Fashion Thoughts

Goodwill necklace, like$3.99?
Thrift store shoes I've had forever (which means I got them back in the day when I had even less $$)
Michael Kors flats I got half off (for about $12) at Buffalo Exchange
My boots mentioned below, Goodwill, $10 maybe?
Goodwill necklace (probably $3.99 or so)

Occasionally I get into these moods where I really want to get dressed up, wear heels, and do my make up all fancy. Unfortunately for me, these don't always hit at the right time (for example, Sunday afternoon), but I generally start playing with make up anyway. Today I attempted to master the smokey eye which I have never been able to get right, and succeeded! Now that I finally have makeup brushes (!), smudging is now doable so I'm pretty pleased. After playing with makeup I decided to do my nails. A while ago I came across a neat little website [http://style.la-mimi.com/beauty/spring-nail-polish-trends-2009/] and decided to check it out again. I went with navy blue nails since mine are a little short right now. They look pretty sweet.

From that site I found [http://thestylishwanderer.blogspot.com/] and [http://www.fashiontoast.com/], both of which I really enjoyed. These got me thinking, yes, here is my point, 1. why am I not frighteningly rich to buy all these awesome clothes and 2. you can totally get what you need to replicate these sweet clothes for quite a lot cheaper.
I really love clothes which is both awesome and dangerous. I happen to be very small so I won't grow out of any of my awesome finds and I have a nice assortment of clothes to wear depending on my mood. However, this also means that things aren't too small and I'm not forced to get rid of anything. Woops! Another dangerous element is that I am unemployed and even when I was, it was generally part time when I was in school. Therefore I had to get really great at sticking to a budget and figure out how to buy what i wanted without the painful price tag. Luckily for me, I learned the value of a great bargain at a young age (thanks Mom and Nana!) so I am all about thrift stores (the kind I'm talking about is not the super-chic-and-waaay-too-expensive-kind that sells all designer stuff at a slightly lower price, no thanks!) and Goodwills. The trick to making thrift stores and Goodwills work is to check the stores frequently and make sure you really want each item. These stores are dangerous because everything is so cheap you can be tempted to buy it because it's only $4.99! True, it certainly might be cheap, but how often will you wear it? I think I'm pretty good about not spending too much on unnecessary clothes (shoes are another story) and my best trick is to think of something else I could get for $5 and make sure that thing wouldn't be better. For example, I could buy the strangely-cool $5 t-shirt or get a cheeseburger, fries, and a PBR on tap at the 'Vern. Tough decision, really.

Probably my favorite thing about thrift stores (besides the obvious cheap factor) is that they often do not have duplicates so no one else will have what you're wearing (of course on the downside, you might not find what you want in your size). I try to pay attention to trends but I don't really follow them exactly--I prefer to pick and choose. For example I love boots, layering, knits, and dark nails, but I'm really not into boyfriend jeans and ripped tights. As you might guess, I like to be original and try to avoid looking like everyone else. I wear what I like. For example, last night I went to a house party and wore: black leggings, black knee-high motorcycle-y/riding boots, a longish charcoal top, a long pearl-and-purple-bead necklace. Here is the point. I got the boots AND the necklace, the two things I got complemented on, at the Goodwill. Score for me! Anyway, that's my point--you can totally do the thrift store thing and get unusual, awesome scores for very little money.