one dress two ways

*long post alert*

 

 

 

 

i recently (as in the day before) bought this dress at target for eight dollars and seriously it's amazing. it's the most perfect fit for me because it as a high enough neckline that i'm not constantly pulling it up but it's long enough that i'm not constantly pulling it down. also i love that its quarter length sleeves because that way i can pretty much make it work in any season. but what i love most is the fact that its fitted but not tight and then it flares out at the waist. this makes the dress perfect for layering since it's not baggy at the top, but it conceals your legs, stomach, and thighs. and thus my love was born.
you see this dress and versatile is not the first word that comes to mind but it seriously matched almost all of my accessories. i totally recommend not being afraid to buy a wild dress because i see myself getting so much wear out of this. the fact that it has neutrals and colors makes it so easy to match. i put together two ways to wear it but at the end all talk about more ways to change it up. pictured above is me in the dress with a grey belt at my waist just to add more definition there. i have on revlons just bitten kissable lipstain in smitten.  this is the base i started with for both my looks.

 

 this first look i wore to church the other day and while some of you may not wear something this wild i don't mind at all. i did use my accessories to my advantage to tone the dress down some, though. i added my simple white purse as keep it neutral. they aren't pictured but i wore nude wedges to also keep it looking classy and simple. for jewelry i just went with the black and white cameo earrings because the dress is really a statement enough. i definitely would have preferred to wear my hair down for this look to compliment the simplicity of all the elements other than the dress. unfortunately i didn't have this thought process the day before when i was too lazy to wash my hair.

 

 

 

 

this second look i actually haven't worn out yet but i think its definitely a fun look for those days you just want to wear a dress but want to still look casual. i, or course, had to add my need jacket. at first i didn't like the bagginess of it but once i tied the jacket closed it looked super cute. i love army green because it's a neutral yet still unexpected and trendy. i think it goes perfect with bright colors and wild prints. then i threw on my bright orange flats because they're comfortable, casual, and sassy. unlike the first look, i quite like my hair in a bun here because we really played up the wildness of this dress here. i again just kept it simple with some earrings.

 

 

 lastly i just wanted to show how easy this dress is to wear because i guarantee you would have something to match it. in my hands i have purple, blue, gold, rose gold, black and white earrings an they'd all match. you could throw on a white purse, a black purse, a hot pink purse, a taupe purse, a plum purse or so on. it would've looked cute with my nude wedges, my plum pumps, my black booties, my colored flats, my glittered flats, or my metallic flats. also i had such a hard time trying to decide what bright lip color to wear! so honestly the possibilities are endless with a multi colored dress.

 

do you guys have that perfect dress? if so is i plain or is it wild & why do you love it? also,

i want to start either a twitter or an instagram (or both!) to be able to let you guys know when i have a new post up- do y'all have a preference? let me know in the comments below and be sure to leave any feedback you have. thanks for reading!

-emily

 

 

ootd - shopping!

 

 

 

 

i went to shop around for an hour or so the other day and when i left, i was wearing the outfit in the first picture. i had on my striped old navy shirt i scored for $6 right after christmas, my beloved new-ish coach purse (more on that in an upcoming post), a necklace i painted red, a micheal kors watch, and my most worn shoes ever, my oxfords. i love this look and it was super basic and easy to throw on yet still cute. my hair was in a bun and you may think, wow that took forever. honestly i just have excessive amounts of hair and this is my "haven't washed my hair in a week" do. i threw on a bright red lipstick (i used the new loreal color riche glosses in the color endless red which you can find here)  to brighten my face with minimal other makeup. so we went to go hit up the thrift store since majority of my clothes are from there. *enter jacket* i found this baby and freaked out. i've been obsessing over utility jackets lately but even the cheapest of them are in the fifties. so when i found this awesome one for $20 i did a little happy dance in the store. i'm seriously in love with this and i'm so happy it has cropped sleeves so it can be a part of my year round wardrobe. i had been eyeing this utility vest from forever21 so definitely check that one out if you're interested.
if you're curious about my necklace, i had seen diys for a while now on painting your jewelry with nail polish but never had the desire to do so. then i decided that i wanted a red necklace so i found this necklace that i've had forever &  only ever worn once before ( in  post). i figured i wouldn't miss it to much if i messed it up so i whipped out some red polish and went to town. it was super easy and mine is definitely not perfect but you really can't tell.

 

 -emily

 

my week #2

rain rain go away

my infamous birthday cookie mix

the finished product. happy fifteenth sarah! (can we appreciate the gorgeousness of this book)

adding to my bare wall. look at my adorbs baby sista

how beautiful is this prada postcard!?

frozen pickle juice life

fruit of the weekk

digging through some awesome rally notes from last year! "if we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve will save us, but even if he doesn't, we will not serve your idols" - daniel 3

my room is... organized?!

been looking back at this photo from the summer everyday contemplating cutting my hair off again

hammocking

$8 clearance dress at target *celebration*



sorry i haven't posted in over a week! it's been crazy & frankly the weathers been so disgusting i haven't even wanted to venture outside. also, i apologize for this weekly update post not going up until tuesday instead of sunday, and for not having any post between this one and last weeks update. anyway, enough with that, i have lots of new post coming up so check back tomorrow!

 

-emily

my week #1

 

making blankets for kids in need

 

discovering the difference between left hand and right hand scissors

frolicking through rain puddles

emily & emily

walmart haul!

