Drumroll please...
Generated by random.org based on order of entry, the winner of the 100th-post Giveaway of the Aurora set from our Etsy shop DesireeDesigns is...
STRUGGLER! (Check out her awesome style/decor/lifestyle blog!)
Congratulations, Struggler! Please contact me to send your address so I can ship these lovelies off to you.
Thanks to everyone who participated and shared the giveaway! There will surely be others as this blog reaches various milestones, so keep an eye out ;)
Happy Hallowe'en!
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Steals and Deals: Body Central
We started receiving the Body Central catalog again quite randomly (cough, MetroStyle selling our info, cough) and were pleasantly surprised to note that the prices seem to have come down since last they solicited our business. Or maybe we're thinking of Boston Proper. Anyway, we found a zillion cute things under $30, so of course we are sharing!
If you've never checked them out, you'll notice that the aesthetic is somewhere between Victoria's Secret and Delia's: sexy tops and junior sizing and a little bit of slutty thrown in. Pieces are priced lower than either of the others, though: bonus!
We were thrilled to see animal-print cardigans offered at only $27-- a leopard cardi is one of the only items left on our list of things we're allowed to buy new! It's so ours. (Click pics to go to Polyvore for links to purchase).
If you've never checked them out, you'll notice that the aesthetic is somewhere between Victoria's Secret and Delia's: sexy tops and junior sizing and a little bit of slutty thrown in. Pieces are priced lower than either of the others, though: bonus!
We were thrilled to see animal-print cardigans offered at only $27-- a leopard cardi is one of the only items left on our list of things we're allowed to buy new! It's so ours. (Click pics to go to Polyvore for links to purchase).
Body Central: Animal Print and Ruffles Under $30 by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com
The zebra print is adorable and totally on-trend also (we'd wear it with hot pink and turquoise, oh yes). They also offer it in a dalmation print (looks more like snow leopard to us, but whatever), if you prefer black and white to the brown leopard. Isn't the ruffly-charmeuse-neckline pencil-skirt dress stunning as well? And what a price!
We're always looking for cute, feminine layering pieces for work, and BC definitely doesn't disappoint with several little jackets and other great professional (but still fun) basics:
Body Central- Work by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com
We're always looking for cute, feminine layering pieces for work, and BC definitely doesn't disappoint with several little jackets and other great professional (but still fun) basics:
Body Central- Work by ThriftyStylist on Polyvore.com
Quelle jolie! We especially love the styling of the pencil skirt with bold belt and flowy top- all three pieces are listed. And the lightweight sweaterdress (a major piece for fall into winter!) comes with the belt- both for $27. Not bad!
What BC really excels in is body-conscious (no surprise given the brand name) little tops for going out on the town. You'd be hard-pressed to find details like this at these prices at any other store:
The special little embellishments, like hook-and-eye closures and lace insets and ruffles and sequins just make us squeal with delight!
Have you found any awesome deals lately? Let us know. Hope you enjoy these finds!
Happy Bargain-Hunting!
What BC really excels in is body-conscious (no surprise given the brand name) little tops for going out on the town. You'd be hard-pressed to find details like this at these prices at any other store:
The special little embellishments, like hook-and-eye closures and lace insets and ruffles and sequins just make us squeal with delight!
Have you found any awesome deals lately? Let us know. Hope you enjoy these finds!
Happy Bargain-Hunting!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Suggestions for Styling Blue Shoes & Choosing Colors
Inspired by Struggler's recent post about getting rid of her new blue shoes for lack of ideas for styling them (don't do it, darling!), we decided to mock up a few outfits that we think would be perfect. Polyvore to the rescue, as usual. This time we decided to create with a starting point rather than just searching until we found something we liked, so we turned to one of our favorite websites, ColorSchemer, where you are able to buy fabulous color design software, but you can also search the member-curated color galleries for free to find a scheme you particularly like.
We looked through many pages looking for a nice rich blue hue and a lovely palette. There are some combinations that we would never use, of course, but generally speaking they are inspired and quite attractive.
