Tag: july

July 5, 2018 – A French Dress in Nepal (OOTD #322)

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As much as I wish I had purchased this dress in France myself, instead, it was purchased for me by a friend.

Actually, I guess it wasn’t purchased for me. She purchased it for herself while on vacation in France, decided she didn’t like the fit, and then gave it to me because I’m smaller and she figured it might look better on me. But indeed, it was in fact purchased in France — if that gives me any classy fashion blogger points in your book.

It was fun though to be able to tell people in Nepal that I got the dress in France. Made me seem more cosmopolitan and worldly I guess, even though I’ve never been to France and I’m pretty sure the dress was purchased on sale for less than twenty euros. I’m not going to stop anyone from thinking of me as wealthy and chic.

Despite my outfit, I didn’t really do anything particularly expensive or chic in it. After a normal day of classes, I went out into town again, though unlike yesterday, I came across no fun street art or oriental architecture or ancient temples. Instead, I trudged through the mud and rain to see…well, not much of anything.

Dhulikhel’s neat and all, and wildly different from anything I’ve seen in the US, but it’s not a huge community, and there’s not a to do. After the first few days of exciting adventures, the novelty of Dhulikhel began to wear off, and we sort of began to ran out of interesting places to go. The rain prevented us from really doing any hiking, so we stuck to the main roads and ended up coming across a university.

This university campus wasn’t much to see though — not like Notre Dame, and not like what I imagine I might see if I went into a bigger city like Kathmandu. It was pretty much just a single building for dorms and a single building for classrooms. I’d show you some pictures, but I didn’t take any, as there really wasn’t anything worth taking a picture of.

Regardless, it was still fun to go for a walk and to chat with some friends, even if that walk was fairly aimless. Sometimes, it’s just nice to get the exercise.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Dress: Some vendor in France

July 4, 2018 – This Isn’t America (OOTD #321)

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Once again, I’m out of the country for the 4th of July.

This is the second year in a row that I’ve been away for Independence Day — last year I was in the air flying to London, and this year, I’m in Nepal for a religious studies conference. Will I ever get to just relax at home with some barbecue and enjoy my city’s small fireworks display?

Whether I do or not, I wouldn’t have traded a day in the US for the day I had on July 4 in Nepal. There were no fireworks, no parades, no 4th of July sales, and no Americana-themed outfits (though I guess you could argue that my top is blue with white stars, kinda like the flag), but what I got to do instead was even better.

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plant aunt

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Once again, I spent most of my time sitting in class during the conference session, and only afterwards did I get to go out and explore Nepal. And once again, I decided to head up the mountain and go into town and see what there was to see.

This time, I went out with my two roommates, Elsa and Haya, and Haya’s friend, Sadiq. With no particular vision or plan in mind, we started walking.

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DhulikCall me 🇳🇵

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After climbing through some brush off the main road, the first sight we came across was a nice view of some rice fields at the base of a hill. I guess to anyone who lives in Asia, the sight of rice fields isn’t really anything to write home about, but for me, it was cool. Plus, the lighting was good, so I got some good photos.

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This Is (Not) America 🇳🇵

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[insert lotr quote about wanderlust]

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From there, we went into the old part of town. Or at least, I think it was the old part of town? There were no signs that I could read, or people whom I could ask, but after walking past several more “contemporary” (quotation marks because I don’t really mean it as an architecture style, but more as a description of the age of the buildings) shops and houses, the road grew narrower and the designs seemed to grow more traditional.

In the US, traditional might mean Victorian or colonial style homes. In Nepal, though, traditional seems to mean more ornamental — for lack of a better word, oriental. To me, an American who doesn’t really see much oriental architecture, it was really cool to see.

While in the old section of town, we came across a temple. I’m not sure if it was Buddhist or Hindu — like I said, I had no ability to read signs or ask locals — but at any rate, it was neat. It didn’t seem to be in use as a religious site, at least at the time when we visited, but more of a local hangout. Some kids played football around the courtyard, and friends sat on the steps and chatted.

At the top of the steps leading up to the temple, there was even a nice view of the town of Dhulikhel. It would’ve been the perfect place to set off some 4th of July fireworks — you know, if I had them.

Overall, it was a less than conventional Fourth of July — but not less than fun. In fact, I think it beats my average Fourth of July activities (i.e. shopping the sales at the mall.)

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Top: The LOFT

Skirt: The LOFT

July 3, 2018 – Dichotomous (OOTD #320)

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There are two distinct outfits in this blog post, so allow me to tackle them one by one.

