Mini Update

These are very very tall heels.
Yep, very tall.

It's a pretty good colour for me now, but these will look *amazing* on me when I am tan. Maybe I'll toss a pic up here when I'm not wearing the sad remains of a two month old pedicure.

I probably could wear them mismatched as is, but I think I'd be better off in the smaller size. I will update here again when I hear back from Fashion Project.

I showed the bag to a friend who has a bit of a *thing* about designer bags and he says the bag is vintage (1975 in fact) and agrees that it has probably never been used, which explains why the leather is a touch dry, but otherwise perfect.

Boston, we have a problem.

Shoes and bag arrived today from Fashion Project and they ARE quite lovely and in good repair.

The shoes are a lovely rosy pink with a decided iridescent golden sheen and NO sole wear (even on the heel) and while the bag could use some leather conditioner and some time with padding in it, I'm pretty sure that it has never been used. The inside is pristine.

BUUUUUUUUUUUT...

The shoes are two different sizes and show different amounts of (extremely light) wear (closet aging maybe? Mostly I noticed the leather on the sole is different colours).

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn't belong.

Now admittedly I wear either a six and a half or seven depending on the shoe, and the size difference DOES match up side-wise with the slight size difference in my feet, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised if I could just wear them as is... but this is just silly.

On the plus side it gives me the opportunity to try on both of my usual sizes and see which works better! The shoes are so open I suspect it will be the six and a half (i.e. the size I actually ordered), but you never know. I'm just glad I didn't get these *for* anything so the time delay with whatever shipping I'll have to do won't mess me up.

I'm actually looking at a Tadashi Shoji dress on the site for an event in the Spring but I think we'll see how it goes talking with customer service before I buy anything else.

It's alive, it's alive!

I'm sorry, it's been pretty quiet around here as I continue to recover from the whirlwind of my wedding. 

I've been at an interesting point beauty-wise for the intervening couple of months which definitely deserves its own post, but for now I'll say I'm starting to feel like doing the pretty thing again.

It also occurred to me today that I really like talking about cheese, and I have this handy blog thing here that I neglect, so I should totally like... do something with that. I'm not an expert by any means but I am QUITE a fan and I have been trying some pretty fun stuff lately.

My actual fridge the day after Christmas.

TL:DR - You may occasionally see posts about cheese. 

Hopefully my random-person opinions on cheese (rather than the words of some fancy frommagier*) will pique your interest.  

(*I made that up).

So, on to the usual "the Itsy Bitsy" thing...

I actually did a BUNCH of beauty related retail therapy yesterday.

I've mentioned Fashion Project here before, they re-sell higher end donated clothing at problematically good prices with a significant (listed) portion of each sale benefiting the charity of the donator's choice. It's catch as catch can of course, but they have a fair amount of product on a BEAUTIFULLY navigable site so finding something good tends to be a bit TOO easy.

They have "Personal Invite Links" which give the original linker a $20 credit if a person ends up buying through that link.
I'm not saying you should definitely use my link, but it would be pretty cool if you did!

I ended up picking up a very frivolous pair of Brian Atwood "Consort" heels in pink yesterday which benefited Breast Intentions and a very functional Dooney and Bourke black pleated leather clutch which benefited Canine Assistants Inc. They pull the listing once the sale is made so I can't get to the pics to link them here, but I'll post pics once they arrive. I spent less than 30% of the list prices on the two items so I consider it good hunting rather than poor decision making.

I had a haircut after work (as always props to Fran at Cactus Salon in Holbrook) and I finally went for it and cut off the last of the hair I grew out for the wedding. I'm now back in my super short pixie happy place, though the sides are buzzed, as is the style of the time (if Instagram is to be believed anyway). I shied away from short sides for a while because it can be harsh, but I love what it does for my cheekbones so I'm playing with it.

From there I went to Ulta and got my eyebrows done at the Benefit Brow Bar at the Patchogue store. This is the fourth time I've gotten my brows done there and I've been quite happy every time.

My brows are pretty sparse so I usually have a terrible time getting someone to do them so that it comes out evenly. Sadly I'm terrible with names and I can't find the card I got, but I'm pretty sure the woman I've seen every time is named Tanya, and I like how decisive she is. I went for a higher arch than usual this time and I'm not sure if I want to stick with that, but it does look quite nice.

While I was there I also picked up some Freeman face masques as I have become rather enamored of cleansing my face with anything but soap.  I picked up the Charcoal & Black Sugar Facial Polishing Mask and the Pineapple Facial Enzyme Mask because both seemed pretty straightforward in the ingredients and low on the eye stabbing perfume.

On the nail front I got two discounted China Glaze Pop Top sets for $10 each.
Full size China Glaze for $2.50 a bottle? Yeeeeeaaaaaah, couldn't resist that. So I got those in "Glisten Up" (the four colours on the left) and "Feeling Sparkly"(the four right).

