Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

This post was so much fun to shoot with my mom. Looking through her closet she didn't have anything red which is what I really wanted to wear with these fabulous shoes. After combing through her closet, I remember I had a summer dress I had left here. Put a long sleeve shirt underneath and a cozy flannel scarf over and summer is a long, distant memory! 

Now back to these shoes. The heels are so high but they are so comfortable! And THE BOWS. And it's animal print. They make me feel so glamorous! 

I sincerely hope that you have a wonderful Christmas filled with love no matter where you live and who you are with. I am so blessed to be spending the holidays with my family and my heart feels so full. 

To all my readers, Merry Christmas! 

Dress: Thrift Store | Shoes: a department store (I don't remember! Maybe Belk's?) | Scarf, Belt, Earrings: Mom's closet | Shirt: Target 

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Just Slip a Sable Under the Tree

Saturday night I went to a Christmas party and knew exactly what I was going to wear. My mom has had this amazing tartan wrap skirt in her closet - it's excellent quality wool, with the blanket-like fringe running down the edge of the wrap. The pictures don't show it, but it's pretty sexy (more so that I was anticipating!) because when I walk, the skirt opens up to show a lot of leg. 

To give the outfit a little funk, I added my mom's animal print sandal heels over tights. Then to add to the holiday feel, a necklace of pearls and gold chains and I pinned a gold bow to my shirt. Finish it off with a red lip and my little tassel purse and I'm ready for some holiday cheer! 

Hope your holiday season is going just as glamorously! 

Shirt: Target & Tights | Skirt, Shoes, Jewelry, Purse: Mom's closet
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Going On A Safari

Apparently, wherever the safari is, it's to the left where I keep looking in all these photos. 

I bought this dress the last time I was in Target. That is, summer 2013 aka the year of the high-low-hem. HOLY MOLY. Literally everything was a fish-tail hem in Target; I'm pretty sure I saw yoga pants that were high-low. Suffice it to say, it's never been my favorite trend. Especially when the high is  like… lady-bits high. But luckily, Target did this dress right. I like that it's more high-low maxi dress than high-class hooker, low-class hooker. What do you think of the trend?

Either way, Target you're still my BFF. I'm going home for Christmas and cannot wait to be shopping in good ol' USA. 

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Life's a Beach

My boyfriend and I went to Sentosa Island in Singapore last week. I love that an hour on the subway and bam! I'm at the beach. It's heavenly. Sentosa is such a strange place to me. It's like no other beach I've ever been to. It's got a very suburban feel to it. Everything is carefully manicured and there's so much green grass and perfect flowerbeds along the pathways to the beach. I wouldn't say it's got that bohemian feel that a lot of other beach places have, but it doesn't make it any less fun. It's also nice to see so many different Singaporean and expat families from all over the world cutting back and enjoying the sun and surf, sorta speak. 

Wanted to keep my outfit simple for the beach - bikini top and skater skirt and voila! Easy peasy. I added my mom's wooden strawberry earrings she had from the 80's and red lipstick just to give a little extra punch. Wrapped it all up with my cat eye sunglasses to finish the vintage vibe. 

What's your favorite thing to wear to the beach?

Swimsuit Top: Cotton On | Skirt: Thrifted | Sunglasses: Modcloth | Earrings & Bracelet: vintage

Rocking and Rolling Retro Denim-on-Denim

This outfit was too much fun to wear. And it all came together seamlessly. I wasn't trying to do a retro outfit today. I just knew I wanted to wear my jeans because it's cold! And my chambray shirt because apparently it's shaping up to be my errand shirt. I also wanted to wear my saddle shoes because I was feeling lazy - I just wanted cute, warm footwear. I put it all on and thought... 

Love when that happens! It's also convenient because the denim-on-denim look is totally rocking and rolling this fall. The trick is to do different colors and materials. The chambray top is lighter in color and material than the blue jeans, so it's A-okay. 

