#123, How to Dress Cute Even When the Weather is Too Cold to Care

I don't know about you, but in the below freezing temperatures that we keep getting here in Pittsburgh, I don't feel like getting out of bed!  Let alone wearing cute outfits.  I just want to roll out of the warmth of my bed into 12 layers of warm clothes and go.  But unfortunately, life doesn't work like that (if only I had magical powers) and I sometimes need to look "presentable" so I can't exactly be all marshmallowed up, throwing on any warm thing nearby.  So I did some "calculations" and found a formula that makes a cute and warm outfit without really needing to think about it, just like you (hopefully) automatically know that the answer to 1 + 2 = 3.

1 + 2 = 3 is the formula! You only need to pay attention to 3 main pieces of clothing.  Your top, bottoms, and shoes are the key to looking cute while being lazy and staying warm this winter.

Moleton Skinny Pant $15-24, Cowl Neck Pullover Sweater $15, and Cuffed Combat Boots $28.99, all from Wetseal.

When picking an outfit to throw on, simply pick 1 patterned or colorful piece and 2 neutrals, and you will have easily created a cute outfit!  No need to think about if things go well together because neutrals go well with everything, so no matter what color or pattern you pick, it will always go well with your 2 neutral pieces!  That's why it's so easy!  You can't go wrong!  Trying to match a pattern with a color, 2 colors, or 2 patterns, takes thought if you want them to look good together.  Who wants to spend time thinking when it's so cold that you just want to go back and hibernate in your bed?  Wearing only neutrals is fine too, but it's boring and predictable.  We all know of those people who live by the lyrics, "all black everything", you included Tabatha Coffey from Tabatha Takes Over.

  

Tabatha and her clothes are actually fabulous!  I love her show and follow her on twitter (@tabathacoffey), but the color scheme is super boring to me.

Being that the temperature will be in the negative digits again this week, and snowy, my 3 usual pieces are a sweater, pants (legging/jegging/skinny jean), and boots.  Use cute fashion snow boots, combat boots, riding boots, or even rain boots (anything with a thick rubber sole) to keep the look chic while preventing yourself from slipping on ice or having water seep in.

123 top by dorisclay featuring distressing jeans

123 bottoms by dorisclay featuring French Connection

123 boots by dorisclay featuring a brown sweater

If the weather isn't very snowy or icy, nice high top sneakers or sneaker wedges are a cute alternative to boots.

123 sneakers by dorisclay featuring black skinny jeans

You can even make this simple look classy by wearing pointy toed riding boots (I think pointy toes class up any outfit).  Take it a step further by adding a skirt and tights as your bottoms.

123 classy by dorisclay featuring low rise pants

Layer whatever you want underneath the main 3 pieces for extra warmth, and get the same amount of chicness.  My favorites are turtlenecks, collar shirts (flannels are the warmest), fleece lined leggings, and fuzzy socks.

Try it! 1 pattern/color + 2 neutrals = 3 peace outfit :-D  Send me your 1 + 2 = 3 combos #123 @doriscclay

Haul: Christmas Clearance

Guess what?  I got cool stuff from the holiday clearance section!  These items came from drugstores CVS and Rite Aid and were 50% and 75% off.  Here is my Christmas clearance haul.

*Pretend the picture is rotated correctly, ugh.  Justin Bieber Girlfriend perfume set.  Even though Justin Bieber is a hot mess right now, egging people's houses and whatnot, I love his perfume! The bottle is too cute and it smells good too.  It was half off at Rite Aid, $10.

I almost left these behind because I already have some of these colors, but then I thought about it and did the math.  5 lipglosses for only $2.50 (half off), that's only 50 cents more than the regular price of one lipgloss.  Worth it!  The colors are my favs too, plus a glitter gloss.

These are tins of fancy chocolates that were 75% off.  I couldn't really care less about the chocolates, I don't like most of the fillings, but what I was after was the pretty tin boxes.  They are huge!  The size of a textbook.  I want them to store makeup in, so I got four.  They were $2.50

These items were also 75% off at Rite Aid.  Cute Christmas patterned tape and a nice big variety hair band set.  I was actually thinking of buying some hair bands, I'm lucky I didn't because this was a way better deal.

My 5 year old neice got a tablet for Christmas.  A real Android tablet!  Kids these days... I saw this and knew she could use it.  It's a pillow for your tablet!  And also a neck pillow, travels well and yata yata whatever the box says.  It will totally match her hot pink and black vanity set that she also got for Christmas (spoiled).  This was 50% off either $10 or $7.

Now these are for me.  Stompeez!  Anybody ever see that commercial?  If you have, you must watch Nickelodeon or some other kid's channel (like I do).  I always wanted some of these!  My niece already has some so now we can stomp around in our fun slippers together.  They were half off at Rite Aid, so $10.

