5 Steps to Finding Your Personal Style

What I'm Wearing:

Tee: Boohoo | Sweats: Wal-Mart, softest sweats EVER, you will love and hate me if you buy these! Love me because now your world has changed and hate me because you'll never want to wear anything else. #storyofmylife

I have nothing to wear. No, seriously y'all. NOTHING. 

I know what your asking right now. Naja, how are you a fashion blogger and have nothing to wear? Well, good question, let me tell you how I got here and how I plan on finding my way. So if you're lost like me go ahead and follow these 5 steps to get back to being your BEST style self.

The funny thing about personal style is it's ever evolving, changing and growing as YOU do. Lots of things affect your personal style to include your lifestyle, habits, likes/dislikes, mood etc. My style as a stay at home mom living in rural suburbs is completely different than that of a single woman working in corporate America living in a MAJOR city. For me, going through a bit of a depression this last year combined with my weight not being where I would like it to be AND compiled with the fact I work from home 80% of the time, made for a toxic cocktail in the style department. I looked up and my style evolved to sweatpants, leggings and overall giving ZERO F*@#s! This would be fine and totally cool, IF I was cool with it. But I'm not. How I look affects how I feel and I'm ready to start feeling amazing again. So on top of the internal work I'm doing I'm also tackling my wardrobe. But first, I have to figure out a few things, like what is MY PERSONAL STYLE?? Here are 5 steps to get you going in the right direction.

1. Who is your style MUSE? 
What's a muse you ask? Simply someone that inspires you. Who's style in this world inspires you the most? Pick 2-3 celebrities, bloggers, or real life person who's style inspires you OFTEN. If you live for everything Rihanna puts on her body than she just might be your style muse. I personally can't get enough of Kahlana Barfield, the Twiced Blessed bloggers and Olivia Palermo to name a few.

2. Gather inspiration.
I tend to head to the Inspo MECCA of the inter webs; Pinterest. Really anywhere that will help you organize your inspiration pics easily. Pinterest is an amazing resource for style inspiration, so create an account/board, follow your FAVs (you can follow me HERE) and start saving anything that catches your eye. Also, browse Instagram (you can follow me HERE) for rich fashion inspiration. Just pick a hashtag and let the journey down the rabbit hole began lol. My favs are #styleinspiration #LTKstyle #curvygirlstyle You would be so surprised what will unlock your creativity. Think you've thought of everyway possible to style a white tee? Head to Pinterest and I assure you someone else has styled it in a way you never thought of. Get inspired girl!

3. Identify your body type. 
Listen very carefully dolls, this is a big tip right here. You listening? Ok, good, here it goes. NOT EVERYTHING WORKS FOR EVERYBODY. *clears throat* Let me say that again. NOT EVERYTHING YOU LIKE WILL WORK FOR YOUR SPECIFIC BODY TYPE! And guess what, that's ok. The goal here is to feel comfortable and confident in what we put on our body. I don't feel confident with my lower FUPA area on full display. (not sure what a FUPA is? lol google it) Anything tight on that area makes me super cringe. All these plus size queens wearing body con dresses and slaying my edges with they coca-cola shapes and flat tummy give me life, it truly does. But it only took me flocking to buy exactly ONE of those dresses and not looking NOTHING like them to understand my body doesn't look good in those pieces.

4. Pick a key piece. 
We all gravitate to our favs, it's just nature. For instance, are you a shoe or a bag girl? Do you love outwear? Are you a jewelry junkie? What is YOUR thing? Pick a key piece you always gravitate towards and maximize it. Focus on that thing when you're out shopping, it will become your signature. For me it was shoes, boy did I love a good heel! I would rock the cheapest bag and midtier outfit with a $800 Fendi pump. I mean nothing really beats a sexy shoe in my opinion. However, my tolerance for any heel over 3 inches is becoming weary by the day and I tend to gravitate towards a sneaker or a flat. *insert GASP here* So maybe I need to be a sneaker head instead of a Fendi freak? Hmmmm we shall see.

5. Experiment. 
Fashion should be fun and not taken too seriously. There is no right or wrong. It's really about what makes you feel fly? You can't really mess up personal style. It is what you make it and is an outward reflection of who you are. It's okay to play around with your style, be free, have fun and above all; OWN IT!

So that's all I have for today dolls. I hope you enjoyed these tips and found them helpful. Let me know how YOU identify your personal style in the comments below. Ya girl needs all the tips she can get!!

xoxo,
Naja

The relationship you have with yourself will set the tone for every other relationship in your life. Do you value you?

I can explain......but I won't

Sitting down to write this blog post without feeling fake AF has been the hardest thing. Do I jump in with a makeup or outfit post after 5 months of silence? Do I explain, "What happened" to me and the reason for my absence? Is one even necessary? Do I even have the energy for that? Answer to all of the above; NO. Do you guys ever just get off track? (I know I'm not the only one) Do you ever get so far away from your intended path that you look up and ask yourself, where the hell am I? Not in a confused but happy to be here kind of way lol. Nah more in a, HOLY SHIT I'm in danger and need to get to safety kind of way. I feel like I'm in that place as of late.

I started my blog as an outlet to express my love for fashion and makeup and document my journey of discovering my personal style and inspire others along the way. It then grew to my home on the internet to express myself in other things like my love for home decor, life events and my evolution as a woman. I stopped short on many things as the internet is a tricky place to navigate and many people aren't as kind as they should be. But honestly that only left me feeling restricted, the pressure to seem 'perfect' and always put together; inauthentic to a point as at times I'm a WHOLE HOT ASS MESS, and that's ok. Then somewhere along the lines I didn't know how to start again. Asking myself, "where do I start, what do I talk about, does anyone even care anymore?"

Social media has become nothing more than a web of lies for likes and it's exhausting. Then there are those who are truly inspiring and influencing things that matter while doing what they love and supporting themselves doing it. I want to be the later. If I had to articulate a brand mission statement, it would be I want my brand to be one that inspires and influences you to live your best life on your own terms. My favorite people are those that are unapologetically themselves, in a world full of people trying to be like the next that is beyond refreshing. So here's to letting go of what others say your life should be or look like and just fucking DO YOU! I miss sharing, I miss inspiring, I miss this community, I miss writing, I miss beating my face for no reason at all other than to tell y'all how much I LOVE this new lipstick, I miss creating pretty pictures, I miss creating, period. If you still wake up everyday with a passion for something, why would you ever give it up? For me it was because I let the outside 'noise' become louder than my own voice. So let's try this again, let's get back on the horse and back in the saddle and this time, Naja, run your OWN race. Block out the noise and just do what you love. Let everything else happen as it should.