I feel a bit indecisive about what to do with my nails next but I've had naked nails for two days now so I'll probably get on that soon. I keep thinking about going for a professional pedicure and then... not. Mostly because I've spent so many afternoons at the vet lately, but that's a whole other story.

I still have approximately 1/4 of the pedicure from my wedding remaining! Sexy!

Holy cow! Talk about fast service!

I put my order through at Fashion Project at 11:44 am yesterday morning and it was in my hands by 10:30am today.

Boston to southern NY in less than 24 hours with no rush or expedited shipping charge.

Wow.

I haven't tried anything on yet but it all looks awesome. My only complaint is that it would have been nice if the 4" stilettos were wrapped separately from the light coloured dress, but in this case it did not seem to cause a problem.

Faking a fair weather flat

It's been snowing. *sigh* Again.

Sandal weather isn't even a distant glimmer on the horizon, and flats are like masterful little precipitation collectors; so sometime around mid December I started asking myself, "what I do for my feet when I'm ankle-(or knee)-deep in winter but still want to look good"? 

When I started really thinking about it the answer was right in front of me the whole time, and yet has proven to be so hard to find!

I'm fond of my bones and skin (and my shoes come to think of it) so all of my high heels are right out. I need a foul weather shoe with a low heel for stability and smooth enough treading on the bottom that snow and ice doesn't pack up into the treads as that ends up being cold, dangerous, and messy.

I have a pair of Born half calf boots in a tobacco pebbled leather which are exactly what I outline above. They are comfortable and serviceable but they are so very decidedly comfortable and serviceable. That's them up there, if you hadn't already guessed. I got them for camping and outdoors stuff and they're really honestly FABULOUS for that, and that is the only way in which they could ever be described as fabulous. I don't actually like them in the least, but that's what I've been wearing any time the weather has been bad since that's pretty much all I've got that won't lead to a broken neck.

Actually not 100% true. I do have a pair of Cherry Red Patent Doc Marten's which do surprisingly well in snow as long as I'm wearing heavy socks, but I'm just not into them at the moment.
What? I'm a goth AND they were on sale AND I had a bit of a red shoe *thing* going on at the time. So shiny!

Knee high riding boots are a long established Northeast winter essential, but I don't tend to wear my boots fully visible in crappy weather. I only have one pair of skinny jeans and none of my boots are wide enough to wear over them except the Born boots, and that is NOT a good look (yes, I've checked).

Image Source: blog.clothingattesco.com

What I've been looking for is something that looks as good with full length or slightly cuffed pants as they would over skinnies. Equestrian boots are gorgeous when you can SEE them, but I spent the majority of my twenties in knee high combat boots and frankly, I'm just plain tired of dropping hundreds of dollars on low heeled boots that don't have any interest below the ankle. 

I want winter appropriate kicks that make a statement no matter what I'm wearing them with!

During good (but not quite sandal) weather when I want to wear flat shoes that look nice I reach for...

*drumroll* my flats! 

I know that seems obvious but flats really tend to be a different kind of creature with different points of interest than sandals or pumps or boots, and I got to wondering what it was that set them apart. 

Desperately in need of a shoeshine day! I don't think it's hard to figure out which is my go-to pair.
Left to right: Miz Mooz - Ditto, Candies, Born - Keynes, Croft & Barrow, Croft & Barrow

Flats come in all manner of colours and rich materials and they they are very likely to have some manner of interest on the toe, whether that be a contrasting material, a bow, a horse bit, some intricate structural detailing, or openwork. They look equally great with jeans, shorts, skirts, you name it, because they are usually interesting to look at, even if you can only see the toe.

I started looking at boots with an eye to this aesthetic and found that people just don't tend to put that sort of detailing on the toe of a low heeled boot. Well, except in Western boots, there are some AMAZING western boots out there, but that's not really my style.

So far the only boots I've found which start to fulfill the perimeters I've been looking for are wingtip designs. The Megan ankle boot by Miz Mooz, which I got for Christmas in the whiskey colour shown below is a great example of this style with some bonus spat-like buttony/lacey ankle action. Admittedly I'm not the hugest wingtip fan and I feel the really sexy parts are those further up near the ankle, but at least it has SOMETHING going on!

I'm still a bit afraid to wear them out into the deeper snow but I have gotten them wet and the colour seems to have bounced back just fine. If anything they're getting a lovely dark patina around the bottom edge. I do want to weather protect them, but clear wax drastically changed the colour of another pair of Miz Mooz boots I own (Janessa in grey - a discontinued style) so I'm iffy about messing with these too much.

 My next goal is to find a second pair of "knee high statement flats" but this time I'm looking for a looser, taller, non-wingtip boot with a lower heel, preferably in black or charcoal as I've somehow ended up with more pairs of brown boots than black!