FareWell Polyvore

 Yesterday the whole Polyvore community was shocked when Poly announced it was acquired by another company. I will not even mention the name here because I do not want anything to do with it. The site and app were immediately disabled and all the years of creating, making friends was gone. So many members around the world are hurting right now including myself.

Many are upset directly at Polyvore, but this should not be. Polyvore had/has no control over the decisions that were made after it was acquired. Knowing Polyvore I am pretty sure they fought to give us notice. I'm sure they fought to keep Polyvore as is. I'm sure they fought for us in ways we may never know. It would of been 10 years for me this August as a member. That is 10 years of creating sets, making friends and having fashion adventures that would not have happen to me if I was not a member. 

Polyvore was not only an online fashion site, but a family. It was always amazing seeing Polypals support each other creatively and amazing seeing the bonds that grew through out the years. We were loved, cared for and heard. The love was felt. Even if people joined due to reasons other then fashion, one thing was certain; Polyvore created a safe space for anyone to be themselves and to all be princess for a while as we played digital dress up.

I have always been proud of Polyvore from the start and always believed they would get as far as they did. What an honor to have been a part of their journey; an honor to have been asked for my opinions or suggestions; an honor to have been invited to meet Pasha Sadri, Jess Lee , Nadia and Chyrstal and an honor to have been asked to be a Community Member Correspondent during Fashion Week. I will forever be thankful. This is a big sting for the Polyfam and the online fashion world. I'm sure within time the ripple effects will really start to show.

THANK YOU POLYVORE. You will always be my number one. The bubbles to my coke.

Whatever my fashion adventures hold in the future I promise to always take you with me.

It's been great Poly.

Love PaintHead

Polyvore Style Lounge

PLUG-IN & primp

at the

POLYVORE STYLE LOUNGE

I was invited to "plug in and primp" with Polyvore yesterday in New York's Soho House. My guest was my lovely sister, Elizabeth, who was in a New york state of mind as her instagram post stated. I Love her!  The style lounge was created for those fashionable ladies who run from show to show and might be in  need of a "full  recharge". The set up in the room was magical with three Sephora make-up stations. I felt like a moth going straight towards the pretty little lights on the mirrors. Gosh, anything shinny and glittery is so distracting to me. I go from my moth stage to a gold fish with a one mintue attention span. I am admitting to a problem, but not ready for an intervention just yet. 

The style lounge also had light bites, drinks, music, charging station, Sephora goodies around the room and poly's love gifts as I like to call them (pins, phone charger, and double compact mirror). I will say this now, the two items that will never leave my bag will be the poly charger and mirror. Now about that polyvore phone case? *hint hint*

Poly's Love gifts

The best part was seeing Nadia and Jess again (my lovely's). They always look very stylish with an edge, yet elegant and beautiful like a rose. They are both sweet, friendly and really do care about the polyvore community. I love them! 

Nadia, Me and Jess Lee

I was also able to meet Marisa(piccolamarisa.com) she was there attending fashion shows as one of the three polyvore community correspondent. She is a cutie who works at Kate Spade and gets to be around color and polka dots all day long oxox

Then it was my turn to get my make-up done by Shawn Lumaban, a senior make-up artist at Sephora (http://instagram.com/shauneylicious) He was awesome and so nice.

Final look 

Even the bathroom mirror had me at lipstick.

Me and my sister Elizabeth

It was indeed a great day to be in NewYork again with Polyvore oxoxox

Fin.

Signing off...oxox Coke Stains and Cupcakesoxox..PaintHead™

Wendy's Salad Fun w/Polyvore

  I received an invite from Polyvore to attend Wendy's Salad Collection roof top private party. This event was to … "enjoy the first tastes of summer with Wendy’s new seasonal salad – the Strawberry Fields Chicken Salad – and hear the hottest summer trends from style icon Molly Sims while overlooking New York City’s best views….celebrating the hottest season and Wendy's #NewSaladCollection Style Board contest in partnership with Polyvore."

