May 29, 2013

Clear enamel- make your costume jewellery last longer

Sometimes we have the issue of costume jewellery losing it's luster or tarnishing/'turning'. Not all of us can afford the 'real thing' i.e. gold and silver jewellery.

This is the simple trick I use to prolong the life of my pieces: mist your jewellery with clear enamel.

Don't spray it directly as it may leave a white film, so mist it.

This product is available at hardwares and craft stores.



Get more value for your money by making the items last longer.

I was reminded of this tip I use when I was on Facebook and someone (Cheapalicious) had a post saying she couldn't wait to try it.

Some people also use clear nail polish but the enamel works better I find.

The story behind this tip is a friend of mine that does patio & garden art pieces (www.sanzisart.weebly.com). She used it to finish her pieces so that they wouldn't fade and I thought what a clever idea so I decided to try it on my costume jewellery.

Also if the colour fades or something, you can use nail polish to bring life back to an item.

XOXO
Ronz

May 28, 2013

I'm blue again

I love this blue jacket and had to show you how I wore it with another skirt. 

My original plan was to wear a black jacket but when I put on the black inner blouse, it was a different colour black and different fabrics. The inner blouse made the black jacket look washed out. I didn't like the overall look so I quickly switched to wearing the blue jacket before heading out the door. I got some many compliments on how the colour looked good on me, making my day even better. 
Forever 21 Lace Contrast Waist Skirt US$9.99 (sale)
Forever 21 Essential Jacquard Woven Blazer US$15.99 (sale)
Jessica Simpson Callie pumps US$40 (sale, zappos.com)
 Black inner blouse US$5 (Agaci)




XOXO
Ronz

Hooker heels- make it stop!!!!!

On E!'s "Fashion Police", one of my fave shows- it's the perfect mix of comedy, fashion & celebrities, there's a segment called "Got to have it, make it stop". What they do is each member of the panel votes on a trend as to whether they got to have it or they want it to stop. 

I recently went to a staff meeting at work and realized that a few of the ladies had on sky high, platform, 'hooker-like' shoes. My first thought was "how do they walk in those? clearly they don't walk around a lot". So it got me thinking, I hate the sky high platform shoes as a lot of people don't know how to walk in them for one and also I walk around a lot at work and can't have on these sky high shoes as it's juts plain uncomfortable and I move slower because I can't walk fast in them. 

 


One of the ladies had on one that really looked like hooker heels and I'm sorry I just don't think these types of shoes are appropriate for work. MAKE IT STOP!!!!. 

I can't wait for the trend to be over but it just seems to be getting worse. Now I'm short (all of 5 feet 3 3/4 inches, yes the 3/4 counts :p) and I can appreciate a nice heeled shoe as it add inches to my short stature and also it makes my calves/legs look sexier. 

I've browsed countless sites and I see shoes I love but the heel is too high. Too many shoes are above 4 inches, and I can barely wear 4 inches either. I've bought a few online and when I get them and wear them, they are so uncomfortable that I barely wear them- now what's the point in that. Now I've resolved to only buying shoes over 3.5 inches if I can try them on, it's the angle of the heel to the front of the shoe that counts. This limits me to only when I travel to the USA but maybe it's a blessing in disguise as I have soooo many shoes as it is..... well maybe not. LOL.

Take these Guess shoes, the heel height is about 4 inches and I thought OMG these are going to be uncomfortable but I tried them on and they were comfortable. 




Co-worker's shoe, I think it's 5 inches with a 1 inch platform




People say these sky high heels are comfortable because of the platform but even then it's just too much. I have 2 pairs of these shoes and that's 2 too many. 

Conclusion: MAKE IT STOP!!!!
XOXO
Ronz

May 16, 2013

Primary Colours- it's elementary

Shoes- Nine West (Mommy's)
Skirt- Made by seamstress (US$10/J$1000)
Top- Gift from Mommy
Cardigan- Gap US$10

 I have a lot of makeup and rarely wear it. My usual makeup each day is mascara and lipgloss for work. I usually don't wear foundation/base unless I'm having acne (ironic I know) or going out. My skin is doing a bit better now (thanks to Jencare Skin Farm products) so I'm not wearing any base and I'm trying also L'Oreal's BB Cream. I felt like using a red lipstick I bought 2 months ago. I'm wearing Maybelline Super Stay 14 hour lipstick in #60 Cranberry crush & also Cover Girl Outlast Lipstain #440. I'm always on the hunt for a good staying lipstick. I hate having to reapply during the day. Revlon Colorstay Ultimate Lipcolor is pretty good. I need to try the red in that brand.

The yellow cardigan and red skirt were paired with this top to pick up the many colours in the top. This is one of my favourite tops. It has so many colours and can go with some many things.

