Faux fur is where it's at

chiffon skirt and a little trip to the museum

Last Friday my mom and I went to the National Gallery of Art in D.C for an art history assignment.

I went straight for the Andy Warhol exhibition (naturally) which I found surprisingly and disappointingly very "mehhh".

The Impressionist exhibition was absolutely amazing though. I'm a big BIG fan of Impressionism, Renoir, Monet and Degas being my favourite painters.

There's this beautiful light tunnel that connects the East Building to the West Building and I kind of wondered whether I was going to see Jesus or Cézanne paintings.

And then we had lunch at Merzi, this Indian food joint on 7th Street. Spicy! 

inspo station: lines and colors

One of my favourite moments of the day is when I go to bed, grab my laptop and just look at pretty things, whether they're new magazine layouts, the latest fashion trends or even home decoration. It's kind of like my 'ice-cream and a movie' moment. It's completely delicious. I even think of it as gluttony, as weird as that sounds, just because I practically lick my laptop screen and drool at all the cool stuff I find.

I get way way way too excited about color. It's my guilty pleasure. Thankfully, I have something called a "Graphic Design Major" which serves as a great excuse for it. I keep these two idea books (a leather notebook that I can actually play with in real life and another one which is a folder that's happily sitting on my computer desktop) where I keep e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g I like inspiration-wise. 

I like to flip through them whenever my brain decides to take a walk. 

One of my goals in life is to have a bathroom with THAT kind of floor.

1  // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 //

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I really wanna try this

My obsession with haircolor began when L'Oreal's Color Pulses came out. I was probably twelve or thirteen when I dyed my hair with that mousse (precocious, I know) and if I remember correctly it was a purple-y shade.  

You see, my ADD is pretty general, meaning it affects other brain functions such as the "can't-have-the-same-look-for-more-than-a-month-or-else-I'll-kill-myself" function.

I have SO many hair stories; good ones and bad ones. But mostly bad ones. I've had my hair jet-black, red, purple, orange (lolz), and blonde. I've also had completely fried hair, the kind you mistake for the hay horses eat. Pretty traumatizing stuff! My best-friend and I were always picked on because of our unhealthy hair habits. I remember a boy trying to tease us saying "why don't you go dye your hair again". And then my friend called him a Sasquatch. 

The only hairstyle/haircolor I've been able to stick with is the one I currently have which is ombré hair! It goes from medium-light brown (my natural shade) to golden blonde. I've had this for almost a year and let me just tell you, it is a RECORD for me because in case you haven't noticed, I have a hard time making up my mind, which renews itself every three seconds. Kind of like my appetite. 

I'm happy to say that my hair has gotten completely back to normal; I don't blow dry it, straighten it, or curl it anymore and it makes SUCH a big difference in the quality of your hair. Seriously. No more heat for me!

LET'S GET TO THE POINT: 

I'm having a hair-ADD relapse and I'm lovin' it. I was looking at a spread Abbey Lee (model in first and last pic) did for Vogue Australia, drooling a little bit and thinking I would never do anything permanent like that. But then (and this is the juicy part) this little magic ball popped out of nowhere. This little magic ball would be Kevin Murphy's COLOR BUG which is an 'eye-shadow' for hair, meaning you can put it on your hair and wash it out JUST LIKE MAKEUP! Isn't that the most genius thing ever? 

The best part is that señor Color Bug was what was used for the Abbey Lee shoot. 

Uh-mazing. 

I'm still trying to find a store that sells it or that delivers it (this is an Australian product) and when I do get my hands on this baby, oooooh boy. It's going to be a very pink world.

Ps: make sure you check out my new (and old) sponsors! They're just FABULOUS!

oh my god. SHOES.

Boot-obsessed child over here!

I don't know why I love boots so much but I just do. I know every girl likes shoes but boots for me are number one. I think it's probably because they just fit almost every time and you don't necessarily have to have a certain body type to wear them, it's like they're friendly, you know?

Stilettos & pumps would be a different story. Those can be very, very mean. Just don't get along with those and I most likely wouldn't be caught dead wearing them. Actually yes, you WOULD catch me dead if I were ever to wear them.

{Cause of death: fall}

A few years ago, I cleverly wore these 4 inch black stilettos on an almost 15-hour-long trip, D.C. to Lisbon. So I was 'running' (I don't even think you can call that running, it was more like little Chiwawa jumps) around the airport and let me tell you, my feet were GONE when I got to Lisbon. 

So was my dignity. 

Gotta love cruel friends and family!

Anyway. Boots. They're the only reason I like winter.

Let me just say, there is NOTHING 'free' about Free People. 

Aldo has some pretty bombastic boots and I've been a fan for a longgggggg time. 

But which ones? That is zeeeee question. 

(JUST CURIOUS!)

happy Thanksgiving!

