December Favorites

Hey All!


So today I have for you my December favorites! It was an easy month for favorites, because I have my birthday and Christmas wrapped up in one month! I have some beauty and fashion favorites this month. I hope you enjoy!

So for my favorites! 

First is my & Other Stories knit. I have been wearing this non-stop and have gotten so many compliments on it! I love the texture it adds to any look, and it's black which is versatile. Buy it here. For beauty bits, I've been using Highbeam as a highlighter on my cheek bones and below my brows. It gives me a nice glow without looking overdone, you can view it here. I have also been using my new Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette non-stop. I am obsessed with all three of the blushes in this palette, and am doing it a review on it later in the week, view it here. For lips this month, I've been pairing the Charlotte Tilbury lip cheat in pillow talk with her lipstick in stoned rose, and it's a match made in heaven. If you've been searching for that Kylie Jenner nude lip, look no further. View the lip cheat here and the lipstick here. My last beauty bit is a mask. I've been using the Boscia Brightening mask all month. It really clears my face of impurities nicely, and leaves my face bright and glowing, view it here.
For fashion favorites, I've been loving my mittens from Asos! I first saw them on Essie Button, and knew I had to have them. They keep my hands super warm on cold mornings, view them here, plus they're on sale! Next, I have my Baublebar earrings. I usually only wear these on special occasions, but I can't wait to wear them for New Years! I've been staring at them all month, just waiting for an occasion! View them here. My next fashion favorite is my new COS bag! I purchased this in NYC, and I've been attached at the hip with it ever since. I am in love. It's so geometric and just adds a fun spin on any look, view it here!
My last two favorites are a candle and a new scent. I have been burning this Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt candle like a man woman. It is seriously the BEST winter scent. It was a tad expensive for a candle, but I regret nothing. View it here. Last but not least is my new favorite scent, Eau Duelle by Diptyque. It's a spicy vanilla scent, and I think it's so perfect for the winter season. It lasts all day long, and I love smelling it on my clothes long after I've removed them! View it here. (Not sure why it's $140 for 2.5 oz, because I purchased mine at Barney's for $120 for 3.5 oz.)

xxxxx

What are some of your December favorites?

By The Lake

Hey All!


I finally got a new camera!!! I could seriously cry I'm so happy. I just needed a professional camera so badly, and I finally got one. My mom got me a Canon Rebel t3i for Christmas and it's seriously everything I've ever wanted. The quality of the pictures is amazing, as you'll see down below! I am so happy with this new camera, and this blog is going to overall look 100 times better now!

Aside from that, I hope you all had an amazing Christmas and spent it with family and friends! I pretty much relaxed the entire day, ate a disgusting amount of food, then went to my boyfriend's house and had more food there. It was a great time though.

So today, I styled this outfit. I paired some distressed denim with a cozy sweater, some loafers and my new fur collared coat! Enjoy!

Coat : Theory | Sweater : Zara | Jeans : Zara | Bag : COS | Loafers : And Other Stories | Ring : And Other Stories | Sunglasses : Karen Walker | Lip : Stoned Rose by Charlotte Tilbury

XXX

New York City : Birthday Edition 2014

Hello All!

So today, as promised I'm going to re-cap my birthday trip to NYC that took place this past weekend. It was an amazing trip, and my boyfriend and I had a blast. This is the fourth year we've gone to New York for my birthday, and this year definitely didn't disappoint...


Friday, December 19th...

So my boyfriend and I left for NYC at about 9 AM on Friday morning and arrived in New York at about 12:45ish. The trip from Boston isn't that long, but when you hit traffic going into the city, it seems like forever. Anyways, we booked a room at the Waldorf Astoria, which is completely gorgeous in every single way. We valeted the car, and went to go check-in. The room happened to be ready, so we dropped off our stuff and were starving, so left to go eat. We ended up going to Del Frisco's Grille, right in Rockefeller center. It was delicious. We sat at the bar, got a couple of drinks and some burgers.

              David and I at Del Frisco's                                 David and I inside Trump Towers

After our late lunch, we walked around 5th Avenue for a little. It was entirely WAY too crowded. There was people everywhere, we couldn't even walk. We decided to head down near Central Park, and go shopping in Bergdorf's and Barney's, a MUST when in NYC. We initially went into Bergdorf's to find a Canada Goose jacket that my boyfriend really wanted, but the coat is so popular that they didn't have his size. Instead, we went to the contemporary floor (my fave) and the sales were MAJOR. It's so convenient because every time I go to Bergdorf's in the winter, they have a huge sale going on. I only got two things, because the two things were MAJORLY expensive. I picked up this Theory fur-trim coat. IT'S EVERYTHING. It's sold out everywhere, so I acted on it. My boyfriend actually picked it out and I fell in love. I also picked up this Vince cashmere turtleneck in navy blue. I can't believe how soft it is, and will be wearing it all throughout winter. After Bergdorf's, we ventured over to Barney's and I finally picked up Eau Duelle by Diptyque. I've been wanting the scent FOREVER. I instagrammed a picture, if you want to check it out! 

