Terranea Cove X Vegan Boutique: MooShoes

A couple weeks ago, I went out on a little day adventure with one of my girlfriends, @imadilife, to Terranea Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes, California to shoot for MooShoes! I came about MooShoes from an Eco-Sessions event I went to in Downtown Los Angeles a month or so ago focused on vegan fashion - count me in! I met many vegan fashion lovers, some vegan-curious attendees, and some awesome vegan brands and companies - one of those being MooShoes! And so came, the partnership with the vegan boutique on this lovely shoot!

In my first look, I styled both the Matt & Nat Shareen black purse as well as the Novacas Olivia Heeled black sandals. For those of you who don't know Spanish, "No vacas" means "no cows", aka animal free! Both the purse and the shoes were such high quality, they could have fooled anyone into thinking they were real leather. Very comfortable sandals as well!

I styled the Good Guys Daisy Booties in black in my second look. No joke, these are probably some of my favorite boots I've ever worn, with the exception of them being too big on me haha (last pair!). You can dress them up, dress them down, and the heel is only a few inches so you can wear them all day! Definitely worth the extra dough for versatile, ethically made killer booties!

In my third look, I'm carrying the Matt & Nat Parabole bag in brown and wearing the BC Footwear Valor Sandals in sand.  These items paired so nicely together and are neutral enough to wear with most outfits! BC Footwear in general is a more affordable vegan-friendly shoe brand and these ones were awesome with their lace-up detailing. The purse is pretty versatile and has a long shoulder strap to be worn at your sides or crossbody too. 

Overall, I had the best experience with these products and with MooShoes as a company! My hope is to bring veganism (no, not just food!) mainstream and show others that you can be stylish without harming others, the planet and your health. There's no need when there are plenty of vegan friendly options nowadays! One of the hardest parts of my transition to living a full vegan lifestyle was giving up animal based fabrics like leather and suede (aka 95% of my shoes and purses)! This was pretty difficult for me as I have always been fashion and shoe obsessed. I had a realization though - that I can live a kinder, happier, (and still fashionable :D ) life with less material possessions and rid my closet of items where someone had to die in order for me to enjoy them. There is a guilt and burden you feel when wearing animal based fabrics once you look at it from that perspective. There are also environmental and human rights/safety implications as well that are a big issue... but that's all for a future blog post! Companies like MooShoes make it so easy to shop ethically and responsibly - no checking labels, tags, materials, etc. - just shop freely and shop with compassion!

That's all for now babes! and remember...

Venice Beach x Noa Elle

I recently did a collaboration with California based brand Noa Elle and I'm here to share with you my experience and thoughts! They were so sweet and the products they sent me were really high quality. I headed out to Venice Beach in Los Angeles for a photography meet-up with @pursuitofportraits and ended the event shooting for Noa Elle with my model gal pal @carly.reyy (go check her out!). 

In my first look, I'm wearing their Brie Top in Nude which has a lace up front with tassels. The linen material is a little shear but is a perfect spring or summer top, just add a neutral bralette! In my second look, I'm sporting the gauze blend Jewel Tunic in Clay. It's a little too short for a dress but just pair it with some flowy shorts and you're good to go!

These pieces were beautifully crafted and designed in Downtown Los Angeles and support local commerce. My favorite part of working with brands like Noa Elle, is that there is a common goal among us - to fight fast fashion with high-quality items produced in a fair trade and safe environment. The fashion industry has been very cheapened and it is our job as consumers to seek more ethical brands to purchase our products from. It was a pleasure working with Noa Elle and I highly recommend it to anyone seeking cute, contemporary, and affordable clothing made ethically in the USA!

Big Bear, California feat. DeLezhen & StyleWe

I recently went on a trip to Big Bear, California with some of my creative peeps! Originally the group was supposed to be pretty big but it narrowed down to just four of us: @koltinsullivan (early bday boy and group organizer, yay!), @snow.fox_, and @rex.dude. We all met up at Koltin's house and carpooled from there. It was only about an hour and a half drive to the airbnb in Big Bear. We explored the area and shot at a few different locations until dark. There weren't many options for dinner haha but we ended up finding a nice Chinese restaurant called Dynasty where we all chowed down. We relaxed at the cabin and Koltin continued shooting some artsy indoor stuff with Rex and Cindy until bed. The airbnb was huge and could have fit like ten people, so it was super spacious with just us four!

