MY FAVOURITE THINGS

I'm the biggest shirts person you'll ever meet. The first section I always go to in almost all shops is the shirts section. I love all kinds of shirts but they must have long sleeves and preferably be in a good print or in plain white. From left to right : My favourite floral shirt from Soeur Paris which I got last year at Printemps ( take me back! ), Natural White Cotton shirt by United Bamboo purchased at Dagmar Rousset and a legit vintage Chinese printed jacket from an aunt in my family 

I feel like because Chanel is so expensive that everybody has a 'story' about where and how they got their first ( unless they're candy for you and you just get them whenever! ) My flats I purchased at Saks in New York City when I visited New york by myself in '14. The bag was a gift from my mother in '14 as well because I was having a hard year that year. I never use the bag because as much as I love it and will never sell it, it's just too in your face. I love owning it because they are iconic and timeless but it's more like an ornament that I enjoy having rather than something I use all the time 

I had the best time compiling these flat lays. I think a whole assortment ( or even just a few ) things placed prettily and intentionally ( lol ) just looks good and gives us that aesthetics 'hit' that we all love to get. I love a flat lay whether that be on a blog or on instagram and I wanted to create some of my own starting with things that I really like and which really informs my style. Looking at these flat lays, I was surprised that I was learning more about my taste and what kinds of things I like. It's slightly homely and vintagey but also new. British Vogue is my favourite Vogue and I feel like in a weird way, you can tell just by looking at the things which I own. 

From top across going left : Avene Spring water, 3 Concept Eyes lipstick in ' Smoked Rose ', Clean Up Vitamin U Hyrdating Serum and Kiehl's Creme de Corps 

My skincare / make up routine is beyond simple. It's gotten a lot more complicated recently since my skin has had more breakouts than its ever had so I've had to combat that by buying more and paying more attention to it, but really there's nothing more outside of these products. I'm one of those big time 'natural' advocate people. I think there's nothing more fantastic than being fresh faced and healthy. I like a bold lip every now and then but most days I just use lip balm or some lip tint.

I didn't include the Nars tinted moisturiser because I've used it in another spread, but you know that's totally part of my arsenal. My beauty values really starts from the inside out. Eating right, drinking lots of water and having a routine you stick to. I also don't like the idea of using too many products. I just feel like that leads to your skin freaking out and not knowing how to process all these creams, lotions and serums coming at it. I've also realised that by cutting out dairy, bread and only eating meat once a week has helped my complexion a lot. 

I love, love, love painting. Ever since I started P.F.F though, I haven't had the energy to do it as much as I want to. Painting is my hobby but I treat it seriously as a way of strengthening my brain. It teaches you to see the world in a new way and also uncovers the stark fact that we don't really know or understand what we're seeing. I've had to re-train the way I visually interpret the world in order to improve my painting skills. I now know that everything is made up of usually more than three colours and that painting things wrong is also usually a good way of getting it 'right'.

When I paint, I usually pop on some music and just get lost in the music and my head. I think I get lost in my head a little too much and painting doesn't really help that 'losing it' journey 😸 😸 😸. It's the best feeling pushing and brushing on colour on a canvas though. The last time I painted I was listening to The Marble Index by Nico, Space is only Noise by Nicolas Jaar and a hodge podge of different artists on my Soundcloud account which you can have a listen to here : https://soundcloud.com/yalei-wang

Had to include this pack of special edition Yayoi Kusama post cards which you could only buy at the Tokyo exibition in The National Art Center in Tokyo. This was a gift from Sakae-san, one of my favourite students at my work. I went to Yayoi Kusama's exhibition just prior to leaving Tokyo last year and was beyond impressed with the stock in the gift shop. But upon seeing the queue for the check out, I promptly put back everything I was about to buy. I was so excited when she gifted this to me on our last lesson together. I didn't have to brave the long line and managed to have something to take back with me. Thank you forever Sakae san xx MISS YOU! 

I love Tarot Cards. Like I'm very into them. I do them whenever I feel lost, scared or sad in life. As a ritual, I do them at the beginning of every new year. I don't know whether it's just me thinking it real or something else cosmically happening, but they are seldom wrong. The things they say happen, happen. I started off like every skeptic, dismissing all the weird coincidences as simply coincidences. But the last three years have been insanely formative and the cards are never wrong. Sometimes they are vague, sometimes they aren't. But one things for sure and that's that the moments I catch myself being like " Wait a minute, the cards said this " has been numerous. 

One of my goals for this year is to have longer nails and to stop biting them. I manage to grow them to a length that I like but almost always they end up being chewed down again. It's pretty gross, I'll admit and I definitely need to keep working on it because they're pretty darn short right now. When they're a presentable length though, these are my favourites to use. I love the Chanel polish in Noir Rouge because of its warmth and depth, however I have one bone to pick with it and that's the fact that the brush is so thin that it ends up being super streaky looking on your nails. The Dior polishes were gifts given to me by a student in Japan and the Glitter is an oldie from American Apparel. 

My earrings addiction is fully fledged. Every time I go out and see a jewellery shop, I always pop in to see if they have any good earrings. I've never bought expensive jewellery because I've never come across anything that I've HAD to have. I'm more than happy with cheap jewellery because you can change and update often without feeling guilty.

The horse shoe shaped ones are from Lovisa and the round silver ones and the eyes I got in China. They are real silver so they're really comfortable to wear. I don't know if I'll ever have the balls to wear the eyes ones out in public but I had to buy them anyway because they are just so cool. I love a bold earring because you can wear something really simple and it just elevates the entire outfit.

So that's my wrap up of my favourite things. There's not that many, but I guess you can't have a million favourite things and for that to be realistic. The most dear items to us are few and far between, but their value lasts a life time!

What are your favourite things? Tell me in the comments below