How To: Carry a Big Bag

 

As you know, I’m a weekly columnist over at The Bags Blog. Be sure to check out my latest article on how to carry a big bag (think Speedy 35) without losing everything to the space vortex at the bottom. Space vortex… I think my geek is showing 😛

Love: A Patterened Interview with Melissa

As you all know by now, my interpreter day job means I spend most of my life in various shades of black, gray, and white so I don’t have much experience in the mixing and matching department. When I ran across Melissa from A Working Mom’s Closet, I was so fascinated by her use of prints and bright colors that I spent my lunch hour pouring over her blog. When I asked her to share some of her knowledge with all of you, she very kindly agreed to be interviewed and the following is the result. 🙂

Do you have any ‘rules’ for mixing prints?

I haven’t done a whole lot of pattern mixing but the times that I have, my thoughts are to keep the patterns within the same color family, or keep one of them black and white and only add in one other color. It also helps to use accessories as one or both of the patterns. A belt or leopard print shoes or scarf can go a long way to adding some pizazz with an extra pattern!

What do you look for when buying printed pieces?

Mostly just prints that appeal to me. I don’t have a standard print that I really like, as some others do. Some people really like stripes or polka dots or florals or abstracts…I like them all. It depends on what catches my eye and if the color scheme is suited for my coloring. I will intentionally look for certain things that seem to be trending, like the stripes and polka dots, but generally it’s just whatever is pretty. 🙂

What does your closet look like? Do you put all your prints together or keep outfits together?

I organize my closet according to type of clothing. Dresses, arranged by sleeve length, then skirts, then cardigans/jackets, then long-sleeved shirts and sweaters, then short-sleeved tops and then tanks and camis. I don’t keep outfits together because I don’t usually pick them out until I wake up in the morning!

You’re also an expert at layering, how do you build complete outfits?

Ooooh…I’ve never been called an expert at anything! Thanks! 🙂 It depends, really. Sometimes I’ll start with a basic piece like a dress or skirt and go from there, deciding which top would look best with it, if I need another layer underneath for warmth or if I want to throw another color in there for fun. I wear a LOT of cardigans, plus there’s the fact that my boss has issues with anyone showing too much in the chestal region (not just cleavage, but anything in the chest area at all!) so I have lots of camis and tanks to layer underneath.

I try very hard not to wear the same outfit twice, unless it’s one that made me feel really good, so I consider it a challenge to come up with new ways to wear the same piece (which for me only happens with layers or accessories). I have one piece that I’ve worn as a skirt the way it was made, but also as a tunic and as a tube top to work – with a blazer! Blazers and cardigans can make almost anything work-appropriate.

What are the go to pieces in your wardrobe?

My purple dress (that I desperately wish I could buy in every single color but so far haven’t found any more like it!), my black dress, my black rosebud boots and pretty much any of my belts and cardigans. I wear belts and cardigans ALL the time. It’s almost absurd how often I wear belts. I think I might have a problem.

What inspires your unique style?

Belts and cardigans. 🙂 Honestly, reading blogs has been incredibly inspiring to me. Before I ever knew style blogs existed, I never wore skirts or dresses and thought belts were ridiculous. Now you can’t get me to wear pants much and I have LOTS of belts! It’s through all of these friends I’ve met through blogging that I’ve been inspired to push my boundaries, try new things and thus figure out what *my* style is. I’m a belter, a layerer and a cardigan/jacket/dress girl. I love wearing at least one color, usually more and would like to venture more into pattern mixing territory. I haven’t done that enough or at least not bravely enough.

Anything else you’d like to say?

Thank you for interviewing me! I’m incredibly flattered that anyone would be interested in my answers to these questions. I hope I’ve been able to help someone push their own boundaries to find their personal style, too!

Friend Friday: Color Wars

This week’s FBFF questions are all about COLOR, which is a rough topic when your day job requires you to blend in. Still, I’m happy to take part the conversation. Now, I’m off to read other’s posts and get some color-spiration.

1. What color dominates your closet?
Black and grey, I know, it’s so sad! But those are the colors that work best for interpreting, and after you hit a critical mass of black clothes, it’s easier to just stick with it. I sometimes try to mix it up with some bright shoes or a colorful bag, but this winter it’s been mostly black on black on black with a little splash of grey for good measure.

