Find Friday: A flowy floral

For this weeks Find Friday I was able to live out a dream. Over the past few years, I have seen Lauren Conrad's stuff at Kohl's but never had the chance to buy it.

In case you never watched "The Hills" or aren't familiar with Conrad, her style speaks to my heart. It's cute and elegant all at the same time. She always looks professional, fashionable and fun. Quite honestly, I aim to have her entire line.

For now however, I am very content with this adorable Lauren Conrad shirt I picked up at Kohl's this week for $29.99. The style fits the floral patterns that are big right now and is a nod to the button-up shirt. I love the mix of structures.

The reason I still shop at Kohl's? Because it's awesome. Boutique stores are amazing. They have unique pieces that you often won't see anywhere else. However, Kohl's is doing a great job in the women's department of staying current. Brands like Elle and Lauren Conrad have great stuff only at Kohl's for affordable prices. It's also a good store to buy in bulk from because of the discounts and coupons.

I wore this top with dark skinny jeans and green flats.

For your laundry conundrums

They’re your favorite jeans. You just got done wearing them a second time, so you begrudgingly throw them in your dirty clothes hamper. You secretly think you could do a load for just those jeans. That’s silly, you tell yourself. You gear up for wearing the pants you never feel comfortable in and excitedly think about laundry day. Did you really need to put those pants in the hamper though?

Laundry can be tricky. Unless your clothes have a visible stain on them, how do you know when to actually wash and when to wear? 

The American Cleaning Institute says to wash your clothes rather often.  According to them, jeans should be washed after wearing three times, bras should be washed after two to three wears and t-shirts should be washed after every wear. 

However, Nina Willdorf from All You magazine says clothes can last a little longer than that. Willdorf says jeans should be washed after wearing them five times. You don’t want to wash jeans too much because they will lose their color. You also don’t want to wash them too little because that causes jeans to lose their shape. 

Wash your jeans inside out and air-dry them to keep them soft.

According to Willdorf, bras should be washed after wearing four times. Willdorf explains that it’s good to give a bra 24 hours after wearing to regain its elastic and to hand wash after that fourth time. 

Knowing what I do about textiles, I would say to go with Willdorf’s recommendations. It is always good to be clean. However, with certain fabrics washing too much causes the clothes to wear out a lot faster, causing you to spend money on a new piece when you really didn’t have to. 

Certainly don’t walk around in dirty clothes, but utilize the full length of time you can really wear an article of clothing. 

If you are more active like me and frequently head to the gym, check out Rebecca Zamon’s article about a study done for workout shirts. If you had an easy day at the gym, you may be pleasantly surprised at how much laundry you don’t have to do!

Find Friday: The chunky bracelet

I am excited this is the first Find Friday! For this week, I was inspired by the jewelry auction I blogged about. Jewelry is a great accessory and can really add personality to an outfit. The auction has a lot of bulky, thick-jeweled bracelets. The other thick bracelets also have an element of color in them.

The style really spoke to me so I went on the search for one! Turns out, I did not have to look far at all.

I got this beautiful bracelet on sale from Target for $3.88. This particular color scheme was on clearance. However, they have the exact same bracelet available in different colors (and in this color scheme based on the website) for $12.99.

The muted colors give a vintage feel and the large pattern creates lots of unique interest.

One of my co-workers even said, "You got that from Target? I thought you would have gotten that from a boutique!"

I wore this with an all-lace black dress, green earrings and white open-toed wedges.

The designer documentary movie you don't want to miss

If you are into fashion, you want to see this movie. Yves Saint Laurent is a biopic documenting the life and talent of one of our world's biggest designers.

While the film displays his fashion genius, it also gives a look into the taxing life of being a creator.

Kristin Tice Studeman, a reporter from Elle, sat down with Jalil Lespert to get an inside glimpse of what it was like creating this movie.

The movie was released at the San Francisco and Seattle International Film Festivals in May. It is set to release at the Provincetown International Film Festival tomorrow, the Frameline Film Festival on June 21 and in New York, N.Y. on July 9.

The jewelry to know about

With more skin showing, summer gives infinite possibilities for jewelry. From dangling earrings to a full arm of bracelets, your style can really shine.

Today Christie's started its online Brilliant Jewels auction. Led by designers such as Cartier, William Goldberg, Tiffany &Co. and Judith Leiber, the auction will stay open until July 1.

Each piece is beautiful and really illuminates "brilliant" in its own way.

