Aida ~

Hi ladies! Sorry I've been MIA; I'm still sick, work is busy, and I've got a cruise coming up on the 19th complete with a wedding and wedding events. Which is what I am asking for help with today :) This is a week long cruise to Alaska from Seattle (but unfortunately we don't stop anywhere near Una!), so the attire is probably going to be different from most cruises. I'm planning to just dress like I normally do for the cruise (haven't even started looking at that part of the packing yet), but do have questions about the wedding+events. Please pardon sick face/hair ><

#1 : Wedding outfit. I have only been to a couple weddings, all 5+ years ago, so I am a little murky on what's appropriate to wear. The wedding itself will be on the ship and in the evening, so I am assuming this means formal but not black-tie. The invitation just says the time (6pm) and then "Cocktails and formal dinner to follow". Please picture these outfits both with these gray pumps and with white pointy pumps which are on their way to me. I'll be adding a skinny white belt to the top (also in the mail).
Questions:
- Will the white pumps be too "wedding party"? They are a plain, matte white.
- Is this too much white, period?
- As much as I'd like to just wear the outfit as in the far left, I'll likely need a topper. I like the middle option with the blazer but am pretty sure hubby will not. So is the option on the right with the black kimono cocoon too jarring against the light colors?

#2 : Brunch outfit. The day after the wedding there will be a wedding attendee brunch. I am thinking this outfit should be fine as-is, so unless anyone has glaring concerns I'm set with this one.

#3-5 : Cocktail hour outfit. The day before the wedding there will be a "cocktail hour". I do not know exactly what this means, nor the dress code (club? lounge?). This group isn't super dressy, so I am guessing that #3 will be sufficient. But if not, I also have a proper cocktail dress shown in #4-5, which is several years old. It is not solid black, but has an upper mesh layer with gold threads woven in; not sure if you can tell in the photos, but the lower half of the skirt is all mesh and it's very ruffly. I'd wear this with pearl studs and no other jewelry as it's a lot of dress.
Questions:
- Should I bring both cocktail options or just stick with the more versatile look in #3?
- Does the dress in 4/5 still look OK? It's waaaay more bombshell than I normally wear, but I do skew bombshell for dressy events.
- Is #3 too casual for "cocktail hour"? I'm confused on this one.

#6 : Jewelry. Just a close up of all the jewels I'm wearing in the above outfits. Sparkly things on the left in the wedding outfit, mint cuff and silver necklace in brunch outfit, and bracelet stack in cocktail outfit.

Whew! I know it's a lot to ask, so I really thank everyone who can give me feedback on these. Am I on track or way off base? Does anyone have any other advice on packing for a weeklong Alaskan cruise? Thank you all so much!

Hi ladies! Sorry for the absence, I've been sick with a cough that just won't quit. I did manage to get caught up on some outfit photos, though, and wanted to post them. Here's a week of work outfits from mid-April, following the movie poster challenge. Plenty of white and light, and my white clutch is getting tons of use!

1- A twist on a favorite pairing, blouse+jeans+vest, swapping my usual furry vest for my cream biker vest. Worn with cream booties and a white belt to add even more lightness.

2- Inspired by this outfit on Pinterest. Definitely wasn't warm enough for shorts, so I subbed in my olive pants. Have to say I felt very un-fab with the tee on its own (was fine with the blazer on), and have since moved several of my tees to the donate pile. I'd love to get some t-shirt blouses to replace tees' usage in my wardrobe!

3- Inspired by this outfit on Pinterest, but swapping the mint and navy. Skipped the leo pumps since my pants are printed. Worn with candy pink lipstick, which I rarely wear. I think I'd be happier with a bright fuchsia, so that's on my list to pick up sometime.

4- Hubby's birthday, so I wanted to try and wear something he'd like. It wasn't a home run, but he 'liked it enough' so that's a win in my book -_- I'd have popped my denim jacket over the top any other day, but the long BF cardigan turned out nice too. Worn with textured nude tights.

5- I usually wear these shorts in Autumn only, but am trying to work out of that so they get more wear. To keep it light and spring, today I paired with a healthy dose of black and white + a white arm party. I thought this was a fun outfit but hubby strongly disliked this :(

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

(The outfits that accompany these nails can be found on this wrap up thread!)