(Another color site we absolutely adore, especially for our design business, is Name That Color. We were searching for a sort-of-royal, sort-of-slate-y blue, perhaps something like "Biscay" (#1D3967). Play with the color wheel tool- you will adore it and improve your color vocabulary drastically. No more "ish" and "-y" in your descriptions ;) )
First, we chose a theme called "Not Your Average Wedding," featuring orchid, peach and charcoal grey.
A couple of cute work looks, with the commonality of color and patterned tights and a feminine, flirty silhouette. We focused on the look here, not the price, so some of these items are a bit on the astronomical side and we advocate you look for suitable budget-friendly replacements if you enjoy the styling.
The second group of colors we chose was a bit too broad in range, so we picked just four of the colors out of it (besides the existing blue of the shoes we chose). It's called "Lady Liberty" and our selections were blue-green, eggplant purple, peachy-pink and navy blue:
These looks would probably be fine for work but might be better on the weekend or going out as they're a bit on the fancier side, but whatever works for you!
Happy confident and creative blue-shoe-sporting!
We looked through many pages looking for a nice rich blue hue and a lovely palette. There are some combinations that we would never use, of course, but generally speaking they are inspired and quite attractive.
(Another color site we absolutely adore, especially for our design business, is Name That Color. We were searching for a sort-of-royal, sort-of-slate-y blue, perhaps something like "Biscay" (#1D3967). Play with the color wheel tool- you will adore it and improve your color vocabulary drastically. No more "ish" and "-y" in your descriptions ;) )
First, we chose a theme called "Not Your Average Wedding," featuring orchid, peach and charcoal grey.
A couple of cute work looks, with the commonality of color and patterned tights and a feminine, flirty silhouette. We focused on the look here, not the price, so some of these items are a bit on the astronomical side and we advocate you look for suitable budget-friendly replacements if you enjoy the styling.
The second group of colors we chose was a bit too broad in range, so we picked just four of the colors out of it (besides the existing blue of the shoes we chose). It's called "Lady Liberty" and our selections were blue-green, eggplant purple, peachy-pink and navy blue:
These looks would probably be fine for work but might be better on the weekend or going out as they're a bit on the fancier side, but whatever works for you!
Happy confident and creative blue-shoe-sporting!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
What We Bought: Halloween Costume at Oona's
Our all-time favorite little vintage store, which we've frequented since we were a Vamp-lipsticked, clove-smoking, angsty little teen who hung out at Cafe Pamplona writing bad poetry, is Oona's in Harvard Square, where we stopped in to check out their "Experienced Clothing" certainly monthly for a good portion of our life.
On our latest visit-- our first in too long, definitely-- we found it much the same as always, with the owner working the counter and the shop's namesake, her daughter, working too, along with a couple of other awesomely amiable employees. It's a tiny place and we were afraid that with their sizeable Halloween section (replete with everything from gorgeous prom dresses to psychedelic mod minidresses to purple shiny bootcut leggings!) it would be mobbed, but it was just fine. They expect the next few days to get progressively worse, so we recommend that if you haven't figured out your costume and you're local, you check them out sooner rather than, say, Friday.
Anyway... we switched up from the original plan of Madonna c. Like a Virgin due to the sheer seeming impossiblity of finding huge lacy crinolines and non-revealing bustiers and tons of cross necklaces and granny boots for little money... in a similar genre but definitely more of an idol to us is Cyndi of course.
Our (crappily collaged) inspiration board:
Here's the work in progress:
Pink lace long-sleeve, campsite offer of $4 at Oregon Country Fair
Black sequined v-neck, Oona's, Studio 1940 brand, $10
Tutu, new at Oona's (from China, sad, but handmade tutus are expensive!) $18
Turquoise cotton skirt, Oona's, $5
Purple asymmetric chiffon skirt, Discount Dance Supply, $17
We're going to add black leggings, our pythonesque scrunchy boots, lots and LOTS of bracelets and other jewels, and crazy makeup and hair of course. We won't be able to rock the bangs, unfortunately, but we'll do something big and 80s and colorful, anyway.
We shall see how it goes! What are you doing for Halloween?
