I, like many of the other kaboodlers here, have been drooling over the GAWR-JUS blue Steve Madden Trinitie Suede Pumps. In fact, I had been drooling over suede pumps in general. They had such rich tones, and looked so soft and touchable. I really wanted some. But, the ones I liked were all 80.00 and upwards. Seemed a little pricey unless it was something I knew I'd wear daily, and honestly, suede pumps are probably not what I'm sporting to run errands and chase the kids around.  Plus, I'd be terrified of ruining them.

However, when I saw Nordstrom put these babies on sale for 52.59 I could NOT pass it up. It wasn't in that awesome shade of royal blue that I'd fallen in love with, but the Raspberry looked divine enough to be worth it. When they finally arrived, I was so excited.  As you can see, I couldn't even be bothered to take my socks off to try it on! I also love the little peace, love and shoes thing they've got going on the box. Sounds like a good personal motto for me. 

Nordstrom is now out of both the blue and raspberry colors, but they do still offer Trinitie in black and plum at the original 79.95 price. If you like the Raspberry, Steve Madden is selling them on their website. I still really want those blue ones...and the plum ones...well, I'd take them in every color actually!

Now I've just got to figure out what I am going to wear with these. Hmmm, excuse to buy a new outfit, maybe?  

Thanks for reading - Peace Love and Shoe shopping!

Amber

Wanted to be comfy and warm on a cool fall day while out shopping, so I threw on this outfit: 

Cascade Wrap Sweater - Victoria Secret

Sequin Tank - Cino brand bought from Ideeli ( Invitation only website to designer sales, if you want to join, click link: www.ideeli.com/invite/amberstrange13)

Ballet Flats - Guess from DSW

Rose and Pearl Ring - Forever 21

And of course I am still rocking the China Glaze polish in Recycle with a top coat of Essie's Matte About You.

I'd have preferred to wear this with a darker jean, but they were all in the wash that day, so I had to go with a light denim. I also picked up a great multi-strand necklace from Forever 21 while out shopping that really went well with this look. Its not a super awesome outfit, but I wanted to post it because I LOVE this sequin tank. Its sparkly, but not overly so.  Its comfortable, not at all scratchy, and I think the sequin layer helps hide body flaws. I can't wait to find other ways to wear it.

Thanks for reading!

Amber

You may remember a previous blog posting I did about a matte polish I tried.  I loved the way it looked, but it required frequent touch ups throughout the day, and didn't even make it a couple hours before needing its first touch up.  I had wondered if Essie's Matte About You topcoat would hold up better than a standard matte polish.  Essie's Matte About You Topcoat is used over any standard polish to turn it from shiny gloss to matte finish.  I tried it out this weekend over my gray China Glaze polish in a shade called Recycle.

I wore the China Glaze alone for about a day to get a feel for how durable it was on its own before adding the topcoat.  It fared decently well, only chipping some the next day after I did some dishes.  So, I touched it up with a new coat, and then added a coat of the Essie Matte About You topcoat.  It created a wonderful matte look that I just loved.  The best part? It held up really well.  I wore it most of that day before it started to chip.  I can't wait to try it with some other polishes that I know hold up well on their own to see how it fares with a slightly better base polish.

One down side is that it did seem to lighten the color a bit while making it matte.  It wasn't as dark a gray after the matte topcoat as it was before.  A third coat of polish before the topcoat might help that, but it will still probably be lighter than it is when left glossy.

All in all, I heartily give Essie's Matte About You two thumbs up.  Its well worth the price tag, and holds up much better than OPI's Suzi Skis The Pyranees Matte Polish did on its own.  I really love the OPI Suzi... color, so I might do a coat or two of that, do a clear gloss coat to protect it, then put the Essie top coat on to recreate the matte look.  Hopefully it will hold up better than way and still show the great Suzi Skis..color. 

Now, its still not as durable as standard polishes, so it will probably last a day, maybe two if you're careful, but not much longer.  But its still a large improvement from straight matte polishes.  Also, if you haven't tried a matte polish yet, and want to try one before shelling out 10.00 for a top coat matte-ifier, Forever 21 is now selling Matte polishes for about 2.50 in various shades.  I haven't seen them in my local store yet, but they are available online. 

I got my Essie top coat polish from an Amazon.com seller for under 10.00 including the shipping, but the only ones available now are 10.00 beofre adding the 5.00 and up shipping.  Soooo, you can still get it from them, or directly from Essie's website for probably about the same cost: http://www.essieshop.com/product_info.php?products_id=681&gclid=CO-vy-D5jZ4CFSDxDAodB2mSqA  I am not sure who would carry it in store - anyone who carries Essie polish usually would be a good place to start.

That's my take on the Essie Matte topcoat.  I liked it, I find it worth the money, and it lasts longer than standard matte polishes on their own. I can't wait to expirement with my red, purple, and navy blue polishes next!

Thanks for reading!

Amber

* Notes on the pictures*
The picture on the left is my nails before the top coat, taken shortly after my first application of the original China Glaze polish color.  The second two are after the Matte topcoat.  My nails were not quite as dark as they appear in the first photo, and were a darker shade than they appear in the matte polish photos.  The flash really seemed to show through to the bed of my nails, too.  It really didn't show my nail bed as much in real life. Though I do readily admit that I am not the best manicurist ;)  A third coat of color would have probably been a great idea before adding the matte topcoat.

