Musings: Ombré Nails

All the cool girls in the blogosphere seem to be rocking ombré nails (see my French style terms post for more on the term). So of course I had to get in on the act. Here are a few of the lovely examples I've seen:

Symphony

Mode Bay Area has some good how-to tips as well.

After the jump, more inspiration and my first attempt.

What I Wore: 4th of July

Target T, Old Navy Shorts, ON Espadrille Sandals, MICHAEL Michael Kors shades

7 Chi Purse

After writing two and reading probably a dozen blogs about patriotic themed dressing, I had raised the stakes for my 4th of July outfit. It was over 100 degrees here, so I had to be practical. I ended up going with an alienated Vietnam Vet turned anti-war "Born in the USA" theme. It was pretty high concept. I wore an American flag peace sign T (Target), dove earrings, red and white plastic bangles, army green cargo shorts and my dad's dog tag.

MARC by Marc Jacobs

I love these little studs, you can wear them with anything and they were only like $30.  I don't think these ones in particular are still available online (I got them from Piperlime), but there are lots of other similar dove pieces in the collection. I love that I could get in on Marc Jacobs' bird motif this season without a big investment on something from his mainline.

I'm no nail artist like everyone else on the internet, but I thought I did a pretty good job free-handing the tips of my nails. I should have probably gone out and gotten a truer blue glitter, instead of this blue green I had, which ended up looking more watermelon red and green than patriotic red and blue. Either way they're summery.

Musings: French Style Terms

Clearly, I'm really into French. And fashion. That being said, I've recently noticed some gratuitous use of French out there in the online shopping world. We start our French lesson over at Forever 21.

Matelassé (adj): quilted (often as pertaining to handbags or bedding)

When I showed this to Edwin, my fellow french minor BFF, he said, "WTF is matelassé?" When a French minor asks that question, it means that that's an excessive use of French. These are faux leather quilted handbags, and should be described as such.

Pick up a few new words after the jump!