Outfit #1, the main outfit for today, was actually not one I had intended to pack. I was afraid the leather pants would be too warm for monsoon season Nepal — and I was kind of right. Even sitting around in an air conditioned resort, I found it to be a little uncomfortable.

Why did I pack it, then? Well, it’s a really cute outfit. It was so cute I even got a living, breathing male who was not my father to compliment it — not like, the way I looked in it, or anything of that nature, but the outfit itself. How often does that happen? I don’t think many guys outside of the fashion industry ever notice the composition of outfits.

The second reason why I brought it was because I needed to bring more clean clothes. I didn’t really have the ability to do much laundry while at the resort, so I decided to simply bring enough clothes to do me for the 21 days I’d be away. In other words, there will be a lot of laundry to do when I finally do get home.

It was just another normal day of sitting around and chatting about Islamic theology and modernity, so there’s not a lot to report on that front. What there is to report about is what I did after the session was over for the day, and that is where outfit #2 comes in.

Outfit #2 is basically just a rehash of an outfit from a few days back. In fact, it literally is just the same outfit, but minus the jacket. I knew I’d be going out and possibly getting sweaty and/or dirty, so rather than go out in the cute outfit I’d been wearing the majority of the day, I went digging in my dirty clothes pile and threw these together. If it’s already dirty, there’s no harm in getting it dirtier, right?

Anyway, after finishing up classes, a group of us decided to go out for a walk into town. Town? Is that the right word? We’re in Dhulikhel, which is about an hour outside of Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. Dhulikhel could perhaps best be described in American terms as a suburb of Kathmandu, as it’s a primarily residential area outside of a major city with some of its own shops and businesses, and yet, it’s so far from what I typically imagine a suburb to be like. Village seems to be best word to describe the collection homes that dot the side of the mountain (which I saw yesterday), town seems to be the best word to describe the feeling of the ‘’downtown’’ shopping district, and suburb seems to be the best word to describe the location of Dhulikhel in relation to Kathmandu. The point is, I don’t really know what Dhulikhel is, other than a relatively small place where I’ll be staying for the next to weeks.

There were six of us who decided to go out for this adventure: three Notre Dame students (including myself), and three Pakistani students. And thank goodness those three Pakistani guys were there, otherwise we probably would not have made it very far away from the hotel. None of the six of us could speak any Nepali, but the Pakistani guys could speak Urdu, which I guess is similar to Nepali, or otherwise the Nepali people could understand Urdu. Anyway, they were able to walk into shops and ask for directions around town, which was fabulous, because I doubt Citymapper would do me much good in Dhulikhel.

The instructions we were given by the locals was to head to the ‘’1000 steps temple,’’ which was about a 30 minute stroll away from the hotel. As the name suggests, it involved walking a lot of steps up to the top.

Was it actually 1000 steps? I’m not sure. We only made it up a couple hundred of them before we reached the giant golden Buddha. Giant gold Buddha was not the temple we had in mind to go to, but when you reach a giant gold Buddha in the forest, you’ve got to stop and see him. 

Only problem was, the gate was locked.

Apparently, the gates to gold Buddha closed at 5:30, and we arrived at 6. At this point, we split into two camps: those of us who wanted to try to get in, and those who wanted to go home. As the photos suggest, the first camp — the one I was a part of — won.

One of the guys with us managed to climb over the gate and unlock it from the inside, allowing us all to get in. And I’m sure glad he did, because when else am I going to get to see a giant gold Buddha statue in my life?

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Outfit #1

Top: H&M

Outfit #2

Top: Vintage (thrifted)

Pants: Thrifted

July 2, 2018 – A Foggy Memory (OOTD #319)

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I swear, there were mountains here yesterday.

I’ve seen a lot of fog in my life, but never like this. It’s so dense that you literally cannot see the giant green mountains all around but only the thick white curtain of mist — it’s a little disorienting. I feel like I’m in a video game with a bad draw distance.

Also, apparently these giant green mounds of earth that I’ve been referring to as “mountains” are not, to the Nepali locals, mountains, but rather, big hills. Apparently, it’s only a mountain if it’s capped with snow. I guess I can’t really argue with the locals, but to my sore knees that regret the hike I did down the “big hill,” it certainly feels more like a mountain.

After classes, a group of us decided to venture further down (what I’m going to call) the mountain and see what there was to see. Despite still struggling with jet lag and low-key wanting a nap (though I did get four hours the previous night instead of two! Yay!), the FOMO got the best of me and I decided to go. If the other Notre Dame students were going to go out and do some bonding, then I was too.

