Tag Archives: Louisiana bloggers

Celebrate Diversity & Strong Women

Hey everyone, I’m so excited to share these photos with you because they have been a long time in the making. I’ve wanted to direct and coordinate a styled photo shoot like this with a diverse group of strong influential women that I admire for years. It wasn’t until last summer that I actually put things into motion. I reached out to Makeup by Meggan about featuring her makeup line in the shoot because I was so impressed that she prioritizes inclusivity and diversity within her products and the shades she offers.

I’ve always struggled to find a makeup line that fully caters to my skin color but Makeup by Meggan’s foundation is the perfect match and I’ve been using it for a few years now. Meggan loved the idea of doing the shoot, but then we both got busy with family life as we welcomed new baby boys into our lives this past year. I finally got around to coordinating it this past month and everything fell into place once I found the perfect group of strong, beautiful, and influential women! Not only are these ladies all beautiful, but each one of them is strong, talented and kind hearted.

Beauty truly comes in every color, but when I look at these photos I see more than just beautiful faces. I see a strong and diverse group of successful female entrepreneurs who are also artists, mothers, content creators, medical professionals, beauty experts, digital influencers and business owners. They are all these things and more, but MOST importantly they are kind and beautiful from the inside out.

Being a minority myself, it’s important to me that Haute Off The Rack serves as a platform that encourages inclusivity and celebrates diversity. I am so grateful for my Filipino and Italian heritage! This is just the beginning of a new #hauteofftherack series that celebrates diversity & strong women, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us! I plan to do this by continually sharing and highlighting other strong female influencers of all sizes, shapes and colors.

My Outfit: Nude Rib Brami | Parker Vintage Loose Fit Cutoff Shorts | Pisa Bracelet Set of 2

We did three different looks during the shoot. For the first look, I had each influencer wear a nude top that matched their skin tone to really highlight all of our different skin complexions to show off Meggan’s foundation. For the second look, we all wore black tops and rocked a red lip because that is one timeless lip color that looks fabulous on all skin tones. Lastly, everyone picked a summer outfit that best represented their personal style. I love how everyone’s outfits reflected each of their different personalities. I wanted to make sure everyone’s personalities shined through in the photos because they’re all amazing.

As for our makeup, Meggan sent each of us a set of her foundation and false lashes to try out so that we could apply the makeup ourselves using her products prior to the shoot. For the first look featuring the nude tops, Meggan applied her new nude lip color to everyone’s lips. The nude shade looked stunning on everyone so we can’t wait for it to launch later this year. It’s so cool how we all have different color skin complexions and yet her products were still able to accommodate all of us.

Scroll through this post to see all of the photos from the shoot and to learn a little bit about each one of these talented ladies.

Krystal Faircloth of A Pinch of Lovely | Shade: Light

Krystal and I have now been friends for 8+ years. We met when we first started blogging and since then we’ve traveled the world together and have created truly unforgettable memories. She even saw me get engaged in Italy, stood in my wedding and we were both there for each other’s baby showers.

Krystal recently launched her podcast, Slow Your Scroll this past November. Be sure to check it out for a behind-the-scenes look at the culture of online influence through light-hearted conversations with some of the most polarizing personalities on social media. Get a glimpse at what’s behind the polished images we see online and tackle the topics surrounding the perfectly curated feed. Slow Your Scroll is meant to connect content creators, influencers, and their audience on both an informative and entertaining level and is hosted by Krystal Faircloth. I actually recorded an episode with Krystal just before Beck arrived. You can check it out here—>Finding Silver Linings + Taking Snack Breaks with Jennifer Palpallatoc

Meggan of Makeup by Meggan | Shade: Medium Neutral

I connected with Meggan a couple of years ago through a mutual friend and she did my makeup for a few events. I always loved how she applied my makeup so I was super proud of her when she launched her own product line. And I wasn’t at all surprised that I absolutely loved it. In case you missed it, I mentioned that I’ve always struggled to find a makeup line that fully caters to my skin color. Fortunately, Makeup by Meggan’s foundation is the perfect match and I’ve been using it for a couple years now. I can’t wait to see what she comes out with next.

