PROM: My dress picks, what I wore to my proms, my hair and nails, & more!

My Prom Details:

For my first prom, all I knew was that I wanted my dress to be pink. Other than that, I was completely open! Theses are the four pink dresses I liked the most:

Looking at them now, I almost hate them all.

The one farthest to the left was beautiful, but was a little more expensive than I was looking for and I wasn’t sure on the fit. Looking at this one now, I am remembering another one I tried on. It was similar to this one but had blue stones over the nude mesh and sort of made me look like a mermaid. My mom liked it, but I thought it looked like it showed too much, since the nude mesh material was everywhere and the stone only covered the necessary areas.

Anyways, I also sort of like the second one from the left, but even though it was my size, I felt uncomfortable in it. The fabric on the skirt was the kind that clings to every lump or bump and the top of the skirt/bottom of the shirt exposed an area that I am not 100% confident with. Lesson: only buy a dress that makes you feel comfortable and confident.

The third one from the left was pretty, but overall I thought the stones looked cheap and it was too much material for me. I am about 5’2″, and although you cannot see it here, this skirt was overpowering me.

The last one is the one I ended up going with- and I did not even want to try it on. I thought it was the weirdest design and concept and was completely against it. After realizing that the other silhouettes were not flattering on me, my mom got me to try it on. Even though I was not in love with the sparkle/embroidery layout, it was different and unique- and I loved it. Normally I only recommend short dresses for if you happen to be going to prom your freshman/sophomore year, but this “short dress” was the exception because of the sort of cape around it. I wore this my junior year and probably would not have worn it if it was my senior year because I think that your junior year dress should be more fun and colorful and your senior year dress should be more sophisticated.

The shoes pictured above are not the ones I wore, but you can see mine below. There the same heels I wore to my 8th grade formal since I did not really care about my shoes that year. Nowadays, I would never wear these shoes again. They’re comfortable, but I don’t like how they look.

I did my hair and makeup for both of my proms. My junior year I curled my hair and quickly decided to never do that again. My hair is the type that does not hold curl well at all, so I had to redo it three times between pictures and the actual prom. For my makeup, I kept it pretty simple this year. Looking back, I hate my eyeshadow.

I got my natural nails painted and added some sparkle.

For my senior year, I knew I wanted something different. I knew I did not really want anything with sparkles on it and I knew I did not want any bright colors. Basically- the complete opposite of what I wore my junior year. The floral skirt trend was very popular this year so this is the style I decided to go with. I loved this two-piece look because it was trendy and the flowers made it unique compared to the basic rhinestoned prom dress. I went with this dress from David’s Bridal, and it was actually the first one I tried on. I chose it compared to all the other ones I ended up trying on because the fabric of the skirt was the best quality and I loved the colors in these flowers the most.

You cannot see it in this photo because I am covering it up but we actually took fabric from my skirt when it was hemmed and used it as a pocket square in Doug’s coat!

Once again, my mom and I did my hear. I learned from my first prom that I did not want it curled and I decided that a simple ponytail with volume in the front and a wrap around the holder in the back would look the best. I loved my hair like this because it was comfortable and stayed like this all night without me having to worry with it.

I also love these shoes way more than the ones I wore junior year. These are ribbon lace up black suede heels from Forever 21. I recommend buying your prom shoes at stores like Forever 21 and Charlotte Russe because they will be cheaper since you probably won’t wear them much other than for this night.

For my jewelry I just wore my Kendra Scott Elle’s and a bangle on my upper right arm that you can see in the photo after the one below. Same with the typical sparkly prom dresses, I hate the typical silvers bedazzled jewelry.

My nails were cheapo stick on nails from Walmart! They looked so pretty and lasted for two weeks and the best part is that these are only $9!

Prom Dress Shopping Tips:

It’s going to look different on you than it does on the hanger, so try it on and give it a chance
Don’t try to make yourself love something you don’t feel comfortable and confident in/love every aspect of
Try on a bunch of dresses so you know the one you love is your favorite