House of Harlow 1960 Giveaway!

::GIVEAWAY OVER::

Hello Dolls!  I wanted to do a giveaway with this fabulous piece from Nicole Richie's House of Harlow 1960 collection known as the leather station statement necklace!

I have this version of the necklace in the resin version and I absolutely HEART this necklace!  I wear it ALL the time.. it's amazing how it spruces up even just a simple black or white tee!

So I really wanted to share how much I love this necklace with one of my fabulous readers!

For those of you that aren't as familiar with this line let me take a moment to introduce you to it! The House of Harlow 1960 line is created by Nicole Richie - the line is named after her daughter Harlow. She has been spotted wearing this necklace time after time and in many different variations! The necklace has been seen on every celebrity possible - everyone from Jessica Alba to ALL of the Kardashian sisters!

The necklace is made out of leather and gold plated metal so you don't have to worry if you're allergic to certain metals and you don't have to worry about tarnishing either! :)

It measures 18 in. w/ a 2 in. extender and has a lobster clasp closure.  The necklace retails for $75. 

I actually think it's great dual purpose necklace because if you wanted a solid gold statement necklace you can just turn the necklace around and wear it on the back side.  The back is gorgeous high polish gold and would look so glam if you wanted to go for an all gold look :)

Guidelines

Open WORLDWIDE!

Giveaway ends Saturday 03.31.12 @ Midnight (CET)

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Bonus entries

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DISCLAIMER - Necklace was purchased by me and me alone for the sole purpose of a giveaway.  I was not sponsored in any way shape or form in this giveaway.

::GIVEAWAY OVER::

Hotel Ross Restaurant!

Duo marinated salmon & smoked trout w/ dill mustard sauce and potato pancake

Rump steak w/ potato pancake and a side of mixed veggies

F.Y.I. - I should preface this by saying that I eat like a child.  The mixed veggies were yummy there was like a creamy cheese sauce and the green beans were wrapped in bacon!! AHAHAH that's how I like my veggies with cheese & bacon!!  See I told you I eat like a child hahaha :p

Butterfish

I cannot believe I found butterfish in Germany!!  But sadly it was NOTHING like Miso Butterfish from Roy's in Hawaii :( :( :(!!

Total sidenote - If you ever visit Hawaii you MUST go to Roy's and you MUST order the Miso Butterfish! It ranks up there as one of the top 5 most amazing things I've ever eaten ANYWHERE in the world.. and I eat A LOT ahahahahahaha!

Truffle Tagliatelle

Our awesome dinner companion!!  Heart you Bethie :)!

OOTD: Royal Blue & Leopard Print Prada's

I heart my blingy Chanel bag!!  Sadly this is only my 2nd time using this bad boy!! I really should use her more but it's so small!! GRR!  I can only fit in a card holder, a compact, lip gloss and some Tylenol.  My keys don't even fit in there!  I'm the type that generally carries the kitchen sink with her on a daily basis - even out to dinner! 

My yellow gold clover earrings are from Costco!  Haha can you believe?  Hubby surprised me with them a few years ago.. they have a surprisingly awesome fine jewelry department!  When we lived in the states I would look forward to our bi-monthly trips to Costco and I would spend the first 15 min oogling their jewelry!  Costco diamonds are AMAZING! bahahahahaha!

Dress: Parker, Tights: DKNY, Bracelets: t+j designs, Kenneth Jay Lane & BCBG, Earrings: Costco, Shoes: Prada, Handbag: Chanel 

Curly Hair Tutorial

Hi girls!!!  This is the long awaited curly hair tutorial that a lot of you requested.. and have been waiting on for many months now sorry sorry!!  As some of you that have been following my blog know my life's been one crazy hot mess the last 6 months - moving twice (once to Texas and then to Germany) and all the traveling inbetween I couldn't get my act together.  Hahaha but now that we've settled in a bit I was finally able to tick off some things on my "To Do List"! (And YES a Shoe collection & Purse collection posts are on that list too!!! hehehehe)

I hope you dolls enjoy this tutorial! :)

Ok so I know everyone and their momma uses either a curling iron or a flat iron to curl their hair but I'm old school what can I say.  I don't have the patience to sit there and individually curl my hair added to the fact that I'm crazy clumsy and I'm completely incapable of using a curling/straight iron without burning myself at least once EVERY single time I use one.

