Gucci glasses, Michael Kors bag and Shoes
TAMARAC PARK
Glam
SIX SHOTS: APRIL 2015
RODEO GLAM
Inc jeans, Cache top, Nordstrom necklace, Michael Kors watch, Thierry Mugler bracelet, Tiffany & Co bracelet
I don’t get out much, so when I do, getting dressed and half the fun. The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo was the perfect opportunity to cut loose and be the Texas hot mess that I am! Lashes, bleach, pink Lancome lipstick, and rhinestones. Oh the joy! This is Texas.
It’s who I am, it takes no thought or work. When I’m trying to fit in and blend…that’s what takes work for me.
I went to the Rodeo with some friends from work. We all ate crazy, fattening foods and all had stomach pains the next morning. It appears that wine, barbecue and ice cream don’t blend well.
I’m too sensible and internalized, but they were singing Wilson Phillips and White Snake tunes the whole way home.
Here lately, I’ve decided that loose fitting clothes are fabulous, but made an exception for the rodeo. The jeans are Inc, and I have two identical pairs in different sizes….pudgy and not as pudgy. The great thing about the jeans is that they have a little stretch to them! Too much stretch makes you look saggy but these are perfect!
I also wanted to show off my trendy/easy/cool three tiered pony tail. One pony tails is too heavy and won’t stay in place, but my three small tails stay in place all day and the humidity level doesn’t matter.
The is a rehashed outfit, with the jacket being used here in my B*** On A Budget post. The necklace from Nordstrom is the only new piece and the jacket was purchased a few months ago, and has been a winter staple. My shopping is very light lately, and not as hard-core as it used to be, because I am more financially mature now so I love remixing old with new.
My previous Rodeo post from two years ago is shown here in Black Leather Houston Rodeo.
My looks might not be for everyone, but after years of creating outfits for customers and doing visual fashion displays and marketing, I’ve learned how to play and mix! It’s so much easier when you have a woman with a perfect body, but as Granny used to always say, “I did the best I could with what I had,” as she often referred to her depression-era fashion and lack of perfect physique.
-SDS
TOP TWELVE SHOTS OF THE YEAR 2014
I welcome the year 2015 with open arms, but here are my top 12 picks for Shots of The Year from the blog! Some are from products that sponsored me, and some of other people I got to shoot. It’s fun to look back over the past year and gather some top shots. 2014 went by so fast, and in looking back, I see why… I was busy! I look forward to challenging myself this next year!
1. GLASSES USA
I was so excited to learn about GLASSESUSA and get an opportunity to try out their online prescription glasses service! Too cool! Check them out for discount prescription glasses that you can order online.
2. BOUDOIR
It was something totally new to try, and I had a blast doing last year’s Valentine Boudoir Shoot. The girls were fun and beautiful. It’s not trashy… more fun and flirty than anything, but it was fun working out shots for the girls. Out of all photos, I love this one the best. The girl is a beautiful, edgy rebel, business woman and mom. I loved the way this turned out.
3. BLACK FEATHERED ANGEL
This is a girl I ran into one night while out with my husband. We became friends and I was dying to do some portfolio shots for the aspiring actress. On this shoot, we went to Galveston Beach, (although we joked about saying it was some exotic destination in the Carribbean) and we laughed so hard as we tried different shots. Imagine this tall, beautiful girl in full makeup and long black gown, on the edge of a jettie, as the waves crashed in. Imagine the onlookers. Too funny. The rest of the pictures can be seen here. This was a great day!
4. TEXAS GIRL
I’ve always loved the Guess advertising campaigns. This was a spin on the Texas girl look. This is one of my favorite shots from that day with her. See the rest here, on the American Girl blog post.
5. SENIOR PORTRAIT TEXAS STYLE
Senior portraits in Texas are getting to be very elaborate, so I wanted to try my hand at a few! I absolutely had a blast working on this shoot, and this one is my favorite from the Senior Glam Texas Style shoot!
6. YOUNIQUE
I did a review for Younique 3D Fiber Lashes. This was one of the shots from the post that came out. I mean, how do you really take a mascara photo anyway? My vanity area was new, and it’s where I spend every morning getting ready, playing with makeup and trying new things.
7. THE WOODLANDS, BIOTCH
One day after church, my husband and I stopped to snap photos for the Retro blog post. I got this great shot of a nearby bridge in The Woodlands, and loved the way it came out!
8. LA JOLLA
We took a trip to San Diego this year. We wanted to return, since we had been the previous year. I packed terribly. I ended up buying a cool hat there, while we were shopping, and thus created a La Jolla outfit post out of scraps! We stayed at La Valencia hotel, right on the Cove at La Jolla… and had an amazing time. I love this shot that Ken took because it’s real. It’s me. My clothes. My life. I love that he lets me be kooky and fun. Good times!
La Jolla Cove
9. PURE BEAUTY
Pure Beauty was seen daily as we photographed the Seals at La Jolla. I was able to get inches from them and snap some cute photos. This was one of my best memories of the year! I adore nature and animals.
10. HOLIDAY RIVER WALK
In December, we went to San Antonio to attend a church service by one of our favorite pastors, and stayed on the San Antonio River Walk. It was my birthday, and Christmas lights were still up. I took photos in order to create a Monet look and love the way they all turned out!
11. ANGEL
I was fortunate enough to make a new friend this year, when Angel Blanchard was referred to me by a friend, to recreate her hair salon web site, Angels Hair Designs. She is a color and cut specialist in the Houston Galleria area, and also does extensions as well. She did my hair recently as well. Angel also is a jewelry designer, and is wearing some of her custom candy pieces in this shot! She does cuts for men as well!
