Fall Firsts | Giving In

This post contains a few firsts—both for the season and in my life.

I'm a big believer in getting fully dressed for the day before leaving my apartment, no matter what I'm doing (unless I'm heading straight to the gym/a workout, and let's be honest—that's rare). I don't mean full makeup and a planned head-to-toe look, but I rule out sweatpants, college-looking sweatshirts & tees, any type of true running sneaker, yoga clothing, etc., and I have a few reasons behind this—first and foremost, I think how you look directly reflects on your mood. When I'm at home, still in sweats at 2 pm on a Saturday I'm way less likely to get much done than if I pull on jeans and a nice tee. Secondly, I think how you dress says a lot about you to other people, and makes a first impression just as much, if not more, than when you open your mouth. Thirdly, I have the worst luck at running into exes/guys I've been out with on the street/subway/bars/on the street while eating French Fries a friend and I had tucked in our bags after too much wine (that's an embarrassingly true story, but at least I wasn't alone!).

So, as I donned a full sweater-and-boots look for the first chillier fall weekend last week, I did something else…I wore leggings as pants. 99.9% of the time I'm against this look, usually because the people I see them on wear them too tight, or they're to sheer, or their shirt is too short. The pair I have on here have a faux-leather panel down the side of the leg, with thick fabric and a high waist (!), which I paired with a long silk blouse and layered with an equally long sweater. While I haven't convinced myself to add a lot of pairs to my wardrobe yet, the look is growing on me—as long as it's paired with a long top! What are your thoughts on leggings-as-pants?

Though you can't see them much in the photos above, I had to snap a close-up of my nails because I was pretty proud of myself. I'd done this mani two or three days before these photos, but I'm usually so hard on my nails that it chips badly within a day or two—this time it held up! I put on two full coats of polish, waited a few minutes for it to get dry, then dipped a small makeup brush in glitter and dabbed it into the tips, spreading it up a little to give the glitter a "scattered" look. Since glitter can make your nails rough, the key is plenty of topcoat. I usually do two additional clear coats to seal it on, et voila! Starry night nails.

Zoe Karssen Sweater || J. Crew Silk Blouse || Lyssé Leggings c/o || Steve Madden Bag || Schutz Booties Sequin Cuff || WWAKE and Catbird Rings || OPI Polish in Into the Night || BITE Lipstick in Tannin
Photos: Emily Tozer