Changing my Spots

It sounds crazy but I think it worked. A vintage leopard coat, teal v-neck and fishnet-y tights, red skirt an a House of Holland double necklace in tonal crystals.

I love to pair the tonal tights with the girly scallop edges of the Manolo Blahnik Erratic Mary Janes. 

Subtle it is not. 

Zoya Polish Promo

It's all nails and shoes around here, isn't it!  I know I've been skewing a bit polish/nails heavy around here but I wanted to make sure you saw this offer.  Zoya is giving 2 free polishes for just the cost of shipping.  Shipping is $6.95, so I think it's a pretty good deal!

Details are:

So from now through 1/9/2012 11:59 PM ET we are going to let you try any* 2 bottles of Zoya Nail Polish for FREE on ZOYA.COM. All you pay is the standard shipping charges.

As a bonus, you can purchase an additional $25 or more of Zoya or Qtica products and get FREE Shipping Too!..Bonus!

Use Code: ZOYA2012

*Promotion Excludes True & Fleck Effect Collection Colors

The two I got are Cynthia (part of the Smoke Collection) -
A smoky, blackened peacock teal with soft warm undertones. A very uncommon shade of blue for a subtle but funky look.  
    

And Barbie - Soft, warm medium baby pink with very subtle hot pink shimmer. An adorable girly shade to accent any outfit.       

I can't wait to try out these polishes!  What ones will you buy?
Disclaimer: Nail swatch images not my own.

Good

The shoes and tights are good today!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit

I finally, finally got around to wearing my Alexandra Neel feather heels. I had been thinking about returning them but well, to heck with that!

They are a bit delicate and worrisome because the feathers are touching the ground. More so than they look in the photos of them.

I wore a khaki pencil skirt and my dark teal cardigan. Simple, but I like the color combo.



The Focal Point

This outfit is all built around the color in the feathers. Here they just look cream and brown but actually they have a lot of the blue-green in them. Sadly, the flash washes them out a bit.



See how low these feathers are:



I had to do a new polish color with these. The Summery hot pink was just not working out.



Okay, I'm off to get NYC supplies!!!!

Fly, Fly Away

If you thought the birdies were pretty on the grey suede and pink pumps, you might also like these delicately shaded sandals with the same bird pattern, although now it is in the lightest teal.




I just adore the color on these. They also come in a great swirly coral pattern too which I think will be a huge color in spring and summer.

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
My outfit today was all about color and texture. Wait a second, isn't that what it's about most of the time?

Anyway, I love the teal peacock color even more so because it's velvet. I don't want to ensconce myself in velvet but an awesome jacket in a sumptuous color? Yes!



This is actually a piece from the Erin Featherstone Go International collection. The skirt is a stretchy black skirt and I'm wearing a black camisole with lace edging underneath.



Great detailing on this.



Lace is a big part of the inspiration today is lace and what better jewelry than an artisan-made lace necklace from Cursive. You should really check out her stuff. It's so cool.



I did work in a bit of subtle snarky-ness with my lacy yet creepy Anatomica Arm bracelet.



The Focal Point
You're going to think it's the shoes, but really it was the teal colored tights that inspired me today. I had been thinking about wearing my Jimmy Choo Voyage boots for a while since I've been so happy with the Sam Edelman boots.

Normally I would never wear these with a skirt, just pants. But they are too lovely not to be seen. Saturated colored tights pair well with them. I had been thinking a deep purple, which I thought I had, but I couldn't find them. I found the teal tights and had forgotten about them.

Voila!



These are really stunning boots. They might possibly be the first pair of designer shoes I ever bought and kick-ed off my deep and abiding love of Jimmy Choo shoes. I love so many of their heels.



What's not to love about glowing creamy satin topped with black lace?



They have an amazing heel too and I love, love, love the back zips.



Don't these look great with the teal?



They're pretty high too but so well designed that they are not bad to walk in. I was walking and standing a lot today and these were good all day.



