Blog

Missing 47th street

May 1, 2012

Hi Guys,

I am still in the middle of unpacking, organizing, and eventually cleaning our new apartment which is why I have been away so long. I think it is going to take a few more weeks to have this apartment completed before I return to regular posting on here. But i am giving myself this much needed break from work to recharge and really make our new apartment feel like home. The boxes are finally gone but there are lots of things to be put away and much organizing to do. Besides unpacking, we have been having a great time exploring Austin. You know me, I have taken many trips to thrift stores, antique malls, and vintage stores doing a little bit of shopping and taking lots of pictures along the way. Right now I am so happy to be living in a new city and state that I am not really missing NY that much. I would say one of the things I will miss most is the Diamond District on 47th st. I love how one block in ny is completely dedicated to jewelry. It really is a dream walking down the street and seeing the most beautiful fine modern and vintage jewelry. Since it will be a long time before I can visit, I do get my inspiration from 1st Dibs. It has been a while since I browsed the site but here are some of my favorite vintage pieces.

Cartier Fruit basket 1920′s

Micromosaic Rome bracelet 1830. I have been on a real vintage bracelet hunt lately

Amazing David Webb monkey 1980′s

1960′s tiger cuff

1950′s watch with enamel cover

1940′s step ring, so unusual

David Webb 1980′s bouquet

1950′s Unicorn Necklace

Time to get back to the apartment. Have a great week. Hope this post added a little sparkle to your day

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Greetings From Austin

April 11, 2012

Hi Guys,

I know it has been a few weeks since I last posted but lifes been unusually busier for us. With packing up our old apartment in NYC, roadtripping with the cats half way across country, and finally making it to our new apartment in Austin I have been beyond exhausted. We had a great road trip which i will be writing about in the near future but our arrival to Austin has not been the greatest. Don’t get me wrong, we are very excited to be in a new city and see what there is to discover. But with any move, especially a really big one there are bound to be problems. When I left NY 12 days ago I was battling a cold. I seemed to be getting better until I hit Texas and my throat began to hurt again mixed in with allergies. Once my ear began hurting and my nose became stuffed again with a bad headache I called my ent doctor in ny since I don’t have one here. I was told last night that I have a lingering sinus infection mixed with allergies. So I am now on antibiotics, oral steroids, sudafed, zertek, and two nasal sprays. That really sucks since the apartment is a mess and we have yet to make a dent in our unpacking. I am going to try and take it easy with some rest and light unpacking and then kick it into full unpacking mode next week when I feel better. So it will definitely be a few weeks until I am back to regular posting. I am making it my mission though to re vamp the blog and bring alot more original content about my life on here since that is what I love to read about.

Another problem we are having is with our sprint cell service. We have been having lots of problems with our phones driving around Austin and at home have almost no service! Since we both now work from home it is just a major hassle and we have to look into maybe getting a new mobile provider. Last complaint before I go, the movers finally arrived on Monday and we were so excited to have our stuff back. We decided to work with a more expensive moving company to ensure that none of our stuff would get lost or stolen. Things were going well until the movers discovered that they never packed our mattress and did not know where it was. And then also realized that a box was possibly missing too but had no idea which it was. I am pretty sure it did not house any of my wardrobe which is a plus but as of now I have no idea what is missing. Hopefully it was just mismarked. Back to the bed issue, the moves gave us 100 bucks to rent a mattress until the matter was revolved. We never rented a mattress before and spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find one and bring it home. We finally did and it is like sleeping on a rock. The movers also seemed to have broken our bed too which creeks every time we turn over. So definitely making a trip to Ikea this weekend for new bed. We just found out that our mattress has been located in New Orleans and will take 2-3 weeks to get here. Feels like forever but I seriously can’t wait to have it back. It is literally like sleeping on a cloud and it doesn’t feel like home yet without it. Sorry for this long rant but wanted to make an update about life and keep it honest on here. Will be back soon with lots of fun pictures to share from our days on the road!

