Now that my company’s holiday party has actually happened, we can finally write this post! It was about a month ago that I was facing my holiday party dress dilemma having no idea what I would wear this year and it was just a few weeks ago that I wrote our Holiday Party Dress Guide for 2015. When I wrote that, I had just found my dream dress (this one above!) When you know, you know. The minute I put it on, I not only knew it was the perfect dress, but I felt it. Oh gosh – imagine what I’m going to say when I write about how I find THE dress someday. When you have found the dress and you’re excited about it, you’ll try it on every few days…and that’s exactly what I did. Out of the three holiday parties that I’ve celebrated with my company, this is by far, my favorite look.

• Free People She’s Got It Slip
• Free People Lita Choker
• Hair by Drybar
• Makeup by Bare Minerals

Mandi and I had separate holiday parties to attend that night, but we figured, why not get ready together? She told me that for holiday parties she usually likes to pamper herself and go all out. I hadn’t done that in the past two years, but I thought why not? My makeup and hair should match exactly how I feel about my dress. Our first stop? Dry Bar for our very first visit!

Our visit was to the Dry Bar in downtown SF. $45 gets your hair blown out and a shampoo wash as well. I had taken a look at the menu beforehand because I’m such a planner, but the style that I wanted wasn’t exactly what I had seen so naturally, I came prepared with a photo. I told my girl that I wanted very loose waves and all of my hair to one side to match the look I was trying to go for with the dress. I felt like I was done in about 15 minutes! Honestly though, she did such a great job and I feel like this rarely happens, but I got exactly what I had asked for. The shop is super cute; it actually looks like a little bar with the set-up and while I would totally go back for another special event, I don’t think I can justify going every day before work like some people actually do. Isn’t that a little bit much?! I thought so too. Mandi and I were in shock after we found out that this is a daily thing for some people especially because shampooing and blow drying your hair is something that I learned at like age 5.

From there, her and I headed over to Bare Minerals where we had our makeup done! I have to admit, this was the one part of the day that made me really nervous especially because I used to get my makeup done for formal dances in high school at various counters. Back then, I always felt like everything was a bit overdone. The MAC counter will do that to you. However, at Bare Minerals, I felt like I was leaving looking exactly like myself, but a little bit better 😉 Bare Minerals has always been a pretty natural looking brand though so I was very impressed with them and ended up purchasing two products that I’ll most likely feature on a future “Beauty for Breakfast.”

Some last thoughts:

The back of this dress is really what sold me. Make sure you click the link for the extra details. I kept telling Mandi that I couldn’t wait to wear this dress and to get ready with someone else so that they could help me button up the last three buttons that I couldn’t reach when trying it on. I also am not big on accessories so I didn’t have a lot that would match with this dress and I knew it too. After I had secured the dress at the store, I did that thing that I do when I’m shopping and get too comfortable by roaming around and asking everyone working there to help me find the perfect necklace. I love this choker. I haven’t worn chokers in a very long time, but it’s a trend that has made its way back this year and it was so so pretty, but also didn’t take away from the lace detail on the dress which made it perfect.