What to Wear on a Skype Date

I mentioned a few weeks ago that I've been seeing a gentleman I met on match.com. Since I live in New Hampshire and he lives in North Carolina, there has been quite a bit of flying and Skype-ing over the last few months. Skype is pretty awesome because I can be on a date in my pajamas or some beat-up, old sweatpants. I'm not gonna lie, there are times when I'll put on a more dressy top with my most comfortable sweat pants.

Since Skype dating is less about the outfit and more about the face, I've actually found myself spending more time on my hair and make-up. Here's the view from my webcam:

Sexy, right? Haha- just kidding! But seriously, this is the view when my laptop is on my lap. The lighting is usually better than in this photo, but you get the general idea. As you can tell from the photo, it's all about looking great from the neck up. I will sometimes add a cute pair of earrings, or a nice necklace if I want to be a little more dressy. For our first Skype date, I was super careful about lighting and camera angle. I'm much more comfortable these days, but I still try to look decent. 

For Christmas, I got the most fabulous gift- an amazing eye make-up palette by Stila called "In the Light." It was definitely one of my favorite Christmas presents this year and I've used it nearly every day since then. I was considering purchasing the Urban Decay "Naked" palette for months, but the price was a bit high and I didn't think I would wear a lot of the darker colors. It's not often that I do a dark, smokey eye, but I wear shimmer- nudes nearly every day of the week. When I saw Stila's "In the Light" palette, I knew it would be a better choice for me. 

 This palette includes 10 beautiful neutral shades, mostly in nude and brown tones. My favorites are Kitten (second from left on top row) and Sunset (second from right on top row). The palette includes matte and shimmer shadows, all of which are perfectly blend-able and look amazing layered over each other. My daily look always starts with kitten. I dab it over my entire lid, making sure I hit the inner corner of my eye and directly under my eyebrow. Next, I layer on a slightly darker shade, just over the lid. Sunset is perfect for this. Finally, I add a bit of contouring in the crease and on the outside corner of my eye. Luster (center bottom) is perfect for contouring and adding dimension to the overall look. I finish with mascara most days. If I want a dressier look, I use the eye liner as a finishing touch. In the end, I have a beautiful, nude, shimmery eye: 

If that's not a great, casual date look, I don't know what is! This palette is definitely my new favorite and I will continue to use it every day until it's all gone! What is your favorite eye make-up product? Do you use a palette or do you mix and match different shadows from different companies? Leave a comment and tell me your beauty secrets! 

And Outfit for a Night at the Museum

Juhree and I spent a night out in Boston last week. We went on a Wednesday night to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston. On Wednesday nights from 4:00 till closing time, admission is free! We loved spending the evening looking at amazing artwork. The room full of Renoir was one of our favorites, so we snapped a quick photo. It was a chilly December evening, so I layered a warm cardigan over my long sleeve cowl-neck top from Fair Indigo. My suede cap kept my head warm when we were walking from the museum to a nearby Italian Restaurant. Juhree looked sleek in all black, but her feet froze. You can't see from the photo, but she wore dainty ballet flats with her skinny jeans. Silly girl- it's boot season! 

It was a fun night out and we looked pretty fabulous in Beantown. What fun things have you done with your girlfriends lately? Where have you been for a night on the town? What did you wear? Leave a comment and tell me all about it! 

Some Other Blogging...

As you know, I've been blogging more at work, maintaining the Madeleine's Daughter blog. I have really enjoyed writing posts for work, since I usually get to write about beautiful gowns and sparkly bridal accessories. However, I recently wrote a series of posts that introduce our readers to the amazing bridal consultants. Over the next few weeks, we'll be publishing them on the MD blog. I am really excited about this series because I know first hand how incredible my co-workers are and I'm excited to put their personalities and pictures on the internet for everyone to see. I used a simple formula and had each consultant answer the same set of questions. It was really fun to see their unique answers to the questions. The first post published yesterday and introduced McKenzie, one of the most seasoned bridal consultants we have on staff.

Click here to view the first post in my "Meet the Staff" series and feel free to follow the Madeleine's Daughter blog, too!

Rate My Look- Floral Skirt

A few weeks ago, I found an amazing outfit at a store in downtown Portsmouth called Serendipity. I was with my bosses, after we'd been out for a fun dinner together. When we were walking back to the car, I spotted this skirt in the window and had to go in to try it on. I also found a fabulous top to go with it, and I wore the outfit to my friend Sadie's annual Yule Ball Christmas Party in December. Part of what convinced me to get the outfit was that I knew I would be able to wear both pieces to work in countless different outfits. Yesterday I used the skirt to put this look together. I'm really happy with it:

If you follow me on Twitter or you are my friend on Facebook, you've seen the saga of my travel debacles over the holiday weekend. I flew down to North Carolina for New Year's Eve, but my flight home the next evening was rough. After being delayed over a hour, then eventually switched to another flight that left 2 hours after that, I finally boarded and took off at nearly 11:00 PM (My original flight had been booked for 7:45). I arrived in New Hampshire at nearly 1:00 AM, and shortly thereafter discovered that my suitcase had not arrived with me. Two days later, it finally made it back to me, but the whole ordeal was stressful and irritating. In this photo, I was about half-way through my day and had already spent the morning dealing with the frustrating process of filing a "delayed baggage" claim. Since the morning was spent with that project, I didn't put any effort into my hair. Looking at this photo now, I deeply regret that choice. 

But enough about the baggage issues, let's talk about the skirt! Isn't it super fun? It's by Free People and at $128, it was quite a splurge for me. I am completely in love with it and walking around in it all day definitely lifted my spirits whenever I thought about my flight and luggage issues. It's flouncy, flirty, flower-y and fun and I can't wait to wear it again and again! 

How did you spend New Year's Eve? Were you at a fancy party? Or did you have a quiet night at home? Leave a comment and tell me all about your holiday and what you wore!