We had a lazy morning the next day and then began to scope out some more good places to shoot. We were later accompanied by @lisajstarrett and @elliepanger and shot two looks for each of them. We had originally planned to stay until sunset, however we were getting tired and a little pictured-out from the weekend and decided to head home a little earlier. Koltin was a superstar driver and drove the whole way (again) while the rest of us (maybe just me haha?) instantly fell asleep for the drive. We arrived at his house and said our goodbyes and parted ways. 

I also partnered with a few brands on our little excursion: DeLezhen and StyleWe. Delezhen is a USA-made small jewelry company that makes the cutest dainty pieces! They sent me a white and gold druzy necklace (pictured in photos 3-5). It's super versatile and can go with so many outfits! Love love love it!!

As for StyleWe, this is my third time partnering with them on a shoot - yay! They sent me two pieces as usual for me to style, one of these is the Blue Lace Up 3/4 Sleeve Stand Collar Denim Mini Dress and the other is the White Vintage V Neck Floral-embroidered Midi Dress. Honestly, I was kinda up in the air about what type of setting I wanted to shoot these in because they could both totally work for a beach theme too haha but I like how the nature vibes from Big Bear turned out even better! I joked on my Instagram that the maxi dress could have gone one of four ways: 1. beachy 2. pregnant lady 3. mariachi band or 4. a super unrealistic (yet totally cute) adventure in nature with it.. obviously I chose option four lol. Needless to say, this trip was a blast! I'm so thankful for the memories as well as DeLezhen and StyleWe for the goodies! 

Joshua Tree & Salton Sea Feat. Peoples Project LA

I went to a photography meet-up a few weeks ago hosted by @rubyjamesphoto, @irenerudnykphoto, and @jessicakobeissi. I found out about it through another photographer friend @messinaphotos. The meet-up was at 6pm in Echo Park... so by that time it was already dark and surprisingly windy and cold. Sounds kinda sketchy to meet a bunch of random people you don't know in a public park when it's dark outside haha but it all worked out okay. I was talking in a big group and we all thought it would be a good idea to do a day trip to Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea and started a group message. Our group of 7 or 8 people turned into just 3 of us,  @koltinsullivan, and myself!

Koltin and I planned the meet-up for his place and started reaching out to models, photographers and other creatives! We ended up getting a group of 7 (@serenalisaa, @juliaamotta, @exit_the_minute, @photosby_laurence, @asantov, @koltinsullivan, and myself) leaving from Glendora and met another group of 4 (@brittneyborowski, @heysalem, @sarahwaseaton, & @justinomega) at Joshua Tree.

Big shout out to @peoplesprojectla for some of the goods I shot with in Joshua Tree! I love working with local brands and love even more when they are committed to philanthropy and the environment. Peoples Project LA is partnered with Heal The Bay,  which is a non-profit organization dedicated to making our coastal oceans safe, healthy, and clean. Ten percent of the proceeds from Peoples Project LA go to Heal The Bay - YAY! Their stuff is so cute too! I'm wearing a gray top, light blue floral dress, and denim jacket from them. 

After Joshua Tree, we went to this random Mexican restaurant  for lunch that was actually pretty good. There we met another one of Brittney's friends, @gregkantra. Lunch was pretty fun with all of us but then the group split up after and the original 7 of us continued to the Salton Sea!

The Salton Sea area was pretty much deserted but we surprisingly found 2 people living around there and lots of puppies haha. The sand was more just like crushed fish bones and your shoes would sink into this salty toxic mud.. honestly pretty gross and smelled kinda bad. We were there around sunset and the sea was so serene, it looked like glass and was almost an optical illusion because there was no movement in the water!

