Wearing the Book: Stardust.

Last Thursday something happened that I was really, really excited about. Neil Gaiman, a favorite author since middle-school-dom, was going to be visiting one of my favorite local cities for a reading and book signing. The second I heard this I frantically snatched up a ticket, as did my best gal pal and her husband, and we spent the next few weeks being really excited about the whole thing, trying to decide what to wear (costumes?), and wondering over what books we should bring to be signed. 

Originally we thought we would go in costumes (as the personification of War, horse-person of the apocalypse, and Anathema Device, both from Good Omens), but time and procrastination, and really hot summer days along with neither of us possessing a sword appropriate to bring to a public event, made us rethink it. 

And then I realized, I owned the perfect dress to mimic one of my favorite book covers. 

Dress, belt, and headband are all from J. Crew from various seasons. Necklace is Lulu Frost for J. Crew, shose are from Madewell last summer.  I try not to make all the pieces come from one place but oops, it happens anyway.

It's not the kind of thing I normally wear. I bought it because the color makes me thirsty, because it has pockets, and because it's the kind of simple silky throw on and go to battle kind of dress that I always want, but never quite seem to be able to pull off. In the interest of stepping outside of comfort zones I snatched it up.

So far in this series (which I have both woefully ignored for a while and seem to have mostly dressed in books that are blue) I've just tried to mimic the aesthetics of the cover without alluding much to the contents, but given that this was for a special event, it made sense to wear a dress that not only matched the colors of the cover, but that also had some kind of Stardust-y fairy-tale-esque quality to it. So, you know. Perfect dress, I guess.

The event did not disappoint. I'm still working my way through The Ocean at the End of the Lane, but it's quite lovely and quietly heart-breaking. We giggled in our seats and listened to a favorite author read to us, in a room chock-full (1,500 people!) of people all of a similar mind and fandom (there's nothing better, or I love nothing better, than a room full of dorks whether it be about fashion or books or movies).  

I even got really lucky, when they chose my question to close out that portion of the event, which earned me a laugh from most of the audience as well as a handshake in line when it came to be my book's turn to be signed (for the record, I got my battered, taped together, underlined and yellowing copy of Good Omens signed, as well as the special edition of Stardust pictured here).

My question was: "How many secrets can you keep in your hair, and is that where you get your metaphors?"  The answer, I believe, was "All of them". For the rest of the night I was The Girl Who Asked the Hair Question!

I was so happy and excited for the rest of the evening and day, and I'm still pretty thrilled by the whole thing!

Previous Wearing the Book posts (I suppose I am overly fond of blue books and dresses!):

The Great Gatsby

Ulysses

St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves

Thank you to Amy for stopping and snapping these shots for me!

Our Lady of Absentia.

Oops.

I know that starting off blog post with 'omg i am so sorry it has been forever' is pretty lame but--omg I'm so sorry it has been forever! I don't really have much to say about it, except that a defunct but now patched-together and hopefully fixed for-the-moment computer and sadly deeply on-the-fritz camera have really killed my blogging time. For now I've borrowed a camera while I try to figure out what to do about mine, and so hopefully we'll be on track again soon!

In the meantime I tried to get back into the swing of things by setting myself up in the backyard with some new-to-me things and a really lush rose crown. The last two years the roses in our yard have been especially ridiculous, flopping around with their petal-drunk heads, blooming and falling to bits before we can even grab any for inside. 

Like last summer I'm still in a big flower-crown and white blouse kind of mode. I guess it's all gotten pretty trendy since then, but I can't really resist the occasion to dress up.

The blouse is one that I snapped up at an estate sale with Jess a few months ago. We trekked about 40 minutes away in a snowstorm (ish) at the promise of something Edwardian, and left rather happily with a few treasures. This is my favorite of the blouses I ended up with (a few of the other ones made an appearance on instagram that day).

There's also my newish little Catbird ring that I picked up on a quick NYC visit to hang at the mall with Anabela and Geoff of fieldguided, and a funny little necklace from a favorite shop in Saratoga Springs that looks like it's just a straight line pendant, but is actually a tiny sword. I'm really feeling girly outfits with brutal weaponry jewelry these days.

It feels good to give myself a jump start again. Hopefully it won't be too long till next time! For now I have a crazy backlog of e-mails that is threatening to bury me alive!

