Life is a Work of Art

I finally, finally (after a lot of searching) was able to locate a site to watch my new favourite show: Jane by Design. The show features a senior in high school named Jane Quimby (played by Erica Dasher) who, by mistake, lands a job at a fashion company as an executive assistant. So basically, everyone there thinks she's an adult. She has to juggle her school and work life in one, not to mention her emerging social life. She also has to make the right fashion choices.
This is the best TV show ever!!! It's exactly the kind of show I was hoping would come on TV: working in the fashion industry. Jane has an amazing sense of style, whether she's at school, her job, or a date.
Jane by Design aires Tuesdays at 8pm on ABC Family. If you're in Canada or any other country, however, here's the site that I watch it on:
http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/Jane-by-Design_29441/
Just click on the episode and a bunch of different sites will pop up- I recommend gorillavid.
Enjoy and stay stylish!

Turquoise and Purple Makeup Look

I haven't done a makeup look in a long time so I thought I'd share my other favourite look (besides the purple and gold one): purple and turquoise. I also originally saw this in a very old issue of Seventeen (I still have the page somewhere), but I switched it up a bit, mainly since I'm not a huge fan of bright green eyeshadow / liner.
I remember the first time I wore this look I had to match it with my outfit so I wore a turquoise polo with a grey cardigan that had a purple argyle pattern on the front. Nowadays I wear it to glam up an otherwise plain jeans and t-shirt. Anyways, enough of me rambling on; grab your makeup brushes and let's get started!

Products used:
Rimmel London Eyeshadow Quad in Romantic Cool
Loreal High Intensity Pigments Bright Eyeshadow Duo in Showy
Gosh Kohl Eyeliner in Black
Covergirl LashBlast Luxe Mascara (number 845)

1. With a small eyeshadow brush, apply the lilac shade in the Rimmel quad all over the eyelid. This eyeshadow, in contrast with the turquoise, isn't very pigmented, so you may need to pack it on.
2. Using a fluffy crease brush, apply the turquoise shade of the Loreal duo to the crease of your eye. Warning!!!! (okay, it's not that dramatic) When they say high intensity pigments, they mean it. Tap off most of the shadow before applying it (we're going for a subtle daytime look here).
3. Take a small angled brush and apply more of the turquoise shadow (again, tap it off first) to your lower lash line.
4. Line your upper lashes with black eyeliner (you can smudge it out a little if you want).
5. Curl your lashes and apply mascara.
6. Finish off the look by applying your favourite light pink lip gloss.

I couldn't find a good photo on the Web, (so I decided to post random photos of the products...) but I assure you, it looks good! If you try it, post a picture and let me know how it went!

 

Style Icons, TV Edition

Have you ever watched a TV show and thought "wow, I love her outfit!"...every single episode? I know I have, so today I'm giving you tips on how to "get the look" of Glee star Rachel Berry, Gossip Girl star Blair Waldorf, and Pretty Little Liars star Aria Montgomery.

Rachel Berry
In a nutshell, her style would be described as preppy and a little girly (sound familiar?) She wears dresses, skirts, cardigans, knee-high socks, vests; and prints such as argyle, polka dots, and floral.

Her classic look, shown here (right) features a pleated plaid skirt paired with a white blouse and a cardigan. The look is topped off with knee socks and flats. Below are some variations of her preppy look.                  

Rachel Berry also wears many dresses with fun prints such as polka dots and tiny flowers. Her  accessories complement this girly style- headbands, bows,  and simple jewellery.

Looking for these photos, I actually couldn't find one of her wearing jeans- just skirts and dresses! If you find one, let me know!

Blair Waldorf

Similar to Rachel Berry, Blair Waldorf has a very classic, preppy look. Her fashion staples are cardigans, belts, cute coats, and definitely hair accessories. Her hair accessories always add a girly touch to her outfits.

Blair Waldorf's outfits also sometimes have a pop of colour, such as a green coat or red tights.

