I will never claim to be the most fashionable person, or to have the latest in fashionable items. But, I do love clothes. And, I love styling my little family. Yesterday I shared some of our family photos taken by Motormouth Studios one very cold day this last November. It was FREEZING outside, so I asked everyone to dress warmly and to coordinate with a color scheme of brown and blue. I didn’t want everyone to be wearing the same thing or even close to the same thing– I didn’t give much more for family members to go on for their outfit styling. I’m really glad I didn’t dictate that everyone wear a certain type of outfit or only certain colors. I was really happy with how everyone looked together!
Photo by Motormouth Studios
My husband placates my desire for us all to coordinate (never match) and usually allows me to pick choices of clothing for him to wear. He always gets the final say and typically it surrounds whether or not he can also wear a hat he likes or comfortable shoes. My son, given the choice, will always choose anything with Lighting McQueen or Elmo on it. So, I’m thankful that he is pretty great at letting me pick out his attire for now. He enjoys getting dressed up and making sure his hair looks good in the mirror. When I purchased the sweaters for the little guy and his dad I didn’t realize how similar they’d look. It *almost* looks as if they are matchy matchy… but, little one’s cute polka dot undershirt helped them differ just enough in my book.
Outfit Details:
(some of the below links are affiliate links… purchases made through these links will benefit this blogger)
The Lady: Dark wash jeans, Lucky Brand Plus Size Ginger Skinny Jean// Shoes, Payless tan suede (ish) booties from three years ago (similar tan booties) // Light Denim Chambray Shirt, Lucky Brand Western Chambray Shirt// V-Neck Sweater,Liz Claiborne Brown Sweater(similar sweater)// Chunky Necklace, H&M (similar chunky necklace)
The Man: Dark wash jeans, Old Navy// Chambray Shirt, H&M (Similar) // Brown dress slip on shoes, (similar) // Chunky white sweater, H&M (Similar Men’s Knit Sweater)
What do you think? Did our outfits work together or did we completely miss the mark? What do you like to wear for family photos? Comment with your tips below!
Winter is one of my favorite seasons. I love warm drinks and sparkly lights. I love the holiday parties. I love the fashion of Winter—layers, scarves, boots, coats, and tights make me happy.
But, in the cold of my bathroom on winter mornings and evenings I have absolutely no desire to do my normal beauty routine. I don’t want to take the time to shave, just to step out of my warm shower to chilly air that bristles the hair on my legs all over again. Washing my face at night seems tedious. The call of my cozy bed and layers of blankets seems so much more appealing than taking the time to rub lotion all over me.
Of course, during the winter I need the extra beauty routines the most, heaters and layers of clothing dry my skin up terribly. By mid-winter I am an itchy mess if I don’t take the time to moisturize. Icy wind chaps my lips in an instant. My face breaks out more than ever due to a combination of holiday eating and dry skin.
Lately I’ve been trying to simplify my beauty routine so it isn’t such a pain to do during the winter.
Smooth Naturals The Scrub Sugar and Smooth Lips
My Morning Winter Beauty Routine
Brush my teeth —Yep, putting it here. Basic hygiene and beauty routine basic numero uno.
Shower — Sometimes, in the dead of winter when I sleep in, I take the toothbrush into the shower and do my teeth brushing routine as I soak. Some think that is gross. I think it is a smart use of valuable sleeping time.
Wash my hair—I’m a weirdo that washes my hair daily. I’ve tried not doing it… but, my hair/body combo is just way too oily. I feel gross and my hair looks a little like a grease spill.
Exfoliate in the shower BEFORE shaving— I don’t do this daily, more like once a week. And, I recently discovered Smooth Naturals Body Scrub and am loving it. The sugar grains are large and chunky so I can feel them over my skin and can easily rinse them off. Sometimes, with smaller grains of sugar, I feel like I don’t know when to stop exfoliating and my skin ends up raw. This particular scrub smells like brown sugar and I love it.
Shave— I am a once-a-day shaver in the Summer months. During the winter I stick with once-a-day for my underarms and go to every-other-day for my legs.
Moisturize—This is my least favorite part of the morning. The air is cold. I want to get dressed and go… but, if I don’t put on some lotion then I feel itchy during the day.
