One of my all-time favorite boutiques is LF Stores. I have visited their SoHo location two times prior to living in New York this summer & after 11 weeks of trying to find the best boutiques, LF still tops my list! I have said so many times how excited I am because next year I will FINALLY be living in New York to shop their only sale of the season. Little did I know that their spring sale would start my last day in New York. Best surprise ever!

The entire store was 60% off & will continue to be marked down until they get rid of all of their spring merchandise. The store was absolute chaos but completely worth it! If you are ever in NYC, Los Angeles, Miami, or Boston during one of their AMAZING sales, I highly recommend allowing at least two hours to shop. There are so many fabulous finds but you will have to dig & walk around the store several times. Also, the lines for the dressing room & the checkout can get extremely long. I put my name down for the dressing room when I found a handful of good items but continued browsing while I was waiting for my name to be called and ended up with at least double the items. I also recommend shopping at LF prior to their sale. You will be able to get a feel of the store and at least have an idea of the items you want. All of the items I had my eye on earlier on in the summer I ended up buying at 60% off.

MY FINDS:

This past week, I finally got around to finishing “Style” by Lauren Conrad. This one of the greatest books on styling I have ever read. After being filmed for days on end during her Laguna Beach & The Hills days, she never repeated an outfit. This book, will show you simple styling tricks that will help you to prolong the life of your clothes & develop your own personal style. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Lauren, although she can afford to buy nearly anything, still purchases  tons of brands that are completely affordable for college students & fashionistas alike. Levi’s, TopShop & Steve Madden were all included in her style guide. Of course, Christian Louboutins, Chanel & several other designers made it into the book as well. Lauren also mentioned that she loves mixing vintage items into an outfit.

Here are some other things I learned from reading “Style”:

• Quick fixes for fashion emergencies
• How to transform your make-up from day to night
• The best ways to mix & match prints
• Her favorite sites to online shop

And tons more!

I would highly recommend reading this book. It is filled with great tips that everyone can used. Plus, all of the clothing, accessories and products featured in the book are documented in the index for easy shopping!

Yesterday I discovered that I have been staying only blocks away from Polyvore’s headquarters so I thought it was only appropriate that I mention how wonderful they are and how their website can change your life! Polyvore is a site created for the fashion obsessed but is perfect for nearly everyone.

1. The Online Shopper - Do you love online shopping? Well, Polyvore takes online shopping to the extreme. Instead of going from site to site to check our their selection, prices and sales, you can simultaneously search nearly every website’s inventory – including international sites. Polyvore is a database of clothing, shoes, and accessories that are all pulled from the Internet. Simply type in the item you are looking for or the specific brand you desire and shop away!

2. The Discount Diva – Okay, so you might love online shopping but only because it is easier to compare prices and ensure you are sporting the hottest trend at the lowest price. Well, Polyvore is your dream come true. Search by item, brand, color, and, most importantly, PRICE. You can also search for items that are currently on sale. You can even enter contests to win amazing prizes. Kate Spade is currently hosting a contest which ends in 3 days in which you can win a trip to NYC, Chicago or San Francisco as well as a $1000 Kate Spade shopping spree!

3. The Collage Artist – Are you inspired by fashion? Do you love creating inspiration boards or collages? Polyvore makes creating collages extremely easy to do. Simply click on “Create”, search for the items you want to include (or add your own via the “Clip to Polyvore” bookmark) and have fun! You can flip, rotate, crop, shrink, clone, etc. After you are satisfied with your creation, you can publish it and it will be added to your Polyvore profile. In the future, you can look back and not only enjoy your collage but also know exactly what items you used, how much they cost and where to buy them.

4. The Personal Stylist – Interested in a career in styling or just love putting together the perfect outfit? Polyvore is made for you. You can create an outfit based on what is in your closet, answer a styling question posted by others via the “Create” and “Ideas” tabs, or design an outfit based on your favorite celebrity. Polyvore is a great way to build your online styling portfolio and perfect your craft.

5. The Trend Hunter – Are you the girl who is always looking for the NEXT trend, striving to be the first of your friends to adopt this new fad? Polyvore is also great for that. If you click on “Explore,” you can view the latest trends as well as up-and-coming members. You can also click on “Shop” and scroll down to the “Shop by Trend” links to view all of the items tagged for a specific trend.

I rely on Polyvore for nearly everything. It is my go-to website to create collages used on FSU Fashion Girl as well as for personal shopping. Whether I am creating a look or browsing other sets for inspiration, Polyvore is my fashion must-have. Check it out for yourself here.

Kim France and Andrea Linett, the authors of the best-selling Lucky Shopping Manual, are at it again with The Lucky Guide to Mastering Any Style. This book dissects every style from euro chic to rock and roll, from arty slick to bombshell, from American classic to mod. Within each style they give you a description of the style as well as the essential pieces and accessories of that particular style. They show you how to achieve the look and take a look inside the closets of two Lucky girls that embrace that style. They also show you different outfits you can create with the essential pieces they recommended as well as how to wear a key piece all year long. I think this is a great book to really expose yourself to different style that you may be unfamiliar with. At the end of the book, they show you a lot of fun outfits that they achieved by mixing two of the styles together. This is a great book to own when you really want to change your look and try something new since it is the perfect shopping guide.

Rachel Bilson has continued to be looked upon as a fashion icon for the everyday girl. Her style is classic yet chic which is great for almost anyone. Her key pieces? Cropped jackets, skinny jeans, boots, booties, with a touch of color (often times a scarf or purse).

This past October, I had the pleasure of meeting Gossip Girl’s costume designer and stylist, Eric Daman. During his seminar, he spoke of the book he had just recently written titled “You Know You Want It.” The book was released in December.

“You Know You Want It” is a great book for the fashion enthusiasts. It is almost like having your own personal stylist. “You Know You Want It” is all about finding out who you are and what your style is. Style, defined by Eric Daman, is 20% fashion and 80% confidence. I find this statement to be completely true. Clothes are so much more than what they look like on, it is how they make you feel when you are wearing them. Clothing allows us the opportunity to play dress up, to choose how the world will perceive us. Fashion is definitely a force to reckoned with.

In his book, Eric Daman will discuss what types of clothing looks good on your body type (and how to figure out which body type you have), the basics every girl needs, fashion rules to ignore and so forth. He truly is a genius when it comes to fashion and styling.