Brittney of Everything Fusilier | Shade: Tan

I had the pleasure of meeting Brittney earlier this year at Galentine’s Day event I hosted and she is even more lovely in person. I have loved following along with her and her family because she has the most precious little girls and not only is Brittney a talented content creator and mother, but she is also a full time pharmacist too. I don’t know how she juggles motherhood, marriage, the blog and a full time job, but I will say that she looks amazing while doing it and performs it all with grace. Be sure to follow along with her for family inspo and a daily dose of cuteness from Maddy and Olivia.

Marianne Angeli Rodriguez | Shade: Tan

I stumbled into Marianne and her incredible artwork at an event in my hometown a few years ago. It was cool to meet a successful artist around my age who owned her own gallery. Also, we immediately hit it off since we’re both filipino. I have loved watching Marianne’s business continue to grow over the past couple of years and I feel honored to have a print from her Triple Goddess collection hanging in my home. The Triple Goddess is a celebration of the Divine Feminine and all of our cherished relationships which both lift us up and ground us. It is a tribute to our mothers, sisters, daughters, mentors, and friends. The ‘Triple Goddess’ represents our capacity for strength, wisdom, and power when we stick together and symbolizes three pillars of ultimate beauty found within; courage, compassion, and love.

Be sure to follow along with @MarianneAngeliRodriguez on Instagram for a splash of vibrant color in your feed. Also, you can purchase her artwork at her gallery in Downtown Covington or online—> www.marianneangelirodriguez.com

Olivia of Viv & Liv | Shade: Fair

I met Olivia via Instagram before inviting her to a fun event I hosted in my hometown. I don’t know if she was ever a cheerleader, but I feel like she could have been because she is constantly cheering me on and supporting everything I do. And for that, I am so grateful for our friendship because everyone needs positive people like that in their lives. Follow @livewithlivandviv for the most precious mother daughter duo and all of Olivia’s creative DIYs. Also, be sure to check out her most recent venture with All Shine Designs.

Fun fact: Olivia ordered fried chicken fingers in the middle of the photo shoot so clearly she and I and speak the same language! LOL Also, if that doesn’t make you adore her, I don’t know what will!

Mhykee of Imprint | Shade: Dark

I recently came across Mhykee on Instagram and was immediately captivated by her bright, colorful and boho style. Additionally, I admired everything she stood for: family, faith, fashion and her career as a nurse practitioner. I’m always so inspired by the women who do it all because I know how challenging it can be. It was an absolute pleasure getting to meet Mhykee in person during a day full of girl time and shooting at Maison Lafitte. I hope we get to work together again in the near future or hang out at a fun influencer event once this quarantine clears up. Be sure to follow along with Mhykee’s style, family and spiritual journey on her blog and Instagram at @Mhykeexg.

Fammy | Shade: Medium Neutral

Fammy and I met through some mutual friends a few years ago and she’s always been such a great supporter of Haute Off The Rack, which I can’t thank her enough for. I’ve also always admired Fammy’s luxe and exciting lifestyle. She always travels to the coolest places and wears the most fabulous outfits. To top it off, she has a heart of gold and generously gives so much of her time and money to support local charities and New Orleans businesses that she loves. It’s no surprise that she was Miss Louisiana 2016. Be sure to follow along with all of her exciting ventures on Instagram at @Mrs.Fammy!

