OOTD- Cold Shoulder Shift Dress

I told you I’d show you how I styled this number from New York & Company that I recently wore for my Best Friend’s Bachelorette Party, so let’s get down to business! 😀

cold shoulder

 

Here’s my  full look:

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As you can see already putting these birthday gifts to good use!

The dress had a loud print and some really beautiful cold shoulder detail so I wanted to keep accessories, hair, and makeup on the simpler side. I didn’t get any good close-ups of my makeup but basically I blended some greens, golds, tan, bronze, and brown eyeshadow. I used a hunter green eye liner and some mascara to define my eyes and make them pop. I filled in my brows and did some highlight, blush and bronzer. For lipstick I wore a neutral mauve- Revlon’s Ultra HD Matte Liquid Lipstick in the shade “Forever.” I love this color and it lasts a good while! For hair I threw it up in a messy bun to show off my big gold hoop earrings.

 

Black pumps

These chunky black heels have been such a great investment. I lasted the entire night dancing away in these, normally I’m in flats after an hour.

 

ACCESSORIES

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Gold bangles, thin gold rings, and a light up engagement ring, because, duh? Bachelorette Party. 😉

 

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I wore this statement ring on my other hand.

This was the manicure. I decided on- a pistachio green color, with a gold glitter ombre effect!

I rocked some black tights and a black side purse with a gold chain on it.

And last but not least here were some other accessories used to enhance the bachelorette party experience.

 

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Team Bride Glasses, Body Tattoos, Light Up Ring and Glow Necklace.

 

We had a grand ole time! Love you Jenny Girl!

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*All images are my own.*

-<3-

 

 

My Birthday Weekend Food & Fashion

This weekend I celebrated my 26th birthday. My birthday is March 26th, so I turned 26 on the 26th. And this is when I learned I was celebrating a Golden Birthday.

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A person’s golden or grand birthday, also referred to as their “lucky birthday”, “champagne birthday”, or “star birthday”, occurs when they turn the age of their birth day.

Oh boy 26, I’m on the other side of the 5, and approaching 30, holy crap! Needless to say, I had such a great time with family and friends. Even my errand running went well! I found all that I needed for my best friend’s upcoming Bachelorette Party. That never happens!

 

FRIDAY NIGHT was my time to just relax and do a little pampering. I’ve been feeling overwhelmed lately with everything going on in my life and a lot of things needing to get done all at once, so I really needed this weekend to do my thing and relax.

 

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Started my night off with some Sushi ❤

 

I’ve also been loving lighting candles.

FUN FACT: the one on the right was a gift from my brother and sister in law. They brought it back from Hawaii for me, it’s a pineapple candle that smells unbelievable and it’s in a coconut!

Spring is here ladies, so you know what that means, time to shave yo legs. haha

 

 

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I tried this brightening mask, I’ve never done a face mask like this, and it was super strange, I felt like an Alien, I couldn’t move my face haha. But I didn’t hate it.

 

 

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Gilmore Girls, kept me company during my pamper routine. ❤

 

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SATURDAY NIGHT I met up with my best friends and their fiancĂŠs and they treated me to some drinks and desserts. A night filled with great company and great conversation.

I ordered the BLACK BOTTOM BUTTERSCOTCH A layer of bittersweet chocolate lies beneath creamy butterscotch custard, topped with fresh coconut whipped cream, and a chocolate wafer. And a glass of Moscato. It was delicious, I was sad when it was over! 😉

For my outfit, I wanted something comfortable, yet sophisticated. It’s a basic combination. But this picture of Bethany Joy Lenz was my inspiration for sure, (as usual.)

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I had these basic pieces already in my closet so I thought, why not?

saturday

 

I love how these bracelets kind of tell my story, they each show important relationships I have in my life. I am M which stands for Me or Michelle. I am a daughter, a sister and a godmother amongst many other things.