After Barney's, David and I just walked around really. We stopped through Times Square and popped into stores on Fifth Ave. After store hopping, we went back to the hotel. David was seriously too tired to even go out to dinner, and fell asleep at about 10 o clock. I wasn't that tired, so I just ordered some room service and watched some TV! 

Saturday, December 20th....

My birthday! I turned 23 years old! We got up around 10 AM, and got ready. At about 11, we left the Waldorf and got some Starbucks. We then hailed a cab, and drove over to the 9/11 memorial site. The museum there was breath-taking. I couldn't even believe the artifacts in there. There were pieces of the towers, every single victim's picture, a firetruck that got destroyed, and actual beams from the towers that were impacted that day. It made me extremely sad, and sort of depressed. One of my high school teacher's lost his dad that day, who was on Flight 175. It brought back memories of what happened that day, and just listening to the news all night long. We spent a good hour there, but I was almost happy to leave because it was heart-breaking.

                                 Freedom Tower                                                    On the way to the memorial
                                                                                                                        in my new coat.

After the 9/11 memorial, we went to Soho. I immediately went into COS. Since their only U.S store is on Spring Street. I picked up this dress, this t-shirt and this bag, which I'm OBSESSED with. After COS, we needed lunch. We ended up going to Lombardi's, which is America's first pizzeria! It was to die for....

Pie at Lombardi's...

After lunch, we did more shopping! I stopped into a bunch of different stores. I really wanted to go to & Other Stories, because their only U.S location is in Soho. The store was GORGEOUS, and I wanted everything in there. I picked up only a few things, since my boyfriend was getting anxious to leave. I got this sweater, this ring and this bracelet. My boyfriend actually paid for my items as a birthday gift! It was amazing.

             

                                                             
                                                                Inside & Other Stories...

After that, we walked around Soho and just took everything in. The stores there are AMAZING. I wanted to stop into Momofuku Milk Bar, but the line was outrageous, so we settled on Laduree instead to grab a couple of macarons. After grabbing some treats I stopped into Wolford to grab a pair of tights to wear with my dress for dinner! We then went back to the hotel and rested a little before going out to celebrate my birthday! 

Céline in Soho...

                                          

Resting in the hotel room before dinner...

We went to The SeaFire Grill for dinner, which was right around the corner from the Waldorf. The food was AMAZING! I had shrimp cocktail, surf and turf, a chocolate tart, and multiple glasses of wine. Everything was to die for, it was just such a good dinner. We were there for about an hour and half, then we ventured off to a hookah bar to grab some drinks and of course, smoke hookah!

                                              

                                                                                  At The SeaFire Grill....

         

                         At the hookah lounge...                                                                 Before dinner....

After the hookah lounge, we walked back to the hotel and crashed. I was exhausted from the day and so was my boyfriend. 

Sunday, December 21st...

Today, we wrapped our trip up. We woke up at about 10:30 and packed all of our bags up. We checked out out of the hotel, and ventured back over to Soho to get some brunch. We went to Chalk Point Kitchen on Broome Street. It was delicious. I had eggs benedict and David had banana french toast! We ate fast because we were starving. After brunch, we hopped in the car and drove back to Boston because unfortunately, my boyfriend had to work at 6 :(

                                                  Broome Street                           Chalk Point Kitchen

I just returned home not too long ago, and am already having withdrawals! I hope you enjoyed my re-cap, and I can not wait to return to my favorite city in the entire world!

XXXX

An Apology

Hey Guys!

Wow, I have seriously been the worst blogger EVER. I haven't updated in like a week and a half, and that's honestly kind of embarrassing. I actually just got back from my big weekend in New York City for my 23rd birthday, which was yesterday. I had such a good time, and I plan on doing an entire re-cap tomorrow. I'm going to format the post tonight, and it should be up early tomorrow morning.

So I truly am sorry for the lack of posts! I have one more final for school to do tomorrow, and then the posts should be pouring in, since I won't have any more homework/tests/studying/classes to attend. I'm going to start working at my server job more, but I'll definitely still have free time for the blog. Also, I am hopefully getting my camera for Christmas, so I can't wait for the overall feel and quality of this blog to improve!

Thank you guys for sticking with me, and enduring the absence for the last week or so! It was not intentional. I was totally planning to write a quick post telling about my week an
d how I was going to NYC for the weekend, but it slipped my mind entirely and I was not settling for a post from my phone. The format is always off.

Thank you for your patience and The Garment Rack is back in business!

XXXX

Texture Texture Texture

Hey All!



