monochrome: stone

IMG_0696I like all sorts of taupe shades, and especially wearing them together. Throw some olive and chocolate in the mix and I have all of my favorite colors in one place.

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These boots are still going strong in their second (or third? Why can’t I tell time?) year. 

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The wind is not our friend.

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Really liking these new corduroys, which have a nice skinny fit and large back pockets. I like large back pockets. They seem to make my bum look bigger and more generous, somehow, which I like. Friendlier? More approachable? I don’t know. Tiny, miserly (or even just small) back pockets look so unflattering to me (adolescent, too), and they are useless in the bargain.

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Free People corduroys, Sorel Tofino boots, Jean Pierre cable sweater (via Marshall’s), Thinsulate gloves, Old Navy vest, Muk Luks hat, heart pendant from Etsy. The wooden earrings were a gift, long ago. Favorites. On the lips: Chanel Rouge Coco Shine in Esprit (mostly blotted off to give the tiniest hint of color). On the cheeks: Chanel cream blush in Fantastic, a beautiful deep berry color that looks entirely natural.

I am wearing so much more makeup than it looks like I am wearing here. [This Lisa Eldridge tutorial has the best advice regarding no makeup makeup I’ve seen thus far.] I see charm in both ends of the spectrum (the conspicuous as well as the inconspicuous makeup), as well as in the very reasonable act of actually wearing no makeup, which is closer to my usual approach.  Maybe a little something on my cheeks. Maybe mascara. Maybe. If I was in the right kind of mood that morning. The world of the blog is only fractionally indicative of life (and it is—for now—the world of photos, a world with slightly different laws and prescriptions). That said, a little bit can go a long way. I’m curious to experiment with wearing more both for the sake of testing products and to see…what it’s like. Just what is it like to be transparently made up on a semi-regular basis? What would it be like for me (other than time-consuming)? What can it do?

Anyhow, this kind of dark berry color is another winter blush I was craving, and I wanted this cream blush particularly, a relatively new and rightly much-lauded formula. Chanel’s beauty products are so, so nice. Not cheap, but not disappointing, either.

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the chunky knit scarf

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Nothing reads cozy like a chunky knit. Really pleased with this find from Monki, which is in a lovely washed out periwinkle shade I realize I have so little of and wonder why. This is the kind of sky color I like best, a pale, slightly ominous blue-grey. I like it despite its somewhat maddening tendency to curl up at the edges like all of its stockinette-stitched brethren. So many compliments on the street with this, which I like, too.

These leather mittens are another effective winter acquisition. So soft (lined with rabbit fur) and insulating. I haven’t had mittens in years so there is a childlike element to wearing them, the pleasant sensation of the fingers all together, keeping one another warm.

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Hot chocolate also key. 

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I would show you more of what I’m wearing but honestly it is so cold and dark out that a) I can’t be bothered and b) you aren’t missing much. I am either outside wearing a coat (this coat, usually) and muffled to the eyes or inside wearing a sweater. Like, one of three rotating sweaters. So many new things I want to show you, though. On the coldest days it cheers me to shop for another, warmer life.

Scarf from Monki (via asos), mittens from Pratt and Hart (truly wanted the red pair but they were sold out of XL…we’ll see if I forget but I may go for the red next year. Not that I don’t like brown. I do very much like brown.), golden akoya pearl earrings from Pearl Paradise, Old Navy sweater. On the lips: MAC Huggable lipcolor (their glossy new formula, on which more later) in Love Beam.

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