Dressing Up Denim

Denim Shirt a.n.a a new approach | Yellow Skirt  Banana Republic | Necklace via LE TOTE | Nude Ulltra Pumps Steve Madden
This is on of those outfits that I just threw on and I am very happy with how it turned out. I have heard of denim chambray shirts becoming a wardrobe staple because of how versatile it is and I feel this outfit proves just how versatile it is since it can very easily be dressed up.
I tucked it in to my yellow Banana Republic skirt in order to work with the colors of the necklace I rented from LE TOTE. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, it is a clothing rental service that sends you 3 pieces of clothing and 2 pieces of jewelry for $49 a month. Not a bad way to try new things, especially if you are not a fan of shopping but still want to your wardrobe to be current.
This week has been extremely busy for me and I expect it to be difficult to be posting consistently. This Saturday I will be heading to Salinas to celebrate my Sister’s 21st Birthday/ Farewell Party. She is heading to Japan to study abroad for a year in September, and I will also be joining her for her first two weeks there! I am so excited and looking forward to this much needed vacation!
Sunday and Monday I’ll be in Berkeley running a booth for our office at Caltopia. My goal last year was to make this year a bigger success, and I already feel like it will be. I remember being so stressed out about running the booth for the first time and getting things ready at the last minute. This time it feels a lot less stressful, and it might be because I had the opportunity to really plan ahead.
I’ve been going to a lot of events as of late and doing my fair share of baking which you can catch on Instagram first hand. I originally didn’t know how Instagram would benefit me when it comes to blogging, but now I see it is the best way to keep up with what I am doing since I don’t post as often. Follow me @willbakeforshoes to stay updated with my daily adventures.
I will be updating you on more about my upcoming trip to Japan and anything else I forgot to mention here.
Hope you are having a good week,Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

Tahari White

White Dress  Tahari Arthur S. Levine c/o Couture Sqd |  Gold Bangles Forever 21 | Gold Glitter Wedges Jimmy ChooMy fourth, and final, outfit post from my fashion box c/o Couture Sqd: a crisp, white dress by Tahari. 
This dress was part of my Work Ready outfits, and this is perfect for a day at the office, or even for a fancy brunch over the weekend. The white color is very classy. Once again, I think this is something Charlotte York from Sex and the City would wear. I love how formfitting it is, and I especially love the texture of the dress.  The gold and bamboo rings in the front give the dress just enough detail to keep it from looking too simple. This helped me pair the dress with gold tone accessories, but with white anything goes. 
So there you have it, four different outfits from one box. I will be writing a post featuring all of the outfits and sharing my overall experience with the service Couture Sqd provided so I hope you will check it out once it is up.
Hope you had a great weekend and thank you for reading!
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

Day and Night

Another night staying up late to decorate cupcakes. If you are following me on Instagram you’ll have seen a sneak peak of the Chinese Take-Out Cupcakes I decorated inspired by What’s New, Cupcake? While they were enjoyed at a colleague’s farewell party, I returned home to a messy kitchen. It looks like a battle ensued with frosting and dishes everywhere! So I’ve spent most of my evening cleaning up the kitchen, but since it has been so long since I’ve done an outfit post,  I am sharing 2 looks using a printed top c/o Couture Sqd’s Rental service. This post will show how to wear the same outfit for day and night by changing a few key pieces.

Day Outfit:

Black Trench  Luii | Yellow and Black Print Top Worthington c/o Couture Sqd | Pleated Black Skirt Everly | Patent Belt BCBG Max Azria |  Flats Steve Madden |  Petal to the Metal Natasha Cross body Bag Marc by Marc Jacobs | Ring Forever 21

 Night Outfit:Black Leather Jacket H&M | Yellow and Black Print Top Worthington c/o Couture Sqd | Pleated Black Skirt Everly | Patent Belt BCBG Max Azria |  Spiked Lorissa Suede Heels Sam Edelman | Bag and Ring Forever 21 

The base of both my looks for the outfits is the skirt, belt, and top. Changing the jacket, bag, and shoes helps transition the look from Day to Night. My Day Outfit was for work, but it could also be a nice way to dress to run errands, go shopping, or meet friends at a coffee shop. My Night look has more of an edge with the leather jacket and spiked heels. (This might also have to do with the attitude that came out of nowhere!) This outfit is perfect for going to a bar for happy hour or maybe even for a date. Armando actually liked my outfit without the jacket because of how flattering the top and skirt were. 
This top was not my favorite item from my box from Couture Sqd, but wearing it changed my mind about it. The print of the top isn’t too much which is why I decided to share it a piece that can transition from day to night. (It had nothing to do with the sun-like yellow and night-black colors of the print.) Sometimes a first impression on an item is misleading: I loved how these heels looked (and bought them in two colors) but wearing them for longer than an hour can be a painful mistake. It’s an abusive relationship, but I can handle it for a photo shoot! 
Hope you enjoyed my two-in-one post. I’m excited to share my final item from Couture Sqd in my next post so make sure and follow my blog so you don’t miss it.
Until next time,Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

Light Mint

Nude Blazer H&M | Mint Faux Wrap Top Dian Dian Meir Xin c/o Couture Sqd | Grey Skinny Jeans 7 For All Mankind | Ruffle Nude Bag Steve Madden | Bone Miminette 70 Patent Calf Kitten Heels Christian Louboutin | Ring Forever 21 | Watch Marc by Marc JacobsHere is my second outfit using an item I received from Couture Sqd’s rental service. The top featured today looks like a faux wrap and when I first took it out of the box, I admit I wasn’t sure what to make of it. The color seemed to be lighter than many of the clothes I have and not something I would normally purchase for myself. It definitely challenged me in deciding how to style it, and I am thoroughly pleased with the results! 
Based on the colors on the top, it looks like it was made to be worn with my nude blazer and grey skinny jeans. I fell in love with the asymmetrical look of the top and the pattern once I styled it. I like how this look worked for a day at the office and how it could have easily transitioned to an event afterwards.
I cannot wait to share my third outfit using Couture Sqd in my next post! I’ll be featuring a day and night look, so watch out for that.
Until next time,Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

Monarch Butterfly

Color Block Dress Have c/o Couture Sqd | Black Blazer 7 For All Mankind | Butterfly Ring Forever 21 | Nude Ulltra Pumps Steve MaddenI am excited to be sharing an outfit I styled with a dress from Couture Sqd.  What is Couture Sqd? It is a “netflix” service for clothes. For $35, you get to try 4 articles of clothing for one month. There is no monthly subscription fee and you can either buy clothes at a discount or send everything back using a prepaid label. The items in your box are selected based on style categories you pick when creating your box. For my box, I chose 2 items from Work Ready and 2 from Prints & Patterns. 
This dress is the first item that stood out to me because of its bright color and overall cut. I like that Couture Sqd helps you step out of your comfort zone a bit with the clothes it sends you. I don’t particularly like python print anything, but the belt that this dress came with is very thin that it allowed me to experiment with the print. This dress comes from the Work Ready category and it should be no surprise that I styled this for a day at the office. I paired the nude pumps with the dress to match with the nude/tan colors on the belt. I then added the blazer to tone down the bright color a little. My monarch butterfly ring was the perfect finishing touch to go with this dress. 
I received a ton of compliments at work for this dress, but what do you think? Have you/ would you try a clothing rental service? Let me know and stay-tuned for 3 more outfits that I’ll be styling thanks to Couture Sqd!
Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER | 

Thinking Green

Green Laurel Vintage Print Wrap Dress Diane von Furstenberg | Nude Ulltra Patent Heels Steve Madden
Simple outfit post of a DVF wrap dress in a vintage collection print and nude pumps. The dress speaks for itself which allows me to spend the rest of this post catching you up with what I’ve been up to lately.
As you saw in my last post, I attended the LE TOTE and Bonobos event in SF. I posted the details of the event a week after my last post. While I feel somewhat delinquent for not sharing an outfit post in the middle that week, I think the time off and not posting as frequently has helped prevent me from feeling burnt out from blogging. I do write and take photos because it is fun for me and I love being creative with my wardrobe, and I would not want it to become like too much of a chore.
But with that being said , I realized have a lot to share after just a short break! For starters, I am doing a collaboration with Couture Sqd in my next outfit post. While I will explain more about what the company is in its dedicated post,  it is basically a Netflix service for clothes.  For $35, you get 4 pieces of clothing mailed to you based on your style profile with the option to buy items at a discount or ship back by a certain date. I can’t wait to share my first post with a dress I wore to work.
Over the weekend Armando and I went on two movie dates and saw Despicable Me 2 on Friday and Pacific Rim on Sunday. We celebrated our 7 year anniversary at the end of June, and the way we’ve been acting these past few weeks reminds me of our relationship when we first started dating. We would go to the movies all the time and it is my favorite date to go on with him because or very first date was to see a movie together. I try not to discuss our relationship too much aside from the fact that he is awesome, but we had such a nice date in SF for our anniversary so I expect to do a post on that soon. It will feature his outfit of the day which is pretty exciting since I rarely showcase menswear.
I should come clean and admit that my lack of posting is also attributed to Netflix and Korean Dramas. I am a huge addict since I discovered the last year and when I start watching a new series and Netflix makes it difficult to not watch 4 hours of it at a time. (I watched 12 Signs of Love and luckily it was only 16 episodes!) I do try to be productive while watching these types of dramas by listing clothes on Poshmark. Since Wednesday I’ve sold quite a few items back-to-back. This success prompted me to list more items over the weekend so make sure to check out my closet for all the latest additions for sale.
And lastly, if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know I won a personal hopping trip through Boutique Stroll at Rue Atelier in Berkeley. I went shopping yesterday and I am also really excited to share a post on what I bought, who the shop owner is, and the amazing photos Armando took. 
This post turned out to be really long, but I wanted to catch you up with what’s been going on in my life before just moving on to the next event or outfit post. Hope the beginning of your week is off to a good start!
Until next time,Brandy| BLOGLOVIN | FACEBOOK |  INSTAGRAM |TUMBLR | TWITTER |