The Wonderfully Tacky Toucan Brooch

A few months ago my mother was sorting through some old jewelry when we discovered a bizarre pin shaped like a toucan, on a gold setting with rhinestones and a very cabana color scheme of ocean blue and coral. She had no idea where it had come from, but I spent several minutes trying to sort out the emotions that this mystery toucan brought upon me. I was simultaneously repulsed and intrigued. Did I love it or did I hate it? I couldn't decide. But, if video games and movies have taught me anything it's that if a strange piece of jewelry comes into your life with no explanation it probably either has magical powers or will bestow a horrible curse upon you. I'm hoping for the former.

I've been mulling over how to incorporate it into an outfit, and when I found a coral color White House Black Market cardigan while thrifting I was finally inspired. So, here is what I wore to work on Friday, the seventeenth.

Outfit Rundown

Tank Top: Wet Seal

Cardigan: White House Black Market

Jeans: Old Navy

Shoes: Madden Girl 

Necklace/Earrings: Express

Brooch: ~*MYSTERY*~

How would you wear something tacky? Tell me in the comments!

Space Nails!

(Source)

I saw a gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous image on Tumblr the other day of a space/nebula themed manicure (which I no longer can find, boooo) and thought to myself "Hey! That's cool, let's try that!" and then I did.

Not wanting to dive completely headfirst into an area I'm not particularly good at (I can apply a base color and a glitter top coat, and that's usually as complicated as my nail designs get) I consulted the Google for instructions on how to go about getting space on my nails. I kind of chose the techniques that I liked a la carte and had at it.

So, here is the final result. Honestly, I think they look a lot cooler in person, I guess I'll have to futz with my camera more to find the right settings. Also as a side note, I have a very difficult time growing out my nails so they tend to have very little room to work with.

The basic technique of pretty much every tutorial I found was to apply a dark base in either black or dark blue, and then use the tiny corner of a makeup sponge with tweezers to dab on little clouds of color starting from lightest to darkest. To finish up, use a similar color to the base to blend the clouds and finish with a glitter topcoat. One of the cool things is that you can use whatever colors appeal to you most. A lot of other space nails use yellows and oranges, but I'm more inclined to cool colors so I stuck with those. 

The colors I used were: (OPI) Black Onyx, (China Glaze) White On White, (Hello Kitty Sephora) Minty, (China Glaze) Spontaneous, (Covergirl) Fuchsia Girl, (China Glaze) Sexy in the City and (Essie) Set in Stones. 

The entire process took about an hour and a half, so it was quite time consuming. Looking back, the things I would have done differently:

• Not gotten too excited about using the colors. It's hard not to get over zealous in the first stages of blotting on the clouds because it doesn't look the way you want it to yet, so next time I would be careful to be more subtle about the colors. 
• Used a more "3-D" glitter coat. "Set in Stones" is the color I used for the stars because the glitter comes in different sizes, but it's also a flat silver color which takes away some of the dimension. 
• Been more careful around the edges. I tend to just slather nailpolish on and then clean up my cuticles afterwards, and what I miss usually gets taken off as I wash my hands throughout the day. The absurd number of topcoats I put on made it a little more difficult for me to clean up around the edges, so next time I'll be less sloppy. 

Overall I'm pretty happy with the results, even if I don't think my pictures were able to do it justice. If you have an hour or two to burn, I'd highly suggest giving space nails a try. 

Von Follies by Dita Von Teese for Target

In case you didn't notice my update on this post, as it turns out (and would have been a good idea to look into ahead of time) the closet Target to me that received the Jason Wu collection is in Green Bay, which is about two hours away so I will most likely not be getting anything from that collection. That's alright, I wasn't lusting over anything from the collection anyway. 

To add to the list of things Target is releasing that I will not be able to get my hands on, today Target Australia launched their lingerie collection Von Follies by Dita Von Teese. I am a ginormous Dita Von Teese fan, I would say she's probably my biggest inspiration. You could slap her name on anything and I'd gobble it up. 

However, after looking at the small collection on the Target Australia website, the collection just srikes me as... lackluster, to say the least. Nothing about it seems to ooze glamour and sex appeal like anything Dita inspired ought to. It doesn't feel distinguished enough from any of the lingerie that I normally see being sold at Target to really deserve a special label. I look forward to seeing what Australian bloggers who do pick up some pieces have to say about the collection in person, but the photos on the website leaves me largely unimpressed. 

On a side note, I do like the fact that they used two different sized models. 

What do you think of the Von Follies by Dita Von Teese collection? Tell me in the comments!

Lazy Sunday 2.5.12

• 25 Teeny Tiny Ways to be A Lot More Fabulous
• Hilarious parody on the Manic Pixie Dream Girl trope
• Tips on wearing false eyelashes
• Middle School bans UGG boots - I know they're ugly, but I think banning them is taking it a little too far. 
• A very interesting read about the Wizard of Oz and changing one's appearance. I loved the comparison to how women play with their makeup! 

An Encounter With My Arch Nemesis

First of all, I'm sorry for the mini-hiatus. I've had a few personal problems to deal with the last few weeks, but everything should be okie-dokie now (I hope.)

Hours have been slow for me at work. I went in to trade in a game I didn't want anymore and was informed that we had a dress code policy change. Apparently the new code is "business casual" but everyone has been dressing more "business business". Frankly, it's a video game store. I think casual but put together is perfectly fine and the new code just looks pretentious; like we're pretending to be a different kind of establishment than we actually are. We used to be able to wear jeans, but now we're required to wear dress pants.

 I have not worn dress pants in about five years. I hate them. They either sit too high on my waist, or too low. Or they're too big, or so small that I get that extremely attractive set of wrinkles that radiates out from my crotch. And they're always, always too long which means I'm going to have to get them tailored if I don't want them dragging on the floor and having the hems ripped to shreds. I was asked to come in yesterday, and since I hadn't had the chance to buy a pair of spawn-of-the-devil pants yet I had to wear a knee-length skirt. While I love skirts they're just not optimal for all the bending and sitting and crouching I have to do when I'm merrily filing game discs away.

I work tomorrow because I'm one of the only people at the store that doesn't care about the Super Bowl, which means I cannot fail my mission. I must acquire, no, conquer dress pants once and for all. I will find a pair of pants that will be able to coexist with my body, or help me I will die trying.

PS. I'm also waking up at the ass-crack of dawn tomorrow to get to Target right as it opens for the Jason Wu collection, so expect a review of what I manage to pick up in the near future!  Just kidding, the nearest store that got the collection ended up being two hours away. Lame.