2012.03.06 - over-sized

I borrowed a school camera to take some pictures for yearbook stuff, but snapped some pictures of my outfit with it as well. For some reason, they came out slanted when I set the camera down on a rail, so that's why the full body pictures are off. 

blue sweater - Macy's
black&grey zig zag dress - Nordstrom Rack
black ribbed tights - mom's closet
turquoise necklace - thrift
cream crochet booties - Nordstrom Rack
white gold ring - mom (bought in China)
burnished octopus ring - Icing

nail polishes:
Revlon - Blue Lagoon
OPI - Lincoln Park After Dark Matte

It had snowed the day before, so I wanted to wear something really warm. I don't particularly like the look of thick coats or unflattering layers, so I opted for an over-sized sweater instead. The good thing about these sweaters is that you can pile on thinner layers underneath, and they won't show. Sweaters tend to drape more nicely on bare skin, but they still look fine on top of other fabrics. I try to wear layers under my sweaters that aren't very clingy so the sweater will still have the same drape.

Under this blue sweater, I wore a body-con dress with half-length sleeves. I also wore a camisole under the dress to add more warmth. This sweater has varying shades of blue mottled within it and slight dolman sleeves. I realized when I got home that this outfit actually matched quite well with my nails. The different shades of blue and the zig-zag pattern of both fit together.

Even though it felt like the middle of winter, I wanted to bring more of a springy feel to my outfit because it's already March! I did this by wearing my new turquoise pendant and cream, crochet ankle boots. Turquoise is synonymous to summer when it comes to jewelry. The shoes gave more of an airy feel to this outfit because of the crochet and light color.

The burnished silver in the pendant inspired me to break out my octopus ring again. I hadn't worn it in quite a while and it hadn't crossed my mind to wear it. It makes just enough of a statement for me. I also wore a simple white gold band that I wear everyday.

Oh, and that's my puppy, Josh, running through the background in my pictures! He's part bishon frise.

I hope you enjoyed this quick outfit and check in soon for more! Thanks for reading and follow if you want to see more.
AprilLily

2012.01.31 - creme

This might be the first time that I actually post an outfit on the day that I wore it. I woke up late and decided to just throw together an outfit using some items of clothing that I wouldn't usually reach for. 

I look a bit startled in this photo! o.o

cream sweater - mom's
grey long sleeve shirt (mostly not visible) - Nordstrom Rack
tube dress worn as skirt - Wet Seal
thick grey tights - H&M
purple necklace - Nordstrom
crochet ankle boots - Nordstrom Rack
nail polish - Crowded by Urban Outfitters

I've had this sweater for as long as I can remember, but I always only wear it at home. For some reason, I have quite a few sweaters that I never wear out of the house. I love the look of sweaters and slouchy tops on others, but I can never seem to find outfits that I don't think look strange on me. The crew neck cut of this sweater makes me wish I had a bold, collar necklace to wear with it. If I had had more time to get dressed this morning, I would have tried on different button-downs underneath it to see which collars would look good peaking out. The preppy look of a button-down under a sweater is currently one of my favorite trends, which I will hopefully be trying out for myself more as the weather warms up a bit. For speediness, I simply put a plain, grey long-sleeve shirt under my sweater and called it good.

The skirt here is actually a tube dress that I used to wear somewhat often. It has a very summery feel, but I thought I could get away with it considering the warming weather is starting to bring the feeling of spring. The top of this dress is smocking and tends to fall down throughout the day. I knew that I wouldn't be able to make sure it stayed up very easily through my shirt and sweater, so I belted it around the waist to hold it up.

Because the rest of my outfit consisted of light, pastel colors, I wanted to ground my outfit with darker-colored tights. I didn't feel that black would match very well, so I went for a softer grey. Also, to break up the large expanse of beige that is my sweater, I wore a long, purple necklace with a large pendant. At the beginning of the day, there was a smaller, purple and turquoise pendant hanging inside the larger pendant. It must have fallen off sometime during school without me noticing, which is a bummer. I have a matching charm bracelet though, and it has two charms that are the same smaller pendant that fell off. If the empty space in the middle of my necklace pendant bothers me enough, I'll replace the center with one of the charms from that bracelet.

I've been experiencing a few very hectic and stressful weeks, but somehow painting my nails made me feel reasonably better. I hadn't painted them in far too long. Even though I only did a solid color, the feeling of having them painted inexplicably makes me feel much happier. This polish is a wonderful consistency and only requires one coat of medium thickness to completely cover my nails. It is extremely opaque and dries to a nice, smooth finish. Its staying power isn't great, but I usually paint my nails every weekend, and it lasts long enough that I don't have to worry about it having noticeable chips before the end of the week.

Well, today was the first day in I don't even know how long, that I haven't taken a nap. I was probably running primarily on adrenaline due to my recent lack of sleep, but hopefully this helps me get my sleeping schedule back to normal. I'll end my post here to sleep and relieve all of you from my endless rambling about clothes.

Thanks for checking in and follow to see upcoming outfit and nail art posts!
AprilLily

Also, if you're looking for more photo inspiration, check out my tumblr.
http://aprillily.tumblr.com/