i spotted these pretty little studs last week, and haven’t been able to get them out of my head.  don’t they just remind you of being 8 years old and blowing the puffs off of dandelions?

lately, i’ve been reaching more often for my smaller, more ladylike accessories…i think i’ve finally tired of all of those big, bold chains from last year.  i love that these little dandelions, by rebecka froberg, are simple and classic, but still just modern enough to be hip.  perfect!

pick them up at refinery 29 for $70 (silver) or $190 (gold).

i fell hard for these beautiful necklaces when they first appeared in my inbox a few months back.  sadly, i wasn’t quick enough the first time around, and they sold out at anthropologie in mere moments.  a collaboration between joya (one of my absolute favorite perfumers) and a hip design shop called vane, they can be worn several ways (thanks to the long, multi-chain detail), but – even better – each is actually a locket that contains a decadent solid perfume fragrance.

fortunately, my tardiness is being excused: my dear friends over at joya have let me know that they’re now available at joya’s website, which excites me to no end.  at $80 each, these are definitely an affordable splurge…the only problem now is choosing which version i love best.  i’m not a spider girl, but it’s a very, very tough call between the cameo and that big gold orb.  with victorian jewelry so in this year, i’m sorely tempted by both.

i’ve only been able to check out the scent for the cameo (okay, so i tackled a salesgirl at anthro last week when i spied her wearing one. “can i smell your necklace”…definitely not a phrase i use often), but it’s divine.  it’s called ambrosia and, true to its name, it’s packed with orange, coconut, vanilla and cinnamon – perfect for a light spring day!  if you’re more of a complex floral girl, i suspect you’ll fall for the orb’s “potion” scent, with notes of lotus, lavender, and amber.

sigh…could i possibly just have one of each?

i happen to love valentine’s day…i loved it when i was single, and i love it still. i used to get so excited about making those valentine boxes to house all of the goodies kids passed around to each other on valentine’s day, and the valentine selection process at the grocery store every year was serious business.

that said, the holiday gets a pretty bad rap from grownups, singles and couples alike, and i do sort of hate what it morphs into once you’re an adult.  no one wants romance forced down their throat.  but i suggest a little change of outlook:  consider it a reminder to tell someone – a friend, a mom or a significant other – that you love them and can’t live without them.

i tend toward small, sweet and simple for valentine’s day, and when i doubt, i go full-blown corny – if you can’t romance them, at least you can entertain them.  that said, i rarely go overboard, and while i wouldn’t turn down an overboard gift (hi honey!), i never expect one.  just something simple that shows you’re thinking of the one you love.

today, it’s all about her…we’ll tackle the boys tomorrow (don’t worry, they’re easier to buy for locally).

jonathan adler heart pill case keychain: my love for mr. adler knows no bounds, and i simply must have this little heart pill case for my key ring.  the front is pink, the back is orange, and the inside is bright yellow…it’s just the thing to house my happy pills (er, tylenol?).  and at $24, it’s the perfect bargain valentine.  just, please, be smart and tuck a little love note (or, you know, diamond earrings) inside.

christine mignon rose gold hearts:  these sweet studs would certainly steal my heart away…and i’m sure they’d fare as well for just about any girl i know.  such a perfect valentine for a wife, of course, but what about a sister or a BFF?  divine.  $150 from the always-lovely christine mighion, and they’re eco-friendly besides.

whitney smith cupcake stand:  for the more creative guys, this might just the ultimate in sweet and thoughtful (ie, guaranteed to net you serious bonus points).  pick up one of these adorable cupcake stands ($72) handmade by whitney smith, and fill it with – you guessed it – one of her favorite cupcakes.  unveil on valentine’s day, and stand back to reap your rewards.

armani dolci truffles: i was skeptical when i heard armani’s latest venture was dessert.  after all, couture and chocolate aren’t exactly a traditional pairing.  but girls, i got to test these out, and hoo boy…mr. armani knows his sugar.  they’re utterly gorgeous (right down to the red silk packaging), unbelievably delicious, and they’ll be glad to ship anything your heart desires from their NYC flagship store, which you can reach at 212.339.5950. pricing starts at $35 for that lovely box of 16 truffles.

i received this gorgeous necklace well before the holidays, and well, there’s just no excuse for not sharing it with you sooner.  it’s by the always amazing prismera design…i swoon over just about everything they come up with.  but the real genius in this piece is that it’s actually a three-in-one!

wear the whole thing as a long, multi-element necklace, or break it apart – the silver/copper portion detaches to becomes a bracelet:

and you’re left with that lovely, simple laser-cut flower on an 18″ gold chain to wear separately.  genius!  i love to see designers coming up with ways to maximize your investment when times are tight, and prismera definitely did it right.  $70 for three new pieces is borderline philanthropic, don’t you think?  plus, i’m thinking this is maybe the ultimate no-thought-required travel jewelry ensemble, all in one pretty piece.

as with all of prismera’s designs, this one won’t be around forever…so if you love it, nab it now!  (a little tip: signing up for the prismera newsletter before ordering will score you a discount code!)

have a great weekend, everyone…see you next week!  i have some perfect valentine ideas up my sleeve for you and the love in your life, so stay tuned.

they’re one of my favorite jewelry lines, i routinely covet at least five things on their website at any given time, and now gorjana is giving 100% of tomorrow’s (jan. 27) proceeds to charities helping out in haiti.  what more could you ask?  shop hard, dear readers…it’s for an extremely good cause.

warning: this is going to be one of those experimental, round-about posts i warned you about.

i’m calling it right now:  musical pendants are going to be this year’s bird/feather/owl necklace of years past.  mark my words.