Unfortunately (for me at least), these pieces won't be enjoyed by everyone. The bidding starts at $600. With such amazing designers being featured in the auction this is no surprise. However, there are many benefits in being a spectator to an event like this.

Just as people watch runway shows to see what is coming up in fashion, we can watch this auction to know what styles to buy this summer. You do not have to be wearing a designer label to be fashionable. What really matters is that the pieces you buy have the same details and components as the designer name brands.

Find a piece you really like within the collections and go on a search for an affordable version. A great example is the Gold Bow Brooch. The auction price is at $800. Etsy has the same kind of brooch ideas for as little as $10.

Go to Christie's to see all the pieces that are being auctioned. To see the designs on people, check out Glamour's exclusive interview with Christie's.




**I will be looking for a piece of the jewelry this week, which will be debuted on my new Friday posting, Find Friday. Look for this every Friday to see what fashion piece I found that week. 

Hair advice by me

Hello everyone! I am happy to say that everything has finally calmed down from my new job and move. My life is no longer filled with boxes and packing and cleaning. Yay! 

This also means that Little Black Dress posts are up and running again. Double yay! 

For this post, I am covering something I do not normally consider myself an expert in. However, as I stood in front of my mirror yesterday curling my hair, all of the girls I knew who couldn’t figure out how to curl their beautiful heads of hair were brought to mind.

Now to the post...

First of all, let me start by saying I used to never be able to curl my hair either. In my high school days, I would spend an hour in front of the mirror getting every strand of hair perfectly loopy only to have it all fall within an hour of leaving the house. 

In my first few years of college I tried trick after trick after trick. If it’s on Pinterest, chances are I had tried it before it got there.

The frustration that resulted turned to melancholy and indifference. I told myself I just couldn’t curl my hair and I needed to accept that. 

However, I didn’t.  I can now curl my hair in about 20 minutes (give or take how slow I am that day). The curls stay all day and sometimes until the next morning! 

Throughout all of my experimenting, I found that none of those “I promise this will work” posts I found online really helped at all. So my goal here is to give you some hopefully helpful advice if you have the curly-hair longing. 

How I curl my hair:

-          Wash hair the night before it is curled

-          Put product in

-          Leave hair in messy bun all night

-          The next morning: take hair down

-          Messy blow dry

-          Curl each strand for a limited amount of time

-          Spray from end up

-          Shake head when all finished and apply one light to medium coat of hairspray to entire head

How I got here:

      1) You have to experiment with lots of “tricks” and figure out how to combine them.

For my hair to curl, I ended up combining 3 different tricks I had tried alone beforehand.  Don’t get discouraged when one advice article doesn’t work for you. If there was a part of the piece that seemed to go well or is something you want to try again, go for it. 

2) Every girl has different hair.

We all have different hair. Learn what you have on your head and the techniques that could go best with it. My hair needs to be “dirty” or have a good amount of some sort of product for it to hold curls.  

3) Be open to starting the curling process the night before the day you want to have curly hair. 

For a long time I scoffed at starting my hair the night before. It is extremely ironic because that was the first thing that actually helped my hair. I am not saying do all the work or anything, but my hair works best when I shower the night before, put product in and then leave my hair in a messy bun all night.

4) Curling products are not always the best.

I bought a lot of curling products, thinking “This one will finally work!” Big surprise. It didn’t. What is important with product is that your hair has something in it to help it hold shape and retain structure. The 24-hour bodyfoaming mousse works best for my hair. 

If you want to try doing it from shower to finish the morning you are curling, try something like Got 2b waving spray. It has salt in it, which creates a good texture to hold curls even when your hair has just been cleaned.

 5) Don’t over-hairspray. 

I used to coat my hair in a ridiculous amount of hairspray to keep curls from falling. Not only was this ineffective, but my hair felt like wire and looked flat.

The best method I found is to spray one spray from the bottom of the curl up (in the middle space created) and then shake your entire head once at the end of curling (for a natural look). After that, spray a light to medium coat over your whole head.

6) Count. 

Don’t leave one curl in for a super long time. This isn’t always the best thing. What I have found produces the best curls is to count to 10 or 15 Mississippi and then let the strand out. 

7) Once you start, it gets easier!

Like I said, it used to take me an hour to curl my hair. When I found a technique that worked it took me about 40 minutes. Now it only takes me 20. Your hair becomes more accustomed to the style and more readily forms curls the longer you do it.