Catching Up.

I can’t believe how long it’s been since the last time I wrote anything… life has been so busy in the past few weeks, and this weekend was the first time that I had any time to relax and even think about posting something. It has also been a while since I went to get my nails done by Naomi, an amazing nail artist at Hello Beautiful salon in Brooklyn. Naomi uses Calgel, a soak-off UV gel that is popular in Japan. This stuff is so tough that it lasts for about 3 weeks without chipping, which means you can do some pretty amazing stuff with it. This week, I got a gray gradation with some seriously blinged-out ring fingers. I don’t really wear jewelry, so when Naomi does my nails, they definitely become an accessory.

I’ve also been spending as much time as possible trying to enjoy this beautiful fall weather in the city. I love it when it is cool enough to walk around for hours and not freeze, but not so warm that you’re sweating. When I saw some tiny pumpkins and gourds at my market, I knew they had to come home with me! They’ve been living in my citrus bowl for the past week (I use a lot of lemons, as you can tell!)

Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried out some new recipes that I plan to share soon! I have a new favorite orange chicken recipe that’s perfect for fall, and I just took some roasted beets out of the oven to use tomorrow night. I don’t know how I went so long in life without realizing how delicious beets were. Between their gorgeous color and the sweet taste, I’m pretty much obsessed these days. More soon!

Ruby Red Fall

The temperature keeps dropping, slowly but surely! I took a look at my collection of tights the other day and realized that I’ve got a lot of work to do before it gets much colder — I have one pair of black tights… that’s it.

As stereotypical as it seems, I really do wear more black since I became a New Yorker, especially during the winter months. It’s easy, appropriate for any situation, and hard to clash with. This winter though, I want to make it a point to incorporate colors and textures into my wardrobe so that I don’t fade into the sea of blah that NYC turns into once everyone breaks out the black coats and skirts.

Button Front Tops by Equipment
Wedges by Jeffrey Campbell

I’m really thinking about this sexy, sheer blouse by Equipment and pairing it with the rich, cranberry-hued wool skirt by ASOS (free shipping both ways now to the US… its too tempting!). I spotted this chain necklace by Hive and Honey in Lucky magazine this month, and I think it would add a perfect bit of texture to this outfit. End it with my all-time favorite Mary Roks booties by Jeffrey Campbell, and I think you’ve got a pretty solid winter outfit!

The Red Lipstick Factor

On a recent trip to Sephora, I tried on one of their Rouge Cream lipsticks in a pretty red-orange color called “It Girl”. Although I’m not usually a lipstick type of girl, I bought it determined to push my comfort zone a little. The result so far? Fantastic!

Last year, I had the pleasure of meeting and interviewing Poppy King, aka the founder of Lipstick Queen. Something that Poppy said that really resonated with me was that lipstick can be worn casually. “I can do casual,” I thought to myself. So I pulled on a pair of jeans, gave myself a swipe of crimson across my lips and headed to the most casual destination of all: the grocery store. I have to admit… I felt a little silly the first time I did my grocery shopping in red lipstick, but it helped me to ease into the idea and sort of just forget that I was wearing it at all.

Now, why would  I want to forget about it? Mainly because I was deathly afraid of smudging it all over my face and looking like a clown (which is, in reality, difficult to do without noticing). So what’s the benefit to this silly exercise? To some women, lipstick seems like a thing of the past. Poppy even told me that she hated how patronizing the marketing campaigns for lipstick were to women. My personal goal was to just do something different, fun, and bold. The thing is — people notice when you are wearing lipstick, and it is sort of a bold statement, especially when you have pasty white skin like I do! While out shopping I often get compliments about my lip color, and shopping for cosmetics is a little more fun when the salesgirl says “You’re obviously not afraid of color, so let’s try this!” Yep, that’s right, I’m not afraid!

This past weekend I was running errands and dropped into a brow salon to get my crazed eyebrows threaded. The woman smiled at me and said, “your lips look so pretty today!” My eyes may have been watering from the pain of having my eyebrow hairs ripped out one-by-one, but damn my lips looked good!