Autumn dreaming

Although I've been moaning about all of the miserable weather in Edmonton, and summer hasn't been particularly summery, I am getting incredibly excited for autumn to come! (Slightly more exciting however is the Edmonton Folk Music Festival in a few days, which I am attending with two of my very dear friends, where we will enjoy fabulous music, people watching, and celebrating my 20th birthday.)

But in defence of my love for autumn, I love the versatility and the colours! What other season can you comfortably wear dresses, shorts, skirts, as well as beautiful cardigans, boots and scarves? And to make it better, it means back to classes! I am incredibly excited for this year as I will be starting my individualized minor! After lots of compromise and work, I am finally able to take a minor that includes courses in textile sciences, apparel design and construction, a study of fashion industries, introductory design courses, a history of photography and several courses on media and advertising from the fields of sociology and women's studies. I'm truly excited for this to finally have come together, because I feel like I have finally found something I am truly passionate about, and I believe that combining this minor with my English major will provide me with a Bachelor's degree that will open up a lot of opportunities that I will love.

I look forward to wearing the rich, diverse colours of autumn: the cranberries, ochres, browns, oranges and olives.

Reflecting differences

These two photos were taken a few days apart at about the same time (at the same spot). Despite having cooler and more rainy weather the first day, there was no wind, so the water was perfectly still. On the second day, it was about 35 degrees Celsius, but there was more of a breeze, so the water didn't produce the same perfect mirror effect as it did the first day. These pictures were both taken while standing on a boulder on the edge of a small pond created by storm water draining. 

Enjoying the view

I am currently enjoying the sun (for the first time in months!), this incredible view from the patio, and checking up on my favourite blogs. So far it's been an excellent few days on holidays, and it's been great to enjoy a change of pace!

Presently packing

As implied in the title, I am in the midst of packing for holidays with my family (we're going camping [rv-ing] for two and a half weeks). However, I am taking a very brief break to share one of the things I just purchased.

I bought these wireless bras from Penningtons to wear over top of my actual bras for days I wear things that show a bit more skin than I want. I got them a bit larger than I would typically wear in a bra, but small enough that they would fit close to my body. Since I already had similar things in black, dark navy and grey, I decided to go with colours that were more showy and bright to provide a pop of colour. For instance, I plan to wear that orange one under a loose purple tunic I have. 

I will be taking my laptop with me on holidays, but I don't think I will post very much, probably only once or twice, if at all! Have a good few weeks!

Blog Renos!

I have never been a stranger to home renovations, and neither has this blog. I think this is my third redesign in its relatively short lifetime, but it was greatly needed. I hated the cluttered feel the other gave me, so I decided to simplify it completely, and go with a much more streamlined and minimalist aesthetic. This was also carried through to my brand spanking new business cards, because I wanted to have the same colours and fonts carry through from my blog to the cards. Short story long, I am quite satisfied with the new layout!

On other lovely news, I have been on Pinterest for about a week now, and I am IN LOVE! My favourite part is being able to save and organize pictures I find on the internet, and it even saves a link to the original location. For me, this solves on of the problems I've been having lately, I had been finding that I would have a picture I wanted to include in a post, but because I lacked photo credits, couldn't include it. Now I have a way to organize, sort and comment on pictures, be able to clip them directly from websites and blogs, AND keep the address for future reference! A link to my Pinterest page is located here or up near the top of my blog page above my blogroll.

If Pinterest is something that interests you, please leave a comment or send me an email, and I will gladly send you an invite (the site is still invite-only). For further convincing, here's an article from the Blogging Bookshelf on why Pinterest is a great tool for bloggers: How and Why All Bloggers Should Be Using Pinterest.

Make-up madness

I never really paid attention to how much make-up I owned and used until going through it to create this post. The lovely Ashley of i believe in unicorns. did a post on make-up bag essentials, and I decided to follow suit and respond with a post on my make-up essentials.

The Box. Or one of. I'd love to claim that I was able to fit all of my make-up in this train case, but that would be a lie. In addition to what I have scattered in purses and around my bathroom, I also have a box full of just nailpolish...

My face essentials- 

-Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel: I love this product in the day, because it's the perfect moisturizer, especially under my foundation. I have incredibly oily, acne-prone sensitive skin, so this oil free moisturizer is a delight!

