I use pure acetone Nail Polish Remover from Nails Inc. to really strip the nail. It's actually important to dehydrate your nail a little bit to get rid of all of the oil before you put color on; then the color will really stick. Then, I use OPI Bond Aid. It's a liquid dehydrator that you paint onto each nail.
Instagram was initially launched as a community for artists and photographers.
I was very focused on school. No social life whatsoever.
The thing about Instagram and fashion is that is has absolutely taken down the sense of the velvet rope and has pulled the curtain aside on the entire experience that used to be for a select 100 people in the world. Now it is there for millions of people to consume.
You do not need to go to journalism school if you want to work in the fashion industry. I think high schools condition you to think this way: If you want to be a fashion editor, go to fashion school. If you want to be a writer, you should study journalism. I think that the best school in life is experience.
This is so cliche and cheesy but so true - seeing how happy people get if you A. give them a beauty product or B. give them a tip that works. There's such joy in finding a good beauty product.
I finish off my manicure with Dior's Gel Coat, which has a thicker consistency than most top coats. It dries quickly and leaves your nails really shiny.
I bought my first pair of pointy-toed Miu Miu shoes with a kitten heel from Barneys. They were $200, and it was a big deal. I wore them with a pleated black Benetton skirt and a white shirt. I looked like a waitress.
Beauty is the lowest common denominator: I don't care what they say - every girl, every woman, wants to feel pretty and empowered and beautiful, within their own definition of beautiful. I love fashion, I love shopping, but I love beauty more because I love the science of it.
Instagram is the perfect place to reach your audience because the playing field is leveled if you can create engaging/amazing/compelling content that people want to follow. Remember that there's more than just showing product. Show the woman who designed it. Write about your muses.
You could be an 18-year-old girl in Tokyo wondering how you could ever break into fashion or beauty, so you follow your favourite designer or editor, see what their day comprises, where they go, who they meet, how they do it... If I were setting up my own label today, I would definitely do it through Instagram.
When my alarm goes off between 6 to 6:30 A.M, the first thing I do is reach for my phone. I look at Twitter to see the headlines. It's become my news aggregator. Then I check my Instagram.
If you had asked me growing up what a stylist does or what a magazine editor does, I would have had no clue - how do you research something like that when you are a first-born child of an immigrant who only grew up knowing doctor, engineer, and lawyer as careers?
A good attitude is really important. And a sense of optimism, someone who has ideas and isn't afraid to pitch them no matter what level she is. Someone who is proactive. Someone with efficiency and common sense. They don't always go hand-in-hand, common sense and, well, everything else.
I know how I shop and how I am inspired to buy things, and the majority of it is from Instagram. I look at people like Yasmin Sewell and Leandra Medine from the Man Repeller, as well as the countless models that have really cool street style, for inspiration all the time.