Today my daughter's school had a little Pancakes with Parents event.  You came to school early (UGH!) and had a full pancake breakfast for 4.00/person.  The principal is very active with events like this in the school and always takes pictures, so I was not going to show up in baggy sweats like I would usually be wearing to drop Ella off in the morning!  So, I threw the above outfit together, grabbed my girls and headed to breakfast.  I do confess that I didn't end up wearing those boots to the breakfast. I wasn't taking the chance of any wobbling while trying to balance two or three breakfast plates full of sticky syrup. Instead I wore my black suede Bearpaw boots (think Uggs but less pricey, and still nice quality).

Breakfast was good.  My oldest daughter inhaled her whole plateful - she ate more than I did! My youngest pretty much only drank her juice. Just as expected, the principal came around and took pictures of all of us who were there early.

  I do feel like the outfit needed a little something more. Maybe a scarf or a colored belt instead of gray...  something to offset all the gray and black.  I settled for my huge fuschia flower ring since I don't have many scarves or colored belts.  Any other thoughts?

As you can see, I am also rocking some gray nail polish today.  I plan on wearing it a bit, then trying out the Essie Matte For You topcoat and see how it looks and if it lasts better than my OPI matte polish.  But first I wanted to see how durable the polish is on its own before adding the matte topcoat so if it flakes after the topcoat I will know that its no more durable than a straight up matte polish.  I will keep you posted.  I actually have a large amount of new beauty products I plan on trying to review soon. I should also do some Thank You Mr. Postman/UPS man posts, too. I've been on a bit of a shopping binge, and he's been here almost daily with packages. I think I better slooooow down. :D
 
OUTFIT-------------------------------------------
Striped Cowl tunic: Target -Mossimo
charcoal gray leggings: Macy's - INC brand
gray belt: Target
Black Suede Boots - Kicky by Chinese Laundry
Flower Ring: Wet Seal ( Forever 21 has some similar ones online)
gray polish: China Glaze Recycle

Thanks for reading!

Amber

p.s. I had a hard time getting my full outfit with boots and my face in the picture at the same time, only reason for cutting my head out. I didn't have a good makeshift camera stand option to use for head to toe :)

 

This was what my girls and I were wearing before we got dressed up for Trick or Treating.  The girls decided to wear their tutu skirts, and I wore my Harajuku Lovers Gwen Tee with some argyle knee high socks :)  There were many ways to style the outfit around the socks and the tee.

 I had my own tutu skirt on with it originally- same skirt as
 in one of my previous WIW posts - but it was really windy that day and I was a little worried about having a Marilyn Monroe moment!

 I could have also paired it with black cuffed shorts (as seen in my No Doubt Concert WIW post), or I could have worn my new bandage mini skirt! I probably could have paired tights under the socks too as I've seen in done, but, I figured the socks were a big enough statement.

My shoe options were also varied. I could have worn knee high boots, and had the socks peeking out, mary jane pumps, flats, or ankle booties. I was doing a little shopping with my girls, so I decided to take it easy on my feet and wore some Mudd chunky heeled loafer style shoes. 

My hair I braided in anticipation of later trick or treating as Dorothy. Figured I'd save myself some time.  My hubby liked this outfit.  No surprise since its a little bit naughty schoolgirl-esque.

What do you think? What are some other ways to rock these socks? Which options do you think would be best?

Thanks for reading!

Amber
------------------------------------Wardrobe Credits---------------------------------
Ella is wearing:
Pink Tutu skirt - Carter's
Striped knit tights - Kohls
Princess crown tee-shirt - Kohls (?)

Annalise:
Black tutu skirt-Carters
Pink ballet slipper shirt- Carters
Black with silver hearts leggings - George for Wal-mart
mary janes- Target

Me:
Harajuku Lovers Tee - Delias
Jean skirt - Wal-mart
Argyle Socks - Target
Mudd heeled loafer - DSW

Ah, Halloween, my favorite time of the year! I love dressing up as a favorite character - I wish I had more reasons to do so more often! 

We've done a theme for Halloween the past three years as a family, and the neighborhood gets a pretty big kick out of it. We always get compliments.  Being that our witch and our Glinda weren't exactly as seen in the movie, it sometimes took people a second to get our Wizard of Oz theme, but once they saw my hubs as scarecrow, and myself as Dorothy, the rest clicked! 

My Halloween fix it moments:
Originally, "Glinda" had a gold tiara, but she broke it when we were at her sister's classroom party on Friday. So I took leftover birthday crowns, flipped them backwards, taped them together and then painted them with pink and gold glitter paint.  I think it worked out better as a Glinda crown.  I also pinned the heck out of her dress to make it short enough for her to walk around in, and also to give it a little more of that bubble look that Glinda has in the movie. 
On my Dorothy dress the cheap zipper broke, so I ended up sewing it together to cover the zipper entirely.  It was a little tricky to get into, but it worked, even though the whole costume is still a tad too big. 

Trick or treating ended early for us this year, it was pretty chilly with the wind blowing.  My oldest daughter, the wicked witch, was in tears she was so cold; even with her jacket on! So, we called it a night early on the treats and went out to dinner instead. I'm already thinking about next year...wonder if I will still be able to talk my kids into a cohesive theme. If not, I am pretty sure I can still manage to convince my hubby to at least dress in a couples costume theme with me.

I hope I will get to see more Halloween WIW posts from everyone!!

Trick or Treats!

Amber

P.S.  The kids costumes, kids makeup, and my glitter shoes were all from buycostumes.com (Elegant Witch and Pink Princess). Husbands (Wizard of Oz Scarecrow) was from Costume Discounters.com. Mine I got on Amazon from a company  that sells with them...can't remember the name. The costume was called Storybook Sweetheart.