LOVE Print

One of my absolute favorite photographers, Max Wanger, launched his print shop filled with his lovely work. You can order different sizes depending on whether you're looking for a big piece to hang over your bed like Joanna did or need a pretty print for your living room. If it were up to me I'd order one of each on the spot, because I love his work so much. To start my collection, I ordered this "LOVE" print, which I've always had a crush on since I first saw it posted on his blog. 

Max Wanger is currently offering 15% off all items in his print shop with the code PINECONE. Such a great gift for an art lover! 

Image via Max Wanger's Print Shop

Style Obsession: Flared Velvet

1,2

This season I'm taking a little reprieve from my skinnies and instead reaching for my flared denim and trousers. With a bit of extra length and a pair of killer heels, this look makes you appear longer and leaner, which always gets two thumbs up from me. I saw these images and went gaga over the style in velvet! So gorgeous for fall and perfect for keeping warm...

These Tory Burch velvet oxblood flares are so gorgeous! (They only have one size left, so if you're a 2, these beauties are currently on sale for $123!) Paired with a light henley, you're favorite coat, and a few statement accessories, I'm in love. Velvet flares are definitely going to be on my shopping list!

1. Tory Burch Flares $123

2. JCrew Henley $30

3. Charlotte Russe Heart Studs $6

4. Dorothy Perkins Military Piped Coat $140

5. Asos Leather Satchel $167

6. Madison Harding booties $273

7. NARS nail polish in Storm Bird $18

8. NARS lipstick in Fire Down Below $24

Color Obsession: Hunter Green

Image via Where is the Cool

Image from Architectural Digest via A Peak of Chic

Image via Maria Killam

Image via Pinterest

I just can't seem to get enough of this color lately. Did you see that MFAMB is painting her bedroom a dark, rich green? LOVE

Sorry burgundy, I know you're the "in" color for Fall, but I just can't seem to stop thinking about your deep hued cousin. JCrew this season is sporting the color in several of its pieces, mainly in pants. I can't wait to get  my hands on a pair for Fall.

1. Sophie Hulme Envelope Clutch

2. Minnie Pant by JCrew

3. Tippi Sweater by JCrew

4. YSL ring

5. Rayban aviator sunglasses

6. March by Marc Jacobs flower studs

7. Jimmy Choo nude pumps

8. Oscar de la Renta Floral Belt

9. Essie "Going Incognito" nail polish

Hair Sparkle

I really loved the hair accessories on the runways for Fall 2012. Headbands of course made an appearance, but what really caught my eye were the sparkly and at times over sized hair clips that accessorized simple up-dos like chignons and twists. Sometimes designers used clusters of hair pins...

Tory Burch via Harpers Bazaar

Tory Burch via ToryBurch.com

Or one big statement piece...

Image via Elle

During the week my go-to hairstyle is usually a bun or some version of it. Adding little hair clips seems like a fun way to make your every-day look that much more special. At night, a big show stopper would look so pretty! The great thing is that you can find hair pins, clips, and bands everywhere in all price ranges...

1. Twigs & Honey $165

2. Champagne Flower Hair Pins  $22

3. Oasis Hair Clips by Asos $10

4. Dolce & Gabbana Swarovski Crystal Hair Clip $445

5. Cream Hair Pins $19

6. Muzetta Cameo Pins in Mint $24

7. Precious Cluster Barrett $24

8. French Connection Resin Hair Pin $10

9. BHLDN Wild Rose Comb $325

Sprout

My husband sent me an article about a company called Sprout that makes these amazing pencils. He knew I'd go bonkers over this because I have a fascination with pencils. I have them stashed all over the house, I use them to the nub and still feel bad when I have to throw them away because I still think there's more use left in them. He argues that no one uses pencils anymore and he's married to the one person that still does :-)

Each pencil has a tiny seed inside the color cap at the top. When you've used up your pencil, flip it over and place the water soluble cap side in soil and a plant starts to grow! How cool is that?! They have everything from flowering plants to herbs. 

Check out their main page here  where they are asking for pledges to get Sprout growing...see what I did there? Growing? Yeah I'm hilarious sometimes.

Images via CNet and Kickstarter

White Sands

Lana Del Rey has made me obsessed with finding a white one-piece swimsuit. There, I said it. I've had her videos playing in a loop while I sit at the computer at work and every time I hear "Blue Jeans" come on I stop what I'm doing to see her awesome white swimsuit. She also rocks one in her "National Anthem" video...

See? Totally gorgeous, loving the white one piece. Then I saw Sydney wearing one on her Hawaii vacay with her JCrew panama hat and I thought to myself, "I already have the hat, why not?" 

Off I went to hunt down the perfect white one piece and I found a couple of favorites...

