Winter Formal on the Farm

 Can you believe we are nearly one month into this new year! It feels like Christmas and New Years was just here and now we are in full winter style mode. How did that happen? After Christmas in Boca Grande (see here & here ) I spent the New Years holiday in the countryside outside Charleston. We had the most perfect transition weather: sun-filled fresh days and cold nights where we’d light a big fire and I got to break in some of my winter fur. Above was twilight on New Years Eve. My outfit was just formal enough for the country setting, but actually perfect for winter work wear. We’ve had a refreshing cold front hanging around here in South Florida this January so this outfit has been on serious repeat. 

The neck tie blouse has to be one of my favorite retro trends to return this season. I have several from Forever 21 and White House Black Market, since I’m seemingly always channeling Annie Hall no matter the season or year, but this particular blouse from Oasis Clothing has to be my absolute favorite. The beaded cuff detailing is simply gorgeous and the placement of stones and design look so much more haute fashion than fast fashion. I also love the material, as the blend is very hard to wrinkle, and the bright ivory is the perfect winter white shade for my January skin tone. I found a great metallic Deborah Lippman nail polish in “Dream Weaver” to make the grey, purple, and green tones in the cuff details pop and it also helped tie in these awesome eyelet emerald wide leg culottes (which I might add I found hidden on an H&M sale rack for $10!) The look is complete with my favorite winter white tiered faux fur cape. You can wear it two ways (shown above) long or short, which makes it an excellent travel item, one which I can’t wait to pack for some spring skiing in Switzerland this March!

Accessory wise, I’m all about delicate and big this month. I have several sizes of mega large (but thin) hoops in gold and rose gold that I’m wearing constantly right now. As my neck heals necklaces I’ve found are rather irritating so a light weight statement earring has been my go to (it also helps distract from the scar, which in truth you can only see when up close to me, but I admit I’m self conscious about none the less. 

Many of you have been emailing me over the holidays about particular makeup looks in my posts, and what products I use, so here’s what I did for this look. And by the way do keep those questions coming! Makeup and skin & hair care is an obsessive passion of mine so always happy to chat about it and help. Tweet me or send me a DM on Instagram or Facebook with what you want to know.

For my News Year Eve look I wanted to accentuate my eyes and divert attention upwards (and away from neck scar) during cocktails and dinner, so I blended some matte shadows from Urban Decay‘s NAKED Smoky palette (colors “Whiskey” & “Combust”) & with Urban’s gorgeous deep metallic Moondusts in “Shockwave” and “Zodiac” to bring in a hint of emerald and purple which gave my blues eyes a green tint. Keeping the metallics on and close to my upper and lower lash line, and the mattes on my lid, softened this look and made it look less “nightclub-y”- more subtle versus shocking. I’ll be doing this look in detail on an upcoming post (maybe even some video!) as I think shimmer and glitter can be intimidating when it comes to makeup, and doesn’t have to be. So stay tuned…

::Outfit::
Blouse, Oasis Clothing ON SALE*
Green Culottes, H&M, similar & similar
Snake Skin Heels, Sam Edelman
Faux Fur Cape,
Hoop Earrings, Forever 21
Nails, Deborah Lippmann “Dream Weaver”
Eyes, Urban Decay NAKED Smoky Palette, Moondust Shadows