Oh!: Loly in the Sky

Last month you might have noticed that I had a banner up for a lovely little shoe website, Loly in the Sky. In anticipation of spring weather (which, honestly, I'm still waiting for up here!) they offered to send me a pair of flats from the spring line!

Pants: J. Crew, Blouse: Vintage, Jacket: J. Crew 2010, Bag: Aldo Outlet 2011,  Shoes: c/o Loly in the Sky

I'm pretty thrilled with them! All of their designs are adorable, but I ended up choosing the Elvira loafer, mostly because I liked the funny sort of tone they seemed to have with a period instead of an exclamation point. They're crazy comfortable though, which for some reason surprised me (probably because in normal life I find that every pair of shoes hurts in a different way), so I won't be surprised if I wear these babies to death and they're in a sad state by the end of the summer. 

Always gotta make a weird face.

This is also the first time I've posted these pants, even though I've worn them an awful lot in the strange in-between of seasons we've got going on right now. Normally I wear them with heels (although really, since last summer I've started wearing almost everything with heels, though I used to exclusively wear flats--one of those phases, I suppose) because, as usual, I'm self-conscious about my legs (a thing I'm sure everyone is sick of hearing about, but I mean, we should talk about these things right?) but somehow, despite trying to style the shoes with a million different outfits, they just wanted to be with these pants.

Easter Fanciness.

Easter always ends up being one of my favorite holidays for dressing up. Normally there isn't all that much going on that day, everything is closed, but somehow I end up saving colorful spring dresses for the occasion. Maybe I just own a lot of flowery, pastel, frilly things that are the very essence of such a holiday. 

Today I got all dressed up and snapped these pictures before running back home to change for pastry-making and watching the Game of Thrones season 3 premiere with friends! So I probably only had this get-up on for an hour or so. 

Dress: vintage from the loved one; Jacket: Vintage from Laura's Vintage; Tights: J. Crew; Shoes: Vintage from honey talk vintage, Bag: Vintage

This jacket is also incredibly similar to the one I wore last year, and illustrates a pretty big weakness I have for strange little jackets that probably went with a dress at some point. This one though, is silk, and the print seems a little less ostentatious than the other, without the sleeve ruffles, and I've already worn it several times.

Mostly, I'm just pleased-as-punch that it's warm enough to wear something like this with no coat! Soon the world will be green again, and I'll be hanging out on quilts in the grass, collecting freckles and getting my daily dose of SPF-approved vitamin D. Until then, I guess I have to be incredibly trite and wear my own sunshine.

Making it Up.

I've been meaning to post a round-up of the makeup I use for years. It's not that I think I'm terribly good at it, or that I have all that much to offer in terms of tutorials or knowledge (generally, if I can't apply it with fingers I don't want to bother!), but I get a lot of questions about what products I use. Because I've been planning to post about it, I usually end up not leaving a satisfactory reply, and then weeks go by and of course, I haven't finished the post.

I also tend to swap products a lot, and it's only recently that I think I've settled on several items that I plan on using until the most tragic thing happens and said item is discontinued (this happened with the Chanel foundation I was using for a year. I was so happy with it, and when I went to buy a new container--having broken into mine to use the last droplets--I discovered it was gone). Anyway, here are my favorite makeup products! I've included the shades I use next to each product.

1.) Makeup Forever HD Invisible Foundation (110 Pink Porcelain) 2.) Laura Mercier Mineral Powder (Tender Rose) 3.) Clinique Airbrush Concealer (004 Neutral Fair) 4.) Clinique Age Defense BB Cream (01 Very Fair) 5.) MAC Paint Pot (painterly) 6.) The Body Shop Radiant Highlighter

These days I've been using the Makeup Forever HD foundation in 110. I apply it with a synthetic foundation brush after I moisturize. Once that's on, I use Clinique Airbrush Concealer for my under-eye area and to cover up any blemishes. I've used a few concealers but I always go back to this one, since I can double-duty it for both under-eye and the rest of my face, and it seems to react less with my mascara and eyeliner (sometimes I find the latter ends up under my eye depending on what concealer I'm using). After that I slap on some MAC paint pot in 'painterly' on my eyelids. Generally I don't bother with shadow, but I always  put this stuff on either as a base or just to even things out. 