TIP: When buying pieces of clothing, try to buy something like this top with a print and with numerous colours so that you can get lots of looks out of it. Maximize your purchase & your money! ^_^

I wore some turquoise earrings (a colour in the print as well) and copper shoes to tone it done a bit. Red shoes or a bright coloured shoe may have been a bit much for work.

XOXO
Ronz

Shoe issues- Corns & Balls of your feet: prevention is better than cure

yuck !
A callus, or callosity, is a section of skin that has become toughened and thick as a result of friction, pressure or irritation. Corns and calluses generally form when the skin tries to protect an underlying area from injury, pressure or rubbing. Corns and calluses affect women more commonly than men, as well as people who wear ill-fitting shoes, individuals with sweaty feet, and those who have to stay standing for long periods each day. 

(source: Written by Christian Nordqvist, Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/172459.php)


When it comes to corns & calluses "prevention is better than cure". If you're Jamaican, I'm sure you have heard this saying (parents especially love to use it when they want to give us yucky medicine).

So here's my simple tip for preventing or furthering worsening corns- MICROPORE TAPE.




Yes ladies. It's cheap and very effective. It cost less than US$2/J$200 and sells at most pharmacies.

Now I love love love my feet so when I started working, after college, and started wearing closed toes shoes every day and I noticed I was getting these unsightly nuances. I walked around a lot and I have to wear my cute shoes so it was either give up the nice shoes or deal with the corns- give up my shoes? Hell no!. I used bandaids at first but I used to have to use 1-4 per day and that's expensive so I was in the pharmacy buying more bandaids and was looking around while I waited in the line to cash my bandaids when I saw the tape and I thought I could use this and voila!


I fold the edge of one end of the tape (the end that will be left after wrapping) for easy removal at the end of the day.

If you already have corns then Dr. Scholls has a pretty effective treatment.

 
 



 Also if you have problems with the balls of your feet, again if you stand or walk around a lot, another solution is to use insoles. Yes they sell the ball of foot cushions but I find those to be too thin and some come with sticky parts and then removing them to put in another shoe sometimes ruins the cushions. So I simply buy a pair of insoles (the cheaper ones), usually the ones for males as those are bigger, and cut it to fit my shoes. For shoes I wear alot I even glue them in place. I keep a cut set in my bag also for emergencies. ^_^ One pair can yield up to 4 sets.

XOXO
Ronz

May 11, 2013

I'm a shoeaholic

I love love love love love SHOES.

Here are some of the  reason, this is my favourite fashion drug:
  • I have been struggling with weight issues since puberty, I find it easier to shop for shoes than clothes.
  • My favourite body part is my feet. I love the profile of a shoe i.e. how it looks from the side. That's how I buy my shoes mostly, if it doesn't look good from the side I'm not interested. I think it's so sexy. 
  • My Grandma always had some really nice shoes and always talked about her shoe collection. For a Grandma she had some hot shoes. My mother also has quite an extensive collection and I get to borrow some of them as well as she give me some (yay me!). She's a size bigger than me but I make it work, hello it's shoes. She also buys a lot of my shoes as we have the same taste and she lives in the US so she gets the good prices. Big up to my Mommy ^_^ (hugs)
My dream job would be to design shoes, well one of my dream jobs but I'll get to that another time, or work with shoes or somehow get employee discounts on shoes. 

So on to my shoe collection, I've never counted the amount of shoes I have. I have a lot of sandals/slippers as well. I recently went to visit Mommy and she gave me a lot of shoes and I sent them down in a barrell. I now have the task of figuring out how to store all of them (this isn't me complaining either, trust me). My problem isn't really that I have too many shoes. It's that I have no space, but in the words of Tim Gunn, I'll "make it work" ^_^.

Currently I have shoes in 2 laundry hampers (the ones that fold up); 7 boxes that paper comes in, 1 drawer of a storage bin and 1 "shoes under". With the amount I have I'm not sure how else to make them all fit and accessible. I can't wait to buy my house and either build another room to convert it into a walk in closet or just convert one room into a closet. I also categorize the shoes, for instance work shoes or black "going out" shoes.

Hehe see my Tigga pillow pet ^_^



Anyone with shoe storage suggestions?

XOXO
Ronz



May 5, 2013

Fifty shades of gray.... well maybe 4 shades of gray

Shirt - Charlotte Russe US$10 (sale)
Cardigan- Old Navy US$15 (sale)
Shirt- Gap (got from Mommy)
Shoes- Nine West US$10 (Marshall's)


I felt like wearing pieces today by following a monochromatic colour scheme. I added some animal print to give it some jolt. I swear I have this new found love with animal print,  probably a result of watching too many New Jersey shows like Jersey Shore & Jerseylicious. LOL. Animal print can be worn tastefully and it actually isn't tacky.




These are the earrings I wore. They are light pink and purple. I thought they'd be a nice contrast with the outfit and they went pretty well with the whole outfit. ^_^

XOXO
Ronz