We shot until it was dark and then did the long drive back to Koltin's (about 2-3 hours) and everyone went their separate ways! This was probably one of my favorite shoots to date because I met so many awesome creative people, went on an fun day trip, and got a lot of good content! Can't wait to do a shoot something like this again!

StyleWe Collaboration

Went on a little adventure with my boyfriend Zach to Mount Baldy in Angeles National Forest this past weekend. I was seeing photos on Instagram of snow in LA and I had to find it! On this trip I decided to incorporate some of the pieces StyleWe recently sent me. They sent me the black dress and the gray fringe sweater and I'm obsessed! Their company is really cool because it's all independent designers, unique designs, and a community of designers and buyers communicating, sharing, and recognizing each other. They describe themselves as, "Designers At Your Fingertips." 

In my first look I felt like a mystical snow vampire goddess or something! Such a beautiful black dress. The fringed sweater was interesting because it was like a cardigan but had one button on each shoulder attaching the bottom of the cardigan to the top giving it a cool wrap vibe. Overall, very impressed with the quality of the clothing and their commitment to unique pieces!

Local Nomad Collaboration

Explored around Papago Park in Tempe with my sorority little, Elizabeth for a shoot! We collaborated with Local Nomad Shop in Uptown Plaza in Phoenix and I styled the looks. All their pieces have such a cool back-story and the store owner, Lauren, seeks to find super unique, ethical, and sustainable vendors. As you guys know, I'm a huge advocate of local and sustainably sourced goods (especially ones that are cute..hehe) so it was great to work with Local Nomad Shop! Working with companies that share your values and interests are important in order to be genuine to yourself and your audience. I understand that it may be difficult at times to always be wearing/eating/using sustainable products, but every little bit helps!

Desert Stardust

This was the same day as the Cotton Field excursion, however different vibes call for a different blog post! Ryen was awesome and let me get a little creative and put glitter/foil all over her face. Made for a beautiful stardust effect or starDUSK in this situation because it was sunset :)

Denim Shirt - Buffalo Exchange (consignment store), brand is Madewell

Tan/Brown Vegan Western Boots - Coconuts by Matisse, purchased from ShoeMall

Brown Vegan Western Boots - Coconuts by Matisse, purchased from Amazon

Rustic Car - Becca Booker Media

Went out exploring with my gal pal/old co-worker, Becca Booker, to take some pics. We found this random spot near the 101 freeway which was a private lot that held sooo many horses! Instead of just backtracking once we found out it was private property, we asked one of the guys if we could take some photos around the area. We told him 15 minutes.. we were def there for an hour haha. Cheers to random/semi-deserted ranches off the freeway!

Vegan Suede Hat: Free People

Necklace: No Brand, Purchased from Poshmark

Lace Racerback Bralette: Free People

Sweater: Free People, purchased on consignment from Buffalo Exchange

shot by @beccabookermedia, edited by me

Eaton Canyon Trail & Waterfall, Pasadena

Hey readers, meet my handsome boyfriend, Zach. He really is the best. He's currently working his butt off getting his doctorate in Physical Therapy at California State University Long Beach, but when he's not studying or at class, I'm probably nagging him to go out and adventure with me. This includes but is not limited to traveling, going on photoshoots (he hates that, but also secretly gets into it too haha), trying new vegan-friendly restaurants, going to events/festivals, etc. A few days ago, I used one of the "2 hour photoshoot" coupons he gave me as a birthday gift. Yes, you read that right.. he knows how much I like to take pictures and issues me photoshoot coupons. Haha I love it. Anywho... we went out exploring in Pasadena at Eaton Canyon Trail and Waterfall. To be honest, it was way longer of a hike than we were expecting... like an hour to an hour and a half just to get to the waterfall which was not near as big as I had seen in photos, but it was still a nice time to spend together. We followed our hike/photoshoot with a yummy dinner at Little Pine - a super cute fancy vegan restaurant nearby. Their mac n cheese was to die for. Like I literally thought it was real cheese. Bomb.com. 

Brown Hat - Brixton

Brown Dress - Free People 

Vegan Suede Hat - Free People

Gray Sweater - Free People, purchased on consignment from Buffalo Exchange