Monthly Archives: May 2012

Sprucing up a t-shirt and jeans!

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Day off today, hooray! Not only is it my day off, but it is a GORGEOUS day out in Long Beach! Today called for a fabulous brunch at a street cafe. I wanted to look cute, but not too dressy, as it was the middle of the day.

I’m not usually one for the old t-shirt and jeans outfit, but today just called for it. It’s amazing how a simple t-shirt and jeans can look by adding a few fun accessories. If you haven’t noticed by now… accessories are a MUST in the wardrobe department!

I just got the straw fedora at a sample sale in downtown LA for 3 dollars! Major score! I really wanted to wear it today, so I built my outfit around the hat. My jeans are by Candies and they came pre-cuffed. I love the cropped length! I wore a cream colored tank with lace edges under the t-shirt to add some femininity to the outfit.

That oh-so-amazing fringe bag I’m sporting is from Ross and it was 28 dollars. I get compliments on this bag everywhere I go. Fringe is in, if you don’t know by now!

This t-shirt ($10) is from Woot.com’s daily t-shirt deal, and figured it was the perfect day to sport it. When I saw it, I had to have it. I consider myself a lucky cat, so what better t-shirt for me to own other than one with 4 leaf clovers and cats on it?! This t-shirt is a men’s style shirt, size small. I prefer men’s tee’s because they aren’t so clingy and skin tight. I am bigger in the chest area so often times women’s tees don’t fit me well. An easy way to make a men’s t-shirt more feminine is by simply cuffing the sleeves up a few inches.

Make-up was kept to neutral browns and shimmery tan, with my signature cat eye liner. I don’t know why I bothered to tease my hair knowing I was going to put a hat on. Whatever.

If sporting a t-shirt, don’t wear a necklace, instead stack a bunch of bangles on one wrist. Preferably bangles with different thicknesses like shown above. All of these bangles I got at Friday Sample Sale in downtown LA, for just a few dollars. (I will blog about Sample Sale eventually.)

Shoes I got from Ross (of course!), and they are by Charles David. They are really great quality and I got them for a mere 20 dollars! I love them because they are flats, and platforms in one!

As you can see by my photo shoot today, I took a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and made an entire cute outfit by adding a hat, some strappy sandal platforms, a few bangles and a trendy bag.

Once your outfit is complete, I highly suggest a lovely brunch on a sunny patio.

Glam, on the job.

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I like to glam it up most every day, and for me, work is no excuse. I bartend and serve at a well-known dining establishment and I like to look my best while working. Often times when I go into work with great hair and make-up, it makes me feel good and I gain more confidence. It makes the day better!

When getting ready for work I usually give myself some sort of theme, or color scheme to follow. Here are a few of my looks for work:

Black and Red w/ some edge.

Low side ponytail with black and red flowers. I took a single earring with black and red feathers and clipped into my ponytail for added flair. Red lips to top it all off. As you will note, I am huge fan of red lips.

Native American Neutrals

Clearly I had sort of a Native American theme going this day. I kept my make-up in neutral tones and wore a braided headband with neutral colored feathers at the ends of it. A mini pompadour in the front of my hair and a whole lot of teasing at the crown, and then tied off in a ponytail. I also wore only one long, feathered earring on the left ear. I find that sometimes when you have big, long or bold earrings it looks nice and/or unique to only wear one.

Green, yellow and white!

The twisties in my hair were done by my hairdresser, Vero. My eye make-up is a baked green shadow from Hot Topic. I love baked shadows because they are super bright and pigmented when applying them wet. Yellow and white flowers pinned into a messy bun. Gold and yellow jewelry to top it off.

Terrific in Turquoise:

Another low, side ponytail with teased hair at the crown. I swirled up half of my bangs and let the other parts of my bangs just fall to the side. I will eventually attempt a “how to” video for hair swirls. Teal flower in the hair, teal and silver earrings and turquoise eye shadow for the whole look.

I will have more posts like this, considering I always create new looks and themes for work. I know most people think, “It’s just work. I’m not going to waste my time getting all done up…” The way I see it is, no matter where you are, you’re still be seeing seen by lots of people. People tend to dress up because it makes them feel good, so why not try to feel good at work too? Contrary to belief, I do not spend hours upon hours getting ready. Through years of hair and makeup I’ve gotten pretty fast at my art.

If anything, always wear a flower in your hair! It’s cheap, easy and looks like a million! Plus, for those of you in tipped positions, one study shows waitresses increased their tips by 17 percent by wearing flowers in their hair.

In general it pays to look distinctive.

Just another night out…

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This was a while ago, but my inspiration was none other than the sexiest animated female EVER, Jessica Rabbit….

