Tag: target

August 31, 2017 – It’s Casual (OOTD #100)

Published on by lensembledujour4 Comments

I can’t believe I’ve never used that as a blog title before.

For real – blog titles are hard, and I’m not very good about being creative with them. Thus, my titles are usually some sort of dumb reference to pop culture that’ll probably be irrelevant within a few months, but mean that I don’t have to come up with anything intelligent on my own.

I spend most of my waking existence as a college student trying to fake being intelligent in class, so I figure this blog is a place where I can be myself, yeah? And  “myself” really just means being lazy and un-creative most of the time, lol.

Case in point – Thursday’s outfit. It was pretty much as simple as it gets – a white t-shirt and jeans. Granted, I like to think there was a little creativity in there, as layering the green barrette underneath and matching the suede choker to the suede shoes took some thought, but I’d be lying if I said I thought it was a masterpiece.

It’s not, and that’s okay! Not every outfit is a winner, and I’m happy so long as none of them are absolute losers. I’ve even already had some girls from my dorm start telling me that I “look nice everyday,” which is usually my goal when I move to a new place and have to establish myself as a fashion-conscious person. Gaining a reputation for being stylish is all about wearing consistently thoughtful outfits, while every once in a while throwing in a truly artistic one to remind people that you take fashion seriously, and every once in a while, having a dud because nobody’s perfect.

That’s all for today! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one with more updates on my life here at Notre Dame. 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: Target

Bralette: Aerie

Choker: Madewell

Jeans: J. Crew (thrifted)

 

August 14, 2017 – Walgreens Photos (OOTD #86)

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There are two relevancies of the title “Walgreens photos” to this blog post – 1) I had some photos to print at Walgreens for a little project that I’ll show off a little later, and 2) I literally took my OOTD photos outside of Walgreens.

Is Walgreens a glamorous photo location? Well, no. It’s no Shoreditch or abandoned school building, and you’re more likely than at Shoreditch or an abandoned school building to good weird glances from people who don’t know why you’re posing for photos in front of a drugstore.

But what does Walgreens have? Well, a pretty dope two-toned wall that complemented my sweater well and a praying mantis.

Here’s the thing about taking photos for a fashion blog – you don’t want your background to overwhelm your outfit. That’s really the important part here; cool backgrounds are neat and all but you can’t let them distract from the “fashion” bit of your fashion blog. The best backgrounds make your outfit pop, such as the red in the Walgreens wall that pulls from the orange in my sweater, and aren’t so busy that they overwhelm you. Grass and trees tend to do this, especially if you’re wearing a cool color like green.

Am I saying that I should be the center of attention for my photos?

Well…yeah? I guess.

But not all the time! I often like to include pictures of my friends here – like this praying mantis I found chilling on the wall next to me. This dude was absolutely huge, probably the size of my fist. He didn’t seem to mind me standing near him, and even posed for a photo or two.

Speaking of friends, the reason why I went to Walgreens in the first place was to have some photos of my friends printed for a little photo board I wanted to put together for my dorm room. I put a photo below – I think it turned out really well! My hope is that I’ll be able to add more photos of my new friends that I make in college.So I guess that’s it for today! 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: Unknown (thrifted)

Sweater: Target

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

Published on by lensembledujour2 Comments

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

 

July 21, 2017 – Let’s Do The Time Warp Again (OOTD #72)

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

As promised from yesterday's blog, here's the blog post for Friday the 21st, posted a day after the blog for Saturday the 22nd due to technical difficulties and writer idiocy.
More on that here.
On Friday, my dad and I went out hiking to Red River Gorge, a beautiful canyon system in Central KY. We both got the day off from work and made it into something of a father-daughter thing. Actually, we'd initially planned on doing a canoeing trip on the Kentucky River, but that had to be canceled and rescheduled as there hadn't been enough rain in the week prior for the water levels to be high enough.
Hiking's pretty cool though, so no complaints from me there. I will always prefer to hike in the fall (pretty leaves, cooler temperatures, yada yada), but I admit, it wasn't bad at all. We left the house at like, 7:30 in the morning and got to the trails by 9 or 10, so it hadn't gotten blisteringly hot yet, and it was a cloudy day, so we didn't really have to deal with the sun beating down on us. Plus, for extra protection, we opted for a trail that was down in the canyon and surrounded by trees, so it was nice and shady.
My family and I went hiking a lot when I was a kid – Cumberland Falls, Red River Gorge, Gatlinburg – if it's in the Midwest/Southeast near Kentucky, I've probably been there. I used to absolutely hate it though – the bugs, the heat, the physical exertion – it wasn't really my style. I guess it's still not quite my style, as I still hate bugs and heat, but I do have a greater appreciation for the natural environment you get to experience when you hike.
Our trail led us to something called Whittleton Arch, a nice little rock formation about a mile and a half from the road. I, of course, took immediately to climbing it and posing on top of the rocks, letting my dad get some cool photos like this:
For real though, I like hanging out with my dad, and I wish I got to do it more. He's a pretty cool dude, and I'm not just saying that because he has the patience to take a decent chunk of the photos for this stupid blog, including the ones from this trip. I'll miss him when I go off to college, and that's what made our time together hiking so nice.

