OOTD (Playing Dress-up)

Yesterday I took my daughter to a "princess tea party", organized by one of the moms in our class. The "dress code" said that party dresses and princess costumes were welcome. She is not much into princesses (we have two Disney princess costumes but she would wear her Minnie Mouse costume any time over the princesses), so we decided that she would wear her holiday party dress (by the way, I recently saw it in the clearance section at Gymboree and if you have a young girl, I highly reccomend to get it now for the next holiday season. It looks like a million bucks).

I wanted to play dress-up too and my version of dress-up is a pencil skirt and a feminine blouse (when I wear a pencil skirt I always feel like I am dressing up like a lady). I recently received the Timber pencil skirt from the lovely shopwithm but I had nothing to wear with it (my cobblestone cashmere cardigan, which is a perfect match for this skirt, is in the laundry bin), so I came up with an outfit with the Sunnie:

My daughter (who is peeking in her party dress behind me) said that I didn't look like a princess at all because I wasn't wearing a dress and princesses only wear dresses. She was right and besides, I didn't want to wear heels in case I had to chase her, so I changed into a more comfortable outfit, trading the pencil skirt for a pair of jeans. I really wanted to wear the Harlow blouse in sweet guava though (I also have the ivory version) so I kept everything but the pencil skirt (I think that it still looks lady-like, maybe it's the necklace):

Speaking of dressing up and stuff like that, I recently bought my daughter her first nail polish because she was giving herself manicures with markers, which are much harder to wipe off than regular nail polish. I came across Piggy Paint, a brand that sells non toxic nail polishes for kids, in fun colors that kids (but not only kids) love (they just came out with a adults line). Of course she picked a "mermaid green" instead of the more subdued pink that I was trying to sell her. She is obsessed with it and she did a good job in applying it herself:

It also peels off very easily, which in this case is a plus. They also have adorable gift sets that will be a hit at any girls party (you can also buy Piggy Paint on Amazon.com and BedBathandBeyond.com. BTW, I am not affiliated in any way with this brand, I just wanted to share a great find).

Happy Tuesday!

A Fabulous H&M Find (and a pair of Minnies look-alike)

In my previous post I was saying that I try to stay away from H&M because I find that in general what looks great for the price in the store, doesn't look so good once I arrive home and I end up regretting most of my purchases there (which leads to shopping exhaution). But there are (rare) exceptions.

While I was there to checkout the Sonia Rykiel collection last Saturday, I couldn't help browsing the other racks (even if it was 4 pm on a Saturday afternoon and the music was pumping like crazy). And I found something that I think is REALLY fabulous, for only $24.50.

It's a blouse of nautical inspiration, with an elastic at the waist, covered by a tissue belt. The color combination is just about perfect:



It has adorable golden button at the shoulder (they are not "fake" buttons, but I could pull it over without openining them, which seems a little bit of a hassle):



This blouse is 100% polyesther but it doesn't look cheap at all (I was surprised that the fabric wasn't silk or at least a blend). Had I seen someone wearing this in the street I would have thought that it was something by Chloe and I would have been very jalous because I can't afford wearing Chloe.
To be honest, of all the new spring clothes that I bought or seen around, this is the one that I'm the more excited about. I simply can't wait to wear it. I can picture it with a denim pencil skirt, white trousers or with skinny jeans.

Speaking of skinny jeans, the last thing that I bought is a pair of denim leggings that look like the Minnies, at least once on. I liked the denim Minnies when I tried them but I'm bothered by the ankle zipper because I think that they will look dated next year and I'm not sure that I want to pay $98 for something that I will wear only one season (especially jeans).
These H&M look-alike are only $19.50 and if the details are kind of cheap (faux-pockets, elastic bandwaist), the wash and overall effect is the same as the Minnies. I was wearing them in the pics above but you can better see them in this pic (they need to be hemmed, I just rolled them on the inside to take the pic):



I think that I can live with the cheap details and save $70, what do you think?

We'll see if JCrew is going to do better than H&M in the March rollout. I could convert myself to disposable fashion!

Follow-up on the "What to Wear with Sweet Guava" Post

Ladies, as I said before I value your opinion very much and you gave me some great feedback on my quest to find a good match for my sweet guava blouse (see post here). Many comments suggested that I should look into something in a brown shade like cocoa or caramel, and honestly I would have never thought of that by my own.

The problem is I have nothing in those shades (only turtlenecks) and Jcrew hasn't offered anything this year besides the Cashmere V-neck long cardigan in heather caramel (by the way, where are the beiges at Jcrew?), which is still FP. What's a girl to do (besides kicking herself for not getting a Michelle in glazed pecan last year in super-final sale)?
At least you inspired me to try my toothpick cords in soft ochre and they look GREAT with the blouse (not only the color but also the skinny style, that allows the blouse to fall nicely):



Someone also suggested cinnamon spice, so I tried my Celosia cardigan on this:



but I have to say that it looks nicer in the pic than IRL (the cinnamon spice and soft ochre look quite the same in the pic but they fight a little bit IRL in my opinion).