And just to inspire you, I think these may have been an eBay find. So, you never know what you are going to find on there.

Spring Cleaning

I mentioned that I went to Target on Friday and went a bit out of control. There were tons of things that I liked and so I took several large bag-loads home. I think I scared the register girl a bit.

But mainly I just don't like to try things on in the store. That and I get stuff home and change my mind about them. That's why I never take the tags off right away. Sometimes I need to look at them for a while before I really commit to keeping them.

At the end of the day I'm taking back a dress, 8 shirts, a bunch of jewelry and two skirts. But what I ended up keeping were these lovely summery items.



I'm not a huge dress wearer so I'm trying to find more dresses that I feel comfortable in. I like these alot, especially the blue and off-white print dress. The 3/4-sleeve cardigans are right up my semi-preppy alley and the two light t-shirty tops will be good basics too. And I love the fun jewelry. I've already worn the pink bubble necklace. The elephant charm necklace has a retro/JCrew sense too it. And the green chain one is actually all made of beads, so that's pretty cool.

If you click on the image it will take you to Polyvore where you can link to each of the items.

You can kind of tell where my colors are going for Summer: white, black, grass green, teal/aqua over khaki, white and black. Accent colors of pink, yellow and orange/coral.

I got a few headbands and footless sheer tights which are both super cute. More pics to follow. Once this crazy weather warms up a bit.

Ensemble du Jour

I'm in a much better mood today, thank you. I went home, had a pedicure last night (chipped polish is such a downer) and ate some yummy chicken pot-pie and salad for dinner. It's a still cold but sunny day so I awoke much improved in mood.

The Outfit
Did I wear black all week or did it just seem that way? I wanted to finally wear some color. But it's still cold out so, yes, I'm actually wearing leggings. I know, I know but I'm not wearing them as pants (a la Lohan) and that's okay, right? Brown v-neck sweater, denim skirt, brown leggings with bright teal/aqua accents. I'm wearing a vintage bubblegum necklace, a fringe-y wrap and then my funky argyle shoes.



I actually saw these shoes through Polyvore when I was looking up argyle stuff the other day and the color was so bright and fun I thought I would get them. They are a brand I have never heard of, Not Rated, and they are pretty inexpensive. These are not high-end heels by any stretch but for a just-for-fun buy I didn't want to pay a lot. I actually got these through Endless and they were only $35 once they applied the $5 off, but they are also available on Zappos too, albeit for $46. But you can try and do the price matching policy Zappos has.



They're pretty cute, right?






I love the pattern and I really love the lacing on the front. It's one of my favorite details ad so cute on a round-toe pump. And I love love love the color. Such a cheery blue to help keep me in a good mood!

Ensemble du Jour

I've been a little reluctant to post my outfits, because, well I just haven't been feeling them, ya know? I mean, they're okay and everything but because I didn't plan them out the night before and because I am a total slacker in the mornings, I had to sort of throw together what I was thinking about. And I'm not totally thrilled with the results.

Here's what I had on yesterday and today -

The Outfits
I had planned on wearing my new vintage gold booties with black tights. Being a lazy git that was as far as my mental processes got. So when I went to get dressed I got a mental block. I wanted to wear the newly acquired shoes but had no inspiration to draw on for the remainder of the outfit. So I ended up with a pleated black miniskirt and black v-neck sweater. I was trying to craft a necklace using my large "gold" vintage pin and some very regal purple satin ribbon but it all died on me. The pin was forced to act as it's regular old pin self.



Thursday shoes - vintage Kenneth Cole slingback lace-up booties.



My vintage pin - She looks far lovelier than I was feeling.



Today it is crummy and rainy. I've been wearing black most of the week so I just needed a little color. I'm wearing one of my approximately 15 argyle sweater with my jeans. How neutral is that.

