Tips for Spicing Up Your Little Black Dress & a $100 Flourish Gift Card Giveaway

Sorry this giveaway is now closed!

We would like to congratulate Allyson (#28) on winning this great prize from Flourish Boutique! Stay tuned for more great giveaways coming soon! 

Vanessa Cooreman Smith is the owner of Flourish Boutique and its’ e-tail sister FlourishBoutique.com. She loves all things fashion and has a special passion for helping women feel confident and beautiful. Her stores are known for not only helping women find outfits and accessories to make them feel special, but also for being unique but affordable places to shop. Most items run from around $30-$100, but Flourish also has great sales and offers a Steal of the Day program too; where a new inventory item every day is guaranteed to be $9.99 or less! That really is a “fashion steal”!

I’ve invited Vanessa to offer some fashion tips with us today for a fun Valentine’s Day night out and I am excited to announce that we are also offering a giveaway today with Flourish Boutique!  Vanessa is one of my dear friends and has been a big supporter of MomAdvice as both an advertiser and helping me look my best at blog conferences. I am excited to share her savvy fashion advice with you and help you look your best for a fun night out on the town for Valentine’s Day! 

bow & narrow dress, $59

Vanessa’s Valentine’s Day Fashion Advice

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and for a lot of women that means a special night out with their sweetheart. But, as exciting as a much needed night out can be, it can also cause a fair amount of anxiety in deciding what to wear. You know the feeling: “I really want something new, but I feel guilty purchasing a new dress or outfit with a whole closet full of clothes”. I can’t tell you how many times I hear women voice this concern. Well, the best solution in my mind is to mix and match new and old. For example, take an existing LBD in your closet and revamp it with a little accessory splurge or a new piece of jewelry. You’ll spend a lot less, but you will feel like you got to treat yourself and confident that you will look your best come February 14th for your date night!

Here’s 6 ways to spice up your existing LBD, using a favorite Little Black Dress from Flourish as an example:

• Make a fairly formal black cocktail dress more chic and casual with a colorful blazer. We paired our black dress with this fun hot pink jacket and some great accessories for a fun look! Not only will buying a colorful jacket like this give you a hot new Valentine’s look while still utilizing your LBD, but you will find that you can use this jacket again and again this spring with jeans, other dresses, skirts and more!
• One Great thing about Valentine’s Day is that one of the main colors is Red, and red just happens to be a main theme color from the Holidays too. This means that lots of red accessories and fashion pieces are deeply discounted right now and make the perfect little budget friendly purchase for your new look. For example, we added this great red shimmery shrug that is on clearance now for just $8.99, but paired with the right accessories this takes your LBD from boring to beautiful for Valentine’s Day! And again, you could wear this shrug with a white tee shirt, jeans, and sassy heels down the road for a girls night out!
• Another great way to freshen up your LBD is to simply buy a great scarf that can double as a pashmina or wrap. We love this particular one in hot pink and how much style it has…but at only $18 it makes a very affordable purchase that really changed the look of this outfit! And you can wear it with tons of spring outfits all season long and have no post-valentines-spending guilt!
• This is probably my favorite trick! We took one of our favorite basics at our store, Flourish: a little layering piece that’s like a long sleeve tee but it’s really a sheer black lace top. We placed the lace top underneath our LBD and voila!….it looked like a whole new dress with kind of an elegant retro flare! How adorable is that…and the best news is that this top is just $22.50! Add some of your favorite classic pearl or crystal jewelry and you will have a look to remember for years to come. And of course, as with most of my tricks this little top will have many future uses too with more everyday outfits.
• This trick is one of the most fashion forward ideas. Right now there is a big fashion trend for loose fitting tops that are longer in back than in front. Buy one of these more casual tops with a “tear drop” back hem and layer it right over your LBD (*to pull this off your LBD must be fairly fitted to balance the loose top). Then pair with tights and boots for a more casual Valentines look! Brilliant!
• And, last but not least: you should feel free to use your existing LBD and an existing black sweater or shrug, but then purchase a fun statement necklace to really give your outfit extra style! We chose a colorful jeweled piece that you would be bound to get compliments on!

As you can see: it’s relatively easy to achieve the Valentine’s Day Glamour and style you desire, without breaking the bank! It’s all about being a little creative and being willing to try new ideas. Think of it as playing dress up and approach it as something fun! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Today we are offering one lucky reader a chance to spice up her Little Black Dress with a $100 Gift Card to Flourish Boutique. This giveaway is open to anyone in the US and your order can be placed right on their store site! This giveaway isn’t just for locals- Flourish can be on your doorstep through the beauty of online ordering. 

Please leave one comment for each  entry you wish to complete:

• First Entry: Visit the Flourish Boutique site and and let us know what you would like to add to your wardrobe for Valentine’s Day.
• Additional Entry: Let us know you are a fan of Flourish Boutique on Facebook.
• Additional Entry: Let us know you are a fan of MomAdvice on Facebook.

One winner, chosen at random, will receive a $100 Gift Card to Flourish Boutique.  Please submit your entries by Thursday (02.09.12) at 8PM EST.  Our winner will be drawn at random. Good luck, everyone!

Flourish Boutique is a paid advertiser on MomAdvice.com. Want to know more about how giveaways are handled here at MomAdvice? Be sure to read our Disclaimer which clearly states how things work and know that we will always offer only the best reviews & giveaways to our readers. In full disclosure, the email addresses that are collected for this giveaway will only be used for the purpose of contacting the winner(s), and will never be sold or given to anyone. This giveaway is only open to residents of the United States who are 18 years of age or older. Entries that do not follow the above criterion will automatically be disqualified. This giveaway will close Thursday, February 9th at 8PM (EST). I’ll announce the first name of the winner(s) that will be added to the top of this current giveaway post and contact the winner(s) by email. I will draw the names of the winner(s) by using the random number generator at Random.org from the eligible entries received. If a winner does not contact me within 72 hours by email, I will draw a new winner. The winner(s) will receive their prize from the PR agency responsible for this giveaway.