Fashion Archives - Page 2 of 3

Would you coordinate outfits with your husband: Yes or No?

Parker and Sam get wrangled into a lot of things thanks to the fact that they are married to us! We love fashion and like to believe that it has rubbed off on them a little bit. We thought we would try something new and try to come up with a coordinated date night look. You’ll notice we used the word coordinated – NOT matching. Growing up as twins we have matched enough for a lifetime. However, when a couple is coordinated, their individual looks simply compliment one another. To accomplish this experiment we took a trip up to Station Park where they have a wide variety of shops and I could bribe Parker with chocolate filled beignets and savory crepes at Caffe Torino! (Definitely try the Roma option, it’s amazing) We also love to eat at Settebello and ParkStone Wood Kitchen (The grilled shrimp is my fave).

Anyways, back to the outfits, we agreed upon the color palette of navy blue and kelly green. After browsing for a little while we ended up picking both of our outfits from H & M, excluding my shoes which are from Nordstrom Rack and his that are from JCREW. H & M’s men’s clothing is mainly slim fit which looks great on Parker so I was pleased with the fit of his button down. Plus, buffalo plaid is an easy wardrobe staple to coordinate with so we went for it. For my outfit, I finally caved and got a jean jacket! At first, I felt a little like Kelly Kapowski from Saved By the Bell but I love that it is such a versatile style piece.

So, final consensus on “coordinating” my outfit with my husbands. Fun, but not for everyday wear. Will we be coordinating on a regular basis? Heavens no. However, I think that we will definitely try it again in the future, especially when we are attending a photo taking event like a wedding, gala, etc. All in all, I am just happy that my husband decided to play along. I’m not sure there is anything better than spending a day in the sunshine with the one you love! To see a list of the shops and restaurants at Station Park go to www.shopatstationpark.com.

Jean Jacket here

Parker’s green button down here

Similar dress here

How to dress your husband

Sam started a new job this week, which is so exciting! With a new job, you have to get a couple of new clothing items. I think it’s hard to find stylish men’s clothing, but Sam has a hidden talent for finding the good stuff at very reasonable prices.

What I hear most often is you get married and then you sneak into your husband’s closet and throw away all of the clothes you don’t like. I really never had to do that because Sam has a great sense of style (ok there was this one shirt from high school..). Lucky for me, Sam has always enjoyed dressing himself and knows what he likes. When I asked him to share his shopping favorites on the blog, he was very hesitant because they’re top secret, but I finally pried them out of him, so take it away, Sam!

Shirts: I like to wear shirts that are slim fit, that way it doesn’t look all billowy around the waist. Most stores are on board with this trend now and it makes it look like the shirt was tailored just to fit you.

I like to get shirts from H&M, Zara & J Crew. My secret shop is the London based Charles Tyrwhitt. They have unique designs and high quality. You can customize your dress shirt to the exact size, collar style, sleeve style, etc. that you prefer. Just don’t tell too many people because I have yet to run into someone wearing the same shirt as me!

Pants: Oh man pants can be tough. You want to look like a guy that doesn’t care too much, but I also don’t like it when you can see my underwear line because they’re so tight. I’ve found again that “slim fit” really fits me the best. I counted and by far the place where I get the majority of my pants is J.Crew. One thing I know Britt has always hated are cargo pants and shorts. I don’t have any of those in my closet.

Shoes: If I’m among friends, I will admit I’m kind of a shoe guy. So now you all know. They are fun to shop for and I definitely like a nice pair of shoes. I really like Aldo for shoes, it’s where I found the shoes I wore to my wedding, which are still some of my favorites. I’ve also found some casual shoes at H&M that are cool, but not as high of quality.