On our latest visit-- our first in too long, definitely-- we found it much the same as always, with the owner working the counter and the shop's namesake, her daughter, working too, along with a couple of other awesomely amiable employees. It's a tiny place and we were afraid that with their sizeable Halloween section (replete with everything from gorgeous prom dresses to psychedelic mod minidresses to purple shiny bootcut leggings!) it would be mobbed, but it was just fine. They expect the next few days to get progressively worse, so we recommend that if you haven't figured out your costume and you're local, you check them out sooner rather than, say, Friday.
Anyway... we switched up from the original plan of Madonna c. Like a Virgin due to the sheer seeming impossiblity of finding huge lacy crinolines and non-revealing bustiers and tons of cross necklaces and granny boots for little money... in a similar genre but definitely more of an idol to us is Cyndi of course.
Our (crappily collaged) inspiration board:
Here's the work in progress:
Pink lace long-sleeve, campsite offer of $4 at Oregon Country Fair
Black sequined v-neck, Oona's, Studio 1940 brand, $10
Tutu, new at Oona's (from China, sad, but handmade tutus are expensive!) $18
Turquoise cotton skirt, Oona's, $5
Purple asymmetric chiffon skirt, Discount Dance Supply, $17
We're going to add black leggings, our pythonesque scrunchy boots, lots and LOTS of bracelets and other jewels, and crazy makeup and hair of course. We won't be able to rock the bangs, unfortunately, but we'll do something big and 80s and colorful, anyway.
We shall see how it goes! What are you doing for Halloween?
Monday, October 26, 2009
What We Wore: Scarf Experiment
We had originally planned to wear the purple jeans, but it was just too much going on. The dark-wash trouser jeans worked out much better. The scarf was an afterthought when the sweater, tee and jeans were too boring, and instead of looping around the neck we decided to try the Kasmira-suggested approach of using a brooch to secure a scarf. We really used a hair elastic underneath, but to cover it we used our purple hair clip/brooch silk flower from Claire's ($2.99). We loved it! What do you think?
Raspberry crew-neck sweater, Victoria's Secret clearance, $12.99. Scarf, free with tee from Marshalls. Black tee underneath, $7.99 from Marshalls (also came with free, different, scarf :P)
Shoes are black boots (big surprise) from Famous Footwear (big surprise):
leather and suede boots, "Extreme" made in Brazil, under $30Jeans are from Old Navy, The Diva cut, $30.
We felt pretty cute all day, even without any cleavage (trying to get people to take us more seriously at work?), even fighting the muffin top (sigh, can no one sell a jean that doesn't ride down in back?).
Happy experimentation!
What We Bought: Goodwill Scores Galore
Something called us to the Goodwill today on "lunch" break... of course that "something" was ostensibly the need for Like A Virgin outfit goods (we're seeking a white lace bustier and corset, crazy 80s belt, etc.), but it turned out to be the.most.perfect. leather jacket in our size, absolutely buttery-soft and in mint condition, crying out from a few blocks down for us to come and claim it!
leather poly-lined blazer, Margaret Godfrey, $7.99
Gasp! It feels like lamb or kid to us, but is labeled only "100% leather" so we're not positive. It's really quite fitted and lovely, so disregard the rather squarish shape of this photo on the hanger (and those to follow). No doubt you will see them all on very soon!
After discovering this lovely approximately 6 seconds into the store, we carried it around searching for the (elusive) Halloween items and also any pretties from the list which might catch our eye.
We tried on a wool pencil skirt (check- warm skirts) but it was a no go for our figure. (Hmm... other pencil skirts have worked alright; not this one though). We tried on a black-and-white floral blouse-type thing, but the banding "under" the bust hit us mid-boob. D'oh. Then we tried on this lovely nubbly (kind of like corduroy, only dots?) skirt, which is on the list as a "warm skirt" option, though not in a print (there really weren't any!)
cotton skirt, mac n jac, $4.99
Pardon the hanger, again. Here, have a closeup of the fabric and the lovely little crochet-lace trim:
(Much more lavender/mauve than this carnation/raspberry showing...)