My hair was being stupid today so I decided to stop fighting with it and do the good ol' bun and then put on the vintage-inspired headband. I was originally going to just wear the chambray shirt loose but to go with the retro theme, I tied it at the waist and rolled up the jeans at the bottom. To finish the look I put on my new heart earrings and red lipstick. I went with my "no make-up" make-up look because I was too lazy to do the extra eyeliner and such. And then I ran out the door to grocery shopping and other grown-up-ish errands. Now, where's the sock hop?! 

How would you style your denim-on-denim look?

Psssssh, can you see my socks? I actually have socks that not only match each other - they match the outfit for once!

Jeans: Cello | Shirt: Target | Shoes: Korean Thrift Store | Earrings & Headband: Naughty Cat 

Halloween Make-Over: Katie as Norma Jean/Marilyn Monroe

This is my stunning friend, Katie.  Last weekend we were talking about Marilyn Monroe (particularly this video about her make-up regime - very interesting!) and Halloween costumes. Katie had said she didn't have a costume and was at a lost of what to wear for Halloween - especially because she has limited clothing and as I've said before, it's a pain to find clothes in Korea that doesn't fit a size 0. Luckily, somehow we got to the idea of her dressing up as a 50's girl. Easy to do, and most of the costume is all about the hair, make-up, and accessories. 

For her clothing, she picked out this fantastic mustard yellow turtleneck at Uniqlo, rolled up her jeans and wore cute little flats. Then she went to an accessory store and got the blue floral scarf, pearl earrings, and the big gray bow. 

For her hair, I used Lauren Conrad's vintage hair technique of curling the hair inwards. Then I gave her one victory roll (technically, this is more of a 40's hairstyle but who cares?) where I grabbed a section of her hair in the front and rolled it towards her face and secured it a bobby pin. There are a bazillion of youtube tutorials on how to do adorable victory curls. This was my first time doing one and I'm pretty pleased with the result (of course, doing it on someone else's head is always a little easier!) I pulled back one side of her hair with her big bow. For her make-up,  I used the scotch-tape technique of fail-safe cat eyes. I also put fake eyelashes on her but for fake eyelashes, I don't like to use the whole lash. I cut it in half and glued it just to the outer part of her eye to make them look really lush but not super fake. Last was really rosy cheeks and a bold, glossy red lip. Voila! We have Marilyn before she was Marilyn - or maybe Marilyn on her day off. 

It was pretty easy to do and Katie looks like a KNOCK OUT! In fact, she honestly could wear this on a normal day and I don't think it would look a Halloween costume at all. I hope she liked it because I couldn't be happier with how it turned out - exactly like I pictured! Of course, it always helps that my model is incredibly drop-dead gorgeous!

Vintage 1970's Bold-Print Dress

The other day I was trolling around my favorite part of my city, wandering in and out of thrift stores, killing time before I had to go to work. And man, I was striking out. I couldn't find anything that spoke to me. Honestly, all the thrift stores have pulled out winter clothes now and no winter clothes really excite me - except maybe a red plaid skirt that doesn't hit me in the middle of my calves (if ya see one at a good price, lemmie know!) But right when I was about to give up, I saw this little beauty. I noticed the print first. When I feel lazy, that's how I thrift shop. Just flick through the rack until a color I like grabs me. This geometric print with the primary colors - this dress can match with so many things! 

When I pulled it out to get a better look, I almost squealed (or maybe I did and just didn't realize). I love the 1970's housedress silhouette and probably even the best part... it fit me! The last one is always an unknown entity when thrift shopping in Korea. 

I'd say there are a couple draw-backs to the dress, though.  It's a wee bit tight in the arms, so all night I felt a little like Phil Dunphy in his hipster suit. It's also a tad too long for my height. It's made of polyester which is such a cheap fabric - it definitely didn't breathe well when I was running around trying to do a scavenger hunt. But I. Don't. Care! 

Styling this dress for the first time, I didn't add too many accessories. I wanted to keep it simple. Or rather, as simple as it can get while still wearing bright red lipstick and a red belt. I can't wait to layer a sweater over this when it gets cold. 

Dress: Vintage | Belt: Thrift Store | Boots: DSW | Leather Jacket: Clothing Swap  | Earrings: Gift