My version was a little more tame than the sultry, body baring diva above. I can’t exactly go out on the town in a sequined red dress with a thigh high slit up the side (unless I was Angelina Jolie). Plus, the satin purple gloves??? Jessica pulls them off, but in reality I might look like a baby member of the Red Hat Society. No thanks.

Instead I added black satin hand gloves from H&M and a delicate feathered fascinator with a bird cage veil. I did keep the purple eyeshadow and red lips from Jessica and obviously sported a long red wig for the night.

And this pretty much sums up the reactions I received through out the night:

Remember when?

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Remember when women wore gloves? No, you probably don’t… because that was loooong before your time as well as the rest of us. Unless of course my grandma is reading this, then I’m sure she remembers.

But most of us don’t remember those perfectly fitted, little knitted garments accented with ornate stitching, delicate fabrics, satin bows or decorative buttons. *sigh* How I wish women still wore gloves as part of a daily outfit. I have quite the collection of gloves myself, however I don’t get an opportunity to wear them often. A few of my faves:

Off to the theatre!

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If you ever find yourself on a rendezvous to the theatre (pronounced with an Oxford English accent,) you simply must put on your best. Going to the theatre is classy, upscale and intellectual so you’ll absolutely want to dress the part. When I say theatre, I don’t mean the local over priced, AMC movie theater that is reminiscent of a Las Vegas casino. What I am talking about is LIVE theatre. A play or musical if you will.

When I saw the live production of “It’s a Wonderful Life” being performed at a local theatre I jumped on the opportunity to have a grand evening out, dressed as if I was attending the finest opera in all the land. I had never seen “It’s a Wonderful Life,” nor had I ever been to this theatre. I invited my best friend Ashley to come along and it was night of new adventure!

In past decades (circa 20-50′s) women and men alike have dressed to the nines when attending the theatre. Think fancy coats, pearls, opera glasses, satin gloved arms and furs.

A night at the theatre!

For this grand evening out, I whipped out my finest of threads, including a vintage mink coat my grandmother had gifted to me. We each wore a feathered fascinator with birdcage veils and Ashley even had a vintage, rhine-stoned monacle. With our theatre outfits combined, we were an incredibly opulent duo.

We arrived at our destination only to find what appeared to be an extremely small community type of building, but were hopeful for the inside. We sashayed through the double doors expecting to drop off our coats with the coat check and grab a fancy cocktail to match our fabulous attire. Our sashaying came to an abrupt stop upon entrance where we were greeted with some soccer moms selling canned soda in a giant room lined with cold, metal chairs facing a small, shabby looking stage. As we adjusted to the shock of our grand theatre being a community shack, the soccer moms were enamoured with our ensembles and squealed with delight. One woman kindly asked us to pose for a photograph (the photo below) and said they were going to put it on the cover of one of their community booklets.

After the rush of older woman oohing and ahhhing over out outfits, Ash and I chose two seats in the second row. Out of about 40 seats, there was probably 8-10 people there, including us. It was opening night.

The production was absolutely terrible. And I’m not saying that to be mean… it’s just… well… it was TERRIBLE! The acting was bad, the backdrops and sets were non existent, and the fashion?!?!?! THE FASHION?!?! All I can say is my friend and I looked more like we should have been characters in the play, rather than sitting in the audience.

This was clearly a local, no budget, no talent production. Don’t get me wrong now, my friend and I had an amazing time. We watched the entire thing, clapped, were polite and engaging and overall we had a lot of fun. I just had no idea that it would be AS low budget as it was, and frankly it was slightly embarrassing to show up dressed so nice when the production was clearly not.

After the play, Ash and I clapped as loud as we possible could, for as long as we possible could. Despite the bad play, we truly did have a fabulous time. The actors and actresses all came out to say hello to their families (no doubt the only people in the audience). One actor came over to us and asked, ” Wow, you two must be huge fans of It’s a Wonderful Life to come dressed in part…” I then told him I had never seen the play before. He gave us a blank stare and moved on to chat with someone else. Then another actor came over to us and said, “Oh you guys look great, who do you know in the play?” We then responded that we didn’t know anyone in the play. Again, another blank stare of disbelief. Ash and I were erupting in laughter on the inside. It seems as though EVERYONE in the audience was friends or family of someone in the play, except for us. It was hil-ar-ious! The actors could not believe two totally random girls just showed up dressed as such to see this ridiculous production.

We thanked everyone for there efforts and left with smiles plastered across our faces (without really explaining what our deal was). Certainly not a mission we headed out for, yet it ended on great note, leaving so many question marks behind.

Another night that could have ended in disaster (or complete boredom) if not for fashion making it fun!