Unfortunately, the only shoes I brought for walking in were my running shoes, which are just fine for the relatively simple hiking I do in Kentucky, but apparently not fine for the Kathmandu Valley. While a lot of the trail is pretty easy, in parts where it’s rocky or particularly steep, I found myself having to grasp hold of whatever trees or plants were around in order to keep my balance. While there weren’t really any places where feared careening off the side of a cliff, I did fear falling in the wrong way and twisting my ankle.

While I suspect the views down the way would be even more spectacular on a clearer day, they were still pretty beautiful to my eyes, which have really only ever seen mountains in the form of Appalachia. Along the trail, there was not a whole lot to see — some houses, with local people doing housework like hanging up clothes to dry or weeding their garden, and some stray dogs. I mean, it was still leagues away from the suburban American neighborhoods I am used to seeing, but after the initial shock wears off, a hut is still just a hut, even if it is very different from the kind of homes I am familiar with.

Once again, though, we did not make it far down the side of the mountain before the sky started getting dark and it was time to go home. Despite the increased physical strain of the climb, I still found it easier going up. I’d much rather strain my leg muscles trying to maintain my stamina going up a hill than strain my brain trying to maintain my balance going down.

I’m not sure I’ll ever get to make it down to the village that’s supposedly at the bottom of this mountain; I just don’t think there’s enough time or enough daylight given the scheduling of the conference. I guess tomorrow, I’ll go up the mountain and into the city and see what there is to see there.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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!

Pants: The LOFT

Top: The tiny clothing section of my local Kroger

July 1, 2018 – Jet Lagged (OOTD #318)

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Oh dear, it looks like the jet lag has hit me like a…well, a jet.

My first night in Nepal, I had no trouble sleeping. After the long, stressful journey of 30 hours, I was ready to crash. The second night though, apparently, not so much.

It’s interesting because I remember having no trouble justing to the time difference in London — perhaps that was because I stayed up the entire plane ride, so that by the time I made it to Heathrow in the morning, and I was forced to stay up for another 8 hours, I was more than ready to sleep at night.

Here, though, I slept pretty easily throughout the plane ride, making it more difficult trying to adjust to the 9 hours and 45 minutes difference. Why 9 hours and 45 minutes? Apparently Nepal wanted to distinguish itself from India, so their clocks are 15 minutes off from India’s time. There’s your fun fact for the day.

Anyway, after a night of barely sleeping at all, I decided to get up at about 5 AM and just start my day. No point in just laying there in bed and feeling badly for myself for not being able to sleep, right?

That’s when these photos were taken, actually — in the wee hours of the morning before anyone else was up. Since I had nothing to do, I figured I’d prop up my phone and take some simple photos in the lounge area of the hotel. No one but a few housekeepers was around to judge me, so it made it pretty easy.

The rest of the day was spent in the conference. The first half was a lecture by a professor from Duke on feminism in Islamic texts and law, and the second half was  a guided discussion amongst the students on our thoughts about the lecture.

Not being a scholar of Islam or even a Muslim, it was a little difficult to think of things to stay during the discussion. The people at my table seemed interested to hear my perspective as a Christian American woman, but I’m not positive that what I ended up saying was really all that helpful. My purpose here is not to say anything wildly controversial or profound though, but just to add more dimension to the conversation, to provide another facet of the human experience. I hope I did that.

But even if I didn’t, there’s plenty more time to do so! I have 13 more days before the conference ends, so even if I was useless today, maybe tomorrow, I won’t be.

That’s about it for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my trip to Nepal. 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: H&M

Top: Vintaged (thrifted)

Pants: Thrifted

Saturday Musings + Coffee – Taking Photos in a Mall Starbucks

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My friend, Jane, giggled at me the whole time I was taking the photos for today's blog.

I've gotten used to taking photos in public – you put on your sunglasses so you don't have to make eye contact with anyone, and then pretend no one's judging you. It was weird at first, and I used to purposefully avoid public places for my photos, but I'm immune to the embarrassment now.

So it's funny when I hang out with friends who aren't used to my constant photo taking because they usually look confused and awkward when I whip out my Canon in the middle of a restaurant and start taking pictures of my coffee. Which is funny, you know, since we teenagers have no problem taking photos with our phones to post to our Snapchat stories – but pull out a real camera, and *Heath Ledger voice* everybody loses their minds!

