Totoro Cosplay

Lately my outfits for halloween/cosplay have been furry creatures (Jake, Cheshire Cat, and now Totoro) and with all of them I turn regular outfits in their color into my costume. It typically involves thrift store finds, markers, sewing ears and a tail, and a little (or a lot) of makeup. Either way it's always fun. The best part is most of the costumes can be worn as part of a regular outfit!

For this particular one, I sewed a tail and ears, then pinned the tail to the back of my cardigan and used wire to attach the ears to the head band and hold them up. Add a few boomerangs to a cream colored tank top and BOOM! I became Totoro.

It was super great to connect with those who also were Miyazaki fans. And if they didn't understand who I was, they were all "nice cat costume!" and I promptly turned away as they did not deserve my attention. JK! I just said thanks; trying to describe who Totoro is was too much effort. More details on my first comicon to follow!

TTFN!

OOTD: It's hot outside

This weather requires wearing as little clothing and as light a cloth as possible. Connecticut is currently going through a heat wave with temps in the 90's to 100 and humidity is just gross. I was so happy to find this cute little dress in a thrift shop, Retrospect Vintage, on my vacation to Philadelphia. Good to know that they have an etsy too! (link below). This dress reeks of 1970's fashion so it pairs great with my fro :P. This dress happens to be from NPC Fashions based out of Warren, Pennsylvania. Pretty dope. The fabric is a super lightweight cotton so it's breathable and comfy without being see-through. Score!

I wore this outfit to go see a wedding venue with Fiancé and to run some errands. dressy enough to make a good impression, comfy enough to survive this heat. The venue we visited is a French tudor styled castle from 1898 and was absolutely beautiful. Fiancé is pretty much sold on this one.

D E T A I L S :

• Dress: Retrospect Vintage
• Belt: Goodwill
• Shoes: Payless
• Earrings: Reading Terminal Market
• Necklace: ???
• Alex & Ani Bracelets

M A K E U P :

• lol no too hot
• SPF 35 lotion!

Hope you all are staying cool in this heat! I'm looking forward to the fall now.

OOTD: Thrifty Librarian

This shirt is so much fun to match an outfit with since there's so many colors. With any outfit I put together, I try not to repeat colors of things. Makes an outfit more interesting, yenno? This time around I have two different shades of yellow, but i think it works. The shirt is pretty big on me and there's no shape to it, but i love it belted. Just another school day for this outfit (no pottery of course :P). 

D E T A I L S:

• Top: Savers, thrifted
• Cardigan: Urban Outfitters
• Skirt: H&M
• Leggings: H&M
• Shoes: Kohl's
• Hoops: Delias
• Birdie studs: Delias
• Necklace H&M?

M A K U P:

• Urban Decay's Deluxe Shadow Box palette: Fishnet, Ransom
• Liquid eyeliner
• Mascara
• Smashbox BB cream

TTFN! <3

OOTD: If I could...

If I could dress this nice every day for school, I totally would. As much as I love my major, this semester I'm taking pottery; probably the messiest class I'll be taking, leaving me no choice but to wear sweats to school. In spite of that, I could still see this as my future career. Other than being messy (which can be resolved once I get better at it) There's no way I could wear a skirt or a dress at the wheel--at least if I want to remain ladylike. On the days I don't have pottery I take full advantage of the fact that I will not be covered in mud :) I wore this for my school's club fair. I'm on eboard for three clubs so club fairs are always a juggling act. Lots of fun though!

D E T A I L S :

• Coat - Burlington Coat Factory
• Dress - H&M
• Leggings - H&M
• Boots - Urban Outfitters
• Scarf - Thrifted
• Belt - Gift

There are so many things I love about this outfit. Full of little details but still pretty simple, I think. I got this dress for $10 with a gift card I got for Christmas. I absolutely adore the back cut out with the little pearl fasten. I'm also wearing my favorite boots that I've had for three years now. I think they're starting to show their age, though. 

