The Fab Life

J.Crew Collection Contessa Snakeskin-Bow Pumps

May 14, 2013

J.Crew Collection Contessa snakeskin-bow pumps

Two weeks ago during one of my morning check-the-J.Crew website for popbacks routine, I spotted these pretties in my size and decided to try them out. Not being final sale, I figured I could take a bit more of a risk on them. I had honestly really admired them in the pink but not at their original price of $278. But with an extra 30% off the sale price and a quick perusal of sets on Polyvore (this is usually what drives me over the edge to purchase) I decided to give the blush stone colorway a try. They arrived, and they’re very beautiful shoes. But the color…oh, will I kill them after one wearing outdoors? I’d say that’s my primary concern at this point, and worrying about whether I have too much toe cleavage. Let’s take a look.

I’d say the color is truly a blush stone. For me, they’re fairly close to my skin tone. They advertise a 4″ heel which I believe. I took my usual size 9.5 that I take in J.Crew shoes (1/2 size up from my regular size).

The toe box on these are pretty narrow, which you can see on the pictures. Which of course leads to quite bit of toe cleavage…as shown here:

Not the most attractive shot of my feet. The toe cleavage looks pretty exaggerated here.

The toe cleavage doesn’t look so bad in this shot. I won’t be walking for miles in them, the arch in them is very high.I held them up to my cap-toe Everlys for comparison (3 1/2 inch heel)

So of course, the more I wear them , the more I like them. Then I take them in to my closet to see what they go with…ooh…look at that…they go with a lot of things in my closet. Case in point:

And lastly, the pixelated houndstooth skirt which was a total disaster on me. But I do love the colors. And these shoes would be perfect with them. When am I going to learn that J.Crew’s kick-pleat skirts show me no love?

These shoes are still popping back in the mornings on the website in this color (no pink ones to be found). So…what do you think? Keep them or return them? My closet says yes, I’m still undetermined. As I said earlier, I’m worried about them getting destroyed immediately. And if I keep them, how do I keep them lasting longer and protect the suede? Comments please!

Daily Outfits – Week of May 6, 2013

May 13, 2013

So I have to break the ice somehow in to posting my daily fashion and while it isn’t quite where I want it yet…I have to start somewhere. I’m still searching for the lost art of self-photo taking and until I get it just right (more on that later), I’ll settle for sharing my nicely folded clothes showcased on my lovely hardwood floors. Which up until a month ago, I didn’t even realize was a thing I could do. I admittedly live in a bit of technology hole sometimes when it comes to certain things. But I will push on with finding the perfect way to take self-photos so I don’t have to bother DH to take pictures of me on a daily basis. But I might be bugging him every now and then 😉

So….my inaugural post of a week in my daily wardrobe. Still getting a hang of linking everything so if you link to my PV you can link to most things.

Monday, May 6

I somehow have made it all winter with barely pulling out these pants. And I’ve definitely hit capri fatigue, but the bulk of my pants seem to fall in this capri category after J.Crew’s obsession with capri length pants that seems to keep going. And my legs aren’t quite ready for skirts yet. Entire outfit: J.Crew

Tuesday, May 7

As I said, I have a lot of J.Crew cafe capris. This pair gets a lot of love in my wardrobe rotation. I loved putting this outfit together and the Banana Republic necklace was a last minute ‘should I, shouldn’t I’ moment, and I’m glad I did. It was in the high 60s this day but my office is always cold so layering up is usually a good idea. Shirt / Crewlet, Pants and Sweater / J.Crew, Shoes / Nine West Factory, Necklace / Banana Republic, Bracelet / Style Love Living (link below), Watch / Michael Kors

Wednesday, May 8

Getting dressed this morning was definitely a chore and this outfit came together in the final moments before leaving the house so I didn’t have time to artfully arrange them on the floor as I was tossing things together and running out the door because I was late. As usual. But this J.Crew blouse has been one of my favorite purchases this season and worth the full price I paid for it. I have the oxford blue on backorder as well which I can’t wait to receive it. Pants & Blouse / J.Crew, Sweater & Bracelet: Crewlet. Sparkly

Thursday, May 9

Clearly I have a polka dot obsession this season (or the last few…). I’m a new convert to the J.Crew Blythe blouse…but I already have it in a few colors and it has made me enjoy wearing a button-down shirt again. I love how I can wear it untucked with jeans or tucked in with a skirt and pants and look completely put together. Oh, and my 36D chest stays nicely contained within the blouse, which is often a challenge for me and button-downs (and why you’ll usually see me only wearing them under fully buttoned cardigans or crewneck sweaters). The pants are hard to see but they are the Banana Republic Sloan pant (link here). I cannot express how much I love these pants. I already own them in black, navy and khaki. They are nice and slimming and I actually don’t hate how my hips look in them. Having an hourglass shape, pants can be a chore, they’re often too big in the waist in order to get them to fit my hips. These are perfect and I will be wearing them year round! And well…dots + leopard, what’s not to love? Blouse, Belt, Bracelet & Shoes / J.Crew, Pants / Banana Republic

Friday, May 9 (meltdown day)

More polka dots. And two of my favorite (bright) colors. However, after many failed attempts at trying to take a good self shot of myself in this outfit, I left for work almost in tears because I couldn’t believe just how big my hips looked in these pants and the more photos I took, the more upset I got. Yeah, Friday was a low point even though you wouldn’t know it by my outfit. Because even if I’m not feeling fabulous, I might as well look it. Blouse / J.Crew Factory, Pants and Shoes / J.Crew, Necklace / J.Crew inspired via eBay, Bracelet / Magenta Pave link from Style, Love, Living

So here you have it…my wardrobe for the week…maybe we’ll get to more self-photos this week.

Getting Over Stage Fright

May 13, 2013

So here I am. Finally. I’ve been talking about starting a blog for about a year now, and I’m finally taking the plunge. So what took me so long? It hit me today while I was walking to get lunch – good old fashioned stage fright. I’m the last person to raise my hand to get up in front of a crowd of people and talk and if I do have to do it, there goes my red face and shaky knees. Yeah, I don’t love it. But here I am willing to put myself out on the Internet? Like with pictures and stuff? I had a minor meltdown on Friday when it came to trying to capture photos of myself in my outfit of the day and decided I might need to ease myself in to this whole thing.

But at the end of the day, I love to write; I love shopping and fashion (especially J.Crew), and have been looking for a creative outlet. I started a little over a year ago dabbling with Polyvore which later led to Instagram and decided that I wanted to get out there and share my love of style and what it means to me to be fabulous. So, my ramblings will very likely include what my latest J.Crew obsessions are, whatever recipe my husband and I are drooling over or the next vacation I’m spending hours planning. I’ve been hesitant since every time I go online I am finding new blogs to read and I worry, how will I ever get noticed in a sea of all of these blogs? But then I realized that first and foremost, I’m doing this for me and that’s what is most important. With a little encouragement from my wonderful tech-savvy husband and my amazing friends, I decided it was time to stop making excuses and get started. So, hopefully you’ll stop by and join me in my journey of finding the fabulous in everyday life.