2. If money weren’t an issue how would you change the color emphasis in your closet?
When I first started interpreting the rule was ‘interpreters wear black’, now we’re more flexable with colors, but I already have so much of my wardrobe built, it’d be too expensive to start over. If money weren’t an object, I’d start over with a variety of dark, rich hues that are interpreter appropriate. The very first thing I would buy is some of the brillant royal peacock blue that caught my eye a couple seasons ago, I loved that color from the moment I set eyes on it.
3. What is your mantra about mixing colors?
I used to only put one colored piece with a neutral base, but I’ve been so inspired by all the fashion bloggers out there that I want to try mixing more colors together. And Mondo from Project Runway made me want to add some colorful patterns into the mix.
4. For you, how do you incorporate color into your outfits?
I guess I sort of answered this in question one – I usually have all black or a mix of black and grey and add my color through accessories.
5. Which blogger(s) do you think do a good job of incorporating color into their wardrobe?
Adored Austin and A Working Mom’s Closet are color goddesses!

Friend Friday: Blogging Events and Trends

1. With all the blogging events out there how do you determine which
ones to participate in and which ones to avoid? 
There are so many awesome events out there that don’t work for my lifestyle for one reason or another (mostly because I have to wear plain, dark colored clothes to interpret) and I don’t want to sign up for something and half-ass so I try to content myself looking at other people’s posts. The events that work best for me are the ones that are related to blogging itself (FBFF, IFB, Build a Better Blog). I think it’s about learning to be selective and honest with yourself and what you can and can’t do.
2. Be honest, have you ever jumped on the bandwagon of some blogging
movement/event for the wrong reasons? How did that turn out?
When I first started blogging I felt this dire need to build a following, so I did all the “follow me, I’ll follow back!” games so many new bloggers get caught up in. I ended up with an RSS feed full of blogs that weren’t even in English! Now I stick to following people I’m interested in, comment often, and trust that those who find my blog interesting will do the same for me. Karma is alive and well in the blogosphere!
3. How do you give your own flair to a blog event while still
maintaining the general mission and purpose?
I think I have a pretty unique, conversational writing style so that’s how I put my personal touch on everything I blog. I also use Polyvore to add extra details to images and make posts visually appealing (not the greatest option but it works until I can afford some image editing software for my Mac).
4. When determining the best content for your blog what criterion do
you keep in mind?
When I first started the blog, I had a very specific vision in mind. Lust, Love, Lose has grown and expanded since then but whenever I question if something is a good match, I go back and look at the vision statement I wrote back then.
5. While everything will not suit your blog, how do you try and
support your fellow bloggers who are participating in something
worthwhile but not your style?
I try to do blogger interviews with people who are participating in events that are worthwhile: not only does it (hopefully!) bring them some traffic and attention, but it might introduce the event to someone who would like to join. I also keep my blog roll up to date with great sites for my followers to read, and post about interesting events in the blogging community.

Want to join a blog event that doesn’t take much time and only one post? Check out 100 Words on Life!

Read the rest of the FBFFers responses at ModlyChic.

Love: The Perfect First Date Outfit

After extensive research this weekend, I’m proud to say that I have figured out the surprisingly sexy but perfectly appropriate first date outfit for a casual dinner or movie night. Turns out our mothers were right, it is good to leave a little to the imagination (and what does that better than an oversized sweater?) but the beater peeking out from underneath and an eye-catching statement necklace keep it from looking too sloppy or granny. Pair with skinny jeans to show off your shape and a pair of FLAT over-the-knee boots.

Perfect First Date by jennaw featuring gray boots

What do you think? Is this a look you’d wear on a casual date? What would you wear to something a little fancier? Post your Polyvore sets in the comments!

How to: Turn a Bookself into a Glam Display Case

One of my favorite fashion searches is to see how people keep their closets organized while displaying their designer wares. Maybe it’s for inspiration or maybe it’s the same thrill that keeps my mom and I peeking into open windows while we drive by houses at night. Either way, I never ceased to be amazed by the numberways creative fashionistias store their good.

Once my collection started to really take off I couldn’t keep it all on my dresser any longer, and I didn’t have the amazing walk-in closet I do now, so I went to Target (the answer to all life’s problems) and bought two folding bookshelves to stack on top of each other. 

I loved this solution because it kept everything in one place, the shelves were large enough to store my bigger bags (note the Louis Keepall 55 on the bottom) and I could easily see what I had when I was deciding what to wear. Since it was actually two bookshelves stacked, I used some black electrians tape to hold them together and make the unit a little more sturdy, but I’m pretty sure it would have been fine on its own.

