All Shapes and Sizes

Accessories:  What classifies as an ‘accessory’?

I hope that our recent talks about accessories have been helpful and inspiring to you; have you played the game yet?  I still do it every morning :)  Today I would like to continue our talks about accessories by talking about the many other types of accessories.  Beyond your basics; earrings, necklaces, bracelets, rings, etc…there are many other things that classify as accessories that not many people use to their advantage;

• Purses (clutches, over-sized bags, etc.)
• Scarves (long, skinny, winter, summer, silk, cashmere, big, little, the list goes on forever!)
• Shoes (how often do you think about your shoes being used as an accessory to your outfit?)
• Leg Wear (leggings, socks, tights, leg warmers, etc.)
• Hair (and I’m not just talking about a simple pony tail here.)
• Make-up (if your make-up doesn’t match the ‘tone’ of your outfit, everything can look off.)
• Finger and Toe Nails (um hello!?! Hasn’t anyone ever heard of nail polish-and nail polish remover for that matter.)
• Belts (thick, thin, braided, leather, metallic, etc.)
• Head Bands (floral, plain, knitted, lace, ribbon, scarves, etc.)
• Hair Jewelry (flowers, diamonds, clips, bows, combs, etc.)

Am I making my point?

One of the most essential parts of a woman’s wardrobe is her accessories.  Because they are so versatile and most pieces don’t go out of style, accessories help you to keep your wardrobe fresh and exciting.  They create focal points for your outfit and add personality and flare.  When done tastefully, hair and make-up can also be used to help bring your outfit together.  I often consider the feel of my outfit before I decide if my hair should be worn up or down, or in a simple pony tail or some sort of elaborate up-do.  Your hair, especially if it is long, can be one of your most adaptable accessories.

In future posts we’ll go into some detail about different accessories and how you can use them to set the mood of you outfit.  Let’s just take a quick look at hair right now.

The most essential part of your relationship with your hair is getting to know it.  Is it thin? Thick? Do you have natural wave?  Curls?  Are they tight curls or loose curls?  What’s the texture like?  It is foundational that you have a good idea of your hair so you’ll know what style will work with your hair.  Some hairstyles won’t work for every type, but most are adaptable if you get to know your hair and how to best style it.  I know this all seems very foundational, but I’m going to start doing more tutorials on hair styles, and it is best if you have a working knowledge of your hair before we go any further.  So take some time to play with your hair, really get a good feel for how it handles best.  If your hair is thin, you might want to look into volumizing shampoo or a mousse that adds a bit of texture to your hair.  If your hair is thick you’ll want to figure out how it handles best.  There are many variables to every hair type, haircut and length, get to know your hair, we’ll meet back up in a few days to go over your findings ;)

Polka-Dot Toes!

Tutorial; Polka-dot toe nail polish

Feeling so fresh and summery with my new paint job!

In celebration of the beginning of summer, my toes needed a make-over…So I decided that I would try a style that I saw online recently.  It looked easy enough to do…What follows if my findings on how to paint your toenails  polka-dot style!

I went through my nail polish choices and grouped together a few color schemes that I thought would be pretty;

I call this selection Berry-Delicious

This grouping is named 'I'm a princess, thus, I wear pink...'

I call this selection Dust and Roses

And yes, of course I named this group Crazy Lady

So, now that I’ve shown a few of the many color selections I could have chosen, this is my journey into the land of prettily painted toe-nails…

First I started with a sheer/pearlized base coat, I thought it’d be a little prettier than just plain nails…

Plain toes...

Then, while my first coat was drying, I put together my dotting tools and got the other colors ready.  To make the dotting tools, all you need is a few different sized pin heads, and a few old pencils.  I also used a small sheet of wax paper to put the nail polish dots on.

Ready to polka-dot!

So from this point it was just a matter of making the dots.  *note; you want to work fairly quickly, as your blobs of nail polish will begin to dry out on the paper.

1)  First I used my medium purple color to add a few “base dots”, I used the purple pin head for these.

 

2) Second I used the small nail head dotter to put a few light green polka-dots on my toes.

 

3)  Third I used the pin headed dotter and the darker purple color to add some contrast.

 

4)  I used the flat-headed nail to add the dark blue dots because I really liked the color and wanted it to stand out the most.

5) I used the smallest dotter to add the dark green polka to fill in any areas that looked sparse.

 

So this is how it all turned out;

The finished product; polka-dot toes!!!

I am thrilled with how this turned out, and was very surprised at how simple it really was to do this!  It only took me about ten minutes (and most of that time was spent taking all the picture, lol) to finish this.  I really like the plain background with these colors, but I also think it’d be really fun to try a colored background with different colored dots.  There is just so much potential to this idea!

As soon as I was done painting, I wanted to match my outfit to my toes!  I just love the fun and funky feel that this nail polish gives off, I think it’s my new summer style staple!  I’m really excited to try all different color schemes!