The other color that was very popular in your comments was yellow, in a mustardy shade. Here I was luckier because Jcrew has a lot of mustardy cardigans (so much so that I think they are out of names). Now, it would have bothered me to buy a new cardigan only for the sake of wearing it with this blouse (and that's why I couldn't go with a pale pink or even a sweet guava, because I know that I wouldn't wear them enough), but mustard yellow looks good on me and it fits well in my closet so it's something that I can wear again and again.
So during the 20% off sale promo last week I ordered a cashmere crewneck in warm maize (after looking for it in store, where it was cheaper and not finding it) and I got it in the mail two days ago (by the way, I hadn't ordered anything since before Thanksgiving, so I was pretty excited to receive a Jcrew box). Of course I HAD to order some ride-along for the free shipping, but more on that in another post.

I have to say, I LOVE this color (OK, warm maize is not exactly the same as mustard but we all know that Jcrew can have three different shades that look almost the same if it weren't for the color code on the tag) and I like that it looks almost golden under a certain light. Also it was my first crewneck cashmere cardigan, and I'm pleased with the fit (but luckily before ordering I had tried another color in store in XS, otherwise I would have bought a S, my size in the Jackie).
Here it is with the blouse (taken with the natural light coming from two different sources. As you can see the color of the cardigan seems to change, it' not the camera, even if the color in the second pic is more true):




Even if I hadn't bought it for the sweet guava blouse, I would keep it, I know I'm repeating myself but this is a great color. Re. the quality of the cashmere, I didn't have high expectations and as far as I didn't pay FP it's fine if it's a little bit lightweight.

So I can file away this sweet guava dilemma. Now thanks to you I have at least two cardigan options (besides the navy and black ones) to wear with my blouse and spring is going be here sooner than we think.
But I have another fashion dilemma ready for you, stay tuned!

In the meanwhile keep warm and have a nice weekend all!

Fashion-Related Question #1: What to Wear with... Sweet Guava?

I can never remember if papayas are fresh or bright at Jcrew but I'm pretty sure that guavas are sweet (I'm talking about the colors, of course).

So this is the first of a series of posts where I ask you to help me with a fashion-relate dilemma. In this case the dilemma is what to wear with a sweet guava top.
Some time ago I had the chance to come across a Harlow blouse in sweet guava in my size and for a decent price on the JCA Weekly Exchange. I already own the ivory version (see this post) and I regretted not getting also the sweet guava one (and/or the honey glaze one) because I absolutely LOVE this blouse, it's so feminine and classic and it will never go out of style (I can picture myself wearing this when I'm 80). So I got it and I was very excited about adding it to my closet.
However as much as I love the color per se, I find particularly challenging to find a cardigan to pair with it. I think that the blouse is mean to be worn alone in the first place but it's freezing here and I would like to wear it before spring, if not right now (it is REALLY freezing and there is nothing that could convince me to wear something different from a cashmere sweater these days).

Anyway, I have tried it with different cardigans that I already have and I'm not very happy, so I hope that you have some great ideas for me. While I was trying to find a cardigan to pair with it, I have realized that my winter color palette, and in particular my cardigans' color palette, is neutral bordering boring: besides a bright papaya cashmere V-neck cardigan from last year and the pinkish Michelle that I bought at the sample sale, everything is beige or black/charcoal or navy. There isn't a single splash of color, so I wouldn't mind taking advantage of the current great sale prices to buy a cardigan or two in a bright color.
But because maybe you don't remember the blouse, I wanted to show you a picture of it worn alone first. The jeans that I'm wearing in the pics are not the best style for this blouse but I was focused on the top half of my outfit, so please don't let the jeans distract you.



A similar style (plus the ruffly placket) from the current fall/winter collection, is the Solid Loulou blouse, that also comes in sweet guava, so if you have this one and you have found what to wear it with, I would like to hear it!

The first pairing that I have tried is the most obvious one, a black or navy cardigan. I picked up the navy Portland because it was longer than my black cardigans:



That's a safe choice (I think that nobody will point at me and say that I have a weird color taste if I go out wearing this); however I also think there is too much contrast between the sweet guava and a dark color like navy.
So I tried a heather grey, which on the opposite, is a little bit too fade for sweet guava (please mentally substitute this cardigan, which is old and too short, with something like the mohair souffle one):

I think that in the lighter palette a snow would work better, but snow is typically a color that washes me out (the last time that I have tried something in snow, the SA said that I could do better and said by a SA it sounds like a granitic truth).

Now for the unexpected pairings, I tried it with my cotton-cashmere waterfall cardigan in spice olive from this spring:



Unexpected it surely is, but is it also nice? I can't tell, what do you think?

And finally the following is the best I could come up with. You could call it an orgy of pastels but I kind of like them together, it's very delicate and it "respects" the spirit of the blouse. I'm talking of my croquet cardigan in amethyst from last spring. Did I tell you that I love this cardigan?



I think that this is how I'm going to wear it until I find another option. The bonus is that the cashmere in this cardigan is much thicker than any cashmere sweater that I have seen this fall/winter season (I'm still wondering why this cardi was part of the spring collection), so at least I'm going to be warm.
An option that I have been considering is buying a sweet guava cardigan for a total guava look. But because the bling cardigan (that comes in guava) I had put my hopes in is so flimsy, I am left with a cashmere crewneck and I don't know if I want to spend money in a cashmere in this color.

Do you have a blouse or cami in sweet guava? What do you pair it with? Do you have any color pairing suggestion? Which one of the options that I have showed you do you like the best?
Please share!