I did pair it up with my new vintage Etienne Aigner pumps that are a luscious teal. The sweater has a really bright teal line as a part of the pattern, so I used the heels and my London Blue topaz ring to try and pull that out.



So blue!



I would have liked to have worn a thin patent belt in a really bright color like yellow or purple. Now I have to go track one down.

(yawn!)

A Vintage Treasure Trove

I had never really considered vintage shoes as viable options before my experience with vintage La Rose dead stock. And I hadn't really done a lot of exploring of vintage shoes on Ebay (everything else, yes, shoes no), but I've been really happy with some of the pieces that I've found on there. The style, quality, fit and condition have all been good.

I try to pace myself so I end up going through the site every few months and just seeing what there is on there that I have to ruthlessly stalk down and use dirty sniping tactics to make them mine. Here's my latest haul:



These are three of the shoes I got (one more is on the way). What we have (from left to right) are a pair of 90's teal Etienne Aigner pumps, a pair of 80's Kenneth Cole gold lace up shoe-boots, and 40's/50's Nanette brown suede heels.

Here are some close-up views of the Etienne Aigner shoes:









The color is a beautiful peacock teal with these great little cut-outs on the back and sides. They are very walkable and comfortable.

The gold Kenneth Cole's are kind of funky and very very gold. I think I was influenced by Jennine at The Coveted and Susie at Style Bubble. They have such fantastic style that they encourage me to take greater risks with my wardrobe.





I'll probably wear them this weak with all black and some black tights so they really pop.

But I can't pass up my favorite mid-century heel silhouette. I love these brown suede and leather pair that I got.



The loopy stitching is great and like nothing you would get today. I think I'll wear this with a tweedy or plaid skirt.



I just got a few other amazing pairs. As soon as they come in, I'll post them up because they are too pretty to not share.

For all you Gossip Girl lovers...

I haven't been watching Gossip Girl but I keep hearing the raves about how good it is. I know I probably won't get sucked in, but maybe I should because the fashion does look pretty good.

WhoWhatWearDaily featured some of the styles from the show's characters and where to get them. All the looks are cute but I loved the Blair Waldorf look below - shiny black trench, red stockings and the cutest boots!



They are Sam Edelman boots and were on sale at SmartBargins.com. I like the mix of grey, white and teal toe cap - all popular style trends this year but so classic you could wear them forever. I had to run out and get these. 50% off! And they look more wearable than the Louboutin Emily booties.



When I couldn't find them at first, I, of course, went to Zappos. I found that Sam Edelman makes a few cute shoes and saw these boots in two other color combinations. I love the yellow quite a bit and were tempted by these.



But I like the tan, bordeau and white pair too. But they are full price on Zappos, so I decided to go with the teal version. Maybe I can get another pair later.




Look for some version of that outfit soon!

Ensemble du Jour

The Outfit
I feel sort of Anthropologie today with textures and somewhat odd mix of colors. This isn't the best representation, but it comes pretty close.

I'm wearing the new Erin Featherstone Velvet Blazer (in Great Lakes teal blue), underneath I have a dusky purple camisole with darker purple polka-dots and a straight medium brown skirt.




For shoes I'm wearing my new Le Silla "Stardust" heels - they are very comfortable and have an architecture and construction very similar to a pair of Blahniks. Plus I love the shine of the leather and the bone heels.

To tie the color of the bone heel, the jacket's teal and add a little shine, I'm wearing a pin I got at an art show made by a multi-media artist.



The Focal Point
My local Target had just put out the beginnings of the Erin Featherstone Go International collection the other day. They are all cute but seem to be trying to work for Winter and Spring. Some of the items were cute but not great. I did love this jacket however. The color is great. It's lined with satin in the same teal. The velvet makes it stand out and the shape is just interesting enough.




The back has cute detailing too, with the button placket. And I like the puff at the top of the sleeves.



I would recommend this piece. The black wool coat in the collection is pretty cute too.