New Pretty Spring Dresses

I'm so excited that the snow has finally melted (even though we did get a few flurries last week...) and I thought I'd share with you guys a few of the dresses I've recently bought in preparation for Spring weather.

This gorgeous yellow eyelet lace dress I purchased at The Limited. I was immediately drawn to the cheery, bright color and the 50s-esque silhouette when I spotted it on the rack. I held it up to my shoulders and excitedly asked my boyfriend what he thought of it.

He said it looked like cheese.

Though I suffered a crushing moment where I feared I would never be able to unsee the cheesiness, I resolved not to let his offhand comment bother me.

 I fell in love with the dress after trying it on. I'm on the bustier side, so I have a problem with button-gaping when it comes to off the rack pieces but this lace dress is incredibly flattering. Instead of buttoning all the way up, it comes to a V-neck midway across the chest, which is quite becoming on well endowed ladies. I can button it all the way up with zero worries about showing more skin than intended. This is a perfect dress for women with large chests who like a vintage look.

I forgot to mention: not to be discouraged by my skeptical boyfriend, I have henceforth referred to it as "the cheese dress." Put me next to Lady Gaga and we could be a walking meat and cheese platter.

This blue floral sundress is from Tommy Hilfiger. It struck me while I was shopping that 13 year old me would be so weirded out by the prospect of shopping there because, y'know, that's a prep store. I was super non-conformist and exclusively bought clothes at Hot Topic because it like, expressed how different I was. Or something. I don't know.

I just self-cringed a little. That was a dark time in my life, let us not speak of it further.

Anyway, I think this dress would look gorgeous with the big white straw sunhat I bought for Puerto Rico (but never ended up wearing because of the wind, boo.) Can't wait for the rain to let up so I can give it a whirl!

I'm ashamed to admit it, but as much as I adore vintage and retro styles I rarely ever go thrifting. It's a combination of feeling overwhelmed by the generally disorganized racks and feeling discouraged because of the aforementioned bust issue.

 When I decided on a whim to go to Atomic Katz, a local vintage store my discouragement was only reaffirmed as I zipped up gorgeous dresses with ease... right up until mid-ribcage when it became apparent there would be no closing them up without taking some very drastic measures.

This mint dress was the only one I had zero issue with, and strangely enough it's another with buttons. Since this is one of the first vintage missions I've come back from successfully, I'm itching to search for more shops around my area and hopefully expand my vintage wardrobe.

What have you bought for Spring? Tell me in the comments!

Mor Cosmetics Haul & Review

I first stumbled upon Mor Cosmetics while aimlessly flipping through a magazine. One of the features had a collage of items that every woman should have in their purse, and Mor Lip Macarons was pictured. 

Now, for those of you who don't know, I'm a complete sucker for packaging. I'm also a complete sucker for macarons and beauty products. Needless to say my curiosity was piqued to put it mildly, and I instantly went to their website to take a look at what else they offered. It was love at first sight. Everything matched my aesthetic perfectly and I had to try some of their products out for myself. I know, I shouldn't put so much stock in packaging, but everything was just so pretty!

The Belladonna Hand Cream was the purchase I was most apprehensive about. Scented lotions are tricky for me because if it's too heavily perfumed I get a headache and never ever want to use it ever again. As much as I love LUSH, I've stopped buying their body and hand creams for just that reason. 

I was pleasantly surprised by the subtlety of this scent. I didn't find it to be the least bit overpowering, in fact it's a very delicate fragrance -- sort of like a floral baby powder, which doesn't really sound quite a appealing as it is.

 The cream itself is rich and moisturizing, it actually keeps my hands feeling soft longer than my medicated Eucerin cream. I love that it has the added effect of making me feel like I'm pampering myself by using it, even though it's actually really good for me. 

I got a little tin of soap as well, called Little Luxuries Marshmallow Soapette which sounds freakin' adorable. I haven't had a chance to actually use the soap yet... I almost don't want to because I don't want to ruin it. I'd rather keep it in tact as decorative soap for when I finally have an apartment with a decent sized bathroom. 