Makeup— My makeup routine is another post entirely. Lets just say that I’ve gotten my routine down to the simplest form it can go without going bare faced every day. When I was younger (pre-kiddo) I always wore eyeliner, eyeshadow, base, blush, mascara, powder, and lipstick or gloss. Now-a-days it is more like a thin base layer to even out skin, a touch of creme blush, mascara, and a swipe of my Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer.
All of that looks like A LOT. But, really, it all takes about 15 minutes max. If I choose to blow dry my hair (some days I let it air dry) then I add another 8 or so minutes to the routine.
I don’t have time to do a lot of beauty maintenance during the day. But, there are a few items I carry in my purse in case of touch-ups and such.
Lip Balm— Smooth Naturals sent me their Smooth Lips Balm and I have been keeping it in my purse for daily moisturizing. The balm is good, exactly what you want in a balm. The thing I love about it though is the fact that the large tube (much larger than a normal tube of balm) is never lost in my purse. I can easily reach in and pull it out in a hurry. And, if you’ve seen my purse, you know that is a feat.
Lip Color— I switch up my lip color all the time. Currently my purse is holding three different Burts Bee’s lip colors (a gloss and two Lip Shimmers) as well as my favorite lipstick.
Floss
Face Wipes— Sometimes the heater is on too much and I sweat, or my makeup feels grimy, or I eat something and want to wash my hands on the fly. I’ve been addicted to my Puffs Fresh Faces since I received them over the Summer. I’ve bought extras for my purse, desk at work, and gym bag.
Burts Bees Radiance Facial Cleanser
My Evening Winter Beauty Routine
Brush my teeth— Yep, again. 😉
Wash my face— When I was a pimply faced teen I washed my face daily with all kinds of harsh cleansers. Then, in adulthood, I found that actually just rinsing my face in the evening did wonders for my skin so I threw out facial cleansers all together. However, as I age, I’ve found that my skin is breaking out more often and that a good facial cleanser is needed again. I tried the medicated cleansers and ended up with incredibly dry, flaky skin. Now I use Burt’s Bees Radiance Facial Cleanser and have liked the results thus far. (I’ve been using it for about three months now.) The soap doesn’t feel sticky (though, it is a little gooey) and doesn’t leave a residue. I recommend it to my friends looking for less harsh alternatives to the normal, everyday face wash. Though, I also warn them, it doesn’t foam up at all. It took me a little getting used to!
SLEEP — Or, at least I try.
Other than the items listed below I try my best to exercise, eat a nutritious diet, drink water, and take vitamins. I’m not the best at keeping up good habits unfortunately. But, I always go back to them.
Last night was the first evening for Portland Fashion Week. I had the most surreal (and amazing) day in my role as a PFW Style Collective Member. Today I’ll be attending two shows–as a matter of fact, I am writing this post while sitting in the gorgeous lounge section at this shows!
I’ve been MIA on the blog lately, which tears me apart since one of my goals (and something I recommend) is to stay more consistent with my blogging. I honestly can say that I’ve been working on some amazing projects and have been working on a ton of content. I just haven’t gotten it up! But, in this busy time in life I am all about forgiving myself and starting anew. I’ll get back to regular posting ASAP.
On to some snapshots of my day yesterday. I first headed over to our local Lucky Brand store to get style tips from two Lucky Brand stylists. I couldn’t believe that I tried on the first pair of jeans to get an absolute amazing fit! I’ll share more about this experience with outfit details soon!
After visiting Lucky, I hit PFW all dolled up in my new pair of complimentary plus size Georgia Weekender Jeans! I also wore an old, but favorite sparkly shirt from Old Navy and a favorite pair of booties… Also a few years old. I felt stylish (and comfortable) and didn’t feel out of place at all at Fashion Week. I’m hoping I am this happy with all of my FW looks! Also, super excited to spend time with other Portland area bloggers such as the lovely Sam Rosen (pictured below)
Thanks so much for reading and keeping up with this fun and crazy blog. I absolutely owe these amazing experience to you, my readers, and I feel so lucky that my work is paying off in such an unimaginably awesome way.
Disclaimer: I received free VIP tickets to Portland Fashion Week after being selected as a PFW style collective member. I did not receive additional payment. I also received complimentary goods from Lucky Brand. I did not receive additional payment. The choice to post was my own and all opinions, as always, are my honest opinions and only reflect my thoughts. Thank you!
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