The best part of using hot rollers to curl my hair is that it takes me about a minute to set them in the rollers and then I go about my business of doing my make-up and getting dressed by the time I'm done getting ready I take the rollers out of my hair and I'm good to go!  Sometimes I've even done some light housekeeping like washing the dishes or straightening up the house with my rollers in. hahaha.

So I let the rollers heat up for about a hour before I put them in.. you can honestly put them in after about 15 minutes but I like them to be nice and hot when I put them in because I don't use any hair spray afterwards I find that it makes my curls look kind of "crunchy" and "stiff" no matter what hairspray I use. 

I pull my hair up into a really high pony tail and then divide it into sections.  

For this look I was going for big glam curls so I divided my hair into about 6 sections.. 3 on either side of my head.

I take one chunk of it and put the roller at the tips of my hair and start rolling inwards all the way to the top of my head and pin it in. 

Repeat until you have all of the sections of hair rolled and pinned up. 

The end result should look something like this.  I know a lot of girls that use hot rollers don't put their hair in a pony tail and they just simply take a chunk of hair and roll it all the way up however I've found that that way it's a bit too beauty pagenty for me hahah.  With part of your hair tied up in a pony tail it allows the top part of your hair to be smooth and then gradually more wavy at the bottom.

I use the biggest rollers out of the different rollers.  I don't really use the other ones because they make the curls look too "tight".  This was the only hot roller set I could find in Germany.  In the USA you can find lots of options at your local Target or Walgreens and I think my rollers back in SF were actually even bigger then these and they generally run about $30 bucks a pop. 

Finished my makeup now it's time to take the rollers out!

You'll want to kind of fluff your hair and smooth it out when you first take the rollers out.  

There you go!!  

This is obviously more for a glam night out so if I want big glam hair I divide my hair into sections and use about 6 rollers and if I just want soft pretty waves I divide it into between 2 to 3 and if I just want a little bounce I take the ENTIRE pony tail and wrap it around just 1 roller (I use my hair ties and wrap it around a couple of times because it's too much hair for the metal hair pins to hold up).

I prefer to not use hair spray because I don't care for how it feels and I also like that my hair slowly "falls" as the evening goes on and turns into soft, pretty feminine curls.

I hope this helps!!  If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask! 

You guys have to let me know if you try this and how it turns out for you!! :) 

OOTD: Chanel Pearls & Leopard Dior's

I cannot get enough of leopard these days!  I find myself trying to work leopard into my outfits on the daily!  Truth be told I don't really like it when leopard isn't "leopard" - like when they exaggerate the spots or if the spots are TOO orange.. or basically anything that doesn't look like "real leopard" whatever that means haha.  But I saw these unusual leopard pumps @ South Coast Plaza last summer in SoCal and I took pause because they were on total super sale.  AND I MEAN SUPER SALE! I probably would have walked right past them if they were full price.. but the fact that they were so cheap encouraged me to slip them on my feet!  And I'm so glad I did because I absolutely love the muted tones of this leopard print.  I actually really love the demure, ladylike color of these pumps.. which is funny because I don't typically equate leopard with being anything demure or ladylike hahah! 

  

Blouse & Blazer: H&M, Bottom: Hue, Necklace: Chanel & Ann Taylor, Shoes: Christian Dior, Handbag: Chanel

The finishing touches to my Dressing Room! :)

I finally got the last finishing touches I've been waiting on for my closet so I thought I'd do a blog post about my new additions as well as more detailed photos of my closet. 

These are two high gloss silver trunks I purchased from Z Gallerie

   

Pretty boxes or trunks are a great way to store mismatched things like all extra makeup.

                     

I use them to break up the all white color scheme and I've found that anything that reflects light (not just mirrors) seem to make the room appear larger.  I also added these FANTASTIC Command Hooks I got from Home depot!!  They are metal chrome hooks (not the ugly white plastic ones) and they're a great way to  showcase some of my current favorite pieces or perhaps some outfits I have assembled together but have not had the opportunity to wear yet!

     

I also picked up this great chrome silhouette table from Z Gallerie as well.  I've put it in the corner of my dressing room and I put my purse on it when I enter my dressing room.  I'm kind of a germaphobe so I have to wipe down my purses with baby wipes before I put them back on the shelf. (And yes I realize that makes me sound totally crazy hahaha but it is what it is!!!)

