Woods While.

I'm ready for cold weather this year. So far it's been back and forth, one week we're huddling down under blankets and using warm mugs and hot laptops to keep warm, eating dinner sitting on the floor by the fireplace, and the next finding winter coats too warm and shoving hats back into pockets. I'm finding my little outfit niche is somewhere between funny little dresses with red lipstick and camp socks , wool hats, chunky sweaters. No one does this quite like Cassie and I keep finding myself in awe at how every one of her instagram outfits is complete Twin Peaks Rabbit Fur Coat Wood Nymph in the Forest Gets a Day Job perfect. 

It's been nice lately to have a few weekends away for photoshoots and visits, I feel like this is a year where I've not wasted autumn. It was a typical leaf-chasing season, where my activities had me driving about and following the line of changing, falling trees until everywhere is just naked branches waiting for snow. I'm still crunching around though, not entirely ready for the white stuff to make it's debut. 

Coat: J. Crew winter 2012, Skirt: Vintage/thrifted, Shirt: J. Crew winter 2013, Belt: thrifted, Hat: J. Crew Mens, Pin: Vintage, Boots: Steve Madden via Macy's, Socks: Who knows.

I put myself on a bit of a shopping ban for a while there, for practical reasons, and found it makes me less inclined to let go of my hard-earned pennies. I broke recently, because of this shirt, but I've already worn it enough that I'm not feeling too guilty about it. I'm trying to rediscover my closet, learn what I really will wear the most, and spend the time reworking outfits I already wear to make new ones. I've got doctor bills, broken cameras (still), car woes, and regular old life things to pay for first. It make the occasional splurge feel a little bit nicer, and less guilty about the sweaters and skirts languishing in my closet. 

I wore this coat plenty last winter, and photographed it a few times, though it never ended up on the blog. Somehow in my dreams of summer I forgot about it entirely and was pretty pleased when I pulled it out of the winter pile for this year. I also rediscovered a little rabbit trimmed gal of a coat I'd plucked from an antique store bag-sale in May, totally forgotten and now a gem I can't wait to wear. 

Elemental Child

Just about a month ago now, I excitedly packed myself into my car for a daytrip out to MA to visit Courtney Brooke and wear some pretty crowns for Elemental Child's debut collection lookbook!

The entire day was such a lovely experience, not only wearing beautiful pieces made by Gillian and pieces of Courtney's amazing wardrobe,  but hanging out with these two ladies (and the amazing Samantha Chaplin,  my bone-structure sister!) is and was such a joy. Every piece was just stunning, wonderfully crafted and full of magic. 

These are just a very few images from the lookbook and day, to see more of them (and perhaps scoop up a crown for yourself) please visit the Elemental Child site and shop.

A Beret-ed Post.

That might be the worst pun I've made in a long time, but then, it's been a long time! I'm borrowing a camera again,  although it seems like I've finally got my saving on track and should be able to fix my baby very soon. I'm out of practice though, it was much harder getting back into the swing of taking my own pictures than I thought it would be!

Skirt: J. Crew Fall 2012, Blouse: Vintage formerly my mother's, Jacket: Thrifted 90s J. Crew, Socks: Forever21, Bag: Vintage, Scarf: Vintage, Hat: Formerly my grandmother's, Shoes: Vintage via allen company on etsy.

I've been working my best to rock knee socks as often as possible, because once winter falls it's all tights and camp socks as far as the eye can see (I've already made the transition to leggings and wool socks at night!). We're not in peak leaf season just yet--at least, not on my street--and I'm trying to fight the feeling that I'm not getting my best outfits out, that I need to take more pictures of leaves and scenery because this season is the best and the shortest. 

The downside is I've been doing a lot of the Knee-Socks Dance. It's something I forget about, and I'm so used to it from back in my uniform days, but there it is, in all it's glory. Somehow I've yet to find over-the-knees that don't squeeze my legs but also stay up of their own accord. 

