A Summer Essential: Bathing Suits!!!
June 21, 2012
What better way to celebrate the official start of summer than with a blog post dedicated to all things swimwear!? One of my favorite wardrobe staples in the summer is of course a really fabulous bathing suit (and not to mention an equally fabulous cover-up). I have quite the collection of swimsuits I have collected over the years. A swimsuit is a great wardrobe investment: pay a little more for a good quality swimsuit now because they will last you for YEARS if you take good care of them (i.e.: rinse them out with water after swimming before putting in the wash on a delicate cycle, letting them air dry, etc).
This year I bought 2 new swimsuits to add to my collection, both from Victoria’s Secret. The first swimsuit I bought is white (I LOVE a white bathing suit…it shows off a tan so very nicely) with hot pink flowers and black/white stripes. Very classic Ashley if I do say so myself….
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| Check it out here |
The great thing about buying swimsuits at Victoria’s Secret is you can do a little mixing and matching, which is what I did with the next swimsuit I purchased. The yellow bottoms went with a different top originally but I liked the look with the black/white striped bandeau top. PLUS I can wear this top with the bottoms pictured above---so really I have 3 new swimsuits. AND Bonus with a bandeau swimsuit top: no tan lines!!!
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| Check it out here |
There are SO many cute swimsuits in stores now!! Check out a few of my favorites I found online:
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| Love this bandeau top from Victoria's Secret Check out here |
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| A classy black one piece from Victoria's Secret! Check out here |
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| I don't know what's cuter...this swimsuit or this pose! Check out here |
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| Love a classic pink swimsuit! Check out here |
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| I've always loved the combination of polka dots with stripes! What a cute swimsuit Check it out here |
And while we’re on the subject of swimsuits, how about a cute coverup for walking to and from the beach or pool!?
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| A great classic black coverup from Ralph Lauren. $79 Check it out here |
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| LOVE this coverup. Especially with the hat!!! $49.50 from Victoria's Secret HERE |
Now is a great time to shop for swimsuits as many are on sale right now!!!
Did you buy a new swimsuit and/or coverup for this summer?! Leave me a comment & spill all the details!!!
Thank you for reading and happy summer!!!
XOXO
Ashley
Instant Outfit Maker: Bright & Bold Bling
June 19, 2012
Helloooooo gorgeous readers!
As always, remember that one bold piece of jewelry is enough bling for one outfit!
I hope this post has given you some ideas for an instant new outfit by just adding some bold bling!!! Who else is a fan of bright and bold jewelry!? Leave me a comment and fill me in; I love hearing from yall!
I often talk on my blog about instant outfit makers and game changers, and one of my FAVORITE accessories to instantly put together a new outfit is some bright and bold bling!!! This summer, take a plain t-shirt or tank top you’ve had forever and add some bright and colorful earrings OR necklace to instantly make a new outfit. Don't be afraid to pair 2 bright and bold colors together (for instance, a shirt that's a different but complimentary color to your bold jewelry). This is one of my favorite outfit tricks and here are some ways I’ve used my own bright jewelry to create a new outfit with some basic wardrobe staples:
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| I've always been a fan of deep purple with turquoise. Tank: Gap Jeans: Jessica Simpson Sandals: Nine West Necklace: Forever 21 |
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| Brightening up a plain black t-shirt with coral earrings T-shirt: Philosophy Jeans: Jessica Simpson Sandals: Pay Less Earrings: Target |
Please ignore my goofy faces in the following pictures but instead try to focus on the fact that I've paired the coral earrings from the photo above with a yellow top instead of black....
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| Yellow + Coral = a summery combination Earrings: Target Tank top: Gap (one of my favorite places for staple wardrobe items) |
If you’re looking for some bright and bold bling, check out the following necklaces and earrings that are online right now that I wouldn’t mind having myself….
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| I love jade green. It looks super chic with black, maybe for a dressier event. $36 from Bauble Bar Check it out here |
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| Kendra Scott Danielle Earrings (MANY celebrities wear these and bonus is they come in 15 colors. Definitely an instant outfit maker!) $60 Check them out here |
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| I LOVE the color combination of orange with turquoise. I can picture this with a plain white t-shirt, khaki shorts, and gold sandals. Bauble Bar $36 Check it out here |
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| These earrings remind me of a sunset with orange, red and pink. Capri Chandelier Earrings from Stella & Dot $49.00 Buy here |
As always, remember that one bold piece of jewelry is enough bling for one outfit!
I hope this post has given you some ideas for an instant new outfit by just adding some bold bling!!! Who else is a fan of bright and bold jewelry!? Leave me a comment and fill me in; I love hearing from yall!
Thanks SO much for reading dolls!
As always,
XOXO,
Ashley
Essie 2012 Summer Collection
June 16, 2012
Helloooooo dolls!