I also nabbed this mirrored tray from Z Gallerie as well!  I LOVEEEEEE mirrored anything.  When I started designing my closet I looked at HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of pictures of closets online and I decided I wanted Lisa Vanderpump's from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills all mirrored furniture closet.  My budget however does not equate to Lisa Vanderpumps soooo... instead I picked up mirrored accent pieces to reflect light and add dimension to the room. :)

I LOVE LOVE going to T.J. Maxx back in the states and luckily I found one here in Germany - I scored the table lamp for $20 Euro's and the little bathroom cups between $3 to $5 Euro's each which I'm currently using at makeup brush holders.

My tufted grey ottoman from Bed Bath & Beyond!  I heart it!!  I originally wanted to put a sofa in my dressing room (AHAHAHAHAHA.  I don't know what I was thinking because I can't even fit an arm chair in there.)  Anyways I HEART it because it fits perfectly right in front of my shoe shelf and I sit on it when I'm trying to decide which shoes to wear with my outfit.

All of the white closets and bookshelves are from the PAX shelving system from Ikea!  

The chair is the infamous Philip Starke Louis Ghost Chair.  The dresser is from a local German furniture store called XXL and the piano leg silhouette high gloss vanity table is from another local German furniture store called Wilheilm.

All of the trays/cake holder that I'm using to house my various costume jewelry were purchased at Ikea and a local German cooking store!  I had the hardest time finding the cake plate holder w/ bell jar dome you would think that would be easy to find but it wasn't.  Just a cakeplate was easy to find but I needed one with a lid so I could keep the dust out I went to 3 different home goods stores to find it.

Some of my most absolute favorite pieces of clothing in my entire wardrobe which ironically I don't wear too frequently.  Note to self - must rectify this immediately.

The Pièce de résistance of the room!  My shoe shelf!  Sometimes at night when I can't sleep I come into my closet and sit on my ottoman and stare at my shoe shelf.

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA. 

Don't laugh at me ::CRIES:: :p

More mirrored accents to break up the room and give dimension! 

The tiny mirrored box is where I house my wedding set.. I actually have two engagement ring settings and two wedding bands.. because sometime last year I went crazy and had the Hubs change my more classically set engagement ring into something more vintage.. and then because I changed my engagement ring I needed a new wedding band AND THEN a month later broke down crying because I wanted my original engagement ring back. Apparently I'm a sentimental nutjob. bahahahahaha!

That's a wrap!  

I'll probably be updating things here and there and when I'll do I'll update you guys with things that I might have added or moved around :)! 

Oh and if you have any questions ask away :)!!

Salvatore Ferragamo Reveal!

The past couple of months I went on a bit of a shoe binge with all the end of year sales and my awesome Hubby gifting me with a couple of pairs during the holidays.  All of the shoes I got were 5+ inches and not all that practical in the day to day sense.  Truth be told since I stopped working I'm not in high heels all that often only during date nights or dressier functions like weddings ect.

I loveeee me some flats that I can run around in but have been looking for a pair of shoes that give just a little bit of height so that you can grab lunch with a girlfriend and then run your errands in.

Salvatore Ferragamo Vara low heel pumps in patent nude!

I've always been an either or type of girl.  Flats or sky high heels but I've been looking for something perhaps a bit more lady like for a while and I really thought these fit the bill!

As with all nude colors this one tends to change depending on the light.. sometimes it's a bit more sand nude whereas sometimes it can also look a bit blush pink nude.

The heels is 1.5 inches and they fit TTS.  For whatever reason Ferragamo's actually go by American sizing and not European sizing so I'm a size 7 in these.  Considering they are patent leather they are surprisingly comfortable.  I've found that with all of my patent shoes I've had a bit of a break in period while waiting for the patent leather to stretch a bit but these are quite comfortable and very easy to walk in because of the chunky heel.

I feel very feminine and ladylike in these shoes.  I may be a convert I might have to replace all of my flats with those low heeled Ferragamo's AHAHAHA.  I can hear the Hubs holding his breath as I type this hahahahha.

Bows and pretty gold metal detailing!

The Hubs jokes that these are some high heels he can finally get behind because all of my other high heels make me tower over him because they're all 5+ inches high bahahaha.