Photos by Aperture Photos Co

Venue: Maison Lafitte

How To Throw The Perfect Beach Bachelorette Party

July 30, 2019

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a nice weekend. Today I’m talking about how to throw the perfect beach bachelorette party by sharing all the details from the recent beach trip/bachelorette party that I helped throw for one of my fellow blogger friends, Caitlyn from Milligan Movement. I got together with nine other influencers who are also friends with Caitlyn and we rented a beautiful 5-bedroom house in WaterSound beach to sleep 12 of us. This is the exact house we rented—> https://www.vrbo.com/7823606ha?adultsCount=10

| Shop Pool Floats |

Pool Floats: Inflatable Flamingo | Inflatable Watermelon | Engagement Ring Bachelorette Party Tube | Tropical Palm Leaf Pool Float

[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3675472″]

Day 1: Arrival & Dinner at the house provided by Private Chef Kali

Prior to the trip, I sent out an itinerary, sign up sheet and packing list to all of the girls so they knew exactly what outfits to bring and how much to budget for. Speaking of budget, I made sure to run the plans by everyone first before booking anything so that there were no surprises when it came to paying for meals and activities. Taylor from Gracefully Taylored was so helpful in booking the house and private chef for the first night. I can’t even begin to tell you how nice it was to have a four-course meal complete with champagne and rosé prepared for us in our house the first night we arrived after a long day of traveling. We used Chef Kali and they did a phenomal job.

During dinner I passed out all of the goodie bags to each of the girls and we discussed the rest of our weekend plans. When it comes to goodie bags, I do not recommend investing an excessive amount of items like I did for this trip. I was fortunate to have partnered with these brands to give you some unique ideas for items to put in your goodie bags, but I know my friends would be so ecstatic to receive just even one of these goodies. I suggest choosing just a couple of these items to give to all of your best gals.

If you are working within a tight budget, it’s nice to include items like pain reliever, snacks, mints, makeup wipes, hand sanitizer, bobby pins, SPF, tums, hair ties etc…

Goodie Bags: Palm Leaf Eye Mask, Champagne Nightshirt & Hand-Painted Palm Leaf Beach Bag c/o Mark & Graham | Initial Charm Necklace w/ North Star Charm & Ivory Mother-of-Pearl c/o Kendra Scott | Customized Boater Hat, Disco Ball Cup & Stemless Canteen c/o White Elephant Designs | St. Barts Studded Cork Clutch c/o Lilly Pullitzer | White Heart Sunglasses | COOLA Organic Unscented Sport Sunscreen Spray, COOLA Organic Makeup Setting Sunscreen Spray & COOLA Full Spectrum 360 Mineral Sun Silk Creme Sunscreen

A week prior to the trip, I had Caitlyn’s matron of honor email the groom with 24 questions to answer about their relationship and had him send the questionarre back with all of his answers. Some of the questions consisted of: My biggest pet peeve of Caitlyn is? Her biggest pet peeve is when I?
Our best date ever was?
The day I realized I wanted to marry her was?

We saved the questions and answers on someone’s phone and read them aloud after dinner and if she answered the question correctly meaning the same answer as the groom, we all took a drink. If she answered incorrectly, she took a drink. I think this game may have been my favorite part of the trip too and it’s such a fun way to learn more about your friend’s relationship. If you’re interested in the rest of the questions for an upcoming trip, shoot me and email at jenn.hauteofftherack@gmail.com.

Day 2: Pajama Party & Boat Day

We kicked off our first full day with a with a pajama party in our new Champagne Nightshirts from Mark & Graham and danced around the house with mimosas after breakfast. If you follow me on Instagram, this was the pajama party where we reenacted the intro of Big Little Lies! Once everyone was ready for the boat, we packed up all the necessities, snacks and drinks and took and uber to the marina. As I mentioned earlier, I sent out a sign up sheet prior to the trip so that each girl could contribute some type of snack, drink or necessity to make boat day a smooth and pleasant experience.

Palm Leaf Eye Masks & Champagne Nightshirt

We rented a boat with a kitchen and bathroom so that we could keep our drinks and food cold and still have plenty of room for dancing and lounging. The boat owner also provided us with a captain who took us out on the water for four hours, which was the perfect amount of time because we were exhausted by the end. As for our outfits, we ordered nine black swimsuits and everyone got to choose a “nautical” bachelorette themed phrase to have stamped on their swimsuit.