In our travels through the shoe and housewares section, we also spotted a lovely little handbag; we had already fulfilled our recent wish for a teal purse, but the one we bought was awfully large and didn't have the croc embossing we were really craving, so this perfect little number is a terrific alternative:
croc-embossed faux-leather handbag, no name, $4.99
The man had suggested that we be on the lookout for a raincoat for little money, since we still have (ill-advised) plans to camp one time this Autumn... so we were thrilled to discover, in the Halloween idea racks of all things (? Sherlock Holmes?) a lovely black cotton with polyurethane (sounds gross but waterproof) coating trench by Banana Republic, $7.99. Pictures came out horrible, but trust us, it's cute. It's a black trench. You've seen them before. Our friend suggests adding a contrasting belt-- we're thinking perhaps leopard?
Whilst in the dressing room, we spied a rack of additional items. Some seemed to be tried-on cast-offs, as they were tagged, but among them was a practically brand-new and un-priced 100% silk sweater in a lovely steely blue:
silk sweater, Ann Taylor, $4.99
Perfect fit, nary a snag nor pill (who owned this? An agoraphobic?) and did we mention 100% silk?? The slate is not a color we'd normally wear, although it bears a strong resemblance to some blue-green sweaters we'd sworn not to further propogate, but here's a strong case for one-in, one-out; surely some inferior acrylic bit can go in its stead. It's not a print, either. But it is fabulous.
While we stood in line waiting to pay, a terribly amusing tourist was being rung up for a sweater and paused to ask "is this used?" And the clerk said "well, yes." And she said with a shudder "is everything here used?" And he said "pretty much." And she said "um, well, no thank you then, sorry," and walked out. And we laughed and laughed with the clerk so as to keep from following her down the street and berating her about the state of the world and her ignorance and stupidity and snobbery. Anyway, once she was done and it was only the crazy lady asking the poor man which section of collectibles she thought she could sell her new crap in, we were able to ask him if we could try on the simply gorgeous purple suede jacket hanging up behind the registers. And oh did it fit. Ours. Thank you.
plum suede jacket, Live a Little, tags still on for $89, $10
Our grand total was just under $40. Easily a tenth of the retail price for these brands (and especially the suede and leather). We love Goodwill!
Happy thrifting!
leather poly-lined blazer, Margaret Godfrey, $7.99Gasp! It feels like lamb or kid to us, but is labeled only "100% leather" so we're not positive. It's really quite fitted and lovely, so disregard the rather squarish shape of this photo on the hanger (and those to follow). No doubt you will see them all on very soon!
After discovering this lovely approximately 6 seconds into the store, we carried it around searching for the (elusive) Halloween items and also any pretties from the list which might catch our eye.
We tried on a wool pencil skirt (check- warm skirts) but it was a no go for our figure. (Hmm... other pencil skirts have worked alright; not this one though). We tried on a black-and-white floral blouse-type thing, but the banding "under" the bust hit us mid-boob. D'oh. Then we tried on this lovely nubbly (kind of like corduroy, only dots?) skirt, which is on the list as a "warm skirt" option, though not in a print (there really weren't any!)
cotton skirt, mac n jac, $4.99 Pardon the hanger, again. Here, have a closeup of the fabric and the lovely little crochet-lace trim:
(Much more lavender/mauve than this carnation/raspberry showing...)In our travels through the shoe and housewares section, we also spotted a lovely little handbag; we had already fulfilled our recent wish for a teal purse, but the one we bought was awfully large and didn't have the croc embossing we were really craving, so this perfect little number is a terrific alternative:
croc-embossed faux-leather handbag, no name, $4.99 The man had suggested that we be on the lookout for a raincoat for little money, since we still have (ill-advised) plans to camp one time this Autumn... so we were thrilled to discover, in the Halloween idea racks of all things (? Sherlock Holmes?) a lovely black cotton with polyurethane (sounds gross but waterproof) coating trench by Banana Republic, $7.99. Pictures came out horrible, but trust us, it's cute. It's a black trench. You've seen them before. Our friend suggests adding a contrasting belt-- we're thinking perhaps leopard?