Want to read more about my Red River Gorge adventure, and how it affected my fashion choices for the next day? Part 2 of the epic saga is already up here!

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!

Jacket: Adidas (thrifted)

Top: Forever21

Shorts: Target

July 11, 2017 – Just Let Abbey Road Be (OOTD #65)

Published on by lensembledujour8 Comments

Do I get any points for that title? No?Day 6, we saw the famous Abbey Road zebra crossing, and let me tell you, that was an experience. Not wholly in a good way, and not wholly in a bad way, it was just – ugh, allow me to explain:

Abbey Road is just a road. I have no problem with that – they’re not going to close off an entire road and make it into a museum because some famous people 50 years ago took a photo there. But since it’s a road – like, a real functioning road, with cars and angry drivers with places to be – it makes it a real chore to cross it and take your silly touristy photo.

But Amanda and I were determined. We didn’t make it all the way out to London, I-don’t-even-know-how-many-miles across the ocean, to not get a picture to show our grandchildren. Plus, we’re both Beatles fans (I had a phase in middle school…), so we really wanted to see this famous spot.

Well, there were about 50 other tourists there at Abbey Road Studios that day with the same mindset, some of whom knew English traffic laws and some of whom didn’t. In England, it’s law that cars must stop if they see a pedestrian at a zebra crossing, so if you’re standing there waiting for traffic to clear so you can get a nice, car-free photo, you’ll be disappointed to see that the cars will all stop, lining up on the road if they have to, to let you walk.

So it’s rather awkward when a tourist just stands there as the traffic piles up at the crossing because the tourist wants the road to clear so they can get a good picture, and the traffic just wants the tourist to walk and get out of the way. Add into the mix, there are likely several other tourists all trying to cross the road at the same time as you, and you definitely don’t want them crossing the road with you and ruining your picture.
In short – it’s stressful, and, unless you’re a Beatles fan on a mission like Amanda and me, probably not worth your time.

I should also mention – before Abbey Road, we saw the Tower of London, something that Amanda was very interested in seeing. Personally, it wasn’t my favorite old building we saw (that honor would probably have to go to Westminster Abbey), but I’m glad we saw it anyway. It’s much bigger than I expected, and even though we were too cheap to pay the admission

to look inside, it was still cool to stand in such proximity to somewhere where so much history has taken place.


I also got noodles at this amazing place just off the Liverpool station that specialized in ramen. Shoryu Ramen, it was called – and it was really good. I’m a sucker for noodles, I guess it’s a part of being Asian, and this place was like a dream come true. The only Asian food we get in Kentucky is PF Chang’s and cheap takeout; these were real, high quality Japanese noodles. 

And that’s about it for the day, actually. We stopped by Baker Street just to say we had but found that the line for the Sherlock museum was too long to be bothered with, got tea again at the British Museum, and then stopped at a little art shop called jlkjfjlacmdls so I could buy a new sketchbook since I used up my old one on the flight over.

The nice (?) thing about that day was that we finally got to experience the infamous London rain. It’s been beautiful and sunny and even kind of hot these last few days here, but we hadn’t seen any of the cloudy skies and rain that London is known for. That finally changed as we were coming out of the British Museum. I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve never seen rain before, but something about being there in London, wearing a navy blue blazer, walking the street and actually knowing where I was going, and not really minding the rainfall, that made me feel like a real local.

It was cool.

That’s it for today! 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!

Jacket: Chaps (thrifted)

Shirt: Target

Jeans: Abercrombie

June 12, 2017 – Boho Feels (OOTD #41)

Published on by lensembledujour4 Comments

These Kentucky summers can get devilishly hot. 

It’s presently 90 degrees out, and to be honest, I’m not a fan. As soon as I got this shot done, I rushed right back inside to air conditioning and some cold water! The heat is bad enough, but you add the Kentucky humidity on top of it, and you have a muggy, awful mess that is simply no fun.

 

But that doesn’t matter, because I’m a middle class suburban teenager in first world country  and I have a climate controlled home that I can spend my whole day in! And that’s just what I did today. I didn’t work today, for the first time in what felt like ages (though it’s probably only been five days or so), so I got to wake up late, pour myself some coffee, and simply relax.


It was lovely.

