Category Archives: jewelry

How Much Money Should Be Spent On An Engagement Ring?

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Happy Valentine’s Day!  Since today’s the day of love and romance, I figured we would talk about the ever important bling!  The engagement ring is the item that everyone oooh and aaahs over once you’re newly engaged!  The sparkly diamond on that ever important finger.  Every bride-to-be has heard of the 4 Cs of diamonds, and if you have ever stepped foot in a jewelry store like Robbins Brothers, you likely had a mini-course on diamonds and how Cut, Clarity, Carat, and Color affect the price and beauty of a diamond.

And if you’re like me… you forgot what all that means!! So, for all the single or newly engaged girls, I found this fun little infographic to explain it all to us.  Infographics make it so much easier to understand data….. so here’s a little chart that should make shopping for an engagement ring easier!

It also gives some fun little known stats like I really had no idea that the most popular shape was the round cut (I have a princess cut diamond!)

Here is the full infographic:

I love how at the end the graphic also gives you a great idea on how to shop for a ring (grooms!) and how to set aside a budget for a ring.  Most surprising is I don’t think many Tacori rings fall into many of these “How much to spend based on your income”, but hey, a girl can dream!  My advice: don’t completely rule out the smaller jewelry stores.  My ring was not bought at a chain store, but at a smaller boutique a friend recommended to us, and my ring gets compliments all the time!!

What were the most important factors in choosing an engagement ring?  Did you get to help your fiance with the ring? 

 

Bridal Beauty: Kim Kardashian’s Wedding Beauty Recap

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Hello all!  With the wedding over and behind me (it happened 4 months ago can you believe it??) I don’t have much time or topics to blog about.  I’ve been meaning to blog about more experiences with super important things, like your makeup trials, choosing a DJ (mine was AWFUL!) and other little things that you should really spend a bit more time on when searching for your perfect vendors.

But for right now, let’s talk about Kim Kardashian and her wedding that just aired on E!

I would have to say the best thing about Kim K (as always) is that girls incredible makeup!  Her artists never fail to make her look incredible, and for her first look, I love the pink glossy lips and brown eye shadow.  I feel like the entire blog world was buzzing about it and brides will for sure copy that.  Take a look below, beautiful!!

Kim Kardashian at her wedding

Her makeup artist Mario Dedivanovic dished to People that he used Lancôme 5 Pan Eyeshadow Palette in Golden Frenzy ($48 at Macy’s, Nordstrom) on her lids.  I own the Urban Decay Naked Palette so I’m not sure I’d need to buy this $48 palette, but I will go to Macy’s to test it out.  Her makeup artist to People “I swept the golden shade all over lid, the darkest shade along her crease and the lightest shade I used on the brow bone to highlight. I swept the golden colors along Kim’s lower lash line for a super-soft smoky look.” He doesn’t mention which false lashes he used on her eyes, but since she’s known to wear Make Up For Ever foundation it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s the brand she wore.  I usually tend to go for the MAC lashes because the #7s never fail me.

Now for that incredible headpiece (diamonds by Lorraine Schwartz.  Would you expect less from Kim??).  It had a little bit of a Pakistani twist to it, since many Pakistani brides wear what we call a “Sehra” or “Mang” around their head (see photo below).  I chose not to wear one because I think they only suit a certain woman’s face.

Pakistani head piece

Do you see where the inspiration came from?  Not quite the same, but very similar!  What did you think of her wedding??  Amazing, our a bit too much?

shoes, shoes, shoes!!

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A few weekends ago, I finally decided to venture out to buy wedding shoes.  I spent a lot of time at Nordstrom, Bebe & Aldo… and I found cute shoes but came home with three pairs of shoes that were all not for my wedding.  Woopsies.

I bought a pair of Jimmy Choo’s at Nordstrom’s last weekend for the 2nd event (for the white dress) keeping my finger’s crossed that they might go with the first dress too, but sadly they don’t!  I chose these Choo’s (the Isabele’s) because the heels were just 2 1/2 inches (great for dancing!) and they were comfy yet also flashy.  In love!

I haven’t tried them on with the dress yet as it’s at my MIL’s house, so if those don’t work out, I might get these super cute Badgley Mishka’s in white (or in gold for the first wedding event):

Badgley Mishka "Lacie" pump

In my shoe shopping for the first wedding event…in which essentially the only walking I’ll be doing is down the aisle to my husband-to-be, I can go with higher heels and not have to worry about comfort as much as I have to do with the 2nd event.

For the Pakistani Wedding, I want something with gold embellishments that’s a little bit fun.  I saw these because I love the lace-up backs, but I’m not too sure they will work:

adorable BCBG nude champagne colored shoes

cute lace-up back

These just might be more bachelorette party than Wedding…. just maybe.  Cute still.  The BCBG Anya peep-toe is $198.

Since I love all that glitters, these other BCBGs sequined sling-back heels (just $178) caught my eye:

sparkly sequined sling-backs

These shoes have potential as the wedding shoes… we’ll see.

I also saw these Steve Madden’s online at Nordstrom… they have a t-strap like I really imagine for my wedding shoes but I just don’t think they’ll be comfortable.  They’re glittery like I want:

Steve Madden "Haylow" heels

At $89.95, I really cannot complain.  The heels are 4″ PLUS a 1″ platform so maybe the 5″ total is a big ambitious for a bride wearing tons of heaving clothes on her wedding to balance in.  Super cute though, what do we think?

My ideal shoe is this Ivanka Trump creation... if it came in gold.  I love these shoes because the stones make em pop more.  (They also come in black!!)

Ivanka Trump "Alluvia"

In LOVE!  The black ones are even more cute!!

Now for a lust-list (like if Nordstrom’s carried these I would buy them for the day and then return them!!)

Valentino pumps

These Christian Louboutain Balota shoes… strappy, gold, and everything I’d love for the first event (but at $1095 far, far from budget!!)

Christian Louboutain "Balota" heels

Wish me luck finding shoes for the first event!! ❤