Casual Wear and a Bit of Ranting for Good Measure

Hope the new year is treating everyone well, I'm sure for most though, it has carried on the same way as before the new year. This was a casual outfit I wore today (and not so casual makeup) to go to my daughter's swimming lessons.

The bag featured below is the same one I was raving about last week, yeah, let me renege my previous comments about looking for the brand in the future as seeing how I seemed to prematurely jumped on the band wagon. This particular purse, while beautiful, is shit. It's doing the exact same thing that I've complained about Betty Johnson or Bettysville bags doing; where the the straps connect to the bag, there are small tears. I'm not one that tends to overfill my handbag to where it weighs a thousand pounds and I see absolutely no excuse for this it except for subpar quality. I've had Guess bags that have lasted YEARS, so it's definitely not me. I'm seriously tempted to contact the business, I can't be the only one who has had this happen after less that one week of using it. Anyways, end rant.

The pants are a pair of the ponte leggings I got from Lane Bryant, marked down to 19.99 and originally being $69.99. These are totally worth 20 bucks. They are thick, comfortable, and have a cute lace pattern that runs down the side. I would not, however, pay $70 for them; I don't see them being worth that much. Lately I've been having some mixed feelings about LB. While I still love the Cacique bras they carry, I feel like their prices have gone up without too much to show for it. I actually seen a 6th and Lane dress that was made out of this cheap, stretchy polyester, on clearance for over $100. It seems like quality wise as well as the sizing, has been very off this last year. They also seemed to have about a $10 jump in there standard pricing. This is one thing that I find incredibly irritating about plus size fashion. If another store had identical clothing in nonplus, the price would be half of what it is at Lane Bryant. I understand that LB is trying to elevate themselves right now with all the designer infusions, but honestly, it's not even worth it. I'm willing to pay the money if I think something is fabulous enough, but half the damn times, they are just not cutting it. Example: this Isabel Toledo dress, I had seriously considered purchasing it when it first came out for the $200. It photographs beautifully. In real life, it's a dull dress, kind of see through and thin, and just NOT worth $200 of my hard earned cash. Which is yet another one of my issues with Lane Bryant, none of my local stores carry any of the Isabel Toledo line, if I'm going to spend that much money, I want to see the product in person, not on a website. Okay, okay, end rant two.

Coat, boots, jacket: Lane Bryant. Shirt: Torrid. Bag: Imoshion. 

My other accessory in is a French 75 mm field gun from World War I.

Last thing I would like to legitimately rave about because I have had ample time to review and use, are the Urban Decay palettes. I know every blogger and their mama has already been on this one (okay, I'm a late bloomer to Urban Decay), but I'm am so in love with the Naked 3 palette. I also purchased the Smoked palette a few months back (which is what I'm wearing in the pics above). The smoked palette isn't quite as great and wearable everyday as Naked 3, but it is still pretty fricking awesome.