you're number eight, your name is jane, with black hair, braids, and black lines around your eyes

I love a good cat eye - it's one of my favorite makeup looks. I wear a subtle dark brown cat eye during the day-to-day and a more dramatic black at night. The look has been the signature style of French New Wave actresses and bombshell vixens alike. 

Anna Karina in the popular makeup style of the early 60s 

Catherine Deneuve sports artfully lined lids

Brigitte Bardot in Contempt is one of my all-time favorite looks

'Bird of Britain' Alexandra Bastedo perfects the Marilyn Monroe head tilt to best show off her winged liner

Judging from her smile, Audrey Hepburn digs the cat eye look as much as I do

Elizabeth Taylor rocks the cat eye from the silver screen and beyond

Eva Mendes truly looks the modern day Sophia Loren with her bombshell makeup

Nicole Richie at the Academy Awards in dramatic silver cat eyes

Angelina Jolie at the Oscars years earlier, opts for a smoky brown cat eye

Brittany Murphy in Love and Other Disasters

Only Kate Moss could pull off such a dramatic look as big cat eyes and massive curls

Vixen starlet Sophia Loren always sported the cat eye

Natalie Wood looks perfect with her cat eyes

Marilyn Monroe's eyes were so painted with liner that they drooped to glammy perfection

the Cherry Blossom Girl winks a winged eye 

The lovely Lauren Conrad rocks her signature cat eye-beachy waves beauty duo

The runways of Giambattista Valli in Fall 2010, Louis Vuitton, and Valentino in Spring 2010

Title: from "You and Me and Rainbows" (Tear Garden)

don't break my heart, and i won't break your heart-shaped glasses

I love heart-shaped glasses - they are equal parts little girl cute and grown-up gal fun. As a 1936 magazine said, these "odd-shaped eyeglasses express personality" - and indeed they do. Heart-shaped frames are not for the faint of heart, or the shy of attention. They are attention-grabbers, head-turners, traffic-stoppers and need to be rocked by people who can handle the accompanying sassiness. Made famous by a little film called Lolita, heart-shaped glasses have stayed a great fashion accessory for the last forty years. 

The fad of heart shaped glasses goes back to 1936 

The film that started it all - Stanley Kubrick's Lolita is synonymous with little Lolita's heart-shaped frames

Celebs like Drew Barrymore, Lady Gaga, Kelly Osbourne, Avril Lavigne, Lily Cole, and Nicole Richie all rock the look

Evan Rachel Wood - and her penchant for wearing Lolita-esque frames - served as the inspiration for the Marilyn Manson song "Heart Shaped Glasses"

Katy Perry rocks out on stage in her bright red shades

I love Marianne Faithfull's wire rimmed sunnies - definitely more hippie than Lolita

Mischa Barton strikes a pose in her heart glasses

Sunnies from Moschino's runway a few years back

From the pages of Barry Miles' Hippie is this stunning girl

Zooey Deschanel looks coy and cute in her rose-tinted glasses

Lolita herself, Sue Lyon, in the sunglasses she made legendary

Vanessa Hudgens does a bohemian take on the fashion staple

Title: from "Heart Shaped Glasses (When the Heart Guides the Hand)" (Marilyn Manson)

summer romance

This is my first attempt at personal style photos, and I am going to offer up a disclaimer: I am not trés chic. I enjoy fashion, but I do not fancy myself to be a bohemian Glamourai, nor a gal who can dive into a Sea of Shoes (though, in all honesty, I could dive into my shoe collection... it's just not as enviable as that of my fellow Texan). I love photography, but I'm never done selfies so please don't judge the (low) quality of my pictures. Hopefully I'll improve in time. 

I found this fantastic white macramé fringe piece, dubbed the 'Gypsy Rose' vest, by Winter Kate during a recent visit to Neiman Marcus (the vest can be purchased here). Nicole Richie (the designer of the line) has an excellent 70s style and her penchant for vintage-inspired looks is perfectly channeled into her clothing line. 

I paired the vest (which I took the liberty of spinning around like a six-year-old in) with a red paisley tunic from Winter Kate's debut collection. It's not visible in the photos, but the tunic has a super deep v-neck so a camisole and clever styling is necessary in order to maintain my modesty. I love the tunic's light billowy feel made from vintage silk, the long drape-y sleeves, and the rough unfinished edges at the cuffs and hem. 

With the two Winter Kate pieces, I completed the look with a pair of my beloved Hue jeggings, some trusty chandelier earrings in colors of pink and red, and a pair of Deco-inspired shoes by Minna Parikka. I love the combination of red, purple, dusty rose, muted gold, and chocolate brown - it is so romantic and summery to me. The overall look was inspired by the 70s-meets-30s soft photography of David Hamilton, whose models are always the embodiment of vintage and modern. With the 70s-inspired bohemian Winter Kate pieces, with the Deco-style shoes and modern-day jeggings, the look was aimed to reference both past and present. I wanted the colors to reflect the romance of seventies summers. 

I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with my hair. A couple of months ago I took the plunge and darkened my blonde locks so that I could try the ombré look. After almost six months, I think I am ready to try something new - I'm not sure if I want to go back to full-on blonde (so boring to me after twenty towheaded years) or try a redder strawberry blonde, or something completely wild altogether - like peroxide Debbie Harry blonde or something. 

My hair is naturally wavy, and I lucked out that the waves were somewhat presentable that day. I've become less and less of a fan of brushing my hair over the years, which usually isn't the best on days my hair looks full-on Carrie Bradshaw during the early years (... and I've learned from personal experience what works on SJP doesn't necessarily work on little old me). One of my favorite looks for my hair is to twist the front pieces back and clip on the sides of my head - it's incredibly easy to do and it looks so cute, and it has helped me out on many occasions when I simply don't know what to do with my still-growing-out fringe. Plus, I think it looks better as the day goes on and pieces begin the fall out of the clips - it looks so effortless and hippie fab. 

So, what do you think? Should I continue with personal style posts, or should I abandon this fashion foray? Is there any missing - or have I rambled on too much? I would love any and all feedback, except comments that one eye is smaller than the other. I am already paranoid about that. 

like a true nature’s child, we were born, born to be wild

Nicole Richie is a modern day fashion icon of mine for her effortless(-looking) earth mama-meets-glittering socialite style. She's one of those gals who I would term a 'rich hippie'. She runs around Hollywood in her long worn-out maxidresses, oversized tunics, ripped jeans, spike-high Louboutins, scuffed-up Balenciaga bag, and stacks of bracelets and beads. It is no coincidence that her style heavily draws influence from the 60s and 70s bohemian threads that I am obsessed with - whether wearing retro originals or hippie-inspired fashions from her own lines, Winter Kate and House of Harlow 1960, Nicole always looks like she has just stepped out of the pages of Us Weekly from another decade. Honestly, I want every single thing from her clothing and accessories collections - a wonderful assortment of paisleys and prints in deep earthy colors make up much of the Winter Kate line, and fantastic statement-making jewelry (like giant cocktail rings, stackable gold bangles, ethnic-inspired shapes) and oversized sunglasses - similar to those that first launched Nicole to style stardom years ago when she worked with Rachel Zoe - can be found a-plenty in the House of Harlow.

Title: from "Born to be Wild" (Steppenwolf)

welcome to my life, tattoo, we've a long time together, me and you, i expect i'll regret you, but the skin graft man won't get you

I got a tattoo last night. Well, to be honest, I got a temporary tattoo last night (I know, I'm such a badass). It's from this really fab kit of temporary tattoos by Betsey Johnson. Done in the same vein as the Chanel Les Trompe L'Oeil 'skin art', the BJ tats can be combined to look like jewelry on the skin.
I decided on a green and pink serpent on my forearm. And apart from the occasional Death Eater allusion, no one was too surprised by my recent addition. I choose to believe it's because people assume I'm daring enough to get a tattoo, not that it was so clearly evident a temp.
My foray into the temporary got me thinking about real body art. I used to have an obsession with tattoos and would plan which one I would get the moment I turned eighteen. I never wanted a monstrously big one - always just a tiny thing that I could appreciate but not advertise to the world. In seventh grade, I wanted a star of my wrist (très Gisele). At fifteen, I wanted a small word or French phrase. By seventeen, I was settled on the idea of getting a small swallow on either my wrist or side of my forearm.
When I actually turned eighteen, I reneighed on my promise. Suddenly, getting a tattoo was something I desperately wanted to avoid. When friends would ask what I thought of tattoos, I would always dismiss them - saying that I would never be able to become First Lady if I had a tat.
But the truth of the matter is a little different. While even the baddest bad gals of retro Hollywood never got tattoos (you'd never see Lana Turner with a tramp stamp), the stigma behind tattoos has definitely changed in the last few decades. Now it's hip - even commonplace - for people to have tattoos. What made me reconsider getting inked was the very nature of tattoos themselves - they are forever. I hated the permanency of it; I'm probably the worst type of person to even consider getting a tattoo - I hate change of any sort, but I'm also extremely noncommittal. Getting inked, even with something smaller than a dime, seemed too revolutionary for me.
I recently read an interview with Olivia Kim, one of the head gals of Opening Ceremony, on Into the Gloss. In addition to her enviable job and lustworthy wardrobe, she had a slew of really cool tattoos. Little birds, hearts, bows, boats, sea ships, and cupcakes adorn her hands. I really loved her quote about tattoos: "I love the idea that it really marks where you are in your life at that time. I think people are scared of that permanence but I feel like, it's ok, you can always move on, you can cover it, you can take it off if you don't like it. I remember everything about each one." I credit Kim with my recent (i.e. last night when I couldn't fall asleep and this afternoon when my friend and I were bored and start googling 'tiny tattoos') change in feelings towards tattoos. The permanency may very well be an attractive aspect, and I just misunderstood. Tattoos are like souvenirs of yourself from a particular moment in time.
Maybe I will reconsider my personal stance on the tattoo. Though, with my parents possibly reading this, maybe I won't.

Gisele Bundchen

Angelina Jolie and her many tattoos

Amy Winehouse

Evan Rachel Wood

Kate Moss has several tattoos: an anchor on her right arm, a 'P' on her hip, a star on her ankle, and a small heart on her hand

Lindsay Lohan has many tattoos: a star on her wrist, "Shhh..." on her index finger, 'La bella vita' on her lower back, "Breathe" done in white ink

Marianne Faithfull has a swallow tattooed on her hand

Megan Fox

I love the wings that Nicole Richie has on her back

Sienna Miller has stars on her shoulder and a swallow on her inner wrist

Leighton Meester

Title: from "Tattoo" (The Who)