SUNDAY NIGHT I started my day with God at church. Can’t go wrong with that. Then later my parents treated me and the family to dinner at one of my favorite hibachi restaurants.

family

I had the chicken and shrimp hibachi with vegetable fried rice, and a frozen margarita.  For dessert I ordered green tea fried ice cream. YES, YES and YESSS! Everything was so delicious, so I was a very happy camper.

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For my outfit, I wanted to dress up this plain black sweater dress I had gotten a while ago. And so any excuse I get to rock my leopard faux fur coat (and blue strappy heels) is always A-OK in my book.

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*Black, Blue, Leopard…I sense a theme. 😉

Last but not least I ended my night with some blueberry pie, instead of birthday cake, I love pie so this was perfect. My whole weekend was perfect. It wasn’t a crazy rager, but it was exactly what I needed to ring in my golden birthday! 😀 I am blessed to be surrounded by such amazing people who made it that more special. ❤

I also got a bunch of great gifts too, I think I might do a Birthday Haul/What I Got For My Birthday post-Stay Tuned!

 

 

 

*Most images are my own.*

-<3-

 

 

 

 

OOTD: Palazzo Pants & Big Hoop Earrings

New York & Company is a store I shop at when I need something a little on the fancier side. So for my best friend’s Bridal Shower, I went to pick up an outfit. When I walked into the store I was instantly aware of their newest trend- Palazzo Pants. Hello, welcome back to the 70’s ladies.

I had to get a pair and after trying on a bunch of prints, this is the pair I decided on. I have to say I saw these and knew they’d be the ones I’d end up with. #BlackAllDayEveryDay #ICantEscapeIt

 

palazzo pants

My top and earrings are also from NY & Co.

 

 

Here is how I styled these Palazzo pants:

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I wanted the pants to be the focal point. I love that they were black with a pop of color from the flowers. Because of this, I wanted to pair them with a white simple blouse. I tried yellow, and red, but it seemed to be too much color. This simple white top was perfect. Not only did it blouse nicely when tucked into the pants, but it has that subtle yet unique neckline that spruced the plain white color up a bit.(The top was a bit sheer so I wore a black bandeau underneath.) 

For makeup and hair I kept it pretty simple. Kept the eye shadows in the bronze, browns, golds family. That’s usually my go to, because I LOVE GOLDS! As for lips, I did a mixture of a burgundy red (Revlon’s Rum Raisin) and bright orange (NYX Cherry Cheesecake) to form a nice bright coral like red. 

Next, I wanted a sleek, yet slightly messy high ponytail with some curls to frame my face. Added some bold big gold hoops for earrings, paired with gold bangles, and some bold rings with turquoise and green accents.

 

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I don’t have any links to these rings- The one of the left was my grandmother’s and the one on the right I bought from someone at a garage sale.

 

On my nails I had Essie’s “Penny Talk.”

And for shoes, I kept it simple with some basic Mary Jane type black pumps. That chucky heel made them much more comfortable.

 

Black pumps

Got these suckers on clearance for $15! #WhatAFreakinSteal

 

The whole outfit is funky yet still sophisticated. I have this habit of wanting to funk up every outfit I wear! Lol. My best friend told me I look like a sophisticated flowerchild. And guess what, I’m ok with that. It’s completely accurate and exactly the look I was trying to achieve. 😉

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I was so excited about rocking this outfit. It was super comfortable. Perfect for all my maid of honor duties! I would definitely recommend the Palazzo pant trend, here’s a link to all the different prints New York & Company has to offer. Take a look!

Stay Tuned for when I style this little number for her Bachelorette Party coming up! 😀

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-<3-

 

 

Yellow. Blue. Red. Look

You ever have an event coming up and instinctively begin planning an outfit to wear for it in your head? Sometimes it’s based on pieces you already have in your wardrobe. Sometimes it’s based on inspiration you come across. And sometimes it’s completely fictitious and you basically think of it out of thin air. And then- the hunt begins.

For me the hunt is the worst part of fashion; the worst part about being a woman. Because you hop from store to store trying to look for pieces that fit this fashion vision. A vision that doesn’t necessarily exist.

I’ve wanted to try this yellow, blue and red color scheme out in an outfit for a few years now. And I finally got the chance to play!