over the last couple of months, i’ve found myself repeatedly bookmarking necklaces made with whistles.  can’t really explain why, but i’ve just been loving the look.  it started with a link i came across somewhere for a non-profit called falling whistles.  they sell these beautiful whistle necklaces:

and all of the proceeds go to help kids in the congo learn how to work against war instead of becoming part of the ongoing conflict there (ie, be whistle-blowers, get it?).  good, right?  so maybe now i’m associating whistles with happy, good-doing types of things.

anyway. other whistle necklaces followed.  (this one from mothhouse is especially good

then, i was browsing shopbop’s latest lookbook the other day (one of my personal favorites, incidentally – take a peek), and they were featuring this harmonica necklace:

so fun, right?  in the whistle family, but more fun at parties (ahem, and better to annoy office-mates).  like the whistles, i love that it’s a little bit whimsical, but still just looks like a cool long pendant until you get up close and squint.

plus, it happens that i have a soft spot for harmonicas.  when i was just a wee shopper-to-be, my grandpa gave me a harmonica for christmas one year.  he’s in the hospital this week, and since my sweet grandmother passed just four months ago, i’m feeling a pretty heavy nostalgia pull here. so, you can imagine how hard i fell for this little pendant.

right. but sadly, it instantly sold out in the color i liked (you can still grab gold or black, though).

now, this is where the obsession kicks in.  something i like sells out in milliseconds, and suddenly i can’t live without it.  add on the sentimental-ness, and it got ugly.  so, i started scouring the web, and may have come up with something i like nearly as well from a lovely little etsy store called sora design.

what this one lacks in sleek, streamlined hipness (the shopbop version has that in spades), it more than makes up for in old-school girliness.  it even says “little lady” on it!  and it’s only $38.  i do think i may ask for a slightly longer chain length, but etsy peeps are usually super accommodating.

since i missed out on the shopbop version, i’m going to do my best not to make that mistake twice.

so, what do you think?  musical necklaces for spring?  here’s hoping they stay at least a bit original, and don’t end up becoming this year’s version of the ubiquitous bird, leaf and feather necklaces from years past.

it’s not often that my faith in humanity is (temporarily) restored…i tend to have a pretty pessimistic world view.  but the crisis in haiti really does seem to have brought out some amazingly selfless gestures from literally every corner.

i know that thousands of shops, designers and organizations are teaming up to help us donate, and they’re all wonderful for doing it.  but the effort at alexis bittar really caught my eye for its utter and complete generosity.  for the rest of this week (through 1/22/10), alexis bittar is donating a huge 100% of his online proceeds to the haiti earthquake recovery effort. 100%!!  i think it’s absolutely amazing of them, and have decided it may be time to show my support by splurging on one of their signature lucite bracelets, which i’ve been lusting after from afar for some time.

hmm…or maybe a pair of earrings…yum!  if you’re short on cash (aren’t we all), it’s worth mentioning that their sale section (and each and every thing pictured here is on sale, by the way) just dropped to 50% off, with loads of under-$100 choices.  so now you can be a good samaritan, a bargain-shopping genius, and impeccably stylish all at the same time.

a huge virtual hug to alexis bittar for going the extra mile!

as long as we’re talking about my well-documented love for gemma redux, i thought i’d share a little something i’m positively dying to find under my tree this holiday.  these blue agate earrings have had a place in my heart for months now…while some women fantasize about daniel craig (a link well worth clicking, by the way), i fantasize about how and where i’d wear these beauties, and all the people that would stop me on the street to admire them.

aren’t they fantastic?!   sadly, the hubs has already nixed these from my list, so i’m stuck relying on santa for this one.  they’re a little indulgent at $215, but what are the holidays for if not a little indulgence?

santa, if you’re listening…i’m prepared to bargain!

i’m a gemma redux fan from way, way back, and have yet to meet a piece i wouldn’t love to own.  but this new omne necklace is pretty fantastic, even for gemma.

it’s definitely not for the faint of heart when it comes to fashion, but the idea is that you can choose from seven different combinations of metals, all of which are strung together into one long strand.  you also get a super-strength magnet…and from there, the options are, literally, endless.

wear it as a necklace (in any one of dozens of configurations), a headband, a belt…wherever your imagination takes you.  tie it, loop it, or fasten it with the magnet – it’s actually pretty ingenius!  give this to the coolest, most creative girl you know, and i guarantee you’ll be amazed at what she does with it.

pick it up from gemma redux’s website, starting at $98.  just consider it an investment….there’s serious borrowing potential here!

you know, because there are so many single men reading my blog. but just in case you have a male friend or little brother in potential peril over this very dilemma, i thought i’d offer some aid.  for that girl you’ve gone out with a few times, and are agonizing over whether you should even get her a gift, let alone what the gift should be, the answer is, first, yes – always get a gift.  err on the side of generosity.  it will come back to you, trust me.

as to what the gift should be, i’m going with costume jewelry.  something inexpensive and a little less lovey-dovey than, say, a heart-shaped pendant encrusted with CZ gems.  you want to go relatively classic – after all, you probably don’t know her style that well yet – but not boring.  tricky business, i know.  and so, may i suggest this scaled cuff bracelet:

i can’t think of many women i know that wouldn’t happily add this to their jewelry collection. it’s classic and tailored enough for the office, but also a great way to dress up a date dress (most men i know aren’t a fan of the huge jewelry trend as a rule).  banana republic does costume jewelry extremely well, and this is a piece she’ll wear for many, many dates to come.  and if the dates (and the girl) fade away, well, you only spent $36.