So as I hinted I of course picked the HOT pink shade “Off the Shoulder.”
One of my favorite things about summer is wearing bright and bold colors on my nails and toes that remind me of beaches, bikinis and beautiful sunshine! Essie’s new Summer 2012 Collection is just what the doctor ordered for beautiful summer nails!
I hope you can tell by my cheesy grin in the photo below that bright colored nails really ARE one of my fave things about summer....
I had a really hard time picking just one color from this adorable collection…they’re all just SO cute! Of course by the above picture you can probably guess which shade I went with. There are 6 colors ranging from a cornflower blue to a bright orange with equally cute names like “Bikini So Teeny”:
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| From left to right: "Off the Shoulder," "Fear or Desire," "Mojito Madness," "Cascade Cool," "All Tied Up," and "Bikini So Teeny" |
To spice things up, we decided to add white stripes. Now if hot pink + white stripes doesn’t scream “summer” I don’t know what does!!!
My toes also joined in on the fun….
Check out the collection here!!! So have you tried any of these shades?! Leave me a comment & let me know dolls!!
XOXO,
Ashley
Fashion Fab & Fail....Sunday!
June 10, 2012
Hello dolls!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend! Mine has been pretty busy so I’m bringing you Fashion Fab & Fail Friday live to you from….Sunday!!!
Fashion fab of the week goes to the beautiful model Miranda Kerr who rocked a trench in the airport on June 3rd. The combination of the sleek trench, pumps and sunglasses is to die for! She looks so classy & sophisticated. I have always loved a trench and this white is perfect for the spring/summer season. I also love how hers is the perfect length….the hemline is longer than whatever she is wearing underneath. Gorgeous!
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Fashion Fail of the week is Lily Collins, sorry girl. I loved her in Mirror, Mirror (I’m a Disney Princess at heart…I’m loving all these fairytale remakes coming out) but her look definitely didn’t strike me as an outfit fit for a princess. She wore the following skirt and blouse to Chanel’s “The Little Black Jacket” Event last week….
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I didn’t like the combination of the button-down blouse with the detailed skirt. The skirt would have been more appropriate paired with a tucked-in blouse with a bit more shape to it so it would have better shown off the skirt. In my opinion, the blouse doesn’t seem to go with the skirt…plus the color of this is so bland it washes her out! Someone call the Fashion Fairy Godmother STAT!
I hope everyone is having a splendid weekend full of fashion fabs!
XOXO,
Ashley
Weekend Recap + OOTD/OOTN: Kenny Chesney Concert!
June 6, 2012
Hello darlings!
I hope everyone is having a great week so far! As I mentioned in my last post, this weekend I went on another country music adventure…this time to Atlanta and saw my hands-down favorite singer of all time Kenny Chesney on his Brothers of the Sun Tour along with Tim McGraw, Jake Owen & Grace Potter. I am literally obsessed with Kenny. This was the 5th show I’ve been to and he seriously never ceases to amaze me!!!! I took one of my best friends from undergrad with me and we had a great time.
So when picking out my outfit I tried to channel Taylor Swift and thus the obvious choice was a pair of COWGIRLS (duh) and a sundress. Here was my OOTD/OOTN (the concert was from 4:30-11:30ish!!!):
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Dress: Forever 21
Boots: Durango
Belt: boutique
Bracelet: it’s actually a necklace I wrapped around my wrist a few times, from Target!
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| Cowgirl boots: the essential country music concert outfit maker. |
Here’s me and my girl Hannah before we left for the show (remember when I visited her in MemphisHERE?)….
The concert was at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta which was an EXCELLENT venue, especially for an all-day event. The temperature was perfect and our seats were great!!!
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| The stage before Kenny came on!!! |
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| These are our incredibly excited to see Kenny faces. |
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| Cowgirl boots are a must! |
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| Also a must for a Kenny concert?? Cotton Candy + Popcorn!!! |
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Tim McGraw performed before Kenny and totally rocked it!!!! He had on a very snazzy black and white ensemble. Hannah & I were hoping Kenny would come out in an all black outfit with white accessories but no such luck! They really should have consulted us about their outfits!!!!
So after Tim it was time for Kenny. The intro before Kenny was awesome because they of course really built it up and you had NO clue when he was going to finally come out. In fact when he did come out at first I couldn't find him...haha until I all of a sudden realized he was literally FIFTY feet away from us on this stage towards the back of the dome (where our seats were). OH HEY KENNY!!!!!!
Below is the video I made when Kenny first came out!!! When watching this video please try your hardest to ignore my incredibly loud screaming "I LOVE YOU KENNY" and singing....no wonder I was hoarse after!!!!
Here are a few snapshots of Kenny's performance...
