Tag: accessories

geek style · shoppin'

oNecklace Review

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

I used to complain about the fact that my parents never gave me a proper middle name ALL. THE. TIME. Rather than having a traditional middle name, y’know, like one that is also appropriate to be used as a first name, I was bestowed with my mom’s maiden name instead while my older sister got that AND a traditional middle name. I could seriously go on about this whole subject, but I won’t. I finally started appreciating my middle name when I was 18 and even adopted it as my nom de plume and ditched my actual last name (well, not legally anyhow). But all together my initials = N.P.H. Just like Neil Patrick Harris! By default, I have the most legen–wait for it–dary initials. EVER.

After I started noticing a slew of monogram accessories pop up all over the web last year, I longed for a gold necklace that bared my initials. It’s funny, because I recall thinking that very thought while checking my email and came across a message from oNecklace asking if I’d be interested in reviewing a necklace of my choice for Le Fancy Geek. Kismet at its finest, right?!

There are tons of pretty baubles to choose from — you can have necklaces, rings, and bracelets customized with your name (just like the infamous ‘Carrie’ necklace from Sex & the City) or initials in silver and gold (24k plated, 14k, 14k white gold). They also come in various styles and you can choose what length and type of chain you’d like for your necklace to be on. I opted for the split chain monogram necklace on a 16 in. rolo chain and I’m completely smitten with it. The fancy font is slightly hard to read at first glance, but I love how it’s a great balance of being both delicate and bold.

If you ponies want to get one too, you can use the code “fancygeek” at the checkout to receive 10% off! Plus everything’s free shipping. And isn’t Mother’s Day coming up soon? Just sayin’. 😉

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there are apparently guidelines (which you can find here) for how your monogram should look if you chose to get a monogramed bauble. For example, it’s supposed to be First/Last/Middle. So my necklace should’ve actually been customized as NHP, but I didn’t see the guideline until after I made my request. Oops! I prefer it the way I have it anyway.

Cheers,
Nina

necklace: c/o oNecklace (buy here) // dress: ModCloth (buy here) // glasses: Derek Cardigan (buy similar here)
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FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post as oNecklace provided me with a product to review. I was compensated with the aforementioned product. All opinions expressed are my own. 

geek style

London Calling

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

I love Disney.

I love It’s a Small World (Mary Blair, helloooo!).

I love LeSportsac.

So when LeSportsac debuted their It’s a Small World line over the summer I went ballistic! However,  I never managed to get anything from their summer or fall line *wah wah*, but after seeing what their winter collection holds I have decided that I. MUST. HAVE. ONE. Or two. Because it’s all London-centric!

The ‘Fancy That’ print (shown below) features tons iconic London staples such as Big Ben, double decker buses, red call boxes, the London Bridge, tower guards, corgis, hearts with Union Jacks, and chic little girls clad in cute trenches in true Mary Blair style. The bags also come with an adorable charm — or as my mom likes to call them: “the essence of the bag.” The essence is a little raven-haired girl wearing a khaki trench with pink tights and mary janes.

‘Fancy That’ bags will be available in November.

photo courtesy of LeSportsac
photo courtesy of LeSportsac
photo courtesy of LeSportsac

LeSportsac just had to go and make the ‘Midnight Harmony’ tote as well. I’m completely enamored by it because of the beautiful skyline motif, and it reminds me of Mary Blair’s gorgeous concept art for the original attraction. And this bag comes with a little yellow haired girl wearing a red trench with blue tights and mary janes.

The ‘Midnight Harmony’ tote comes out in December. One month before my birthday, how convenient! *hint hint*

Mary Blair concept art courtesy of Mary Blairz: Mary Blair Small World City

 

giveaway

GIVEAWAY!!!

Nina Penalosa42 Comments

I am having my first giveaway EVER!

My Etsy shop Once Upon a Smorgasbord will be opening this weekend, so to celebrate I am giving away a Rapunzel (from Tangled) necklace that I made for the store (retail value $20). The image is from Disney’s limited edition Designer Princess collection.

For a chance to win it, all you have to do is…

  • comment on this post for 1 entry
  • “like” the le fancy geek Facebook page and tell me about it in your comment
  • subscribe to le fancy geek for another entry and tell me about it in your comment
  • follow the le fancy geek Tumblr for another entry and tell me about it in your comment
  • follow le fancy geek on Bloglovin’ for another entry and tell me about it in your comment

So that’s up to 5 entries!

