Ensemble du Jour: 12-10-10

I got all ambitious on Friday night and took a whole slew of pictures for posts.  I've been meaning to take outfit posts all week but have been leaving so late from work that it didn't work out.  But I had time on Friday so I thought I would try the auto-timer.  But the angles and lack of light made them all turn out crummy, so I asked the hubby to take a few shots.  Somehow I look like I'm 2 feet tall in a Willy Wonka room.  How did he even manage that?!?

But look - my hair's still dark!  And apparently I've lost all my lipstick and eyeshadow!  Whoo hoo!

But I did have sort of a cute outfit on.  Purple cardigan from New York and Company, lavender polka-dot cami from Target, woven, almost knitted skirt from Anthropologie (about 8 years ago), brown tights and Nine West TwoStepr pumps.

The details are what make this skirt, the overlapping panels, woven together multi-colored yarns/threads, the mint green velvet ribbon stitched through and the pom-poms.

I actually tried to style this similar to how the skirt was styled in the catalog.  I wish I'd saved it.  At the time they had these awesome wingtip heels in the shot and I couldn't find them in my size.  So I gave Nine West a shot and came away with two perfect pairs that had all the details I was looking for. 

These are great because they fit perfectly and are not too high for walking around all day.

They're so snazzy, I love them. They feel like precursors to all the brogues and oxfords I'm wearing now.

Finally!

So I finally did it.

I've been talking and thinking about coloring my hair super dark - as close to black as possible - for ages.  I've loved my red hair but all of a sudden I felt ready to take the plunge.  I have a great colorist and if I really want to find a way back to the red I think I can.  But lately I've just felt it was too much.  I like to wear color so I was wondering if it was just to great of a contrast.

I had my appointment today and I said "Yes!  Let's change it!"and we picked out a good dark dark brown with no red, caramel, or blond undertones - just a straight espresso - and went with it. It's actually even darker than I expected but I already love it.

So here's a few quick phone shots.  The color in the room isn't that great and I've been sick for a week so I feel like hell, but there you go.

The red has suited me and, because it goes well with my pink and pasty Irish skin, it's been easy to stick with.  People always think it's my natural color, which is great.  But hey, it's not.  I was actually light blonde until I was around three and my natural color is a light-medium brown.  Why not try the other end of the spectrum!

What I'm excited about is seeing it in the day light and then pairing it up with a new color palette.   I've always worn these colors to some degree but I think they are going to look completely new.  I love blacks, charcoals, greys and that woody brown but dark jewel tones like navy, forest green, red, fuchsia and purple are going to stay in the closet too.  On the cool end will be cobalt to ice blues, pale pinks and lavenders.

Once I'm feeling better, I'll take some better pics.

Are you making any big changes for the season?

It's That Time Again

Okay, it's that time again - hair cut and color. And I want to be adventurous but I always chicken out. Will I this time?

I've had my hair red for a good 15+ years, is it time for a change?

Here I am now -



I used a virtual make-over program to "try on" different styles and colors. Here's the base:



Here are my top picks -

Any thoughts? I was considering much darker brown/black than these but the program was not letting me make it that dark. I also did a TON of other ones and put them up on Flickr here.

Help me!!!