Side Braided Bow

Don't these lovely ladies look gorgeous with their side braids? I love the girl on the bottom with the bow in her hair!

Whenever I have bad hair days (which thankfully hasn't happened much lately because of the wonderful weather!) I tend to stick with a ponytail. I try to do a bun or a french braid, but halfway through the day I tend to mindlessly pick at it until I give up on trying to keep it look "done". Then I put it in a ponytail so I can twirl it as much as I want. But as soon as I saw this look, I knew it was something I had to try ASAP! The most appealing things about the side braid are that it shows off my long hair (which I always feel a ponytail doesn't accomplish), it looks good the messier it gets (no more redoing it halfway through the day) and you can easily accessorize it by adding some sparkly bobby pins or, my favorite, adding a bow at the end! The bow seems like a perfect fall look, and although it doesn't feel like fall will ever come, I'm still going to pull out my boots, sweaters and bows!

Trendtation

This is my latest look on Trendtation. This site is very similar to LookBook, but the people on Trendtation seem to be a lot kinder when it comes to commenting and rating looks, and who doesn't want their ego boosted with a nice comment? Head on over to see more of my looks!

Flowing in the crisp breeze

As you may have noticed, I have recently changed the design on my blog (yay for upgrades!) and I also added fashion blogs that I follow. These blogs are fabulous for kicking me out of any clothing ruts I'm in at that moment. My morning ritual is to hop onto the computer, check emails, plans for the day, then head to my favorite blogs and see what new outfits they have posted. I am always inspired, even if it isn't something I would normally wear. The inspiration for the skirt on the right is from Cupcakes and Cashmere. Emily was wearing a long, flowy skirt like this one in light pink. I found the skirt she was wearing on Zara, but it was only in tan, olive, or black, and I wasn't a huge fan of those colors. I was looking for something that looked pale and was a combination of more than one color. This skirt seems to have it all. The color is beautiful, but even more beautiful is the price. I'll give you three guesses as to how much this beauty costs. $80? $50? $30?! If I tell you that its from Forever21, does that help? This skirt goes for a mere $19.80. I posted about the incredible prices of Forever21 here, but I can't help but repeat myself-how do they do it?! I plan on buying this as soon as I can, because I definitely can feel fall in the air. I would wear this with a black sweater and unique, strappy sandals or if my feet get cold I'll wear my renewed Uggs (nobody will be able to tell!). The upside to wearing a floor length skirt in the winter is 1. you don't have to shave your legs (that is the one thing that I despise in the summer) and 2. you can double up on warmth by wearing leggings or tights underneath. In summary, there is absolutely no reason not to buy this gorgeous skirt!

Here, Kitty Kitty...

(Please excuse the non-manicured nails. I have recently taken up biting them...again.)

Animal prints have never really been a staple of my closet. (Other than zebra print, which I absolutely adore!) I've never understood the need for a crocodile skin bag or a pair of ponyhair shoes. But, just like the trends, I change my mind a lot. I've decided that although I won't be buying a cheetah print shirt or pants anytime soon, I did want to be involved in the trend. Hence the cheetah spots on my fingernails! I was inspired by Lauren Conrad. If you want to see her much more manicured style, click here. It was actually very easy and didn't take much time at all! The steps to having kitty claws are as follows:

1. Use nail polish remover to take away any leftover nail polish or other grime. I like to use something that strengths my brittle nails.

2. Use a nail buffer. This helps the nail polish go on easier, and if like me, you're going to use a transparent base color, helps your nails look more polished. (Pardon the pun!)

3. Use a sheer pink nail polish color as your base. I used Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Sheer French Color.

4. With a nail polish pen, paint circles on your nails. They don't (and shouldn't) have to be perfect, because you can cover up any mistakes with the black. I used gold, but you could also use white or brown.

5. Trace half of the circle with a sloppy line using a black nail polish pen.

6. Slick on one layer of top coat, preferably with sun protection in it, so your beautiful spots don't fade!

And just like that, you have an on trend statement piece that cost you less than $10!

Look Book

I have officially been featured in my first fashion article. Okay, so it may have been my high school yearbook, but that's almost as good as Vogue, right? This was in the "Personal Style" section, along with about 8 other people. I was very honored to have been chosen, since my style hasn't been very unique until the end of my junior year. Every year that goes by seems to give me more and more inspiration for why I should dress better than I used to. I have realized that when you dress better, you take on life is kicked up a notch. People take you more seriously, you are more likely to be productive (which is a big problem in my life). Because I've moved on to college now I've realized that you can't start math homework at 11:30pm when it's due at 11:59pm. I've also learned to understand that my hair, makeup and outfit don't have to be absolutely perfect everyday. My morning ritual is to wake up, check out the latest posts on all my favorite fashion blogs (featured on the right side of the page!) and see if I get any inspiration. If not, I look through my own personal look book. My look book is a collection of hundreds of pictures cut from magazines dating from 2006. Although the beginning part of my look book is filled with tube tops, stretchy skirts and sequined purses, it still inspires me. I love looking to see how my style has evolved over the years. If you haven't made something like this for yourself already, I would highly recommend it. Not only is it a good reminder of where fashion trends evolved from, but it is also a way to cut down on the clutter of endless fashion magazines. I started my look book because I had too many magazines, and although I loved them all, some of them only had one or two good pages. So, I ripped out pages or cut out outfits I liked and suddenly I had an evolving fashion magazine of my own! All you need to do this is a 2 or 3 inch binder, depending on how much stuff you're planning on putting in it, a 3 hole punch for pages out of magazines, blank pieces of paper to glue small cut-outs on, fashion magazines, gluesticks and your imagination! Because you aren't following any rules as how to make this look book, it can become anything you want it to be. Happy look booking!