*Note: If do like, follow, or subscribe, you MUST comment on this post to let me know so I can count your entries. Okie dokie? And that’s just more chances for you to win. Good stuff right?

I will be choosing a winner at random next Thursday.

Please note, this will have to be a US/Canada giveaway only as shipping overseas cost a bit of money. :/

Good luck and keep a look out for Once Upon a Smorgasbord!

😀

geek style

DIY Binge

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

When I was little, my Auntie Nelly brought home a box of beads from a craft store for my sister and I to make stuff with. I made a tiny wreath with pink plastic beads and silver roses, and I think I even added some teal and purple beads in there too (what did I know?!). And for my 9th birthday I got a super rad Pocahontas jewelry making kit! When I went to school with my new creations, some of the girls in my class asked me to make them stuff — even the ones that bullied me. The nerve, right?! I made one of them earrings anyway to make her leave me alone. That worked out in my favor. 😀

Making jewelry has always been a hobby of mine. In the last few years I’ve made necklaces with the intention of selling them, but I always found myself becoming attached to them, so I just kept them for myself. In short, I have never sold any of my creations. x___x

It’s been awhile since I’ve made anything, but this week I managed to crank out a few items! When I got my bosun whistle last weekend, I also bought a few loose pendants, one of them was a gold teddy bear that opens up and contains some waxy smelly granny perfume. I must get rid of that stuff! Anyway, I took a gold chain necklace I’ve had for years and made an uber fancy one with the bear pendant and a few other baubles (pictured above). Here’s a close-up of the teddy bear:

Sorry, the macro on my camera is a bit meh.

I’m trying not to get too attached to this piece, but it’s kind of hard because I really like the way it turned out, and I totally slaved away in the garage (which is hotter than Satan’s bumhole) for HOURS until I finally felt that it looked right. RUGH.

Anywho, I made a few other things this week too (I apologize for the craptastic quality of the following pictures):

Mozart pendant made out of chandelier crystal/teardrop crystal pendant. Whatever you wanna call it. Last year when Auntie Nelly went to Austria she brought back some chocolate with this Mozart design and I kept them because I thought, “Hey, I can do something with this someday.” And voila! I plan on adding a brass chain a some Swarovski baubles to it. I shall post the finished product here when it’s… well, done.

White Rabbit chandelier crystal pendant attached to brass necklace chain. I made the pendant last March out of boredom but could never find the right chain to go with it. I finally found one last week and I’m uber happy with the way it turned out. The White Rabbit image came from one of my tear-away desk calendars.

I made these earrings with these plastic pendants I found in a some randomly put together packets at some bead store in Berkeley (can’t remember the name of it though). I wanted to add little crystals beads to dangle at the bottom, but I think they look fine the way they are. I have a yellow pendant like this too, but since there’s only one I’m gonna have to settle on just making a necklace with it.

It’s nice to have this sort of creative outlet as writing stories is at a bit of a standstill for me. However, I recently came up with an idea for a zombie story and have been jotting down notes and doing a bit of research (I’m really not into zombies, but this idea came out of nowhere and I felt the need to run with it) so hopefully that’ll eventually come along. Plus Tim and I made a *high five promise — he has to write more songs, and I have to write more stories. I’m just having a hard time trying to figure out the direction I want to go in for the story — third person, first person, serious or campy, etc. AH! I think it’s time for me to bust out my old Creative Writing class’ writing exercises.

*high five promise is the new pinky swear.

__

outfit details:

  • beret: H&M
  • sweater: GAP
geek style

O Captain! My Captain [Von Trapp]!

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

Last night I came across the True Birds website and saw that they have a functional bosun whistle necklace, just like the one Captain Von Trapp uses in The Sound of Music — which happens to be one of my most favorite films of all time! I’ve always wanted a whistle like the one the Captain had, and I pretty much stared at it for an hour and wondered how I could bring it up to my mother since she’s been asking me what I want for Christmas. But there’s no need for that anymore. I went to the flea market this morning and friggin found a bosun whistle for $2!!! It’s fate, I tell you! FATE! It’s a bit bigger than True Bird’s, but hey, it was two bucks. I couldn’t pass it up. 😀

I’m not too crazy about the gold chain it came with, so I plan I heading to the craft store to find a brassy chain to replace it with. Other than that, I’m all kinds of happy about this flea market find!!! Flea markets are always exciting because you never know what you’re gonna find.

