Tip Top

Back in my early days of college I yearned for a pair of Sperry Top-Sider Bluefish like nothing else. That was eight years ago so you really didn't see too many of them on the likes of anyone but Popeye, Captain Jack and anyone else who fancied boating...but I loved them. Where I was in Texas, there was zero water so I'm not quite sure why I was all about the Sperry's. Regardless, for whatever reason, I never took the plunge (water joke anyone?) and have done without all these years. I think it might have had something to do with limited sizes or the fact that I spent all my money on beer and top ramen. The world will never know...

Now that I live in Florida and I'm super near the water, my obsession has only grown. I'm pleased to announce that after eight years, over the holiday weekend, that obsession became a reality. I was on Sperry's website innocently browsing (remember the old bank account lock down? Yea, it's still kinda in effect) and found a few pairs I liked. Namely these:

Sperry Top-Sider Bluefish-2 Eye Boat Shoes in Linen Mesh
{here}

Sperry Top-Sider Bluefish-2 Eye Boat Shoe in Grey Nubuck/Tattersall
{here}


I like to save a buck when I can so I headed over to Ebates and found that Sperry is NOT one of their retailers. GASP! The search did pull up a few retailers who carried Sperry so off I went on their websites. The first website was a bust and had only a few pairs of Sperry's period and I hated all the colors. The next website, Shoebuy.com had my shoes in Linen Mesh. I actually preferred the Grey Nubuck color because I love the Tattersall print so I decided to mull it over for a day or two. My answer came a day later when Ebates had their Double Cash Back promo for the holiday and Shoebuy.com shot up to 15%! After some further searching, I found a 10% off coupon for them too and I discovered they have free shipping. Looks like Linen Mesh it is. After it was all said and done with, the shoes were only $71 and if I really want to justify it, if I subtract my cashback of about $11, they were really only $60. Yea. Life is good. Now in hindsight, I think the mesh sides will be good for me...I get hot really easily sothe built in A/C will be a major plus.

They aren't here yet but I can't wait!

All that Glitters

I've been digging the metallic glitter polish that's been on the market the last few months but haven't taken the plunge because I just couldn't find one that 'it' polish for me. I was looking for one that had large glitter which is hard to come by in the sea of mirco glitter polishes out there. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon Sephora exclusive OPI Only Gold For Me:

Gorgeous right? Yea, that's what I thought too. Last week I headed down to my local Sephora (which I might add is about a 40 minute round trip) and was thrilled to see that they had one bottle left! Score!!! I did notice that the bottle seemed a little under filled but convinced myself that I was imagining things. One of the sales guys (I love when men work at beauty stores!) came over and noted how popular that color was and commented that I was holding the 'test' bottle. CRAP. Not sure how I managed to miss the sticker because as I turned the bottle around, sure enough, there it was...

The guy was nice enough to provide me with a code for free shipping online that I could use within one week. This was nice but I had wanted the polish before this weekend since I have a holiday party to attend. Oh well, I thought...better late than never. When I got home, I went straight to Sephora's website and low and behold: out of stock. Are you EFFING kidding me? Argggg. I'll save you the thoughts and profanity that happened next as I searched around online hoping that maybe I could find it on another site but with no luck.

As a last ditch effort, I popped on over to ebay and jaaaaackpot. One seller. Six bottles. Apparently they had about 20 to begin with and when I checked the purchase history, all but six had sold in a week. Geez. The seller was listing the polish for $11.99 ($3 more than Sephora) but had free expedited shipping that would have it here by today or tomorrow!!!

Yes, please and thank you.

Slip into Something Comfy

Now that the Holiday season is upon us, I'm starting to get requests from the fam on ideas for prezzies for me...for the family who has a more conservative budget (shout out to T-Bunny!) I think slippers are a perfect gift. What girl doesn't like padding around in something soft on bare floors? Living in Florida we don't exactly get the full effect of fall and winter but let me tell you what. That tile floor gets cold just the same as it does anywhere else!

Here are a few cute options I wouldn't mind slipping my tiny toes in:



VS Satin Slippers in Snow Leopard
{here}




VS Moccasin Slippers in Heather Gray
{here}



VS Flannel Slippers in White Snow Leopard
{here}

Cheers!

Extra Petite Giveaway

There's a great giveaway going on at Extra Petite!