Close-ups of the shelves after the break for the super nosey (like me!)

Love: How to Buy Authentic Handbags Online

I’m so proud of my latest post over at The Bags Blog!

Everything you could ever want to know about buying handbags online and avoiding fakes 🙂

Love: Products for Blonde Hair that Really Work

In case you can’t tell by now, one of my biggest fashion pet peeves is stringy, nasty, over-processed blonde hair – mostly because there’s just no need for it! A few amazing products will keep your blonde hair gorgeous and feeling great no matter how much 20 volume bleach your hairstylist says you need. Even better, not a single one of these products retails for over $10!

Without a doubt, the GOD of bleach blonde products is Clairol Shimmer Lights ($7). It’s not expensive, smells amazing, and works wonders at keeping brassy orange tones at bay. Use it once a week in place of regular shampoo (rinse, lather, repeat and let the second wash sit 3-5 minutes) and you’ll see the difference as soon as you step out of the shower. Fair warning though: it does create a purple murder scene in your bathtub.

Garnier Fructis 3-Minute Undo ($6) is a miracle for dry hair – I use it once a week when I do my Shimmer Lights and let it sit 3-5 minutes (can you tell it’s my longest shower of the week?). If you’ve got a serious case of the dries, you can wet your head, slather it on, wrap your head in saran wrap and let it sit for 30 minutes before rinsing. You can also snag those great little bottles of conditioner that come with box dye from your friends, because you would never box dye blonde, right? Right??

When it comes to an everyday purple shampoo, I’m not entirely convinced that all products aren’t created equal, but I’ve had good luck with John Frieda Sheer Blonde Color Renew Tone-Restoring Shampoo and Conditioner ($8/each). I pick it up whenever Ulta has a sale and use it between Shimmer Lights and Garnier treatments. If you’re using Shimmer Lights once a week, you can probably get away with about any shampoo in between as long as it doesn’t have a red or yellow dye in it (some do to make the shampoo pretty, ex: Bath and Body Works in Sweet Pea).

That’s really about it, everything I use to keep my blonde hair in shape between bleaches. Inexpensive, easy to use, and leaving no excuse for nasty burn-out blonde ever again.

Looking at going blonde? Check out this post for details!

How To: Go Blonde

Ever since I changed my hair, I run into someone at least once a week who looks in astonishment, reaches over to feel my hair that still feels like hair and asks “how did you do that??” Here’s the thing: there is no magical answer to blonde except to find an expert stylist who knows what he or she is doing and can work with you to get the color you want with a routine that fits your life and budget.

This is the color I was when I sat in Jayme’s hair and decided I wanted to be Marilyn Monroe blonde, a natural medium brown with some red undertones that I had put in with box dye:

When I went in to the salon that day, I thought it would be a one and done, I fully expected to walk out a blonde bombshell. Little did I know that going blonde (and still having hair at the end of it) is a time consuming process.

—–

One: find an expert stylist and ask to see pictures of their work, ask if they have experience lightening people to blonde, bring in pictures of what you want, and work together to come up with steps and a timeline you can both agree on.

Two: start with highlights, increasing the amount of hair you highlight each time. With Jayme, I started at about 20% highlights, then around 40%, then 60%, then 80%: you can see my process in these pictures:

Three: time for a full bleach blonde! The best color comes from a two-step process: first bleaching and then toning. Until the toner goes on, your hair will be a strange orange-yellow color, take the Hitchhiker’s Guide approach and don’t panic! Plan to make this appointment an all-day event: my process took about four hours to go from ultra-highlighted brunette to full-on blonde.

Four: take better care of your hair than you ever have. I use Garnier Fructis Three-Minute Undo once a week and a hot oil treatment once a month. I also limit the amount of heat tools I use on my hair and go for trims once a month to keep the ends healthy.

With some careful planning and a great stylist, even the darkest brunettes can find a blonde that works for them. Here’s my end result, a level 9 blonde:

Have any questions about going blonde? Want to share your experiences? Post in the comments below!

Love: Searching for Style’s Fashion 101

When I stumbled across Searching for Style’s series of articles entitled “Fashion 101” I couldn’t have been more pleased! Have you ever wondered what makes haute couture so couture, or why are luxury products so damn expensive? Searching for Style has all the answers available in an easy to read (and understand format!) for those of us who don’t work in the industry.

I took a quick screen grab of the posts currently available, the list is also available on to right-hand side of this page. Take a peek and let me know what you think!