Beautiful Blues

It's no secret that my favourite colour is blue. Clothing-wise, I wear tons and tons of beige, black, and grey, but I do usually accent my outfits with coloured accessories. In keeping with my more subdued palette, I tend to go for vivid jewel tones, but my favourite colour to add to an outfit is blue. Blue is kind of the coloured version of a neutral; it goes with everything. This season, a vivid cobalt blue is taking over the accessories (and clothing) market, so here are a couple of cheaply chic finds to help you introduce this colour into your wardrobe.

From a brand called Hobo International, you'd expect very slouchy, hobo-style bags. Instead, I found this gorgeous envelope clutch, on sale at Piperlime, for only $104.99. It's 8.5" by 12.5", so a tiny bit bigger than a normal piece of paper. I love that this clutch can be used for both evening and day, and it definitely doesn't hurt that it's on sale.


While browsing the J. Crew sales (they have some amazing shoes), I came upon this gorgeous pair of blue silk slingbacks. They're a little more purple than cobalt, but the sumptuous silk knot at the front adds a gorgeous detail to these shoes. Unfortunately, they're on sale for $149.99, which for me isn't much of a sale.


So, I went over to one of my favourite places for bargain shoes, Newport News. Lo and behold, they had their own pair of blue satin slingbacks, this time with an interesting front loop detail. You can't see the blue pair very well in this picture, but just imagine the pink pair in front in that gorgeous blue colour. My only qualm? The wooden heel. But hey, for only $19.00 these are some very lovely heels.


Another, more bargainous find from the J. Crew sales was this lovely little bangle. Bangles have become really popular this season, but I've always had a few pairs in rotation because of my Indian background. I'm loving these new block-coloured ones from J. Crew, and this is only $7.49! I'm definitely snapping this up today.


Finally, because I like to save the best for last, here is a very cute pair of Nine West flats with a flower detail at the top. I fell in love with these flats when I saw them -- but then again, who wouldn't. They come in pink, orange, and black as well, but I personally adore this blue pair (and they still have it in size 6!). They're $39.99, which is a little bit steeper than my usual amount for flats, but these are just so adorable I'm seriously debating ordering them.

Kate Spade Private Sale

Today, I was compulsively checking my Gmail account as always, deleting what little spam makes it into my inbox, when I came upon a little gem called the Kate Spade private sale.

These cute pink flats with a "ks" logo on the front immediately caught my eye. They're like the cutesy version of the Tory Burch flats, and with less overexposure. At $159, they may not be the cheapest, but they're high on my wishlist.



I'm also desperately in need of a new wallet, and this simple black wallet (also comes in green) is only $79 -- a great price for Kate Spade. I'm definitely considering buying this, but I think I'm going to wait it out, since there have been new additions to the sale since I checked this morning.

I would definitely check out Kate Spade's website ASAP if I were you...the normal sale has some great finds in the handbag section, as does the private sale. But make sure you love whatever you're buying, because it's final sale.

Scholarly Style

I've always found it hard to inject your own personal style into school-related accessories without seeming overly pretentious; somehow, toting around my books and laptop in a bag emblazoned with the Coach logo doesn't quite give off the vibe I'm looking for. At the same time, I don't want to put my school outfits to shame by accessorizing them poorly. Personally, I bring around a simple black Longchamp Le Pliage Large Tote. This bag is unbelievably roomy, though it may not seem so at first. And yes, everyone has one...but I don't care. I love this bag to death and hope it lasts a very, very long time.


Of course, to stay on top of all of the appointments, due dates, and assignments, a girl needs a cute little planner. Since it's summer, I have three months to ponder whether I want to get a cute planner from some office supply store, or splurge on a kate spade one. One side of my head is telling me that it's just a planner, but the other knows that I'll probably be using a planner for the rest of my life and so a kate spade planner would not only be unbelievably cute but also very useful in the long term. I'm also torn between a normal planner (top) and a fold-out calendar contraption (bottom):



Something that girls like to do at my school is have fun with their pencil cases. Lesportsac has taken over the pencil case market in a big way, even though most of their products are intended to be cosmetics cases or odds-and-ends zipper pouches. Almost everyone who puts thought into what pencil case they have buys a Lesportsac one, similar to this:


I had a Lesportsac of my own at one point, gifted to my by a friend whose love of all things Lesportsac was insurmountable. I'm actually a big fan of Lesportsac, because it offers a good item that you know everyone loves, but still allows you to individualize by offering a seemingly endless array of prints. But I recently retired my navy Lesportsac (figures) for this lovely little Kate Spade cosmetic case:


Although you can't see it in the picture, this case has an adorable black polka dot lining, which is just the cherry on top for me, as I love this little bag even just from the outside. I was able to snag it for $30 on sale at Kate Spade, which is a little bit more than your typical Lesportsac, but in my opinion...completely worth it. You can still grab your own, but I don't know how much longer these will be in stock.

Actually, going back to that Lesportsac thing, I've since grown out of the idea of Lesportsac bags being used as anything but cosmetics cases/pencil cases/odds-and-ends pouches/etc. but I came upon this little grey cutie in the Lesportsac Boutique section for just over $100. Now, I have never seen this bag in person and so the gathering and tying detail could be hideously plastic-looking, but at least from my computer screen this is actually kind of...cute?