After that I'll buff some of the Laura Mercier mineral foundation over everything to help set, and for a little bit of extra coverage, with a buffer brush. Sometimes, depending on my mood, I'll apply a little bit of The Body Shop Radiant Highlighter to just under my brows and on the tops of my cheekbones, the bridge of my nose and just above my upper lip. I haven't been bothering with this so much lately, but for a while there I was using it every day. 

In the summer I switch to a BB cream from Clinique--I used this all last summer and loved it, so I need to grab another tube of it when things get warmer around here. 

1.) MAC Brow Set (Show Off) 2.) Urban Decay 24/7 Waterproof Liquid Eyeliner (Perversion) 3.) NARS Blush (Gaiety)  4.) MAC Powder Blush (Melba) 5.) NARS Lipstick (Niagara)

I'm really into strong eyebrows, so I usually fill mine in with a MAC brow set. It took a while getting used to, since the applicator is like a mascara wand, but I like this because it adds color as well as keeping brows in place. Almost every day I swipe on a cat-eye with Urban Decay's 24/7 liquid liner. I usually just keep it to the top lid, but sometimes I'll use one of my darker eyeshadows to do some on my lower lash line, but honestly I hardly every do this. I am constantly rotating my mascara, so I didn't include one here, and so far I'm pretty 'meh' on most of the ones I've been using but I always go for waterproof. 

In winter I favor NARS blush in 'gaiety', it's a pretty opaque bright Barbie pink so somehow that just doesn't work great for me in the summer. I end up being pretty doll-faced with that one so I think I like how it looks best in the winter months, when I haven't picked up so many freckles. When things get warmer out I switch to MAC's blush in 'melba' and use that pretty exclusively all summer long. It's a nice apricot-y color, but doesn't translate well to winter for me. Normally I'll brush my blush brush over my eyelids/brows after I'm done with my cheeks for the tiniest bit of color in place of actual shadow.

I love lipstick--it's kind of my downfall, I keep buying tubes over and over in slightly different shades--but my mainstay is NARS 'niagara'. It's the perfect pink, and I can get by with it year round! I lost it once, bought another, then found the first and was thrilled to have two! Then I lose both of those, waited two months, couldn't live without it and bought it again. It's constantly switching purses and pockets with me, and it's probably my #1 essential.

I hope this was helpful! I use this brush set for pretty much everything here. I also like to refer to MakeypAlley for new products or things I'm curious to try,  and my friend Emily's blog for other things I want to try out or questions I have (you'll notice a lot of the products here are in her suggestions as well!). 

I tend to have pretty dry and sensitive skin, and I normally just grab whatever the lightest shade of a product is available. If there are a few ranges between shades, I end up going for the pinker end rather than the more golden based products. I haven't quite worked out my favorite products as far as skin-care, but once I get that all ironed out and a routine that works I suppose I'll have to make another post about it!

Scalloping into Spring.

I think I'm coming out of a little bit of an outfit funk, but that might just be because I finally treated myself to a few new items. I am trying to be better about things like that and to rediscover items in my wardrobe that I haven't worn in ages, a 'shop my closet' kind of thing, but sometimes I can't help but feel rejuvenated by something new (or new-to-me). I feel really myself in this outfit, which is a nice change after the last few weeks of wearing the same chambray dress over and over (and over and over) again. 

Dress: J. Crew, Blouse: Vintage, Pin: Vintage (thrifted), Shoes: BC Footwear, Bag: J. Crew Fall 2012

 I've been struggling (that makes it sound really dramatic, but I'm not certain what other word to use, and really, there isn't much I don't love more than a little bit of hyperbole on the internet, in a harmless sort of way) for a few months with outfits. Probably because I'm thinking too much about them, which isn't good for several reasons, but mostly I find that I've been preoccupied by the balance of mixing. 

Even if it looks alright, or good, or great even, I always feel a little bit wrong when an outfit is made up of too many of one kind of thing. I don't really want my entire outfit to be vintage, although I'm not opposed and sometimes it happens, and I don't want the entire thing to be all new either. I know all sorts of blogs and magazines and stupid makeover shows are always touting the virtues of mixing in vintage with new, and of course it's true, but mostly I just feel unbalanced if I'm in all one thing or the other. But it's funny, because a lot of the time it depends on the actual size of the pieces--I like them to be equal parts. I'm sure that sounds a little but nutso, but there it is. This outfit is perfect, because somehow a jumper-type dress and a blouse balance each other out, since they sort of take up almost the same amount of space on an outfit/body.

