Crisp White Summer

The sun finally decided to come out in LA and temps reached 95+ degrees! After the sad, sad slew of dreary days, I was happy to wake up to some sunshine this week. The fun part about summer is that even running errands means you can dress up a little more these days. My favorite look of choice: a crisp, white linen dress!

Dress: Forever21 Heritage 1981

Necklace: J.Crew

Shoes: Miss Trish for Target Seahorse Flat

I found this Forever21 dress while roaming around the Fox Hills Culver City mall last weekend and didn't even think to try it on since I couldn't see how I could go wrong with such a cute dress! Lucky for me, it fits perfectly. I can't find the dress online for some reason, but I wanted to point out that I've had some pretty good luck with the H81 line. The pieces are a little more casual and after finding a few great pieces, I always make sure to look through this section now.

Aside from this dress being super comfortable and lightweight, I love the eyelet accents across the bosom and along the hemline. I was concerned at how sheer the dress would be, but even with my blue GapBody bra (a favorite, favorite!), there was barely a hint of it underneath. No embarrassing slip-ups to be feared. White dresses are an easy choice for looking fresh and clean and this was such a great find for less than $25. The only thing I'm debating changing is cutting off the fabric ties on the dress so that I can add a belt instead. 

White dresses also mean you have a ton of freedom when deciding what to accessorize with, but I chose to keep it simple for the day. Adding a J.Crew necklace I found at the Cabazon outlets (for less than $30!) was an easy choice with the gold and pearls. The Miss Trish sandals are becoming a quick summer favorite since they can be paired with almost anything and come in size 5.5. They weren't super comfortable the first few times I wore them, but now that they're completely broken in, I can wear them all day long. Although I took the easy route and accessorized with some more white, I could just as easily see this dress worn with some bright flats and a bun with a flower.

Verna Necklace

I've been itching for some new jewelry recently.  Apart from a pretty  Open Wave pendant necklace that I wear everyday (thank you Sherry!), I am unadorned and don't wear much jewelry.  Lately though, maybe because spring is coming, and I want color and vibrancy into my outfits, I've been focusing on acquiring accessories to jazz up outfits.

So I jumped onto Etsy, a website where independent sellers can showcase their handmade items. I first learned about the site through other beauty fanatics who loved the handmade soaps and lotions that people sold.  But I adored the jewelry section more - so many unique pieces featuring the stones/materials that you like, and getting to support smaller designers.  It could just be the Berkeley influence, but I feel better paying an indie jewelry maker than forking money over to Urban Outfitters for an inflated wing necklace that dozens of other girls may have (which I've done before).

Anyway, I ended up choosing this gorgeous gold-filled wire and cobalt pearl necklace from thepebblecollection that resembles leaves from a branch. Love the bold color (cobalt/royal blue is one of my favorite colors to accent with), the classic appeal of pearls, and the warm gold will look better against my skin than silver does. Can't wait until it arrives!

My other choices were this round tree pendant (the seller has a lot of nature tree/leaf themed goodies) and these dainty silver wire leaf earrings. I really like the organic shapes of these pieces. Maybe next time??