Skulls and Stripes Forever

This outfit did not, in any way, turn out the way I anticipated.

I knew I wanted to wear my new glass skull pendant, my skinny jeans, and my green heels.

Striped tank, FDJ French Dressing, thrifted

Jeans, Victoria's Secret, skinnied by me, remixed

Sandals, John Fluevog "Fellowship Hi: Laurelei"

Silver bracelets, gifts from parents

Sugar skull necklace, Jenn Feldman Glass, remixed

Red mother-of-pearl flower barettes, gift from grandmother

Pearl dangle earrings, depths of the jewelry box

Um, two out of three ain't bad?

The outfit I had planned in my head had two major stumbling blocks:

1. I intended to wear my green kimono-sleeved Michael Kors top, but when I put it on, I realized I'd sweat to death in short order, which is Never A Good Look.
2. Ditto the heels, with the added problem of not having anything short and lightweight in the sock department. Seems all I have are heavy-weight hiking socks and things knee-high and longer. Oh, and these socks, which are still too heavy to work with the green heels. I hate wearing closed-toe shoes without some form of sock or stocking.

Hrmph.

Plan B was this cute striped top. It reminds me a bit of the Breton stripe tops that Jessica from What I Wore has been featuring a lot lately. My plan is to replace the buttons over the collarbones on this top with regatta-inspired brass anchor ones.

I figured  that as long as I had the nautical inspiration going on, I might as well take it and run with it, so I piled on some silver chain bracelets:

These three bracelets were all gifts from my parents at various times. I love their solid, massy links and the buttery glow of good-quality, handwrought silver. I also feel like I'm wearing an anchor chain around my wrist: those three bracelets in combination weight about a quarter pound!

I usually wear these bracelets individually, but I was inspired to try wearing them in combination by a lovely lady I frequently see at a local coffee shop. She always has a three or four inch wide stack of silver bracelets, all different weights and chain patterns, around one wrist, and it looks gorgeous and elegant.

My only real associations with green and sailing are pondweed (yecch) and seasick fellow sailors (double yecch), so the green heels were completely out of the question at this point. Fortunately, these sandals went perfectly:

They were the first pair of Fluevogs I bought. Expect to see them lots during the warmer months: they're about the lowest heel I own and the beige/white/black color scheme is terribly versatile.

The only thing I needed to complete my vaguely-nautical (but not terribly I-just-got-off-my-yacht) look was a touch of red. These barrettes that my grandmother brought back from Mexico for me years ago supplied that, tied in with the sugar skull necklace, and controlled my unruly, just-washed hair:

I'm trying something new with makeup: using a powdered kohl with a technique that I saw in a blog post I now can't find again (if you recently wrote about how to apply powdered kohl, please let me know so I can give you due credit!). Essentially, the kohl comes loose in a little canister: you unscrew the lid and there's a stick-like applicator. Pull your lower lid down a tiny bit, bounce the stick lengthwise along your water line (the pink line just inside the lower lashes), then blink aggressively a few times to distribute it to the top lids as well.

I'm pretty happy with the results. Unlike previous times when I've used powdered kohl above my top lashes, as I would a traditional eyeliner, it's stayed in place pretty much the whole day, and it makes my eyes look big and ever-so-slightly smoky.

There's a nice closeup of my new pendant, too. It's two-sided, with the other side in inverted colors.

Do you plan out your outfits in advance, or do you improvise? How do you deal with unexpected hitches in your outfit plans, whether it's items you lack, weather surprises, or detours in your plans for the day?