2018 – Page 8 – L'ensemble du jour

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Bullet Journal Life and June 2018 Bullet Journal Spread

Published on June 17, 2018December 15, 2020 by lensembledujour3 Comments

Oh no guys, I’m posting another Saturday Musings blog on a Sunday. What a terrible blogger am I.

This weekend sees me beginning my first bullet journal, which is arguably a terrible decision for the actual organization of my life. See, I’m terrible at devoting time to projects like this. I want them to turn out beautiful, as if I’d put hours and hours of my time in to it, but I’m unwilling to put the hours and hours into it, so I wind up with something where a few pages are done to perfection and the rest are half finished and neglected.

But I just couldn’t resist! I started watching AmandaRachLee’s bullet journal tutorials on YouTube, and I couldn’t stop myself after I saw her pretty pastel colors and simplistic designs. Plus, I figured I already spent a lot of time putting doodles into my planner and making that look cute, so why not put just a little more time into making a bullet journal look cute?

We’ll see how it turns out, I guess. I’ve finished my June spread, and I’m really happy with how it turned out! I used my Prismacolor alcohol-based markers, resulting in having to skip pages due to bleed through (“ghosting” as I’ve heard it called), but I didn’t really have anything better to use. My Prismacolors aren’t really being used for anything right now anyway, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I’ll keep you updated on my bullet journal adventures! I’m not sure I’d put much faith into me actually maintaining it, especially once school begins, but I wouldn’t count it out either. I like it so far, so hopefully my motivation remains!

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

May 27, 2018 – Rustic Chic (OOTD #293)

Published on June 15, 2018June 20, 2018 by lensembledujour6 Comments

I feel like these shots are the personification of one of those trendy Pinterest crafts that shows you how to put a succulent into a mason jar and make it look cute.

Rustic chic is very trendy aesthetic right now, though I’m pretty sure it’s been trendy ever since I was in middle school, about ten years ago. Middle class white Americans everywhere seem to be in love with the repurposed but still charmingly rustic farm materials look, and just about every picture here reflects that.

It helps of course that most of them were taken at an actual farm — a horse farm, to be specific. My grandmother was visiting town, so we took her to an upscale vintage and antique market that was going on at the Kentucky Horse Park. There were mason jars and string lights and succulents everywhere; it was a Facebook mom’s dream.

Though I didn’t really buy much (just a plant — surprise, surprise), I did get some really pretty pictures. There was a sign outside that warned against taking pictures (I guess because they didn’t want you copying the vendors’ ideas?), but no one seemed to mind me wandering in and out of booths taking pictures whenever I saw a pretty arrangement of flowers.

And there were so many! It wasn’t just a Facebook mom’s dream; it was a fashion blogger’s. I wish I had brought several outfits along so I could do a real shoot and get more varied content for my Instagram feed; as it was though, I only had the one I wore. Unfortunate.

Fun fact, though — both my jacket and my dress here are vintage, just like the things for sale at this market! The jacket was originally part of a two-piece outfit with a long cream skirt, and the dress was originally much longer until it was shortened. I hadn’t thought of pairing them together before, and I felt pretty clever for making up an entire outfit of vintage pieces for this event.

If you’ll remember, I actually went to this event last year as well! Back then, I had long blonde hair and dressed in red, white, and blue for Memorial Day. Amazing what a year of difference makes, isn’t it? I am reconsidering going blonde again, though. We’ll see.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life at Notre Dame! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Bloglovin, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Jacket: Vintage (thrifted)

Dress: Vintage (thrifted)

May 26, 2018 – Complimentary Colors (OOTD #292)

Published on June 14, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

Double complimentary colors! Look at that!

I love complimentary colors. I don’t know who doesn’t — they work so well together, and the fact that they work well together is a part of their name.

Here, I have both red and green going in my outfit, and then orange and blue in the background. That wasn’t really intentional, but now that I see how it turned out, I’m a fan.