My vision was to wear a yellow dress, with blue heels and red accents; nails & of course lips. (You guys know I LOVE a red lip.)

The dress was a surprising find. But I gave up hope on the blue shoes for a while, until recently one day I came across a pair of ankle strapped sandals and I instantly fell in love.

The heels were actually bought and worn for an entirely different outfit and I actually wore the yellow dress once before styled differently. But as the pieces of my dream outfit slowly began piling in place, I finally took my latest invite to wear this dream outfit of mine.

Let me break it down for you. *In crappy, edited cell phone pics. :/

Full Look all pulled together:

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Close-ups of my makeup:

I basically used a lot of bronze colors, golds, whites and browns, filled in my eyebrows, applied mascara, and I used a navy blue eyeshadow as eyeliner on top and bottom. Then I used a red lip pencil (with a berry undertone) and a matte bright red lipstick over top. Bronzer, Blush and highlighter were also in effect in this look.

(How flawless does my best friend look??? #BrightLipsOnPoint #BrightLipSistas)

My accessories:

I love gold accessories. I think they complemented the pale yellow color of the dress nicely. I also chose the mirrored “diamond” rings to complement each other. And now that I think about it all the detailing in my outfit was silver; my zipper up the back of my dress, my shoe buckles and my purse zipper. So the mirrored accents on my jewelry tied all that in.

I skipped a necklace this time and went for some really cool funky peacock feathered earrings that hung down and dressed up my hair in the process. I love how the greens and blues of the feather complemented the yellow and the red.

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Ignore the after hours makeup mess. lol. I was just trying to get the earrings in. haha.

 

I also added a blue clutch to match the shoes and a taupe cardigan to match the underlying layer of the yellow eyelet dress.

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My clutch is actually double sided. The other side is black, which I didn’t mind too much even with such a bright outfit, because the soles of my blue heels are black. So it all tied in. And let’s be real I made sure the blue side was on display to match the blue heels.

Clutch Essentials:

I’m a big purse kind of girl. On a regular basis, I usually carry a huge purse or bag. My purse is essentially my life in a bag. So how does a girl like that downsize her sack bag, into a clutch? Here’s how I did it.

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*First choose a decent sized clutch, and just take the basics.

Money

ID

Keys

Lip products (for touch-ups)

Hair ties

Hand sanitizer

A mirror

Pill case with Tylenol & Tums 

Packages of Pepto Bismal & Claritin

Granola bar

Emergency Pads/Liners (#girlprobs #noshame)

Oil absorbing sheets

Gum

Band-Aids

Tissues (not pictured)

My Catholic saints, rosary and pray rock- treasures that come with me wherever I go.

*Tip: Leave the flats or flip flops and sunglasses in the car.

* I know this seems like a long list, but I fit everything and had a little wiggle room. #missionaccomplished

My Hair: 

For my hair style I went pretty simple. I washed my hair, and left it in a top knot after applying products; curling serum, curling mousse and hairspray. I let those products take and dry a bit as I did my makeup. When I was ready to start my hair, I took it down and found it dried in a scrunched formation. Which is what I wanted. Then I blow dried it and added some dry shampoo to the crown for volume along with more hairspray before curling my hair with my curling wand. After that I shook the curls loose by tipping my head over and running my fingers through my hair. Then parted my hair on the side, swept my curly hair to the side and used an clear elastic to put it into a side pony tail. I opted for the clear elastic, because you couldn’t see it, and my curls didn’t get squashed by a big old hair tie. After curling a few front pieces to frame my face, I secured any bumps or flyaways with some bobby bins and Voila! Done.

**I really loved how this look turned out. The dress was a pale yellow, with a unique eyelet detail and so I opted for a neutral taupe cardigan this way the bold red lips and bright shoes didn’t clash. There is certainly a variety of color here, but when blocked a certain way, I really think a look like this can work.

So is there a certain look you’ve been wanting to try out, but haven’t. 

Three words. Go. For. It.  

*All photos are my own.*

-<3-

 

 

 

 

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