 

As I was relaxing, I figured it was a good idea to do some work on this blog. In addition to creating a lovely new logo (which you can see at the top of this page!) and adding some sidebar widgets that link to my social media (which, if you’re on desktop, you should be able to see on the right!), I also did some photography.

 

I absolutely adore the work of lifestyle organization bloggers, such as Alexandra and Co, who create beautiful but minimalistic arrays of…basically just pretty objects. It’s kinda hard to explain what makes it so beautiful – there’s something just really visually pleasing about the bright colors on the stark white background. Thus, I decided to give it a shot. I gathered up all of my bright pens, cut some flowers, found some colorful candles, poured myself some tea, spread out a white bedsheet over the kitchen table, and tried my best to pretend I have an organized life.

 

What do you think? I’m planning on posting all of them on Instagram sometime in the future to give myself some variation to my feed, so be sure to follow me there to see them when they go up!

 

And as for today’s outfit – I’m gonna be honest, I didn’t actually spend a whole lot of time wearing it today! I spend a good deal of my time in just my pink Victoria’s Secret robe, and I probably would’ve spent my whole day like that if it hadn’t been for this fashion blog! I don’t mind; I love getting dressed up. With the heat today, I was feeling a summery boho vibe, so I went for these fun tribal-printed shorts with a lace-up sweater. For accessories, I loaded up on thin beaded bracelets, and topped it all off with a simple choker and a black sun hat. 

That’s it for today! 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

Sweater: American Eagle

Shorts: Target

Bracelets: Altar’d State

June 9, 2017 – Like a Scarf in the Wind (OOTD#40)

Published on by lensembledujour7 Comments

…Never knowing who to cling to 🎶

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I love wearing big scarves on windy days. The way they fly around and billow in the air is so dramatic, like a super hero with a cape. Is it a little excessive and a touch theatric? Yes. But it looks cool, and when I look cool, I feel cool – even though I know it’s a generally accepted fact that I am not.

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Don’t judge the smudge of lipstick in my teeth.

That’s actually the reason I started getting into fashion in the first place. As a kid in elementary school, I was definitely a bit on the dorky side, and for many years I had trouble interacting with the other students. That probably had to do with the fact I hissed at people and refused to smile in pictures and once got into an argument with my entire first grade class about how Santa Claus wasn’t real (I lost)…but when you’re 7, you don’t necessarily understand that the other kids don’t think crawling around pretending to be a cat is as cool as you think it is.

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Then, sometime in second grade, my parents bought me the first Hannah Montana CD. I loved that thing to death. Listening to the CD, of course, led to watching the show, and watching your first Disney Channel show is just a gateway drug into the world of preteen sitcoms. And what did I learn from watching shows like Hannah Montana, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, and Sonny with a Chance?

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That cool clothes make a cool person.

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So I devoted myself to mimicking the styles I saw on my favorite shows. I started shopping at Justice and Limited Too, got my ears pierced, and started styling my hair. It didn’t make a big difference in my social life, actually – there was no dramatic makeover that led to instant popularity – but I think people started thinking of me as less the weird girl who hissed at people and more the girl who always dressed nicely. I found I liked that label, and the label stuck.

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Sorry, I’ve gotten a bit distracted. Today’s outfit: I worked again today, so comfort and practicality took center stage. The white t-shirt and plain khakis (funnily, the same khakis I wore when I had my first job at Kroger two years ago) are so boring they could be worn for any job, but I accessorized them to make things a bit more interesting. The scarf, of course, was one of those accessories, but I also found a pair of bright Sperry’s, bright earrings, a bright bracelet, and some bright lipstick to – you guessed it – brighten myself up.

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If you’re also into fashion, what got you interested in it? Any interesting stories to tell? Leave me a comment below! And for good measure, here’s a super stylish and not at all embarrassing photo of me circa 2008 playing dress up.

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Mixing patterns since 2008

That’s it for today! 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

Pants: Celebrity Jeans

T-shirt: Target

Shoes: Sperry

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May 15, 2017 – This Outfit Is A Luxury Sedan

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

T-minus four days until the end of my high school career!


I feel like that’s all I’ve been able to talk about these last few blogs, but it’s one of the only things on my mind. I can’t believe that after four years of hard work and a fair share of crying, it’s finally all over.


Today, I went out with the other Senior class officers to check out the location of our graduation ceremony – Rupp Arena. It’s pretty sweet to be able to graduate in this huge venue where concerts and sports events take place, but it can really make you feel small. I have no idea how I’m going to deliver my speech to 5,000 people without vommitting – fingers crossed for the best, though?


I’ve also been pretty busy today working on finding a summer job. The job I thought I was pretty much guaranteed to have didn’t pan out, and now I’m in an awkward position trying to find full-time work within the next few weeks so I can start earning money to pay if Notre Dame. I’m thinking retail, maybe? 


