Final Projects

During my long hiatus from blogging, I was taking my first design class. Which was also my first class where I was actually drawing anything. 

For the final project we had to design a mini collection. I had planned on posting it on the blog, but with the end of school, finals and Christmas, I was too busy to ever post it. 

Then I was going through pictures trying to tidy up my desktop and I ran into the scans from the final project. So here they are... 

The inspiration

The clothing

I was actually inspired by Lily Allen's music video for The Fear (seen here.) What I tried to achieve in the collection were nice and comfortable day looks. And I LOVE ruffles... so I just had to include them in whatever I was doing. 

I think some of my other sketches I did on this project came out way better than the final but, I'm a perfectionist so it took me forever to do and towards the end of it I was so sleep deprived I just wanted to be done. 

And the scanner kind of messed up the colors, they are more blown out then they should be, but you get the idea.  I ended up with a high A on the project, so I did pretty well. 

Smokin'

When I'm on vacation, I always try not to bring my whole make up drawer with me, especially when I'm at the beach. So when you're  low on options, you have to be creative with your look.

So anyways, I'm on vacation reading different blogs and byHillary, one of the blogs I follow posted a Giveaway, challenging readers to create a smokey eye look.  I say to self, I can do this. Then I notice, I'm not going to be home in time to complete this challenge, and I only have a small fraction of my make up with me.

So my challenge, create a smokey eye look, using what limited resources I have.

What I used:

• Mac's Paint Pot, Painterly 
• Maybelline's Amethyst Smokes
• Maybelline's Eye Studio Lasting Drama Gel Eyeliner
• Estee Lauder Blush "Pink Kiss"
• Estee Lauder' Tiger Eye lipstick
• Mary Kay's Black Cherry lipstick
• Milani's Glitzy Glamourgloss

The Smokey Eye

• I started off with my normal base routine, then I started off my eyes with MAC's Paint Pot in Painterly as a base
• I then used the white and covered my eye to the brow
• Next I used the bright purple color and spread it from the lash line to the crease
• Then I took the darker purple and dusted it on the lid
• Taking the black, I then smudged it up from the lash line
• Then I lined my eyes with Maybelline Gel Liner, and used Loreal Voluminous Mascara
• To finish off the look, I used Estee Lauder Blush "Pink Kiss", then mixed Black Cherry and Tiger eye lipsticks and put gloss over it. 

The Final look... 

So a simple way to get a Glam Smokey eye look, working with what you have. An added bonus, if you don't have anything to work with, most of what I used is pretty simple to run to a drugstore and just pick up if you are in a bind. 

Oh, and remember how I was saying I went to the outlets? Well I went to Fossil, almost bought another watch, but settled on buying a new pair of sunglasses. I actually bought 2 pairs... the other I shall show on a later date. 

Have a Little Faith

Something I tell myself a lot is that you don't need to worry about what others think of how you dress, but rather how much you like what you're wearing. 

I had tried on this dress back in December or January, and liked it, but it was full price and I didn't like it that much. So I waited and it went on sale and I bought it. When I brought it home my mom told me I looked like Mrs. Roper in this bright dress.... so I put it away. 

Fast forward to May. 

I tried on the dress again, and instead of just trying it on I styled it. Put it together how I would wear it out.... and mom's comments? "Oh, where did you get that? It's cute!"

So my advice, don't doubt yourself... If you like it, wear it! 

Sweater: J.Crew 2009

Dress: Old Navy 2010

Shoes: Madden Girl

Headband: J. Crew 2010

Watch: Fossil

Bracelet: Flea Market

I got this bracelet in New York, from a flea market. Its a hinged bangle, I like it for it's vintage feel. Its something different. 

Anyways, I'm still at the beach! I did some damage at the outlets today. I'll post those deals later, maybe tomorrow if I'm lucky.

Just in Time

One day last semester, I decided I really needed a watch. I hadn't used one since my trip to England in high school, and I knew I was going to want one when I went to New York, because I like to compulsively check the time especially when I am on a schedule. 

So I started researching... Juicy Couture, Coach, Betsey Johnson and Michael Kors all have some great ones. But, I decided to go with Fossil's Boyfriend watch!

I went with the Riley Silver Multifunction Watch, $115. 

I really love how this watch has an oversized face. I have larger wrists so I like a watch that doesn't look abnormally small on me. 

Now, I am pretty much hooked on watches! I am seriously considering going back and getting a watch in bone, they're gorgeous.  And I already have my pocket watch necklace which I found in New York.  If you follow my twitter you'll know I have been wearing my great grandfather's old watch, and I also found my dad's old watch from about 1985.  They were some great finds, which I'll have to get some pictures of for the blog. 

Anyways, I have been enjoying the beach lately, and hopefully getting a tan! That's my excuse for lack of posting... off having a good time!

That was a picture I took on my computer camera of the beautiful sunset this evening, and we even saw some dolphins swimming pretty close to shore from our balcony. 

Tomorrow, I will be spending the day shopping at an outlet mall close to where I am staying... and they have a J. Crew.... pure bliss! Cannot wait, I'll probably bore you with details tomorrow. 

