From Mod to Modern

I was one of those people waiting on warmer weather here in Michigan and am thoroughly elated that it’s here. We’ve been experiencing warmer than normal temperatures (not complaining lol) so when cooler weather rolled in, I enjoyed the brief change. It was just the right temperature that I could rock my high waisted black jeans. I wanted a sleek yet mod inspired look. 

Way back when, I thrifted a striped swimsuit that I converted into a bodysuit to wear as a top with my black jeans. The stripes in the bodysuit gives of mod vibes but paired with the jeans offers more of a modern appeal. I chose red block heels to bring out the pop of color in my bodysuit. My neck candy, a gold cuff choker emphasizes the bar-like stripes in the look and my black clutch keeps from drawing attention AWAY from the modern mod details. I almost opted for my favorite black and white chevron clutch. Anyhoo, let me know what you think of my look!! 

Side note: my natural hair is in a high bun again for a modern, fresh look. It’s an easy breezy style! 

Later Cupcakes! 💋

Jeans: Fashion Nova. Choker: Aldo. Bodysuit: Thrifted. Heels: Asos. Bracelet: Jewelmint. Clutch: American Apparel (similar here).

   
  

  

  

 

MY #naturalhair Inspired Outfit

I have been in a mood for about a month now where all I want to be is comfortable. Hair and outfits. Well my hair is definitely the inspiration behind my look today. Generally, I’m strategic with what I wear but this time I’m bent on going with the flow, just being the best me and accepting what comes naturally. 

I’ve shared in the past that I have an autoimmune disease, Hashimoto’s. This disease has ravaged my hair, causing extreme amounts of shedding and thinning. Adding to that, my medication has caused my texture to change. I thought it was my imagination but nope, I checked some forums where others have expressed the same concerns. Anyhoo, all that being said I had chosen to wear my own hair out less to avoid seeing all of the shedding. My endocrinologist is amazing and has worked with me in finding a medical plan that works best for my health. I’m on new medication and some of my shedding has been reduced. So I’ve decided to wear my hair out…without being straightened. I’ve worn my hair out before while flat ironed. You can see where I wore it here

I feel so free, free like when I used to wear my hair in all kinds of styles. I’m ready to enjoy my hair again. It’s so freeing to not feel like I have to keep my hair covered. To signify my comfort, confidence and freedom I’m wearing this flowy, wide legged H&M jumpsuit from several years back. This is my first time wearing it. It suits my skin perfectly, almost a reflection of being able to see me for me. My shoes are faux wood & leather platform sandals. My bag you’ve seen before and I think it fits perfectly. My jewelry is simple and chic, tell me what you think! I’ll be styling my hair more so stay tuned for that! 

Later Cupcakes! 💋

Jumpsuit: H&M (old but maybe similar here). Shoes: Target. Bracelet: H&M (similar here). Handbag: Justfab (similar here). 

   
   

     

        

  
 

“Mourning” the Spring 

Well guys, it’s officially winter…again. Well not really but we seriously just can’t shake this cold weather. If you can’t beat it, dress for it!! Kinda. I’m not really in the mood for spring colors right now because I’ve simply given up. I feel like I’m in mourning for spring. My poor little flowers in my flower garden had already started to appear and then pow! Cold. At least we didn’t get smacked with sleet and snow. eye roll  I know, pretty frustrating right? Well from what I’m seeing almost everyone is experiencing a lapse in spring like weather. I’ll mourn the spring for them too lol. 

It’s the oddest thing that winter, the most agonizing season is the longest. The season of rebirth is the shortest. (Eye roll). Anyhoo, let’s be positive because I didn’t come here to depress you. Let’s talk this all black look lol. I pretty much wanted all black but with a slight bit of texture. This keeps the outfit from appearing “monotone”. My pants are faux leather leggings. I paired the pants with a black (jersey knit) cut out top. Since I wanted the look to be sleek, I decided on minimal amount of accessories although my glasses make a grand statement. I tied a knot in my shirt for a bit of “edge” and cage chunky heels for added “texture”. My goal of allowing each piece of black to stand out is accomplished. Check out my pictures to see what I mean…

Later Cupcakes 💋

Chunky Heels: New Look. Pants: American Apparel. Top: Meijer. Bracelet: Layered Chains & Aldo. Bag: American Apparel. 

  

    
  

  

  

 

…Cause Coachella 

Every time around this time of year, the festival of music known as Coachella is highlighted. In instances where those of us from other areas can’t attend, the music and vibes are still shares via social media and air waves. Of course, I’m likely not able to attend this year as I wasn’t able to attend last year due to current circumstances and priorities. However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t wear a Coachella inspired look.

I think we all (who are acquainted with Coachella) know the “typical” attire that seems to be worn to the festival. Well I guess my look today can be Coachella-wear derived. I’m a style chameleon, not allowing people to label me nor try to identify my style. I like what I like, that’s my style. Sometimes a boho look tickles my fancy.

So shopping online, actually on eBay, I happened upon one of my favorite jewelry and accessories seller’s page. That’s where I fell in love with a beautiful necklace (which I’m wearing in this look). My cardigan is also from eBay, and I love it! The color compliments my skin tones and offers that boho pop of color against the nude of my dress. The crochet lace gives softness to the cardigan, offering a feminine touch to the entire look. My glasses are meant to pop against the nude just like my necklace and cooling down the warmth of this outfit. I initially thought about wearing my fringe bag but thought the fringe would detract from the floral design of my cardigan. Instead, I opted for my simple black clutch to sort of ground the look in an underwhelming manner and also bridge the “gap” of my sandals to the rest of my outfit. Needless to say, I was inspired to do this look cause Coachella…

Later Cupcakes! 💋

Cardigan, Glasses & Necklace: eBay. Dress: H&M. Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell. Bag: American Apparel. 

   

  
  

When East Meets West

My inspiration has been running wild lately. I haven’t been inspired by one particular thing and I’ve been creating ideas from all over the place until I’ve had to write down my jumbled thoughts. In a spur of the moment thought, my focus was diverted to contrasting but complimentary fabrics, specifically denim and crochet. I frequently love to shop my closet being that I’ve accumulated a wardrobe over the last almost 20 years.

Being that denim and crochet were my inspiration, I grabbed my vintage Levi’s denim button up. I intended to wear a nude midi skirt but that’s basic enough. I have a crochet scarf that felt looked perfect. To my delight though, grabbing my shoes from my shoe closet I noticed a crochet skirt I’d bought years ago. I hadn’t worn it before because I couldn’t fit it. I can fit into it now and it’s perfect for the look in going for! My look is pretty east meets western and is sort of the non-overt western look for the modern city girl. Honestly there’s nothing more to it. Let me know if you like this look!

Later Cupcakes! 💋

Shirt: Vintage Levi’s. Skirt: Jaide Clothing. Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell (old) Necklace: eBay. Bracelet: Jewelmint. 

  

  

  

  

The Graphic Tee Revisited (Plus Bad Hair Day Fix)

In the beginning of my outfit of the day blogging days, I blogged a look that I called “Rockstar Chic”. This post focused on the grungy look of one of my favorite thrift purchases, a graphic tee. Simply put, I love this tee!! It is what’s being sold in stores at a more expensive price.  The best part is my tee was really inexpensive!

I’m having a bad hair day today because….well it’s a long and sorted story lol. Anyhoo, the very simple solution for a bad hair day is a long scarf tied to imitate the long flow of hair and off to the side for a bit of “femininity”. This way, you still feel girly and not like you’re wearing the scarf out of necessity (even though you are). As I’ve previously said in my first “Style Lusts” for this month, you can use leopard print as a neutral. That’s exactly what I did with my scarf. At the same time, I’ve in effect added another layer of flavor to my look.

Since it’s Friday and we all want to get out and enjoy this weekly holiday lol, I’ll wrap up this post. I wanted to show a real life display of incorporating my style lusts. I have on boyfriend (husband for me lol) jeans that are lower on the waist and bun area. This allows for relaxed look. This look is a bit grungy but more polished than the first version with this tee. Let me know if you like the look!!

Happy Friday Cupcakes!! 💋

Jeans: JCP. Graphic Tee: Thrifted. Booties: Shoemint. Scarf: (old). Jacket: F21. Bracelet: H&M.

 

The First Look w/this tee:

The look this time around:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boho Street Style

I have seriously not been in the mood for dressing up. I want to wear some jogging pants. I’ll tell you one thing, I will be on the hunt for a new pair of kicks, possibly Addidas of Nike Air Max. I just need stylish kicks because I’ve not been in the mood for heels lately. Today I wore my broken in and long loved wedges from Justfab. I love these because they are so comfortable and I can run and jump all while looking stylish. My hair is all wrapped up so I put a scarf on because the wind has been so unforgiving this past week and I couldn’t get a flattering picture with my hair disrespectfully blowing every where.  Anyhoo, I’ve been wanting to rock this vintage Jordache jeans sweatshirt for months but I planned on wearing a skirt. Since this look happened before the warm up, wearing a skirt (with this look) and then another skirt a few a days later is a “no go” for me in this kind of weather.

I decided on a pair of denim pants from Top Shop. These are the Joni jeans. They are super comfy for those days when you would like to wear jogging pants but want to look a bit more polished than just wearing leggings. I wore a striped dress underneath my sweatshirt as a tunic for layering and dualing duties of combating the cold as well. To jazz up my look a bit, I am wearing a statement necklace.  I threw on a black leather jacket for warmth, edge and good measure. This look is quite boho chic with and edge and I’m ready for spring so this is also a lazy day outfit. Share your thoughts below!

