Tag Archives: dress obsessed

Aug25

Fruit Salad OOTD

Posted on by
Standard
Fruit Salad OOTD

Hello everyone and welcome to a brand new OOTD here on lifewithlilred! Johnny and I had the absolute pleasure of attending the wedding of our two dear friends recently and it was the most wonderful time. The groom actually officiated our wedding and the happy couple holds such a special place in our hearts! The wedding was held on an extremely hot summer day at a lovely reception hall at Hale Farm. I was unsure as to if there were outdoor portions of the evening so I wanted to wear a dress that would keep me nice and cool. I am so happy I did because the party gravitated into the great outdoors after a beautiful wedding! Check it out:

Who? What? Wear?

Dress: Cynthia Rowley, TJMaxx

Platforms: Marc Fisher, TJMaxx

I have no idea where the flower stained glass earrings are from!

As the wedding was going to be on a ninety plus degree day, I decided that I would like to try to find a new sundress at TJMaxx. I had other options at home but they were all maxi style, a thicker material, or too casual for the event. I would have made it work but when have I ever turned down a shopping trip? I definitely lucked out because the Cynthia Rowley dress was the last thing I tried on and it was only ten dollars. SCORE!! My only regret is that I didn’t find it earlier into summer because it is just perfect for the season.

This dress is adorned in a fruit salad pattern featuring juicy kiwis, oranges, and pomegranates over an eggshell white background and it looks good enough to eat! The only not so good thing was the tiny buttons going down the center which were a pain in the booty to do with my nails lol. Hey, it was a small price to pay for an otherwise ten out of ten dress! This little number had a belt that cinched into a gorgeous hourglass silhouette and it made me feel like a 1960s housewife. I was so not mad about it!

I know several of the employees at TJMaxx and greet them like old friends. My favorite, however, is the fitting room attendant who is working almost every time I go shopping. I have known her for years and whenever I show her the winners, she will ask what shoes I am going to wear with it. When we talked styling this dress, I told her I was going to wear a pair of baby pink platforms and I earned a high five! The rest of this look was as easy as slipping on my pair of Marc Fisher platforms which matched my 1960s vibe to the T. For earrings, I pulled from the green and yellow hues of the kiwis in the dress and put on a pair of dangly flower shaped earrings that look like stained glass. With that, I was ready for a fabulous time at the wedding!

This Fruit Salad OOTD was oh so yummy and Johnny and I had the most magical time celebrating our friends! ❤

Do you have a favorite employee at the stores you shop at? Do you plan on shopping summer clearance? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug18

New Cynthia Rowley Dress

Posted on by
Standard
New Cynthia Rowley Dress

Hello! Johnny and I are attending an outdoor summer wedding of our dear friends and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate such a wonderful couple! The wedding will take place on an almost ninety degree day and as you all know, Lil Red does not do well in extreme heat. For this reason, every dress I had in mind to wear went straight out the window because they were thicker in material or a maxi style. While I would have made do, I thought I would try my luck at TJMaxx to see if I could find something that would keep me more comfortable. During my last trip to TJs, everything summer was getting marked down and I was hoping to find a dress on the cheap. The fashion gods truly smiled upon me because the dress I ended up with was the very last one I tried on! Check it out:

As you might remember, I have a method when it comes to shopping at TJMaxx and this trip was a shining example of why it works so well. Step 1) Make my rounds. Step 2) Try clothes on. Step 3) Revisit the departments for anything I might have missed. As I browsed the store for Step 1, I honestly had thought that I had seen it all. The racks of dresses went from jam packed a few weeks ago to barely anything there. And, unfortunately, every dress I did happen to like did nothing for me during my first fitting room session. I was frustrated and I almost bypassed Step 3 of revisiting the dress racks because surely I couldn’t have missed anything when there were such limited options to pick from. WRONG!!

I was SO dead wrong and this is exactly why you never bypass Step 3! Sure enough, as soon as I returned to the dresses, it was like the pretty little Cynthia Rowley number magically appeared. I took a few other dresses to the fitting room and I shouldn’t have even bothered. This dress was last but certainly not least and it was perfect. The price was perfect too – it was only ten dollars!! My new dress is a linen material and it is nice and light and the pattern just screams summer. It is laden with kiwis, pomegranates, and oranges and is basically a fruit salad in a dress. Have I used the word perfect already? Yes, but I don’t care because it also perfectly compliments by orange and pink nails! It was like my trip to Elysian Nails was leading up to this fateful fitting room moment.

Now, this dress might not be dressy enough for a typical wedding. However, an outdoor summer wedding gives you plenty of wiggle room for what’s appropriate to wear. Let’s be honest, is anyone expecting other people to wear full fledged penguin suits and ball gowns? Hard no. It’s all about light fabrics and sundresses and every dress I tried on prior to the Cynthia Rowley one seemed laughable once it was on. They were all long and heavy and I just know I would have been miserable in them even if they looked good. I was genuinely worried about being in the heat for that long and this dress will allow me to celebrate and dance the night away without getting heat stroke. GREAT SUCCESS!

If at first you don’t succeed at TJMaxx, try and try again or however that old saying goes. My only regret is that I didn’t find this dress sooner because I would have been wearing it all summer long!