I can tell you that it doesn't really smell like marshmallow, which is fine with me because I mostly selected this one because I liked the shade of pink (I know, I know I'm terrible.) Right now tin and soap are decorating the top of my dresser. I like them better there. 

And of course, the reason I ventured to Mor Cosmetics in the first place -- the lip macaron. I'm sad to say, I was initially disappointed. It was much tinier than I was expecting, and for some reason I was expecting (through no basis in reality) for there to be a tint of color to the formula, but it's just clear. The tin itself also feels a lot cheaper than I was expecting. The tray of the product moves around a little bit in the container, and you can see below what the inside looks like.

 $10 felt like an excessive amount of money to pay for basically a peach-scented tin of Chapstick. My opinion changed when I tried it, however. It's remarkably moisturizing, even decadent feeling. I am an absolute Chapstick addict but I only need to use my lip macaron once for every maybe 5 reapplications of Chapstick that I'd have to do otherwise. The soft feeling lingers for a long time, and tastes delicious too. That said, buying another one seems unnecessary for the price tag so I'm perfectly content with just having one in my collection. 

Overall, I'm completely pleased with my order and I can't wait to purchase from Mor Cosmetics again. I'm especially interested in trying their scented candles and gorgeous perfume, which I think I may be getting in the near future!

Pearls and Studs

Outfit Details

Sweater: Forever 21; Pants: Loft; Shoes: Aldo; Necklace: Vintage; Handbag: Madden Girl 

One day, on a whim, I bought a pink sweater from Forever 21 because I was trying to incorporate more of my favorite color into my wardrobe. Under normal circumstances, buying anything from Forever 21 is understood to be a very short-term purchase, but let me tell you that goes doubly so when you buy anything that has a bunch of tiny, tiny embellishments sewn on.

I don't know why I thought this was a good idea. I wore this to go shopping on Saturday, and every time I'd pull it over my head to try something else on at least two or three minuscule pearls flew off and bounced all over the floor. By the time I went home, almost the entirety of the left side of my chest was missing its decorations and I had several little pink threads poking out in every direction. 

I could maybe, maybe get one more wear out of it if I don't mind being lopsidedly adorned or if I just clip all the little pearls off myself -- but at (I think) $20 for the sweater, the cost per wear on this item is pretty abysmal. Cute concept, poor execution. But as I said, I really shouldn't have expected any better from a store that is pretty much the epitome of fast fashion. 

I mentioned in yesterday's Link Love post that I'm trying to be more discerning about the quality of clothes I buy. While I can't afford absolute top-of-the-line quality as a college student, at the very least I can try to avoid really, really obvious lapses in judgement again. 

Here's what I picked up at the mall though. I got two tops from the Limited, which while again not being top-of-the-line quality, is certainly better than Forever 21 and was having a pretty great sale when I stopped by. I'm really excited about the polka dot sweater, as I've been on a sweater kick lately. I used to think sweaters looked really... matronly on my figure. Think Kindergarten teacher with a cat applique cardigan. 

I have since discovered, however that if I'm very particular about the material and cut I can manage to pull them off. Specifically, V-necks and very thin, form-fitting knit will work. I feel like an entire world of new possibilities has been opened up to me since discovering I can actually wear something that's felt off limits to me for so long. 

Have you ever made clothing purchase that you regret? Or have you discovered ways to wear something you previously didn't think you could? Tell me in the comments! 

Black Friday Buys

I didn't really go crazy with Black Friday shopping or anything -- to be honest, I think the majority of the reason I go is just because I love the excitement of it. I went later in the day too, when the door busters were all over and the crowds had mostly died down. Regardless, I did manage to snag a couple of deals. I got the pink and black shirt and black skirt for only $25 (total!!) at Charlotte Russe, and the heart cardigan was $25 at Forever 21. It wasn't on sale, but it was too cute to resist. 