12. YOU TUBER
One of my functions is that I work in Cosmetics and Fragrances. I do makeup. If you know anyone who does makeup, then you know we love You Tube Videos! Everyone would love to try and make a video at least once, so I finally did a full You Tube presentation called GLAMMY GLAM in 19 MINUTES. This shot was of the finished product after the video tutorial was made. Making videos is so fun, but it’s more work than you think! Check out my Channel here.
CHEAP BIOTCH…THE $30 MAKEUP CHALLENGE
I got shocked lately, in trying to stick within my monthly Beauty Budget. When I added up the cost of the products I used daily…I came to a conclusion…it’s expensive to be me. The other day, before purchasing yet another $30.00 tube of designer lipstick, I decided to challenge myself and see if I could buy an entire arsenal for the same price. Not only that, how would it look?
Back in the day, I was a District Manager for a retail clothing chain, and the chain also decided at one point to carry a small line of cosmetics, known as NYX. Now NYX has added a longer list to their friendly priced products, so I decided to start with them for a lip liner and lip stick. The matte color shown here is Summer Breeze. It has tons of pigment and is not so matte that it dries up your lips. I also chose the illuminator from NYX and was pleasantly surprised. It was more of a gold tone as opposed to a white so it looked more naturally dewy to me.
The ELF Cosmetics bronzer duo was fantastic, and was under $4.00 and I was not expecting much but it was fabulous! Look Ma, No lashes! Being on a budget, I refrained from using false lashes and decided to try out New York Color Mascara. Loved it! I believe it was less than $5.00 as well, and that’s quite a savings compared to the designer $30 a tube mascaras out there! I will buy this again.
My personal theory is that by saving money on certain things, then there is a bigger budget allowance for bigger things, such as top of the line serums and moisturizers. To me, this is where the money matters because you are paying for tons of research and better ingredients. Moisture and repair is where it makes more cents to me to spend. Additionally, your technique of application has everything to do with how you turn out, as long as the product meets a certain standard. The price friendly products above, all had decent features and benefits.
This was a helpful post to me, because it made me more mindful of the money spent on cosmetics in the past as well as what I will spend in the future! Not only that, I pretty much look exactly the same as if I’d had on a $400 collection of products!
-SDS
-July 7, 2014
TOP GLAM SWIM SUITS for 2014
It’s been a year since the last Top Glammy Swim Suits Edition was posted so I figured it was time for yet another edition.
I realize that swimgerie… a new version of lace embellished swim wear is attempting to come in… it looks too crazy to be worn poolside, so I denounce this as a upcoming trend.
I also realize that a mere 5% of females have what is considered to be an ideal beach body. If you don’t believe me, go to the beach. Or the pool. Or ask a man. Or Google it. Just because you are skinny, won’t mean that any swim suit will make you look fabulous. Just because you are larger, doesn’t mean you’re not sexy, but the wrong suit can make a mess of most of us. Naked is not always a good thing. A big boob is not always a great boob. Cheese should always be covered. Period.
It is because of this that I have chosen very structured swim suit designs to be included in my Top 10 post this year. Structure by design is good. It creates the illusion of firmness and solid form.
Structure is a win-win for us all. Basically, if your body is lacking in fit or form, the right suit can solve a myriad of problems. The shape of a suit can help to create shape where none truly exist, or hide what does.
As for accessories, I am a firm believer in poolside accessories. They help you to give the allusion of being dressed and having a tailored appearance. They can sort of hide the fact that you are basically naked in blaring daylight, which isn’t truly a great thing for very many.
I asked my husband to get his opinion, before doing any research, “What percentage of females do you feel probably have a perfect beach body?”
“5%,” he immediately decided with absolutely no thought put into his answer. After doing some reading, I found he was right. So this leaves out me and 94% of you reading this.
What this means for you and me, is that while we may have one or several visually pleasing parts to our physique… society and media now has an insane expectation of our nakedness. The right suits can help everyone feel fabulous and a little less self aware.
The suits we have here are all for a wide array of body shapes and types.
The top three pictures all show fabulous yet simple suits that allow for the individual person to shine. The criss-crossed, hip exposed picture above is great for creating contour and the hat is a perfect fun look.
While I did include some great full sized models here, you have to admit the red hot bikini with bling rings on the brunette does look amazing. If you can wear it, do it well. The thing with these type of unstructured bikini tops, is that if you have a floppy chest, you should not wear these. Trust me, you are doing more harm than good. It is so much better to cover it up and let the world assume you are perfectly fabulous than to prove to them that you are not.
The suit above comes in several colors but it’s so hot in black. The style adds structure to a flat chested or a larger chested person. If you have a great back, it’s going to show it off, yet appear fair covered by today’s standards.
I absolutely adore the cut of this monokini. It’s so classy. Again, it adds form and structure and the ruffle would help a smaller chest to have a bit more volume.
This Lane Bryant suit is adorable in metallic gold animal print. Again, the hat and bracelets add an extra bang for those times you want to appear more fashion forward, keep the sun off, control the wind blown hair and rock the summer like the girly girl you are.
This ruffled monokini comes in all types of colors, and it also has a great contouring ability due to the shape as well as the padded boost cups. There is a thick, structured band holding up the top around the back, so this is something to look for when you need more chest support in a swim suit.
If being a glamour puss is your thing, a solid color is best most of the time you want to make a statement. A multi-colored and patterned suit is usually a bust that washes a person out. A strong and bold swim suit print can usually make a larger person appear even larger. Solids or well done color blocked suits are best.
And this was so adorable, I had to include it. Yes, it is a bikini. It’s
a well structured bikini on a well structured woman. The top clearly has under wires for support and the shape is great. However, the accessories and the hat make this so much more fabulous. For the self conscious, a really sheer black cover up would look amazing as well.
These suits make me want a vacation now.
SDS
-June 7, 2014
