Monday, December 31, 2012

Little, White Blouse

Brunch with friends on a bright, sunny day feels like a little tailoring is called for.
Enter the little, white blouse/black pants combo...
 Lots of layered gold and camo heels give this a touch of color.
Pants: ASOS, Shirt: H&M, Heels: Donald J Pliner, bangles: Boutique, Necklaces: JewelMint, Clutch: Target

With Love,

Noa B

Friday, December 28, 2012

Bohemian Rhapsody

I love fashion, but I have to admit I have two modes that are always my faves and the "go-to" styles where I feel most like "me". Boho, and lots of black. Today, it's Boho fighting for domination...
I found this vintage dress back in the summer, but it wasn't cold enough to rock it until this week. It's as soft as felt and equally cozy.
Not wishing to continually heat-style my hair daily, I've come up with a new solution: Two buns at night for volume, and a big hat to keep it all in place...
Dress: Vintage, Bracelets: Boutique, Boots: Sam Edelmann, Hat: H&M

...And it's out the door for a day of lunching and movies.

With Love,

Noa B

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Can't take NY out of the Girl...

I realized as I reflected on the past several blogs, that you can take the girl out of New York, but you can't take New York out the girl. Namely, I'm addicted to black and despite repeated efforts at color, I truly, truly, love my staple, black wardrobe.
When I threw this on yesterday to finish up last minute errands and shopping before the long awaited arrival of family, I automatically reached for my basic black.
I did pump it up a little with this season's fave--Oxblood boots and bag. They're almost black-ish, but not quite...
But who among us ever looked bad or less than svelte in all black?
Top: DVF, Boots: MIA, Jeans: H&M, Jacket: Rachel Roy, Bag: Vintage, Collar: JewelMint

With Love,

Noa B

Monday, December 17, 2012

Holiday Outing on the Fly

These past two weeks have been a whirlwind, with virtually no time for blogging, shooting, home repair, hosting, cooking, sewing, painting, or any of the myriad things I love to do on my days off. Over the weekend I actually made it to one holiday party. But what do you do when you're running from work, it's cold and rainy, and you don't have more than ten minutes to change?
Once again, it's ASOS' funky, black pants to the rescue, with the addition of nude heels, lots of bangles, and a vintage blouse.
Making the switch in under 10 minutes:

1: Change out work boots for heels. (1 min)
2: Tease hair from back to front with teasing comb and Elnett hair spray.(2 min)
3: Throw on sequins. (1 min)
4: Add bling!(1min)
5: Add a swoosh of liquid liner and two coats mascara. (2 min)
Zippered pants: ASOS, Heels: Vince Camuto, Bangles: Boutique, Blouse: Vintage, Earrings: My Wedding

With Love,

NO

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

From Working Stress to Holiday Dress: How to transform in 5 minutes or less

Hey Gals, are you trying to get to the next holiday fete with virtually no time to change? Make it incredibly simple with a few choice, foundation pieces and you can go from this:
 To this!
I've been getting booked these past couple of weeks almost daily, and it's really put a crimp in my ability to attend nighttime gatherings. So this week I was determined to make it to at least ONE event after work. Because I do a lot of location shooting, I never know where I'll end up or how far I'll be from home. Here's how I quickly switched up a work outfit to a "play" outfit in 5 minutes. (I had the extra items packed in my trunk to switch out when I wrapped camera).
The trick? As every good magazine will tell you, it's about choosing one or two foundation items and then rebuilding the look on top of it. My choices? American Apparel leggings, (because they're shiny they look dressier than regular cotton-lycra), a good strapless bra, and a cropped jacket to transition from day to night.

I found some fun, similar items you can test drive online to rock a steamy, cocktail version of this look.

Seen Above:
  1. Shiny leggings: Available at www.American Apparel.com 
  2. Booties: Truth or Dare by Madonna, available at www.Nordstrom.com
  3.  Cropped holiday jackets in black and red: Available at www.Asos.com
  4.  Strapless convertible bra: available at www.Victoriassecret.com
  5. Pleather bustier dress: available at www.Egocloset.com
 Dress: Boutique brand, Booties: Dior, Jacket: Ovi, Earrings: Tres Jolie, Leggings: American Apparel

As for me, I opted out of my usual "all black" and threw in some color, but you can never go wrong with black for nighttime.

With Love,

Noa B

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Mesh Inserts

I love peek-a-boo clothing. Today I opted for mesh, and without realizing it, matched my pants to my necklace, as well as my heels.

Pants: ASOS, Heels: Dior, Shirt: H&M, Jacket: Ovi, Collar: Jewelmint

With Love,

Noa B

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

DVF and Holiday Gold

Today is the first truly sunny day I've seen in a week and I'm out to enjoy every minute of sunshine while I finish out some birthday and holiday shopping. In the spirit of all that celebratory and tinsel-y jazz, I threw on some drapey gold.
Not bright, yellow-gold, but my kind of gold. Antiqued, bronzed, and aged looking. My personal favorite kind of metallic. 
Since It's also a day to shop, I opted for comfy ballet flats in lieu of heels. There's nothing worse than being aware of your feet when you're planning to be on them all day. I'm going to hit all the usual, great label haunts: Loehmann's, Nordstrom, etc. But you can find great holiday deals still churning if you sign up for membership at some of my favorite shopping sites:  
 
1: www.Hautelook.com
2: www.Gilt.com
3: www.Ideeli.com
4: www.myhabit.com
5: www.Modnique.com 

These sites are all designed to save big bucks on big brands, and there's absolutely no commitment to buy!
 
