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Real life day and night, birthday dinner style:
This is what I really wore to work.
And this is what I really wore to a friend’s birthday dinner:
Pretty similar, just switched work pants for jeans and lost the blazer—it was warm outside! Am I the only one who wears dresses as shirts sometimes? Today, it was a shirt. Tomorrow, who knows. I also used my gray clutch, but forgot to put it in the picture, oops.
I don’t have work off today, but I hope you do. I also hope you can take advantage of the crazy Columbus day sales.
These are some things I bought this weekend! I’m pretty excited, and think that all of these pieces (ok, not the dinosaur sweatshirt) could be great for work and for fun. I’ll show you the outfits I come up with this week. In the meantime, have a great Columbus day!
Want to show me what you bought? Hit me up at raesdays@gmail.com, @rclnudson, or on Facebook.
Happy Friday, everyone! Today, I am having fun with patterns. For work, I keep the pattern to my shoes:
and for play, I pile on the patterns everywhere:
It’s Friday, go crazy!
Hope everyone has a good weekend, with many versatile outfits. If you need me, you know where to reach me! (On Twitter, duh)
To me, nothing says “I have my life together” like having perfectly manicured nails.
I have perfectly manicured nails about 5% of the time. But, I think that pretty, put-together detail can be really nice, and really professional.
For the office, I’d stay away from sparkles and anything too bright. These are vacation nails, they are for your vacation.
But I do think you can wear bright and nontraditional shades at work. My advice is to keep your nails short, so a burst of color isn’t overwhelming. (Also, long nails bother me when I type.) And keep them looking good—chips are never classy. You might also think to stay away from extremes. Instead of neon pink, how about bubblegum? Instead of black, why not gray or navy blue? If you want a yellow in the office, make it muted instead of highlighter.
Some of my favorite colors for fall that I own:
From left to right: Essie Vermillionaire, OPI Siberian Nights, OPI No Spain No Gain, Essie Chinchilly, OPI Russian Navy, OPI Pamplona Purple.
Some colors I want to try this fall that I don’t own: Forest green and beige. Once I try these, I will, of course, report back.
Oh also, pro tip: you know that moment of dread when you get the first chip in that manicure you just paid for? Avoid that by taking your own polish to the salon. That way, if it chips, you can touch it up and move on with your day. (my mom taught me that, thanks mom!)
***EDIT: Another pro tip, from my friend Anna! Paint a topcoat of clear coat of polish on each day. That way, when your nails start to chip, it chips the clear instead of the color. Thanks Anna!***
My nails right now? A dark purple, the OPI Siberian Nights (and yeah, they’re chipped). Got a color you love? Tell me at raesdays@gmail.com, on Facebook, or on Twitter!
I have a thing for colored pants. I want a pair. Just about any color will do, but I’ve been infatuated with red pants as of late. So I took this pair, dove into my fantasy closet, and chose about a thousand tops you could wear with them. Each top provides a different look and attitude, for day and for night. These red pants can go with just about any trend: color blocking, sequins, knits, polka dots. And we haven’t even started on accessories. One of the biggest points I want to make here—and by here, I mean on the internet and specifically on this blog—is that we have limited amounts of clothing we can buy, so buy what you love and and you can make it work for (almost) any setting.
I mixed brown and black again. What can I say, I’m a rebel. Also, I kinda like it.
To tell you the truth, I was looking for a lighter brown, skinnier belt. Then I realized I don’t own one of those because I haven’t bought one (don’t you hate it when that happens?). So instead, I used this brown belt, which was actually a belt that came with a different skirt. As a rule, I try not to use those belts with the item of clothing they came with, you know, to switch things up. Either way, black on black with brown all over can be a good look, don’t be afraid. Also: black with navy blue. These are rules you should play with, not abide by.
For night, I added some knits. It is fall, after all. (I LOVE FALL SO MUCH)
Ok so maybe ignore my weird face and look at the outfit. The skirt is sort of a fake wool felt blend thingy. Whatevs, it was 25 dollars from H&M and it looks like fall to me. The scarf I made myself. Looks cozy, no? If it gets much colder than it was today, I’ll have to add some tights.
Only 28 days until Halloween and I don’t know what I’m gonna be. If you have ideas for me, tell me please at raesdays@gmail.com, on Twitter, or on Facebook.
hello hello. You know what’s worse than Monday morning? A Monday morning meeting.
So let’s counter the Monday-morning blues with an extra professional outfit. With a pencil skirt and blazer, your outfit will be the last thing you have to worry about at the start of the work week. And when it’s time to kick back, turn it into a casual outfit ready for fun with some jeans and a quick switch of accessories.
Good luck on your Monday!
I would like to thank Marc Jacobs for making polka dots cool again.
You’ve seen my blazer, here’s a skirt
Polka dots at work people. Let’s do this.
Any other patterns you thought you had to leave in your childhood? Bring them to work by making sure your shapes are classic.
I tried to reblog this, but couldn’t work it out for some reason. But this is from one of my favorite people to follow on Tumblr and Twitter, Teen Vogue beauty editor Eva (follow her!)
hmmm, let’s put it this way. when I was renovating my apartment, I sent some revisions to my architect who called me, somewhat alarmed, to ask, “Eva, there must be a mistake. you’ve indicated that you want the closet to be bigger than your kitchen & bathroom?” that would be correct. so, long story short, my closet is quite large (for New York, at least). it’s a walk-in. and I may or may not have a separate storage unit so that I can rotate clothing based on seasons ^.^
One day, I hope to have that exact same answer when someone asks me about my closet. But for now, I am merely human. A human that lives in Brooklyn, in a studio, with small amounts of money.
I don’t even have a closet. Not one. Not for coats or brooms or towels or anything. So over time I have accumulated some furniture and organization tactics, and came up with something I am finally satisfied with to hold my clothes and many many accessories.
One thing that took me a long time to learn is the way you keep your things can really improve your quality of life, and the quality of the the things. (I’m sure there’s a more concise and clever way to say that. I’ll work on a slogan later). It really sunk in one day when I was running late for work and searching through a bin of shoes to find a matching pair. Any matching pair. And when I realized my purse looked a little bit squashed since I used it last season. So I splurged on the bookcase I had been pining after for months, filled it with purses, scarves, and boots and finally put together that shoe rack for under my clothes, and things improved immensely.
These are just some ideas, and a way that works for me in my tiny space. It will be different for you. Bag Snob Tina stores all her bags in boxes, with pictures on the outside. What do you do? Tell me on Twitter or Facebook! Or email me at raesdays@gmail.com. I’m in the process of cleaning out some of my closet, so more on that to come as well. Happy organizing!
Rae Nudson