Concealers for darker skin tones...Love it!

http://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriasanusi/17-concealers-every-dark-skin-girl-should-know-about#.yhAGpN2DZ

Love this!

hair stories. https://t.co/X5R0kGuX2u

— black girl problems (@blakgirlprobs) April 2, 2016

Because your "nude" isn't my "nude"

#Louboutin's nude ballet flat is inclusive for all women. Other designers will follow to include every budget. pic.twitter.com/dBmdLy4hbQ

— KillingMyCareer (@MelaynaLokosky) March 31, 2016

Uh Oh!

Stitchfix might just get ousted...looks like I will be trying trunk club for my summer capsule.

Check out this review and then check back in the summer to see how it went for me.
Excited!

Capsule meets KonMari

...then, a friend mentioned the KonMari method of tidying and things got real...

Starting with clothing, subcategory tops. I will touch every item and only keep the things that spark joy. 

Those shoes are just bystanders- they were on the chopping block from one of my sweeps. 

Capsule progress

I have survived the initial steps. I now have some items still hanging in the closet and am preparing my first capsule, the Spring wardrobe!  As I stated before, my plan is to have seasonal fixes, shop my seasonal clothing, and then buy additional pieces in the store. No more online shopping because too often they are mistakes and I don't have time for that. Just as an aside, with this new strategy I have really had no desire to search sales and scroll through websites looking at deals. Score!

So, for this fix I fired my last stylist and requested a new one. My specific requests were for tops, Spring season, new stylist, and I mentioned that I wanted something sexy for my anniversary.
Here are the items I received

                                      

Market & Spruce Kristah Ruffle Knit Blazer- see the ruffle in the back- I love that detail. 

41Hawthorn Moni Geo Print & Camisole Blouse- I think of this as a score because the camisole can be worn separately. 

Bay to Baubles Astoria Crystal Spear Necklace-Meh, but if I don't take it I lose the 25% discount- sold!

Le Lis Daria Textured Envelope Skirt- like the texture, like the front slit, not sure if I like the overall fit but I will play with it. 

And finally, Daniel Rainn Ardenia Zipper Front Blouse- love the bold color, the material is cool and I like the zipper even though it is hidden. 

I kept all the items. Nothing seemed sexy to me but my stylist recommended the skirt and blouse for my anniversary. 

Next, I will sort out my 37 items. I probably will do this on Sunday because I have been so busy lately. The plan is for nine shoes, nine bottoms, 15 tops, and 4 dresses/jackets but this could change. Apparently, 37 is some arbitrary number so if it works out, great but if not, I am not afraid to challenge this number. 

I changed my previously mentioned budget of $540 to $400 for the season. With that, let's see this capsule unfold...

Unexpected benefits of a capsule wardrobe

I was able to get my "active" closet down to this. I have donation items in my trunk and I plan to put my dormant work clothes in storage bins. Then I have some seasonal items under my bed which I will "shop" first before I purchase any supplemental items. 

These stages have made this process much easier to handle.  This whole process made me realize that I was just holding on to stuff just because I liked the idea of having a lot of stuff, not because it was actually useful.

So...I get my closet down but then this

happened to my husband's side of the closet. The entire rack fell without warning!  

Maybe he can use part of my side ☺️
So, with a capsule wardrobe, you avoid hazardous closet rack breakdowns, you avoid wasted time repairing the clothes rack, and you have more room to share in the closet just in case your spouse doesn't join in on the declutter movement.