Feelin' Blue

Summer weather is officially here in Toronto, which means patio season is upon us!!! It's definitely harder to get away to enjoy a glass or two with friends on a shady alfresco with a little one at home, but now that Emma is onto solids and happily adjusting to formula the timing couldn't be better to take advantage of the warmer weather and enjoy some girl chat outdoors.

Always one of my favorite style classics, I think a pale blue fitted oxford button up looks great paired with denim skinnies, and an open toe pump. Add a pair of aviator shades and a summery tote, and you're ready for an afternoon of lunching with the ladies!

Jeans - Levis Curve ID

Shirt - Joe Fresh (similar)

Bag - French Connection UK (similar)

Shoes - Nine West (similar)

Bracelet - Primark 

I hope that you're enjoying the weather. See you on the patio!!

Linking up with these fabulous blogs!!

    

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

My Strange Addiction - Best Budget Nail Polishes!

So I've already mentioned how I am an absolute sucker for the impulse purchase displays that are set up at store checkout lines. What you don't know, is that I also have a serious weakness when it comes to nail polish. I love the different color choices available from the pretty pastels to the cool metallics and edgy darker shades....I also get a kick out of the clever names that polish companies come up with and have been know to buy a polish because the name was just too cute to pass up. Honestly, sometimes it feels like opening a fortune cookie - I seriously bought Essie's "eternal optimist" (which is barely HALF a shade different than the "not just a pretty face" I had sitting on my dresser at home) because I felt like the name was speaking to me personally. I know, I know...a little bit cray - don't judge. Truth is, I pop that stuff into my shopping basket like candy. Originally a devotee of anything OPI, I discovered a few years back that Essie had a great formula that dried quickly and shiny and lasted days longer, quickly giving it the top spot in my overall nail polish ranking chart.

So you can imagine what happened when my routine shopping haunts added super cute, low priced nail polishes to their impulse purchase displays. I was no match for the temptation and soon enough, my order of clothes and accessories from H&M, Forever 21 and Joe Fresh were coming with a delicious side of nail polish. I had no idea whether the product would be any good, but I was loving the colors and for the prices figured they were worth a try.

Here are some of my favs:

H&M 

For just $1.95, you can get a cute little 5 ml bottle of nail art fun from H&M. On the day I first gave this nail polish a try, they were "buy 2 get 1 free", so really - how could I not? I picked up "warm sand", which is a really gorgeous nudey/peachy color, along with "I do" - a pretty pinky/coral:

Ever a fan of the classics, I grabbed "true love" - a perfect Jackie O. shade of red - to complete my 3 bottle purchase:

I was shocked at how great these polishes were when I got them home. They were decently pigmented, dried quickly with a really nice shine. My only complaint with these is how teeny the bottles are. I like to hold the bottle between my knees so that it doesn't tip over or slide all over the place when giving myself a manicure. These bottles are so tiny that you have to take special care to avoid getting the brush (and polish) on your knees rather than back in the bottle (does anyone else use this techinique for DIY mani's or is this just my issue??)

Joe Fresh

Just when you think a line can't give you anything more - they do (sigh). Joe Fresh, a hidden gem in between the broccoli and bacon slices of your local Loblaw's/Supercentre grocery store has opened up a few stand alone stores (I've visited both the one on Queen Street West and the Vaughn Mills location - and for those of you without access to the actual store, they have a great online shopping site). Not only do they carry great quality, affordable and trendy fashions that are presented every spring and fall at Toronto Fashion week, they have expanded to include cosmetics as well! In fact they have a new line of skin care including face serum, eye cream, toner and this citrus facial cleanser that I want to try - but, I digress...

I was in the checkout line the other day when I saw the display sign "Buy 1 get 1 Free" for a bin full of nail polish, and so of course, I did what came naturally and grabbed these two:

                                                                                                                                    From the Left: "Peacock" and "Ballet Slipper"

Once again, I was loving the colors, and pleasantly surprised with the formulas. An added bonus was the wide FLAT brush that makes application much easier and more even (the absence of this type of brush is were Essie misses the mark - IMO). Priced at just $4 each (one of which was free), no complaints here!

