Beautiful

Since it's the holidays, I thought it'd be a fitting time to honor a woman that is truly beautiful. She still teaches me every day what beauty and glamour are, sometimes without even realizing it! Growing up, she was often the encourager and cheerleader of our house. She was, and still is, my example of what a classy, beautiful woman is. 

"Everything is better in black" she'd say to my sister and I while we were on one of our many shopping trips. 

"Always take the time to get ready before going anywhere. And don't do it for anyone else but yourself. It takes no more effort to put on jeans instead of sweatpants." We weren't ever allowed to wear sweat pants in public! :)

"Always invest in classic pieces. They will stand the test of time and never go out of style." This explains my large collection of little black dresses and pencil skirts. 

"Smile! You never know who needs to see one!" She always taught us to constantly be thinking of others.

"You are beautiful." 

My mom is hands down one of the most stylish, classy, and fabulous women I know. She taught me to take pride in my appearance because looking good, helps you feel good! She taught me the tricks of the trade in shopping. If you think I can shop, you really should meet the woman who taught me to! She also taught me the importance of always being considerate of others and how beauty on the inside is what really matters. I even remember her giving the security guards at her office Valentine's day presents because she wanted to make sure they had something! 

More than anything though, my mom encourages me when I feel hopeless, she cheers for me when I need it, and she shows me everyday what it means to be beautiful.

xo

Victoria 

Tartan

In the spirit of the Holidays, lets talk about a wardrobe trend that's totally happening lately: Tartan. You're probably wondering what the heck it is. Let me enlighten you. 




It's a European looking plaid and it's literally everywhere lately! I think it's totally becoming a thing! 



As you can see, even two of my favorites, Princess Kate and Rhianna are rocking it! It doesn't necessarily have to be red, but since that's my favorite color and its almost Christmas (!!!) let's look at a few of my favorite red versions! 

Back in February during Fall 2012 Fashion week, Michael Kors sent a show down the runway that had a warm and cozy fall feel and... you guessed it, lots of Tartan!

    

Fabulous right?! It makes me want to grab some hot chocolate and head to the ski resort! Anyways, I've been thinking about ways I (we!) could rock this trend and I got so excited because there are so many ways! Here are my 3 favorite! 

1. Scarves are the obvious option. I have seen so many red tartan ones around New York (they're a classic y'all), it's not even funny. And now that they're in, it's the perfect time to snatch one up! Mix it with something funky like leopard print or stripes! Print mixing is totally a thing too ya know! ;)

2. A skirt with a cozy sweater is another option. Michael Kors had tons of those. Just make sure it's not pleated so you don't end up looking like you're wearing a kilt! I like a pencil skirt balanced out with some tights and tough looking ankle booties instead of pumps.

3. Plaid flannel shirts have been a go to for a while now and finding one in this totally of the moment print is another great option that I highly recommend! Pair it with leggings or skiny jeans and some knee high boots and you're set! 

Like I said, there's lots of ways to incorporate this trend into your wardrobe so be creative and try something new! I saw a messenger bag with this print the other day that was adorable and perfect for spicing up a drab winter outfit! :) 

What do you think? Will you be incorporating this trend into your wardrobe? What ideas do you have for wearing it?

xo

Victoria

 

Five things on a Friday

Happy Friday y'all!! I love the weekend and have lots going on so please excuse the randomness of this post! 

1. My husband and I are having date night tonight and I'm SO excited! We're going to eat dinner at our favorite little Vietnamese place and then to see a movie. I have no idea what I'm going to wear but I'm definitely looking forward to getting all dolled up just for him! I may even do a dress and some tights! 

2. My very VERY talented friend took some pictures of us for our Christmas cards as a wedding gift this week. She's an amazing mom to 4 and a crazy talented photographer. We've only seen a couple of pictures so far but here's one: 

Isn't she so good?! I can't wait to see the rest!! 

3. Just a quick update, I am absolutely LOVING my new job! I love getting to meet so many beautiful women and being able to spend time making them realize their own beauty. I am so blessed to be able to do it. Makeup is such a fun thing and it's been a really great tool to use to show women how amazing they really are. 

4. Speaking of my job, Elizabeth Arden makes a fabulous product called Prevage Clinical Lash & Brow Enhancing Serum and my boss has been raving about it. Well, she sent me a free full size sample of it today in the mail! SWEET! Basically it's like Lattise so it helps your lashes grow. BUT its not as expensive, doesn't require a perscription, and doesn't have scary side effects. I'm really excited about using it! I'll be sure to let y'all know how I like it and when I start seeing results! :)

5. As I mentioned here, I love painting my nails! One thing I love about the Christmas season is sparkly red nail polish! Or red with glitter. Anyways, I'm totally planning on doing mine red today! YAY! I'll take some pics if I can! It's so fun to be able to get into the holiday spirit in every way possible! I know, I'm part elf. ;)

Well I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! I'll be working at the counter all weekend so if you're in the area, stop by and see me! 

Love y'all! 

xo

Victoria

What if?

You know what I'm really bad at? Gracefully accepting a compliment. And I don't just mean a compliment from a stranger, like even compliments from my husband. He pointed it out to me too. So it kinda got me thinking. And I've been thinking about it the last few days. Kind of wrestling with it and trying to see if I was the only one who did this. You know what I figured out? I'm not the only one. And the weird thing is that almost every day, I see a beautiful girl or woman do the same thing! 

And I also noticed that us girls are so good at pointing out our flaws. Frizzy hair and imperfect skin...what? but we are rarely willing to discuss what we love about ourselves. I work with women all day. It's my job to talk about skincare and makeup routines and the latest lip colors with women all day long. And the funny thing about it is, that it seems like there are some beauty topics that some women don't feel comfortable contributing to for one reason or another. But the one topic that it seems like every woman has something to contribute to is a conversation about what we all don't like about ourselves. 

But what if we all stopped talking about what we don't like about ourselves? What if we started to gracefully accept compliments with a smile? What if we complimented each other a little more? And what if we started figuring out and having conversations about what we do like about ourselves? How would things change? 



I think a lot of things would change. No seriously! For one, I think we'd get a few more compliments from our men. No more arguing every time they compliment us would probably feel like a nice break for them. We'd definitely smile a lot more throughout our days. And maybe, just maybe we would all get to a point where we wouldn't even consider our flaws and become fully aware of how beautiful we all really are.

xo

Victoria