Aldo had 50% off sale items. I originally had gone to the physical store, but it was packed and decided I'd just order what I liked online instead since I already know how their shoes fit me. I need flats -- as much as I love heels, I realized I wear flats so much that the few pairs that I do own get worn out too quickly and I have to replace them every couple months. I snagged four pairs at Aldo for only about $80! I'm still waiting on the second two pairs to come in the mail though. 

I was so excited that this lavender blazer from H&M was on sale. I scoped it out a few weeks ago, but passed it over at $30 even though it was originally $49.99. On Black Friday I was excited to see they had dropped the price even more down to $20. I'm a sucker for pastels. 

Honestly nothing that I picked up at Sephora was on sale, it just wasn't terribly crowded and I decided I could use some new makeup. I got Dr. Jart+ BB cream, as I've been dying to try some beauty balms for a while. I'm really liking it so far, I think I'll post a review soon! I love the Too Faced lipliner I got, it makes my lipstick stay on so much longer. I'm still on the fence about my Stila eyeliner, it's good for very fine lines but thicker lines don't go on as smoothly as I'd like. The Clinique moisturizer was a reward from my amassed Beauty Points. I've never actually tried any Clinique products, and I'm loving it so far, I may actually end up purchasing it! 

Did you end up going shopping on Black Friday? What did you get? Tell me in the comments!

Spring Shopping Haul

I realized a few days ago that I've been cycling through the same handful of outfits for work the last few weeks, that combined with Spring being my favorite season trend-wise I headed to the mall after class today. Here's what I got!

I made a beeline to White House Black Market. I've been salivating over this cardigan since I saw it online. It has roses AND rhinestones, which makes it two of my favorite things in one thing. The skirt was on sale and I thought it would be pretty versatile and a great way to do some subtle colorblocking. I ended up chatting about the "geek stigma" in video games with the sales associate, apparently she takes her sons to GameStop quite a bit so that was certainly an interesting conversation.

One of my goals for this trip was to pick up more tops. Finding tops for my body has always been a struggle, since I'm pretty busty but have a relatively small waist. Anything that isn't fitted tends to make me look chubbier than I actually am. I've never bought anything from Ann Taylor before, but the sales associate helping me was very friendly. I went to the fitting room to try on one top, and when I didn't like it she came back with at least 10 more for me to try on. I was a little overwhelmed, especially since I knew a couple of them weren't my style. But, I tried them all on none the less. I have to say that I'm glad I let someone else pick things out for me since a few of the shirts I would never have given a second glance to were actually quite flattering. I ended up picking out two solid colored tops with three-quarter sleeves that I know I can pair with a few other pieces already in my wardrobe.

Another revelation I've had recently was that I have several fancy, lacy bras but no neutral colored bras to wear under sheerer tops so I used my Secret Rewards Card ($10, no surprise there) and picked up a basic beige cotton bra. Not the sexiest thing in the entire world, but it was a basic piece I was lacking.

And lastly, a few basics from the lower-end stores. Camisoles have been a staple of my wardrobe lately, I like being able to put a cardigan over one and go if I don't have time to get dressed up. I've been looking for a opaque lace top for a while now too, and I got this beige/black one after trying on three different sizes since it refused to fit my boobs correctly. The three camis on the left are from Vanity, and the lace top is from Wet Seal.

One of the reasons I had such a successful trip is that I planned out exactly what I was looking for ahead of time. I knew I was mostly looking for tops that I could wear to work, and I made sure to stick to that plan. A helpful exercise I did a few days ago was to pick my favorite pieces from my wardrobe that I already own and write down exactly what it was that I liked about them to help me when I'm picking new pieces out. A few things I didn't realize I liked until I actually thought about it. For instance, one of my favorite shirts has three-quarter sleeves and I found I gravitate towards wrap-style tops.

Of course, there are a few trendier things I'd like to get for spring still. A lace pencil skirt comes to mind, and you can never have too many sun dresses.

What did you get on your most recent shopping excursion? Tell me in the comments!