 

modeling?

pixi on hautelook!

ive got a dream- shes got a dream!

awesome verse

 

 

one lonely afternoon..

i basically get dressed in the car

 

sweet 15?

party for 5 food for 20

 

my bow's off centered

utilizing that itunes gift card

 

hope you guys had a good week!

 

-emily

fotd #2 barely-there makeup

so for this makeup look i wanted to use some new products, some products i use everday, and some rediscovered beauties to create a pretty & simple barely there makeup look. i really like how this turned out so keep reading to see what i did.

i started by moisturizing my face with formula 10.0.6 seriously shine free mattifying oil free moisturizer and then applied a super thin wash of maybeline's fit me foundation with my fingers. i patted some benefit eye bright underneath my eyes to correct and cover any darkness.i set the whole look with elf's translucent mattifying powder using elf's powder brush. then using sigma's f40 large angled contour brush i lightly applied nyc's smooth skin bronzer in sunny in the hollows of my cheeks, my temples, along my jaw line, and down my neck. this helps slim your face which is especially helpful if your hair is pulled away form your face. then i filled in my brows before moving onto my eye makeup because this way your brows will frame your face and you won't feel the need for as much eye makeup. i used an ecotools angled liner brush to apply  the wax in elf's eyebrow kit to my brows.

to prime my eyes for the shadows, i applied a very thing layer of maybeline colorstay tattoo shadows in barely beige. this gives your powder shadows something to cling to and ensures that they will stay on all day. using an eco tools flat shader brush (it's actually a concelaer brush. shh), i applied the brown color in elf's eyeshadow quad in day to night all over the lid. since we want this look to be very natural, we don't want a bunch of shimmer going on because no one's eyes naturally do this, but this eyeshadow has only the faintest of sheen and it really just adds a glow which brightens your face gorgeously. then i reached for my naked basics palette to get mattes. i applied naked2 in the crease with an eco tools crease brush to help the elf shade blend out.then i took sigma's e40 tapered blending brush and ran it through the crease to blend thee two colors. to add a little definition to my crease, i applied faint in my outer corner ( this is the very outside 1/3 of your crease and then the very outer 1/3 of your lashline, creating a shape like this ">") with sigma's e40 pencil brush. then i again ran the blending brush through my crease to smooth out any lines. then, using the the angled liner brush used for my brows, i applied crave as a liner on the outer 2/3 of my upper lashlines and then lightly ran the blending brush over it to soften it a bit. and finally, using the eco tools crease brush, i applied foxy under my browbone and in my inner corner. i finished my eyes with one coat of loreal's power volume collagen mascara.

then for a pretty peach natural lip color, i applied maybeline's color whisper lipstick in pin up peach to my lips.


products i use daily:- maybeline's fit me foundation benefit's eye bright nyc smooth skin bronzer sigma brushes similar eco tools brush set

products i've rediscovered in my collection: elf translucent mattifying powder -this actually keeps me really shine fre elf day to night quad -forgot that this is the greatest $1 palette eve elf powder brush -why did i stop using this elf eyebrow kit -i've been neglecting my brow wax for powders but i love how this holds my brows in place unlike powders maybeline color tattoo eyeshadow loreal mascara -i swear this mascara will never dry out!

new product: formula 10.0.6 moisturizer -haven't had it long enough to review, but it seems good so far naked basics palette -loveee maybeline color whisper lipsticks - so pretty & love the formula

 

-emily

p.s. this look isnt as lengthy as it appears:)

styling them: leather pants

 

 

i saw the trend of leather pants emerging as we entered into fall. while i always loved them when i saw them on models or other bloggers, i wasn't sure how i'd like them on me. as i began to see more and more pictures of my favorite bloggers styling them, i fell in love. then one day while i was scrolling through targets clearance, i came across the kirna zabete for target collection which obviously didn't sell too well because their was a ton of the collection on clearance in stock in all sizes, but i'm not sure why. there was alot of cute things, including... leather pants. all through the  november they were in my mind but i never ordered them. then come december, i was itching for them so i pulled up the page and clicked on the leather pants. they were on clearance for ten dollars! ten! that sold the deal for me and i'm absolutely in love with them. this is the first time i've worn them but you can expect to see them again! enough about how i inquired the pants, but if you like them, go snatch them up now- there's only a few sizes left!

i paired my pants with this MASH baseball tee i got from old navy back around september. this is the first time ive worn it because i was never sure how to style it. i love baseball tees and i also love how this one is sort of dipping your toes into the waters that are the military trend without going full out camo. so we have our military and our leather, why not cheetah? i've had theese cheetah flats for a few years and had forgotten about them but i think they look really nice with this outfit. then i french braided my hair to the side since it was like third day hair. so from here i wanted to add girliness and color. i popped in this super cute bow at the bottom of my braid. i got it at claire's a few weeks ago while shopping for a christmas present for my little sister. they actually have some cute hair accessories for around five dollars. this ones like pink and red and yellow and.. cow print? then i opted out of necklaces rings and earrings, and just piled on the bracelets. on one hand i have my gold michael kors watch and on the other i have a skinny BCBG affirmation bracelet that i got from my sweet friend for christmas. i have a gold chain bracelet wrapped with black ribbon i got from charolette russe for two or three dollars last soring. next comes a pink bow bracelet and a yellow studded wrap bracelet, both from forveer21. lastly a beaded white black and gold bracelet that i wear every time i wear jewelry. i tried to balance neutral bracelets with colored ones that complemented the colors in the bow. i finished the look with simple makeup that you can find here!

click here for the leather pants!
click here for bcbg bracelets!

 

-emily