amount to apply to make them look natural.
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This is the finished look with my eyebrows filled in. I used black eyeshadow now that my hair is back to a darker and more natural color. :) If you have lighter hair color, using a darker shade of the same color is what I would highly recommend. I also used an angled brush to apply the eyeshadow and finished off with a blending brush to blend everything out evenly across each brow. Application is really easy so don’t worry about it!
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This is what my eyebrows look like before application. I generally have pretty thin brows, as you can see, and filling them in really helps brighten up my face.

Here is a video I made for everyone to show how I apply the eyeshadow on my eyebrows. Enjoy! :D

Graduation Lunch

So it has finally happened, I have graduated from college! *bow*bow* Haha! Yeahhh!!! After four years of sleepless nights, hard work, and stress I have finally finished! XD Thank you to all who greeted and congratulated me in the last few days. You guys are awesome!

To celebrate this joyous occassion, I want to share with you all pictures from my lunch with my family before my graduation ceremony at this really nice restaurant called District [located in downtown Phoenix].

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Bacon wrapped dates, one of our appetizers.

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Salad topped with steak as appetizers for Mom and Dad.

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Graduate :)

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I ordered their steak (which did not disappoint!) and it came with their signature fries—incredibly salty (my sister said it’s because they used sea salt, I think) but surprisingly delicious!

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Gayle’s panini.

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We asked our waiter to take our picture; pardon the blurry quality. ;p [I <3 my family!!!]

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With my lovely siblings. :)

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While we waited for our main course, I took pictures of the rest of the restaurant. It was quite the lovely place with tall glass windows and doors that overlooked the outdoor dining area and busy city streets and tall buildings.

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We were seated in such a nice spot in the restaurant—the view was killer! :D

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For dessert, I ordered their turtle sundae and it came in this jar—super vintage! Inside was a mixture of brownie squares, caramel, chocolate syrup, and vanilla sundae topped with a caramel covered pretzel(?)—I’m not sure if that is a lollipop style mini pretzel lol. Still, this was heaven for me and my sisters! We ordered two and I had one for myself (fatty lol) and my sisters shared one.

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Gayle ordered a root beer float alongside the sundae she shared with Gicel. It was called Dad’s Root Beer and it was delicious! :D

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I had a really great time at this restaurant with my family and would definitely go back for another special occassion. It’s a bit out of my budget to eat there on a regular basis (maybe in the future when I’m baller, for sure! Lol!) but I would highly recommend this place to everyone! :D

Back to Dark Hair

After what feels like forever, I have gone back to my original black hair. No more retouching of my roots for a while. Lol! It’s really weird to see myself with black hair and surprisingly, everyone feels the same way too. I guess it’s mainly because I’ve pretty much always dyed my hair some sort of color. My professors and peers didn’t even really recognized me and joked about how they couldn’t keep up with the changes I often make with myself. Haha.
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Now that I have experienced the two extremes of the color spectrum (black to blonde) I will be satisfied for a good while before I get another urge to change something. Haha! Hmmm…I wonder what it will be next? Hehe. No, it’s not going to be plastic surgery. Lol.

My Face Is On Print!

Back in March I attended the grand opening celebration of Meat Market Vintage and was photographed by a journalist covering the event for Java magazine (a local AZ mag). I didn’t get to pick up a copy for this month until the art show I participated in last weekend where they had a lot of copies available in the gallery.
Find me! :D
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#14 AZ Lookbooker

I was on Lookbook.nu recently researching AZ fashionistas and saw that I was #14 out of all the AZ Lookbookers. Woot woot! Jason Pham is numero uno, which is not a surprise because his fashion sense is just fantastic! :D I had the pleasure of meeting him during my mini trip to Tucson during Spring break and I have to say that he is just so lovable and easy to work with! Let me know when you’re back in town Jason! We must collaborate! ;D

Can you spot me in this tiny list? Haha.
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I also made it in the newest MFP Resident Bloggers Banner. Woohoo all around! :DDD
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Hello Tucson!

Last weekend I went on a mini road trip with some friends to meet up with the fashion icon, Jason Pham. He is a local Arizonan who has proved to be most popular in Lookbook and we (Caroline, Jeromie, and Bryan) got the chance to work with him in a fashion project that is yet to be revealed publicly. No worries! Stay tuned and you might catch wind of it! :D

I held a photoshoot with Jason at the loveliest cafe in the Tucson area called Cafe Passe (insert accents on the last ‘e’ of cafe and passe—French durrr). I love going to cafes that don’t scream Starbucks or mainstream (side note lol). During our time in the cafe, I stumbled upon this very interesting sculpture…
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I definitely like this piece because it’s very contemporary and creative. The cafe actually also had a mini gallery within the venue that had a good number of photographs on display. This was definitely a great thing to see for me; thank you years as an art student. Lolz.

Overall, the trip was very productive. I was sad that I didn’t get to explore the street fair though. Oh well, there’s always a next time! :D
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For dinner, Jason took us to this place called Time Market, which reminded me greatly of my favorite sandwicherie, Phoenix Public Market…only bigger. Haha! At Time Market, they serve really good pizza that’s double the size of my face! The price is incredibly affordable too! And don’t even get me started with the taste! Haha!

Thanks Jason for being so hospitable and awesome! :D

Grunge Inspired Shoot

Earlier this month I got the chance to once again work with awesomest team of people alongside some new faces on a grunge inspired photoshoot. :) Most of the wardrobe was comprised of pieces from the wonderful Meat Market Vintage. Thank you so much Cory!!! You’re the best!!! :D

Here’s a quick sneak peak.
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Some of the new faces included Jeromie Devera (our new videographer), Maureen Montagne (a model I shot for the first time), and the ever so awesome Jimmy Cunning (a friend who pulls off the look of hipster incredibly well!).

For the location, we shot at this open area close to my house that ended up being a very interesting space to photograph. I made the grave mistake of shooting midday which proved most difficult when I tried figuring out what to set my aperture and shutter speed in. =___= Aigoo… Even so! Everyone still managed to do such a great job and cooperated really well with my directions. Those of you interested in fashion photography, let me shine some light on things. Putting a shoot together is hard work! Don’t rush into it and only have your own schedule in mind; ALWAYS BE CONSIDERATE OF EVERYONE’S (who will be involved in some way) SCHEDULES!!! Then there’s figuring out the location and the day of the shoot schedule. You have to make sure that all of the outfits will be ready to go for the shoot so all that the models have to do is change quickly. Hair and makeup must have a set time, so make sure to incorporate that as well. Basically, YOU NEED A GAME PLAN! Photoshoots are no joke. If you want to have great pictures, you have to take it seriously. And no B.S. about keeping the photos “NATURAL”. None of that purist stuff please! I firmly believe that a reflector outside in the natural light makes a HUGE difference in how a picture turns out. Fashion photography is not about keeping the photos in its raw form, it’s about evolving it to its full potential.

Anywho! Here’s video coverage of the fashion photoshoot created by Jeromie. :D Enjoy!!!