Mix and Match Your Wardrobe

Even though it may not seem like it, I absolutely LOVE fashion! I love getting new outfits and strutting around town in my awesome duds, so when I created a closet full of one hit wonders, I wasn’t surprised when I soon got tired of wearing the same old outfits again and again and again. And then I happened upon this amazing and inspiring blog! Not only does Audrey (the nifty author of Putting Me Together) post photos of astounding outfits that just make me squirm to go buy my own, but she also posts fabulous ideas on how to re-work your current closet, posts on travel tips, and just awesome fashion ideas in general!

After stalking her blog (okay, maybe not stalk, but heavily watching), I’ve begun to follow her  ideas starting with mixing and matching. And, wha-bam! I instantly had over 2x more outfit options! For example, let’s say you have the two outfits as seen below:

Two Simple Outfits by littlelindi featuring crochet tops

Cute, right? Now, just mix and match! And tada!

Two Simple Outfits by littlelindi featuring a polyester shirt

You now have 4 outfits instead of 2! (This may be no-brainer stuff to some of you, but for me and people like me who have closets full of one hit wonders, breaking out of the mindset that “this can only go with that” can be very difficult.)

I encourage you all to check out Putting Me Together! Audrey has done a wonderful job, and is extremely helpful to all–even those who are new at the re-working thing. I know she’s helped me a whole lot, and she doesn’t even know me! Check her out; you’ll absolutely love it!

I hope this post has been inspirational and informative! Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

Throwback Fashion!

Summer is just around the corner! What better way to stay cool than to wear cut up t-shirts and wide-brimmed hats? That’s right! This post is to urge these cool outfits while paying homage to their origins! First up, the cut up or peek-a-boo shirt, off the shoulder shirt. We all probably have one or two in our dressers–I know I do!

They originated from the 60s and 70s when it was “all the rage” to show off some non-cleavage skin. I find them very comfortable, so I wear them every now and then. But the cool thing about dressing in clothes from other time periods is that you can play up your look. For example, go all out with the eye shadow and rock the side pony! 

Another thing that’s in style now is the wide-brimmed hat. Not only does it keep you cool under the hot rays of the sun, but it is a definite fashion statement! This trend originated from the 30s. Go for a retro look with your makeup. Only give yourself a defined cat’s eye and a ruby pout! It’s totally worth it! 

I hope this post was inspiring! Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

Spring Nails

So, I was just messing around on my computer, jamming out to my iTunes on shuffle (2.9 day’s worth of music all on random), and I had the urge to Spring-i-fy my nails. I quickly skimmed over Pinterest to see what the latest trend was and it turns out it’s a tie between gradient/ombre nails and pastel nails. I flipped a coin for one to do, and got Pastel Nails (which is probably a good thing since I don’t have lots of time to wait for my nails to try like usual.)

My colors of choice were Mellow Yellow and Sun Kissed from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polish collection. I got all set up to make my nails trade off between the Mellow and the Sun and then thought to myself, “Why not actually make my nails be SPRING?” The result?

I’m rather proud at the outcome! It’s definately very Spring-like. The grass and flowers were done with It’s So Easy STRIPE Rite skinny brush nail polish. The clouds were just done with a cotton swab and some white polish. Nifty, huh?

Here’s the tutorial! Enjoy!

Materials:

You can see my iTunes in the background

• Base coat/top coat
• Green polish
• Light blue polish
• White polish (I forgot to put it in the picture)
• Green skinny brush polish
• Pink/purple/whatever flower color you want skinny brush polish
• Tape
• Cotton swab (You only need one for this)

The method:

1. Clean your nails, trim them, pamper them, and then add a layer of protective base coat
2. Once this is dry, tape off the area of your nail for the sky.
   

   Just tape the lower 1/4 of your nail

3. Paint the blue for the sky. I removed the tape after a few minutes so the polish was still wet. 
4. As you can see in the above pic, the tape took off some of m base coat. This is okay. You can always add another layer when the sky part dries. Now you fill in the gap with a few mini swipes of green polish. 
5. Next, you dab some white paint onto a cotton swab and make some puffy clouds. I also made a sun.
6. Now, swipe on some blades of grass with the green skinny brush polish. Of course, you could forgo the first green step and only do this step for the grass.
7. Once the grass is dry, dot on some flowers! 
8. Finally, finish it off with some clear coat! (The above picture is the final picture)

Now go and show off your Spring inspired nails! I hope this has been interesting to you all! Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

Steampunk Style and Stress Reliever!

