the western buckle

“Once he gave her a ring with a sphinx engraved on its stone.

‘What is it?’ she asked. ‘A sphinx?’

‘Yes,’ he answered, ‘and that sphinx is you.’

‘Is it really me? she asked and slowly raised her enigmatic gaze towards him. ‘Do you know that’s very flattering?’ she added with a slight smile, but her eyes still had that strange look.”

                                                        —Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev

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I picked up this belt buckle while browsing for cowboy boots at Helen’s Leather Shop in Beacon Hill. It’s embossed with a delicate floral pattern. I like the western atmosphere a large belt buckle bestows, and I often like to take turquoise with my oversized buckles. And when I wear turquoise I want to wear white…you see what’s happened here. Oh, here’s a pair of the cheap sunglasses I mentioned.

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Love the shape of this skirt, long and high-waisted with a gentle fishtail effect.

I don’t mind at all mixing brown and black.* I don’t mind mixing the varying shades of turquoise here, either. Blue nearly always seems to look good with blue, no matter which shades.

*Honestly, I don’t have a black bag. Nor is a black bag anywhere near the top of my wishlist. This is one of those wardrobe ‘staples’ I simply cannot care about, and do not remotely miss. I take this as more evidence that I should keep on doing what I want.

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details

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 Linen skirt from ASOS, Ariat tooled leather belt, J Crew tee, Mulberry bag, Steve Madden P-Heaven flats, Skagen watch, pearl shell drops (eBay). On the lips: Bite Beauty Matte Crème lip crayon in Blood Orange (this color is electric in person, have been hearing such good things about this brand and am impressed so far). On the nails: Wet n wild I Need A Refresh-Mint.

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on the lips: this badass Givenchy lipstick

Allow me to introduce you to some of the most badass lipstick packaging around (yet still sleek, not studded within an inch of its structural integrity). Givenchy’s Le Rouge line has a gorgeous formula and this packaging, while not gold, is perhaps the next best thing: leather.

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Well, faux leather. Look at it! Extremely satisfying to interact with this packaging.

Sam from Pixiwoo was wearing and recommended this shade, Fuschia Irrésistable, in a video about favorite products and it went straight to the wishlist. It’s similar in color to NARS Funny Face (a semi-matte) but brighter and with a relatively glossy finish.

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Mmmhmm. Yes. We need that.

It’s light, pigmented, intensely creamy, packed with skincare benefits; it has all the strengths of the latest generation of lipsticks. This kind of creamy-yet-weightless formula is easier and easier to come by these days. Estee Lauder’s new Pure Color Envy line is incredibly creamy, too, and Urban Decay’s Revolution line. Japonesque, YSL, Tom Ford… I don’t care that it is Givenchy—in fact I don’t know a lot about Givenchy—but that many of the designer brands are coming through with stellar formulas cannot be denied.

Finally (over a year later!) picked it up in a recent Sephora promo. You know, becauseIt is beautiful. If you are wondering how I could possibly need any more lipstick, I am sorry to be the one to tell you: you may be in danger of missing the point entirely.