What initially started off as just a beauty post winded up becoming so much more when I met up with new friend and Memphis Fashion Week’s 2013 EMDP Audience Choice Winner Tara Skelley a few weeks ago to test out some new makeup I’d gotten. I’d picked up 2 holiday palettes from L.A. Colors at RiteAid for $2.99 each; each palette contains 16 highly pigmented, metallic colors (I’ve found that if a shadow from an inexpensive brand is metallic, you get a lot of bang for your buck), and I needed a girl to test them out on, so I put out a call on FB and she answered. Once me and photographer Louis “Ziggy” Tucker got to her place that afternoon and set up, she wondered if we should put together a few looks from her closet, and we decided to build 2 looks around this super cute dress she’d recently picked up from Marshalls. So first, we did makeup: I decided to blend copper colors on her lips + pair them with a merlot lip and subtle blush. She normally does a fresh faced, slightly sunkissed look so it was a little different for her, but she liked it: We paired the dress with a pair of black booties and a few accessories for an easy date look: We wanted to keep the focus on the pattern of the dress, so for the second look we topped it with an olive green cableknit sweater, desert booties, and a super cool vintage Stetson hat. The best accessory? Her adorable puppy Bennett! We all had such a blast hanging out, getting to know each other (we both have the same crazy Cat Lady dress I wore here!), and talking about fashion + photography. I can’t wait to do it again! Where to Shop | Wish/Langford Market Memphis Mad for Plaid | The Tartan Trend