Greatest deals ever = clearance Christmas candy!  All this was 75% off at CVS, under $2 super cheap.  And yes I do need all those bags of pretzel m&ms, they're my favorite! I had 2 more bags originally, ate them already.  Who remembers pez?

Bonus:

I don't know what these are other than large round stuffed animals, but they were so cute I had to take a photo!  They were also on Christmas clearance at Rite Aid (although I didn't buy them).

I also got some wrapping paper from Walgreen's for 75% off!  The most expensive ones were $1 and change, and they had Disney characters on them.  Non Disney though was under $1 a roll.  So definitely stock up on wrapping supplies now while they're on sale, and save them for next year.

Did anybody else get great deals from Christmas clearance?  What did you get?

Looky a New Product: NYC City Proof Twistable Intense Lip Color

While on the hunt for Wet n Wild Balm Stains, looky what I found at Rite Aid...

 

NYC City Proof Twistable Intense Lip Color!  

NYC Cosmetics has new Balm Sticks of their own!  Isn't the display cute?  It was totally unexpected as I didn't know that these were coming out, but YAY! I love me some glossy sticks.  There are also new long lasting lipsticks, and they come in a lot more colors than the Wet n Wild balm stain sticks.  Although, NYC's aren't advertised as stains like Wet n Wild.

They are about $4 and I get 20% off anything at Rite Aid for a year, so I picked up 4 of them.

 

These were the darkest colors (besides red) and the most unique ones (compared to the 6 Wet n Wild balm stain shades).  They are 031 Gramercy Park Plum, 040 South Ferry Berry, 041 Ballroom Blush, 051 Canal St Coral (from left to right).  The other shades are various nude types of pinks and browns, and a red.

Here are swatches...

 

   

Here are all 4 shades swatched together so you can see the difference...

I haven't tried them out too much, but here I am wearing the coral shade... 

 

It looks the same on my lips as the arm swatch, it is the most sheer of the 4 but is still pretty.  The other 3 colors are highly pigmented, bold and bright.  My first impression is that these do move a lot on the lips.  They settle into lip lines, but it doesn't look hideous, you just need to be aware when smooshing your lips together do it in a way that smooths the gloss evenly on your lips (if that makes sense).  They definitely don't stain like the Wet n Wild balm stains, but the darker shades do stain a little.  When I swatched on my hand, all but coral were still slightly visible after 2 hand washes.  They are moisturizing, not drying.

Although I would prefer them to stain so that the color would last longer, I still love them!  I'm already giddy thinking about limited edition shades that will come out, as long as this new product will be a permanent member of the NYC brand (I think it is, I hope it is).

There are better pics of all 12 shades on NYC cosmetics' website here.

3 Free Zoya Nail Polish!!!

You can get 3 free nail polishes from Zoya using code COLOR2014

The code expires 1/13/2014 so get on it!

Shipping is $12 for the 3, but if you spend $25 you get free shipping.

I got:

 

Zoya Nail Polish in Arabella

  

Zoya Nail Polish in Carter

 

 Zoya Nail Polish in Liberty

 

Zoya Nail Polish in Stevie

 

 Zoya Nail Polish in Mosheen

Zoya Nail Polish in Opal (Fleck Effect Top Coat)

I have 3 or 4 of the original pixie dust colors and they are my favorite textured nail polishes!  So I got more, they are $10 each.  The bottom two are cool glitters that can be used as top coats, $9 each.  I spent $30 so I got free shipping. I believe all of Zoya's nail polish is $9 or $10.  

Zoya has tons of colors and are great quality, so I thought I'd share this deal.

Christmas 2013 OOTD

Did everyone have a merry Christmas and happy holidays?  This is a work appropriate yet festive holiday outfit with nails to match that I wore to my work Christmas party.  What do you think?

  

     

  

I wore a black and white lace printed cardigan (from kohls) over a black shirt with a red bow belt, green mini skirt over red fleece lined leggings (both from ebay), black and white striped fuzzy socks (from dollar tree), and white cut out booties (from pacsun).  I have a Christmas scarf tied around my head in a bow as well (from dollar tree).

The combination of red and green at the bottom obviously screams Christmas!  So I wanted to class up the outfit (and avoid having it look like a costume, not that I don't like that too) by wearing neutrals on top.  The red bow belt was the perfect addition that cinches in my waist and goes with the Christmas theme turning me into a present, ha ha ha i mean ho ho ho!

The white booties seemed like something Santa would want to wear if he didn't have to wear the same uniform every year, and the fuzzy socks match the neutral theme as well as were perfect for keeping my feet warm in the cutout areas of the boots.

My nails are a simple (and random) combination of red and/or green polish with red and/or green glitter polish layered on top.  The color on my thumb is an awesome polish that is white-ish with black and white glitter sprinkles of various shapes and sizes mixed in.

I definitely felt that the holidays were near wearing this outfit that day.  Does anyone else wear holiday themed outfits?  I'd love to see your holiday outfit pictures.