I heart J. Crew

So I really love J. Crew, but they are a tad bit out of my price range. As a result, I must make do with going to the outlet and getting stuff on sale. The good thing about J. Crew though is that they have some awesome sales. I got my mom some really cute Fleur De Lis flip flops for $16, I got a shirt for $20... and this awesome headband for only $5!

I think someone told me that it was originally like $30, so $5 is a steal on this. And I think its super cute. So I am always checking out the J Crew sale section they always are sure to have some great finds.

This picture was taken by my little sister, how awesome is that. (I usually take all my own pictures)

Colors of Summer

So by now you probably have realized I have a tiny nail polish addiction. I only have about 45 colors at the moment, so not to bad. Except for the fact that I am constantly buying new colors.

Anyways, I love summer time because its a great time to just be bright and colorful. This summer instead of just posting what colors I am wearing that week (although I will prob continue with that). I have decided to do a post dedicated to my favorite colors for this summer.

So these all happen to be Essie colors, which surprised even me because I am such an OPI girl... but anyways.

First we have Lapis of Luxury... the picture above makes it seem lighter than it is, its more of a periwinkle blue. I actually have it on right now.  Its a good casual color, great for everyday wear and I think it gives off a fun and laid back vibe.

Next up is Red Nouveau, its a great red orange color, which gives a classy feel but not too done up.

Fruit Sangria, I have yet to actually wear other than to do a swatch of it. Its a fun pink color which I plan on doing when I go to the beach later on in the summer.

Splash of Grenadine is another color I have yet to actually wear, but its a soft pinky purple color.

AND I LOVE Mint Candy Apple, this is a great color and perhaps my favorite for the summer. It has this cool vintage feel and its not to minty, I want to say more of an aqua color. (That is me speaking ribbon colors from work.) MCA is actually from the essie winter collection, and I had seen it on this girl at Ulta, but they were sold out, so I kept going back and they finally had it in stock.

So those are my colors for this summer, what are your favorites?

Oh, So Silly... bandz

The first time I heard of Silly Bandz, a frantic mother had run into the store where I work asking if we carried them. We didn't at the time, so she explained what they were and told me these were the next big thing, we had to start selling them.

So the week before Easter, we got this HUGE box full of them in, and boy did they sell out quickly. Even now we can hardly keep them in stock.

And now, everyone is wearing them apparently even SJP. I mean I can see how they can be a quirky pop of color on an arm full of bangles. It is also one of those theories on how fashion spreads, starting from the kids and moving to the masses.

I think I might do it, not the whole arm of them that kids tend to do, but just one mixed in my larger array of jewelry like SJP. What do you think, would you get on the bandz wagon?

I LOVE NEW YORK Day 3 &4

Day 3: Bloomingdales, Ralph Pucci, FIT

On day 3 we had to wake up bright and early to go to Bloomingdales in SoHo before it opened, it was really neat we got to take this great tour of the store, which is really beautiful and innovative, so if you get a chance I would definitely take a visit. 

After going to Bloomies we got some free time... When we were walking to Bloomingdales, one of my roommates and I had seen some large spools sitting out back and we were like we def have to go back and take pictures. So we took the opportunity to go back and check it out. 

The spools actually came from the store next door which had just opened All Saints.  The way they were set up was really cool, a lot of old sewing machines and stuff... def my dream land. 

Later,  we got to visit Ralph Pucci where they manufacture Pucci mannequins, which can be seen in stores such as Saks, Nordstrom and Anna Sui!
They also have a showroom of really expensive, nice looking furniture and Art.

It was really cool when we got to see where they actually make the mannequins... it was pretty much an army of them...

And notice in the background... the arms hanging from the ceiling... haha a tad bit creepy.

We got to see where they painted the faces on some of the mannequins... I think some of these were in Nordstrom stores. 

And they had heads for Anna Sui waiting to be painted... which was really cool since we had been in the Anna Sui showroom the day before. 

Then it was off to FIT where we had a quick costume history lesson then got to see their newly opened EcoFriendly exhibit... No pictures where allowed, but it was cool anyways. 

After FIT, we went to this vintage shop, I got this cute purse which I will post a picture of later, and I went shopping in the bookstore at FIT... already getting ready for next fall. 

Day 4: Michael Pallandino, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lynda Johnson

On day 4 we went to LIM to visit with Michael Pallandino, who was the stylist for Henri Bendel's before they reorganized and stopped carrying clothes. He now teaches styling for LIM. He gave a very good and inspirational speech about making it in the fashion industry... never burn bridges and always balance between personal and work life. 

Then we went to Saks Fifth Avenue and had a tour of pretty much the whole store... which is HUGE. After we took a detour to the Anthropologie sale room, which is about as big as the store here. 

Later we went and met with Lynda Johnson who is a journalist and mainly works with children it was interesting to get a different perspective of the fashion industry from her. 
So that was the last of my appointments in New York, I had a great time, and did some damage shopping. I can't wait to get back to NYC. 


