Are your feet ready for summer?

Stop hiding your feet in those pumps – get pedicured up!
Top: Casting, $79.95, www.stevemadden.com; Lansing, $30, www.aldoshoes.com; Sirprise, $89.95, www.stevemadden.com
Middle: Trinangle Sandal, $34, www.urbanoutfitters.com; Croww, $79.95, www.stevemadden.com; Le Petit Sperone, $60, www.piperlime.com
Bottom: Hendrix, $90, www.dune.co.uk; Volatile Cassie Thong Sandal, $38.95, www.endless.com; Belle by Sigerson Morrison, $225, www.piperlime.com

Shoe shopping is one of life’s little pleasures, but I delightful day in the shoe department of Saks can quickly turn into a nightmare if your feet aren’t perfectly polished when the sales clerk tries to help you slip on those Louboutins. Avoid the potential embarrassment and get your toes Manolo ready today. You don’t have to spend a fortune at a spa. In fact, I prefer creating my own pedicure at home - I’m too ticklish for someone else to handle my toes! Try Tweezerman’s deluxe pedicure set available at Sephora or their more modest version for just $14.99 at Target. After you’ve spoiled yourself, pick the perfect color* to match your sandals and away you go!

*All nail colors by Nars Cosmetics. Click here for their regular selection and here for their vintage line.

Last week, Salvage Life was featured on two fashion blogs. The first was the Indie Wedding Guide, a chic and practical tool for brides who are looking to recycle, reduce and reuse for their upcoming weddings. The fabulous Gabreial has featured this dress from our shop!


The second feature was on Zuburbia, a clothing blog for contemporary women who like vintage clothing, essentially the Salvage Life customer. The following dress was chosen as their "Vintage Pick of the Day" for its ode to the spring "seeing stars" trend started by the Spring '08 collections of Chanel and Yves St. Laurent.

They like me, they really like me!

Ladies I'm so excited. I just found out that I won the fashion category of the first ever Fabbies (an award ceremony for fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers)! I beat out some stiff competition, so I want to thank all who voted for me. I know you had to register and log in before voting so I appreciate the effort it took :). The award ceremony is going to be held during Fashion Week in New York this September. I must also give a shout out to Afrobella who won in the beauty category, Young, Black & Fabulous for lifestyle and The Satorialist who won for his streetstyle blog!

Aaliyah covers Fader…

Fader magazine is honoring Aaliyah on its June cover. The annual Icon issue highlights the life and legacy of the revolutionary songstress. My personal favorite song/video of hers is “We need a Resolution” and “Rock the Boat”. I was truly devasted when she died. No entertainer has filled the void that she left. Pick up a copy of the magazine to read what many of Aaliyah’s family, friends and industry peers have to say about the fallen star. Read some of their tributes below:

Missy Elliott
“We was gonna save the world. We was gonna change music every chance we got. We was gonna always be family. Forever.”

Mark Ronson
“If it wasn’t for Aaliyah being the face and voice of [Missy Elliott and Timbaland’s] sound they might have never got to where they did. They were presenting their sort of brilliant but challenging breakthrough music through this beautiful young girl who could sing it perfectly.”

Kidada Jones
“I think about her all the time…Anytime she’s brought up or her music comes on the radio, it’s sweet, but it definitely sounds like she found a niche before it was here. If you listen to her music it’s so relevant today, but we had it so long ago.”

Damon Dash
“She was already a fashion icon, she was getting into movies, she had already planted that seed. If she was alive today she would be so relevant. I see little bits of her everywhere I look, in a lot of artists.”

Jomo Hankerson
“I think a lot of that mysteriousness they talk about was just what she was. She seemed like she came here already grown up, from the beginning.”

Style on the Go…

Joy Bryant,Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles attend the 40/40 Club Hosts Jay-Zs Exclusive After Party at The 40/40 Club in New York on May 6, 2008.

Paula Patton at the 2nd annual Allure magazine "Most Alluring Bodies" exhibit on May 7, 2008 at Skylight Studios in New York.

Rashida Jones at Stella McCartney’s screening of Peter Sellers’ “The Party” on May 6, 2008.

Ashanti onstage during the MTV Networks Upfront at the Nokia Theater on May 8, 2008 in New York City.

Joy Bryant looked nothing short of stunning at Jay Z’s recent bash at his 40/40 club. Though the dress is a little Fredericks of Hollywood, she somewhere makes it work! After 13 years of wearing makeup, I still can’t get my eyes to look that neat and defined. Liquid eyeliner just burns my eyes! I'm also still looking for a natural lipstick color - suggestions welcome :)

Paula Patton is wearing my favorite color and she’s doing it justice. I think the shoes are a little boring but I guess you can’t go wrong with a classic black Christian Louboutin pump. Both Paula and Joy are sporting heavy bangs which is such a cute look with layered hair. No, I don't know where to get this dress but I know Target has a cute, affordable purple dress for $23.

Rashida Jones is ready for summer! She flaunted her shoulders and legs in a sexy, one strap chiffon dress a recent Stella McCartney evemt. Rashida’s style is never offensive, but I wish she would take more of a risk with her hair and/or makeup. How about a chin length bob? She’d also better keep an eye on that clutch…

Ashanti is slowly making her “come back”. Though I doubt the music scene has missed her, her style evolution has been great to watch. This black and white dress is a classic. Twenty years from now, body shape permitting, you could still pull out this dress and wear it like it was a recent purchase. Now if only we could get Ashanti to try another lip gloss color. That frosty pink is so 1982!

Credit: TheYbf.com for photos of Ashanti.

I hate sewing, or maybe I just hate the anticipation of sewing. I usually just avoid it until the pile is so big I have to hurdle it to get to the kitchen. Considering I am not good at any sport, especially track and field, this creates a bad scene. Today I decided to conquer the pile. I have been saving a ton of beautiful dresses that are disguised as tacky muu-muus. I knew that once I hemmed them to a reasonable length, they would be really chic! So here's a little before, during and after.

O is for Ombre

Such a interesting trend right now...I like the toned down tie-dye feel. It's definitely for the sophisticated hippie. Here's a clip from a recent style mag, a pic from my shop and a candle from my house that looked surprisingly similar to the dress above it.