obi - The Seventh Sphinx

Ah, boot season.

Spring is OK for boots but not sufficiently dry for the suede styles that are my clear favorites (if acquisition is any indicator). This, among so many other reasons, is why autumn reigns supreme. Another reason might be the predominance of plaid, for which I have always harbored a weakness. Perhaps it is my rural upbringing?

In particular I am craving the extremes of thigh-high and ankle boots. Booties. Bootlets. Much browsing and buying and returning before I discovered these charmers from UGG (which lacks romance but there it is). These have a great cowboy silhouette in the toe, minimal yet sculptural detailing, a great pale wheat color, and the slightly tapered chunky heel that I am drawn to these days.

Isn’t there something wonderfully pristine about a bare, unadorned throat?

Ripple pearl drops from Pearlescence, Chanel Rouge Noir Illusion d’ombre smoked out with a sepia shade from the Viseart neutral matte palette, MAC Peaches blush (new, loving), MAC prolongwear brow set, Wet n’ Wild Megalast lipstick in Bare it All with Urban Decay 24/7 lip pencil in Naked, which is almost a perfect match, some other stuff you can’t really see…

In the hair I’ve been using the deep repair mask (as a leave-in treatment) and the styling cream (for definition) from the Carol’s Daughter Tiare line. Smells amazing and I like how soft yet defined my hair is. Doing pretty well with my resolution to wear it down more.

On the nails: Zoya Taylor. Basically a realistic concealer shade for me thanks to a touch of peachy warmth. Really nice color, though the whole time I’ve worn it I’ve wanted to add gold glitter to liven it up. The formula I find OK but it cracks on me within 48 hours or so.

J Crew flannel shirt, Obi-style leather belt (eBay), Express leggings, Breil Milano watch, Ugg boots, Rough & Tumble bag (more on this bag later, loving this).

I have a few of these obi belts and find them so versatile and sleek. Though I could also like this look without a belt at all, loose and casual, to me the belt is doing so much here to amp up the style factor. The power of a good belt.

Get thee a good belt.

1. Going to try making this earl grey oatmeal with cardamom cream this weekend. (I do have a thing for cardamom)

2. Often style tips strike me as somewhere between obvious and condescending, if not wildly incompatible with individuality, but these are quite rational.

3. I want one or possibly several of these suede obi belts. Trying to decide which colors. The rust, the mint? The black definitely.

4. Found interesting this intro to tea tasting language, applicable also to fragrance, wine, beer, chocolate, coffee…anything you can smell really. Useful to have these scent categories in your head.

5. Trying to decide between a Chemex and a Clever Coffee Dripper. Maybe will try both. Have been wanting to experiment with a pour over method, particularly if it means getting this adorable gooseneck kettle.

6. I liked these two wintry Dostoyevsky short stories berfrois posted just before Christmas.

7. Nigerian menswear brand Taryor Gabriels is doing sleek, beautifully structured suits with playful details. It’s impossible to guess how I might dress if I were a man—one of those hopelessly tangled hypotheticals—but maybe like this. I hope like this. Really I may dress like this anyhow. (link from messynessychic via GeekOutsider)

8. OK, Doc Martens Triumph 1914 boots (with vintage-feel floral print lining) vs. Steve Madden Troopa boots. Both have that turn of the century pioneer silhouette I so often like.

Tough call, right? Thoughts? Still debating.

vendor images

Tag: obi

bootie call

links: earl grey oatmeal, obi belts, coffee, pioneer boots, the language of aroma, Dostoyevsky