Cut and Dye

I went for a cute blonde pixie, a mix of Emma Watson and Winona Ryder.

Please ignore my puffy wisdom-teeth chipmunk cheeks.

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice

 Today my look was inspired by my favorite movie. I wore a businessy pinstriped vest as a top over pale denim shorts, and I topped it with an awesome floppy hat I picked up at Kohl's for $16. But the best part (the bit I'm excited to talk about) is definitely my nails. I found some cheap white nail-art polish (it has a long, thin brush instead of the usual nail polish brush) for only $2 at Walgreen's, and I used it to make this stripey nail pattern.

I'd always been a little skeptical of these kinds of polishes, because to me it seemed like you were paying more money for less polish, and I had my doubts as to whether it actually worked like it said. Well, I found this Sinful nail polish in white on sale, so I figured I'd pay the two bucks to see if it actually worked. I'm glad I did. I had a lot of fun striping my nails. It was easy, dried quickly, and was fairly simple to control. I intend to use it again and again.

More DIY

 Here's me in my home-altered shirt (see previous post for the shorts), getting ready for the Katy Perry concert (it was fantastic, if you were wondering). I also made the bangle, which I did by using red, brown, black, and orange colored sharpies to draw stripes and dots on a wooden bangle I bought at Beverly's for a few dollars.

 Here's the shirt tied in the front, also cute.

 Okay, so here's what you need: a shirt (as many sizes larger than yours as you can find; I used an XL), scissors, and bleach or dye if you want.

First, lay your shirt out flat. The shirt I used (Rite-Aid, $2.50) happened to be long as well as wide, so I cut off a few inches. Hold your shirt up to you before you cut, though, because some brands make large sizes run wide without actually making them longer, so make sure you don't cut off too much.

After it's long enough for the "points" on the sides of your shirt, mark a point on the front of the shirt where you want the shortest part of the shirt to be.

 Second, cut two curves, one in the front reaching from the bottom to the point you marked and one in the back, a little bit longer than the front curve. The reason the back is longer than the front is to get it to hang right. It's not going to cause too much of a problem if you mess up, but I like having more stomach exposed than back.

 Third, cut out the neck and sleeves. For the neck, I cut a little deeper on the front, though my neck ended up being very wide, so you could even cut it a little less. For the sleeves, I cut a diagonal line from the armpit out to the shoulders, like in the pictures. The sleeves are going to fall down so you don't want them to be too long.

Here's the shirt pre-bleach. I decided later that I wanted to do a bleach tie-dye look, so I squished it up with rubber bands, made a 50% bleach solution, and squeezed the bleach over the shirt. I let it sit until I was happy with it, then I rinsed it out and tossed it in the dryer. Looks good!

Cool Cutoffs From Mom Jeans

 My mom found these jeans somewhere (yard sale or handed down to her or something) but the problem is, they're really ugly. Like super unflattering. They were too short for either of us, and the legs had weird curves in them that we just couldn't pull off. I was intrigued by the high waist and the button fly, though, so I decided to turn them into something a little more fun.



So first, I chopped off the legs and made them shorts.

 I cut them a little longer than I would wear shorts, thinking I'd roll them up a bit. After washing them a lot, they started fraying all over the place, so I decided to wear them like that. It was good that I cut them longer, because they frayed a good inch.

 Here's the cut-off jeans.

 My next step was to bleach them. Now, I am a youngun and have never bleached anything in my life except my hair. The first time, I stuck them in the washer, poured a little bleach on them, and ran the cycle. What I got was a fat bleached spot right near the crotch. If you use the washing machine, make sure to put the bleach in after it's filled with water, and don't be stupid like me. If you do that, you'd probably get a more even lightening, but I wanted it splotchy, so I put on gloves, filled a bowl with bleach, and dabbed it onto the shorts

 using a paper towel. Much more control that way. Again, though, be careful. Bleach works gradually, so put too much on and you might end up with a white spot you didn't want, even when it looked fine an hour ago. I wanted white spots, so I just went at it.

After I bleached it, I took a razor and cut some slits in it, and then I tossed it back in the wash. That kind of stops the bleach reaction and frays the cuts I made, giving it a ripped look. I also added some

pyramid studs to the pocket.

And here they are! Fun and easy. All you need is jeans, scissors, bleach, and anything you want to stick on it.

DIY Day Coming Up!

Tomorrow or the day after I'll be posting my DIY mom-jeans-to-cool-cutoffs project. It's super fun, and I hope you'll enjoy it, too!

Time Travel

 I love this dress. I bought it the other day at a store called Crossroads, which is basically an upscale second-hand and outlet store. I got this beautiful day dress for $20. It's so soft and light, perfect for a heat wave like the one we're having in California. I matched it with some vintage-style drown t-strap pumps from Ross, $23, and a bright red headband (Target, $6) and matching lipstick (Revlon, drugstore, $7).

The earrings I'm wearing are adorable gold and red anchors. They're actually hanging from my second piercing, and the black circle you see is my first. I don't know much about these earrings, unfortunately. I found them in a box of jewelry my grandmother left behind when she moved. Very retro.

Dressing Up WIth Menswear

A blazer can make any look instantly go from casual to sophisticated. Dressy, but not too fancy, a blazer in a classic black or a flirty pastel turns a summery day outfit into a perfect look for a night on the town. The trick is to find a fit that works for you. The more tailored to your shape, the better.
This floral tank was a major steal at only $3 from WalMart. The blazer was $20 at Target, and the bag is an old bowling ball bag I picked up at a thrift store for $4. I'm also wearing dark high-waisted cigarette jeans from Urban Outfitters, the most expensive article of clothing at $58. Not usually a big spender, I love these jeans because of how comfortable and long they are.