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| Kenny made his way to the main stage via swing. No big deal! |
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| Grace Potter came out and sang with Kenny! |
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| Then Tim comes out to sing with Kenny!!! They are such good friends....love this hug! |
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| Kenny & Tim rockin out!!! |
If you ever get a chance to see Kenny or Tim in concert DO IT!!! You definitely won't regret it. It was an AMAZING concert!!!! Are you planning on going to any concerts this summer!? Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!
Thanks so much for reading dolls & I hope y'all are havin' a great day!!!
XOXO
Ashley
One Step Closer to Being Carrie Underwood….
June 3, 2012
Hi beautiful readers!
And the ultimate Carrie treat was actually seeing her at the Grand Ole Opry Saturday night. HELLO, GORGEOUS!!! She looked stunning. I know you’re surprised….(sarcasm). She wore a purple peplum dress….with a gorgeous rhinestone strap. Sweetie pie & I were trying to figure out if she might just possibly be wearing her initial necklace….but noooooo instead she decided to wear a big ole diamond necklace that you can really see in the second picture below (really Carrie? Diamonds over our matching necklaces?! Ok…)
Now I'm off to live some more of my country music obsessed life and go see KENNY CHESNEY in concert in Hot Lanta with one of my BFF's!! Definitely check back for a recap of that tomorrow!
Thanks for reading dolls!
If you follow me on FB/Twitter you know a few weeks ago I went to visit my bf’s family in Nashville. Nashville is one of my FAVORITE places to visit for many reasons, one of them being the fact that I absolutely LOVE/ADORE/AM OBSESSED WITH country music. So on top of going to see the GORGEOUS Carrie Underwood and Brad Paisley at the Grand Ole Opry, we also went shopping at one of the boutiques where the country stars shop called Stacey Rhodes!!!!
Stacey Rhodes is located outside of Nashville in Brentwood, TN. I was SO excited to shop in the very same store where some of my fave country stars shop.
They had lots of cute dresses, accessories and boots (which I found out that Taylor Swift buys from there…new mission: buy a cute new pair of Corral cowgirls).
I found a belt I really liked and purchased. A fashion motto of mine: you can NEVER have too many belts. They are an instant game-changer in terms of creating new outfits.
But I digress. As I was checking out I noticed a magazine open to my guuuurl CARRIE UNDERWOOD wearing some gorg gold necklaces:
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The sales associate informed me that Carrie was wearing an initial necklace she just bought in their store RECENTLY…and of course I freak out because the thought of having anything the same that my fave Carrie has makes me (maybe a little bit TOO) giddy with joy (is that weird????). She showed me the necklace Carrie was wearing made by Charlene K (visit their website HERE) for $55. To my surprise my boyfriend sweetly bought it for me….in silver instead of gold (I don’t wear much gold)…and with an “A” instead of “C” (is it even weirder I considered getting a C just like Carrie???).
I have worn this necklace SO many times already. It has so much more meaning too since my sweetie pie gave it to me. I’m lovin’ having a necklace that goes with literally EVERYTHING. Also it is going to look GREAT when layered with other silver necklaces similar to how Carrie wears hers. Thank you Carrie for being my style inspiration!!!! It turns out she has been wearing HER pendant necklace a lot lately and not just in that magazine....
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We also saw the salon where Carrie gets her hair done sometimes. SOOOOOOO I should probably go ahead and say since this post is basically dedicated to how much I love stalking where celebrities buy their clothes/get their hair done…you can add Carrie Underwood to my list of celebrities I’m obsessed with. (In case you’re keeping track, admitted so far: Angelina Jolie, Julianne Hough, Kate Middleton). Anyway the salon she gets it done at is called Parlour 3 Beauty and it’s located right next door to Stacey Rhodes….how convenient for my stalking.
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| The inside was BEAUTIFUL! |
I am sure Carrie gets her hair done at this VERY vanity, right?? I took a picture of it just in case that’s true…
And the ultimate Carrie treat was actually seeing her at the Grand Ole Opry Saturday night. HELLO, GORGEOUS!!! She looked stunning. I know you’re surprised….(sarcasm). She wore a purple peplum dress….with a gorgeous rhinestone strap. Sweetie pie & I were trying to figure out if she might just possibly be wearing her initial necklace….but noooooo instead she decided to wear a big ole diamond necklace that you can really see in the second picture below (really Carrie? Diamonds over our matching necklaces?! Ok…)
And just because this trip was an absolute blast, here is a photo collage of some of the pictures I made with the precious BF in Nashville……
So the moral of this post??? If you’re in the Nashville/Brentwood area you MUST stop in Stacey Rhodes (visit their website HERE) and ask the sales associates about what the stars buy when they shop there. Then maybe you can be as cool as Carrie or Taylor!!!!
Thanks for reading dolls!
XOXO,
Ashley
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