Have the stores near you put out fall clothing yet? Do you plan on shopping summer clearance? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Jul23

TJMaxx Haul: Zara Dress Edition

Posted on by
Standard
TJMaxx Haul: Zara Dress Edition

Hello everyone!! Welcome back to more from my TJMaxx Haul after a brief pause for a Lil Red’s Book Club discussion. Today, we are going to be chatting about a dress from Zara which I am so happy with but just a *smidge* disappointed by. I saw the same dress in a 1970s style pattern during my birthday gift card haul and it was fabulous but too small. I scoured the dress selection this time around hoping to find it in a bigger size and found it in this pattern, instead:

image_67511297(1)image_67505153image_67559937

I don’t shop Zara often because the closest one is at a mall about forty-five minutes away from me. So, I am always excited when I see the brand at TJMaxx! My new dress is a great consolation prize for the one that could have been and, on the bright side, it fits lol. I could have gotten away with the original in a small but it was short enough that I would have had to been adjusting myself the entire time and that’s never a good look!

Although this pattern kind of looks like Saint Patrick’s Day, I am stoked about it because I love to wear green. I used to wear it often when my hair was all red and have fell off of it a bit when I began experimenting with different Pulp Riot colors. However, come September, I am going back to full fireball hair with red, yellow, and orange and this dress will compliment that change perfectly. 😀

This little Zara number is an ideal spring or early fall dress with its long sleeves and lower thigh length. The material is also light enough that you could probably get away with it during a chilly summer night. Since the pattern is so bold, I plan on letting it speak for itself with a pair of simple black heels and some minimal silver jewelry. A pattern is an accessory in itself so this dress doesn’t need much to make a gorgeous OOTD with!

Tune back into lifewithlilred tomorrow for the final (and my favorite) piece from my TJMaxx haul and, afterwards, we will move onto my skin care purchases. See you then! ❤

Do you like to buy the same piece of clothing in multiple patterns or colors? What color compliments you the best? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug8

Dress Obsessed: BCBG Pt. 2 Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Dress Obsessed: BCBG Pt. 2 Edition

Hi everyone and happy Hump Day! Welcome to the second part of Dress Obsessed with another lovely number by BCBG. This piece is quite a bit different in color palette than the one from yesterday, but the shape and style remain really similar. In true Sarah fashion, since I liked the overall look of the dress, I had to get it in multiple colors! Take a look and let’s discuss:

bcbg5bcbg6bcbg8

(TJMaxx Price: $40)

What I love about this dress is the incorporation of the color white, because I’ve really been trying to work that color into my wardrobe. There is something so pleasing to me about a crisp, white piece of clothing and, I hate to brag, but it looks great on me, to boot! The white turtleneck looks so sweet underneath the pebble grey jumper and is a stark contrast to my dress from yesterday, although the shape is still the same.

I love how cozy this dress feels, because the turtleneck is nice and thin, but the grey portion is made from a more sweater-like material. This will be perfect with a thick pair of tights and a scarf around the neck to accessorize during a warmer fall day. My new BCBG dress reminds me of an old school cheerleading uniform and I really freaking dig it. The more forgiving material adds some flounce to it, which will be perfect for an on the go day of work or play.

How would you style this dress? How would you style a perfect fall outfit? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Aug7

Dress Obsessed: BCBG Edition

Posted on by
Standard
Dress Obsessed: BCBG Edition

Hellooo everyone and a happy Tuesday to all of you! I would never call myself a “label whore” by any means. I’m happy as a clam in any brand, as long as the price is right and it looks cute. But, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t more high end brands that I admire from afar. One of them being, BCBG. What I love the most about that brand is that they do sexy clothing in a way that’s still really tasteful and chic. The silhouettes in BCBG’s clothing are always form fitting but it’s done in the way that it should be: it shows your body’s shape without the garment clinging to you for dear life!

I was lucky enough to snag two BCBG dresses from TJMaxx for forty dollars apiece, which is still cheaper than the original price of eighty-eight dollars per dress. Take a look at the little number we’ll be discussing today and swing by tomorrow to look at my other new favorite dress:

bcbgbcbg1bcbg3bcbg4

Before we even talk about how gorgeous this dress is, I really need to commend BCBG’s sizing. It can definitely be intimidating when you order things online, because you always have to factor in the “what if it doesn’t fit” element. That’s why, I’m pleased to say that this dress fit me like a glove.

I looked up BCBG’s sizing chart before ordering and went with a size small, which is for sizes four to six. I am a true blue size four and that really is what I got with my new purchase. It fit me beautifully without being overly tight or clingy. It showed my shape without showing it in its entirety through a modest knee length and long sleeves. Like I said earlier, it’s sexy done right.

Now, we can talk about the simply charming nod to 70’s flower power in the long sleeves and the netted black carving a gorgeous shape throughout the fabric. From the color combinations and pattern to the varying degrees of texture, this dress is interesting to look at both on and off the hanger! I feel like I’ve never seen anything that looks like it before, and I’ll definitely be scouring the TJ’s website monthly for more BCBG gems like the dresses from today and tomorrow’s post.

My new BCBG dress really doesn’t need accessorizing, because it’s a fairly busy piece. But, I do plan on pairing it with my pearls and wooden Steve Madden heels for a sexy but still sweet OOTD.

What are some brand names that you admire from afar? How would you style this dress? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah