Style This: Tulip Skirt

Haven't done one of these in a while! I love this skirt because there are so many ways to wear it. I probably wear this once a week, and I had a fun time coming up with 2 different ways to style it.

All Dressed Up:

All dressed up

Lexie had an art show coming up and already had a million ideas bouncing around in her head. A trip around the city was just what she had in mind. Pulling on her comfy knit skirt she added a fun ruffly tank and a her favorite leather jacket to guard against the fall weather. A chunky necklace, some fun bracelets, and bright yellow purse finished off her look. Grabbing her camera and slipping on some heels she ran out the door, hailed a cab, and was off to create masterpieces.



Relaxed Riviera

Relaxed Riviera 

Sophie couldn't wait for her vacation in Italy. She had been saving for months and tomorrow was finally the day! Stripes and comfortable clothing were the first thing she packed. Her favorite black skirt with pockets for keeping treasures went in, as well as cute sandals, a straw fedora to protect her from the sun, and a large canvas bag to hold everything she needed for a day of sightseeing. 

End of Summer Sale

Going on now! Up to 50% off summer merchandise!

Strawberry Fest

A week ago I participated in my first show, a local Strawberry Festival. It was fantastic. Thank you everyone who stopped by and welcome to those who discovered this blog and the site from the fest!

It was a bit of a surprise, I had applied but hadn't heard anything back. Then a week before the festival the organizers called and said they had a last minute drop out and would I like the space? Um yes! So with only a few days to go before the fest I  ran around renting a tent, having a sign made, getting postcards printed, and generally organizing everything for a little shop.  But even though I was rushed, I think it turned out quite nice!

Style This: Gatsby Blouse

I've been in business casual mode to prepare for my new job on Monday, so today we're covering office style:

Eve was running late for work - again -  there was no time for a Starbucks stop today. Dashing around her room in a silk cami and pencil skirt, she finally found the blouse she was looking for. Its punch of color and fun ruffles would make her day a little brighter. She slipped on a beaded cuff, some gold earrings, and the dinosaur necklace her boyfriend bought her which she thought was hilarious. She grabbed her iphone, planner, and favorite post it note pad - shapes are so much more fun than plain yellow squares - and threw them into her purse. She slipped on some brown heels and ran out the door. 5 minutes early? Maybe there was time for a coffee after all!

New items in the shop

I've been running a little behind this week on posts, I was hit with a killer cold and have been fairly out of commission since last Wednesday. However, I'm feeling better now and I added a few new tops to the store, just in time for our summer sale!

The Crafty Tee - I have been looking forward to getting this top in for months. It's a super soft slub t-shirt with the cutest mini puffed sleeves.

The Pick Up Tank is probably my favorite item that's in the store right now. The picture doesn't even do it justice, it's so fun and random and really flattering and forgiving.

Top of the Class Top, another super soft rayon shirt with these cute little buttons on the front.

Summer Sale Begins Tomorrow!

Style this: Desert Sun Dress

Romantic neutrals are the basis for the Desert Sun Dress

 Daisy loved the spring -the warmer weather after a cold snowy winter, the sudden budding of trees making everything green, the slowly lengthening days. Today was one of those days, and it was the perfect day for brunch with her girlfriends. A neutral colored dress cinched with a pale pink belt set the tone for her outfit. A tan statement necklace, a white flower headband, and a tangle of bracelets nicely accented her dress, while a pale green cropped jacket was the perfect finishing touch in case it became chilly.  She slipped on some nude pumps and was out the door, ready for pastries, mimosas, and loads of girl talk.

Style this: Little House Dress

I've had a few people ask how to wear certain items, so I thought it might be fun to create some fictional characters and play with Polyvore to come up with a few ways to wear different items in the boutique. First up, the Little House Dress.

It was finals week for Greta. Only two more hours and she would be done with college forever. Sure she was a journalism major and didn't exactly have a job lined after after school, but it was comforting to know that her best friend - who was a business major- didn't have a job either. Deciding to make the most of her last day as a school girl, Greta put on her favorite plaid dress and some fun patterned knee highs. Her chunky heeled oxfords and plastic frame glasses added to the look, and just to keep the theme going she grabbed a fitted blazer since it wasn't quite summer weather yet. She threw her notes into her battered, vintage messenger bag and slipped a beaded headband across her forehead so she wasn't too costume-y. One last exam and she was going out in style! 

New products on the site and a giveaway!

I had a couple deliveries of lovelies last week and they are finally up on the site. A quick peek here:

Zip Me Up Tank

Inca Tank 

Picnic Dress

I really like all of these new styles, but I especially love the Inca Tank. Too bad that red is NOT my color! I pretty much look terrible in it because of my coloring, which makes me sad because my friend tried it on and she looked fabulous. Sigh. I guess that means you guys will have to buy it and I can live vicariously through you. 

Also (and perhaps more exciting?) I teamed up with the wonderful Roxy from Effortless Anthropologie and am giving away one of the super cute Owl Tablets on her site. If you want a chance to win check out her fabulous blog and leave a comment there. She is doing the drawing on Monday for the winner. Good luck!

How cool is this?

I was featured in FIDM's blog!

http://blogs.fidm.com/my_weblog/2010/04/merchandise-product-development-alumna-launches-new-website.html

It's finally here!

After months of planning and prepping, I am so excited to introduce the grand opening of

I hope to see you there!

