Product Review: Pam Neri Necklaces

With the exception of a few delicate pieces, I tend to like my necklaces like I like my thighs: chunky.  So, it's no wonder that I love the line of chunky beauties created by the talented Pam Neri.  Chunky beauties like this one:

It's the "Blueberry" necklace, which you can find here, and after much, much deliberation, it's the necklace I chose to review on the blog.  Ultimately I went with this one because I am unable to resist anything blue.


But, let me just say that it was not an easy choice.  Pam's necklaces are absolutely beautiful.  For necklaces like the "Blueberry", the individual wire strands are crocheted and then woven together.  You can see the technique better below:

I love the sense of movement in the necklaces, but also that they look raw, and have an almost "found" quality about them.  Part of that appeal is in the materials used.  The above necklace is the "Aruba" necklace and includes both coral and sea glass among the materials used.  I think it's a brilliant mix.

All of Pam's necklaces are beautifully made, and, best of all, she also takes custom orders.  I love the idea of a custom-made necklace to take with you on, say, a cruise.  When you're traveling with a limited wardrobe and limited color palette, why not have a necklace designed to compliment that wardrobe/color palette?  It's also a great option for wedding jewelry.


You can find Pam's necklaces, and place customer orders, on Instagram (@pamnerinecklaces), Amazon and her website (pamneri.com).


I'll share the outfit I wore with my gorgeous "Blueberry necklace" a bit later, but, in the meantime, go ahead and visit Pam's sites and treat yo'self to some swooning over some truly gorgeous necklaces.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Eyelet and Culottes

Figure flattery is not a very high priority for me when getting dressed, but lately it's been even lower on the list.  Instead I've been playing with proportion and volume.

Friday it was proportion, today it's volume:

And by volume, I mean these fabulously voluminous culottes:

Ordinarily, I'd wear them with something tucked or fitted; anything to define my waist.


But, the fact of the matter is, you don't always have to define your waist.  Sometimes it's okay to wear high-volume culottes and pair it with a cropped top:

And waist be damned.


It's also okay to add in some cage sandals because they're your favorite and you can't-stop-won't-stop wearing them:

Top: Banana Republic  Culottes: gifted vintage (similar)
Sandals: Steve Madden (similar)  Necklace: c/o Happiness Boutique  Earrings: Kate Spade New York

Trust me, it's okay.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Olive, Cognac & Cream

Boot season is here!  Okay, not really.  Well, sort of.  In the mornings it's chilly, but then it gets hot and my feet sweat.  But, it's totally worth the sweaty feet to be back in boots.

And I thought that these boots, in particular, were a good pick for fall:

Their "fallen leaf" color brings a little autumn to the otherwise summery combination of olive, cream and turquoise.


And I had to wear the turquoise:

One, because I love this piece, and two, because I'm trying to wear all of my necklaces before I begin to default to scarves.  Because here in PA it's not just a month or two of scarves, it's like half a damn year.


But, for now, the weather is perfect for statement necklaces.  And boots, of course:

Top: Macys (similar) Necklace: LOFT (similar)
Skirt: Nordstrom (similar)  Boots: Steve Madden (similar)

Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Stripes & A Statement Necklace

The other day, the fine folks at Happiness Boutique sent me a statement necklace.  This statement necklace:

Celebration Statement Necklace c/o Happiness Boutique

And, I have to say, I couldn't be happier.  I've found that not all costume jewelry is created equally; a lot of it is not substantial enough for my tastes.  I don't want anything so heavy that it hurts my neck, but I also like my jewelry with a little bit of weight to it.  I have a couple of pieces that just feel like cheap plastic (and probably are).


But, this necklace; this necklace is perfect:

 It's just heavy enough to feel (and look) substantial, but not so heavy that I had to take it off after half a day.  And it looks to me as though all of Happiness Boutique's pieces are the same quality.  They are also very reasonably priced, especially given that shipping is free.  And there's a great rewards program too; you get points for both purchases and writing reviews.

There were a ton of necklaces that I loved, but I ultimately ended up with this one because I like the versatility of a multicolored piece.  All the colors in this necklace make me very, very happy.


Pairing the necklace with stripes also makes me very, very happy:

Skirt: sold out LOFT (similar, a-line option)  Necklace: Happiness Boutique
Blouse: thrifted (similar)  Sandals: Banana Republic (similar)

Because, really, how can you be mad at anything that goes with stripes?

Pro tip: Everything goes with stripes.  Including this necklace.


Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Olive and Blue

Olive essentially goes with any color, but I'm especially happy that it goes so well with blue:

Both medium blue and turquoise blue look fantastic when paired with the dark olive in the skirt and the sandals.



I think that basically means that olive is a neutral:

Necklace: LOFT (similar) (similar) (delicate option)
Top: Old Navy   Skirt: LOFT
Shoes: FRYE (exact) (similar) (similar save)

Or maybe I just wear it like one.  The world may never know.


Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Same Dress, Different Vest

I like to wear this dress with vests:

Dress: Gap  Vest: Piperlime  Sandals: Seychelles  Necklace: LOFT

Mostly because the dress is racer back and although the only summer-wear we've been cautioned against at work are cut-offs and tube tops, I have my doubts about the professionalism of a racer back dress.  So, I layer it with vests.