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Austin Texas

March 23, 2012

Hi All,

I can finally share the news I have been hinting at for the past few months. Craig and I are moving to Austin, Texas in 10 days on March 30th. We decided in September that we were ready to move out of NYC and decided on Austin. New York is just too expensive for us to have an enjoyable life together and we wanted to live in a cheaper part of the country. Start to save money and not have all of our money going to rent and our bills. The apt we found is much cheaper then our home in NY with a pool and a gym and only two years old. I think we lucked out. We are also very lucky that Craig’s job is allowing him to stay on and work remotely from Texas. So things are looking up and we are very excited for this new chapter in our life. I am going to continue to blog and work on the jewelry business. Some goals is to finally work on re designing the website and to make the blog better with more orignal content with my own photos. I think it is time to start sharing all of the vintage I have been accumulating all of these years. And start chronicling life in Texas. I can’t wait for all of the adventours and discovering all of the towns and cities in Texas. And of course to have some real fun thrifting and vintage shopping.

i am going to take a few weeks off from the blog to focus on packing, moving half way across country with our cats, and unpacking getting settled. I am also battling a cold at the moment which is making it more difficult to get work done. See you all very soon and enjoy some vintage postcards below.

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Vintage Egyptian Revival Jewelry

March 21, 2012

Over the weekend my girl Amanda and I spent the afternoon at the antique center and garage in the city. The garage is a magnificent garage in Chelsea that on the weekends is transformed into a vintage wonderland. I was on a mission to find a couple vintage bracelets to add to my jewelry collection. I ended up finding two of them from the 1950′s. You know me, I much prefer to wear vintage jewelry whenever I can. Amanda found a special signed Kramer Egyptian Revival Necklace from the 60′s that I just love. I have never seen a necklace like it before and it even had neon paint on the pendant. Perfect for the neon trend in fashion this year. Her necklace is definitely a classic piece that can be worn forever. I decided to do a little digging on Ebay and see if I could find the necklace. unfortunately I couldn’t but found many other beautiful Egyptian Revival style necklace. Below are my favorites.

Deco necklace love the rhinestone details

insane. love the giant scarab beetle

dying for this one

love anything with a scarab

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

More Make Up Favorites

March 19, 2012

I have more favorite make up products to share with you, obviously they couldn’t all fit into one post.

Chanel Illusion D’ombre Long Wear Luminous Eye Shadow

I swear I have this amazing new eye shadow in four colors. Red, purple, black, and silver. They are incredible and stay on all day and night long. They have a really cool gel like texture that glides easily across the eye with a brush and dries like a powder. Word of advice, I used my finger to apply the shadow at first and had alot of trouble applying it. When I used the product with the brush that comes with applying became a piece of cake.

Chanel Les 4 Ombres Quadra Eye shadow Eclosion

I love eye shadow quads. You can use one color or all and have lots of fun creating different looks. Lately I am gravitating toward reddish plum shades that bring out my green eyes

Chanel Rouge Allure Velvet

I am in love with this new line of lipsticks from Chanel. The colors glide on super easy with the most amazing texture. They are a matte lipstick but not drying and look so beautiful on. I bought three out of the 8 colors, La Caline being my favorite. The other two were La Sensuelle and La Fascinante

Nars Funny Face Lipstick

I love Nars lipsticks. They have great pigment and stay on all day long. Funny Face is a bright pink that is perfect day and night

Nars Night Star

I have been using this eyeshadow since college. When I wear a bright red or pink lip I like to have very subtle eyes. This eyeshadow is perfect because it leaves a hint of color with gold sparkle. Looks amazing with a little black eyeliner too.

Benefit BADgal kohl Pencil

A little goes a long way. I put the liner on and then smudge it with the back of an eyeliner sponge to mess it up a little

Benefit Bad gal Plum Mascara

I love the color of this mascara. The brush kind of annoys me and seems to make the mascara clump on my lashes so when I use it i use my own disposable brush which seems to do the trick. Purples are a great color to bring out hazel green eyes which I have

Hope you enjoyed this make up series. I will have more for you in the future. What are your favorite products?

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Make Up Favorites Every Day

March 14, 2012

All of my friends know that I am make up obsessed. My friend Amanda who is a fellow makeup lover and I could spend hours looking through colors at Sephora and Bloomingdales. The older I get the more daring I get with my makeup. I love to wear bright lipsticks and have finally embraced wearing red shades too. I used to only wear lip gloss and within the last year have fased them out in exchange for lots of pigment. I thought it would be fun to share some of my favorite products with you and am breaking it down into two posts. For the first, below are some of my favorites for a natural day time look. Click on the link for details.

