Warning: This post contains excess amounts of cuteness!
Longtime readers of Lemon Stripes know that I’ve been wearing essie ‘ballet slippers’ on my nails for years. It’s my go-to manicure color and I have it on 90% of the time. So when my favorite nail polish brand reached out to partner with me for a spring shoot, I got way too excited and may have gone over the top.
My friend Eva and I decided to be super extra and throw a full-on spring tea party with some girlfriends and our daughters to celebrate the launch of essie’s tea party-inspired spring 2019 collection. We each picked our favorite color from the line to wear for the photos. I chose ‘stirring secrets,’ a light nude beige/pink cream. Shocker. Eva went with ‘tiers of joy,’ a periwinkle blue with some iridescent lilac tones.
The older girls all painted their nails with the collection as well. Amalia wasn’t quite old enough yet but she fully enjoyed the company… And the cupcakes. I seriously can’t wait to take her for her first manicure in a few years. She’s already into fashion and accessories, so I have a feeling she’ll be all over nail polish too.
The women in these photos are some of my closest friends, and when we get our kids together to play and they all have a great time, it makes me so happy. I’m beyond lucky to have found such a fabulous group of girlfriends, and the fact that our kiddos love each other too gives me hope for future play dates and maybe even a vacation together… Dare I say it?
At first, Amalia was a little shy, but after about 10 minutes, she was up and dancing like a maniac and running around with the other girls. Whenever she’s in a new situation, she sits quietly for a few minutes and looks around before deciding if she’s in it to win it or not. There is always this moment where I see her open up. She gets a look in her eyes and she is suddenly comfortable and happy.
A friend of mine recently told me that she’ll make a great CEO one day because she assesses every situation before she makes a decision and doesn’t just jump in blindly. I love that!
I hope you enjoy these photos as much as we loved taking them.
My Dress / Amalia’s Jumpsuit / My Hair Bow
Thank you to essie for sponsoring this post. All opinions, as always, are 100% my own. Photos by Julia Dags.
This is so adorable. Love your dress! The nude nail looks so pretty with it. Also digging Amalia’s gingham jumpsuit! I wish they made that in adult sizes lol!
OMG right? I need a pink gingham jumpsuit in my life so badly…
These pictures are way too cute!! It looks like you guys had a great time with this shoot, which is the cutest idea ever!! The new Essie collection is gorgeous, and I need all the new colors ahah! I wanna have a tea party now 🙂
xx Libby
https://premedwearspearls.blogspot.com/
Hahah do it! Nobody has tea parties anymore 🙂
I am majorly in love with your dress.. so sad the floral print is sold out! ;( A great post! xx
I know, I’m so sorry! It is so so gorgeous. But the solid pink one is nice too!
Cute! Did you take these photos at Eva’s new house? (Avid reader of her blog too :)) Just curious why you’re in an empty house 🙂
No our friend Lauren (Dudley Stephens) has a new studio and let us make a mess there before she set it all up LOL
This post made me smile so much on this beautiful Monday morning! I loved all of the images and it looks like everyone had so much fun! Hoping everyone has an amazing week ahead!
Aww yay! So glad you loved them. I hope you have a great week too!
Why did you erase my comment on your Instagram? I’m curious why it’s all white people in your photo shoot, representing Essie. Seems a bit problematic to me.
Hi Lauren! I deleted it because I didn’t think it was appropriate. Thank you for asking in a kind way here, though. This was a little tea party for my closest girlfriends, it wasn’t intentionally trying to exclude anyone and I’m so sorry if that is how it came off.
Looks like you have some work to do regarding deleting comments that point out problematic situations, especially work being sponsored by a brand.
http://laylafsaad.com/meandwhitesupremacy-workbook
I only delete them if they’re snarky or rude. If they are brought up in a helpful way, I am happy to have a conversation! But please do not imply something without knowing my story. To even bring up white supremacy because of the fact that my friends happen to be white is disgusting.
Did you even read the link? It’s about white fragility, which is what is happening here. I pointed out that it was problematic doing SPONSORED content with all white, blonde women and children when your followers aren’t all white. Maybe next time say, “hey thanks for your thoughts, I will try to be more inclusive next time.” It doesn’t matter if all your best friends are white (maybe you should do some reflection on that too), but it’s the fact that your getting paid for this and not including other people. Brands would get called out for this, not just you.
I’m a longtime fan of Lemon Stripes. But I’ll admit that I occasionally have similar thoughts and reactions as Lauren. It’s not offense, it’s more like a tinge of sadness. As in “I love the aesthetic/lifestyle/brand she’s portraying, but I could never be part of it.” (Because it appears to be so exclusively white.) I usually get past this by telling myself “Hey, it’s Connecticut…” And I never comment about it because I value your authenticity and wouldn’t want you to artificially include people of color for the sake of diversifying your brand if that just isn’t your life.
I’m Nigerian and I have been an avid reader of Lemon Stripes for at least 3 years, and it is one of my favourite blogs of all time.
I understand and can relate with her content and I know she cannot force POCs to be her friends. It is what it is.
Inclusivity is amazing but it cannot be forced, as that is worse and really fake. It’s the same way that some POCs have only POCs as friends because those are the people they resonate with.