Shirt: Charles Tyrwhitt (similar) $59, Pants: J.Crew $75 (they are out of maroon, but come in other colors), Shoes: Aldo $125

Wedding Shoes: Aldo (similar on major sale for $69)
Shirt: Charles Tyrwhitt (similar $69)

How to dress like Lauren Conrad this Halloween

Everyone loves Lauren Conrad. We cried with her on the Hills and were crushed when she didn’t marry Stephen Colletti, but then he was on One Tree Hill, so whatever. But, back to Lauren, she really is the All-American girl. Her style is unfailingly feminine with a side of prep and we can’t get enough of it. We were thrilled to see she got her own runway show in Fashion Week this year and picked some of our favorite pieces to try in every day life. When I was at Kohl’s, the cute cashier looked at me after ringing up all of the Lauren Conrad items and said, “I just love your taste and sense of style, what beautiful choices.” I thought, well thank you! But we should really all thank LC! The hardest part about wearing Lauren Conrad clothes is finding out you don’t look exactly like her when you put them on! Here are our favorite pieces from her new collection.(Everything is on SALE!!)

Pintuck blouse

Dress (similar, skirt sold out)

Velvet Cigarette Pants Lace Blouse

Eyelash Boatneck Sweater

Lace trim top

Bow top (similar)

9 Last-Minute Halloween Costume Ideas

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Halloween is around the corner and it is time to share some last-minute Halloween costume ideas! We are huge costume fans so we decided to round up our 9 most popular last-minute Halloween costume ideas from years past. Why are we sharing these Halloween costume ideas? Well first off, they are all super simple to DIY at home and take no longer than 30 minutes to create.

#1 Pinata Halloween Costume This pinata costume is colorful and fun! It is also very affordable, all you need are some simple party supplies and colorful tights! I wish I would have used this party kit – it would make the assembly a snap! Click here to get the full instructions for this fun pinata costume!

#2 Unicorn Halloween Costume Unicorns are a trend that we LOVE! This costume is fun for all ages. When Britt put this unicorn Halloween costume together she had her husband wear the same thing and it ended being a really cute couples costume! We found this baby unicorn costume that is super cute. For full instructions and a supply list click here. Update: They now have unicorn hats that LIGHT UP, how fun would that be for trick-or-treating?!

#3 Tooth Fairy Halloween Costume The Tooth Fairy Halloween costume is very simple! We went with some cute shoulder feathers found at the craft store, a wand, and a big tooth! This costume can be whipped up in under 10 minutes! These are the wings I recommend. Full instructions here.

#4 Amazing Race Contestant Costume We love a good reality show, and Amazing Race happens to be one of our favorites! This is a great couples costume as well. All you really need is matching athleisure wear and some simple signs. Use it as an excuse to buy this cute zip up! To see how we did it go here.

#5 Price is Right Contestant Halloween Costume COME ON DOWN!!! This is a great costume idea for college kids. Grab your newest college swag and make yourself a Price is Right nametag. Click here to see the supplies we used.

#6 Bat Halloween Costume Broken umbrella anyone?! This costume can be completed in a few simple steps. Other than the umbrella you need a black top and bottom, which lets be honest, we all have! Here are the instructions.

#7 Mrs. Frizzle from Magic School Bus Costume

The Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus Costume was one of my absolute favorites! Did you know the show is on Netflix right now?! Yes, you should totally watch some episodes for nostalgia and costume creating purposes. I did this costume as part of a live Halloween show on TV. My hairstylist friend helped me achieve the perfect Frizzle hair with this spray and it was a piece of cake from there. Here is how I did it.

#8 Bank Robber Costume This is a classic and can easily be turned into a family costume if you have a new baby that can operate as your money bag! Here are the supplies Britt used.

#9 Flapper Costume

Flapper will never go out of style as a Halloween costume. It’s flirty and fun, especially if you don’t want to look gory or silly. This dress on Amazon has a Great Gatsby vibe and I LOVE IT!

What are your Halloween traditions?

Hopefully, this list of 9 last-minute Halloween costumes is helpful to you in your Halloween party prep! This year Britt will be hosting a couples party where there will be a costume contest, bobbing for apples, and of course homemade rootbeer with dry ice in a cauldron! Have a fun holiday!

