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Night #2 of my birthday weekend featured the other Stop Staring dress I bought myself from eBay. This one is in gorgeous purple taffeta with a black satin bodice. The layered bodice effect is similar to a halter top I wore a few weeks ago, but much nicer in its execution.
I wore this outfit out to dinner with my parents at our local fancy restaurant. I broke out of my normal healthy eating routine to indulge in the most amazing filet mignon I’ve ever tasted!
I paired the dress with flesh-tone fishnets from Hue.com, ruched satin fingerless gloves from Greatlookz, and a necklace and earrings that are also from eBay. I scored the jewelry quite a while back for some ridiculously low price like $30.
This hairstyle was just a chignon with my real hair braided around it, finished with two black flowers. If you look through my Hairstyles tag, you’ll see that I rely on artificial hairpieces quite frequently. Despite having very long hair, but I’m not masterful at styling it by any means (nor do I have the time to get elaborate with it).
What have been some of your best eBay finds?
The dress is perfect on you. It is a beautiful shade of plum and you have styled it so elegantly. Your hair also looks pretty masterfully styled and I don't think the use of hairpieces detracts from that.Most of my best ebay finds are shoes. I once got a pair of fluevog Malibrans for about 30$. Sadly they were left in a youth hostel in Dublin years ago.
This dress IS smashing, and I love it paired with the fingerless gloves. They're perfect together. As someone who never has time to style my hair even as much as you do (too much in the habit of leaving it off to the last minute), I think what you do is great. Besides, the use of hairpieces is a practice as old as hairstyling itself. I don't shop Ebay that much. I guess the last thing I bought was a walking cane (I collect them) long, long ago, although my Dad bought a 1951 Nash Rambler on Ebay. This is why we no longer allow him on the internet. ;-D LOL (j/k)
Ohhhh, and in the midst of all my commenting, I keep forgetting to wish you a happy birthweek. HAPPY BIRTHWEEK!! X^D
Oh, we share the same birth week! Happy birth week! (Thanks Tracietrak for the term
)And I love the look of Stop Staring dresses. This one is fab!
I'm can't Stop Staring! It's all too jaw-droppingly gorgeous!Despite your misgivings about not being able to style your hair, I think you fool all of us. Happy birthday!
You look just amazing!!! So beautiful! Love that dress it is very flattering for you. I just bought a book on ebay once. I think I should give it a try.
This dress is so amazingly beautiful! Wow! It looks great on you.Also love how you styled your hair.I'm trying to grow mine again. I look quite horrible at the moment.
Wow! You look amazing, though I suppose it isn't that unusual. I hope you enjoyed your birthday dinner.
LOVE this dress!!!
I adore absolutely everything about this outfit. I wish I were as "not" masterful at styling my hair as you are.
Sabayon, thank you! Great idea using eBay to find expensive shoes for a steal! Sorry to hear they were lost.
Time to get back on eBay and hunt for another treasure!!Traicetrak, excellent point! I have noticed that chignons were big in the late 50s and 60s, and recently read about how rats were used in Victorian styles. I don't feel like such a cheater now! 
Lol about your dad on eBay. Yeah, you can get in BIG trouble there if you aren't careful! Thanks for the BirthWeek Wishes (great term, btw)!muninandhugin, yay! 
Yes, Stop Staring knows how to make a woman look glamorous!Unlacing, lol! That's the irony of the brand. ;-D And I'm glad to hear my chignon tricks are fulfilling their purpose. 
linnea-maria, thank you!! Lol about your limited eBay experience. You've gotta do some treasure hunting. Just be careful, because some sellers will price stuff WAY too high (sometimes even higher than retail prices for popular stuff like iPads).Sal, do not fret! Just be patient. I had some terrible days (weeks, months) growing my bangs out. The "awkward phase" seemed to last forever… But if you hold out you'll get past it and love the end result!angelwhisper, your comment was too sweet. It made my day!!MJ, thanks!!Bane, lol! Okay, okay, I will stop complaining about my styling skills. ;-D Mostly I use it as a disclaimer because people wonder why I use chignons when I have such long hair… It's because I never would be able to achieve this look from scratch (hair too thin and fingers too stubborn). 