This weekend, I have pretty much been reorganizing and doing some late spring cleaning... I found some cool stuff when going through my mother's jewelry box... I think the vintage bug has finally bit me... but I think the need for an all vintage post is coming on. 
Anyways, its Father's day today. I spent a lovely day with the fam. Hung around in the pool with the sisters. Ate an awesome lunch/dinner with the fam and just pretty much hung out watched movies and such. I would have posted this earlier, however my internet went out, but thankfully its back, obviously. 

Late for a Date

I was just looking back to the first few posts on my blog. It will have been a year in July. I'm upset with myself that I took so many months off when school was in session and neglected the blog. I see it as more of a mission to continue on and continue updating if only to look back and see what I found interesting at any give point in my life.
Anyways, I must have found this necklace from Modcloth pretty interesting. Looking back I came across a post I did in August of 2009. It was a things I want post... and it was a necklace that I never got around to buying when it was in stock and it was constantly going out of stock. Anyways, when I was in New York, we went to this store that sold a lot of costume jewelry (which I love). I remembered the little sister had been wanting a pocket watch necklace... so being the amazing sister I am, I went on a search for one for her. I found one and brought it home, only to find out she had ebayed herself one.

Now the one I found was way awesome, so I decided to keep it for myself, and she could borrow it when she wanted to. I was searching Modcloth the other day to see if I found anything good (which of course I would), and I found the necklace... same exact one! and the one I bought was $10 cheaper and I didn't have to get it shipped or wait for them to get it in stock. How awesome is that... Good things come to those who wait.
So on that note, I have to thanks those who have stuck around and encouraged me to keep blogging (mom and Sarah)... you waited for my little diary to get back on track... so now I must reward you with some good posts.... hopefully I can deliver.

I LOVE NEW YORK Day 2

Day 2: The Met: American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity and WICKED!

For the second day of appointments, it was pretty chill. That morning we did a quick tour of central park... saw the boat house, Alice in Wonderland and Strawberry fields. 
The tour through Central Park led us to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the Met we had a docent guided tour of the Costume Institute's American Woman exhibit. 
I thought the exhibit was gorgeous, it had clothes from the 1890s-1930s and the mannequins were all wearing wigs designed by couture hair stylist Julien D'ys. The wigs on these mannequins were AMAZING! They were stylized representations of the time period, and when you got to the 1920s flapper.... those were just beautiful, very glitzy and glamourous. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures in the exhibit, but I got these from the Met's website. 
After going to the Met we walked down Madison, saw a bunch of preppy school girls, and went into some pretty pricy stores, visited the Ralph Lauren Mansion and then we did whatever before going to see Wicked that night!

My roommates and I at Wicked

Here is a Youtube video I found of Julien D'ys working on the Met's Model as a Muse exhibit from 2009.  I thought it was pretty interesting... check it out. 

So that was pretty much day 2, I think I'll post days 3&4 together before the end of the week... 
I'm really getting back to the blog... keep checkin in 

Fashion Against Aids

While in New York, I went to H&M alot... I think I went 3 or 4 times  in the course of a week. One of the times, I picked up this really great scarf. It has this great tribal vibe and 25% is donated to Fashion Against Aids.

Now some people get scared of scarves, but I love them! They are a great accesory and I think they are great to wear anytime of the year... Yes, they are harder to wear in the summer months but you just need to know how to do it right.  I can envision the scarf tied how it is on the mannequin with a white tank and some cut off denim shorts for a fun summery look.

I LOVE NEW YORK Day 1

So I just got back from my field study in New York trip... and lets just say it was awesome!
We got an amazing behind the scenes look at the world of fashion... and I got to do some shopping.
Some of the places we visited included: Vera Wang, Anna Sui, Nannette Lepore, Ralph Pucci Mannequins, Saks Fifth Avenue, The Met, Color Association, FIT, and Bloomingdales (Soho location). It was a great and informative trip, I would have updated as we went... however there was no internet access at the hotel... so I will update you starting now!


Day 1: 
So we got to New York on Saturday, did sight seeing Saturday and Sunday and then on Monday we started up with our appointments...
First we went to Vera Wang... and when I say we went to Vera Wang, I don't mean we went to a Vera Wang store... we went to the Showroom/Corporate office. It was awesome, we got to see where they make some of the clothes, where they design clothes, where they show clothes to clients, it was really really awesome.

After Vera Wang we went to see Anna Sui. We went to the showroom and got to see where they did some of the production.  I really enjoyed Anna Sui, her showroom was really neat and our tour was given by an alumni, who had majored in design but was now working in sales.

Then we did Nannette Lepore, the clothes were amazing, the speaker was on the boring side.

Between Nannette Lepore and going to Color Association... I ran into someone on the streets...

Glee's Matthew Morrison!

Color Association was really cool, they forecast colors two years in advanced. I didn't get any pictures... but believe me it was a really great place to visit and they had a really cool office. 


That was pretty much Day 1, I'll try to update as soon as I can with the report on the rest of my trip... and also with my new buys. I have added a couple new nail polishes to my collection, so be on the look out for new colors soon!