What Happened When My Husband Dressed Me

Have you ever asked yourself the question, what would happen if I let my husband pick out my outfit? We loved the recent feature Summer Bellessa did titled, “My Toddler Dressed Me”, where she let her toddler pick out her clothes for a week. We decided to put a spin on it and see what would happen if we left the decision making to our husbands! They are always saying they could pick out great outfits for us, so we decided to put them to the test. The Outlets at Traverse Mountain were nice enough to give each of the boys $150 to spend at any store they wished. We knew we were in a safe place because the Outlets have our top 3 faves: J Crew, Loft, and H&M! Photographer extraordinaire Travis Richardson joined us for the adventure. It helps that our husbands both think he is awesome and that he makes them feel comfortable in front of the camera! If we are being honest, Britt thought she would end up in a button-down shirt and cardigan, while Brooke was pretty sure Parker would go for a full Nike sweatsuit look.

Luckily, their choices weren’t quite that extreme but we did learn a few things about our husbands:

They do not like pointy stilettos.
They prefer more casual looks.
Instead of the newest trends in denim, the boys love the classic colors and cuts.
They do not go for lace, embroidery, embellishments, or sparkle.
Sensible flats are the name of the game.

Overall, it was a really fun experience to see their perspective and learn what they prefer to see us in. Once we made it clear Victoria’s Secret was not an option the guys had a lot of fun. We didn’t correct any of their choices and truly just let them pick things they liked… it was kind of hard to hold our tongues! (Like when I was trying on furry scarves and leather pants). However, we think this definitely calls for a Part 2… “This is what happened when my wife dressed me.”… to be continued!

Here are our BEFORE looks. Typical work outfits for both of us: Brooke in a dress and me in patterned pants, fitted jacket, and heels.

Nothing more confusing than trying to find a pair of cute women’s shoes! I saw this look on his face quite a bit during our shopping adventure…

Parker went straight for the flats, no high heels in sight.

This is my face thinking about the last time I wore faux leather pants in 7th grade. One word comes to mind: sticky

Cute on him maybe? In a snowstorm? Maybe just Antarctica?

This is me realizing these leather pants would actually be perfect for a Sandy from Grease Halloween costume.

Another moment of enlightenment, Parker loves Duchess Kate Middleton’s style, striped tee-shirts, Keds and fitted trench coats! His taste could be much worse so I didn’t mind!

This is a capture of Parker looking on Pinterest for some last minute fashion inspiration… jk he was checking ESPN.

Our outfit details: Brooke is wearing a striped shirt from J Crew, her new favorite dark wash jeans from Loft, a trench coat from H&M and shoes from H&M. Britt is wearing a floral top from J Crew, jeans from H&M and silver flats from H&M.

Huge thanks to the Outlets at Traverse Mountain for letting us do this experiment on their turf! If you want to do the same thing with your husband, post using the hashtag #MyHusbandDressedMe so we can feature some of our favorites!

Valentine’s Flowers on Every Budget

We have been dying to collaborate with one of our best friends and florist extraordinaire,Rachel Osguthorpe, for quite some time now. We decided Valentine’s week was the perfect time to do it! Whether Rachel is working with a budget of $10 or $100, she makes every project beautiful and personalized. In case you don’t believe us we have photographic evidence thanks to Emmy Lowe Photo! Together Emmy and Rachel create some of the most beautiful photos together. You can go here, here, and here to look at some of our favorites. We challenged her to come up with several different floral arrangements that cost $10, $40 and $75. All clothes worn in the photos are from Jolley’s Gift & Floral. They have the cutest clothes and shoes! Even though we are both super excited for Valentine’s this year, we definitely remember being heartbroken and lonely in years past. One thing our Dad did for us growing up was to get us each a simple flower for Valentine’s Day. It was so nice to feel loved, even if it was from someone who is kind of forced to love us 🙂 This year we are going to try and brighten someone else’s day who is not be thrilled about the holiday this year. It’s amazing what a bunch of cute flowers can do for your mood!