M A K E U P :

• UD's primer potion
• UD's Deluxe Shadow Box palette - Peace
• UD's Dangerous palette (2nd edition) - Evidence
• Foundation
• Liquid Liner
• Tarte Amazonian Clay Blush - Flush

I'm so excited for this to be my 99th post! Stay tuned for the 100th because I decided to make it a giveaway :D 

TTFN! <3

-Avé

OOTD: First Day of Class!

I may be entering my fourth year of college, but my first day of class outfit will always feel special. It's a new semester, new faces, new impressions. People do judge a book by its cover, so I guess I like to make sure my cover is representative of me. Today I only had sculpture and Chinese, but I can already tell this semester is going to be a doozy!

D E T A I L S :

• Animal print tank - H&M
• Blue collared tank - thrifted
• Dark skinnies - Kohl's
• Brown flats - Target
• Necklace - Target
• Spiked earrings - Forever 21

The collared tank top is from a new thrift store that just opened up near by called Helping Hands. Most of the clothes there are 99 cents! The bulk of the store is quality vintage furniture that made me so jealous that I dont already have a place of my own. I had my eye on this pair of orange ceramic lamps from the 70's that were $60 a piece. Alas, I have no place to store them until they would have become of some use....and i didn't have $120 to splurge....*le sigh*

Kohl's was generous enough to offer my readers a 10% off code too! You can use the code UBLOGTEN now through October 24th and stack your savings with one other department specific code. Woop woop! I'll probably pick up another pair of these jeans [Apt. 9]  in one of their fall colors. Can't wait!

M A K E U P :

• UD's NAKED palette - virgin, smog, toasted
• UD's Eyeshadow Primer Potion
• UD's Oil Slick Eyeliner
• Revlon's Double Twist Mascara
• Revlon's Just Bitten Kissable Balm Stain - Sweet Heart Valentine (025)

OK, I have to go freshen up my Chinese big time. Off to the books! 再见！

TTFN!<3
- Avé

Summer Thrift Haul

I realized after my latest thrift adventure that I haven't been sharing it with you lovelies! This week is tax free week in Connecticut, so I made sure I took advantage of it. I might do just a little more shopping before the week is over. All summer I've been working on adding prints to my wardrobe, if you couldn't tell from the majority of my finds. I think I'm most excited about the first one. It fits like a long jacket although I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be a dress. I want to hem it right after the second to last set of buttons. It would then be the perfect length with a mini skirt and leggings, woop woop!

I'm also pretty excited about the red/chain/animal print top. 100% silk, 100% awesome. I already know the outfit I want to pair it with and I CAN'T WAIT. Possible 1st day of class outfit :O) Speaking of outfits, for the black and white skirt I wasn't sure if I had a top to match, so I went to the mall right after and found this rad neon "H!" tee. I thought it said "Hi" and thought it'd be perfect for the club fair since it's all about recruiting members....but then my sister pointed out that it says "H!" not "Hi"....woops! Oh well. Still a cute outfit.

From now on I'll remember to post them as I get them and not a whole lumpsome! I would love to go into detail about each and every piece but....that might be a bit much for this post. I'll probably save that for avelooks.


Have you found any thrifty treasures lately?
TTFN!<3

OOTD: To the Museum!

My days off this whole summer have been spent on building up my blog, painting, and working on projects. That's cool n' all, seeing as that's my future career; but when you work full time in a pharmacy and dedicate the same amount of time to your passion, eventually you'll need a break. So yesterday when my sister asked if I wanted to go to the museum with her and her friend, I took her up on the offer! (good choice, might I add).

