A Grown Up Christmas Dress

December 13, 2018 by Virginia 23 Comments

Christmas dresses have always been a part of my Christmas tradition. Ever since I was a little girl, I looked forward to dressing up for the Christmas Eve service. Though my current church doesn’t have a Christmas Eve service, I still love getting a grown up Christmas dress to wear to a work party, to a special holiday concert or for the Christmas worship service at church.

Grown Up Christmas Dresses Can Be Expensive

Grown up Christmas dresses are not the same as little girl Christmas dresses. Though you can still find one with velvet and bows, or skirts with tulle or sparkles, big girl dresses can be much more expensive. I’m not about to go and spend a lot of money on a gown for Christmas, but do want to relive that joy of a brand new Christmas dress that makes the season extra-special and make me feel like I sparkle a little more.

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When I searched for a Christmas dress this year, I knew I wanted something affordable that I could share with my readers.

My first instinct was to try Shein. I’ve had a lot of success with them lately and they have some beautiful dresses at affordable prices. I wanted to order them early and review them for you so you know which ones are worth trying. Unfortunately, it took much longer than expected to ship this order. That’s likely due to holiday shopping because recently my orders have come very quickly. (This order took two weeks.) The bad news is that unless you choose Express Shipping, you probably won’t be able to order and receive these dresses by Christmas.

The great news is that these dresses are incredible! I can’t even believe how much I love them.

They fit so perfectly. Both the green glitter dress and the red plaid dress are made of a stretchy fabric that drapes so beautifully.
All three of these dresses make a statement all on their own, so I don’t even have to dress them up with very much.

For more Shein Christmas Dresses (updated 2019), see here!

How to Accessorize a Grown Up Christmas Dress

These dresses make a statement all on their own, so I would just add a great pair of earrings and shoes (like THESE gold bow ones!) That’s all you need when the dress makes the statement all by itself.

In fact, two of these dresses have such a high neck, that I hesitate to wear a necklace. The high neck will dry your eyes upward, and it’s the perfect time to add some major statement earrings. I picked up the ones worn with the plaid dress at H&M and they have been on repeat lately. They catch the light so well and add a festive glimmer! These are no longer in stock but I found a TON of similar ones. I’ll link them for you in the widget below:

The Christmas Dresses I Found at Shein

The green outfit is all about sparkle and I don’t feel like the photos do this green glitter fit and flare dress justice! The dress flows as you walk and sparkles! The sheer sleeves are so elegant! The only warning I would give is that the lining layer is very short. You can see what I mean if you look closely at the first image of this dress above. I plan on wearing a dark slip underneath to make it less obvious.

Oh, and this green dress…it comes in nine different colors and is less than $25!! FYI: I usually order one or two sizes up on Shein but NOT with this dress! Check the measurements. I ordered my normal size.

The embroidered red dress is really beautiful. The fabric is more stiff and I found the neckline to fit a bit oddly on me, but it looks much more expensive than it is. I do warn you though, I found the embroidery rubbed a little on the underarm. It will be going back, but only because I loved the other two so much more. (I ordered two sizes up in this dress.)

The plaid fit and flare dress ended up being more of a favorite than I expected. My husband loves it and I’ve already worn it once to work. Add a blazer for the classroom (or work environment) or some faux fur. Hmm…in fact, I might just wear that to church this weekend!

I ordered one size up in this dress. The fabric does stretch.

Any of these three would be great grown up Christmas dresses to buy now and keep for next year. Or, the green dress would make a great New Year’s Eve or winter wedding outfit.

Find more great, affordable dresses from Shein in the widget below.

Other Options for Grown Up Christmas Dresses

And, for those of you who aren’t brave enough to order now and risk arrival by Christmas, I will link some dresses from other retailers that you could still order now and get in time for Christmas. I haven’t tried them on myself so I can’t vouch for the fit or the fabric, but they are from retailers I would order from with confidence.

THIS one is so reasonably priced and some options ship with Prime!
I adore THIS red lace top
Maybe you’re a black dress kind of girl

All in all, there are a lot of options out there for a grown up Christmas dress. If you haven’t tried Shein, maybe it’s time you gave them a try! And remember, it’s ok to shine and twinkle during the holidays! After all, someone needs to give those Christmas lights a run for their money!

Thanks so much for stopping by 🙂

~Virginia

Holiday Gifts for the Girl Who Loves Color!

December 6, 2018 by Virginia 5 Comments

I’m going to be the first one to admit it, I definitely went overboard collecting these 40 holiday gifts for the girl who loves color. I’ve read all the tips and advice articles about how your gift guide should be simple and limited, but the truth of the matter is: I. LOVE. COLOR! Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop.

I haven’t had a lot of time this year to make a bunch of gift guides. Sorry for that. But frankly, I still stand by the ones I made in previous years (you can find them HERE 😉 ) so I have just updated the links. Before I decided I wasn’t going to make a bunch of new gift guides, I had already started saving ideas. When I looked at the list I realized that I had a TON of brightly-colored things.

There’s just something about a pop of color that makes me go all heart-eyes! That’s when I decided that maybe the girls who love bright colors need a gift guide too!