For the Movie Poster challenge, I got it in my head to change out my manicure for each outfit. At first I had plain solid colors planned... but then thought hey wouldn't it be fun to do a little extra? This turned out to be a very (borderline overly) ambitious plan, ladies! I did each manicure the night before; it was a really busy and tiring work week, and by the time I got around to doing the nails each night it was almost bed time and I was pretty wiped out. But I persevered, somehow, and am pretty happy with how everything turned out. Plus I got some extra nail art practice in, and got to try some new-to-me techniques.

Here are the details about each manicure; the movie inspiration background can be found in each day's dedicated post. I've also included a photo of the polishes that I used along with a "recipe" for each manicure, for anyone who's curious. As a tip, if you're going to attempt something similar I highly suggest getting a good cuticle oil because nail polish remover is super harsh and drying on both nails and skin. I use Burt's Bees "Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream" on the cuticle, around the nail bed, and on the nail itself (both with nails polished and not polished).

Day 1 - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (inspiration discussed in the day's WIW post).
This was the simplest and most straightforward manicure of the week. Color and go!
* OPI clear base coat
* 2 coats Sally Hansen "Golden-I"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Day 2 - Star Wars (inspiration discussed on the day's WIW post).
My original plan for this manicure was the blue base and the white star accent nails (which I should've used a thin brush for, the striper was tooooo thick), but once completed it didn't feel finished enough. So I decided to try a technique that I hadn't before, where you use a bit of make up sponge to dab polish on slowly to make a gradient (good tutorial here). I used a flake polish for the sponged bit, and did the sponging at the cuticle. It got a little tricky once I'd completed one hand since the flakes really caked on, so next time I'll cut two sponge bits and use one per hand. Unfortunately, this blue polish stained my nails even through the base coat!

Base (ALL, including accent):
* OPI clear base coat
* 1 coat Sinful Colors "Why Not"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Flakes:
* 3-5 passes sponge gradient with Sally Hansen "Glass Slipper"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Accent:
* freehanded star with L.A. Colors Art Deco striper "White"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Day 3 - Breakfast at Tiffany's (inspiration discussed on the day's WIW post).
This manicure's original plan called for taping off the blocked sections, so the lines would be really crisp. But I wasn't able to start it early enough to allow for the necessary dry time, even using a quick dry oil. So I decided to risk free-handing the color blocks which I have very little practice doing. The orange is called a "jelly" polish in the nail blogging world, which is a polish that is very sheer and needs many layers for full opacity if it can even get there at all. They can also be unforgiving to layer with because you can see the entire lower layer through it. I think this turned out alright freehanded, but certainly would've looked better if I'd given myself enough time to do the taping properly.

Base:
* OPI clear base coat
* 1 coat Sally Hansen "White On"
* Sinful colors Quick Dry oil

Blocks (freehanded):
* 2 coats OPI "Y'all Come Back Ya Hear?" (orange)
* 1 coat Sinful Colors "Ruby Ruby" (red)
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Day 4 - Metropolis (inspiration discussed on the day's WIW post).
I had a more elaborate plan for this (a black-to-silver sponge gradient), but after a suuuuuper long day I was just too tired to do it. *looks around* I'll let you in on a little secret: I was too tired to even remove the previous manicure so I just painted right over the top!

Base (ALL, including accent):
* (previous day's manicure, but I'd normally use my OPI base coat)
* 1 coat Wet 'n Wild "Black Crème"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Accent:
* 1 coat Sally Hansen "Celeb City" (silver)
* freehanded stripes with L.A. Colors Art Deco striper "Black"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Day 5 - Vertigo (inspiration discussed on the day's WIW post).
The most complicated manicure of the week, and happily I allowed myself enough time for it! Initially I was going to have it be just red with white stripes, but my taping skills aren't quite good enough so I used the black striper to "hide" the uneven tape lines, although I could've used a white striper and stuck to my original plan. The red polish here is actually full of sparkly little glass flecks, but I have the hardest time getting them to show up on camera!

Base:
* OPI clear base coat
* 1 coat Sally Hansen "White On"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

Red (do these ONE nail at a time):
* tape on the diagonal, blocking bottom half
* 1 coat OPI "The Spy Who Loved Me" (red)
* slowly remove tape

Stripes:
* freehanded with L.A. Colors Art Deco striper "Black"
* 1 coat Seche Vite clear top coat

After a week of changing up my nails, I was quite happy to be able to wear Friday's manicure for more than a day. In fact, they stayed on in perfect condition until the following Sunday. Although it was tough to muster the energy to change these daily, it was like a crash course in improving my nail skills. The one big takeaway, stylewise, that I got out of this is that I really enjoy coordinating my outfit with my nails. So I am going to try to pay more attention to that in the future.

