Petite Fashion Challenge #3

 Petite Fashion Challenge #3 was the biggest challenge yet!  Hosted by Petite Little Girl this month's challenge was to

"Pick an outfit from your favorite celeb and show us how to recreate that look for less. Usually, your style icon reflects your personal style and also your body type. In this challenge, your style icon doesn’t have to be a petite."

At first I thought this should be easy, there are so many celebrities, petite and non-petite that I admire.  As the challenge got closer I realized that the point was to recreate the look and that's when the panick set it.   I don't have any pieces in my wardrobe that are celebrity worthy!!!  Most of the items in my closet are fairly conservative, if not (dare I say it) boring and I ususally just use accessories to liven the outfit up a bit!   I left this one to the VERY last minute, finally settling on my celebrity of choice Tuesday evening and taking pictures Wednesday after work!

I kind of copped out but picking an outfit that I KNEW I had the elements for - therefore something really simple!

So anyway, the celebrity I picked is Nina Dobrev who so happens to be Canadian LOL (I just can't stop showing my Canadian love :P )  She is currently on the show The Vampire Diaries for those who are wondering who she is.

Yes, she is quite young and her bio says she is about 5'6" but to be honest, I think she could be a fellow petite!   I think she is a beautiful girl - she reminds me of Alyssa Milano - very classic features and I think she is probably still developing her sense of style.

Anyway, I found two pictures of her that I wanted to try and "recreate"

photo from Just Jared

photo from Saturday Night Magazine

I was going to go for the first look but no one would loan me a dog LOL.   So I went for the second look.   I do not have shoes nearly as cool as her shoes in the photo but I do have shoes that are pink!

The outfit details:

Tank by Joie; Tuxedo Jacket by Paul and Joe Sister; Jean by Work; Ring by Roseark

Sequin cuff by Vionnet Boutique; Pink pumps by Brian Atwood

Here's my recreation of the look (Don't laugh - ok you can laugh but only because I did!)

^first attempt - notice the lap top on the table - was trying to get the pose JUST RIGHT^

LOL!

"Posing" eventually got to be too difficult (there were many, many shots taken before these) so I just did what was semi-comfortable

Ok, yeah, so posing like that made me feel so ridiculous and I was completely giggling to myself the whole time!  

My outfit details:

Top:  Le Chateau

Jeans:  Gap Always Skinny Cropped

Blazer:  H&M

Shoes:  payless

Bangle:  Watch from Avon

Ring:  totally forgot to put on a big ring

My goal was to just get the elements in place.  Cropped skinny pants, pink shoes, pattered top, light coloured blazer and the bangle.  I DID however spend time straightening my hair the night before so I hope you all appreciate that effort :P

Well, there you have it Petite Fashion Challenge #3 is now completed!

If you're interested in seeing my Petite Fashion Challenge 1 and 2 click here and here.

Gap Review part 1

Last weekend Gap had a one day 40% off all regular priced items and I was able to find a bunch of stuff and use my Groupon Coupon.  I didn't have time to try anything on in the store so I tried everything at home and took pictures while I was at it.  Unfortunately as I was taking pictures my camera battery died and I couldn't locate the charger so I will have to break this review up in 2 parts.

Here's part 1.

First, I bought the Really Skinny pants as reviewed by Cher.

I bought them in both 0 and 00 regular (no petite sizing in Canada!) but I'm wearing the 0 here. 

These felt too tight on me.   I guess the Gap legging jeans that I have in 00 have a lot more stretch to them than these.  I didn't bother trying the 00's on.

Verdict:  return - I'm just not comfortable in them (so sad b/c they look FABULOUS on Cher)

Next up were the Perfect Boot Cords in 00:

(obviously I have to hem them LOL!)

I liked the fit on these - they seemed to fit PERFECTLY though so I don't know if I should size up for more comfort.   I haven't bought a pair of cords in a really long time.  I really like the casual Fall look of them.   Do cords generally stretch as you wear them throughout the day?

Verdict:  might try on a size up

Next I tried on The Ruffle Bib dress in 0 (smallest size!) which looks COMPLETELY different on me than in the stock photo:

LOL the belt on the dress is at my actual waist - on the model it's low on her hips!

If you follow me on twitter I asked if the arm holes were to big and the unanimous answer was YES!

I'm so sad though because other than the arm holes this dress fit pretty well!  AND it has POCKETS!

