TGIF, FRIENDS! Who’s ready for the weekend??? (All raise hands immediately). If you’ve been on the hunt for a cute winter outfit that doesn’t break the bank, this look is FO’ YOU. Head to toe, not a single piece is over $100 – actually, not a single thing is over $85. And those are the outliers – most everything is under 40 bucks. #bless.

I’ve posted sneak peeks from this winter outfit shoot already 3-ish times on Instagram, justbecause I’m so dang obsessed with how the shoot turned out! Sometimes something just works, and this was one of those somethings. And I think the reason it worked so well was because I felt like a total badass while shooting, which means a better end result…because confidence + joy are contagious. I felt hella confident AND hella joyful shooting in this look, cos it’s a true power outfit.

The anatomy of an actual “power outfit” has gone through a thousand and one shifts since the 80’s. Obviously this ain’t no suit or business professional anything – it’s a bubble gum pink sweater with heart-shaped pom pom patterns on it, for pete’s sake. But the makings of a power outfit – especially in this day + age when many of the most successful/prominent career paths don’t even involve a boardroom – evolve. My take on it for everyday wear is that it’s more about power items.

Power items = Confidence-inducing pieces that produce a take-on-the-world, can-do-anything, make-it-happen attitude of awesome

In the more “traditional” workplace, a power outfit might include a baller pantsuit. But really, it’s all about the individual pieces and how they make you feel. Cos quite frankly, if a “power outfit” doesn’t make you FEEL good, then you won’t feel very powerful or confident at all…and it’ll show. So for your own sake, think of a power outfit as a go-to combination of power items that together, make ya feel cool enough to join Gal Gadot’s tribe of badass Wonderwomen babes on that island in the middle of nowhere. This specific cute winter outfit is en pointe for bringing the power punch, but also for just mixing it up beyond the usual oversized sweater-legging-UGGs combinations that we tend to start recycling once the temp drops below 30 (and who can blame us?!?)

While workwear power outfits are very much still a thing (and we can chat more about that later, if y’all want???), today’s focus is a wintry power outfit that makes me feel all sortsa YAAAAS. Ya feel? 😉

I’ve said it before, but my personal style is equal parts girly x edgy. In a perfect world of that, I feel my best. Enter, this winter outfit look.

CUTE WINTER OUTFIT DETAILS

(SO STINKIN’ CUTE, YO – and it says there are only 2 left! GO GET ‘EM! Also comes in a pretty , , , , + – code NYE10 at checkout will still save ya 10%!) // // (ON SALE for BOGO 50% off with free shiping, too! An absolutely favorite of mine – totally recommend. They’re under $40 but fit SO DANG WELL. Super flattering, slightly high waisted, TTS.) // (Under $40! Totally in lovelovelove, they’re TTS) // Bag (an around $85 lookalike of the $2,000 Chloe Faye bag!) // Kate Spade watch // Black sunnies (lookalike for a Karen Walker pair) // (shade: “High Drama”)

 

A pop of pink is always a welcome touch of girliness, while jeans that fit in all the right places and badass booties feel a bit more edgy in that I kinda sorta feel like I could/should be kicking ass in an action movie. The power items in this cute winter outfit include: the cardigan, the jeans, the booties, the oversized sunnies, the bag.

I lovelovelove (like, LOVE) the fact that is covered in pom pom heart pattern. I mean, come ON. Does it get any cuter?! (Answer: No, no it does not). It’s a real showstopper, namely cos on first glance it looks sorta like your grandma’s favorite cardi, but then you realize they’re hearts and it’s just immediately heart-eye-emoji inducing. The 3/4 length sleeves are fun for stacking arm candy, and it just layers so nicely over your favorite basic tees.

Then the jeans. I mentioned in the winter outfit description above, but rock my world. First off, they’re slightly high-waisted, which is what 85% of my pants closet is becoming. Second, they’re super flattering + comfortable because they’re actually listed as “jeggings,” so you KNOW I’m there. Third, they’re under $40. Fourth, they’re currently BOGO 50% AND free shipping. So…#AddToCart. Add two. 😉

Booty booty booty booty rockin’ everywhere. tho! I was on the fence with this trend the second it started, but I’m now head-over-white-booty-heels. These are a true power piece if there ever was one. They’re totally different than most every other booty on the market today (sidenote: how many times can we say “booty” in this paragraph? Should this be our TGIF drinking game? Ha!). It’s super easy this time of year + weather to get stuck in a pattern of UGGs or sherpa-lined anything, namely because it’s cold AF outside and ain’t nobody got time to worry about style when it’s sub-zero. But these are 100% stylish + fun, and definitely a fun way to mix up your booty game this season.

These sunnies + this bag are two gems in my closet right now. An overwhelming number of y’all asked for “more designer lookalikes” in the CUR reader survey (which you can still take here!). These are two said lookalikes! The sunglasses are under $10 and look suuuuper similar to a of Karen Walkers, and the bag looks suuuuper similar to the. A note with lookalikes: there is a fine line between a look-alike and counterfeit products. Of course, I NEVER want to promote counterfeit products…they’re literally illegal, so no bueno. From my understanding, the different is all in the marketing. If a product is claiming to be the name brand and ISN’T, that’s counterfeit. (So when you’re on Canal Street in NYC and creepy men with sacks of “Louis Vuittons” are claiming they’re the real deal…in a sheet bundle on the street…evading police…that’s not good). More on this to come in a full blog post of its own probably, but for now, just know that buying something that resembles something else isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all – it happens in the fashion industry all the time, where something gets trendy and suddenly every designer and their mom is making something similar enough to be on board.

Q1 CUR PLAYLIST

Y’all.

I’m SO HYPED for this.

If you’ve been around these rosy parts awhile, you’ve probably caught monthly playlists in the roundup series formerly known as “Links I Love” and “Links + Things I Love”: “Cool Sh*t I Lovelovelove.” But, TBH, my Spotify was getting waaaaay too jampacked with these itty bitty hour-long playlists. And while I think it’s *super* cool to be able to go back to any past month and get a feel for what jams I was jammin’ to then, I think it’ll be even cooler to have a quarterly playlist for us all to jam out to together.

Enter, CUR’s Q1 playlist.

It’s 75+ songs and will be added to on the reg, too, organized strategically to get ya from worktime to playtime with ease. Meaning, it starts off getting you in the groove for the day, transitions to songs that you can have playing in the background while you work, and then transitions again to celebratory JAMS to end the work day and kickoff happy hour (because being done with work is ALWAYS a happy hour 😉 ).

PRO TIP: Click the little Spotify icon in the embedded playlist widget below. This will open the playlist directly in Spotify for ya, so you can “follow” the playlist and have it in your own library to access wherever/whenever.

Do you have a full power look, or a few favorite power pieces yet? Thoughts on this cute winter outfit?

Drop ’em all in the comments below, yo!

P.S. Since we’re posting a bit more frequently here now, don’t miss the rest of the goodness that dropped this week! We’ve got tips for bloggers, beauty resolutions to make ASAP, + a Monday Mantra x part 3 of my Phoenix travel guide series!

Any fun weekend plans???

As always, THANK YA for reading + hanging out!