For my college’s theatre group, I volunteered to be a steampunk Victorian lady for their Steampunk Dungeon. I was given a script, fitted for an outfit, and performed the following day in an interactive setting between myself, my captors (I was a hostage), and the audience who came in teams of 3-4 who were able to battle characters in the dungeon for certain things (like my freedom, treasure cards, etc.) It was so much fun! Not just the enteracting and getting rescued part either. It was so much fun to play with the costumes and dress up in diferent styles! I must admit, I adore the steampunk look.

I had fun with the lipstick and eye shadow!

I know I’m not smiling in this picture, but the other picture was darker and more blurry. Sorry for that. But I got to wear a hat! I haven’t worn a hat with an outfit in FOREVER! Not since I was a little girl! It was a nice change, I must say. It added another dimension that I hadn’t known I was missing. I will be investing in hats–at least for the summer, anyway. I’m sure your’e all wondering what my outfit looked like, huh? Tada!

The dress was from the costume shop on campus

It was the only costume that fit me and looked Victorian-ish, but it’s gorgeous, isn’t it? You can’t see my shoes, but they are an old style shoe that I actually wear with several outfits. If I was able, I’d wear this style every day! However, since my closet lacks 16th century dresses (and hats), I must forgo this amazing style until I am actually able to own some form of this style. So sad, I know.

However, this post isn’t just to oggle over the pretty dress and hat. Now that the Spring semester of most (all?) colleges is coming to a close, stress is high with finals and projects and meetings and payments and everything else that has to be finished. My advice to you is to find a buddy to go and just dress up with. Take funny pictures and spam your Facebook with them. Smiling has been scientifically proven to improve moods and alleviate stress. So, go out there, dress up, and relax for a bit!

I hope you all have enjoyed this post! Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi

Galaxy Nails for Fashion and DIY

Ok, so I may be a little late on this awesome fashion trend, but galaxy nails are awesome! What better way to remember that there is more in the galaxy but by having different galaxies (made up or not) shining on your fingertips! I think it is very inspirational. So, regardless if it’s still considered ‘fashionable,’ here’s an easy tutorial on how to do them.

Materials: 

• Base coat/top coat
• Main color–I used black, but you can also use navy blue or any dark color
• Secondary colors–I have 7 here that will be used to color the galaxies. Metallic colors tend to be more spacey.
• Cotton swabs/ear swabs for dabbing the secondary colors on–you can also use sponges
• Glitter coat–I have 2, a very fine glitter coat and a coat that has bigger pieces of glitter
• Nail polish remover–for a quick clean up any paint on the skin around the fingers or if you need to take off an entire nail’s polish
• Plenty of drying time

The Process:

Before we begin the actual painting process, clean your nails, file them, trim them, shape them, etc. When your nails are prepped and ready to go, apply a base coat and allow to dry.

1. Apply a coat of the main color. Several coats are allowed if one coat isn’t enough to cover your whole nail. Be sure that if you apply who coats, wait for the first coat to dry thoroughly. If you don’t, it will take your nails even longer to dry in the long run, and it makes your nails vulnerable to being messed up by being bumped or scraped. 
2. Select the first color of your galaxy. Dab the tip of the ear swab into your first selected color and dab it onto your nails in any general direction. You can make the direction be more spherical or square or diagonal if you want to. be sure the you allow the color to dry before going to step 3.
3. Repeat Step 3 for all additional colors as you wish. Once all color has been dabbed onto the nail, allow to dry completely before moving on to Step 4. 
4. If you have two different types of glitter glaze like me, begin with the smaller sized glitter and allow to dry completely. Then move on to the second and allow to dry completely. If you only have on, you can add however many coats of glitter coat as you wish–just be sure you allow it to dry completely between coats.
5. Finally, finish with top coat. 

You can look at actual pictures and model your galaxies off of them, or you can create your own galaxy(ies). Often times, when I’ve finished the galaxies, I will take the small paint brushes and paint on spacecraft and meteors and the like, but my thin brushes are defunct at the moment.

I hope this post has inspired you all to go out and create and/or paint galaxies on your natural canvases. Thanks for reading!

~Love Lindi