Nude Pumps

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Last week I had a personal styling session with a client, and she asked me to help her find ways to wear these brown shoes that she had never really worn. Of course I helped her with her request, but I also spotted that she was missing THE most important color in a shoe collection - nude.

Nude, flesh-tone, beige, tan, caramel...Whatever color your skin is you should have a shoe that is a close match. Why?

1.  Your skin color goes with everything! Yep, even more than the classic color black that we all tend to hide behind. Most women have more than one pair of black shoes and have never owned a pair of nude. They're missing out because you can always wear flesh tone shoes and not think twice about whether it matches your outfit - EASY dressing!

2. They give the illusion that your legs are longer, which means you appear taller and thinner. Um, who wouldn't say yes to that?! Celebrities definitely know this trick, and there is no reason why you can't cash in on it too.

So, if you know that your closet is missing this magic, here are some shoes you can check out...

INC Mindy Pumps - $79.00

Steve Madden GLAAMM Pumps - $89.95

Charles by Charles David Pompadour Camel Pumps - $79.90

And for flat lovers like me, check out these TopShop Micah Flats for $60.00.

Celebrity images via The Vogue Diaries

Long Skirts

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The 2011 Fall Fashion frenzy is happening on runways all around the world this month, and one style trend that is clear is the long skirt has made its way back onto the fashion scene.

We haven't seen this length of skirt make a full return since the 90's, so I guess it's about time. However, I'm not that thrilled. Only one body type can really wear this style - tall, thin boyish figures (a.k.a. models). If you're over 5' 8" you are going to struggle to find skirts that are long enough, and if you're under 5' 6" you are going to have a hard time finding skirts that don't need alterations. At least with pants department stores and trendy places like GAP have caught onto the idea of offering ankle, regular and tall lengths. I guarantee you that won't be the case with these skirts.

If you decide to embark on this "new" trend, pick skirts that are close to your body and sit at your natural waist. Tuck your blouse into your skirt and accessorize with a belt.

Images found via The Vogue Diaries, The Gloss, and FashionWorldz.com.

Cat Eye Sunglasses

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Sunglasses - what's in and what's out? Ray Ban Originals have come and gone. Cat Eye sunglasses are the pick for 2011!

So where should you get a pair? Well, there are two groups of people...Group A - People who invest in a quality pair of sunglasses that will last a long time. Group B - The under $20 people that constantly lose, sit on and break their sunglasses. I am in Group B.

I'm usually all about quality over quantity, but I can't keep a pair of sunglasses to save my life. Anyone else out there?

So, here are some options for both groups...

Urban Outfitters is a great place to find trendy glasses under $20. I really like the Starlight Sunglasses ($14) in pale pink. They have a retro Palm Springs vibe that I'm really into right now.

Betsey Johnson has a fantastic pair of tortoise shell glasses for $65, and you can also find them at Urban Outfitters.

For the lovers of quality, high fashion sunglasses look no further than Tom Ford. You can have extreme, designer cat eyes for an investment of $360.

Celebrity images via The Vogue Diaries.

Promise Tangeman Creative Photo Shoot

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So, I'm really excited to reveal a photo shoot that I was actually in this time. I had the privilege of being photographed for Promise Tangeman Creative by our TALENTED friend Melissa Jill. Promise and I had a blast doing her photo shoot for her website and promo photos at the end of last year, and so of course, we needed to have another girl PARTY (a.k.a. photo shoot) to kick off 2011.

As I mentioned awhile back, I've been helping out Promise Tangeman with some project management, and I'm LOVING it! She is incredibly energizing, brilliant and SO encouraging. Seriously, follow along on her blog and you'll see what I mean.

I had a blast helping to put this shoot together. It took place in downtown Phoenix - the BEST place for locations in my opinion. Color, hair and makeup were the focal points of this shoot. So, of course Promise and I had our good friend and hairstylist Kim Cornwell help us in the hair department. AND...Jack of all trades, Tina Burnham, joined us to do makeup even though she has told me she isn't a makeup artist. Well, I'm sure you guys can tell from these photos that she is UBER talented as a makeup artist in addition to being a talented photographer and hair stylist. RIGHT?!!

So, as always, we collected hair, makeup and clothing inspiration for this shoot. Promise had been wanting to do a bright eye, and I have been in love with bright lips all season long, so we went our own ways with the one condition that COLOR had to be incorporated. We even painted our nails a really bright color as shown below.

As for hair...Well, as you can tell Miss Promise has hair that is unrivaled. I mean, there is NO chance I could ever do what she does with hers. This girl gets SOOO many questions about her hair and every girl in the work wishes she could get that kind of volume. I have accepted the sad truth that I'll never have "promified" hair, so Kim and I decided we would work with what I have that is unique to me - CURLS!!!

Kim did a FANTASTIC job, no? I felt like I had just stepped off the spring runway. Remember my post on fuzzy curls? Well, she nailed it!!

As for clothes, well, with color being the requirement there was no question that my red, GAP skinny jeans would be used for this shoot. They definitely make a statement. And of course, I played up my love for retro style with my gingham oxford shirt tucked in. We had a second look for which I was struggling to find something until I did a little shopping at Buffalo Exchange and found this cute magenta skirt for $7.00!!!

Promise on the other hand, had these amazing jeans that reminded her of clouds, this sweet neon green/yellow bandeaux top, a teal shirt and this AWESOME pair Zara shoes she got in Europe. I think we nailed the color requirement. haha!

In her second look she incorporated some colored denim and played up the black and white stripes trend. It looked awesome against the blue wall!

Here are some more fun photos. I hope you love them as much as we do!