Singing in the Rain Boots

On a rainy day, people are confronted with a dilemma. Ruin your adorable shoes, or wear a pair of ugly rubber rain boots? Typically I just stay in whenever its too wet to wear normal shoes outside but with college quickly arriving, that will no longer be an option for me. My solution? These amazing rain boots from Urban Outfitters. I was debating on purchasing Hunter's Lady N' Rain boot, but after I came across the classic yet cheap style from Urban, I was instantly hooked. Not only are they perfect for rainy days, but because they don't look like typical rain boots, I'll be able to wear them in the winter also. Its like two for the price of one. One very, very low price of $28, that is!

Looking for the perfect shoes?

(These are the Light Blue Linen Bridgeports, exclusive for Summer 2010)

Have you been looking for a pair of shoes that are comfortable, not super expensive, adorable, and maybe are green or help a cause? Well look no further for I have found the answer to your shoe woes. Toms Shoes is a shoe company that donates one pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair purchashed. That is their One for One mission. They have seasonal collections and for spring and summer they have the cutest colors. Coral, pink, sky blue and green are just a few of the solids they carry. And if you're looking for prints they have many of those too. I recently bought my first pair and they are more than I could ever have asked for. I didn't really care much about comfort or style because, hey, I'm helping out! But this brand went above and beyond my expectations. Because they run true to size when I received the shoes they were a bit snug, but after wearing them around my house they stretched out and molded to my feet. I bought the Light Blue Linen Bridgeport and I cannot get enough of them. At $48 I am already lining up to buy another pair! For all of you who want to make a difference for someone, but don't want to have to do any work, this is your way out! Check these shoes out before you buy any others!

Round Sunglasses

Unless you're going for the Ozzy Ozborne look (which doesn't look good on anyone but him...Mary Kate and Ashley take a hint.) I don't understand the round sunglasses. They don't accent any special facial features, and they just generally don't look attractive. I would much rather wear my vintage 1985 Oakley Frogskins, but thats just me. My favorite sunglass look for anyone would be aviators. They look good on everyone, they are everywhere so you can find cheap ones, and they can be worn with everything.

Ahh sunglasses. Reminds of the season I'm already looking forward to....summer. :)

Recessionista

I've been looking for the perfect long tunic/t-shirt to wear over leggings as the seasons go from the warm summer months to cooler fall months. I was about to give up when I found this:

Its a tee from Forever 21, so of course its only $4.50! I couldn't believe it...how do they manage to keep their prices so low? (The URL for this is here, if you wanted it.) Of couse, I'm going to buy about 5 different colors of this, because its a basic that can be used any season at any time. (Not to mention it comes in twenty differnt colors!!!) Trying to find cheap clothes now isn't easy, as most retailers have raised their prices due to the poor economy, but Forever 21 proves that it can still provide quality clothes at low prices no matter what the economy is. Although I may not be the number one candidate for buying cheap clothing, I still appreciate a good, reasonable price here and there.

The True Price of Denim

Although brand names are something that most people say they try to stay away from when trying to have their own sense of style, there are some things that money can buy. For example, I just found a completely adorable pair of True Religion jeans for $172. Even though this isn't cheap, I know these jeans will last me an incredibly long amount of time. And considering I wear jeans almost everyday of my life, thats a very good thing. I've heard from many people, "I would never spend over $150 on jeans. Thats ridiculous!" When I ask why they tell me they would rather spend their money on many things rather than one pricey thing. Okay, well, if you're going to spend over $150 on jeans, most likely they will last you awhile unless you don't do your research and end up with a pair of knock-off, crappy quality jeans. Also, if you spend $150 on say, 5 different things for $30 each, sure, you're getting more for your money, but when next season rolls around, are you going to have to spend the same $150 you spent last year to replace what you've worn through? If you buy a quality pair of jeans, they should last you for at least 5 years. This means that your average will be $30 per year. So, you can splurge on a pair of $150 jeans and get your money's worth out of them. Or you can save your money for short term, but not long term. By purchasing quality clothing and spending a little more money than you normally would, you end up spending less money. So the next time you put someone down for spending a little extra money on something, think about how much you have spent over the past few years.