Desire/Acquire: The Perfect Day/Weekend/Office/Anytime Look

There is something about the outfit Marina Larroude, Style.com Senior Market Editor, is wearing in her Spring 2011 Shopping Guide profile that I am completely drawn to.  Maybe it's the easy-breezy casual, yet pulled together vibe.  Or maybe it's that I think those are fancy sweat pants.  Either way, it is most definitely that I can pull off this pairing with items I already own.  Though I love the blue and gray tones with wild shoes, you could pull this look off with any spectrum of colors: black and gray, brown and cream, or red and orange if you are Viviana Volpicella.

So, let's break it down:

- Nubby knit sweater.

- Ankle length trousers, jeans, or lounge pants in this case.

- Bag in same color family as your pants and top but not matching.  I think if you go with black pants and black bag you kind of miss the look.

- Chunky watch or a wrist full of bracelets to fem it up a bit.

- Shoes with a clean silhouette but an interesting print.  Strappy evening sandals with flouncies would not work here. 

Other than the Celine bag I am salivating over, I don't know much about the other pieces.  But, for a similar look,I think the items below would be perfecto!

PS - If you are heels adverse (which I am during the day) or want to tone the shoe portion down a bit pair with brogues, loafer, or driving mocs.

J. Crew Chalet Zip Sweater in Heather Dove - $39.99

J. Crew Merino Un-Sweatpant in Heather Carbon - $49.99

Parentesi leather tote in Slate Blue - $229 @ yoox.com

Yaneli by Nina Cheetah Wedge - $110 @ dnafootwear.com

Cost-Con Curls: Infiniti by Conair

I have been blessed/cursed with poker-straight hair.  I got a perm in the 3rd grade, and I seem to remember it lasting all of about three weeks.  I have spent hours trying to curl my hair with conventional curling irons only for it to go flat within a few hours of leaving the house.  What's a girl to do with all these beachy waved beauties running about like Gisele, Lauren Conrad, or Blake Lively?  

Now that my hair is back to being on the longish side, I went to my old faithful method of "curling" it around a 2" flat iron.  This worked, but took forever and always left creases in my hair.  There must be a better way.  Then, I came across the The Bombshell 1" curling iron rod by Sultra which had dazzling reviews...and a $130 price tag.  NOPE!  I b-lined to Ricky's and found a similar model called Infiniti by Conair: Same barrel shape (although it tapers a bit at the end), same promise of no kinks, both have lightweight construction, and looked totally comparable.  And, the Conair had a price of $39.99.  Score.

I have had the Conair Infiniti for a few months now, and I am really loving it.  It took a while to get heat settings and timing down, but the lack of a clamp make things so much faster (PS - if you watch pros curl hair, they never start at the ends.  They start in the middle and feed the hair around the barrel of the curling iron.)  My curl lasts all day--and even most of the next which is a miracle within itself.  I highly recommend this product if you have been looking for sexy waves with less than stellar results.  

Sultra Bombshell - $130

Infiniti by Conair - $40