{you can get these gorgeous blooms for $10!}
{Rach can do anything you want, but she has an amazing eye for design and is always introducing us to flowers and plants we’ve never seen before, this is the mid range $40}

{how excited would you be to get this gorgeous arrangment?! this is the $75 and it’s stunning} {how cute is this little pup and its red collar?}{if you’ve never had the sour heart gummies from Jolley’s run now, they are so good!} {this is the mid range bouquet that is so gorgeous! It runs about $40}

We love supporting local businesses and Jolley’s is definitely one of our favorites! They also carry Treats & Trends cookies, which come in flavors like Diet Coke & Cookies and Cream. They are beyond. You can find Jolley’s at 1676 E 1300 S in Sugar House. Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you! We are so grateful to have you following along with us and we truly LOVE you!

10 Things You Didn’t Know About Being on the Red Carpet

Being on the red carpet is kind of like being in an alternate universe. We want to share a few things you probably didn’t know.

1. It’s an all day thing: we have to be on the red carpet by 11:30am and are standing on our interview platform from 11:30am-5:00pm. We’ve learned to bring mints, water bottles, and flats.

2. For every “star” there are at least 10 managers/publicists/agents/people. The red carpet is very crowded, but it is mostly filled with publicists and 99% of them wear black, walk around with a clipboard, and are kind of scary.

3. Paris Hilton is a chain smoker. She comes to the Grammys every single year and we still aren’t sure why. Remember in 2013 when she asked me to fix her dress in the bathroom? Well, this year we were walking off the carpet right behind her and not even two seconds after we got outside she started smoking and complaining about how many people wanted to take a picture with her.

4. What’s up with everyone asking the same questions? The reason lots of reporters ask people what they are wearing and who they are excited to see is because they actually don’t know who they are interviewing or anything about them. Those are definitely the two most popular questions that we try to avoid.

5. Madonna looks scary in person and flashed everyone on the red carpet. As in lifted up her skirt to show off her black thong. Pretty sure shock will always be the name of her game. Miranda Lambert however, has flawless hair and makeup in person. It is super fascinating see celebrities up close. All of them have professional hair and makeup, so it’s interesting to see how it all compares. Sam Smith is much thinner in person than he looks in photos and videos. Like, a normal size 22-year-old guy.

6. The oldies get upset if you don’t recognize them immediately. Do not take this the wrong way, but there are a lot of old musicians at the Grammys. Sometimes it can be hard to keep track. We got most of them right this year, but when it took me longer than 5 seconds to recognize Tom Jones he gave me the side eye. On the other hand, one of the Bee Gees, Barry Gibb, was a sweetheart who seemed thrilled to be there.

7. No food or drink is allowed on the carpet, which means everyone is ravenous by the time they get inside! Thankfully, reporters are provided with a dinner in the media room backstage at the Staples Center.

8. They spend hours vacuuming the red carpet the day before. It is pretty crazy to see the work that goes into preparing the red carpet area. There are bleachers set up, red carpet rolled out, and chandeliers hung. One thing we loved seeing was how the E! News 360 Glam Cam was set up. There are about 50 cameras in a circle all taking photos of you at the same time and luckily the crew was nice enough to let us try it out.

9. The Grammys have a no excessive skin rule, which nobody really broke this year…except of course, Madonna!

10. It’s fun to see how tall all our fave performers are. Taylor is so tall! Josh Duhamel is a sweetheart, total babe, and is about as tall as both of our husbands (between 6’3″ & 6’4″). We asked him about his adorable little guy Axl and he says he is talking and can sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” now. He came without Fergie to present one of the awards. He said she was in the studio recording. We will be posting our full interview with him later this week. And yes, he totally qualifies for his #SexiestManAlive title!

Red Carpet Looks Through the Years

I originally wanted to title this post “Extreme Makeover: Grammys Edition”. Some photos from the past make us cringe or frown because of how we are dressed or what our makeup looks like. However, looking back at our Grammys experiences the past 4 years makes me smile. We have had so many, crazy, outrageous, fun, memories at the show. We were 22 years old when we attended for the first time and we feel like throughout the years we have learned a few tricks.

