Outfit of the day! Casual nautical themed. My challenge? How to combine two different stripes without it looking too busy.

I’m more of a neutrals and solids kind of girl, so mixing it up with stripes is a big deal for me.

I used a solid minimal striped cardigan on top. I picked red because it picked up on the accents of the shirt. A blue would have drowned it out, and a white would have emphasized the horizontal stripes which are already tricky to wear.

The top is a sleeveless sheer high low top, with gold buttons, and a collar. I left it untucked because I wanted to keep the shape loose. With horizontal stripes I try and stay away from anything body con, it will only make things look- larger. Eeeep!

 My shorts are high waisted double button downs. Super comfy and from Top Shop!

 Neutral flats from DSW.

I feel like I should be headed off to go watch the sailboat races! The closest this one is getting to water today is my shower =( Happy Thursday!

I’ve been wanting to do something different to my hair. I had been toying with the idea of Ombre, however there seemed to be a lot of Ombre out there both terrible and great. Upon doing more browsing I came across the hair technique called Balayage. 

Balayage is French for sweeping, or to sweep. Thus the results are sweeping highlights scattered throughout your hair. These highlights are meant to look natural and sunkissed.

Upon speaking to my hair colorist. Tracy from Salt Air Salon. We decided that Balayage + Ombre would be a look that would work for me. Tracey did her Balayage magic on my hair, however instead of starting her highlights at the top of my hair Tracy placed her highlights at the middle of my hair and really concentrated on lightening my ends.  thus achieving an Ombre look with a Balayage highlights. 

I really, really love my hair. Excuse my expressionless face in these photos, I have no makeup on- but I  am having a great hair day and really wanted to share how gorgeous the color looks!

Embrace your inner nerd! I did. With a sock bun, oversized glasses, followed by a very productive day of work!

DIY Envelope clutch. 

I came across this template on how to make a DIY envelope clutch, and decided it was a project I had to tackle. So I solicited a coworker to help do the sewing for me. I picked up this gorgeous ostrich inspired “leather” form the fabric shop, along with some chartreuse scrap, and navy scrap (navy and chartreuse have yet to be made). I also grabbed some button closures, and fun thread that would be a nice contrast to all the leather and had my coworker follow the pattern. 

In 4 hours we had this gorgeous end result! 

Hi my name is Kat, and I am a mascara addict. 

I’m one of those girls that would rather have a bare face, lip balm, but 13 coats of a good mascara because I really really believe it does wonders for myself. After years of trial and error, I have synthesized my top picks to these three. 

1. YSL Yves Saint Laurent - Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils $30.00.

My sister introduced me to this gem. This mascara glides on smooth, thick, and gives you instant length, gloss, and shine. This one won out, over the Shocking mascara.

What else you need to know:

The brush applicator combines nylon fibers of varying diameters for luxurious volume enhancement as never before.

2. Dior Extase Mascara- $28.50

This is my favorite mascara in the whole world. I cannot say enough great things about this. It takes me a few coats, but boy does it give volume, and pop. I swear by this one, with bias, love, and I haven’t even gotten to the best part. It helps reconstruct your lashes, and gives extra TLC to damaged lashes! 

What else you need to know:
The Extase mascara features a “Tiered Brush” that is inspired by the “tiered” couture dresses created by the House of Dior.

3. Lancome HYPNÔSE DRAMA Instant Full Body Volume Mascara $ 26.00

Hypnôse Drama creates full body, high-volume lashes in a single stroke. The full contact brush, with its S-shaped curve, grasps and loads lashes for a fanned out, eye-popping, full body fringe. 

What else you need to know:
Lancôme’s luxurious new texturizing complex features highly saturated waxes and intense black pigments for maximum lash volume. The triple coating system with caring Pro-Vitamin B5 delivers a fluid and creamy application to quickly and easily build big, battable lashes.

Bojangles Bangles. New haul from #brandymelville and some much needed arm candy updates. Thin pink,white,blue, gold- Brandy Melville White gold Bangle- Cartier Yellow Skulls-Brandy Melville Leather fishtail- Boracay Aqua beads-Brandy Melville

HELP MEEE! 

I leave for the Philippines in 3 days and I’m sitting here in a sea of my shoes. I can’t seem to decide which ones to bring. 

The 1st photo has a navy and a glitter shoe. I am torn between both because my new years dress is navy, and the navy shoe matches perfectly and I may get more use with the outfits I am bring. However; the glitter shoe is a lot of fun, more comfortable and really screams new years! 

The Wedges.

The two tone wedge is comfortable, cute, and easy to wear. The lace up carmel wedge is a little less comfortable but can be worn to dress up or down an outfit- it has more versatility than the two tone. 

The Neutrals.

The multi strap blush shoe is super comfortable as is the elastic beige sandal. It’s just a matter of preference between both. 

The Colors.

Hot pink suede? Or a tulip red shoe that screams drama? 

It’s that time of the year the holidays are coming around while everyone is making winter-y plans such as snowboarding in Tahoe, or decorating trees, and buying sweaters. I am super fixed on my tropical plans which consist of a trip back home to the Philippines! I’ve listed the top 5 places that I am going to probably live at when I am home for the holidays. 

1. Nail Spa

My most favorite nail place in the whole world. They actually maneuver the pillows to make sure your extremities are supported. Lazy much?!  Another plus is that there are no Vietnamese ladies screaming across the nail salon asking if you want “crit o jeall or if you are a modewwl or chealedahh”. 

2. The Spa

My oasis! I love, love, love this place. The last time I was here, I was in a sky villa with a private shower, steam room, hot tub, getting my nails and toes done lying down, a facial, and a full body massage with coconut oil. Mmmmm paradise.

3. 2nds

My dear friends Luigi, Mario, Indy, Sung, and Raj (ish) own this restaurant that makes me so fat. Chef Mikko’s steak with raclette topping and truffled mac and cheese are to die for. I may eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Nomz. 

4. Republiq

Many a epic night has been had as this amazing club. Last year I ended up on stage with the DJ’s headphones around my neck, a bottle of grey goose in my hand, the microphone in other screaming obscenities to the crowd. What can I say? I go hard! The night I get home it’s bottle service and black out time with my BFF’s. The best thing about Manila ? Clubs don’t close till 7am!

5. Boracay

GOOGLEIT-Nuff said. Fu*king paradise. 

Bedroom Post.

Growing up my mom always started on my room as her project and stopped half way, so I was always left with a unfinished room with mismatched furniture and strange things like a broken massage chair, a cherub lamp with naked angels, and one time I had clown wallpaper that looked like they were floating in a ocean of Hot Tamales. 

When I finally got the opportunity to decorate my own room, I wanted to make sure it was as comfortable and looked exactly how I wanted it to. No naked cherubs or broken furniture up in here. I was really inspired by French country and shabby chic. 

Photo one is an overview of the entire room. Yes the bed is even MORE comfortable than it looks. 

Photo 2 has closeups of my bed, custom made drawers (love, love, love), and the lamp which took forever to find.

Photo 3 are little things in my room that make me happy; my jewelry rack, bedside table, wall quote, and fat ginger blanket stealing cat. 

What does your room look like? 

Sometimes you stumble across good things, then you stumble across the most epic surprise. This short film written and produced by Joseph Gordon Levitt and featuring Channing Tatum is one of the most satiric devine short films I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a Channing Tatum fan for obvious reasons, and for years. Joseph Gordon Levitt is a new fascination I’m starting to explore and quickly getting carried away with his charm,wit, fluency in French, and now his writing. The melodic flow of the tantalizing words that dance in your ears is surreal. This is how bedtime stories should be told.