Forever 21

Forever 21 has been in beauty for some time now, and they do a fabulous job of not only tempting you with their checkout line displays (come on now, which of you have NOT randomly picked up and taken home one of their cosmetic bags while waiting to check out???) but have little baskets of low priced goodies, right there at the cash counter! It would take willpower of steal to resist the urge. And so last month with my shopping bag full of shorts and swimwear for our vacation to St. Martin, I grabbed this super beachy color to paint my toes for vacay:

The color is called "Bubble Gum" and at just $3.90, it was SO worth it and joins China Glaze's "Flip Flop Fantasy" as my favorite summer pedi color!

Walmart 

I couldn't do a post on the best budget nail slicks without giving a shout out to the line "Pure Ice". I had never before heard of this nail polish, but a couple of years ago, came across the display of super trendy shades priced under $2 a pop! I believe they are sold exclusively at Walmart, and are great, quick drying formulas. These round out my list of the best budget nail polishes:

From the Left: "Bikini", "Jail Bait", "Superstar!", "French Kiss"

Remember the days when you only had "Hard Candy" if you wanted trendy and unique nail colors with good formulations? Today there are tons of great options to choose from and by lines that you may have overlooked for the more well known (and more expensive) brands. Nail polish is such a fun and easy way to express your personal style, and pull together a look, that I am glad that more companies are getting into the biz and putting out really great products while doing it!!

Today I did a fun and fresh two toned look with Joe Fresh and Pure Ice polishes:

                                                   

                                                     

What do you think? I'd love to hear about your favorite low priced nail polishes :)

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Linking up with these fabulous blogs!!

   

Super Sunday - Styling the Statement Necklace

Happy Superbowl Sunday Everyone!

I'm not exactly sure that this is a holiday in the true sense of the word holiday...but why not?

As I was preparing to get ready to head over to our friends house for their annual Superbowl party, I took a look through my closet and decided to go with a cute but casual pair of high-waisted skinny jeans, white tee and my new beige flannel boyfriend shirt that a snagged for just $10 bucks at the Old Navy winter clearance sale. As I was finalizing my OOTD, I decided to add my chunky jeweled necklace for a bit more interest, and a bit more edge.

Really pleased with the overall look, I got the idea to do a post about switching up the way one traditionally thinks of styling (ie, adding accessories to help style the look of an outfit), and share how you can make a statement necklace the inspiration for styling a couple of outfits around. Additionally, I wanted to share my ideas for how a really pretty piece of dressier jewelry can work with a whole spectrum of looks, from formal to casual to downtown hipster cool.

Here is the necklace that I started with:

I picked this up for next to nothing last fall while I was visiting a friend in London at the popular discount high-street store, Primark. Its chunky and weighty and was the center-point for the looks you will find below.

Typically, you would expect to pair such a pretty piece with some sort of formal wear or a dressier outfit such as this pretty gold and bronze brocade dress:

Dress - Zara (old)

I like the idea of pairing the pewter based necklace with the gold and black dress. It's a less obvious choice and I think it looks pretty cool!

Just because the necklace is pretty however, doesn't mean it's wear has to be limited to dresses. I think that the piece looks great styled with the casual outfit below:

T-shirt - Joe Fresh (similar)

Jeans - Winners

Flannel Boyfriend Shirt - Old Navy

Booties - Calvin Klein

I also love it with a pair of cropped wool dress pants, sleeveless tee and gladiator sandals - a perfect outfit for an afternoon of shopping or meeting the girls for brunch. And for those of you in more creative industries, this could be a great look for the office with or without a blazer thrown on top:

Tank - Old Navy

Pants - Old Navy

Shoes - Sam Edelman

My favorite look by far, plays homage to my inner "downtown hipster" and involves the unexpected combination of textures and fabrics shown below - pairing the ultra dressy with the super casual in a fun, flirty, feminine way. Add a pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers and away you go!

                                                        Denim Jacket - Zara TRF (similar)

Booties - Nine West

Sunglasses - Ray Ban

Typically we look to our accessories to "accent" our outfits. But I think you could come up with some really unique looks and get more distance from your existing wardrobe by starting with a great statement piece of jewelry and then styling your outfit around your accessory!

I'd love to hear your ideas for "styling your statement pieces"!

Editor's note: Due to the forecasted snowstorm presently hitting Toronto and Southern Ontario, the original outfit that inspired this post never actually saw the light of day. I did however, enjoy a great superbowl party-of-four at home with my husband and daughters (what....a...GAME!) and now have 3 great new outfit ideas that should cut my "get-ready" time by an entire 5 minutes the next time we go out :) - You're welcome honey!!!