 

I really like this outfit :)

Aria Montgomery

Perhaps the newest style icon on TV, Aria's style is a combination of girly and boho, with edgy accessories. I think her basic outfit would  include a printed dress, a leather jacket, black tights, and black boots.



She also goes for many vintage-inspired pieces and toughens up lace, ruffles, and shine with black or statement accessories.

Whose style do you like best? :)

Seventeen Ultimate Guide to Style: Book Review

This book showcases six different iconic styles: girly, edgy, boho, classic, glam, and indie. Each section features eight essential pieces and gives outfit ideas using them. In addition, there is advice from Seventeen models and their favourite looks, as well celebrity inspiration, styling tips, a "look book" (made up of runway, celebrity, and street style looks), and where to shop. The book also features an accessory guide, and fit guides for jeans, bathing suits, and undergarments. Written by Ann Shoket and the editors of Seventeen, this book not only gives a ton of fashion advice and ideas, it also showcases real people who have that style.

Overall, I thought this was a great book. It differs from Seventeen's other book, 500 Style Tips because it pays more attention to creating different styles, as opposed to a bunch of outfits for different places. The book was well-organized and had endless outfit ideas. The only critique I have for this book is even though it did mention that your style could be a combination of the styles presented, it did not provide any mix-and-match style ideas. Though thinking about it now, that was probably a good thing; I mean, they had to leave room for creativity, right? It's like what Miranda Cosgrove says on the back of the book: "I love to mix styles- some days I like to wear edgier things, some days I wear really girly stuff."
You probably already know what my style is: girly. As soon as I turned to the page and saw floral prints, ruffles, ballet flats, and cardigans, I was definitely in the right place. Reading through the rest of the book though, I concluded that my style is a mix of girly, classic, and bohemian.  What's yours?

Cozy Knits for Winter

I'm back!!! I originally typed this up a long time ago, but never added photos or posted it!

It's that time of year again: as the weather gets colder, we pack on layers of sweaters, a puffy coat, big boots, scarves, hats, and gloves to keep warm. During the winter it may be harder to keep up with the latest fashions because it's so cold- you just want to be warm! But I have a few ideas that will keep you warm and stylish all winter long. See the bottom of this post to see where everything is from. 

First of all, layering is actually the key to staying warm. Instead of wearing a t-shirt underneath a cardigan or hoodie, try a long-sleeved one. Thermal henleys can look a little like pajamas, so try letting a brightly coloured tank top peek through underneath. Aeropostale has a great selection of long sleeved and thermal tees. 

If layering isn't for you, try wearing a thicker sweater under your jacket. There are all sorts of styles of sweaters out there: cable knit, fair isle, chunky knits, cowl necks, turtlenecks, v-necks... in a variety of different colours. The only thing that I've noticed is that most of these sweaters contain some kind of wool or wool blend (like angora), which can be a little itchy. If it doesn't bother you though, it is a great alternative to layering. If it is itchy, you can also try wearing a long sleeved blouse underneath for a preppy look. American Eagle and Garage Clothing both have a variety of cozy sweaters in different colours and patterns.

Feel like dressing up? Sweater dresses are the key item to have. Pair it with patterned tights and knee-high boots and you'll be ready for any holiday party. Try these sweater dresses from Dynamite and Smart Set.

Don't forget about outerwear. I suggest a thick peacoat or jacket (mainly so you don't have to wear a million layers underneath). Depending on your lifestyle and how cold it gets, long or short jackets will equally keep you warm. For example, since I'm in University, I find that a shorter coat is easier to hang up on a chair or slip on at the start and end of class. Top it off with a matching hat, scarf, and glove set.