I should probably stop now before I did myself into a weird ditch of ruminations on outfits. Basically, this one feels right, it feels very me, and I feel at home in it. I don't feel overly girly or frilly, but I think it's also just the right amount of precious.

The bag I've been meaning to use for ages. I waited and waited for it to go on sale, and when it finally did I pounced, and the poor thing sat in my closet for months without being used. It has a strap, and maybe if it were longer I would use it more often, but I like it best as a clutch (even if I worry that I'll leave it somewhere). Plus it helps me get polka-dots into my outfit. 

I'm pretty content with this one, which of course means I'll come up with 4 or 5 different versions of it, and wear it until I hate it and can't stand to put the thing on again (or until I spill on it, until it starts to pill or has holes).

Pictures taken by my friend Eden.

Closet Tantrums.

Coat: Gift from Bohemian Bisoux, Dress: Madewell Fall 2012, Shoes: Vintage, Pins: Vintage (ebay, allen company inc on etsy, and Laura's Vintage), Bag: Vintage/thrifted

I'm definitely feeling the end-of-winter slump these days. I spend and alarming amount of time thinking about all the summer dresses I've got in storage even though March is the most frustrating month climate-wise. I haven't given in and donned knee-socks on the 40-degree days just yet, but I'm pretty happy to leave my heavy coats in the car, or to go without gloves or a scarf. Mostly I'm sick, sick, sick of everything I own that's appropriate for cooler temperatures. The urge to toss out my entire closet and start over is getting really bad, and coming up with an outfit I like enough to bother coercing someone into helping me photograph is something of a job these days. 

That said, it's always funny at the end of a season to look back on what I didn't wear. I was pretty sure this coat would make an appearance several times when it came to going out in some manner of fancy outfit, but I was so grumpy about the cold this winter that I sort of pulled back on the getting dressed up to go out! I've also been a bit more cautious this year about what coats I take with me--ever since my favorite coat got pinched at an event, I've been overprotective of the rest of them, like some kind of coat-hoarding mother-hen. 

In the interest of revisiting things I already own I've also been re-discovering my pin collection. I've finally amassed a strange menagerie of animals as well as a few bows and flowers in numbers great enough that they start fitting together within different themes, so I think it's time to pair them up together and see what kind of strange lapel-tableaus I can come up with. 

Thank you to my lovely coworker Eden for snapping these for me!

Spending Pennies.

Today I am holed up on the sofa nursing a head-cold, alternating watching Lord of the Rings and Pushing Daisies (which I somehow don't own, instead I've gotten ahold of it from the library and of course, they're late going back as usual), waiting for the snowy doom that is heading our way. It all miraculously (though not in a good way) coincided with days I was hoping to head down to NYC for some fashion week shenanigans. I'm keeping and eye on the weather, and my germs, hoping that tomorrow or Saturday will clear up in both ways so I can make the journey, but in the meantime I'm eyeing the space between my bank account and a few tabs I've left open of Things I've Been Meaning to Buy Eventually.

I'm trying, with mixed success, to be more conscious of what I'm spending my money on in terms of adornments. I'm still letting myself off the leash with vintage because, well, if I find the perfect aqua and blue polka-dotted dress I can't let it out of my sight like I did last time. But I'm learning to be more mindful of what I will wear, what I am most comfortable in, and what will be a wise choice in handing over my funds. If I want something six months later it's probably a good bet that it won't be a silly purchase, so the following treasures are a few things I've been budgeting for over the last few months.

1.)Sweet Nothing Necklace from in god we trust. I've been wanting one of these for, I don't know, a year or two now! I don't know why I haven't gone for it before now, since the price is reasonable. I think it's my love of instant gratification. Getting things in the mail is fun but I want to hold the thing nooow!

2.) MAC 4 lashes. Since autumn, I've fallen victim to fake lashes. I've only worn the full strips once or twice for special occasions, but I've been wearing one or two of the individual ones a few times a week. Maybe it's watching too much New Girl and Pushing Daisies, but I suddenly want to go bigger and try a full strip for a regular day! I think these will be just big enough for some extra eye-batting but not so large that it'll look insane during the daylight hours.