3, 2, 1...

We have a launch date! For real this time! (I hope) The boutique is going live Monday, April 26th! Hope to see you there!

Sitting and Waiting

Remember over a week ago when I naively said that the website was going up last Monday? Yeah, it didn't. The designer and I had a little mix up with the days we thought is was going to launch and it didn't go up. I haven't heard when the new launch date will be, so right now I'm sitting and waiting. I'm almost done with everything on my end - I received a few more products so I have to add those - otherwise I'm just waiting for the formatting and testing of the site to be done. I've asked when the new date will be, but I haven't heard back yet. I'll keep you updated as I know things. Thanks so much for your patience!

Neroli Blossoms Boutique Sneak Peak

Normally I'm not that good at blog promises because I either forget or am too lazy, but this time is different!   Here's a little sneak peak at what will be for sale this week:

Also, check out my ghetto photo studio set up, because why spend over $200 on a backdrop stand set when you can make one yourself with $20 worth of PVC pipe? And use magazines to hold the backdrop down? And to even out the dress form because apparently our floor is crooked?

Hopefully we are going live tomorrow, although I haven't been able to contact my web designer for the past few days so I'm not sure what's going on. If it's not tomorrow it will be sometime this week. I'll keep you posted!

Almost crunch time

Sorry posting has been a bit scarce around here, I've been super busy getting everything ready for the boutique. I spent this weekend at Stylemax in Chicago and picked up some great lines that I can't wait to show you! I plan to have a sneak preview or two once the merchandise starts arriving. The rest of this week and next week will be spent placing the remaining orders, finalizing packaging, and attempting to organize a makeshift office until I move into my new apartment next month. Everything is finally coming together, and while I am starting to freak out because there is still SO MUCH to do, I am so excited to see my dream starting to come together. Tentative launch date is April 12th, let's see if I can get everything done in time!

I'll post when I can, thanks for your patience, it'll be worth it!

Drumroll please!

Notice anything different about my blog? I'm unveiling my logo! (Doesn't that just sound important?) The official logo that will be on my storefront will be styled a little different, but I wanted the banner on top of the blog to be landscape than portrait, so I rearranged the design. The actual logo looks like this:

It was made for me by my fabulous friend Tehani Nagata, who is beyond awesome. I then worked with my web designers to coordinate colors so it matches the site. I love it so much!

Also exciting news, the boutique should be ready to launch sometime around the middle of April! Soon it will be time for the fun stuff - picking merchandise to sell! 

So little time, so much to do!

I've fallen a bit behind on my posting here. It's been crazy at my day job and other things have been taking up my time so I haven't had time to write. But I'm super excited because I started working with the web designers on the boutique's site! I'm so excited to be working with Lightning Bug Designs and I can't wait to see what they come up with.

!!!

I just got a glimpse at the first draft of my logo! I'm absolutely in love with it, it's better than I ever imagined!  We're still working out the colors, but I'll post it soon for the world to see!

It's been a while

Sorry for the long absence, it's been crazy the last few weeks packing, moving, unpacking, and starting a new job. It's super exciting though because I made the move last Tuesday, and on Thursday traveled to Chicago for the weekend to attend 2 trade shows. One was for the awards company that I work for and we spent 3 days showing, but Saturday and Sunday were spent here:

At the Chicago Merchandise Mart for the Stylemax market week/trade show. It was intense. It was the first show I'd been too (not including LA Market Week when I spent the second day at my internship in a showroom trying to bs my way through the day with buyers), and I was hoping to go to Magic in Las Vegas this month, but I just don't think it's going to happen. However, I will definitely be planning on going to Magic for the next show in August/September. 

But back to Stylemax. It's a smaller show, but full of great lines. They didn't have everyone that I was looking into, but I found some fun new lines that I am absolutely going to look into carrying. Two in particular just blew me away, but I don't want to say anything yet! I didn't make any purchases there though because even though I thought they were going to be showing summer and pre-fall clothes, many were still showing spring and carrying a lot of immediates. (For people who have no idea what I'm talking about, showrooms carry samples of the garments and buyers place their orders for a certain amount of time, usually there's a window of a few months. Once all the orders are in, the clothes are manufactured and sent out to the stores. This is why buyers shop for clothes so far in advanced, they still have to be made before they can be sold. Immediates are clothing pieces that are already manufactured and can be sent to your store immediately.) Since I don't have my site up yet, immediates don't do me any good, and I'm hesitant to place an order for a future delivery date because I don't know where my website will be when. 

But on that note, I started talking to the web designers who are going to be designing the site, and we are starting March 1! That gives me a little time to figure out exactly what I want on my site and how I want the layout to look. So overall, it's been a busy yet exciting couple of weeks for me!

Getting the ball rolling

First, if you're joining us from my personal blog Traffic Jams and Tracing Paper, welcome!

This week has been rather exciting for me, as I worked my last day at my job, am packing to move, and I finally made the first official steps toward opening the boutique! I met with my graphics designer and we talked about ideas for the logo and business cards, and I started filling out all the forms needed to own/run a commercial business. I am now a legal entity! Next on my list is talking to a web designer to start designing my site, and starting to contact sales reps to purchase lines to carry. As a bonus, at the end of this month I might be attending a trade show, but that's still in the works. In the meantime I'm packing packing packing. (Or realistically, I'm procrastinating, surfing the internet, watching tv, and thinking about packing...)