I don’t know, honestly I’ll take about anything.


But on to more positive topics – like today’s outfit! Again, my ensemble was inspired by something I came across on Pinterest – black pants, black shirt, and a camel colored faux suade nacket. I absolutely adore the contrast between camel and black, it reminds me of the interior of a nice car, like a BMW. In a way, you could say today’s outfit was inspired by a luxury sedan?


Welp, thats all I’ve got for today. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Jacket: Forever21

Top: Target

Pants: Altar’d State

No bonus mirror selfie for today.  I may just end up dropping this portion of the blog altogether – I figure there are already enough pictures of me throughout each blog, and it doesn’t really need another one, lol.

April 27, 2017

Published on by lensembledujour1 Comment

New York City, Day 1:

Greetings from New York! What a long day it’s been. And I don’t just mean that figuratively – I have been up since 3 AM. It is now 11 PM in the evening, and we’re still going.
It’s been a great day though! Our flight left from Kentucky at a bright and early 6 AM and landed in NYC at around 8. Not bad, right?

Not quite. Our school group was split into two groups, and the second group didn’t arrive until 10ish, meaning I had two hours to sit around LaGuardia and drink coffee, play cards, and *attempt* to take chic airport photos.


Once we finally got our entire group together, we loaded up our luggage into a tour bus and sat. And sat and sat and sat. I’m gonna be honest, it kinda sucked.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore New York. But a tour bus with a broken air conditioner is NOT the way to do it.


The best part of the afternoon was stopping in Central Park for hotdogs and a brief stroll.


My friend and I might have gotten a bit lost, and we might have separated from our group just to realize we couldn’t remember the rendezvous point, but it turned out okay in the end! Plus, I got some killer photos of the city.

So what does one wear for a day of flights, tour buses, and walking around the city? For me, the answer was simple black leggings, a basic white tee, and an oversized grey jacket. The fun wasn’t in the outfit itself here – it was in the accessories. I love this big floppy black sun hat – it makes every outfit a little more chic.

That evening, we headed out to a Broadway production of A Bronx Tale. A Broadway production, of course, requires something a little more fancy than leggings and a t-shirt, so after freshening up at the hotel, I had to change.

 

This outfit involved a eyelash lace red dress with sheer mesh at the chest layered under a bedazzled cardigan, all tied together with some black tights.

Fun fact: I wore that red dress to the Sadie Hawkin’s Dance my sophomore year, and I got the sweater at an H&M when I visited NYC in fifth grade!

The nice thing about Broadway musicals is, no matter how little you like the plot, the characters, or the songs, you can always be assured that the talent and the production value will be top notch.

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I’m no theatre critic, but I found A Bronx Tale quite enjoyable!

That’s all for tonight. I’m exhausted. See you in Day 2.

Outfit 1 –

Jacket: Forever21

Shirt and leggings and hat: Target

Outfit 2 –

Dress: MissGuided

Jacket: H&M

Tights: Ann Taylor LOFT

No mirror selfies today. Also, if you’re wondering why some photos have the usual brick background of my house, it’s because I took them in advance in case I didn’t have time to get photos while I was out!

April 25, 2017

Published on by lensembledujour3 Comments

By some miracle of God, I made it back to school today.


It was so odd; yesterday, I felt like death, with a cold that weighed down my lungs like lead, and this morning, when I woke up, all the pressure built up in my sinuses was gone.


Who knows, maybe it was just the stress of prom weekend that made me feel so awful.
In other news, I had to go back to the hair salon yesterday and have another application of toner on my hair. Can you tell?


Yeah…me neither. If it were up to me, I probably would’ve just left it as it was – I saw nothing at all wrong with it – but the hair stylist insisted I come back for more toner. Two hours later, she spun around the chair and I looked in the mirror at hair that looked…almost exactly the same? Oh well, I’m no expert on hair. I’m glad she managed to “fix” whatever she thought neeed fixing.


Anyway, back at school today, I still felt slightly under the weather (not to mention totally exhausted from staying up late studying for an AP Gov test), so I kept my outfit it pretty simple and no-nonsense – just a sweater, a shirt, and some pants. That’s not to say it’s not still a fun ensemble – the pattern on the pants and the sweater that draws from the tangerine shades of the flowers is definitely a statement – it just has its fun in different ways. Rather than standing out by being an interestingly put together ensemble, it stands out with its fun designs and colors.

Just two more days until I leave for New York for my senior class trip! I haven’t even started packing. Talk about procrastination.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sweater: Target

Shirt: Forever21

Pants: Ann Taylor LOFT



Bonus mirror selfie: