Greetings Earthlings! Have you ever wanted to wear a "very kawaii thing" but felt like you couldn't "pull it off?" HAVE NO FEAR, CAT WOMAN IS HERE--
(this is what my photos r going 2 look like since i'm back in Kansas lol)
My mom gave me these faux thigh-high tights as a late Christmas gift and, to be honest, I seriously questioned how I was going to pull them off because they are such a statement. I think there are the two opposing ends of the spectrum we much venture to in order to consider such a statement item-- Make the rest of your outfit loud and proud, or keep it subtle, stupid.
Of course, yes, keeping your outfit plain is easy and you can figure that out...my go to is ~* aLL bLaCk *~...per usual. But what's the fun in that? Topping things off with a cat hat adds some cheekiness that is fun on a day when you are feeling especially playful.
I'm not sure where my mom found these but i've seen multiple versions and upon a google search I found these for you guys (SOMEONE PLEASE GET THEM SO I CAN SEE): CAT TATTOO TIGHTS
It's been a good while but I come to you today with something special....
A DIY
*claps* *hoots* *hollers*
A long long time ago (maybe a few months) I came across the most beautiful and simple and perfect hand accessory. Sterling-silver plated and topping $250, I knew I would have to keep dreaming...but I also knew that I could probably make something quite similar.
HELLO, CAN YOU SAY, "BEAUTIFUL"?
So, of course, it took me that long long time to get to making my own version but at least I actually did!
Although I'm a city girl at the moment, I'm a country girl through and through (surprising to some, I know!) My dad operates our small family farm and I grew up following him around everywhere...being his "go-fer" going to get him different tools around his shop while he worked on things. (I loved this job and it took me a stupid amount of time before deciphering the fact he was not just calling me a cute little gopher :) One thing my dad always had in the back of his pick-up truck, the front on his truck, in the shop, in the house---EVERYWHERE-- was something called baling wire. I've referred to this type of wire around some people and in return received odd looks and suddenly reminded that, oh man, I am a farm girl. Baling wire is something my dad always used around the farm to fix fence---to fix anything really--and is also used for electrical fencing in rotational grazing. It's a very thick gage wire that my little tomboy hands could barely twist..and still have trouble bending today. I knew this great little material would be perfect for replicating my dream accessory and lucky for me my dad packed me a small bundle of this magic wire in my toolkit...probably for more practical uses than this.
**for anyone looking to purchase baling wire I would look for something similar to this: 14G Galvanized Steel Wire (I think this is about the right thickness). I don't imagine craft stores sell anything this thick so search for it at places like home improvement or farm supply stores. It is sometimes called soft wire or you could ask for electrical fencing wire**
----ON TO THE HOW-TO ISH---
Materials:
- Baling wire (alot 1-1.5 ft of 14g wire)
- Needle-nose pliers
- Wire cutters (many needle-nose pliers will cut through wire, but baling wire is thick so it may be a little struggle)
- A hand (yours) (mine if you are making me a gift)
- Steel wool
- Jewelry File
1. Find the middle of your strip of wire and give it a slight bend into a "U," a little bigger than your middle finger. This will be the part that will slide underneath your middle finger.
2. Take 1/2" of so of the tip of the "U" shape in your pliers and bend it so that it will lay more comfortably under your finger and across the back of your hand.
3. Continue to try on the brace, do not move onto the next part of the bracelet until it feels even and right.
4. Run the two sides of your wire towards your wrist until you get near the wrist bone. Straighten out your wire one last time then begin to form a bend outward on both sides to create the "bracelet" part of the hand brace.
5. Form form form until your wires meet (or excess overlaps) in the middle of the inside wrist.
6. Cut off excess (maybe you should be wearing safety googles...idk)
7. Run over the whole piece with steel wool, being careful to not change the shape you've worked so hard on!
8. File the ends of the wire and finish with steel wool
9. GASP IN AWE
10. TRY THAT BAD BOY ON
11. WEAR IT EVERYWHERE
12. GRACIOUSLY ACCEPT THE SEA OF COMPLIMENTS W/ BIG SMILES
My next post will feature a tutorial on this hair-do (and a less messy version).
So, as we have come to know, there are like...50 Shades of Grey. While my go to winter color of despair is all black everything, I felt like posting today about it's close partner in crime--G R E YYY!
Grey can make you feel pretty ugly if you do it wrong, and let me be the first to say I "do it wrong" all the time by living in my collection of grey hoodies. You must, instead, make the grey in your outfit speak for itself and become a statement...let the people know you are aware you are wearing grey. This could be based on the structure of a piece-- maybe a bold, textural menswear inspired winter coat--
like oh, i don't know, this beautiful little number from H&M:
Or maybe to make grey your statement is not to depend upon a singular statement piece but to use the combination of many items to make the statement? Like how about grayscaling your life? I like the sound of it...a monochromatic look...IN GREY
YES PLZ, EVERYDAY.
So going through your closet you may want to consider a couple things before just slapping on all your grey pieces:
1. Maybe most importantly, know which tone of grey you are going to wear. Are you going to stick to a warmer or cooler tone of greys? (Also consider your skin tone in this decision, I look better in a more blue-ish grey).
2. If you are going to go for a monochromatic look, you have to go all in. Think about your shoes, your accessories, EVERYTHING. (You can allow room for ONE piece of color, maybe in your footwear or hat game...but you don't want to break up things in the middle of your all grey body palette).
3. As I mentioned earlier with the texture of the coat, consider the textures of your items, too. They need to be able to separate themselves from one another enough to still accentuate your shape-- you're gonna look like a lump-a-coal if you are all one kind of fabric. (For the winter, consider a knit or wool top!)
So what did I find in my closet? A lot of things I wear that normally look boring AF by themselves, but I feel pretty confident with them all together:
(unfortunately with the way blogspot handles the compression of files (ackkk), you can hardly tell my jeans are grey, but i promise they are a light-medium colored grey, not near black)
Overall, I am happy to create such a combination. This may become a go-to outfit for the rest of the winter!
Although most of our legs find their way into hiding during the winter, I've been wanting to talk about showing off legs and how people are probably going to be doing it in 2014. Instead of legs though...it's more about just showing off a singular leg.
Such a basic and normal thing in the history of the skirt, slits are basically there to let the garment stick to a certain desired silhouette (like a pencil skirt) while still allowing you to walk without a waddle. There are so many forms of the slit-- typically small back slits or lately the resurrgence of the double side slits from the front. Today is all about the side slit though...A REALLY HUGE SIDE SLIT ON A PENCIL SKIRT.
I think the key to remember with this oncoming trend is the exact placement of this slit. Slits were cool in the 90's but from what I can recall kept themselves pretty glued to the side seams. This update is more complicated...to the side but more on the front of the leg.
So, on Tuesday I finally dragged my lump of a body out of the house after the negative degree weather had passed and took a trip with my roommate to Village Discount, a thrift store close by. In the skirt section I was surrounded by black velvet and quickly spotted a small pencil skirt. Before examining I was already contemplating how I could (with my less than stellar sewing skills) add in a trendy lil side slit to the skirt. LUCKY FOR ME it already had one!
How can you beat a $2 thrift?
WHO SAYS YOU CAN'T WEAR SNEAKERS & SKIRTS?
(PROBABLY MY MOM)
I will say...styling something velvet in a casual manner is more of a challenge than, oh I don't know, ANYTHING ELSE.
I like the idea of the loose t-shirt or crop top and the slit pencil skirt but with velvet you must have the perfect partner and I fear my closet has not shown me a match...for now I will keep soul searching!
I hope you've had a lovely holiday season...I sure did! I just arrived back in Chicago yesterday evening after a 2 week stint back home in Kansas. I got to see lots of extended family, some friends from high school and college, and best of all my silly pets.
Today's post really has no overall theme or idea but just a few items I have recently aquired and really enjoy!
The most reoccuring item in this post is this grey wool and black leather cap. I ALWAYS buy hats and never wear them, but I can tell you that I've already worn this religiously and with the wet snow that's in abundance here in Chicago it's a handy lil number.
Along with the hat, I purchased a Men's red polyester baseball jacket. These items (of course, rather unnecessary) I snagged at the Urban Outfitters outlet here in Chicago. In conjunction with the stuff being dirt cheap there anyway, UO had a 1/2 off sale happening for about a week so I couldn't resist buying them!
I also like that I now have a colored jacket I can wear when I want to. I own a massive collection of "beautiful" grey and black and white clothes so throwing on a bright jacket gives me a little liveliness I probably lack with such a wardrobe.
My new favorite thing EVER is this Akira sweatshirt my bestest friend Tyler had printed up and gave me as a Christmas gift. I can already tell after only having it in my possession for 6 days and having worn it at least half of those days that I'm going to need another 3 or 4 of them :)
(づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ
Also, being home at my parents for a good amount of time, I got into all their stuff and made lots of messes. Whenever I go home, I always dig through my mom's beauty products and lotions and nude colors of nail polish and use all of her expensive shampoo (shhh). I came across a few things she wouldn't let me take (obviously I didn't beg hard enough) but items that I enjoyed so much I may find myself getting for myself anyway.