Black One Pieces & Captain Hats

The whole idea stemmed from the name of the boat we rented! We were cracking up because the name of the boat is called “Nauti⚓️ Pleasures” so we started making “nauti” jokes and all of sudden I was like “Omg I saw something on Pinterest that would be perfect for this!” We decided this the weekend before we left and all worked together with a little help from Amazon prime to make it happen for Cait’s bach party!

Day 3: Pool Party & Fancy All White Dinner at Caliza

By day three, we were all pretty exhausted from the boat so we took it easy and hung out by the pool and beach all day snacking on cake pops and drinking plenty of rosé and Michelob Ultra. That night we got a all dressed up in white and went out to a fancy dinner at Caliza to celebrate the bride-to-be!

Custom Boater Hats c/o White Elephant Designs

Don’t forget to pack an electric air pump so you can more easily blow up all of your pool floats. There is also an option to help you deflate your floats too so you don’t have to spend hours waiting for it deflate before packing it to go back home.

You may have seen my “How to Plan the Perfect Bachelorette Beach Party” blog post from four years ago, but if you haven’t seen it, I listed all of my tips below.

How To Throw The Perfect Beach Bachelorette Party:

1) Start planning two-three months in advance and ask the bride what kind of party she wants, where she wants it, who she wants to invite and her schedule availability. Once you pinpoint her ideal party/trip and have her open dates on the calendar, reach out to the rest of the bridal party and coordinate dates and a budget that work for everyone before booking a place.

2) Once you find a couple of available places that work with everyone’s schedules and budgets, present them to the bride and let her choose which one she likes best. Before booking the place, get a final headcount and make sure everyone is clear on how much money they will need to put down. You can also give them an estimate of groceries, dinner reservations and any additional events that may take place.

To avoid anyone having to spend more money than they had originally planned, I made a rule that once you committed to the trip and paid, you would NOT be refunded your money if you decided to cancel last minute. I did this to be fair to everyone especially those who could not afford to go over budget.

When it comes to collecting everyone’s money for the trip, I suggest encouraging the rest of the bridesmaids to download apps like Venmo or Paypal to help this process run smoothly. You’ll also like like being able to use these apps during the trip too.

3) A month before the trip research restaurants and fun things to do in that area and take any necessary actions for booking and reserving. When doing this make sure to ask about group deals and special bachelorette freebies.

4) 1-2 weeks prior to the trip, send out an email including the following information: address, start/end time, dress codes, any additional fee reminders, transportation info and a tentative itinerary for the guests to use as a guide for packing. If you plan to throw a lingerie party during the trip, make sure to inform the guests of the bride’s sizes. This is also time when you should make your grocery and decorations list, compile a list of fun games and call to confirm all of your reservations. A week before the trip, take food and alcohol requests from the rest of the group if you plan knock out the grocery trip yourself. I found that it saved a lot of time going alone. Lastly, make sure you coordinate a ride for the bride and give her the breakdown without giving away any surprises so she knows how to pack.

5) The night before the trip, remind everyone of the check in time, address and any other obligations they agreed to. On the actual first day of the trip, plan to arrive early with one or two more people to help set up and decorate before the bride arrives. For the trip I recently just hosted, I arrived a couple of hours early with one other girl to check everyone in, make a grocery store trip and decorate the condo. I wanted the fridge and cabinets to be fully stocked for when everyone arrived so we could immediately start partying.

Decorations: I didn’t go crazy with decorations for this trip beach trip because we plan on throwing a bigger party back at home with more of her friends, but I highly suggest balloon garland and disco balls.

You can use the style board below as a guide to help you prepare for your next beach bachelorette party.

See more from my own bachelorette party here—>Wedding Wednesday: 5 Essentials You Need For The Perfect Bachelorette Party

Shop My Designs with Gibsonlook

Shop Pregnancy Essentials

Shop Cozy Loungewear

Recently On Haute Off The Rack