1.) Double Spot Flippy Dress from Topshop. Black and white with polka-dots, means of course I want it. But it's just the right shape, short but not too mini, nipped in at the waist, with short sleeves. It's essentially my perfect dress. 

2.) 5th Ray Dress from Family Affairs. I know, you're sick of hearing about this one, but next payday it's going to be mine! All the pretties from the fall collection are on sale now, including this pretty gem of a dress, so I'm making plans for a few pieces!

1.) Okay so, this isn't a link to an actual thing I can buy. Ever since I saw this picture of Annie Clark of St. Vincent fame on tumblr I've been yearning for the perfect pair of leather shorts. So far everything I've found is either covered in something weird (zippers, studs, inexplicably bedazzled or fringed) or is way too short. But I'll keep up the search, because I have a sneaking suspicion that leather shorts with a white blouse, some eyeliner, and red lips is going to be my end-of-winter uniform if I can just make it all come together.

2.) Lady King print by gingerhaze. I have a few of this lady's prints hanging about my space, but I've been wanting to add this one to the collection. My latest pinterest boards and spotify playlists are all hungry hearted queens of thorns and blood so I've got all things lady monarchs on the brain.

The Middle of Things.

Last week I managed to snag a friend of mine for a few moments after our Downton Sunday event to snap a few quick outfit pictures. Besides the usual anxieties that come along with photographing myself in public, I managed to smash my poor tripod on the pavement a few weeks ago (the camera, thankfully, was unharmed). So out we ran into the middle of the street, in the middle of the winter.

Coat: J. Crew, Skirt: Thrifted, Blouse: Laura's Vintage, Belt: Thrifted, Necklace: Lawrence, Shoes: Thrifted, Bag: Thrifted

This is a pretty standard cool-weather outfit for me these days. The skirt is one I bought over the summer, or maybe late spring. Either way, it was just out-of-season when I bought it, and even than I wasn't certain it would be something I would end up throwing on all too often. Now I'm thanking my lucky stars that I've managed to develop some tiny bit of foresight, since I've spent the better part of most weeks in this skirt.

I've become a real creature of uniform this winter, it seems. I guess I did it a lot over the summer too--despite the collection of sundresses that seems to be growing larger even in these cold months. This year it's all high-waisted skirts with a creamy blouse, or that Madwell chambray dress with a striped shirt. I'm trying to be a little bit more mindful of my clothing purchases, especially the non-vintage ones. I'm trying to balance the will-I-really-wear-it with the but-oh-goodness-I-love-it-who-cares feelings. 

If I Were a Dress.

I think I would be this one.

Dress: honeytalk vintage, Belt: Vintage (gifted to me by my aunt), Bag: Laura's Vintage,  Headband: J. Crew, Light switch: because of outfit pictures in the ladies room

When it popped up over at honeytalk vintage I snapped it up right away. I don't often do that with online, especially vintage, purchases. I'll grab something impulsively, in a heartbeat, on a whim, in store but somehow I'm really pretty considered and careful about what I spend online. I think sometimes I have a hard time visualizing how something will actually look in person no matter pictures of it I see, and I'm still working on training my eye to pick out things that I will actually love and wear. 

It's a good thing I listened to none of that and grabbed this one, because I've already worn it several times and it's only been in my possession for less than a month. Polka-dots, mini dress, with ruffles? I love it so much I could puke.

I first wore it to Courtney's birthday celebration (I snagged this picture from Emily's instagram), and then promptly threw it on with a new bag and some false eyelashes for another gal-pal's fancy cocktail-hour birthday shenanigans a week or so later. Of course, being winter I've long lost the light by the time I've gotten myself all dolled up, so this post is made up of patched-together instagrams and bathroom mirror hilarity:

For the record, I was way overdressed as per usual. In any case, I donned this entire outfit again last night for New Year's Eve. I tried several other outfits, even toted the lot of them 45 minutes out to my destination, tried them on again, before getting back into this dotted-swiss confection because that was the one that inexplicably felt the best and the most me. I should know by now that there's no fighting that feeling, sometimes an outfit just wants to be worn even if it's a repeat.