It’s time to get back to basics. Wardrobe basics. Here is the post I did about my old wardrobe basics.
My everyday essentials are red lipstick, heels (or high wedges) and jewelry. For the past year or so, my favorite lipstick has been MAC’s Pro Longwear Lipcolor in Lasting Lust. It is the!perfect!red! I recommended it to La Belette Rouge, who got it and took a picture of it sitting right in the middle of her makeup collection.
It goes on like a gloss but it’s matte and very, very dry. After you apply the color, you flip the tube and apply a clear gloss to alleviate the Sahara-like dryness. I was introduced to this color by a makeup artist the night I wore this red Versace dress.
The makeup artist told me this stuff would last, but she didn’t tell me it would last till an oily makeup remover was used on it or the world ended, whichever came first. I nearly scrubbed my lips off that first night and the color didn’t budge. I don’t know if MAC puts extra lead in it or what, but I love it. I wear a similar product by Kimara Ahnert in Berry Freeze; it’s a deep color that’s not as bright as the MAC. I can’t find it on their site, but you can probably call them. Trish McEvoy’s Sheer Mulberry is similar to the Berry Freeze. I’m wearing one of them in this photo.
I used to use a lot of other bright reds, but I’m so happy with the MAC that I rarely take them out anymore.
Here are the very important shoes. I took the picture on the kitchen floor and when Gigi the dog saw them she started growling. Good to know she can protect me from an invasion of a shoe army.
Starting from the boot and working clockwise: The strappy boot is by Celine. I got it years ago. Last year, I wore it almost every day in the winter. The Mary Jane is the first Prada shoe I ever got. I mention that pair here. After more than a decade of frequent wear, the patent leather is finally starting to crack. Darn. Under that is a representative of the K. Jacques cork wedges I’ve worn every day for the past two summers. The silver wedge is by Prada. It’s not a basic, but someone asked for a photo of it recently, so I threw it in. The Michael Kors clog is old, but not as old as the Mary Jane. Under jeans, it looks like a boot and it’s good for slipping off in the airport. It needed emergency surgery last summer, after a heel got mangled by a cobblestone in Stockholm.
I forgot to put these Helmut Lang boots in the group photo.
I’ve had them for years, but I became fanatical about them this winter and wear them nearly every day.
I only wear my own jewelry designs. I wear certain pieces a lot for a few months, then I’ll switch to new designs. These were the pieces I was wearing frequently in November. I’m still wearing the Isabella Necklace and the Diana Ring. I just got the Queen Min Ring finished, so that’s a new favorite. The Lady Jane Necklace is also new and getting a fair amount of wear. Of course, this is a good time to show off the Boleyn Necklace, and lately I’ve revived my Juana Peekaboo Skull Ring.
I have a necklace coming that I’m really psyched about. Gorgeous client Melissa knows which one that is because she bought my sample, but I’m not ready to reveal it. That one will be part of a big Book Club post, so it’s going to be a while.
This post has gotten very long, so I will describe everything I wear in between the shoes and the lipstick another day. Sorry, K-Line!
red lipstick fits you so well. i could never pull off red like that. since i’m asian, i always feel like i look like a geisha. i know it’s stupid…but what you do. haha
Love the Celine boot.
I love the pic with the glasses, and the vision of your husband as reflected from them. Super sweet 🙂
I started using red lipstick this summer (until then I consider myself too young to use it, I don’t know why actually) and now I am addicted to it, it’s really awesome. I will try the one you mention. You have an incredible expensive boot collection! I guess when I will start working I will spend all my salary in shoes:(! My favourites are the Celine boots.
Wooah love the silver Prada wedges (almost as much as I love your flower shoes..)
No apologies necessary – I love the staggered posts. It gives me something to look forward to! Those silver Prada wedges and the Helmut Lang boots are so fantastic I am salivating. And I too am a woman who won’t leave the house without lipstick. (My grandparents/family on my mother’s side are Puerto Rican and it’s sacrilege to be seen without colourful lips in that culture – at least sacrilege in the culture of my particular Puerto Rican family.) Your photos are always gorgeous, Wendy. Thanks for the post. K
I love that ring!!
Another nice berry lipcolor is soft amethyst by Estee Lauder. Brunettes can rock it.
Love the silver Prada and I’d make the cork wedges a staple too!
I’ve been planning to do a “basics” post too.
It will be 100000000000000% less glamorous than yours!
You are rocking that Versace dress! Do you have any shots of the whole thing?
K.Line, I love your lipstick culture! Hurray for lipstick.
Lorelei, thanks for the recommendation, I will check that out.
Iron Chic, I’m sure yours will be creative and beautiful. Wait till you get to my very unimpressive Basics Part III. That’s where I get boring.
Natasha, thanks! If you click on the word Versace in this post, you’ll go to another post where you can see the whole dress.
love the prada wedge and mary-jane
You are a fashion inspiration, Wendy!
Well, I want all your shoes, all your makeup (if only I had the guts for all that bright lipcolor) and all your jewelry. Thanks for posting the photo of the silver Prada wedges! They’re good enough to eat!
Hooray for red lipstick!
Who’s that taking the photo of you with the berry-colored lipstick? I see someone in your sunglasses. Enjoyed the whole post.
Lynette, that’s my husband! Taking the one good photo of me that he’s ever taken.
I joined the KISS army to fight against the shoe army.
you better wear a 7, b/c i am coming to raid your wardrobe any day now! j/k – or not. How the hell do you keep your shoes in such great condition???
Oh my god I need that ring in my life!
I love these personal posts of yours best, though the books ones are of course mad educations. (Yes, that’s right, MAD. I’m bringing it back.)
PAD, that so terrified the shoes that they are waving the white sock of surrender.
Riz, I am a 6.5 or 7. More or less. Shoes are very unpredictable size-wise. Patent leather is always a great buy…it’s REALLY sturdy. Other than that, I don’t know why they last so long! Well, the ones that seem impractical because they don’t “go with everything” are usually great buys because you can literally have them for 20 years BECAUSE you don’t wear them every day.
GF, it’s ready for you whenever you’re ready for it.
IYF, I’m totally up for bringing “mad” back. You have my full support.
Hi
I love the Helmut Lang boots !
And of course that Trish McEvoy lipstick.Its a perfect red shade.I got my perfect red this christmas.Its a dark deep red by Shiseido.I love it
Frasier, what’s the name of that lipstick???