– Your feet will not survive unless you bring a pair of flats to slip on in between events.
– Water bottles are a lifeline in the middle of a large, sweaty mass of people all smashed together.
– Bring a touch-up kit with you, makeup does not last for 14 hours.
– Use twice as much hairspray as normal or hair goes flat due to the humidity.
– Relax and don’t be shy, people are nice!

1st year (2012)

Last year (2014)

We can’t wait to show you our dresses for this year’s show! Remember to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for live updates from the red carpet this weekend.

Do’s & Don’ts for Couples Photos

We present… Couple Photo Do’s and Don’ts. We jumped at the chance to work with Jessica of Jessica Janae Photography . She is a world renowned photographer known for her ability to capture beauty and movement.

We are in the stage of getting married and wanting beautiful engagement photos, so we thought it would be fun to show you some Do’s & Don’ts for Couple Photos. Of course we had Sam and Britt do it because they are a couple who loves to laugh at themselves. Whether you are getting Christmas card photos or engagements, or just photos as a couple, we hope these tips help!

#1 The Ring Pic:

Every newly engaged lady loves to show off their wedding ring, but it can look very stiff if you’re not careful. This before and after shows a few slight changes so you can still display your bling without looking mega awkward.

#2 The Boy Nose Smash/Foreheads

Of course it’s cute that he wants to nuzzle your face, but let’s get some space in there so it looks good! I loved this tip from Jessica to lightly touch foreheads instead, so you still get the lovey-dovey vibe without any body parts being smashed.

#3 The Kiss

Lesson learned- the moment before your lips actually touch looks a million times better than squishy faces. But, we’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people around the world that they love both pictures. I do need to mention that Jessica told us what angle to kiss in the first one as well, so it doesn’t look as awkward. There’s just something about the moment right before your lips touch that is a little bit steamy!

#4 Just say no to the piggyback

It is so rare that it looks cute and just don’t even think about it in a dress! There are plenty of other ways to look like you want to be close, without being THAT close. Especially for photos you are sending out with a wedding invite, the YES picture looks cleaner because instead of seeing jumbled limbs, you are seeing two smiling faces.

#5 The Awkward Stance

You have to create shapes and angles with your body to make it more interesting. Try different arm and hand placement instead of sticking to one static pose. It may feel a little bit awkward to move around and try different positions, but it is guaranteed to look so much more natural.

#6 The Boob Squish

Hands down the most awkward of the bunch! Although when we were taking the photos it didn’t feel like that awkward of a pose, it is flattering to no one. It might feel *cozy* but it is never a good option. Jessica had us make a few small changes and it looks so much better! You can also get a better look at the ring with the improved pose.

#7 The Announcement

If you’re not doing a pregnancy announcement (which we are totally not), then don’t do the pregnancy pose with the hands on the stomach. It is also a little too reminiscent of the “prom pose” which we all need to leave in high school where it belongs. The much better option is the sexy back hug snuggle with your best Tyra smize.

#8 The Nuzzle

Squished noses are just not cool and they make everyone look weird. By slightly turning your face, everybody gets to show their best angle! The photographer also had me move my arms down, so I didn’t look like I was trying to jump on Sam haha.

There you have it! The 8 poses that you should steer clear of for engagement photos (or really any photos for that matter). Huge thanks to the fabulous Jessica Janae for the photos, she is so incredibly talented and knows how to direct clients. If you are in the Salt Lake City, Utah area BOOK HER and if you are not she travels for clients that she really want to work with!

We had so much fun doing this shoot and have since done many more photography blog posts. Make sure you take a look!

Family Photo Do’s & Don’ts

What to Wear in Family Photos

How to get a toddler to smile in family photos

Last Minute Costume: Unicorn

This is a costume we have been wanting to wear for years, so we finally just did it! All of the supplies are from Zurchers, and the best part is you really just need the hat (which is surprisingly warm and comfy). We paired it with a plain white t-shirt and hot pink workout leggings. Pretty magical.