I'm also battling bang-fever something awful lately. It's the season (somehow I feel like hats always look a little better with bangs), and TV is no help (I'm looking at you New Girl). For now I'm going to try to content myself with bobby-pins and a bang comb-over, but my fingers and forehead are itching and dancing for the scissors. 

Broken Cameras: Instagram Summer.

My camera is tucked away at the camera hospital, awaiting a new shutter, and it seems this little corner of the internet has been quite silent as a result. I suppose I've taken the time to think about what I want it to be here, assessing my closet habits, and imposing a ban on buying any new clothing (gotta save those pennies to fix the camera!). I guess it was a little bit of a blog-vacation, although I do miss it, and I'll be glad to get back into the swing of things (a phrase I rely on an awful lot, but there's nothing so comforting as a verbal cliche). I've been relying on my phone to chronicle the summer, and while I know I should exercise use of the actual camera, I'm still fond of how snap-shotty instagram is, capturing moments and all.

If you've been keeping up with me on instagram you'll have seen these already, but I liked the idea of compiling a smattering of the for a blog post.  It's been a summer better than last, with all sorts of activities, amusement parks and dancing and camping, vintage fashion shows, hikes to frog paradises, slide shows in the backyard, meeting favorite authors, lipstick, bubblegum, writing and wolves, stories, and slurps. 

At the moment I'm stuck in a weird frame of mind. The weather lately has been sublime, perfect to a shocking degree, sun-drunk and breezy with that golden brown tinge that lingers from the slow burn of summer. Nights are cool and a little bit humid, and every now and then I see a tree that is starting to turn at the edges. There's a smell in the air in the morning, autumn is coming, and I'm looking forward to it. Until knee socks and sweaters and donuts crisped in cinnamon sugar though, it's time to fling both arms around summer and squeeze the last of it's sweet drops out. Clearly, the whole thing has got me feeling sickeningly lyrical to a really cloying degree, and I don't care.

Knotting Along.

I love this outfit but I also feel real weird about it. I love high-waisted things, because I have a small waist and am sort of self-conscious about my butt/hip/thigh area (yeah I know, me and like 900% of everyone ever), and since crop-tops started popping up again the combination was something I really wanted to try. 

But it feels weird at first, wearing it. Maybe because I'm generally the kind of person who stays pretty covered up, who has to worry about getting too many freckles or sunburn, but all of the sudden I was like whoa I feel exposed. It's a stupid thought because hello, it's only like what, two inches maybe of midriff that are showing? 

Skirt: Vintage, Shirt: J. Crew, Shoes: T.J. Max, brand unknown, Bag: Vintage/thrifted,  Sunglasses: Faces in Northampton, MA, Necklace: Vintage, Nail Polish: FACE for J. Crew in 'Neon Sunset'.

Anyway, I got over it (mostly). I've actually had a hard time finding crop tops I like, so I've taken to just knotting t-shirts instead. The downside is then the t-shirts get all weird and wrinkled at the bottom, but I can deal. 

The skirt is one I bought last year in anticipation of my birthday, but then it rained so hard that day that it seemed unwise to wear it in case I ended up soaking wet during a dash to the car. I also have a hard time with circle skirts. I love them so often on other people, and I've amassed a nice little pile of them that I never wear. I just feel really hippy (as in, whoa girl's got hips) in a way I'm not totally used to in them. Getting over that too, and finding that my tied t-shirt solution is helping. 

This has quickly become a go-to outfit for me, either with skirts or shorts, especially in the more recent weeks of intense humidity and sun. My instinct is to just throw something on, but in an effort to wear an actual outfit this year's summer uniform is making things a little easier. 

I'm also noticing I have a lot of outfit-post crutches when it comes to posing for the camera with the self-timer. Especially if I have a prop, like sunglasses, I can't leave those things alone.

Sneak peak at what I do between photos--trying to fluff my hair up a bit.

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!