To relieve Jane of her embarrassment (and also to get to a spot with better lighting), I scooted over to an empty table a few feet away to snap my photos for my Saturday Musings post today.

I dunno, there's just something really cute about a nice flatlay with some sparkly things, coffee, and a plain white background, and it makes for a really lovely Instagram post to break up all the OOTD photos. It makes the uncomfortable stares in public places all worth it.

Plus, since I suffer no embarrassment anymore from public photo taking, it's funny to watch my friends cringe and look like they don't know what to do when I start arranging all of my accessories on a table and snapping pictures.

Anyway, that’s it for today! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com.

July 30, 2017 – Yay Adoption (OOTD #78)

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Odd title, I know, but I mean it – yay for adoption!

On Sunday, my parents and I went out for lunch in celebration of Gotcha Day – the day my parents "got" me from China.

I don't believe I've mentioned this before, but I was adopted from Hunan, China when I was a few months old. I mean, I guess you probably could've figured that – it is a white dude who's in my Father's Day photos - but I haven't discussed it formally. Not that I personally think there's much to discuss; it's not like I remember anything about China or my birth parents, and I've always considered myself much more American than Chinese, or even Chinese-American.

So in general, my adopted-ness plays very little role in my everyday life. The exception of course is Gotcha Day, my family's little celebration of, basically, the fact that we are a family. We usually go out to eat, and my parents get me a little gift; it's not unlike a mini birthday party. My grandmother sometimes joins us too. It's just a nice little way for us to bond, and of course, a nice little excuse for us to eat out.

This year, we ate out at Bella Notte, one of my favorite restaurants in all of Lexington. I adore Italian, and this is probably the best Italian I've ever had outside of Little Italy in New York. Everything tastes so fresh and flavorful, the décor is stylish and charming, and I don't even feel badly about eating the pasta with heavy cream sauce – it's that good. My dad and I always get the family-size Penne Gorgonzola to share, and we can nearly finish it off.

After lunch, we went out and did some shopping for my dorm room. There wasn't a lot we could get, since I haven't seen my room yet and don't really know how much space I've got, but I did pick out some nice sheets and a duvet cover. I'll have to do a Saturday Musings + Coffee post about it sometime and show it all off to you guys; I'm definitely excited about it all!

I know this is kind of a short post, but I think I'm going to end it here. Thanks again to my parents for being super cool and also making it so that I didn't spend the rest of my life in a Chinese orphanage!

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

Top: Unknown (thrifted)

Pants: The LOFT

Scarf: American Eagle

July 29, 2017 – Anything For a Good Photo (OOTD #77)

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You know, I only spent about 10 minutes at this farmer's market today.

My mother and I were on our way to Starbucks when we passed this dinky little farmer's market/nursery, and we had a few extra minutes so we decided to stop in.

It was cute, but there wasn't much going on – some plants, organic groceries, random homemade crafts. They had some natural Amish butter, which looked good, but it was like $12 for a pound, and I am much too poor for that.

The truth is, I didn't actually buy anything there, or really, even hang around for very long. But from the cute photos I got, you might think I spent hours marveling at the plants and sniffing the fresh tomatoes or whatever, but nope. Got my pictures and then went.

Writing for a fashion blog is weird that way – it's your goal to present the best version of your life so that people will marvel at you and think you're super cool, but your photos aren't necessarily a fair representation of a normal day. In the case of these farmer's market photos, I thought it'd be cute to look like I had a charming farmer's market outing, even though I really didn't and actually spent most of my day sitting in my dining room. Is that insincere?

I suppose not, because I'm disclosing it here. Besides, the farmer's market made for a really adorable background to my outfit photos, and my Instagram could use more of those.

In other news, I really love this scarf thing I'm wearing here. I say "scarf thing" – I have no clue what it would qualify as. It's thin like a scarf, but it wraps like a shawl and just generally gives me 2012 dystopian Hunger Games Catching Fire vibes . It makes any outfit instantly more edgy, like this Urban Outfitters dress that I bought 2 years ago before the shift dress was super trendy and had oversaturated the mall fashion boutiques. Still like it though, especially its pattern.

Looks like that’s it for today, so I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Dress: Urban Outfitters

Scarf thing: Altar'd State

 

 

July 26, 2017 – Modeling For The Powell Spring/Summer 2017 Collection (OOTD #75)

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Yes, after years of waiting for my big break, countless headshots, and strict diets, I’ve finally landed my first serious modeling gig for a professional designer.