Like this nail polish:
the color is called "My Very First Knockwurst" by OPI. Before I explain what Knockwurst is let me tell you how lovely I think this is.
Now let me tell you that knockwurst is, as you could guess, a kind of sausage like a bratwurst. Why would you name a nail polish color this? Now all I think of when I look at my fingers is little sausages!
Another item I can advocate for in these nastily cold winter months is a good ol body lotion.
I am terrible when it comes to applying lotion to my whole body, but upon the New Year I suppose I'll make it some kind of resolution to treat my skin to some loving. I have a minor skin condition called Keratosis Pilaris (where extra keratin protein is produced in skin) that appears on my upper arms and sometimes upper legs. It's really common and it's more prominent in the winter months for people
because there is less moisture in the air.
With this lotion by Aveeno my skin felt sooo soft for once, which is a beautiful thing! It's nice too that it's a brand you can pick up at most any drugstore!
Keep warm out there if you're deep in piles of snow (If you are in LA or somewhere tropical please go away </3) xx
NYE is maaaybe my favorite holiday because it's the one holiday we get to dress to the nines (no matter if you're in a scummy bar) and you'll magically never feel over-dressed! Normally I don't plan things until the last minute, so if you're like me I thought I would give you and idea of what I'll be wearing tomorrow and some tips on how to stay in the spotlight on a glitter-bombed night of attire.
I love sequins...I have 3 completely-covered-in-sequin dresses in my closet and of course NYE is pretty much the only occasion they can be worn. But I'm always trying to be the show stopper, and on New Year's I've come to realize one thing....EVERYONE will be in sequins. So my look for this NYE is SANS sequins....LET US ALL GASP
My thoughts and ventures have led me to experimenting with texture more than anything. Also, jewel tones will have you killing the game amongst the silver, gold, and black sea.
I am going to be back in Lawrence, KS for NYE. I know you may be asking, "why the heck would you not want to be in the city for this?" I am going to be back in Lawrence, KS for NYE because my Bear Club Boys will be doing the night right, exactly how I like-- great music, great humans, and great dancing. I want to be dancing...which leads me to my outfit of choice:
a Teal Velvet One-Shoulder Romper.
it's got the feels, the uniqueness of not being a damn dress....and i can DANCE in this (i shudder at the thought of trying to have fun in a strapless number)
the trouble with a romper...a one-shoulder romper...a velvet one-shoulder romper...is pairing accessories, like, how do i do this??
My advice is to keep it pretty simple to keep it stunning. Black tights because it's stupid cold this time of year, and simple black heels or boots to match.
**The important thing with statement dresses/jumpsuits for anyone that does decide to stick with a mass of sequins or sparkles is to keep your accessories pretty tame, you will get lost under the lights so fast!**
With such a neckline you just can't do a necklace (maybe a choker, if you must). Also bracelets may look a little stiff with the one-shoulder (dear lord, why did I choose this?) But, alas! I find the drama can be best brought to your ears with some really sparkly, long/big earrings.
To complete the overall look you must weigh your makeup and hair into the equation just as equally as your apparel. Lately I've been SO very interested in the "glossy eye". I've recently tried it out for a few photo/video project shoots. It catches light in such an interesting way (with all the other girlies wearing cakes of glitter on their faces, you will feel incredibly superior).
To do a glossy eye:
IT'S STUPID EASY.
1. Put some eyeshadow on ya eyes...stick to a fairly light color at least for your first outting (if you touch this or have more hooded eyes it will smear pretty quickly! I've experimented with mostly orangey brown and red tones. If you're worried about making a mess of it consider a light gold or pearly pink
2. Don't do much on eyeliner (if any) and stick close to the lash line. It will smear and crease and as you can tell in the above photo after not even an hour of wear it's getting weeird
3. Get some clear lip gloss or a liquid kind of chapstick and gently dap it on top of your eyeshadow. Test this before you coat your whole eye and make sure your eyes don't feel irritated. To make it more dramatic...coat with a thicker layer of lipgloss! I used this kind without any bother
4. Mascara shouldn't affect your gloss, just be careful when applying!
I like a bold lip pretty much all the time but if I'm trying to keep my lids in check and my lipstick from getting all over the place I'm going to be so high maintenance to be around UGH. I would consider using the same gloss on your lips and leaving things neutral. If you still want a little more drama, go bolder with your bronzer or blush.