I love Stop Staring! They have the cutest vintage-style dresses. I love this one on you. It looks great. You're beautiful!http://joy2thewerld.blogspot.com/
This is awesome! Certainly looks made for you, and again love the color! Your hair looks very nice that way, very flattering with the outfit.
This dress is fabulous! I love the gloves with it, and it has such a nice style and cut.
Your hair also looks gorgeous. I love how the flowers blend so nicely with your hair color.My best Ebay find… Hmm… It has to be a Civil War Era ball gown that I got for a hundred dollars. It was hand made, white satin with roses and ribbons… I love it so much. 
What an utterly gorgeous dress, and you look so smashing-color me green with envy over your fantasticness! Seriously, it's just beautiful and you radiated sophisticated elegance. Congratulations and happy belated birthday! My best eBay find…hmmm, I got a steel boned ruby taffeta corset for $26 once, and that was pretty awesome.
This is by far one of my most favorite outfit you've posted. You look absolutely gorgeous! The color is a dream on you and the jewelry is fit for a queen. I really love the top on this, especially paired with those gloves. BRAVA! BRAVA!
Gorgeous!You've had a couple outfits recently with gloves. What an under appreciated accessory these days. I think I need to find a great pair, and then come up with an outfit to wear with them… How many pairs do you have? Do you primarily wear them with fancy dresses, or do you ever wear them with more casual looks too? I'd love to hear more about styling and gloves if you have the inclination.
Joy, thank you!
Snowhyte, thanks!! I love this shade of purple, especially in this shimmery fabric.Silver Snow, the ball gown sounds gorgeous, and what a great price!! I hope we'll see it on your blog sometime! 
Jamie, thank you! Those are very kind words. I want to see that ruby corset! $26 is a steal!!!Le Professeur, I felt like a queen in this. 
Thank you, sweetie!!RubyAlison, I do have quite a few pairs of gloves (and even more armwarmers). I pair them up with all kinds of outfits (casual and formal and everything in between). Actually, the November 1 theme is going to be Gloves/Armwarmers, so I will go into a lot more detail on that post!Nanna, yep, 38! 
And don't apologize for asking: I have absolutely no sensitivities about age, so talking about it doesn't bother me a bit.
I hope this doesn't wound weird, but I'm really loving your last shot [it makes you seem like a pro model (at first I thought mannequin, but I know that would definitely sound weirder)]. Your hair is doing wonderful things again, beautiful~!Happy birthday~!
That gloves and the pair of shoes are amazing! The dress is beautiful too. ^^Sorry for ask, but you are really… ah… 38? o.O' I was thinking that you're 32 or 33!
That dress is stunning! I love the color.I'm so glad my friend showed me this blog. I recently started using the sites Fashism and Go Try it On, uploading pictures of my outfits. They all get negative votes because the other users on those sites are trend followers with no creativity. I thought I was going to go crazy, but your blog is refreshing. You pull off gothic fashion in such a unique, classy way.I just wish there were other sites like those 2, but for people with a more creative fashion sense. I haven't been able to find one.
/drool! Also, yeah, go gloves.
And as to gloves, did greatlookz stop carrying 'em? The ones this one is currently finding are much < compared to the ones you have on.
Sir Isaak, mannequins are cool, so I'll take that!
Siesie, thank you for your kind words! I've had the same issues with Lookbook. Not a lot of creative types there, either. 
High Arka, it took some digging but I found these same gloves buried on the Greatlookz site: http://www.greatlookz.com/product/3GLSS930817/Long-Gathered-and-Beaded-Gauntlet-Gloves-in-Asst-Colors.html
I want this dress. It's just stunning.
This dress is beyond gorgeous! Purple and black is my favorite color combination and it looks fabulous on you. I especially like the fingerless gloves. Nice touch.
Beautiful!
You look gorgeous, Mrs. Kitty. I heart this dress!