Scenes from the Season, Part 4

And now for the final installment of my "Scenes from the Season" series: New Year's Eve!

I will admit that prior to this year, I never cared much for New Year's Eve - at least not as a celebratory holiday. As far back as I can remember, I've always stayed home (usually in my pajamas) and just watched the ball drop on TV with my parents. While there is certainly nothing wrong with staying at home, I've always wanted to actually go out and celebrate and ring in the new year with friends. Read: attend an amazing party. So when Faustina asked if I wanted to attend a masquerade ball themed party on New Year's Eve, I said "YES!" with pretty much no questions asked.

Let's talk about our dresses, shall we? Just like the dress from Faustina's company holiday party, my dress was a last minute purchase. In fact, so was Faustina's. When I say "last minute," I literally mean last minute. As in, we went shopping for our dresses just a couple of hours before we were supposed to start getting ready. Also, I was the last customer at Windsor before the store closed at 7 pm. (Faustina found her lovely black and blue high-low dress from Wet Seal.) While I definitely do not recommend putting off special occasion dress shopping 'til the last minute, there was something thrilling about this experience.

Now I can't decide if I like this dress the best or if I like my holiday party dress more. While I have become more adventurous when it comes to sheer and formfitting clothing, this dress was a little sexier than anything I thought I could ever wear. The bodice is completely sheer lace save for the padding on the front, which eliminated the need for a bra. Also, the back of this dress is open. I won't even get started on how the tight peplum skirt accentuated my hips. Despite being a bit out of my comfort zone, the moment I tried this dress on, I knew it was the one.

We got dolled up at Faustina's friend Roxanne's house. I've said it before and I will say it again: getting ready for a special occasion/night out is half the fun.

I really hate to sound boastful, but I was having such an amazing hair and face day on New Year's Eve. I did my hair and makeup pretty much the same way as I did for the company holiday party: soft, imperfect waves + subtle smokey eyes and red glossy lips. This might just be my new signature look.

Faustina, Roxanne, and I took quite a bit of time getting ready for this party. Beauty does take time, after all. I'm surprised that Roxanne's husband Daniel and Faustina's friend/my date for the evening Andrew had waited so patiently for us. We ended up arriving late to the party and we missed the buffet and the performances that were scheduled for that night. We still arrived with plenty of time to spare to dance and people watch before the countdown. Afterwards, we had a very late dinner/early breakfast at IHOP.

Oh and by the way, this is Andrew. :)