Mid-Month on a Monday

So we are halfway through November (seriously where the hell did this year go???) and that means we are on the countdown to the joys of Thanksgiving, Christmas and my very own birthday! Yes, what's left of 2010 is going to fly by. In addition to all those fun things, it's half way through the bank account lock down. With some serious bills going towards the BF's bday (this week eeekkk!) and Christmas coming up, I had to seriously reign in the extracurricular spending. Weeeelll almost. I might have sorta caved. But only a little! I ran into Forever21 over the weekend to make a return for store credit (BTW F21, thanks for being one of these sucky retailers who only gives refunds for online purchases if I ship it back at my expense. Really. Thank you. I'm on to your clever ploy to keep me buying your cheap trendy clothes!!!) and while I was in the store I thought I might do a little innocent perusing. One hour later I was knee deep in leggings and skinnies in the dressing room. If you can believe it, I only own one pair of (ugly) skinny jeans and one pair of skinny pants. I know. And I claim to be all about fashion. L-A-M-E. It's not that I haven't been trying people. I've told you before about my short legs and most stores don't carry short inseams. So see? It's really just not my fault.

Any who...I ended up getting just a few things for very cheap. It is F21 after all. I had $29 in store credit and I only spent an extra $30. See! Not bad. Not too bad at all. I purchased this really pretty soft gray/purple scarf with metallic threads (can't find it on the website), a super cute black and cream tunic with this great cutout detail at the neck (also couldn't find this on the website!) along with these two pairs of pants:


Center Seam Ponte Leggings in Black {here}

 

Basic Ankle Zip Jeggings in Dark Denim
{here}

I actually wore the seam leggings out on Saturday night to a birthday along with the black and cream tunic and with my newly stretched patent pumps from Ann Taylor and yes readers, it was awesome! Unfortunately there is only one pic of the outfit and trust, it was crappy. I was thinking I might wear this on casual Friday since it's not exactly professional...but if I wanted I could still wear it during the week cause my boss is cool like that.

I had originally tried the seam leggings on in the gray and while very cute, was trying to be responsible and went with the black since I'd been keeping an eye out for that color. But now, two days later, I wish I'd bought both! At only $12.50 why didn't I just get them? Oh yea, lock down...damn you.

I think my will power is weakening because I feel the uncontrollable need to drop them along with this piece of awesomeness into my shopping cart right now:

Twinkling Sequin Mini Skirt
{here}

Let me just tell you a story about this skirt. I was in F21 and I saw this skirt from afar and literally ran to it. I made my way through the sizes..M...L..M...M...L...L...this went on for a few more till I got to the very last one. It was a small! But, the sequins were starting to pull from the side. I blame 15 year olds who freaking don't know how to try on clothes. So I passed but promised myself that I'd be checking online. With sequins being such a hot trend right now, I wasn't 100% confident that this skirt (such a unique colorway in the sea of black sequined whatevers!) would still be available in my size online. But I checked nonetheless and it was nowhere to be found. I thought perhaps it had sold out (as the good things at F21 are prone to do). I did have one small ray of hope though. There have been times before where I found something sold out in my size in store and checked online to have it not be there. A few days later it pops up in the 'New' section. So all day Sunday and all day today I've been watching for new merchandise on the F21 website and as of 20 minutes ago, the skirt was listed!

Victory.

Hmmm I can survive on cereal and top ramen for the rest of the month right???

Window Shopping

So as I've already shared, my bank account is on serious lock down this month due to my BF's upcoming birthday extravaganza. It's going to be A-Mazing! As a consequence, there is pretty much zero shopping allowed. I did 'splurge' and purchase the Bobbi Brown Corrector and Concealer kit since Sephora was having their Friends and Family promo. The products actually arrived yesterday so during this morning's beautification, I tried my hand at applying them. I've already shared the colors I chose to order but when I opened up the Concealer, my heart sank. The color I ordered looked very orange in the pot. I told myself that I was sure it had looked alright during the dry run and that it would be ok. I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say nothing is worse than ordering something online only to have it suck in person. Moving on, as I said, I tried both products on this morning and low and behold, success! The Corrector countered the blue in my under eye circles just fine and then I swept on a light application of the Concealer and the color looked great!

Hmmm, I totally did not mean to go on and on about that. This post is really supposed to be about these:

Topshop Flats
{here}

These are so cute! I love that these are nude but you get a glimpse of shiny metallic through the cutouts. I've never ordered any shoes (or anything period) from Topshop so I'm not sure of their sizing. If it's anything like Aldo (I'm drawing a comparison since their sizing standard is UK) then they run small so a 5.5 (smallest) might fit.

A girl can dream...and spend imaginary money...

Mac and Cheese

If you've never tried Panera's new White Cheddar Mac and Cheese, it is crazy good. Warm gooey cheese over mini pasta shells. Every time I eat it it makes me feel like I'm back home in Texas and a Fall and Winter exists. Oh, a girl can dream.