1. Chloe Gold Scalloped Halter $239

2. Victoria's Secret DKNY Ruched One Piece $96

3. Melissa Obadash Chile Ruched Bandeu $225

4. Azzaro Halter $205

5. Melissa Obadash $82

6. Seventh Wonderland Arabella $370

7. Calvin Klein Wrap $55

8. Modcloth Bathing Beauty $90

My dream choice is the Chloe suit, how amazing is that gold scallop detail right? However I might go for my trusty Victoria's Secret this time since their suits tend to fit well on me.

What's your summer style obsession?

First two images from Pinterest, Third image from The Daybook

June 2012 Glossybox

Click on photo to enlarge

I received my June 2012 Glossybox this week! I first heard about Glossybox from the Pixiwoos and then saw it again on Pretty Shiny Sparkly's channel once it came stateside. 

In case you're not familiar with Glossybox, it's a monthly subscription where each month you receive about 6 beauty items from different brands. The kicker is that you don't know what you'll be receiving each month. There are a couple different beauty box services out there, like Birchbox, but I ended up going with Glossybox because I read and heard great reviews about the selection of items that come in the box. Even more important, the sizes! From what I've seen, most boxes tend to include those squeeze packets for a majority of their products. In all the videos and reviews, everyone was impressed with how Glossybox provided either travel or in some cases full sized items in real packaging. It's pricier ($21) than Birchbox ($10), but I figured I'd give it a try and you can cancel any time. 

This week my first Glossybox arrived and here's the round up of everything that was in it (from left to right):

Orfra Eyeshadow in Go Black (2nd from left)

I don't usually go for cream eyeshadows, but the finish of this one is really pretty and it comes with a primer built in (bonus!). It blends easily and has a shimmer effect to it. It squeezes out like a lipgloss, which at first threw me off, but now I like it because it must be more sanitary. 

VBeaute Buy Time Creme, Lite Up Serum, and Eye Never Eye Creme

These three came packaged in little travel size tubes. I've been using them every night for the past week and they feel really creamy, which I love. Not sure if the size is enough to really see an effect over time though.

Wella Enrich Moisturizing Treatment

This one I really liked. A travel size pot of conditioner that made my hair feel really soft and yet didn't feel weighed down. Thumbs up!

The Glossybox 

I had to include this because I am a sucker for packaging. Everything arrives in this pretty pink box, wrapped in coordinating tissue paper with a little card (shown in top photo) explaining everything inside. The box is really nice and sturdy, I already have it under my sink storing little odds and ends.

AHAVA Velvet Cream Hibiscus & Fig Wash

This is my favorite item in the whole box! This body wash is creamy and smells amazing. Even my husband commented on how nice I smelled, right there...Winning. It came in a nice thick, travel sized bottle that I can't wait to take with me on our trip to Michigan in September.

First Aide Beauty Fab Smooth Shave Cream

This shave cream was my other top favorite item in the box. I loved that it's an original size item from the brand and yet a great size to travel with. It's really thick and creamy, and left my legs feeling smooth. Another big thumbs up!

A Perfume Organic in Urban Organic

The perfume came in your typical perfume sample vial. I've never tried an organic perfume before and was pleasantly surprised. It has more of the consistency of an essential oil than a perfume, but I really liked it anyway. The scent is hard to pin down, but everytime my husband smells it he says it "smells really clean", so that's good right? I'm even wearing it as I type this post :-)

Overall, big fan of the Glossybox so far and looking forward to seeing what arrives in my July 2012 Glossybox. I'll keep you posted on what arrives next month!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Top photo by me, photos of products from Glossybox.com

Umbrella Gazing

Thanks to Debbie it has been raining non-stop all week and it's been Wizard of Oz style windy. It's actually been quite entertaining watching Jack experience strong winds for the first time. His first reaction was to paw at the wind, then after a minute or so of the wind pushing him around, he got ticked and decided to bark at it...that's my tough boy. With all this rain I've come to the realization that my go-to umbrella is falling apart and needs to be retired. It's bent and has a big business logo from my husband's last job on it, not cute. So I've doing a little bit of umbrella shopping...

Crystal Clear...

1. Felix Rey, 2. Modcloth.com, 3. Topshop.com, 4. Amazon.com

Pretty Black..

1. Topshop.com, 2. Shopbop.com, 3. Burberry, 4. LuLu Guinness

Brights and Patterns...

1. Barneys, 2. American Apparel, 3. Topshop.com, 4. Shopbop.com

My absolute favorite umbrella is this Felix Rey Bow Umbrella...

unfortunately I can't find it anywhere, bummer. Off to stalk Ebay!

