Disney Princesses Pt. 2!!

 Hello There!

    I promised I'd be back to talk more Disney Princesses didn't I?! After writing my first post on them I got all fired up and just had to talk about them again (plus I needed an excuse to go out and buy some more princess dresses). So yes spoiler alert I added some new princess dresses to my collection, but before we get to that I wanted to touch on another princess related topic first. So sit back, get your poofiest princess dress on and enjoy!

   Before we get to all my latest acquisitions I wanted to talk about my biggest inspiration behind my love of Disney Princesses: The Disney Parks Princesses. These are by far some of the most gorgeous women you'll ever see, embodying everything that makes femininity so great: kindness, beauty, and grace. One can not help but be mesmerized by them with every photo they're in. But not only are they beautiful, they're hair, makeup, and dresses are all on another level. No cosplayer has ever managed to perfectly recreate the magic that is the dresses of the Disney Park Princesses. While I've certainly enjoyed doing my own versions of these characters, there's really just something otherworldly about what they manage to pull off. I figured I'd share some of my favorite photos from my collection bellow for you all to enjoy. Additionally here's the link to a great Flickr group where thousands of these photos are posted.

    Hope you enjoyed those! I have plenty more that I can post, maybe I'll do featured pages for each princess hmmmm... Anyway, now on to my recent princess acquisitions. One of the things I discussed in my original princess post was how my love of Disney Princesses made me feel youthful. So to piggyback off that feeling something else that feels youthful to me are a cute pair of patterned pajamas, like a little girl might wear. I've been on the hunt for the perfect pair of princess pajamas for years now and haven't come across anything just right yet, until recently! I found a pair on amazon featuring 4 of my favorite princesses in their iconic gowns: Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, and Rapunzel (No Ariel unfortunately to complete my top 5). Not only did it feature most of my favorite princess, but it was also pink! How could I resist?! So of course I bought it, and it fit like a dream, very comfortable too! Now I can get my beauty sleep with Sleeping Beauty dotted all over me LOL.

    Since I ordered something cozy to sleep in I figured I also needed something to keep me warm. I'm sure you remember my Disney Princess room from my last post, with all my Princess blankets, well since I don't have any of those anymore I was in need of a new one, and the one I found on amazon again had 4 out of 5 of my favorite princesses, this time swapping Rapunzel for Ariel. It's super soft and just oh so cute!

    Ok and now for the moment we've all been waiting for, My new princess dresses!!! So when it came to ordering new dresses, I first of course had to choose which princess I wanted to add to my collection. Now I already had Cinderella and Snow White, and had previously owned Belle. While I would certainly like to upgrade those dresses to nicer versions, I for now wanted to focus on Princesses' whose dresses I had not yet worn. That being said I totally used this blog post as an excuse to re-wear my Cinderella and Snow White Dresses so I could take new photos in them!

    Onto my new dresses! The first princess I wanted to add to my collection was Aurora. Her pink dress is absolutely to die for (sorry blue dress fans, pink is better). However, one unfortunate problem with her dress I've found is that costume companies make them either too elaborate or too expensive. Her dress is sleek and simple, you'd think It'd be easy for costume designers to nail it, but they really haven't. I went with Leg Avenue's Version of the dress because it was reasonably priced and came fairly close to the original design. But OMG let me warn you it was an absolute glitter bomb! There was heaps of gold glitter all over my room so buy with caution! Otherwise the dress was soft, fit ok, and had great color. I'm still on the hunt for my perfect Aurora dress but this will have to suffice for now. 

    For my next dress it was an easy choice: Rapunzel! For the longest time I wasn't a fan of Rapunzel's dress, but it has recently really grown on me. It has a bunch of features that make women's clothes so fun: Lace, Floral patterns, Satins, and it's Purple! Not only did I fall in love with her dress, after watching Tangled a few times Rapunzel quickly became one of my favorite princesses! I also had to bust out a frying pan to replicate her iconic weapon.

    I've also got one final surprise, after writing my first post I was really missing having a Belle dress. Since I was planning on re-wearing my other two princess dresses during this photoshoot anyway I figured I just had to get my hands on another Belle dress again. I was fairly happy with the quality of the last one I purchased, so I went ahead and bought another one, also because it was a good price. The dress still feels magical to wear, and I'm glad I got to take pictures in it with my modern makeup skills.

That's about all I've got for you in this Princess update post. Expect a part three! Like my first post this one has inspired me to go out and get more princess things so I'll be back for more. Also after combing through all the pictures I've saved of Disney Parks' Princesses, I'd love to share more with you so I'm tempted to do featured posts on single princess. If I do that it also may give me an excuse to buy new versions of some of the princess dresses I already have. Who knows, stay tuned for more I guess!!