Later Cupcakes!

To be Updated:

Jacket: Forever 21. Sweatshirt: vintage. Denim pants: Topshop. Dress/Tunic: Zulily. Wedges: Justfab. 


 

90s Look: Fringe Benefits 

Friday’s are days that I love! My children are off for the weekend, my hubby is too (even though I’m always working) and I get to enjoy my family! Now this weekend things will be a lil bit different. We have some work to do but we are still going to spend quality time together. Very simply put, I wanted a fun and stylish look! Fringe is always easy way to make an otherwise boring outfit fun!

The fringe I chose are fringe boots. They truly add a little bit of funk to my look. I didn’t feel like doing too much with my look because this seems like the perfect day to watch a movie and munch on a good crock pot meal lol. Honestly, I hadn’t noticed until my hubby pointed it out that I look like I belong in a Lil Kim video lol. Well, that goes to show that the simplest looks can say the most right?! Ha!

Welp, I gathered a few things that I had in my closet, some new, some old and put them together in this look. So there really is no concept in my looks during the winter beyond warmth and comfort honestly (which I know I’ve said before). For warmth, I really do love a fur jacket, coat, cardigan, etc., so that’s what I reached for in this look. I have a few furs, a couple which are jackets. Since this look is intended to be casual, I didn’t want to wear a fur coat which seems to be worn in a more formal fashion historically. Now of course you can break the mode and wear a maxi length coat if you like but I declined to do so.

My jacket was purchased years ago from Burlington Coat Factory on the clearance rack for under 20 bucks! Yes!! 20 bucks!!! It was extremely cheap because there was a genuine suede belt that accompanied the jacket in two loops but one of the loops was “broken”.  I decided to cut both loops off and not wear the belt at all. I think it gives the coat a more luxurious look (beyond the black color). I grabbed a turtleneck dress that I bought on clearance from American Apparel last year. I saw this dress on Adrienne Bailon and fell in love with this dress. I bought the exact same color which is a sort of sea foam green. It balances the black of the jacket out pretty well. I’m exhausted with wearing dark colors in the winter and quite frankly I’m just ready for winter to be over lol. The turtleneck dress is a fitted one and really accentuates anyone’s curves that would wear it. My accessories are minimal. Since my dress comes a bit above the knees, I found the opportunity to wear thigh high boots (again for warmth) and even though they are open toe, I was warm because my thighs are covered. I wanted a sleek look so I opted for a bag I grabbed from H&M. The clean lines and contemporary look of the bag is exactly what I needed to balance the modern simplicity of this outfit. Let me know what you think of this outfit and also, let me know how you wear your furs!

Til next time,

Later Cupcakes!

Fur jacket: Burlington (similar here). Dress: American Apparel (similar here). Denim shirt: Walmart (similar here). Boots: Shoedazzle (similar here). Bag: H&M. 


That Gray Area…

Lately, I’ve been drawn to certain colors naturally. I end up picking up wardrobe pieces that are the same color. Ugh, the dilemma right? Well, I am happy about this particular outfit because I picked up a few pieces in my color of the moment, gray. I picked these pieces up all at different times but all the pieces compliment one another for a calm and cozy look. I felt so relaxed in this look. I bought this turtleneck poncho a little more than a month ago. It kept me warm and kept me from needing outerwear. My only gripe is that it get wrinkled very easily and by the time I get to my destination, it never looks like it was ironed at all.

There’s always that gray area of times when you may not need outerwear. When wearing capes, things get tricky. Not every cape is a good fit for outerwear. If the cape is too thin and you live in a colder area, you may not want to wear a cape without a coat. The idea of a coat over a cape sounds crazy but it’s worse to be freezing, that’s not cute! It was about 50 degrees when I wore my cape so I didn’t need to wear anything else. Of course, I did wear a tank under my cape for good measure but I was comfortable. You have to decide if weather permits a cape alone along with making sure the fabric fits the weather as well as the style fitting the occasion. I could have worn this cape as outerwear but it isn’t warm enough for less than 50 degrees in my opinion. In colder weather, you’d want something warmer.

I paired this cape with some high waisted jeans and a tank from H&M. My boots are old and fur cuffed. I honestly don’t remember where I purchased them because it’s been longer than a decade that I’ve purchased them. My earrings are simple but make a delicate fashion statement. I chose a large statement necklace that is quite glamorous to fancy up the look. The gold stands out against the gray. I grabbed one of my fave handbags from Justfab and again the tan color contrasts the outfit but also warms up the look. Let me know what you think of this look. I will be back here on Wednesday of course for another outfit post.

Bye Cupcakes! 💋

Poncho & Jeans: Forever 21. Necklace: eBay. Earrings: Layered Chains. Handbag: Justfab.Â