Nina's corner Archives - Page 6 of 8

The shoot at Coffee Emporium Cincinnati

06/14/2016 9 Comments

Several weeks ago, I met my good friend Amber for some coffee at one of my favorite spots in Cincinnati. If you’re from Cincinnati and have not visited the Coffee Emporium, you are missing out. They have two locations: Downtown/OTR and Hyde Park. I chose the Hyde Park location because of it was suitable for a photoshoot. Coffeeshops were just made for fashion bloggers, I believe. They’re often adorable and have ample space to change outfits. What could be more perfect?

We ended up getting through two of my outfits before it started to rain! Do you remember last week my post about the mushroom house? That was shot in the same location! Today we will be looking at two looks: Amber’s and mine.

Amber’s look

Amber found this dress at a local boutique called Rose & Remington. I love the simplicity of it. That cut also seems very comfortable.

My look

This is a pretty classic dress of mine. I’ve had it for several years and wear it all the time. It’s a classic Francesca’s find.

Today I’m linking up with:

Wednesday

Jersey Girl Texan Heart, Happiness at Mid-Life, Shopping My Closet, Pumps and Pushups, The Pleated Poppy, Sydney Fashion Hunter, The Mummy Chronicles, Cappuccino and Fashion and Posh Classy Mom

Thursday

Elegance and Mommyhood, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom

Friday

Two Thirty-Five Designs, Nancy’s Fashion Style, Jeans & a Teacup, Claire Justine, Rachel the Hat, A Poketful of Polka Dots, Forage Fashion, Fashion Should be Fun, Sincerely Paula, Birdie Shoots

Nina's corner

The Colorful Look: 5 Tips and Tricks

06/08/2016 10 Comments

I have just been loving the colorful look these days! I don’t know if it’s because it’s summer, but I am wearing all kinds of bright colors. Last week was no different.

I initially found this dress at a consignment shop in the fall. Because it required some ironing, it sat in a bin for a good several months. Do you all ever accidentally do that? You keep thinking that you’ll iron it tomorrow or the next day. Every time you think about wearing it, you decide to just wear something that’s ready to go. Well that was this dress. It doesn’t look like it, but that material wrinkles rather easily.

I also want to note that behind me is a mushroom house. It’s famous here in Cincinnati. Here’s a better look at it:

My 5 tips and tricks for the colorful look

Just go for it! I hate when I hear other people saying “I could never pull that off.” I feel like more than anything, that statement comes from a fear of looking silly. There really is no sort of green light or insiders club. Those that are making fashion statements are just doing it, with or without permission. The next time you’re out shopping, just go for it! Pick the boldest and most colorful dress you can find!
Accessorize accessorize accessorize. The great thing about a colorful dress is that you have so many colors to pick from. I could have added some hot pink accessories to this look or some purple things. I could have taken it in a completely different direction and added white. With this look, I just happened to have bought earrings that have most or all the colors in my dress. What do you know?
Allow the dress to make the statement. I’m not a huge fan of mixing patterns. Furthermore with something as bold as this dress, another bold item could be too much. Keep your shoes and sweaters solid colors that compliment the look.
Pick colors that look good on you. For me, I love blues and greens. This dress is full of colors that are “my colors.” What are not my colors? I’m not much of a fan of yellow or beige. While there is some yellow here’s it’s certainly not the focal point.
Have fun! Play around with different colors. Do something different with your hair. If you’re going bold, go all out!

I hope your Wednesday is awesome!

Today I’m linking up with these gals:

Wednesday

Jersey Girl Texan Heart, Happiness at Mid-Life, Shopping My Closet, Pumps and Pushups, The Pleated Poppy, Sydney Fashion Hunter, The Mummy Chronicles, Cappuccino and Fashion and Posh Classy Mom

Thursday

Elegance and Mommyhood, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom

Friday

Two Thirty-Five Designs, Nancy’s Fashion Style, Jeans & a Teacup, Claire Justine, Rachel the Hat, A Poketful of Polka Dots, Forage Fashion, Fashion Should be Fun, Sincerely Paula

Nina's corner

Ultimate recipe for a colorful go-to dress

06/01/2016 7 Comments

Ah the go-to dress. We all have one … or six. It’s that dress that we worry we’ve washed too many times. We wonder when it’ll start falling apart at the seams. It’s just easy to wear it. It goes with everything. It’s appealing.