-Estee Lauder Advanced Night Repair Serum: Definitely my splurge item, but it's indispensable, I find it helps minimize scarring and it helps with the healing and management of bad acne breakouts.

-MAC Studio Fix Foundation: I love this foundation! I used to swear by liquid foundation, but now I use only this! I love that it's much lighter, but still has full coverage. It's also wayyy easier to travel with! And it doesn't slide off your face by the end of the day.

I am a lipstick addict. These are my current go-to favourite colours.

Left to right: 

-Clinique Vintage Wine: This is a divine classic red, I love it for days I want to do a more classic or vintage-inspired look.

-MAC Girl About Town: A super fun fuchsia. Great pop!

MAC Rebel: beautiful violet-ish colour, I love it with blacks and greys!

Elizabeth Arden- Perfect Amethyst: It's my perfect barely-there pick colour- looks like I'm not wearing lipstick!

MAC Taupe: A lovely lovely neutral nude-brown colour, and it goes with EVERYTHING!

Eyes- Not something I typically focus on, I'm more of a bold lipstick, no eyeshadow kind of gal, but when I do, I have a few musts.

-Urban Decay Primer Potion: The. Best. Thing. Ever. I used to always end up with my eyeshadow all in my crease after two or three hours, but now that I use this, my eyeshadow lasts all day.

Elizabeth Arden All Gone Eye and Lip Make-up Remover: Probably the best make-up remover I've ever tried. It has an oily texture, but I don't find it makes me break out. I end up using this a lot when I'm applying eyeshadow and I screw it up...

Eyeliner brush- I don't use eyeliner pencils, I typically always do a wet eyeshadow, I find I can get a thinner line, which looks better on me.

Perfume:

-Dior Hypnotic Poison: From my mom! This is what I've been wearing lately, and I quite like it! I also wear The One by Dolce and Gabbana, but I currently don't have a bottle.

Heat Wave (and Awkward and Awesome Thursday)

I wonder if people outside of Canada realize that our weather isn't just cold. No no. Winter may be painfully and bitterly cold, but summer is equally hot. Lately in Edmonton it seems that the weather has been fluctuating between hot and thunderstormy. Wonderful...

Awkward

-Plain depressing: being out of town for the All White Affair. I will so be there in spirit...If you are in town July 17, you should check it out! All White Affair

-Don't eat curry chicken noodle soup with a white tank on. The broth may flick at you, and it's hard to get out. 

-Mosquitoes. They suck.

Awesome

-Lingerie shopping!

-Finding the perfect barely-there lipstick.

-Canada Post is finally off strike, so I should be getting the letter from my friend in Montreal soon. 

On dressing your age

Image via Advanced Style

I've seen this image pop up around the internet several times now lately, and every time I see it I think two things. A: She looks like one cool lady (and she must be a pretty awesome grandma too!) B: I hope that when I'm her age, that I will look remotely this cool. But (even though I totally love this lady, despite never actually meeting her), the real reason I am posting this picture is because I want to talk about age. Sorta. At least I want to question the relationship that age has with style choices. (If you want to see pictures of more fabulous ladies [and gents] like the one above, check out the blog Advanced Style.) And did I mention I LOVE the turban she is wearing?

My main preoccupation with age and style choices (at least my in my own experiences) is a result of the fact that my mother thinks I dress way too "old" for my age. She thinks this largely because I have a passionate love for blazers. (I also have a burning, raging love for vests and cardigans. And lipstick, lingerie and literature.) Anyways, my love affair for blazers has led me to buy 3 so far this year, my beautiful steel grey Eileen Fisher, my black Louben and my white Anne Klein. Despite loving all of these, I still am tempted to purchase new beauties, like a vibrant fuchsia, a navy sweat-pant-like-material one, and of course you can never go wrong with a trendier fitted one, right? In my mom's opinion, blazers are still a bit too stuffy and old for my age (I'm 20 in August), but I argue that any piece of clothing can be appropriate for every age depending on what you wear with it. 

So, how do these "rules" about what can be worn at certain ages develop? Is there a reason why we expect women to dress according to their age? Why can't older women wear things like shorter skirts? I think in some ways the stigma developed around growing old, both in apparel choices and to an extent the way we classify beauty, are created by these so-called rules. I think women, regardless of their age, should be able to wear whatever they fancy, without feeling they are breaking some rules. 

What do you think about dressing "age-appropriately"?