I attended the United Colors of Benetton fragrance launch yesterday.  Boy do I wish I had taken more time to actually style my outfit because I bumped into several fashion bloggers whose styles I admire a lot and was even taken aside for a quick photo with Xing Street–a cool street fashion project that documents interesting fashion that random people wear.  They took this picture below, while I was wandering aimlessly in Greenbelt looking like I was peddling UCB bags (I hid them all from sight when this was taken).

Not that I don’t love my outfit.  I do, but two major elements were from Forever 21 so I feel like a cop-out!  To be fair, I have worn the top with different accessories, and it was really just a coincidence that I wore a necklace from the newly opened store, too. 

The clutch was borrowed from my mom.  Although of course since I was lugging my camera bag around, it didn’t have much room for display.  I was unglamorously toting 3 other bags from Benetton–two which were for Kira and Lauren.

The Celine boots are my mom’s as well.  And I really need to have it repaired; I didn’t know it would get so much attention, especially that day.  I bought the flower ring from Wellmanson’s Quiapo (my favorite accessories place, of course).

What you don’t see:

I am wearing a black leotard I’ve had since forever.  I used to take ballet classes–a memory I’d rather forget–when I was 9 and stopped altogether when I was 12.  Here we are, more than a decade later and I’m still using it.  I’ve used this leotard for a photoshoot in the past, too.  Also, I was wearing a very short black and white plaid shorts over it.

With Liz of Project Vanity.  Photo from ToxicDiscoBoy.

I saw that Liz was there, so we were together for a while.  After a while, we got to chat with Karl Leuterio of Inkarlcerating (whose Lookbook account I used to check out regularly before I even had this blog), Mike Magallanes of ToxicDiscoBoy and Aivan Magno.  They were so nice, and of course, so chic!  I’m so happy to meet fashion bloggers since most (if not all) of the bloggers I do know personally are beauty bloggers.  I’m not so much into fashion blogs I see locally, but these guys are exceptions.  I am in love with the outfits they feature in their blogs!

Karl L., who easily makes it to my top 3 most stylish people in Manila.

Mike of ToxicDiscoBoy and Aivan against a totally kawaii Tokidoki wall. I’ve been obsessed with Dr. Martens for quite some time now, so that was the first thing I noticed about Aivan.  Photo from Inkarlcerating.

Oh yes, wait, the scents!  You’d have to read my article on POC, too, okay? So you’ll get an idea what color you are.

The event was in SM Makati, at their newly renovated beauty area (it’s all bright and shiny!).

The new collection of fragrances from UCB had four variants:  Rosso, Giallo, Verde and Blu, named after the colors Red, Yellow, Green and Blue in Italian.  The scents retail for just P1350 (100 ml).  I was expecting it to cost more, actually!  Plus, they’re on sale (10% off) for July and August.  They’ll be available in all SM branches nationwide.

Words associated to each of the colors and scents are printed at the back of the box (I’m sure you’ll be seeing many other photos of the front design, so I’m showing you the back).

Model holding Rosso is familiar. She was in Philippine Fashion Week 2009 for the teens section, but I didn’t dress her.  Second model (holding Giallo) looked sullen.  Fourth model (holding Verde) looks really cute.

I had a hard time choosing what to take home.  Frankly, I don’t wear perfume as I prefer scented lotions and bath goodies instead.  But maybe it’s time to take a break from smelling like cookies and milkshakes (my boyfriend’s description) and smell like a woman.  Rawr.  Following that, I chose Rosso since it was really sweet and girly smelling.  Yellow sounds like it would suit my personality more, though, but I thought I might as well go for the less obvious [me] scent.

From The Philippine Online Chronicles:

This is a fragrance for women inspired by the color red.  Written on each of the boxes where the bottles of scents are kept are some of the colors’ experiential associations and feelings.  In the case of Benetton Rosso, they are words such as sensuality, power, heat, courage, war, blood, flames, and countries Japan and India.  UCB envisions the woman who wears this to be sexy, lively and warm.

The scent is made from a lush combination of fruit notes—mandarin, citron and passion fruit.  Its floral heart composition is that of peony, syringa the very feminine jasmine sambac.  Its dry-down are soft notes of patchouli heart and storax, finishing with a mild vanilla.

9 Responses to “OOTD and my Benetton Rosso!”

1. Bea says:

   July 23, 2010 at 3:44 pm

   Mine na lang if you don’t like the scent. Hahaha!

   Reply
2. Kira says:

   July 24, 2010 at 4:26 am

   Man, I am bummed I wasn’t able to attend this event. But thanks so much Alex for covering this. Were you able to introduce yourself to Celine?

   Reply
   • Alex says:

     July 24, 2010 at 8:41 pm

     No problem! I love the Benetton bag because it’s so useful, I think it’ll be my bag for events since I can stick a lot of things in it haha. And yes, Celine was really nice!

     Reply
3. Pax says:

   July 26, 2010 at 2:10 pm

   Love your blog!!! =) i also love the oversized shirt with the boots. chic chic chic!

   Pax

   P.S. My big blog giveaway has started. Hope you could join!=)

   Reply
   • Alex says:

     July 27, 2010 at 2:14 am

     Thanks, Pax! Will definitely check your contest out.

     Reply
4. karl leuterio says:

   July 28, 2010 at 4:06 pm

   i was torn between rosso and verde pero since im a biological male , i chose the green one. and who knows, baka makaattract pa ako ng pheromones ng other guys. chos! thanks for the kind words. I LOVE U.. til d next event. hehe
   mwahhhh

   Reply
5. Alex says:

   July 29, 2010 at 2:26 am

   Let’s hope it works that way, haha! Sana nga I run into you guys in other events para di ako mahiya mag photo-op ng mga outfits. ^_-

   Reply
6. Other Boy'S Accessories says:

   August 11, 2010 at 10:28 pm

   Juarez (Chicago, IL) History and background of Benetton. Other Boy’S Accessories

   Reply
7. Other Boy'S Accessories Wholesale says:

   August 15, 2010 at 8:43 am

   Cold, Cold Cologne by Benetton, Created by the design house of benetton in 1997, cold is classified as a luxurious, fruity fragrance. Other Boy’S Accessories Wholesale

   Reply