Blouse: DVF, Flats: BCBG, Skirt: ASOS, Necklace: JewelMint, Rings and Earrings: Boutique and Vintage

Happy Shopping!

With Love,

Noa B

Monday, December 3, 2012

Year end Best of Makeup

Well it's officially December, and as the year winds down I thought I'd toss out some holiday recommendations to glam out your makeup bags just in time for the holidays. Fortunately, stores like Sephora, Ulta, Nordstroms's and Bloomingdales are chock full of great holiday sets, as well as freebies with purchase. I just tried a slew of new items pictured below, including new mascara, blush, bronzer, exfoliant, liquid liner, and so much more. Here are a few recommendations for fellow beauty junkies:
First off, when it comes to specialty sets and gift boxes, Sephora stills reigns supreme. This year my favorite combo was aptly titled, the "Super Stars" box. Get this: Not only does it have a TON of great products to try, but many of them are full size! For $75 you get the following:

1: Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder in travel size. This is an absolute staple for makeup artists working in HD TV and film today. It's the ultimate in setting and oil controlling powder, has no color, no texture and leaves no trace on the skin.

2: Sephora Collection Microsmooth Baked Eyeshadow Trio in Sunset. A great blend of bronze, gold and pale peach suitable for virtually all eye colors. You literally can't go wrong.

3: Yup, the ubiquitous Nars Blush in Orgasm in FULL SIZE! Works on ALL skintones!

4: Hourglass Veil Mineral Primer which glides on like BUTTER and leaves your skin matte-a-licious. This size is definitely good for a month's worth of priming.

5: Kate Somerville ExfoliKate Intensive Exfoliating Treatment in travel size. Gentle and TSA approved.

6: Josie Maran 100% Pure Argan Oil. This product is heavenly and is touted for use on face, hands, feet and hair!

7: Benefit They're Real! Mascara in full size. An awesome brush for gigantic lash volume.


8: Buxom Big & Healthy Lip Polish in Dolly feels extremely hydrating, is a basic mauve that will work for all lip tones, and has a nice dose of slightly minty tingle.

9: Stila Stay All Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner. It's jet black, idiot proof to apply, and glides like the perfect felt pen.

10: Chloé Rollerball; my second favorite fragrace EVER! If you like Stella, you'll love Chloe! A perfect purse size for touch ups at night!
Next on my hot list is Urban Decay's Naked 2 pallette. Another great Sephora buy, you can score the perfect mixture of shimmer, frost and matte shadows in all neutral/smokey tones, plus double sided brush and additional, travel gloss for $50. Not a bad price for so much color!

Urban Decay has also converted me from my favorite MAC Powerpoint pencils to their 24/7, waterproof glide on's. While I'm wild about the black and brown, this set gives you a great range of colors to play with, and at $38 it's a steal! I love using these puppies both for lining and shading as a creme eyeshadow. The black is inky, and the other colors are infinitely wearable.

Now, if you've read my beauty reviews you may know that I've become a HUGE fan of YSL's loose, finishing powder. But if you're in the market to try their amazing, new Touche Eclat Foundation, their famous Touche Eclat highlighting pen, their cleansers, fragrances, or anything else luxurious, take advantage of their free gift going on right now at Nordstrom, where you'll nab a free mascara, exfoliator, eye creme and serum when you purchase $125 worth of product.
Your Gift with Purchase
A new found fave of mine hails from Laura Mercier. On the hunt last week for a subtle new blush and fairer bronzer for winter, I tested and fell in love with Laura Mercier's Bronzing Pressed Powder in Golden Bronze, (although matte bronze is the ubiquitous favorite) as well as her Second Skin Cheek Color in Rose Petal. (Here I am wearing these colors this morning). And if you go to Bloomingdales, you can try out a fabulous set which includes said bronzer and the extremely similar, Pink Lotus blush, plus three shadows, gloss, and cake liner for only $48! (Pictured below).


large image view

Spend your hard earned dough on Laura products at Bloomingdales and with an $85 purchase they'll also throw in a free gift set with Laura Tinted Moisturizer in Nude, Lip Glacé in Bare Beige, Bronzing Pressed Powder in Dune, (a GREAT summer color) and Almond Coconut Body Crème! 

Finally, there's another great way to sample new beauty items and get travel and sample sizes for holiday travel. Two great sites, Beautybar.com and Ipsy, send their members a bag with deluxe, sample size products every month for the bargain basement price of $15 and $10 respectively. Sign up, check in on the kinds of products you like, and you'll get a goody bag monthly for the price of a cup of Starbucks and a drugstore deodorant. (You can check out their latest boxes at IPSY and BEAUTYBAR to see what they've got to offer).

And finally, a big thank you to all the readers who entered last month's giveaway. The lucky winner of the makeup combo set is Emily, who's number was generated through Random.org. Thanks so much for checking out this contest and please keep reading for more free stuff coming up before the new year! In the meantime, happy beauty shopping!


With Love,

Noa B