This here is one of my winter go-to’s. I bought it at Francescas and have not looked back. It’s made of a nice, sweater material. Pair that with some boots and it’s the perfect dress to wear in the winter time. My friend Hillary from hillarycutterphoto.com shot these at the Cincinnati Art Museum in the fall. This pink wall was absolutely perfect.

I remember I initially wanted to try white tights with boots for this outfit. What do you do when you’re unsure of an outfit idea? Look it up on Pinterest, of course. By the way, are you following us on Pinterest? Click here if not.

I’m very pleased with how the white tights look. What do you think?

Recipe for a colorful go-to dress:

It absolutely has to be comfortable.
Make sure the colors suit you.
Make sure you have ample amounts of accessories to match. Example: my red earrings and black belt.
Stop and think before buying: would I for real wear this?

My linkups:

Wednesday

Jersey Girl Texan Heart, Shopping My Closet, Pumps and Pushups, The Pleated Poppy, Sydney Fashion Hunter, The Mummy Chronicles, Cappuccino and Fashion and Posh Classy Mom

Thursday

Elegance and Mommyhood, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom

Friday

Two Thirty-Five Designs, Nancy’s Fashion Style, Jeans & a Teacup, Claire Justine, Rachel the Hat, A Poketful of Polka Dots, Forage Fashion, Fashion Should be Fun, Sincerely Paula

Nina's corner

The sunset sundress dress at sunset

05/25/2016 12 Comments

This is my sunset sundress. We all have this dress in our closet. Okay, maybe not this exact dress as I found it at a small, local boutique here in Cincinnati several months ago (shout-out to Pangea, sister store to Kismet, who we wrote about several weeks ago here). But we all have that dress that we wear over and over and over again. That dress that we wear all year round. In the summer, it’s the perfect sundress. In the winter, it pairs awesomely with tights and boots. It’s always there for me.

Also have you seen my Pinterest board for sundresses? If not, you need to go take a look! I pin new ones every day!

Several weeks ago, I took a much-needed vacation with family to a beachfront condo in Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. The wonderful thing about that side of Florida is that you can watch the sun set every night. It is absolutely breath-taking to watch from the beach. I always have my camera, so I thought a few in the sunset light would be fun.

First here are a few shots I took while sitting in the sand.

And now my Sunset Sundress

Thanks for reading along!

Linking up with these ladies today:

Wednesday

Jersey Girl Texan Heart, Shopping My Closet, Pumps and Pushups, The Pleated Poppy, Sydney Fashion Hunter, The Mummy Chronicles, Cappuccino and Fashion, Posh Classy Mom, The Red Closet Diary and Twenties Girl Style

Thursday

Elegance and Mommyhood, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom

Friday

Two Thirty-Five Designs, Nancy’s Fashion Style, Jeans & a Teacup, Claire Justine, Rachel the Hat, A Poketful of Polka Dots, Forage Fashion, Fashion Should be Fun, Sincerely Paula

Nina's corner

3 adorable LBDs that will rock the party

05/22/2016 22 Comments

Happy Sunday! Today’s post is dedicated to the LBD dress. I’m so very excited to announce that in a little over a month, A World of Dresses is partnering with several local businesses for a little black dress party. It will be Sunday, June 26th (also my birthday!) from 4-7 p.m. I’ll be partnering with Imbue by J. Russo, Hillary Cutter Photo, L’BAE and the Sanctuary. More details and e-vite to come soon. But if you live in the Cincinnati area, mark it on your calendar!

I’m very excited and so to celebrate, I thought I’d do a re-cap of some of my favorite LBD (little black dress) looks I’ve created in the past for the blog. Also, have you had a chance to check out our little black dress Pinterest board? If not, click here to see the magic.

1. One of my favorites

2. The Gwynnie Bee find

This was one of my Gwynnie Bee shipments several months ago. I wore it to work and felt fancy all day.