Shorts and Sandals

Living in Florida, shorts and sandals have pretty much become my uniform year round, but mostly in the hot summer months when wearing a pair of jeans or anything that covers more of you than necessary seems loony. Needless to say, shorts and sandals are always at the top of my shopping list when spring rolls around. My favorites this season are the rainbow of colors at JCrew, they are not playing around and I LOVE them. 
My go to shorts at JCrew are their 3" chino shorts. They are awesome and comfy, and only seem to get better with age. I'm crushing on the green, yellow, and purple this season big time. How awesome are those scalloped shorts and the light blue denim ones? If you're looking for a fancier short, I love their twill shorts. They have a bit of a cleaner line than the chinos. For sandals, those orange Maltas and the gold Tovas are my faves.

What's at the top of your shopping list this spring?

Bow Belts

I saw these bow belts on Pinterest today, they're by Burberry Prorsum, aren't they adorable? My belt collection is basically composed of 3 belts: 1 belt for my hips (pants), 1 for my waist (dresses), and 1 skinny one that I have every intention of wearing but never do. When I saw these pretty bow belts it sent me on the hunt for some bow belts of my own to make my belt collection a little less depressing:

The Lanvin belt in the bottom left corner makes me gaga over it's satiny gorgeousness. Can you tell I'm looking forward to Spring and all the colors that comes with it?

Top images found via Pinterest. Click here for more info on each belt I found.

Superbowl and Jason Wu

Superbowl weekend is upon us and this year I'm hosting it at my house...oh boy. Today I'm going to try to beat the crowds and get everything I need for Sunday, start prepping everything over the weekend. However, my little personal Superbowl this Sunday will be this...

I like this banner much better. Jason Wu for Target opens Feb. 5th, which coincides with Superbowl Sunday this year. I'm not usually one to be first in line when these collections open, but I think I'm going to this time around because Jason Wu is one of my faves. These are the items I'm going to keep my eye out for...

I'm mostly looking to score one of the bags, but you never know what you'll find at your Target so let's see. Have a wonderful weekend and a great Superbowl Sunday!

Images via NFL, Target, and Fashionologie

Sick, but Shopping

No news on the "feeling better" front, but thanks to lots of hot tea and my darling husband making me dinner I think I'll be feeling better by the weekend. Since not feeling well means that I tend to spend time playing on online, I managed to find these at Zara and snatched them up right away. I love the fold over detail and the tough look to them. We're visiting my in-laws in North Carolina at the end of the year, which will be an perfect opportunity to wear these bad boys. 

A Little Bit of Jewelmint...

Have you been on Jewelmint yet? I signed up for it after reading about it on a few blogs, the idea of a website that created a collection of jewelry for you to choose from every month based on your personal style intrigued me. You create an account and answer a few questions about your personal style, based on that information the site brings together a collection of jewelry every month that you might like. The collection ranges from rings to dramatic necklaces and what I loved is that each piece had a story behind it's design and inspiration. 

The best part about it is that each piece is $29.99, no matter what it is. Since my jewelry box is currently in desperate need of maturing from it's love of Forever 21, I thought this would be a great way to bring in some unique pieces. However here's the fine print: If you don't buy anything one month, your credit card is automatically charged $29.99 and credited to your account for future purchases. You can opt out of the charge by choosing to "skip the month" by the 5th of each month. 

One of the pieces in my collection for November was a pair of 60s inspired amethyst earrings that I went gaga over the moment I saw them, and a few days later guess what arrived in my mailbox...

I'm a sucker for packaging, so the little mint box was quickly a favorite...

There they are! They were even prettier in person. I can't wait to wear them for a night out with the hubs!  Here they are on...

Turns out it's not as easy as you would think to take a photo of your own ear. Oh well. 

*Images taken by me*

Brandy in Purple Tartan

I ordered this purple tartan collar for Brandy last weekend. Her current collar is starting to look worn and frayed, so I went on an Etsy hunt for something a little bit more fun. I thought this would pop against her reddish coat and look quite adorable as she strolled on her afternoon walks down our little jogging path. As I ordered it I looked at her and said, "Guess who's getting a new collar!". She looked really excited but I'm not sure if she actually understood what I was saying. Most of the time I just get this face...

So I'm going to assume by all of the tail wagging that she did.

 I received an email from the seller this week asking for her name and to let me know that each collar is handmade, which means it will take about 14 days before we get it. Now I'm checking the mailbox every day even though I know it couldn't possibly be here yet because I must see this collar! Is it weird that I'm so excited about this? I'm contemplating a new dog bed now too...

Shopping Absolutely Beautiful Things

Anna Spiro's online shop went live today!

When she announced that she was opening an online shop as a way to give everyone access to the amazing items she uses in her designs, I was so excited to see how it was going to look and what she would be offering.

The shop is set up in a really cool way. Instead of your basic list and price format, she created a vignette of all the items currently being sold. Each item is numbered and all you have to do is click on the item to be taken to the listing page where you can find pricing and additional info, as well as adding it to your cart...

Aren't her vignette's pretty? Such a great way to present the items! I love how it gives me a visual of how everything looks in a room.

Congratulations Anna!

Images from Absolutely Beautiful Things Blog and Shop