So today it finally stopped raining long enough for me to squeeze in a shoot! I haven't worn boyfriend jeans in months. I've sort of been just sticking with my J Brand raw hemline jeans and my Topshop Jamie jeans, which are both straight leg. I wore boyfriend jeans a lot in the summer, and sort of wanted to include them in a look again. I paired them with a knit and a vest over top, just to spice things up a bit. I then completed the look with my fur clutch, a knit hat and some booties! I am also loving the Boston skyline in the background! Enjoy!

Vest : Vince Camuto (on sale!) | Knit : Zara (old) | Jeans : Topshop | Hat : Wool And The Gang | Bag : Zara | Booties : Vince Camuto | Lip : Mexican Rose by NARS |

XXX

OH AND BY THE WAY!

The winner of my Nivea giftbasket challenge is Brigid O'Rourke! I'll be contacting you through email to get your contact info so Nivea can send you the basket! Congrats! 

Books that Inspire Me

Hey All!

Wow, I am so sorry about the lack of updating. It's been really crappy weather here in Boston for like the last week, and rainy/dreary weather makes me so so so lazy. I didn't even want to leave my bed, never mind update my blog, haha. I have some outfits in mind that I want to shoot, I'm just waiting for the rain to go away. It was actually snowing out earlier. Also, my mom and I have weird schedules so it's hard to meet up and get some shots done. Anyone know of a photographer in the Boston area? I need one!

Anyways, I was looking around my room the other day and realized I have so many books. Like an unordinary amount of books piled in my tiny little room. I was looking through them and just pulled out some that I look at now and then to get my creativity pumping. I love looking at images and personally, love turning pages in a physical book. There's some sort of gratification I get from it. Here are some books I look at that get the inspiration flowing....

XXX

Weekstagram #2

Hey All!


So this week is my second installment of Weekstagram! I think I really like doing these, they're fun to put together! To recap though, I had a pretty good week. I did absolutely nothing on Monday and Tuesday, which I loved. Sometimes you just need those lazy days to make you feel refreshed. I do that quite often, since I'm such an introvert. I'd rather stay in bed and be by myself any day over going out. I am going out tonight though, so wish me luck. I had school on Wednesday, and then on Thursday someone returned my bag that was stolen from me a couple of weeks ago!! Everything was in it, including my make-up! I think I had forgot to mention on Sunday that someone found my Marc Jacobs wallet in a random bush, and they returned it to me. So now I have pretty much everything back! They only things missing were obviously my cash, and my Moleskine notebook along with my Stella McCartney sunglasses case that got completely ruined in the rain. That's okay though! I got back my make-up and my wallet which is what I was really upset over! Have a good weekend everyone!

XXX

What were your posts on Instagram like this week?

Nivea Challenge

Hey All!


So today I have a little giveaway and a challenge for you all! I was recently contacted by Nivea to do the "Get More For A Dollar" challenge! Nivea has been selling their Nivea Creme for over hundred years. It's formulated with jojoba oils, Vitamin E, and Eucerit which when combined helps dry skin stay hydrated all day long! So Nivea sent me* their infamous Nivea Creme to try and test for a week to see how I could use it in different ways (on cuticles, rough elbows or even as a night creme) and how it improved my skin after a week of use! I've been using it for roughly 4 days now, and I can already see huge improvement in my skin. I've been using it a lot on my cuticles and my legs, which are super dry in the winter time. My week challenge isn't up yet, but I will be doing another post at the end of the week to report my thoughts!

The best part of the challenge? Nivea wants you to try out the creme for yourself! They are hosting a giveaway for my blog, and one lucky reader will get an amazing Nivea gift basket to try out their products for yourself and participate in the "Get More For A Dollar" challenge! Just enter down below and a winner will be chosen at random!! The gift basket will include - a 13.5 ounce Nivea Creme, Nivea Touch of Frangipani body wash, and a Nivea A Kiss of Care and Color in the shade Sheer Pink!

*PR samples

XXX

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chunky Knit

Hey All!


So today I have a little outfit post for you. I was seriously FREEZING when this was shot. My hat kept blowing off because of the wind, and my hands were completely numb by the time we were done. So sorry if I'm grabbing my hat in most of the pictures, it was only to prevent it from flying away, which it did multiple times! It was worth it though, I love how these came out! I love the layering of the tunic with the chunky cream knit. I just paired that with some black trousers, my vintage black pumps, a hat, and my Kate Spade gray bag. I haven't used this bag in a while, but it's the perfect gray tote for everyday use!

Hat : Topshop ( out of stock, but there are similar versions on the website ) | Trousers : Topshop | Tunic : Target (no longer available) | Sweater : Andrea Jovine ( they sell her stuff at TJ Maxx but I couldn't find it on their website ) | Heels : Vintage | Bag : Kate Spade | Lip : Myth by MAC | 

XXX