3. This one!

I remember being particularly pumped about this outfit. You know when you just get the idea for a new outfit in your head and are so excited to try it the next day? Yeah, that was this outfit.

Nina's corner

My first Mother’s Day without her

05/08/2016 9 Comments

Today is my first Mother’s Day without mom. I really have no expectations for Mother’s Day this year. In January, I lost my mom to a six-month battle with a brain aneurysm. It was tough but life went on. I have a job that doesn’t necessarily allow much time for grieving. Furthermore, I’m in a role where I’m serving others every single day. In short, at times it was easy to just brush it aside. I’ve gotten used to responding with “oh, that’s okay” when someone first finds out that she only passed a few months back. In short, this can just be how I am. I find that I think I’m being strong by just pushing along.

Right now, however, I’m in Clearwater Beach, Florida in a beachfront condo with my dad and brother. I’m here until Wednesday and I don’t have to do anything. It feels great. It is just how my mom would want me to spend my first Mother’s Day without her.

Social media may be hard to see today. Everyone will be posting photos of their moms, with their moms and about their plans for the day. To say that I’ll be jealous of everyone who gets to physically be with their mom today is an understatement.

So to anyone who has lost their mom, we’re in this together. As one of my friends told me, take this day and enjoy it for us. Today I’m thinking I’ll do these things:

Walk on the beach
Run on the beach
Swim
Drink coffee
Drink a fruity drink
Talk about how great she is
Talk about my favorite things about her
Think about last Mother’s Day
Miss her
Cry
Take photos
Get a lot of sun

Thanks mom for being awesome. I miss you.

Nina's corner

My awaited GwynnieBee dress

05/01/2016 7 Comments

I was so very excited when I got the e-mail notification that this would be my next dress. I have a GwynnieBee subscription and have several dresses each month mailed to me. I get to wear them, buy them or send them back. It’s kind of like the library (minus the whole buying part) except with clothing. I wrote all about GwynnieBee several weeks ago here. Each member creates a “closet” online and puts things they want in it. This was probably one of the first dresses I put in there. I had to wait patiently and here it is!

The GwynnieBee Dress

My absolute favorite thing about this dress is the neckline. It’s so very unique.

Dress: Cherry Velvet compliments of GwynnieBee

Also, this dress has pockets! Any dress with some good pockets is a dress for me!

The weather was pretty great for these photos. My friend Cece and I found a nice, wooded area complete with a good bog. Cece kept joking “bog blog.”

Today I’m linking up with

Birth of a Fashion Blogger, Sincerely Jenna Marie, More Pieces of Me, Fizz and Frosting and Not Dead Yet Style

Nina's corner, Small Business Saturday

4 gushingly cute looks created locally

04/24/2016 11 Comments

Last week, we teamed up with a group of local boutiques that I’ve been shopping at since high school. Kismet OTR, a cute boutique offering clothing and accessories, is the latest addition to the I Luv That Store group. I’ve been shopping at Pangea, Kismet O’Bryonville and Toko Baru for a while now, so I was excited that another shop was joining the group. I reached out about working together and they agreed. So myself and my friend Amber headed over there for a photoshoot last Monday.

These are four fun outfits we put together with their dresses and accessories. I loved one of the dresses so much that I decided to take it home with me. But more on that later.

Also today I’m co-hosting the Let’s Make Today Fabulous link-up with Chanda from mschanda.com. The theme for the link-up is Spring florals, which is great because one of these looks is all about the Spring florals. Here she is in a lovely floral dress. She simply looks amazing. You can find more amazing photos of her and her style over on her Instagram.

Without further ado, the four amazingly fun looks we created at Kismet OTR.

1. Florals and funk

I jumped out of my comfort zone a bit with this look and enjoyed it. I generally don’t do rings or hats. I really have no idea why. Perhaps you always have to take that hat off and I figure why bother. Perhaps rings never call to me. However with this look, we just went for it.

I’m also in love with this statement necklace. All items (dress, purse, ring, bracelet, necklace, ring and sunglasses) in this look can be found at Kismet OTR.

2. The floral sundress

Everything about Amber’s look screams Spring! I honestly do not know if I like the dress or the shades better. Both are so playfully fun and girly! Also, if you pop over to our Instagram, you’ll find one of Amber mid-twirl. This dress has a fantastic spin-factor to it!