Now I have to find a Sound of Music-y outfit to wear this necklace with!

geek style · shoppin'

Mission Oxfords: COMPLETE

Nina Penalosa3 Comments

In high school I was taught to never start any piece of writing with a question because it’s a cheap and uncreative way to pull readers in, but who knew searching for the right pair of shoes would be such a bitch? Seriously! Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been looking for a pair of brown oxfords. Not heeled, or two-toned, just simple, flat and brown (sounds boring, but they’re classic). Every time I would find something, they’d never have my size, or they would have my size but it wasn’t the right color. UGH! But my search finally ended when I went to Target last weekend.

My shoe size varies between 9, 9.5, and 10 because my parents blessed me with their wide-set feet. But with oxfords, 9’s were too small, 10’s were too big, and a 9.5 never seemed to exist. But alas, Target once again proved to me why it’s my favorite store when I found the exact pair I had been searching for.

HUZZAH!

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outfit details:

  • dress: Forever 21
  • slip: Charlotte Russe
  • jacket: LAL
  • shoes/belt: Target
  • earrings: Wanderlust (gift from Jen)
  • ring: ???
geek style

Hippocorn

Nina Penalosa1 Comment

While looking at some of the shops around Cannery Row, I stumbled upon a Himalayan store that sold wool knitted novelty hats. Amongst the menagerie of wooly wearable animals was a unicorn! I tried it on for fun, but grew more and more attached to it. My love for unicorns never went away, nor do I think it ever will. Naturally, I bought it. 🙂

I showed everyone when I got home! I think my parents were fairly amused by my purchase (I think they’re used to me buying random things that a 25-year-old wouldn’t normally buy), but my dad said that it looked more like a hippo with a horn than a horse, thus the hat has been dubbed as the “hippocorn.”

Whether it looks like a hippocorn or unicorn is all in the eye of the beholder, but either way it’s still a freakin’ rad hat.

geek style

Green, Hamm & Eggs

Nina Penalosa2 Comments

Yesterday I went back to SPD for the first time in a month! Something always came up, so Jen and I would have to cancel our shifts — sickness, vacation, major holidays, etc. Who knew so many holidays fell on Mondays too? We ended up working on the “Lost Books” project; it’s where we’re given a list of books in each section and we take out the ones that aren’t supposed to be there. It’s rare that you actually find any misplaced books, but I ended up spending 4 hours reorganizing tons of shelves!

Afterwards, Jen wanted to take some pictures on her fancy Pentax camera with the new filter she bought, so I took my little Rex out for a shoot. And yes, sometimes I do carry a toy in my purse. I used to do it more frequently as I liked using toys to document the places I go. I’m trying to get back into the habit, no matter how odd it may be.

I got these really cute vinyl Disney toys by Funko over the weekend when I went to Sacramento, and I told Jen about it — so she asked if we could go to Sac so she could buy Buzz Lightyear. Despite the fact that there was a Disney Store across the bridge in San Francisco, she said she didn’t want to go there (SF rush hour… eww). So off to Sac we went!

This Hamm piggy bank matched my outfit. 😀

I didn’t think I’d be indulging in my inner child sooooo much yesterday. When I got dressed in the morning, I  knew I wanted to wear jeans and a tee, but somehow ended up looking like a put together 8-year-old. I bought my shirt at the gift store outside of the Toy Story ride when I went to the Disney’s California Adventure. When Toy Story 3 came out last year, I was soooo excited that there was going to be a  little unicorn! When I saw the shirt with Buttercup on it, I knew I had to have it.

Jen and I now have BFF toys! She said, “It’s perfect how my favorite is Buzz and yours is Woody: you complain a lot and I’m annoying!” It’s kind of true too. x__X

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outfit details:

  • cardigan: Old Navy
  • shirt: Disneyland Resort
  • camisole: Kirkland
  • pants: ???
  • necklace: Swarovski
  • bracelet: Coach
  • shoes: Avenue