Whew! Long post, hopefully some of you found it interesting/useful ^^ Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Sorry to be posting this wrap up so late! I delayed a little to reflect, hoping to come up with some good profound insights. Then delayed a little more, and a little more... But it turns out, I just had a fun week and didn't learn anything new (which is ok!). I've done up a separate post for the nail art, found here.

My plan for the week was to come up with outfits inspired solely by the poster art, and ignore any influence of the movies themselves. I was able to do so with all outfits but one, the Metropolis poster in #4, where I swapped the black/gold from the poster for black/white like the movie. Here are my outfit for the week, complete with their poster inspiration and nail art; more information can be found in each day's dedicated post, but I've added the key thought behind each here.

Day 1 - Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Details on the day's WIW post.
The top thing that strikes me about this poster is how rich it is: color, texture, character, story. 

Day 2 - Star Wars
Details on the day's WIW post.
The most iconic thing about this poster to me is the title lettering (hey, I do work in type!); beyond that, the star field makes a big impression of the poster art. So I wanted today's outfit to be tribute to those two key elements.

Day 3 - Breakfast at Tiffany's
Details on the day's WIW post.
For this poster art I was really struck by the Mondrian-esque vibe and how the expanse of white really lets Holly stand out.

Day 4 - Metropolis
Details on the day's WIW post.
This is a simple poster with big impact, and what really jumps out at me are the monochrome palette, strong vertical lines, and the shaded gradient.

Day 5 - Vertigo
Details on the day's WIW post.
The BOLD colors and cutout-like effect of the poster are really striking, so I wanted to work around those ideas. I thought about doing a crazy vertigo-inducing pattern mix, but felt that the simplicity of the poster is its strength.

I am pleased with how all of the outfits turned out as far as drawing from the poster inspiration, and was very happy wearing all outfits except for #3. It was a combination of things, really; the black blazer felt heavy, I didn't like how the straight leg jeans (which I don't like on myself anyway) looked with the square top of the heels, and I couldn't get my hair to behave at all that day. Still, it's a decent outfit and it photographed nicely ;)

All in all, a wonderful challenge! Thank you again to Ornella for running this iteration, and to all who participated and commented. It was SUCH fun!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

My sister has joined in on the GAP mesh sleeve sweater fun! She loved the ivory one I wore last Friday, so yesterday while we were out getting her hair cut we stopped by the GAP to see if they were in. Luckily they were! The ivory one looked fab on her, but so did the gray which matches her style and wardrobe colors better. Unlike me, sis is 100% on Team Wear: she popped the new sweater on right away and wore it the rest of the day. You may recognize the flats; she and I both have a pair :) Bonus inclusion of her little dog, Pooka, who's always nearby.

As you can see my sister and I have very different hair, although we see the same stylist. She's been wearing her hair long and layered for quite a while, but had the itch to shorten. So she had 6-8" taken off and some razored-choppy layers put in (a totally foreign texture to me). It looks great! When I told her this was a YLF sweater, sis asked me to take a photo of her new outfit and hair to share with you gals and Angie. How cute is she? ^^

Movie poster: Vertigo (group thread).

Another simple poster, another simple outfit. The BOLD colors and cutout-like effect of the poster are really striking, so I wanted to work around those ideas. I thought about doing a crazy vertigo-inducing pattern mix (b/w striped blouse + red plaid pants + houndstooth flats), but felt that the simplicity of the poster is its strength.

• Ivory mesh sleeve sweater, white belt - white spiral, mesh reminiscent of spiral overlap
• Red jeans - red background
• Black studded flats - small black element
• Woven silver earrings - round shape, more spiral overlap mesh
• Black/yellow lined clutch - a little chaos!

For the final manicure of the week I chose a more loose interpretation, using the poster's colors in blocks along with lines further reminiscent of the spirals. I'm quite happy that I can keep these on for a few days for a change ;) And to keep with the bold red coloring I wore bright red lipstick. This outfit is a bit more weekend than workday for me, but it's still a good date night option since hubby prefers minimal outfits and flats. Also feels very summery, especially for the very gray day we're having. Great perk up!

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Movie poster: Metropolis (group thread).