That…that’s sarcasm if you can’t tell. Sorry, I probably could’ve kept that joke running for longer, but it was so ridiculous that I felt uncomfortable, lol. The real story is that I’ve got a friend, Terence, who just this summer has picked up sewing as a hobby. He texted me and asked if I would be willing to be the model for what he was making, so how could I refuse?

If I’m not mistaken, I think this skirt is the second complete piece Terence has made, and while I don’t really know anything about sewing or technique, I must say, it’s pretty impressive. Certainly better than anything I could’ve made! I can do buttons and maybe mend torn seams, but that’s about the extent of my ability.

It was actually originally going to be a dress, but he unfortunately, he ran out of time trying to complete it. See, he really wanted me to wear it out for a show we were going to see in Cincinnati, but by the time Wednesday rolled around, all he had done was the skirt and some of the parts of the top. The judges on Project Runway might not have been impressed with his time management skills, but regardless, he managed to “make it work” (*prays for someone to laugh at that Tim Gunn joke*) by simply sewing and pinning the skirt until it was wearable on its own.

As for the styling of the outfit, that was actually a lot to do with Terence too. I brought several tops and jackets over while he was still sewing so we could figure out what would work best, and he chose this black dragon scale top out of all of the other pieces. And to be honest? I think he made the perfect decision.

The skirt is flowy and feminine, with this exquisite if slightly flashy pattern, so it contrasts nicely with the harsh, utilitarian look of the top. I call it my dragon slayer shirt,  usually pairing it with similarly post-apocolytic-styled pieces , but it occurred to me as I was looking through my closet for something to complement the skirt that perhaps it could work as a juxtaposition piece as well. Terence evidently agreed, and we wound up with outfit consisting of a bright, tropical skirt, a dark, edgy top, and a belt with the sole purpose of hiding the pins holding the pleats together – perhaps one of the most interesting combinations I’ve ever worn.

And the whole outfit was a huge hit at our show! I got plenty of compliments on it (both the top and the skirt, sometimes together and sometimes individually), and with every comment, I was able to point to Terence and say “Actually, my friend here made it!” I think he was really pleased with the attention his work got – he’s not really the type of guy who likes the limelight, but he’s also hardly shy to some flattery.

Looks like that’s it for today, so I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Unknown (gifted)

Skirt: Terence Powell

July 25, 2017 – When You Forget Your Sunglasses (OOTD #74)

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I've had a blog about forgetting a shirt, and now it looks like I've got one about forgetting my sunglasses.

You wouldn't think sunglasses would be as big of a deal as a shirt – I, as a female, cannot really go out without a shirt on, especially not to work. But for me, doing this fashion blog thing and taking photos of my outfit every day, sunglasses are a huge thing, sometimes being just as necessary as a a shirt.

Sunglasses obscure my eyes, which, for me, are my biggest problem when it comes to getting good smiling photographs. I'm Asian, so the plane of my face is rather flat, with my eyes being on the same level as my nose bridge and cheekbones, causing my eyelid creases to change shape depending on the day as they're not created by depth in my facial structure. This means that when I smile and my eyes scrunch up, my eyelids might also change shape, sometimes causing my eyes to look smaller or even lopsided.

That's where sunglasses come in to cover that all up and save the day. Plus, you can wear sunglasses to hide the fact that you have no eye makeup on, meaning they're great for a lazy soul like myself. Good sunglasses can even hide a few pimples on your forehead.

So anyway, I forgot my sunglasses, and I had done no makeup because I assumed my sunglasses would be covering up half of my face. I didn't really want to do my pictures without sunglasses, but I also didn't want to skip on doing pictures at all, since I still had a blog-worthy outfit (or as blog-worthy as a typical hardware store work outfit gets for me).

Luckily, in the car were my father's old sunglasses. I put them on and they were…less than flattering, but they did the job of covering my makeup-less face, and that's all I needed them to do.

In other news, I really need to have my hair redone. Look at those roots, haha! I'm trying to hold off because I want my color to look fresh for when I move off to college, but it's definitely getting a bit messy looking. I'd originally planned on doing it before I went off to London, but…welp, coming from a girl who wears sunglasses, not because she's concerned about damaging UV rays, but because it means she can wear less makeup, it wan't likely I was going to muster up the motivation, yeah?

Looks like that's it for today, so I’ll see you in the next one! Don’t forget to check me out on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr! For business inquiries, shoot me an email at lensembledujour@gmail.com!

Shirt: Target

Necklace: Forever21

Sweater: The LOFT