Fall Essentials

Even though the temperature yesterday landed somewhere in the mid-80's and the humidity hovered somewhere between "stifling" and "oppressive," it was also the day I started to take my winter sweaters, jackets and flannels out of storage. Because fall is so. close. This change-of-the-season time is also a good point from which to examine what your wardrobe is lacking to make it really work for you.

The Clumsy Girl's Guide to Painting Your Stuff

I mostly stick to writing about personal style for a reason. Despite having the kind of job where I stand on ladders, build and hang things for much of the day I'm almost hopelessly clumsy and accident prone. In my personal life I try to be avoid being around anything that could permanently damage anything else. But Pintrest has gotten to me, like everyone else. After seeing so many tutorials I managed to convince myself that it didn't look so hard. On a bright and sunny weekend I began my attempt at updating furniture on the cheap with two little vintage style bedside tables I had. The shapes were cute, but the thick blonde varnish and chips (and one large-ish burn mark...whoops) were not. I made my mind up to paint them clean white and cover the tops with a trendy chevron pattern. And it actually worked pretty well- and cost less than buying cheap particle board stuff at Target.

Around the Web: Learning What To Do With Crazy Colors

A while ago my wonderful, makeup loving roommate gifted me piles and piles of MAC's fantastically colored pigments. They're really pretty to look at, but it took me a while to figure out what to do with them. Sure, they make gorgeous eye shadows, but when you're paying a premium it's good to know all the options you have. Luckily, Into The Gloss comes to the rescue again. I might just be sporting neon pink eyeliner tomorrow. 

Old is New is New

Summer, especially this summer, has turned out to be a bad time to write about style and fashion. For the past month or so it seems like everyone has been trying to wear as little as humanly possible and accessorizing with sunblock and bug spray. Today's 75-and-sunshine weather feels blissfully cool by comparison. Now that simply moving around doesn't leave you dripping in sweat its a good time to attempt a seasonal closet cleanout. By this point it's pretty obvious what summer clothes are receiving the bulk of the wear, what's just taking up space, and what pieces would take your wardrobe to the next level. Get this done in the next week or so and you'll be richly rewarded with the best opportunity Albany can give you to sell your stuff and add awesome- and affordable- clothes to your collection.

I'm baaaaaaack!

After nearly a year off I'm finally back in the saddle. I wish that there was a better excuse for my long, long absence, like writing a book or climbing Mount Everest or something. Instead, this is what happened: life. I got got distracted from crafting and writing, which ended up meeting I got incredibly distracted from writing online about crafting. Then I realized how much I missed both of those things and knew that I had to revive this blog. I'm still tight on time, though, so I'm going to try to experiment with different kinds of features. I really want to focus on using the phenomenal talent all around me by bringing on guest bloggers, profiling local fashionable ladies and spotting some hot Albany street style.

The Street Fashion That Didn't Happen

    The other night I went to see Grimes in Hudson, camera in tow, anticipating that this would be a wonderful opportunity for my FIRST EVER STREET FASHION POST! Like just about every amazing plan I have this didn't work. First, there was some wierdo energy happening that caused my camera to almost catch on fire. Second, there were a lot of clothes happening, none of which I would consider fashion that I would encourage others to repeat. It was a little like being in a kindergarten in 1992. At one point a took a picture of a girl wearing a sheer pink leotard and a hippie wall hanging and sent it to my sister, who initially believed that she was naked. It could have happened.

    So instead, let's consider the lady herself:

    Grimes (a.k.a Claire Boucher) puts on an amazing show and seems so sweet you just want to be her friend (because she's Canadian). Unlike the uber-self-conscious Vassar undergrads sloshing drinks around us she was sporting an old Marilyn Manson shirt and a hoodie. She between the cut up skeleton shirts her hipster-hype girls wear and the heavy metal appropriate art on the cover of Visions it's clear this girl's got a serious goth streak. I can picture her wearing the same chain-laden Tripp NYC pants and florescent eyeliner I did in high school. Despite showing up in the September issue of vogue and the New York times reporting that designers are falling over themselves to loan her their duds it's pretty excellent that she's remaining true to what she likes and not feeling the pressure to look cool. She combines diverse elements of fashion (and music!) in ways that are pretty inspiring. Fingerless skeleton gloves? Sure! Designer leggings? Yep. Bhindis like it's straight up 1997? Let's do it! Looking around this crazy crowd, most of whom appeared to have gone to great lengths to look original, it occurred to me that all of the truly cool, insanely accomplished  ladies in the room, both on stage and off, were cool because they looked like themselves. While figuring out a personal style and not having to hide behind looking a certain way is easier said than done, my take away from this was that it isn't about what you wear, it's how you wear it. And also probably see this lady sometime very soon.

Things to spend money on: top-notch lady stuff

    Whew! I took a break there for a while. I started running and submitted my first journal article and researched PhD programs and generally tried to work on being a grown up. And now I'm done with that for a while.So now back to Salvation Army shopping and shoe sales!
    At this point, it's pretty easy to see that I am not a big fan of spending money. If there's a coupon, a sale, a less-expensive-close-enough version or if I can wait two months and get it cheaper I usually will. My posts so far have been mostly about how to cut corners and make something out of nothing. I throw the word "cheap" around a lot when I describe myself but in reality I prefer "thrifty" There are some things I consider well worth the money they cost, so I decided that it might be nice to have a post about spending money (well) instead of trying to pocket every cent possible.
    As you probably all know, my fashion-loving friends, the September issue of Vogue came out a few weeks ago. It kind of sucked, from the cheesy Photoshopped bow on the cover to the approximately 600 pages of ads. I wasn't so into it until I saw an ad for OPI's new collection. The delightfully odd color "Don't Talk Bach to Me" made my heart skip a beat. It's an odd mustard-lime that's even more bizarre in person, and as a fan of weird nail polish colors I had to run out and get it THAT DAY. And I haven't been disappointed. It's crazy looking. But as someone who saves up my Price Chopper gas points how can I justify spending big bucks on lady stuff when there are so many cheapo drug store options?
   For me, it's simple: I like different. My favorite nail polish color is one called "Uh-oh, Roll Down the Window" for reasons that may be instantly obvious. Cheaper polishes still stick mainly to the pink-red-coral end of things, maybe featuring brights for summer and plums for winter. Higher end, and especially designer, polishes tend to feature polishes based on the "in" colors of the season. Brands like Chanel that have both fashion and beauty houses often match polish to runway shows, giving us mere mortals a taste of haute couture. This summer that meant mint EVERYWHERE. For the fall it's looking like gothy darks and awesomely off-kilter shades like griege and mustard. Though there's still a pretty major debate around this many of these brands also are "three free," which means they have stopped using formaldehyde, dibutyl phthalate, and toluene in their polishes. These substances are carcinogens and toxins, and despite still-controversial studies it seems better not to risk putting them on your fingers. When applied correctly they are also longer lasting than their cheaper counterparts. For me, this makes them bargain enough.