Giveaway: New Glasses from Firmoo

I've been wearing glasses for almost my whole life, and for years I hated them. Seriously hated them. Like, so much so that I literally never took my contacts out so I would never have to put them on. Don't tell my eye doctor.

Part of the problem was that I was picking the wrong styles for my face, and the other part was that glasses were so expensive that my mom made me wear the same pair for years. I think I had the same pair of glasses from the beginning of high school until I had my first job and could afford to buy a new pair for myself.

Enter Firmoo. They offer high quality glasses at low low prices. Firmoo sent me my current favorite pair way back in 2012, and they are still going strong, despite the fact that I often fall asleep with them on and forget to put them in their case. I love them so much that I wear them voluntarily! You can read my original review of my glasses and the Firmoo shopping experience here.

Today I'm giving away a pair of glasses from Firmoo for one lucky reader. Enter using the widget below. The giveaway will run through August 14th and the winner will be contacted via email. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The winner will receive one pair of Firmoo glasses with free shipping to the US from this page: http://www.firmoo.com/collection-for-bloggers.html. Glasses include the frames, standard 1.50 index single vision lenses. Upgraded lenses and add-ons will be charged for an extra fee.

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Chambray, White, & Making a Statement

Shirt (similar) - LOFT / Skirt (similar) - Ann Taylor / Heels (similar) - Sole Society / Necklace - c/o Happiness Boutique / Bracelet - Michael Kors

 This skirt is one of the pieces I picked up for my honeymoon, and I have been wearing it non-stop lately. I love how feminine and fun it feels, and how it can dress up my casual chambray shirt. The skirt must have just sold out, but I linked up a really similar Ann Taylor skirt if you're going for a similar look.

I haven't worn a lot of full skirts over the past couple of years, but they used to be my go-to back in my early days of office work. My summer job in high school and for most of college was working in my hometown mayor's office, which sometimes involved placating the public and dealing with crazies (but luckily never having to push the panic button!), but mostly humoring the mayor, who liked to demonstrate his fish petting skills and give me advice on how I should pursue a basketball career (if he ever saw me hold a basketball, he would have known that was not going to pan out ;)

Something else that helps to dress up my chambray is this fun statement necklace from Happiness Boutique. I always love a good statement necklace - they really finish an outfit - and Happiness boutique has great options, plus free shipping & a customer reward program. What's not to love? Some of my other favorite picks are this sparkly pastel piece and this vintage-inspired necklace - reminds me of the jewelry I wore for my wedding! I may own about 4,000 statement necklaces, but there's always space for another ;)

Are you a statement necklace girl? If not, what's your go-to jewelry?

Shop the post:

Previously on KDTI - More chambray!

 

Linking up with How I Summer, Friday Fab Favorites, Summer Style.

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Go-To Wedding Guest Outfit

Dress (similar) - Jessica Howard / Heels - Charles David / Bag (similar) - Ann Taylor / Earrings (similar) - JCrew Factory / Bracelet (similar) - BaubleBar

I've mentioned this just you know, 18 thousand times, but we got invited to ten weddings this summer, including three in a row over the past three weekends. With that kind of density, it's really nice to have a few old standby's in the closet to make pulling an appropriate wedding guest together easy. I've had this dress for three summers now and it has seen it's fair share of ceremonies and dance floors. I love that it has a fun pattern and the full skirt is great on the dance floor, yet the higher neckline and longer hemline make it feel appropriate for any ceremony. Bring it on, wedding season!

Shop some of my favorite wedding guest dresses below:

Previously on Kristina does the Internets: More things I've worn to weddings!

 

Linking up with Trend Spin Linkup, Just Jacq, Style Sessions, Style Bloom.

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This Weekend...

This weekend I...

...Finally made it to Expat, a pop-up sidewalk cafe in the West Loop, for lots of wine and lots of snacks. Whenever someone asks for recommendations I always point them to the West Loop - it has all the best spots, especially in the summer for outside seating!
...After Expat wandered down to City Winery for dinner. I don't know if this is all the wine from earlier talking, but everything was on point - especially the burrata & meatballs! Oh, and there was a black tie wedding taking over the patio, which was fun to watch ;)
...Started watching Odd Mom Out, and ohmygee I love it. It's like Mean Girls for the uber-rich helicopter moms of New York. You should probably give it a try ;)
...Went to a wedding for one of my friends from elementary school (!) out in the suburbs. It was so fun to see him and his beautiful bride tie the knot, and to get to see all of my hometown friends again. Oh, and of course, Jeff and I hit the dance floor. Hard.
...Got a chance to read through all of your survey responses, thank you so much to everyone who participated! The main piece of feedback I got - you guys want to see more style posts! I dropped down to one post a week because I was having a hard time finding time to take pictures, but thanks to it being summer there's a lot more daylight during the week. My goal is to make one of those extra added posts per week a style post - I know I can't do it every week, but I'm definitely going to try! Oh and congrats to my giveaway winner, Jacquelyn! If you didn't win, check back later this week - I have another fun giveaway coming your way.
...Somehow managed to get sick again (seriously, a cold? when it's 90+ degrees out?) and spent all of Sunday on the couch, embarrassingly watching a lot of the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders show. Shhhhh, don't tell.