LouLou

I was in Dupont a few weeks ago to meet with Ashlyn for some camera related business (she's really pretty and really nice so go show her some luvvvv) and when I was left to myself I thought I'd look around, see if there were any interesting stores. And.there.was. One.

First let me just say; people call me Loulou/Lulu all the time which drives me completely crazy. Some people also like to call me "Lua" or even "Luna" and those are honestly just 'wtf ' funny moments. But "Lulu" I just can't seem to handle; first because I always remember this annoying, snobby French boy at my school always call me Lulu in a whiny voice, then because my best friend's dog was named Lulu and was ran over by a bus and.... just little things like that. "Squid" is by far, the best nickname ;)

MY POINT IS: I know some stores called "Lulu" but I don't think I had ever seen one spelled "Lou Lou". 

And since some people call me 'Lou' (which I, by the way, love) I thought it was definitely 'safe' for me to go in the store. 

I always make these kinds of weird connections to things.

But it works! Because I loved the store. 

I would have taken more pictures but the cashiers and the other girls working there were starting to look at me funny. 

So the only thing I was probably thinking about when I saw these earrings was "Beyoncé", which in a normal situation, would be a sign NOT to buy it. But strangely enough, I did and holy woly wawa those earrings are a sassy pair. I usually never wear earrings, especially not hoops but these....I just got that bling-bling/bootylicious/red carpet vibe. Hmmmk. 

more bling!

And even more bling! Jeez, Louise. Or should I say, Jeez, Lou Lou?

ruffle suede romper

Say hello to my new UO romper! I sort of bought this on a whim (because it's two sizes too big hmmm) but I'm reallyyyy glad I did. I love the beige-y/brown suede fabric and the little side pocket details. It's really low on the back so... BONUS points.

I know it's kind of cold to go out like this but I figured I'd wear some tights underneath them with a chunky sweater. Since I hate pants and jeans so this is purrrr-fect.

Will announce THE BIG news this weekend.
I'm not pregnant.
And I'm definitely not getting married.
Hope you still like me.

Afternoon in Georgetown

When my best friend was still living in D.C., we used to go to Georgetown allllll the time. She lived a few minutes away from all the shops on M Street (the one you see on the picture above) and we always went there with absolutely ZERO money. We just ran in the streets like savages next to all the fashionistas and business-y people and you'd either find us randomly sitting on a sidewalk (we get lazy a lot) or pretending to be celebrities looking at dresses at BCBG.  

We have SO many fun memories from Georgetown that I couldn't even begin to tell you. 

Last weekend my mom and I took a trip to M Street, mainly because I desperately needed my Urban Outfitters' fix. Oh you bank-breaker. I controlled myself. Fortunately. 

But then I ordered stuff online. 

Whaaaaaaat? They were having a sale. 

ps: winner of the MMS Design Software giveaway is eleventh 'commenter' Kaycie at the Redheaded Memories! Congrats Kaycie, I'll send you an email with details!

You can still check out the review I did on that great software here and if you like it as much as I do, grab the discount code right here {STMMMS42185} for $10 off the program!

Ombré hair tutorial {in reverse} // part I

I get a lot of Formspring questions and emails about how I got this ombré-hair look and I've said (about a million years ago) that I would do a post about it and well, there ya have it!
And it's only the beginning. That's right yall! This is a remix. Lemme just explain things a little. When I say "in reverse" it's because I'm not going to do anything to my hair ends (aka dip them in bleach), I'll just dye the top part of my hair; I'm still debating whether or not I want to lighten my ends a little. Oh and it's "Part I" because I'll do another post with a precise step-by-step on what I did to get my ends light and what products I use to make my hair not look like hay yada yada yada. That post will be live next Monday!

Anyway, this is super simple as you will see and the one trick that I really insist on is ALWAYS brush in/massage your hair dye into both parts of your hair. So for example, if you're bleaching your ends, make sure you brush your hair (while bleach is on) to create nuance (NOT contrast). You want to have a smooth transition between the darkest part of your hair, to the lightest. That obviously goes for when you're doing the opposite (what I'm doing in this video).
The dye I used was the Nice'n'Easy Colorblend Technology in 114 light ash brown but it came out a little lighter than I wanted it to. The reason why I got the "ash" one is because I'm kind of terrified of reddish tones. Don't get me wrong, it looks great on a lot of people, but me, I just like cooler tones. So if you want cool tones instead or warm ones, get any dye that says "ash" or "neutral" OR "cool"!
Another recommendation: OILY HAIR. Makes the dye grab on a loooot better.

Last but not least, I look completely possessed in the video; I didn't want to make it last forever so I just sped it up to the max and it's like three minutes of condensed face twitches. So. Watch the video at your own risk!
Also, you get to see my funny accent! You can make fun of that too. It's totally cool.
(Oh and I haven't completely mastered this video-editing business so apologies for the quality & for it looking so bright.)

Tada!