I’m always on the lookout for new and colorful backdrops for my OOTD photography, and I thought this Mexican restaurant’s walls worked perfectly for that. Some of the most unconventional locations can make for good backgrounds, and you never know when they’re going to pop up — I once used a bathroom wall, which probably takes the cake for unusual backgrounds.

Fun fact — this is actually my second Mexican restaurant featured on this blog as a background. The first was just as colorful, though pink rather than orange and blue. I find restaurants to make for good backgrounds because they’re often painted vibrant, eye-catching colors. They may not be glamorous, but a nice colorful wall always works well on my Instagram feed.

Running a fashion blog isn’t always as fabulous as it may seem, then. As much as I’d love to take my OOTD photos at an exotic Paris café every day, more often, they wind up being taken outside of Kentucky Mexican restaurants as random families pass by and wonder why some Asian chick is having a fashion shoot in public.

I’d say it’s a living, but I don’t get paid very much or very often, so it’s really not. It’s a…hobby?

Sweater: Forever21

Top & Shorts: PacSun

May 25, 2018 – Flower Clocks and Frankfort (OOTD #291)

Published on June 13, 2018September 19, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

You ever have one of those experiences where you think something exists, but you aren’t positive if it’s real or if you imagined it?

For me, that was this flower clock in Frankfort, Kentucky. I thought I remembered reading about it a long time ago while doing research into things to do in Kentucky (spoiler alert: there’s not a lot), but no one I ever mentioned it to knew what I was talking about.

It was never something I cared enough about to Google to confirm its existence, so for many years, I pretty much just forgot about it. I figured I’d made it up, or otherwise, it was somewhere other than Kentucky, and since I never had any reason to go to Frankfort, I never bothered to search for it.

That was until I began my internship in Frankfort — now, I’m there every week, so the mysterious elusive flower clock was on my mind again. I figured, maybe I’d come across it one day, or otherwise, go searching for it sometime after work — you know, not really something I would actively search for or think about, but if it happened to be convenient to check out sometime, I would.

Interestingly, it wasn’t even me who found it. It was my dad. He came to pick me up from work, and I asked him to take some OOTD pictures for me before we left for home. I suggested some potted flowers outside of the Capitol building to serve as the background, but my dad said he had something better in mind. We got out of the car, walked about two minutes away from the Capitol building, and…

There it was! The mystical flower clock of my dreams!

Truth be told, it wasn’t that great. It’s pretty, don’t get me wrong, but there were a lot less…flowers than I thought there would be. There were really only one kind of purple ones concentrated around the middle. It was cooler as a giant raised clock than as a floral arrangement.

Mostly, though, I was just excited to find out that the flower clock was real. Now, on to prove the existence of Sasquatch.

Jacket & skirt: Forever21

Top: H&M

May 24, 2018 – How To Wear a Maxi Skirt as a Mini Person (OOTD #290)

Published on June 12, 2018June 13, 2018 by lensembledujour2 Comments

Call me mini, fun-sized, hobbit-like, or petite, the fact of the matter is, I am very short.

Bar a brief period in second grade when my fellow peers’ growth patterns just happened to result in me being average-sized, I have always been very small for my age. Mostly, though, that doesn’t bother me. Being small gives me an extra cute-ness factor, which, at least for now, I appreciate.

What I don’t appreciate, though, is clothes that are made for tall people. There’s nothing wrong with being tall — some days I envy those with height — but the reality of the situation is that I simply cannot wear some kinds of clothing because of my height. I like being short, but I don’t like looking disproportional, and not everything is going to be flattering on me.

Thankfully, just because I can’t wear every shape and style of clothing doesn’t mean I can’t find a way to make most things work. If there’s a trend that you like, but that you don’t think will work for you, chances are you can still incorporate that style into your wardrobe — the key is simply to find the one piece of the particular style that works for your body. Even if not everything works, something still must, right?

