Investing in good quality workout gear is important and a great investment. Wouldn’t you rather spend more on quality [yoga] pants than $10 sweats at Urban Planet or something that will stretch and pill after a couple washes? Quality materials don’t change shape, will keep you dry, don’t hold odor and can last you years even after lots of washes.

Your workout gear should be:

• comfortable
• non-restrictive
• form-fitting

But I strongly believe that functional AND AESTHETICAL workout clothing is essential; functional— points listed above and aesthetics purely for motivation. It doesn’t hurt to look good at the gym.

Know your body shape:

General rule of thumb: don’t wear baggy, shapeless clothing!

• Banana? Create curves with pops of color [like along the waist line and the side of your waist/hips], interesting cuts, fun details [like scrunching along the side of your waist], padded sports bras, and fitted pants that lifts your bum with some flare to curve you out.

  

• Apple? Tops that are fitted around the chest but looser around the belly, ends a little past the waist [with a A-line bottom] will give an illusion of slimming and fitted pants with a thick or roll-down waist will give an illusion of flatter stomach. Avoid tight-fitting tops and pants with a slim colored waist band.

  

• Pear? Wear a lighter color top to draw attention away from your lower body and slim-fitting, dark-colored pants with slimming vertical stripes and a small flare to balance your body out.

  

• Hourglass? The easiest shape to work with! Accentuate your curves with v-necks and scoop necks, slim-fitted clothing, details around the waist to show it off and flared pants. But really, you can practically wear anything… just don’t cover up too much or else you might look bulkier.

  

Random tips and things I noticed:

• Black is always chic and slimming.
• Dressing in one color from head to toe can make for a longer and leaner silhouette.
• Dress for your activity: layering for the outdoors, flexible fabrics with lycra for yoga, breathable fabrics to soak up sweat for activities like Bikrams Yoga, etc.
• Wearing proper shoes is extremely important, especially if you’re a runner.

  

• Cotton allows you to breathe BUT can weight you down with all the moisture it soaks up so only wear it for low impact activities like yoga. It also doesn’t hold it’s shape, which is why I don’t waste my money on cotton— I prefer synthetics.
• Clothing with breathable materials and moisture-wick technology absorbs and dries quickly (eg. polyester, nylon and spandex). Wear for high impact activities where you may sweat a lot.
• A good sports bra is essential. No one wants to see your nipples, please… or you don’t want anyone to get distracted and drop 100lb weights on their head.
• Tube tops are NOT your friend at the gym.
• If you have nice shoulders, v-necks makes them look even better!
• Flared pants are NOT a good idea for biking; they might get caught in your bike. I don’t like running in them either because the fabric slaps against your legs which annoys the hell out of me.
• If you have a long torso and hips, pants in a single color will only make it look longer unless you’re wearing a long enough tank top to split it up. Look for pants with a different colored waist bands.

  

• Pants with a thick waistband that’s in a different color makes your hip look smaller. Pants with a thin waistband seems to make it look wider.
• Flat-[Asian]-Ass-Syndrome? Pants with stripes on the bum can make your flat ass look less flat.
• Lifting gloves will protect your hands from cuts, calluses and blisters. Trust me, you’ll want a pair if you are going to lift weights.

Great places to shop: Lululemon, PH8, Fit Couture, Athletica, Victoria’s Secret,

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This is Chinese designer, Guo Pei’s collection from China’s Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 entitled, Thousand and Two Nights. It’s a beautiful and luxurious fusion of Chinese and Arabic design… and some killer shoes.

And here’s 12 inches of goodness for the shorter ladies out there.

Marcelle is the cosmetics and skin care brand that offers every woman high quality, effective and affordable products. Hypoallergenic and perfume-free; women of all ages believe in Marcelle products.

I was sent some Marcelle make-up products which I was uber excited about because I’ve always loved their skincare line. It’s great to support a Canadian company too because well you know… all our companies end up getting sold to an American one.

This fall Marcelle® Cosmetics innovates again and offers a wider variety of eye products. This new line will satisfy the need of every woman, whether she is looking for a glamorous, urban or more classic look. The Fall 2009 campaign presents 3 models with 3 different looks: Classic Elegant, Ultra-Glam and Urban Chic.

Wet & Dry Eyeshadow Quad: Versatile eye shadows to suit your every mood.
This quad comes in some beautiful shades and I received one in Blue Moon. It’s not as pigmented as I’d like it to be; without a good base, it would be hard to get a good color pay-off when applied dry, HOWEVER it did give off an intense color when applied wet. You do need to build it up quite a bit though.

Concealer Palette: The simple art of camouflage.
I love this concealer palette! It blended easily with my skin tone by mixing the 4 different shades. My only complain is the useless brush which was too small to do anything with.

Vita-Lip Plumping Gloss: The ideal plumping treat for your lips!
I love this gloss because it was shiny, non-sticky and enriched with vitamin E but the staying-power was a little disappointing. As for the plumping part? This is suppose to increase your lip’s volume by 11% and suprisingly it doesn’t have that tingly sensation that comes with most plumping glosses. I’m eating a super-spicy gumbo dish right now so my lips feel hella “plump” already so I’d have to get back to you on that. Edit – Plumps? YES! I can’t compare it to other glosses though because I never had to use them.

Liquid Eyeliner Pen: A glamorous look in high-definition.
Goes on smooth and extremely easy to apply. I use to use liquid liners religiously in high school but switched to Mac’s Fluidline gel-liner and never went back again. Although, after using Marcelle’s Liquid Eyeliner Pen, I might just go back and use it occasionally. It’s much more convenient carrying this in my make-up bag than a pot of Fluidline and a eyeliner brush. I was wearing this during an intense cardio session and although it did smudge (Fluidline never smudges on me, even 2 hours in a hot tub!), it did okay for a non-waterproof liquid eyeliner. Yes, I sweat buckets.

Khol Eyeliner: Make a statement or keep it subtle, this eyeliner pencil makes your every wish come true.
This pencil liner wasn’t pigmented enough and was actually a little hard to apply (had to tug on my lids a little bit). They also sent me the non-waterproof version so there is no way I can use it on a day-to-day basis.

Volume Precision Mascara: High definition volume
Didn’t work on my non-existent Asian eyelashes, but it has pretty good reviews on Make-Up Alley so it maybe worth trying out if you have naturally “nice” eyelashes (like that of Caucasians, Indians, etc). No offense my fellow Chinese people but our eyelashes usually sucks a$s.

Anyway, if you’d like to win a brand new set of all these Marcelle products for FREE just leave a comment and I’ll draw the winner next week. The only catch it that you have to be a Canadian-resident. Good luck!

Thank you for delivering my fringe tunic today.