This is a simple poster with big impact, and what really jumps out at me are the monochrome palette, strong vertical lines, and the shaded gradient. I planned my outfit around the dark-to-light vertical gradient, and chose heathered/textured items to pick up on the graphite quality of the shading. Today's outfit is the only one where I deviated from the poster art directly, swapping the black-and-gold color palette of the poster for the black-and-white palette of the movie itself.

• Charcoal heathered tee - dark color (top), reminiscent of graphite shading
• Gray jeans - medium color (middle), slim as a nod to vertical buildings
• Cream booties - light color (bottom)
• Deco necklace - angled lines at the top, nod to the movie's time period
• White clutch - well this is just for me ^^

I had different nails planned for today but ended up having such a looong day before that I just didn't have the energy (nor time). So in the spirit of the poster I simplified! Instead of my originally planned black-to-silver sponged gradient, I did glossy black (darkest poster shade) and silver accent nails (nod to the robot) with two freehanded black stripes (nod to the vertical buildings). And lastly, in keeping with the b&w theme I wanted a low contrast lip color so I chose a sheer plum gloss. Possibly a less "2013" outfit than it could be, but I feel like the roomy tee, pointy booties, and daytime clutch keep things plenty current.

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Movie poster: Breakfast at Tiffany's (group thread).

Holly Golightly herself is, of course, the image that comes to mind when one thinks of Breakfast at Tiffany's. For the poster art, though, I was really struck by the Mondrian-esque vibe and how the expanse of white really lets Holly stand out. I had trouble incorporating this type of minimal aesthetic into an outfit that I felt covered enough elements, so I instead went the opposite direction!

• Kitty shirt - shoulder kitty, of course!
• Black blazer - a strong black vertical element (Holly herself)
• White jeans - expansive white background
• Black pointy kitten heels, pearl stud earrings - little nods to Holly's attire
• Aqua/blue clutch - top/right colorblocking

Today's nails represent, quite literally, the left/bottom colorblocking, with freehanded red/orange blocks on a white base (my favorite design of the week!). And as a nod to Ms. Golightly, I chose to go more Hollywood Glam with double-thickness mascara and bright red lipstick. I did find it amusing that, considering the movie, today's outfit is less glam than the previous two ;)

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Movie poster: Star Wars (group thread).

The most iconic thing about this poster to me is the title lettering (hey, I do work in type!); beyond that, the star field makes a big impression of the poster art. So I wanted today's outfit to be tribute to those two key elements.

• Black turtleneck, white blazer - outlined lettering
• Hatch print pants - star field
• Cream booties - strong white accent of Luke/Leia against the dark sky
• Long spike earrings - sci-fi "metal" tribute (hah get it? *badum bum*)
• Taupe clutch - reminiscent of the Deathstar's grid pattern

I wanted to get more blue into my outfit, so for today's nails I did bright blue with a shimmery silver flake gradient (cuticle-to-tip) and a white sparkling light saber accent nail; unfortunately the other hand looks much better since I'm right handed, but I have a kitty scratch that I didn't want to subject you all to gruesome up-close photos of. Today's lipstick is my nude-for-me peach which has gold sparkles in it, as a little nod to C3PO.

And one other effect that I'm quite pleased with is the slightly awkward proportions (which I just love) from the not-quite-cropped jacket and not-quite-ankle pants, giving me just the right amount of nerdy for this inspiration poster ^^

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!

Movie poster: Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (group thread).

The top thing that strikes me about this poster is how rich it is: color, texture, character, story.

Every item I'm wearing has a unique texture to the outfit. In addition to representing the rich textures, the items themselves were also each chosen to reflect various aspects of the poster art, along with reflecting the warm color palette.

• Ivory sequin tank - texture (sequins), Indy's white shirt, treasures
• Rust moto jacket - texture (twill, sweater knit, smooth leather), warm background color
• Almond slouchy trousers - texture (silky woven), a nod to the soft vibe of the painting
• Snakeskin heels - texture (snakeskin), and well of course it had to be snakes
• Gold arabesque cutout earrings - texture (filigree), treasures
• Bronze bucket bag, worn crossbody style - texture (cracked leather, chain), Indiana's bag, treasures

I painted my nails crushed gold as another nod to the treasures, and chose rust-orange lipstick to match my jacket. I feel like a very glamorous adventurer ;)

Comments, critiques, thoughts and questions welcome!