Tennis inspired

Things I'm digging lately:

1. Nivea A Kiss of Care & Color in Sheer Coral (~$4.49): I can't live without my Nivea A Kiss of Milk & Honey Lip Balm. So luckily, this Care & Color formula is similar to my Milk & Honey. It has the same baby-powder smell but with an added minty menthol kick (which I don't care for too much). The good thing is that it does give a nice coral color to my lips and a bit of a sheen. The texture feels exactly like my beloved Milk & Honey, except the cooling effect from the menthol, and I find myself having to apply more of it throughout the day to maintain the color and moisturizing effect. Despite all that, I've been using this more than any of my lipsticks because the sheer color looks much more natural on me. I'm all for no fuss, natural lips right now!

2. The Tennis Sweater: speaking of clothing items that "look good on camera", the tennis sweater is definitely one of them. The white knit with the bold navy V-neck as seen on Olivia Wilde on the cover of Lucky May 2014 issue was gorgeous! I've also seen this same sweater on the stylish Atlantic-Pacific several times. Here's some interesting tidbits about the tennis sweater on The Gentleman's Gazette. 

Flowy pants

Continuing my pants phase...I've been seeing lots of interesting pant styles at my favorite Forever 21 store lately. I'm not sure if "culottes" are considered pants, but I decided to try one out for fun.

It's kind of vintage, romantic and weird...I like it!

At first I was hesitant on the length...the dreaded "midi" length (which usually makes me feel stumpy and frumpy), but somehow fashion overcame the rules here. 

I've always been attracted to palazzo pants, but most on the market are so long in length that I don't even care to try them on. I'm thinking maybe culottes (especially with high waist and A-line shape) are a better alternative for petites than palazzo pants for that wonderful breezy flowy effect!

Here's some of the interesting pants I'm seeing at Forever 21 (click on picture for link):

Massimo Dutti Brogues

I first heard about Massimo Dutti from the wonderful Fast Food & Fast Fashion, and have been intrigued with their shoe selections since. I finally decided to order something from them during the July sales when these NYC limited edition leather brogues were around $79 (marked down from ~$220). Also being heavily influenced by menswear fashion lately, I decided to try these out.....

Gasp! They are gorgeous!

The packaging made me feel like I was opening a gift from the King of Spain or something....

The size 36 (US 6) fits true to size. The shoes are well-made and have that expensive leather furniture smell. Here's how they look on me with different outfits:

In actuality, I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to style these shoes. The shoes look beautiful on their own, but I felt dowdy in them. I'm thinking the problem is that the brown color doesn't suit my complexion and the heel is too low for my short legs. The sturdy leather also pinched the sides of my feet (bunions), so I decided these weren't going to work out for me. Thank goodness for the free returns.

Maybe brogues/oxfords are not suited for me after all. I'll leave 'em for the boys to look good in, or leggy girls like this gorgeous model from Massimo Dutti:

Oxfords are trending this fall. If I'm ever tempted to try this style again, must remind myself to keep the shoes more dainty like these from Wendy's Lookbook.

Darn, aren't these shoes so beautiful though?

White with black trim

Forever 21 is having 15% off in-store only. I'm currently coveting the style of this pretty dress!

Essential Pleated Chiffon Dress $24.80

It would also look great with these ASOS Hostage Heeled Sandals $71.27 (saved in my cart)

Black and White

Loving all things black & white right now!

From old scrapbook.

Have a wonderful day!

Signature style goal

I've been wanting to find my personal style...something constant and is "me" or who I want to be! The Style Blogger (or TSBmen) explained it perfectly in his recent post here. Looking through my scrapbooks, I found this magazine ad that makes me excited every time I see it! This image summarizes exactly who I want to be...

and also this collage...