Last time it was a flowing cream vest.  Today it is this olive vest:

Speaking of this olive vest, I was worried that it was too short for my long-ish torso, but it works better on me than I'd hoped.  It also looks good with my chunky LOFT necklace:

I love the combination of olive and turquoise. And angel wings:

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Get the Look

Similar dress

Similar vest

Seychelles sandals

Similar necklace (save, splurge)

Similar earrings

Knotted

As you know, I love me a striped shirt; I even recommended them in my wardrobe workhorses post.  And this vertically striped shirt is definitely one of my favorites.  So, I was pretty excited to find another way to wear it; knotted at the bottom:

It's pretty over-sized so I usually wear it tucked, but today I undid the last button and tied it up.  I like that it alters the shape of the shirt into something more interesting than a straight-across hem.  

In addition to the striped shirt (vintage, thrifted), I am also wearing another of my recommended wardrobe workhorses; dark pants.  In this case, a pair of black twill skinnies (Simply Vera Vera Wang via Kohl's (similar here)).  I added a neutral statement necklace (c/o Maurice's) but colorful shoes (Nine West via TJ Maxx).

And I don't mean to be smug, but I'm pretty sure this outfit totally justifies the inclusion of these items on my list. 

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey

Sea Foam, Not Mint

Last year I railed against gross, institutional mint green as a trending color.  This year I still just can't with mint green.  But, I can with sea foam.  And I did, with this necklace (Onyx Phoenix necklace, via BaubleBar):

Yes, that's sea foam, not mint.  How can I tell?  Because mint is gross and this isn't.  Really though, sea foam has more blue to it than mint; it's like a greenish aqua.  Although, maybe this is just aqua...

Oh, well, whether sea foam or aqua, I wore it today:

And I wore it with coral ankle-zip skinnies (Gap), a gray sweater (Nordstrom) and silver and gray flats (Target, v. old).

Happy Wednesday, All!

Gracey

Shop the Look:
Exact BaubleBar* necklace (waitlisted)
Similar coral skinnies
Similar gray sweater
Similar two-tone flats

*If you're not already a BaubleBar member, you can use this invite link here.

** Disclosure: Actions taken from the hyperlinks in this blog post may yield commission/compensation for the writer. Please see the Disclosure tab for more details.

Deepest, Darkest Jungle

I love the black background on this tropical print jacket.  It reminds me of the deepest, darkest jungle:

And it’s more “appropriate” for winter than a brighter tropical print might be. 

I also love the Karina dress (Marisa, c/o Karina Dresses) that I paired it with.  This dress has been a closet workhorse since I received it a couple of years ago.  It’s held its shape beautifully and is so easy to layer so it can be worn year round.  In addition to the jacket (vintage, gifted) and the dress, I also wore tights (Spanx via Nordstrom) and boots (Gap).  I also added coral statement necklace (via Piperlime) to complement the colors on the jacket. 

Happy Thursday, All!

Gracey

Shop the Look:

Similar jacket (And by similar I mean, vintage tropical print with a black background)

Similar Karina dress (It doesn’t look like the Marisa is currently available, but I strongly recommend the Audrey for its similar cut).

Similar boots

Similar necklace

** Disclosure: Actions taken from the hyperlinks in this blog post may yield commission/compensation for the writer. Please see the Disclosure tab for more details.

Green With Envy?

Nope.  I’m just green with poor photography skills.  Unfortunately, I had to take these photos inside and I had to take them myself (the horror!), so the end result is green Gracey in a cute outfit:

Now let’s talk about the cute outfit, shall we?  It looks like pants and a tunic, but it's actually a dress over pants.  See?

The dress is obviously too long to be worn over pants, but I didn’t want to wear it alone as the holiday party I was attending was in a bowling alley.  A nice bowling alley, but still, a bowling alley.  So, I belted the dress with a skinny belt and then pulled it up to hang over the belt, creating a sort of blouson effect.  Et voila, my dress is now a tunic:

In addition to the dress-as-tunic (vintage via Goodwill) and cropped pants (Vince Camuto via Nordstrom), I also wore leopard pumps (Merona “Maye” via Target): 

Merona "Maye" pumps - Image via target.com

I finished off the look with a vintage gold clutch (Goodwill), a couple of vintage bangles (Red Fox Vintage) and my black mini-bubble necklace: 

And there you have it, what I wore for my holiday party.  What about about you Reader Friends?  Are you attending any holiday parties this year?  If so, what are you wearing?!

Happy Friday, Everyone!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Gracey

Football Attire and a FRAAS Review

As I mentioned before, I went to a Portland State football game this Saturday, which meant I had to wear proper football attire.  I decided on jeans and a sweatshirt:

Okay, so it was a lace sweatshirt, but I still say it counts.  In addition to my skinny jeans (Macys) and lace sweatshirt (Macys), I also wore riding boots (Born Crown via Nordstrom) and a leopard coat (consigned).  And, once I got to the game, where it was quite cold, I also wore my new Tech Gloves (c/o FRAAS):

I have to say that I was both excited and skeptical when FRAAS offered to send me these gloves.  Excited because I hate having to take of my gloves to use my phone and skeptical because I don’t know how knit gloves could possibly allow me to still use my phone.  I was also skeptical because these gloves are one-size-fits-all and I have giant hands (of course).

But, I did wear these on Saturday at the game, and they were fabulous.  They kept my hands warm, I was able to use my phone easily while wearing them, and as you can see above, they fit my man hands just fine.  And the teal goes with leopard.  A win all around.  Well, not all around, PSU lost to Eastern Washington, 34 to 41.  

Although I received the teal pair, the gloves come in several colors, from neutrals to jewel tones to brights:

The style I received has a wrist ruffle (or wruffle, as I like to call it), shown above, but the tech gloves are also offered in a longer, scrunch style and a bow style.  They run about $30.00 per pair, and are available both at fraas.com and amazon.com.  If you have a smart phone and are looking for a pair of tech gloves, I strongly recommend these.

Happy Monday, All!

Gracey