This was the beauty look from Monday's Armani Privé show in Paris. Dewy clear skin, a single coat of black mascara on the models' own lashes (no falsies!) and rich plum lipstick. Plum lipstick? As in purple? Yes, that is correct, plum lipstick. Oh yes, and a little jewel on the corner of the bottom lip. Armani's couture collection was technically amazing with an other-worldly feel to the garments but I found it garish and kitschy. One could argue that purple lipstick would also fall under the "garish and kitschy" header, but there is something about this look I find insanely beautiful. I can't put a finger on exactly what it is about it either. It just looks beautiful. I personally am not going start coating my lips with shades of plum, but more power to the girl who does. I'll happily do my own version of this look with my lovely MAC lipstick in Craving...sans jewel. I'll save those for Halloween. Check out the rest of the Armani Privé collection here.

A foggy afternoon at the beach...

I was fortunate enough to have this past Monday off. Even more fortunate was the -.75 low tide in the afternoon, so Otto and I ventured to the dog beach. He LOVES the beach. The beach was massive!! Wider than a football field is long in some spots. It was also ridiculously foggy, which cast an eerie gray-white light over everything and muffled the sounds of the ocean. Otto was lovin' it, chasing the birds, fetching sticks and running his little puppy heart out. Fun times for him and for me, a cool place to test out my new iPhone app: Instagram. This app is amazing (and free)! Take a picture with your iPhone, pop it into Instagram, apply one of the many lomographic-type filters and then upload your pic to a number of sites like Facebook, Flickr and Tumblr. The newly filtered photo also saves to your phone, so if you don't want to share it, you don't have to. I am in LOVE with this app. Here is just a smattering of photos I took. Enjoy!

Nina Ricci Pre-Fall 2011

Peter Copping's pre-fall collection for Nina Ricci is gorgeous. The sweater skirts, the Japanese-made lace, the gowns, the delicious color palette, the 16 looks the designer put together scream luxury. There's no denying it, these clothes are lovely, but even more beautiful is the way in which the collection is photographed. I would have posted the entire line but decided that was overkill; after much hemming and hawing, I narrowed my choices down. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Enjoy!

What I've been missing...3.1 Phillip Lim

I've never really paid much attention to 3.1 Phillip Lim, I won't deny it. For whatever reason ,his label has always flown under my radar. The other day, I went to look through pre-fall collections on Style, and since his was at the top of the list, I started with him. Let me tell you, I have been missing out!! I don't tend to compare my own work with others, but the Lim aesthetic is right up my design alley. There is a clean, unfussy quality to his work that speaks to me and his favoring of texture and solid colors over prints is similar to my own. When he does use print, he makes them memorable. If you have a few minutes to spare, check out his website.

I had a hard time picking my favorites from his latest collection, pieces he said were somewhat inspired by the travels of late British cartographer and writer Freya Stark. Lim also drew some inspo from the sweatshirts some of his employees were coming to work in. Sweatshirts as a source of inspiration, you ask? Not to worry, there were plenty of other delightful items to drool a little bit over.

1.2.3

1. Love, love this navy shirt dress! So clean and simple, worn with little ankle socks and booties here, but how cute with a pair of skinny gray jeans?
2. Dieing over this sweater. Amazing!! Enough said.
3. This is the first iteration of his sweatshirt. The crispness of the gray melange fabric is softened by the chiffon sleeves poking out from underneath but Lim keeps it edgy with the leather skirt.

4.5.6

4. How great is this "suit"? The color is fantastic, a good powder pink is hard to come by without it looking too baby. The cropped sleeve detail is pretty rad, with the long sleeve underneath looking like another shirt. The safari-esque detailing of the jacket and the black socks and booties keep the overall look from feeling too Waspy.
5. Who wouldn't want to wear this LBD?
6. The second iteration of his sweatshirt. No that's not a necklace around her neck, its crystal detailing on the collar. The sash of these creased Bermudas is a fun little add on.

7.8.9

7. This white dress is lovely. And, actually, with some nude heels and a bright pink bouquet, it would make a pretty awesome non-trad wedding dress.
8. It was the rabbit fur cuffs on this coat that caught my eye. I can't actually tell if they are connected or separate from the sleeves but either way, they're fun and unexpected.
9. This orange jacket is the same cut as no. 8 sans the rabbit cuffs. While I'm not in love with the color of the pants, there is something about their cut I find appealing. I think they would the kind of easy to wear pant you wanted to live in everyday.