Verdict:  unsure...can I make it work?  Can you guys vote on it? LOL

I had another find from that day and I also placed a few online orders with Banana Republic and Old Navy so those reviews to come another day.

WOW - No outfit pictures this week!!

Seriously, I feel like I keep getting busier and busier these days.   I also feel like as I get busier the days are waaaay shorter and I'm partly right -- it's so dark when I wake up and by the time I get home for the evening the sun is gone!  And we haven't even changed the clocks yet eeeek!!!

So I'm going to just post a couple of pictures from the previous weekend.   We went North of the City to a town called Innisfil.  It felt very small town to me and I'm sure us "city folk" stood out big time!  There's actually a beach there - it was obviously too cold to go swimming but we saw a lot of boats out and people fishing.

Coat:  Rue 21 (CHEAP - $10!!)

Boots:  Skechers similar here

Now I know there is a lot of debate on the cuteness or ugliness of Ugg type boots but most of my weekends are just not made for cute heels and with the weather as cold as it is now, flats just don't cut it!

(photoshop skills courtesy of Husband)

So why have I been so busy?   Well I started another little project in the form of another blog!  It's unrelated to this one, more related to my side Avon business and my love of playing around with cosmetics but I would love for people to check it out and perhaps those of you reading that live in my area may want to look into it regularly :)  Please be kind, I'm no pro blogger, nor an expert reviewer - I just love chatting about beauty products so figured I'd put my thoughts down in a different blog!  

Toronto Beauty Reviews

Special thanks going out to Kelly of Alterations Needed who gave me the boost I needed to get the other blog started.  

 Also to Oliva of The Cheap Girl for telling me about the basics convincing me to take myself and my business more seriously.   

And to ML of Twenty York Street for encouraging me and raising my confidence.   

How amazing to "meet" so many amazing and genuine people in such a short period of time!  

The Petit Plume Giveaway Winner is......

PetiteXXS!!!!!!  

 I used www.random.org but had no clue how to copy and paste the results here, so I hope you will all trust in me!


Congratulations PetiteXXS - I will email you for your contact information :)

OOTD: Wardrobe Dissection

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  It was a beautiful weekend here, sunny and Fall like.  There are a lot of crunchy leaves on the ground already though eeek!

This outfit is of a shirt I've had for a really long time.  I forgot that I had it as it was waaaay in the back of one of my drawers.  I decided to pull it out and start wearing it again.

Shirt:  Le Chateau size XS (really old!)

Jeans:  Good old Gap Jean Leggings - I think I'm wearing these too much!

Get them here and here or here remember I'm wearing regular length in 00!

Booties:  Me Too NY size 7

Necklace:  Avon

Not sure why I'm making such a strange face here!   Do you guys have trouble smiling for the camera?  Every time I think I'm smiling I'm not or it comes out all goofy like this!

Here's the back view - I'm don't think this top is exactly petite friendly - I'm not sure about the length and the chest area is definitely too big!   But this shirt is really lightweight and I find I can easily tuck it into pants and skirts without any bulge.  

Thoughts?

Often my hair does really funny things, and on days like that up it goes!   But I was feeling a little fancy so I threw on my Petit Plume Simone headband.

Remember....Tomorrow is the LAST DAY to enter my 

Petit Plume Giveaway!!!!!

Enter until Monday October 18th midnight EST!

OOTD: Work Wear - Banana Republic Dress

Wow this week has flown by for me, it's been so busy!  I guess that's a good thing but I just wish I had more TIME!

This is an outfit from sometime during the work week - can't even remember when LOL!

You will recognize it from this post when I purchased items from Extra Petite's blog sale.

Dress:  Banana Republic 00P

Sweater:  Old Navy XS

Earrings and Necklace:  Avon

Shoes: Liz Claiborne size 7 

Hahaha, as you can see I'm experimenting with the camera and the pictures are bit washed out and oops, I cut my head off!

Last weekend to Enter my Petit Plume Giveaway!!!

Closes Monday October 18th!

OOTD: Thanksgiving weekend

To my Canadian friends I hope you all enjoyed a great Thanksgiving long weekend with your friends and family :)

I enjoyed three big meals this weekend and the weather was beautiful!  We were pretty busy visiting family so not too much time to take outfit photos but I got my husband to snap a shot and I took some pictures of the Fall foliage and scenery as we drove from one end of the city to the other.

Turtleneck - Joe Fresh XS

Vest:  Ricki's XS

Jeans:  Gap Jean Leggings size 00  (buy them here)

Boots:  Me Too NYC size 7 from Style Sense

I hope everyone had a great weekend weather it was a long one or not!