Holiday Gift Ideas Girl Who Loves Color_Gift Guide for the Color-lover
Once I was on a mission, I just couldn’t stop. I kept saving and saving. And maybe I should have stopped at 12 items and made it simple, but I just couldn’t pare down the list. They were just TOO good. So today, I share with you my mega guide of holiday gifts for the girl who loves color, broken down into categories.

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Colorful Accessories

Accessories are a great way for a girl who loves color to add a pop to an otherwise neutral wardrobe! There are so many fun bright accessories out right now! One of my favorite places to shop for bright accessories is Baublebar or from their Sugarfix line at Target. You can always count on them to have a fun, bright, statement earring.

See some of my favorite finds in this category below.

Colorful Gift Ideas_Gifts for the color lover_girl who loves color_colorful accessories

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 (also here and here) | 12 | 13 | 14

Bright-Colored Makeup and Clothing

Girls who love color can often be found expressing it in their choice of clothing. As a color-lover myself, I dream of owning one of these coats in every color! But for now, I’ll just rock my bright lipstick and rainbow skirt (see me in mine HERE).

Gift Guide for the Girl Who Loves Color_Gifts for the Color lover_Colorful accessories

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Pops of Color for the Home/Office

I love the idea of pretty colorful kitchen accessories like this mixer (comes in 15 colors!!) and I definitely use throw pillow cushion covers to add some colorful fun.

As a teacher, colorful pens are a MUST! These are my favorite (because they don’t smudge) but when I started looking around I found so many other great options. These come in 120 unique colors and I can’t believe you can get all these for just $10! What a great gift idea for the color-lover in your life!

Holiday Gifts for the Girl Who Loves Color_Gifts for the Color lover_Bright Colored Office Supplies_Colorful Home Decor gifts

1 | 2 |3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

So, there you have it: my top 40 holiday gift ideas for the color-lover in your life! If you are a girl who loves color, let me know what’s on your list below!

(A few more)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

~Virginia

Pin it for later!

Holiday Gifts for Girl Who Loves Color_Colorful Gift Guide_Gift Guide Color-lover (1)

Plaid Pattern Mixing: Office Holiday Style

December 3, 2018 by Virginia 12 Comments

Yay! Christmas is here and I’m all about dressing that way every day! However, my Christmas outfit enthusiasm can be a little overwhelming for some. So, today I want to share a fun plaid pattern mixing outfit that is just the right amount of Christmas for the classroom or office without being overwhelming.

Affiliate links are used in this post, meaning that if you click on or make a purchase using those links, I will make a small commission. It doesn’t add to your cost and it helps me continue to justify the time I spend on this blog! lol! So, thank you! For more information, please see my Privacy Policy.

Plaid Pattern Mixing

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing so much plaid pattern mixing this year. Since the plaids and tweeds are so popular this season, it’s no surprise that a lot of people are mixing them together. I always try to practice pattern mixing but I’m a creature of habit. I tend to stick to mixing similar colors of checks and stripes or stripes and polka dots. This is the first time I’ve really (successfully) tried mixing plaids or even patterns of different colors.

I stumbled upon this plaid pattern mixing combo quite by accident. In my office at home there is a clothing rack where I hang pieces I haven’t shared yet on the blog. I bought this tweed blazer in the fall, intending to try the tweed trend at work. However, the blazer is thicker than I expected and a little more over-sized than I would like for a regular work look. Most of the time I use it as an overcoat so I had a harder time working it into my work style. Plus, I had a lot of other items that were more about fall than winter that I knew needed to get photographed first!

So there it sat (along with this white eyelash sweater) until Black Friday when I brought home all my loot and lined it all up on the clothing rack. I grabbed this red tartan plaid (last seen here and here) and tried it on with my new blazer. (LOVE!) The plaid top got hung up on the rack right next to the tweed blazer and when I came in the room the next morning for work, my eyes popped in excitement because the two check prints looked so great together! I grabbed the hubby and we shot this look at our local theater, which is all dressed up for Christmas too!

Office Holiday Style

I could easily have worn this plaid top with the tweed blazer on its own but it was a little too much Christmas for where I work. So, this cozy sweater (also sitting on the rack to photograph!) was the perfect way to tone down the look so that I still had the pops of red tartan plaid without the overwhelming Christmas feel. It’s a little bit of holiday without full-blown, over-the-top color.

Speaking of over-the-top color, I have a really fun gift guide coming your way later this week for the girl who loves color! Make sure to check back on Thursday! (Or even better, follow me on Bloglovin’ so you don’t miss anything!)

Get the Look:

Red Tartan Plaid Flannel, J.Crew Factory (last year). This year’s version. More similar in widget below.
Tweed Blazer, Shein.
Skinny Faux Leather Leggings, H&M (obsessed).
Fuzzy White Eyelash Sweater, Shein. SIMILAR
Red Ankle Strap Pumps, DSW (old). MOST SIMILAR | SIMILAR
Milani Amore Matte Lip Creame in Striking, Walmart.
Sugarfix by Baublebar Star Drop Earrings, Target. SIMILAR 1 | 2 | 3

Wishing you a very Christmassy holiday season, at work and everywhere else! Thanks for visiting!

~Virginia