While blog-hopping today, I came across this post which reveals Panera's recipe for this beloved dish. Apparently, I'm not the only fan.

Score!

Hold the Presses

So I knew this was coming I just didn't know when. H&M. Online. Shopping. It's here. EEEEKKK!

Run, dont' walk.

Damn you bank account lockdown!!!

Bobbi Brown Part Deaux

As I mentioned in this post, I recently tried out the Bobbi Brown Corrector and Concealer/Powder. While I was pleased with the coverage and the fact that it did not irritate my sensitive eye area, I was disappointed about the creasing and I wasn't 100% sold on the color of the Corrector selected for me. It just came off a little too orange. Kind of 'Barbie tan'. You know that color I'm talking about? Needless to say, it was less than natural. Now as I said in my previous post, I was fairly certain the creasing was due mostly to how much product the girl applied and to a lesser extent, how creamy the products were combined with the very emollient BB eye cream they used during prep.

I went back to Saks to visit the BB counter this past Saturday for a do-over. Thankfully, another sales woman was working and when I explained the situation, she told me immediately that the colors chosen for me were simply wrong. Hmmm. Surprise, surprise.

So once again I sat myself down for a little pampering (it is kind of a fun experience having someone else put your makeup on!). This time, after applying the BB eye cream, she went through a few options to match my skin tone and then once she found a winner, applied it with a very light hand. There were actually two shades she thought might be the best for the Concealer so she applied one on the right and one on the left. She then escorted me to the entrance so I could see what the makeup would look like in natural light. Talk about service! After we returned, I expressed my concern that the color might be too light although it did go well with my skin tone. She quickly told me the under eye area should be brightened and blah, blah, blah. Let me just say I don't agree with that crap. The whole lighter/brighter under eye area makes you look like a reverse raccoon. I've seen many pics of girls on fellow blogs along with pics of girlfriends on facebook who look like they have glowing half moons under their eyes. For me, it's just a don't. I'm just not buying it. I like something that matches the rest of my face. This is why coverage is so important. It can't be too sheer or the under eye area will still look darker. Yes, it's a delicate balancing act.

All that to say, I think I'm going to go with the Corrector she picked out and the Concealer the original girl picked out. I feel pretty good about this combo! The image below shows the new color game plan:

Be sure and check out my original post to compare the first match of Corrector with this one. It's WAY off!

I also checked out a BB Bronzer powder while I was there after seeing this review from Think Classy. The light dusting seemed pretty natural and I really liked that it was a matte finish. I've been using this bronzer from VS and while I like it, it does have a bit of shimmer which I'm not crazy about.

I'm going to get these from Sephora since they have Friends and Family going on and everything is 20% off (Sorry Saks! You had your FF about a week ago but only 10% on beauty: boo!) plus there's free shipping on orders over $50 and you can always throw in a little Ebates action for a few extra bucks off. Yep, makes me a happy woman!

It's a Nice Day for a White Wedding

No, I am not getting married. At least not today. Annnd probably not tomorrow. I do have a man (we're actually celebrating our three year anniversary on the 4th!) but neither one of us are ready to get hitched anytime soon. Although it's not on the horizon, I do love planning my potential wedding (come on, what girl doesn't?) and I often find myself perusing wedding magazines and websites to soak in beautiful pictures that capture each girl's special day. These days it seems like weddings are a free-for-all of fashion, design and art-worthy food. It really can be as magical as you (and your budget!) want.

I have what seems to be a million tear sheets and saved pictures on my computer of inspiration for when the time comes for my big day. Like most couples, I want to capture the day so I can keep on visiting it whenever I choose. Most opt for the traditional wedding photo package which does make for great keepsakes but I find myself wanting more. Something more real. More alive. Enter in the awesomeness of cinematographers. I'm not talking about some cheesy videographer that walks around with a video camera and makes your friends and family share their wishes for you (technically there's not anything wrong with that, I guess). No. I'm talking a full on crew that turns your wedding into a full on production. I'm talking special effects and music scores. Yes ladies and gentlemen. I'm talking about my day made practically into a movie.

Yea. It would be awesome. In case you don't believe me, let me introduce you to California-based Elysium Productions. This company is genius. Absolute genius. Now these guys aren't cheap. But if I got something like this, I don't care how much it cost. This is my favorite video by them. I. Cry. Every. Time. And I mean, every time. It's pretty pathetic.


Jessica Claire & Jeff Norwood's Wine Country Wedding from Elysium Productions on Vimeo.

Also, I will be stealing ideas from their wedding.

That is all.

Enjoy your Monday!