*** Last week to enter my Petit Plume Giveaway!!!***

Because I don't have any post worthy outfits....

Still in that rut!  Hopefully I will feel more enthusiastic for the weekend.  The sun is starting to shine and this weekend is a long weekend for me - Canadian Thanksgiving!!!

I LOVE Thanksgiving - gathering with family, great food and pumpkin pie???  Seriously, what could make a weekend better?

Since I've been lacking the motivation to put any post worthy outfits together lately I thought I would take the time to blog about a few notable giveaways.

First up, one of my favorites -
Marilou of Twenty York Street

She has TWO giveaways going on:

Banana Republic "What a Statement Necklace"

AND

A pair of tickets to Ottawa Fashion Week!

Next, a well known petite blogger
Jean of Extra Petite

Win a $100 gift card to Rent the Runway - I can't enter this one since is US entries only, but the concept is intriguing!







Next - I truly admire this girl's style - 
her waise choice:

Celebratory Giveaway - Amrita Singh Cuff

She's celebrating 100 followers yay!


And if you have the time, check out my Petit Plume Giveaway ending October 18th!!!

The blogging community has been so welcoming and supportive, hopefully I can give a little of that back by blogging about others :)

OOTD: Subtle Accents

Does anyone else feel in a rut or is it just me?  I'm going to blame it on the weather.  The past few days in Toronto have been gloomy and cloudy and cold!  All I want to do is stay in my pj's all comfy and cozy in my bed.  But unfortunately I have to pay the bills and as casual as my work is I'm not sure pj's would cut it!

This is an example of an outfit I didn't really put much thought into.  Basic jeans, simple top.  To make it more professional I threw on my new favorite LOFT blazer.

Blazer:  LOFT size 0P (as seen here all dressed up)

Top:  Mexx XS

Jeans:  Aeropostale size 0 short

Bag:  Coach

Shoes:  Liz Claiborne size 7

oops!  Wasn't ready for the shot!

Without the blazer (boring!)

So because the entire outfit was VERY neutral I wanted to add a splash of colour with the bag (this is one of my favorites even though it's so big!)  and the shoes:

These shoes are my only other item in leopard print as I mentioned in this post.

So that was my attempt at some subtle accents when I wasn't feeling all that hot.  My hair was even doing some weird thing so up in a pony tail it went.  Speaking of hair for anyone that has bangs how do you get them to not split like mine do???  I assume I need to "train" them to stay in place?  The problem is my hair is curly so I don't always wear them down and have to blow dry them straight to look like that.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Oh and if you haven't done so already, please enter my first giveaway featuring Petit Plume.   And please (without sounding too desperate :P)  Tell your friends about it too! :)

 **** you have until Monday October 18th - midnight EST to enter!****

Petit Plume Giveaway!!!!

I was so excited when Eugenia of Petit Plume agreed to sponsor my first giveaway!!!  I was thinking I should do a giveaway in honour of my 50th post, or getting 50 followers or something significant.  But I'm really bad with getting my posts up on time so really this is just a giveaway because I feel like it LOL!

If you remember, a while back I ordered a few items from Petit Plume and did a review in this this post and I wore one of the items to accessorize my belt seen here.

I fell in love with almost every piece - I had to hold myself back from ordering everything!  I love that her pieces are completely handmade and so unique.

Here are the items up for grabs - note there will be ONE winner and they will receive BOTH items:

Hair pin / Brooch

Hand drawn screen printed T-shirt - pictured on Me!

The t-shirt is a size large, so may be big on many of the petite ladies, but as you can see it's not huge on me, and it's really comfortable!

Here are more pictures of the giveaway items:

You can check out all of Eugenia's creations at her etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/petitplume or on her website: http://www.petitplume.com/home.html

How do you enter?

Mandatory Entry:  Be a public follower of my blog and follow Petit Plume through her blog, facebook or twitter.  Visit Petit Plume's website and let me know which is your favorite piece.  Leave a comment below letting me know which way you are following Petit Plume and also a way for me to contact you.  If you don't want to leave a comment but would still like to be entered email me:  curls(dot)pearls(at)gmail(dot)com.

The winner will be chosen at random using random.org

For extra entries:
(+1) Blog about this giveaway.  Leave a comment below with a link to your post
(+1) Follow me on Twitter!

**** you have until Monday October 18th - midnight EST to enter!****