Let's also consider our nails in this NYE plan of attack--
NOW IT'S TIME TO SPARKLE!
With our nice jewel tone base of the teal, I'm drawn to a nice olive green tone to pair. A nice warm topaz or deep ruby would be interesting as well.
For my look I used Wet 'n Wild's Sage of the City as a base with Nabi's Dark Green Glitter.
I then used some small craft glitter I had in my arsenal and applied while the nails were still wet. A bunch of top coats are a good idea to keep things intact. (I'll need a chisel to get this off!)
Finally for the hair I chose to keep things up and out of the way. I wanted a more casual accompaniment and a high pony works wonderfully. For a more classic, pulled together look so a high doughnut bun also seems fitting. With this neckline (as it loves to cause problems) hair is best kept up off the shoulders. If down, I suggest swooping it behind the shoulder entirely or over in front of the shoulder with the strap.
So we've got texture from the velvet, texture on the glossy eye, rough chunks of stones on the ears, and 3D sparkle on the nails but I am missing the biggest component of the season. FUR!
I bought this coat at Ragstock down the street from where I worked in Wicker Park. It was down in the basement with a random assortment of some (i'll say it) "pretty hideous fur coats" and I didn't need it but what can you do when you find the most perfect rabbit fur coat for a 20 dollar bill??
So I hope you look fabulous tomorrow evening! If you are in Lawrence and need a place to have fun, meet me at the Taproom, we will bounce with the goombas into 2014--
To make up for lost time, today's post in a three-fer and lucky for me not really about outfits so I didn't even really have to dress myself today...MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.
First off I have a bit of a beauty post, one I've been meaning to try out for months now and just finally attempted (with actual success, surprisingly)--
what is it, you ask?
THE TWO-TONE LIP has been pinned multiple times on my pinterest beauty board. Most tutorials say to use lip stains or the OCC lip tars. I decided to dig in my treasure trove of lip products and see what would work. I ended up using these:
Apparently I'm a Revlon rep, but their lip service is pretty on point. For the top lip I used the ColorStay Ultimate Liquid Lipstick in Ultimate Orchid. This stuff is really cool and I knew it would be perfect for this two-toned effect because it's very liquidy but dries quickly and stays put (just make sure you're lips are VERY moisturized before you put it on because it'll look crumbly in a hot second, if not). I opted for the Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain in Romantic for the bottom lip. I have posted before about this series of balm stains and can't get enough--they're the only lipwear I want to wear during these brutal winter months because they are very moisturing but still allow you play with fun colors! I must say, however, for the two-toned lip you may want to stick with a more traditional stain so that it doesn't smudge as much as the balm stains.
OMG I LOVE IT (and hey, if it smudges a bit, you get an ombre effect so that's just a bonus in my book!)
As well, if you are wondering my polish on my nails is from American Apparel in the color Parakeet!
Let's move on the second part of this blog post...
THIS WINTER WEATHER...THIS CHICAGO WIND....IT IS NO JOKE. As a Kansan my whole life I was like "shut up all you Chicagans (is that the correct identifier?) the weather is pretty much the same as Kansas." But no, there is this nasty wind here that will eat your insides and rattle your fragile bones as you walk to and from your bus stop each morning and night. So, against my redheaded stubborness I caved and became a big ol baby who needed some warmer winter wear. (Thankfully, winter apparel is "practical" so I didn't feel bad when I found these BEAUTIFUL items of warmth at H&M last week:
Nope, not a color balance issue...these bad boys are NAVY
There's something so fresh about the color navy this time of year and lately I've been into the idea of mixing things people have always told you not to mix--- like black and navy and even things like off-whites and whites. Although maybe not practical if you're in and out of places during your day, rings on the outside of your gloves (if they're pretty slim-fit gloves, such as these) looks like a million bucks.
These leather gloves are from H&M. Also, be sure to get a pair that are a smidge tight on you because they're stretch out quite a bit after a little wear!
Thirdly, just a bit of a show and tell because I couldn't help myself:
This little beauty of a clutch magically appeared before me at the resale shop I work at last week, and you can bet your bottom dollar I put that on hold for myself the second I set eyes on it. Normally, I'm a little hesitant to scream and shout to the world that "HEY GUYS, I'M A PHOTOGRAPHER" with camera related gadgets and apparel, what-have-you, but this is the exception....let me nerd out, okay.
In closing, I would like to thank my window for giving me the loveliest of light today and making my skin look wayyy less scaly than it actually is. Let me know if you try out the two-toned lip and what colors or products you use, I will continue experimenting, too!