Photo credits:
Basic cami, $6, aeropostale.com
Long sleeve solid thermal henley, $9, aeropostale.com
Long sleeve aero city hearts baseball graphic t, $12, aeropostale.com
AE cabled sweater, $61.13, ae.com
AE long cabled sweater, $30.56, ae.com
Fairisle v-neck sweater, $20, garage.ca
Fairisle turtleneck sweater, $36.90, garage.ca
Bar stripe v-neck sweater, $10, aeropostale.com
AE dolman sweater, $40.25, ae.com
Cable print dress, $20, dynamite.ca
Split collar sweater dress, $55, smartset.ca
Fairisle sweater dress, $29.99, smartset.ca

Orange you glad I made a post about this?

Sorry for the worst pun ever...In case you haven't noticed, it's fall, which means changing sceneries and ever changing trends. But it's not just the trends that are new. Have you ever noticed that with a new season comes colours that are suddenly "in?"
This season, the colours that have been popping up on store shelves are orange and yellow. I know, original right?  Of course they're not called orange and yellow. They are burnt orange and mustard yellow, which I have to say is a lot more specific than orange and yellow. These shades are "warm," as opposed to highlighter yellow and neon orange. As always, I've put together some outfits so you can get inspired to bring fall into your wardrobe. 

I balanced the orange out with some brown in this outfit. If you're not a huge fan of orange (I'm not), you can try to incorporate into your wardrobe with some accessories, like an orange scarf or bracelet.

In the next outfit, I paired a mustard yellow crop-top (though it's tucked in so you can't really tell that it is a crop-top) with a floral skirt and brown oxfords.

The outfit on the left shows a way to mix in other fall colours: I paired an orange shirt with a brown sweater, brown boots, and gold jewellery.

The next look is built around the red pants. I toned them down with some grey and a leopard print belt. I've noticed that red goes really well with leopard print accessories.
 


How many ways can you accessorize a little black dress? Way too many. I tried to keep all these looks casual, but as soon as I saw this dress I had to use it in an outfit. To keep with the fall theme, I accessorized the dress with red shoes, red and gold necklaces, and a gold clutch.

As a final tip, when you're wearing not only these fall colours of burnt orange and mustard yellow, but olive green, brown, or rusty red, try to pair them together and with other neutrals for a look that really says fall.

Fall Makeup Look

I'm back after a long hiatus that was filled with reading, studying, more studying, and midterms. I hate to say so, but I even broke one of my own fashion rules by showing up to class in sweatpants (gasp)!
This week I did have some time to experiment with some new makeup looks, and this combination was my favourite. I didn't get a chance to take a picture of what the look looked like on me, but I have some similar pictures and I'll list the details on the products I used.

Again, these are just random pictures I found on the Internet. The look consists of a golden bronze in the inner corner to about the middle of the eyelid, and then purple from the middle to the outer corner. I originally got the inspiration for this look from an old issue of Seventeen magazine (I don't remember exactly which issue).
Here's a list of products that I used:
Rimmel London eyeshadow quad in Romantic Cool
Prestige eyeshadow in Golden Retriever
Loreal One Sweep Eyeshadow in playful for brown eyes
Rimmel London soft kohl kajal eyeliner pencil in Purple Passion
Covergirl Lashblast Luxe Mascara (number 845)
Now for the look:
1. Mix the lightest shade (an off-white) in the Rimmel quad with the Prestige eyeshadow on a medium-sized eyeshadow brush and sweep it from the inner corner to about the middle of the lid. Do the same underneath the eye.
2. Line the lash line (middle to outer corner) with the purple eyeliner. You can also line the rest of the bottom lash line, but don't be too harsh. Don't line the water line, like the picture on the right. The look we're going for here is a subtle, everyday look.
3. Take a small smudging brush and cover it with the darkest purple shade in the Loreal trio and sweep it over the liner and up to the crease. 
4. Take the small eyeshadow brush and blend any harsh lines (the gold should blend into the purple).
5. Curl your lashes and apply one to two coats of mascara.
6. Finish off the look with clear (or light pink) lip gloss.

I love this look for fall because it blends together two of my favourite colours to use on my lids. To switch it up you can put the gold all over your lid and the purple in the crease and line with black liner.
Stay stylish (even with your makeup!)