D E T A I L S

• Animal print top - H&M
• Blue button down - Burlington Coat Factory
• Belt - Gift from sister
• Purple leggings - Charlotte Russe
• Owl necklace - Charlotte Russe
• Flower earrings - Tag Sale at the Greek Odessey Festival
• Black canvas shoes - Target

M A K E U P

• Revlon photo ready liquid foundation
• Boiing concealer
• Ulta mascara
• Too Faced's Romantic Eye palette - Honeymoon

I love layering! Once school starts back up and the weather cools down....lets say you've been warned. Both of these tops lend themselves for layering with leggings--perfect length! Speaking of leggings, I love the color of these ones. I'll have to add some more funky colors to my wardrobe soon. Not everything in this outfit matches, but I think it all came together quite nicely :3 

My hair was a day 4 mango butter twist out. It was my first time using it so I wasn't sure what the results would be so I didn't want to blog it.  Let me just say though, my hair was sooooo soft (and still is on day 5 :O). Mangos are slowly becoming my favorite fruit.

We went to the Peabody museum with our lovely student discount. The temporary exhibit currently there is all about food in America. I'm a sucker for statistics on things like that (Some documentaries to mention: Forks Over Knives, Food Inc., Super Size Me, etc...) Learned some stuff, enjoyed myself, felt like a little kid again.

TTFN! <3

OOTD: Colonial Cook Out

This outfit was too cute NOT to share! I love this dress! Although I'll have to admit somewhere between when I bought it a month ago and now, my boobs got bigger. Thus, the dreaded button gap >_<; but a nice cami can solve that issue. This dress has lovely lace details that remind me a bit of the colonial times; perfect for the holiday! I think this outfit could work for non-patriotic days, too.

D E T A I L S :

• dress - H&M
• cami - ?
• belt - Goodwill
• leggings - Target
• shoes - Payless
• necklace - Kohl's
• earrings - Claire's
• bracelet - Gift from Zack when we went to Hawai'i

M A K E U P :

• Revlon foundation
• Naked palette - virgin, buck
• Sephora liquid eyeliner
• Revlon lipstick - abstract orange (026)

I wore contacts so I could wear sunglasses (also I haven't worn them in over a year :O) The leggings certainly helped prevent the bug bites, even though I got a couple around my ankles. I wore this outfit to church and then to a 4th of July cook out this past sunday. I have one more today and then another one tomorrow! Today is my city's fireworks, so I'm looking forward to that.

Happy 4th!

TTFN<3

OOTN: yellow and thrifty accessories

D E T A I L S

• yellow shirt - JC Penny
• skinnies - Dress  Barn
• Shoes - Payless
• Necklace - goodwill
• earrings - H&M
• scarf - savers

M A K E U P

• Revlon foundation
• Urban Decay eye liner
• ULTA mascara

I LOVE this shirt! I feel like I don't wear it enough. I got it earlier this year but I haven't worn it until recently. I particularly enjoy the little ruching near the shoulders. I know the sheer top is a trend right now, and this one suits me just fine! If you've never gone thrifting before or are a little hesitant, start off with accessories. You're bound to find something you like in this category.

I wore this outfit to my cousin's graduation party. Now she's off to UCONN *tear of pride in little cuz* good luck Kimber!

sidenote: I love how big my puff is getting!

TTFN<3

For more on my style, clickity here!

DIY - Secret Compartment book!

You will need:

• A book
• an exacto knife
• a glue gun
• a glue stick
• felt or a thick fabric
• ruler
• marker

1. open the book about 20 pages in and decide your margins. An easy guide would be to reference your cuts around the text. (ie 1mm away from text)
2. using the exacto knife, carefully cut out pages a few at a time until the pocket is as deep as you'd like it. I applied heavy pressure until I got towards the end. If any of the pages rip (common with older books) use the glue stick to patch things up
3. hold the book as straight as you can and glue the inside with the glue gun. By gluing the inside rather than the outside edges, it looks more believable. Glue on the outside is a dead give away!
4. Measure and cut out a piece of felt using the template described in the video. Glue down the bottom first, then the edges.
5. Take the next four pages or so closest to the compartment and glue them together, and then to the edges of the compartment. 
6. Use the exacto knife to cut out a flap to enter the compartment. Voilá!