Whilst in the dressing room, we spied a rack of additional items. Some seemed to be tried-on cast-offs, as they were tagged, but among them was a practically brand-new and un-priced 100% silk sweater in a lovely steely blue:
silk sweater, Ann Taylor, $4.99Perfect fit, nary a snag nor pill (who owned this? An agoraphobic?) and did we mention 100% silk?? The slate is not a color we'd normally wear, although it bears a strong resemblance to some blue-green sweaters we'd sworn not to further propogate, but here's a strong case for one-in, one-out; surely some inferior acrylic bit can go in its stead. It's not a print, either. But it is fabulous.
While we stood in line waiting to pay, a terribly amusing tourist was being rung up for a sweater and paused to ask "is this used?" And the clerk said "well, yes." And she said with a shudder "is everything here used?" And he said "pretty much." And she said "um, well, no thank you then, sorry," and walked out. And we laughed and laughed with the clerk so as to keep from following her down the street and berating her about the state of the world and her ignorance and stupidity and snobbery. Anyway, once she was done and it was only the crazy lady asking the poor man which section of collectibles she thought she could sell her new crap in, we were able to ask him if we could try on the simply gorgeous purple suede jacket hanging up behind the registers. And oh did it fit. Ours. Thank you.
plum suede jacket, Live a Little, tags still on for $89, $10Our grand total was just under $40. Easily a tenth of the retail price for these brands (and especially the suede and leather). We love Goodwill!
Happy thrifting!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
What We Wore: Neutrals that Are NOT Black!
We have already received a staggering number of compliments on today's outfit (along with repeated questions about whether or not we have an interview!), so apparently it is a success. No pictures today, sadly, but we recreated as best we could:
Planning began with the new blue shoes, $11. We don't seem to have much in the way of skirts at the moment, so the obvious choice was the Vicky's floral circle skirt ($30). Instead of doing all black for the rest, as we normally would, we made a concerted effort to try some other neutrals! For some pattern-mixing, striped grey tights (in a 2-pack from Marshall's, $5 for both). To tie the tights in, our grey Calvin Klein suit jacket (an emergency splurge at $79.99). To pick up the white in the skirt, a v-neck tee from Vicky's ($10), which we promptly spilled coffee on (sigh- this is why we so rarely wear white). We threw a bit of turquoise into the accessories to add a bit more interest to the all-grey-and-royal (cuff bracelet, gift from mom, chandelier earrings by us, flower hair clip from Claire's clearance, $2.99).
The shoes are indeed super high, so we wore our black velvet ballet flats in on the way to work, which still looks cute but not quite as killer.
We are ready to cast off the shackles of our black-centric, patternless wardrobe and move into a new era where we don't eschew all other neutrals. Don't hold your breath to see us in brown or navy anytime soon, though :)
Happy playful outfit-building (and crazy fun Polyvore-set creating!)
Planning began with the new blue shoes, $11. We don't seem to have much in the way of skirts at the moment, so the obvious choice was the Vicky's floral circle skirt ($30). Instead of doing all black for the rest, as we normally would, we made a concerted effort to try some other neutrals! For some pattern-mixing, striped grey tights (in a 2-pack from Marshall's, $5 for both). To tie the tights in, our grey Calvin Klein suit jacket (an emergency splurge at $79.99). To pick up the white in the skirt, a v-neck tee from Vicky's ($10), which we promptly spilled coffee on (sigh- this is why we so rarely wear white). We threw a bit of turquoise into the accessories to add a bit more interest to the all-grey-and-royal (cuff bracelet, gift from mom, chandelier earrings by us, flower hair clip from Claire's clearance, $2.99).
The shoes are indeed super high, so we wore our black velvet ballet flats in on the way to work, which still looks cute but not quite as killer.
We are ready to cast off the shackles of our black-centric, patternless wardrobe and move into a new era where we don't eschew all other neutrals. Don't hold your breath to see us in brown or navy anytime soon, though :)
Happy playful outfit-building (and crazy fun Polyvore-set creating!)
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