-Carly

My Love of Layers

 Hello There,

    Today I wanted to talk about something I thought about the other day; I really love the fact that women wear so many layers of clothing. It was sort of a weird realization, because on the surface it can be kind of annoying with how many items of clothing you have to put on at once. I think for me however it sort of plays into the idea that having to wear so many layers is a fairly feminine trait, and as someone who loves all aspects of femininity, I find myself really enjoying the layers instead of finding them annoying. In fact I often find myself drawn to outfits where I get the opportunity to wear more layers, like dresses under which a slip or petticoat can be worn. 

    As a fun little photo project I figured I'd put on one of my favorite dresses and take pics of all the different items of clothing I have on layered beneath it. So in terms of all the items that I'm wearing with this outfit we have: A Bra and Panties, Tights, Shape wear, a full Slip, Shoes, A petticoat (I know it's a little unusual to wear over a full slip, but I think it's a fun combo), the dress itself and gloves! 

    Another outfit I have that is super conducive to wearing a lot of layers is a business wear look. In terms of the different clothing items that I get to layer with this outfit, the top and skirt are separate, and I get to add a blazer on top!

    Hope you enjoyed my little dress up montage, getting to wear so many items of women's clothing at once is wonderful! The feeling of all the soft feminine fabrics brushing up against each other is divine! There are certainly more layers that could have been added to both outfits like more shapewear, extra jewelry, additional petticoat layers with the dress, etcetera. These are the layers I'm working with today however, and I'm loving every layer of it! 

-Carly

Song Recommendation

 Hello There,

    So a little fact about me is that I'm a huge fan of music, and one of my favorite genres is Dance Pop. There's certainly no shortage of great Dance Pop singers, but today I wanted to give a shoutout to one of my faves Ava Max and her song So Am I. 

    While it was her song Sweet but Psycho in 2018 that blew up her career, for me it was the Song So Am I that made me her fan. The song discusses the importance of self-love, being an outcast and not fitting into society, which as a gender fluid person I really connected with. There are so many fantastic lyrics, and the chorus is phenomenal:

"Do you ever feel like a misfit?

Everything inside you is dark and twisted

Oh, but it's okay to be different

'Cause baby, so am I

Do you ever feel like an outcast?

You don't have to fit into the format

Oh, but it's okay to be different

'Cause baby, so am I"

    I think one of the greatest achievements of a song is when it invokes emotion within you, whatever that emotion may be, Love, Joy, Sadness, Humor. In the case of So Am I, it invokes acceptance. You don't have to fit into the format, and it's ok to be different, what a great message. Also what an absolute banger of a song! One of the reasons I love Dance Pop is the music just makes you want to dance (it's literally in the name of the genre lol), and So Am I is no exception! If you haven't heard the song before the music video is below!

    Pretty great song right! If you were a fan of that song and are looking for other Ava Max song recommendations, a few I highly recommend are Sweet but Psycho, Maybe You're the Problem, The Motto, My Head & My Heart, just to name a few, I could easily name 10 more fantastic songs but you got to start somewhere!

-Carly

A Surprise White Bra

 Hello There,

    I'm always on the hunt for new things to add to my wardrobe, and something I've been wanting to add for awhile is a white bra. Sounds boring I know, but there's actually a couple reasons I've been hunting for one. Firstly I've always been a fan of how a white bra looks under a white shirt; I love the way the outline is plainly visible. Now for genetic women your bra being that visible is probably a minor annoyance, but for someone like me who loves bras, it's a great opportunity to signal to the world that you're wearing one. Additional to the fact that they show off well, it's also just great to have multiple colors of bras in your wardrobe. Different color bras are going to go with different color outfits, and while nude is almost always a safe bet, I wanted to add white to have more options. 

    Although a white bra has long been on my to-buy list I haven't actually been actively searching for one. Luckily for me though, I just happened to stumble upon one. I was in Walmart shopping for sheer black pantyhose (which I ended up getting), and I thought I'd check out the bras while I was in the women's lingerie section. Now my real goal for looking at the bras was actually to try and find a wireless pushup bra for sleeping in, but then I came across across a surprise. A white bra made by warner's, but this was not just any white bra, it was the exact style of bra that my mother owns, and that I used to wear all the time when I first started dressing. Well needless to say a wave of nostalgia ran over me and I had to buy it. 

    Once I got home, I immediately tried it on and was actually a little disappointed with the fit, it was my size but I wasn't getting that goldilocks "just right" feeling, oh well. That being said it is still fun to wear and totally satisfied my need for a white bra in my collection (for now anyway). But of course I also had to try on a white shirt over my new bra and see if it had the sexy sheer effect I was looking for. Sure enough it totally did! Mission accomplished LOL! But I got to say, it kinda makes me want to buy a white shirt with a higher neck line that way I get to more fully take advantage of the visible bra through the shirt. It's funny, it seems like every time I add a new item to my wardrobe I'm inspired to go out and buy something else new to go with it. It's a vicious cycle (but so totally worth it). Well hope you enjoyed my little shopping story, go out and get a white bra of your own, you wont be disappointed!

-Carly