For my trip to Nepal later this summer, I’m required to wear loose-fitting pants and skirts that cover at least my calves, so I’ve been experimenting with more modest styles that will be compatible with the fashion there. Unfortunately, as a petite woman, long, loose skirts and pants don’t always look flattering on me, instead making my legs look even shorter than they already are.

The solution I have found to wearing a maxi skirt as a mini person is a high-waisted skirt paired with a form-fitting top, creating the illusion of longer legs and a skinner waist. It’s also important for me to ensure that the skirt doesn’t have too much volume, or else I just look like a cupcake (a look which, while cute for my high school prom, I don’t know if I’d want to do on the daily).

In the end, though, my best piece of advice is just to try stuff on. I know it can be discouraging to keep trying on clothes that don’t look flattering, but if you don’t try, you won’t know what will work for you. If you’re willing to put the effort in, chances are, something is bound to work.

What kinds of styles do you guys find to be tricky for your unique body shape? What tips do you have for making that style work for you? Let me know in the comments below!

Sweater: Forever21

Skirt: The LOFT

May 23, 2018 – Sweet Southern Heat (OOTD #289)

Published on June 11, 2018September 19, 2019 by lensembledujour3 Comments

iPhone X photos are weird.

Sometimes, the image quality and lighting is gorgeous — all those ads that show amateur photographers taking beautiful portrait-mode works of art are perfectly accurate to how it actually works. And sometimes, the images are grainy and barely any better than what I got on my old iPhone 4.

I’m exaggerating a little, of course — the worst iPhone X photos are still much better than my iPhone 4 photos. It is interesting though, how much variation there is in the photos I get. Sometimes they’re great, sometimes they’re so-so.

Anyway, I feel like these are a little more so-so, which is too bad, given how much I like the outfit. It’s bright and colorful and cheery, just like a good summer (spring, technically, I guess — though it doesn’t much feel like it with how hot it is) outfit should be.

Speaking of which, this weather is not making me cheery. I complain about this every summer I spend in Kentucky, but it’s horrifically humid here, and I am not a fan. It makes me miss the Notre Dame snow, which I probably also complained about.

I’ll be interested to see how I handle the heat of Nepal later this summer when I go with my school. Apparently it’s monsoon season, which sounds to me like even more hot and even more humid. It’s amazing that I’m from southern China and grew up in the southern United States, because I cannot handle the humidity at all.

I’m a wimp, what can I say.

Jacket: Zara

Dress: Lilly Pulitzer

May 21, 2018 – Fast Food Fashion (OOTD #288)

Published on June 10, 2018June 10, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I have been wearing this Notre Dame hat a lot recently, and it makes me feel very trendy.

It’s not necessarily that a baseball hat elevates my fashion — in fact, it makes it even more casual. It’s casual in a cool way, though. Like, how often do you see a baseball hat paired with a dress?

If you use Pinterest or read other fashion blogs, probably plenty. But I can still pretend to be unique and special.

This pictures were done outside of my local Chick-Fil-A — how fun is that? Being totally honest, I hadn’t even intended to do pictures for this outfit, I didn’t think it was cool enough, but my dad and these pretty potted flowers outside of the restaurant convinced me otherwise.

Sometimes, a pretty background comes your way, and you’re not always dressed exactly as you’d like. It happens. The choice then, is whether you do photography even if there’s no outfit worth photographing — and today, I decided to do it. The background was just too cute. Plus, I liked my hat. It’s as simple as that.

Dress: Brandy Melville

Hat: Notre Dame bookstore

May 18, 2018 – That’s Capital, Governor (OOTD #284)

Published on June 4, 2018September 19, 2019 by lensembledujourLeave a comment

I’m very proud of this title.

See, because I’m visiting the Capitol building in Kentucky (capital? capitol? I’m pretty sure it’s an “o” because it’s a legislative building, but I could be wrong) and that’s also where the Governor’s office is. And it’s a play on “capita,” as a adjective, and “governor” as…a thing that old timey people say in movies.

Anyway, I visited the Capitol building in Frankfort the other day in order to begin orientation for my internship at the Secretary of State’s office. Or, I was supposed to — they ended up pushing my orientation until the next week, but I was already all prepared to go, so I ended up driving there anyway to make sure I knew where I was going.

I hadn’t been there since I was in 5th grade as a part of a field trip, but I’m pretty sure that’s just about every Kentucky student’s experience. Frankfort’s cool, but there’s no reason really to go unless you’re touring the government buildings.

Anyway, my dad and I wound up in Frankfort with nothing in particular to do after we found where the building I was going to be working was, so I got some pictures and then we went to lunch. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Coat: Juicy Couture

Shirt: Forever21

Pants: The LOFT

May 15, 2018 – Throwing Shade (OOTD #283)

Published on May 30, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

We’re getting pretty close to three hundred outfits of the day, aren’t we?

I surpassed my blog’s one year anniversary a month ago, but it still astounds me that this thing is still tooting along nearly three hundred outfit posts later. That of course doesn’t count Saturday Musings + Coffee or review posts, so in truth, I’m probably a little over three hundred posts already. Thanks for the continued support that keeps me motivated to continue writing.

Anyway, now that summer has begun (basically, at least — I guess the summer solstice isn’t for another month, but it’s basically hot enough here in Kentucky for me to consider it summer), I can feel justified wearing sunglasses again like 24/7!

I love sunglasses — it means I can put less effort into my face makeup. Since they cover my eyes and sometimes, my eyebrows, if I know I’m going to be in a place where I can just leave my shades on, I can do minimal or no makeup. And since I’m lazy and usually don’t have time to do a full face of makeup even if I wanted to, I am happy to take any opportunity to go minimal.

This outfit has a sunhat too — which means no hair to worry about either! Not that that’s really a problem for me anymore with my short hair, since there’s not really enough of it there to have a “bad hair day.”

Still, even ignoring their hair covering functionality, I rather like hats. They make me feel classy.

Dress: Forever21

Jacket: thrifted

May 12, 2018 – Chicagoing (OOTD #282)

Published on May 29, 2018 by lensembledujour1 Comment

I finally made it into the city!

Actually, this is my second time making it in since the beginning of the school year — my first time was a few weeks ago with the Taiwanese Student Association on a field trip to Chinatown. Chinatown’s sort of on the outskirts of the city though, so this was my first time making it into the heart of things.

I’ve been to Chicago a few times before as a kid, but it’s been a really long time, and honestly all I remember about my previous trips is that I popped my ears on the elevator up to the Sears Tower, which ended up aggravating an ear infection that I didn’t know I had.

This time, though, I got to see some of the touristy things I’ve been wanting to see for the whole year I’ve been at Notre Dame, an hour and a half away — the Bean, the Art Institute, Navy Pier, and basically just the city in general.

I love cities, and I wish Notre Dame could be moved just a little further north so that we could have easier access to Chicago. As it is though, I’m a two hour train ride away from anything, which makes going into the city not really worth it most of the time. To be honest, though, a ten minute Uber drive into South Bend isn’t really worth it either.

As this was my first time in Chicago for a long time, it was in many ways, kind of like my first time. I had something of an idea of what it’d be like, since I know what cities are like, but each city has its own unique identity and feeling when you’re there. My personal favorite is New York, though I rather like Philadelphia as well.

I don’t know, I didn’t love Chicago. I loved the Art Institute, and the Bean was very cool (and I appreciate the sense of humor of Chicagoans to be able to turn the Bean into a meme), but I didn’t love the atmosphere in the same way I love the atmosphere of New York. Don’t get me wrong, Chicago is cool, but I don’t think I could see myself being one of those people who live in the suburbs and identify themselves to other Chicagoans by what neighborhood they’re from.

Besides, I heard way too many nasally Chicago accents at Notre Dame. I almost adopted one myself there for a while. I don’t think I could handle being surrounded by them 24/7 — no offense to you people with Chicago accents out there.