the spring cape

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A cape is a nice option for this schizophrenic spring weather. A loose, effortless layer. I’ve always liked a cape.

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How I enjoy navy with mustard.

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Brows can be much darker than this, of course, but this is dark for me, and about as dark as I can go without things getting suspicious. Without, as it were, giving the game away. This is a bit of pencil brushed through with some of Benefit’s gimme brow tinted gel over that. Quite like this gel, which I use in the lighter shade and find entirely natural on its own. My brows are not conspicuous and this is a quick way to bring them forward.

Brows and lips have, for me anyway, for my eye, the largest capacity for impact, and doing something to groom and present one or the other of those elements is all that is needed to convey the impression that you’ve done a lot more. I’m not really demonstrating this theory here, as I’ve done other stuff, but I’m convinced.

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Express leggings, American Apparel cape (thrifted), Jeffrey Campbell France boots (similar), Mulberry bag (thrifted), J Crew turtleneck, mustard leather gloves (thrifted). On the lips: MAC lipstick in Kinda Sexy.

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Wearing a bit of Tarte’s Amazonian clay blush in Exposed, a lovely neutral mauve shade so muted that I understand it can be a contour shade for paler skin tones. Its’ matte and subtle, as is this lipstick, a bit of a departure for me but one I’m liking.

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hit ’em high

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I hit ’em high, hit ’em high, hit ’em high

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Hooooops.

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These are incredibly comfortable jeans. Pseudo-jean legging things. I don’t uniformly love a high waist (not every time, not in every context), but I really like these. At one point I was going on about back pockets and proportions, and these pockets are, to me, a great size. (I also really like these jeans pocket-wise, the pockets of which are even more square). Larger back pockets, if anything, make my ass look bigger, more generous—as does a high waist—, which I like. Small back pockets do not make it look any smaller (no one is fooled by this ploy), which I don’t want anyway*, and they look immature and useless besides.

*I want it to look…not small. Like, a handful. I have no time for jeans that are not on board with this goal.

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Express Stella high waist leggings, Eric Michael boots, Urban Outfitters plaid shirt, Banana Republic trench (thrifted), necklace via asos, J Crew belt, Mulberry bag (thrifted), Fossil watch. On the lips: Milani lipstick in Naturally Pink, much blotted and with Smith’s Rosebud Salve over top. On the cheeks: Michael Kors bronzer and Tom Ford blush in Love Lust, which will tell you about soon. It’s gorgeous, just a bit more muted/sophisticated than the (otherwise very similar) Japonesque blush I like so much.

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I’ve been wearing my hair down more, too. Not as inconvenient as I was remembering. Hm. Don’t faces look totally different at 10′ vs 2′ away? The whole architecture of the face seems to change.

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p.s. I’m giving away one of these Designsix ‘love’ necklaces this week. Just leave a comment below to enter! Open internationally, winner will be chosen randomly next Monday 4/14/14 at 10pm EST and informed through disqus. Good luck!