I hope you had a good one!

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Strobing Beauty Trend

Have you heard of the latest beauty craze, strobing? It's been popping up all over the place lately, so I finally looked to see what it actually was, and it turns out I've been doing it for years! Strobing is basically contouring, except you only use illuminators - no scary dark colors necessary, which makes it way easier! The technique is simple - you use an illuminating cream or powder (I love Stila's All Over Shimmer Liquid Luminizer - it blends really easily!) and put it where the sun would naturally hit your face - the center of your forehead, down the center of your nose, across the tops of your cheekbones, the center of your chin, and your cupid's bow (bonus - I also put it in the inside corners of my eyes and under my brows, and sometimes in place of eyeshadow when I'm in a hurry).

In the weeks leading up to my wedding people kept telling me I was glowing - well part of that was natural, and part of it was the strobing! It not only adds a subtle shimmer to your face, but also gives some of the sculpting benefits of contouring without all of the work. You can see it on my cheekbones in my extreme close-up below - it's subtle but really pretty:

I like to start with a base of tinted moisturizer (hellooooo Bare Minerals Tinted Gel!), and then I put the illuminator directly on top and blend with my fingers. I then top with setting powder to take down some of the shimmer and so that it lasts all day.

 

And voila! All done! It just takes a minute or so more to apply, and to me it is so worth it.

Have you tried strobing?

Linking up with Friday Fab Favorites.

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July Budget

Every month I post about my clothing budget. My budget per month is $300, which to some may seem like a lot and to others a little, but feels just right for me. You can read my thoughts on my 2014 budget here. 

I get a lot of questions about my budgeted dollar amount per month - i.e., "doesn't it seem like a lot?"

It's always weird to talk about money, but I thought I'd share how I make it work. I don't talk about it here a lot, but I work basically all the time. When I'm not at my 9-5, let's just say that every day I'm hustlin (wow that was embarrassing to type and I'm not even drinking wine!). I make a tiny, tiny bit of money from this blog space, but I have another side hustle too - I do freelance graphic design and build websites in my free time, which is where my entire clothing budget comes from each month. #bosslady

That being said, another month done! I feel like I finally met my goal of buying fewer, higher quality items. Of course, I mentioned I actually picked this dress up in June but didn't count it last month because I thought it was going back, so really I only bought two things (erm, and like, 10 more that I returned). But still, progress! We're still in summer, but I had to pick up these rain boots for Fall when I saw them in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. I love the look of my Hunters and Sorel snowboots, but I never actually want to wear them because they're so big and bulky. Even though it snowed so much last winter I still only pulled out the snow boots a couple of times. So here's hoping I actually wear these!

Sperry Rain Boots - originally $119.95, on sale $79.90
LOFT Scarf - originally $34.50, on sale $15
Ann Taylor Dress - originally $139, on sale $83.40

Total Spent: $178.30
Total Saved: $115.15

I really held it in this month after going a little crazy in June, and as more Fall clothes start arriving in stores I'm sure I'll have a hard time holding back next month. But for now, I'm feeling pretty good ;)

Did you budget in July? How did you do?

P.S. Today is the LAST DAY to complete my blog survey and enter to win a LOFT giftcard - enter here!

Linking up with Franish.

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Throwback… Tuesday?

Blouse (similar and no sleeves) and Necklace - JCrew Factory / Skirt (similar) - LOFT / Flats - Tory Burch / Bracelet - Michael Kors

I put this outfit on last week and thought, "Hmmm. This looks familiar."

Oh right. Because last time I wore this skirt on the blog, it was basically in the exact same way. After I wore the skirt once or twice way back in 2012, I decided to throw it in the wash (whyyyyyy? it's a skirt that barely touches my body!) and when I pulled it out the hem had come completely undone. Noooooooooo!! I'm fairly competent at sewing, but hemming something with pleats sounded scary, so I put it in a pile to take to get repaired.

Ummmm, and three years later, it's finally back! #procrastinator

Even though it's summer, I've been rocking a lot of long sleeves lately for work. First because my office is always cold, but second because when I take the train to work it's somehow even colder. I once got a cold in the middle of summer after getting totally soaked walking to the station and then having to sit in that ice box for an hour. Brrrrr. So, in conclusion, lots of long sleeves with skirts, because somehow that feels a lot more summer-y than short sleeves with pants. And long sleeves with shorts for the weekend because my neighborhood in Chicago never quite gets the summer memo (#coolerbythelake), and long sleeves and shorts make me feel cool.

If you haven't taken my reader survey and entered to win a $50 gift card to LOFT yet, you have until Friday - you can enter here.

Previously on KDTI: This skirt, a similar blouse, and lots of blurry mirror photos

 

Linking up with Mix It Monday, How I Summer, Summer Style, Just Jacq, Mix It Monday, Style Sessions.

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