Benefit “That Gal” Primer

I have been using this pink toned primer for the last two years. I never wear foundation or powder on my face because I hate the feel of caked on make up. This primer is amazing though. It evens out my skin tone and brings out a nice pinky glow to my complexion. It is the first product I put on my face

YSL Touche Eclat Radiant Touch

I began using the YSL highlighter in replacement of a concealer. It covers up my dark circles and shadows and makes my eyes brighter. It is pricy and I am noticing that other brands are making their own versions

Benefit Sugarbomb Blush

I love how this blush has four different shades that you mix together to create the perfect color

Benefit Big Beautiful Eyes Eye Shadow

I swear this set gets the most use out of all of my eye shadows. It is the perfect color combo for a day time every day look. I wear it with all shades of lipsticks even reds. I use the brown shade as an eye liner at night for a dressier look

Clinique Almost Lipstick Black Honey

This lipstick is one of my favorites. Its a sheer lipstick that looks great on everyone and has a really pretty soft black berry sheen to it.

Great Lash Maybelline Lots Of Lashes

I bought this mascara for the first time when I read that it gives you doll lashes and it really does. The smaller brush reaches all hard to reach lashes coating them in a really nice black shade. I was even asked if i was wearing falsies which in my opinion is a great compliment

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Animal Jewelry

March 12, 2012

Happy Monday,

Mondays are definitely the saddest day of the week for me. It is hard to get back into the swing of things after a great weekend. Sunday afternoon we spent a little time at the Natural History Museum with friends and walked around the mammal room. I hadn’t been in years but I remembered loving to look at all of the “stuffed” animals. Anyways jewelry always gets me in a better mood so I thought it would be fun to browse 1st Dibs and hunt for vintage animal jewelry which is always a favorite.

1970′s David Webb

love 70′s David Webb zebra ring

80′s David Webb Tiger bracelet

1960′s Tiger Ring

1870′s Pietra Dura bird earrings

1875 Snake Bangle

David Webb snake ring

50′s Cartier Brooch

Hope all of these jewels make your Monday a little sunnier

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Erin Jane Jewelry

March 9, 2012

I recently discovered Erin Jane Jewelry on Etsy and love her designs. She uses alot of beautiful gemstones which is always a favorite of mine and sets the stones in a really modern way. She also only uses recycled metals which is nice and sustainable. Below are some of my favorites.

lapis, gold, and silver

tourmalated quartz, silver, and gold

columbian emerald. I love this green, reminds me of sea glass

umba sapphire and aquamarine

gold and silver stackable rings

prehnite and silver

blue tourmaline and white sapphire. This greenish blue color is amazing

green tourmaline and gold

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Vintage Purses

March 7, 2012

Hi all,

I spent a little time over the weekend in Connecticut doing a little closet clean out. I looked through my vintage purse collection to weed out any of the bags I no longer loved. A few items made it out of my closet and as I get older I only want to keep those items that I truly love. And it also makes room to add new purses one day. I did a little browsing on 1st Dibs and here are some favorites I am loving at the moment.

amazing lion head

love 1940′s emerald green velvet

vintage 1960′s Pucci

Josef jeweled bag

1920′s silk purse

vintage Guggi clutch

1920′s beaded purse

50′s evening bag

50′s embroidered bag

Lauren

{ 0 comments }

Vintage Panther Jewelry

March 5, 2012

Hi All,

My friend Amanda came over yesterday to help me organize some Corvus Noir inventory and watch The Sex and The City2 movie with me. We had a great time catching up, looking at amazing clothes on the screen, and playing with lots of jewelry. I have one drawer in my storage system that houses only animal pins, my favorite section. I have a ton of vintage tiger and panther pins that need to be reworked into necklaces eventually. Those feline brooches are definitely my favorite. They each have so much character to them and were designed with such attention to detail that you can feel the emotion within each piece. I did a little digging on Ebay to find you some similar styles. I love any with lots of enamel, rhinestone, and crystals.