Wow! Sorry for vanishing for so long! It’s been madness, with work, summer fun, and other things I’ll be talking about in the near future. . . The good news is that I have a whole bunch of posts almost ready to go! I’ve got a couple of products I’m in love with that I want to talk about, and a couple of new outfits I’ve made or am making. I’ve been on a serious fashion making roll lately!

Today, I want to talk about these roller clips made by Conair:



I have an ancient set of hot rollers that I use, and I didn’t feel like I was ready to purchase a fancy new set, but wanted something better than those horrible u-shaped metal things that absolutely don’t hold my hair into the rollers! I decided to give these roller clips a try and I have to say, I love them! They make the whole curling process so much easier. I just roll my hair, and with a quick clip, voila! Done!

The one thing I found is that if you use them the way the model on the box does, you’re very likely to get little ridges in your hair, that you then have to either deal with or flat iron out, which is annoying. So, I tried angling them down a bit more, like this:



The result? Almost no ridges at all!





The only other comment I have about this product is that one box comes with 10, which totally isn't enough for me! So, I bought two sets. At about $10 per box of 10, they’re not super cheap when one has to buy two boxes, but they are cheaper than a fancy new curler set, and have made curling so much more easy and fun that they are totally worth it in my opinion. I got mine at Folica, but you might even be able to find them locally if you’re lucky, as Conair is a pretty commonly seen brand!

A night on the town. . .

On Friday we met some friends for dinner and hanging out for drinks afterwards. I wanted to be fancy, but not too dressy, so I went for nice dark jeans, a cute top, and fun accessories. . .



This outfit is all about cost efficiency, because I don't think I spent more than $15 for any piece of it! I'm a firm believer that fashion doesn't need to be absurdly expensive in order to be cute and fun. There will always be expensive designer pieces you'll have to have, but I like the idea of mixing these up with things I can find on sale or at cheaper shops. Basically, the item just has to be pretty and make me feel cute!

The jeans and purple velvet top were both Wal-Mart finds, the necklace was on sale at Kohl's, and the little shrug was a gift. The shoes are probably my favorite deal because I think I paid in the $5 range for them, and they are so cute! Black patent leather with purpley-silver sparkle stars. The reason for the low cost? They had these weird spiraly things hanging off the back - several inches long - with stars at the end. It looked really silly! So, I chopped them off, which left a loop at the back of the ankle. I used this loop to thread a ribbon through which added a super cute - and functional! - "something" to the shoe!

Salutations de Montréal!

I spent Memorial Day weekend in Montréal, where I went for the purpose of the graduation of my nephew, but being a girl who loves clothes, I certainly found some time for shopping as well! For the most part, I went all up and down Rue Saint-Denis. I found that I absolutely love Montréal style, and wish I could find more of that locally!

By far, my favorite shop was Frivole, which is located at 4383 Rue Saint-Denis. It lured me in with a beautiful floral sundress in the window, and while it was chalk full of wonderful things, it was the sundress from the window that found a home in my wardrobe!



The dress is beautifully made, with lining all throughout, adjustable straps, and support enough that one can get away without a bra with this one. A perfect dress!

In addition to the sundress, I also brought home a whole page in my sketchbook full of little ideas I may integrate into future things I make for myself. All in all, a beautiful and inspiring city for a fashion-obsessed girl like me!

A blog is born. . .

I simply couldn't stand it any more, I needed a shiny new blog in which to let my fashion-related babble out!

A little about me. . .

I've been interested in fashion and sewing of all kinds since I was a toddler. In fact, one of my first words was "shoes!" For the past decade or so, I've been really focused on reproducing historic costume (visit my web site, Historically Dressed, if you'd like to read more about that) but lately, I've been getting more and more interested in things I can wear every day, as opposed to those that I spend months working on and only wear once! And so, this blog was born. . .