3. The orange and blue dress

This was the dress I took home with me. It’s hard to not want a dress that fits well, is comfortable and is affordable. I also must say that I love this dress with this necklace. I would not have thought to pair the two, but Amber spotted it and convinced me to try it. I just loved the way it looked!

All items pictured can also be found at Kismet OTR. That means dress, necklace, bracelet, earrings and sunglasses!

4. The maxi and shawl look

This look is a bit more risque. This is why I love featuring other women on the blog. They often come up with outfit ideas I’d never try. This is the perfect example.

Everything minus the phone can be found at Kismet OTR too!

Also linking up with Not Dead Yet Style, Fizz and Frosting, Still Being Molly and Elegantly Fashionable

Ready to join the link-up? Just add your link below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Nina's corner

Tips for styling a Navy dress + a link up

04/13/2016 7 Comments

Happy Thursday! This week I present to you my favorite little navy dress. I stumbled upon this one in the sale section of Francesca’s and had to get it! I’m so very glad I did. I’ve gotten just as many wears out of this dress in the winter as I did in the summer.

Today I’m also co-hosting a the Thursday Moda link-up with Elegance and Mommyhood. Ada started this link-up several weeks-a month ago and has had quite a good turnout. Her blog title is quite catchy too. While I’m not a mom, I’m sure that at times moms can feel as though it’s harder to feel fashionable since so much of your time is spent caring for other humans. Her blog is a great reminder that you can rock it whenever! I love that.

Anyway, back to my tips for wearing navy. Navy is for sure a tricky color to pull off. It’s often close too close to black. I often find myself worrying if black is even a good option when I’m trying to style that navy dress.

My days often start off the same. I rise from my bed, walk over to the closet and decide which dress I’m going to wear for the day. The dress always comes first. Then, I accessorize around my dress.

Here are a few tips for styling that navy dress:

Pops of color

These red shoes are one of my favorite things I bought. When I’m looking to add a bit of pizazz to a look, I often turn to these shoes. Royal red looks great with navy. So does green, mustard yellow and coral pink, to name a few.

Big statement jewelry also with said pops of color

I just love bold red accessories. I cannot tell you how much wear I get out of them. I’m convinced that every woman should own a few things that are bright red.

This necklace is simple yet bold. It was an easy Charming Charlie find too.

Here’s the link-up. Hope you can join!

An InLinkz Link-up

Today I’m also linking up with:

Jersey Girl Texan Heart, Pleated Poppy, Pumps and Pushups, Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Sydney Fashion Hunter, Shopping My Closet, Elegance and Mommyhood, Doused in Pink, Curly Crafty Mom, Birth of a Fashion Blogger

Nina's corner

Black blue dress + a link up

03/30/2016 17 Comments

Happy Wednesday! Today I’m co-hosting the Jersey Girl Texan Heart link up. What is a link up, you may ask? Link-ups are weekly or monthly online parties for bloggers, more or less. One blogger or a group of bloggers hosts it and encourages other bloggers to link their similar posts up with her’s on her page. It’s a neat way to get your work out there and meet other similarly-minded bloggers.

Each week Monica from Jersey Girl Texan Heart hosts a link up where bloggers can link up whatever is going on in their world. It’s a lot of fun. Her blog too is one I follow. She blogs about style and beauty, but is also not afraid to talk about much deeper things. She’s not afraid to open up and share her struggles, which I respect. I’m sure she’s reached many over the years as a blogger.

So last week, I decided to reach out to her about co-hosting her link up. She obliged and here we are! Oh, and this is Monica, by the way, in her Easter outfit from last week’s link up.

The black blue dress look

Today it’s all about mixing the black and blue in a dress outfit. Recently, I’ve been digging adding pops of royal blue into my outfits. There’s just something so classy about it. Furthermore I have been obsessed with this Perry Street statement necklace. I got it in my first Rocksbox shipment and could simply not let it go. By the way, have you heard of Rocksbox? It’s a monthly jewelry subscription service. If you use my code NINABFF102, you can get your first month free!