Galactic Glitter Party

I stopped by American Apparel today to meet with my bff Nisa for lunch. She ended up getting caught up with a quick meeting so I decided to kill some time in the Factory Outlet store. Although the Factory Flea Market is currently going on and it's going to continue all through summer, I just didn't feel like browsing through that mess despite the lower prices. After a while, I felt like I was wandering the store way too long so I thought what better than to get some new nail polish for the summer. With the Fourth of July just days away, all I could think of were FIREWORKS!!! I spotted these two bottles of glitter and just had to have them!

The one on the left is called 'Supernova' with multi-sized, multi-colored glitter and the one on the right is 'Galaxy' which I describe it as "it's as if a Jeff Koons exploded" but all the glitter in that one are the same size. I've been dying for multi-colored glitter nail polish for a while but I've been wary since my past experiences with glitter polish have been horrible. Back in high school I had a few bottles of heart-shaped glitter polish and star-shaped glitter polish given to me by a relative who worked at a salon. I remember them being really chunky and really difficult to get an adequate amount of glitter on my nails…in other words, it took a lot of work just to get more than two pieces of glitter on my nails.

But these from American Apparel are quite wonderful! I paired OPI in My Private Jet which is an iridescent black polish with Supernova and I love the result. I also love that even when the glitter is layered on unevenly, it still looks intentional.

My favorite part is how they just sparkle and glisten in the light. Now my nails are ready for some Fourth of July fireworks!

Madewell was Made for Me.

Last week I received a catalog in the mail from Madewell. I almost entirely forgot that I had requested one in the first place. But upon first sight, I was instantly in love. From the typeface choices to the styling, I knew that this was a brand I can stand behind. And then, I found out that they were part of J. Crew. I don't necessarily hate J. Crew. I just remember some of the animal rights controversy they were involved with in the past. But Madewell is a very different brand and demographic than J. Crew. It has a very uniform and utilitarian feel to it. And I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt since it was just PETA that gave them hell in the past for where they got their fur and wool. (Sure as a cat owner and animal lover, I'm not cool with animal cruelty. But PETA hasn't exactly exercised favorable behavior either.)

Over the weekend, I met up with my bff Nisa who currently works at American Apparel at the corporate level. Nisa and I have been wearing American Apparel since our high school years and we remember when they used to only have 5 products. And whether or not a shirt was printed on American Apparel used to be the deciding factor in which online stores we would support. Well fast forward about a decade, and American Apparel is now this huge ever-expanding thing that just doesn't know when to stop (even when they're in financial trouble). Vintage watches & eyewear? Beauty products? WHAT?! We went from owning just a few American Apparel tees to wearing American Apparel every day. I wear at least 1 article of clothing from them every day. Nisa, for obvious reasons, wears American Apparel head-to-toe every day, but she was wearing them long before she got the job.

But what we laughed about over lunch was how we're still stuck on uniforms. We both attended Catholic school for 12 years of our lives where we had to wear uniforms every day. And every since we graduated from high school, we've managed to create our own uniform from pieces of different brands. Nisa has a rule about wearing mostly oxford shirts and cardigans. I have a specific color rule: I own mostly white, greys, black. With the exception of darks. So I can have color, but they have to be the dark shades of colors. So colors like navy, forest green, deep purple, burgundy, etc. Sure, some people think our wardrobe is boring, but it suits us just fine. The case we make for it is that everything in our closets will always match. We never have to worry about getting dressed and having our clothes not match. We can seriously be blindfolded and pick stuff from our closet and everything will match.

So what does Madewell have anything to do with this? Well Madewell looks like the next logical wardrobe upgrade. This year I'll be turning 25. I'm starting to hit that late 20s/early 30s age where I'm starting to transition out of young adulthood. And as comfy as an American Apparel V-neck is, it's not always going to be the appropriate choice. I've been looking to upgrade my everyday uniform from V-necks and jeans to casual button-ups with jeans. It's only been a matter of finding something I really like.

Here are some of my favorite looks:

And last but not least,

 this is my absolute favorite outfit!