What I Wore Wednesday - Roaring Twenties

A friend of mine recently celebrated her 29th birthday - in honor of the occasion, she threw a Last of the Roaring 20s party. Almost everyone who attended showed up in 20s-themed apparel... which was amazing. I didn't really have anything in my closet which could have qualified for 20s, so I went shopping. I ended up finding a Project Alabama dress at a consignment shop with the original tags still attached. I'm not going to tell you how much I paid for it, or how much it originally cost.... but I will tell you that the difference was enough to be worth it! It is a silk/velvet burnout material which looks almost like goldleaf... it had pleats and beading and draped in just the right way to look vintage. Add in a cloche-style hat (from Lord & Taylor), strands of pearls, tights, gold shoes and red lipstick, and I could have joined the cast of Chicago!

Hairdo was inspired by this pin

The thing I love most about this dress is its versatility - I can totally wear it again, and fortunately it can be used in any season depending on how I style it! I think the best part about this dress, though, is that it's completely unique and I'm unlikely to bump into anyone else who has this dress. I love consignment shopping!

Have you added any great consignment pieces to your closet recently? How do you intend to remix them?

High hopes for Mario Badescu

Image from MarioBadescu.com

It kills me that I'm 28 and still get the same acne I got when I hit puberty. I've tried everything - Proactiv, prescription medication, prescription lotion, olive oil, fresh wash rags/drying towels every time, every face wash/polish under the sun, Zeno HotSpot, Clarisonic Mia... the list goes on. PLEASE tell me it's not just me!

I love my Mia - it gets my skin cleaner and fresher (more fresh?) looking than anything else I've used before. But it's really not helping me with my real issue, which is cystic acne. I'm prone to getting them on my chin. Now, as honest as I like to keep this blog, I'm not willing to post a photo of the monster currently residing on my face (I'm sure you're thanking me for this - you should). Suffice it to say, it's big, it's red, it's painful, and it's NOT welcome here!

I recently started a second job at a local day spa, and got to chatting with a coworker. Apparently she also has an issue with cystic acne, and has had good luck with Mario Badescu's buffering lotion. Since I'm clearly willing to try anything (see: the first paragraph of this post), I put an order through on Amazon a couple days ago. My little $17.00 bottle of buffering lotion arrived today... and boy, does it smell (bad)! My hope is that the chemical smell means that it's going to vaporize this zit right off my face.

As it turns our Mario Badescu has a fairly extensive line of products, and a very informative website (more about the buffering lotion here). I probably should have checked it out before I ordered, but whatever.

What are your favorite skincare products? What have you found to work well for your skin type?