The venue for this lovely event was the roof top of Rockefeller's Center. The weather was perfect, not just for the beautiful views, but to also enjoy a Wendy's salad picnic style. I loved the decor and pop of sunny sunflowers to reflect all the summer days ahead of us still. I will be honest and say I was never a fan of having fruits in my salads, but the combination of mixed greens, strawberries, blue cheese and dash of apple balsamic vinaigrette made this my favorite salad for the summer. I don't eat meat so I picked out the bacon and grilled chicken. To wash down the salad, we were all given the pleasure of drinking their strawberry lemonade. Ahhhhhhhh, the best and most refreshing drink i've had in a long time. *took one to go* ;)

Model, actress Molly Sims was present as spokes woman and judge for polyvore contest. She shared fashion tips and answered questions anyone may have had. And these are her words " I really love Polyvore" oxox. It was also nice seeing again polypals and meeting a few whom I've been friends with from the start, and now we finally meet. It's actually a surreal moment when we put a face to a screen name.

Chrystal(Polyvore) and I

Molly Sims sharing fashion tips

Poly pals and Molly Sims

Molly Sims and I

LoveMade Jewelry by: Nama Bijou

Hubby and I

Try their other salads too.

Signing off...oxox Coke Stains and Cupcakesoxox..PaintHead™

PopArt or Thief?

I recently took a course on the life and death of Andy Warhol. I will admit, I learned a few new things about him and also began to question his method of "inspiration". What separated Warhol from other artist of his time was his use of everyday objects; and how he made them into "art". But the question was asked, are pop artist just thieves?

If you think about it, Warhol took already existing images/objects and appropriated them. He did change the colors and added silk screen, but it's the image of a Campbell Soup can. Which still belongs to Campbell.  The images he used of Monroe and Taylor were not taken by him. In fact Warhol started using Monroe images after her death. So, am I calling Warhol a thieve? Maybe, but I will not deny he was a genius.

Where is all this coming from? From recent events where I feel something was stolen from me and made into a tee-shirt. Am I angry? No, just sad to see how some people lack integrity. People just can't slap someone's work on a tee, mug etc and call themselves an entrepreneur. Is this the future of art/fashion? Is it possible to be inspired by others? Of course it is, but there is a fine line that should never be crossed in the art world. There's an unspoken golden rule. It is a code of honor we live by. Taking someone's work is a big NO-NO. There's no trust in someone who breaks the code especially in their work afterwards. This applies to any creative medium: Painting, Fashion, make-up artist, writers and poets.

 What was stolen you might ask? And it may seem trivial when put in perspective, but it's the principal I suppose. A few years ago I came up with "I Eat Glitter For Breakfast" and "Glitter Eater". For years I would write/say this and now someone took it and put it on a tee. What proof do I have? Beside my honest word? I have 14K followers with 5million views in Polyvore that can attest to this. I also held a logo contest in Polyvore 4 years ago where the winner wrote the quote in the set. The set became my facebook logo, and it's still on my news feed dated March 19th, 2010. Call me old school, but I'll give up my right hand before I take another fellow artist's work.

Also check out this blog post from the same year. And it is also my Header
in Polyvore:  ❤✿I eat Glitter for Breakfast™❤✿! - Polyvore

painthead.polyvore.com

Here's the set
(all sets were created four years ago for me)

Painthead by allywa featuring barrette hair clips

GLITTER EATER! by monsterbrain featuring throw pillows

PAINTHEAD IS THE EFFIN BOMB by monsterbrain on Polyvore

So what's my point? I'm sure it will be used in other places, but know that it originated with me while creating sets in my lovely polyvore. And I won't stop using it, because, well it's mine. I refuse to let this upset me because I see no point in letting it. I will move forwards because it's who I am and I am ready to put it to use as I have always done.

Signing off...oxox Coke Stains and Cupcakesoxox..PaintHead™