What’s In My Clutch: Lizzie Darden

If you’re not following Lizzie Darden on Instagram yet… take a quick pause and go do that, then come back here. *I’ll wait.*

Ok, so Lizzie is a content creator who makes the most genius puns of all time come to life and her crisp, bright feed is one of my absolute favorites to follow. We knew she’d be the perfect fit for our graphic patterned Egg clutch this month and #sorrynotsorry but we could not have been more right!

We chatted with Lizzie about everything from how she comes up with all her crazy ideas and overcomes creative roadblocks to the hilarious thing she found in her purse during a very professional meeting. She also spilled the goods about where she finds the best statement earrings so get to gettin’! This one is egg-cellent, if I do say so myself. Sorry, had to. Now let’s hear from the actual pun professional! 😉

What are your must-have items that you always keep in your purse?

Lipstick first and foremost! At any point in time I probably have about 7 shades of lipstick in my bag MINIMUM, ha! Hot pinks, reds, oranges, purples, sometimes blues and metallics, it’s definitely an obsession. I don’t usually wear a ton of jewelry at once but I like to think of a poppy lip color as an accessory! Then my sketchbook/notebook and a pen. You never know when inspiration is going to strike, but it’s almost always at the most random times, so I like to keep my small Moleskin with me to sketch out any photo ideas or jot down any potential puns and wordplay (I have a terrible memory so I have to write down everything!). I also have a short stack of my business cards, mini hot sauce (I LOVE spicy foods), and some cute bandaids because I’m forever wearing high heels. If I could only fit one thing though it would definitely be my sketchbook! There’s months worth of puns in there!

I love that you literally have hot sauce in your bag! Haha. What’s the craziest item you’ve ever found in your purse?

Once I had a meeting with my tax accountant and a mini disco ball fell out of my purse onto his desk. Haha, I don’t even know when or how it got in there, but I don’t think he’s ever taken me seriously since then!

You have almost all of our clutches now! We know you can’t carry more than one at a time so how do you like to get the most out of your growing collection?

My clutches are such a lifesaver when I‘m traveling! I’m admittedly pretty Type A so I like to have everything organized to a T; makeup in my emoji face clutch, hair products in my mermaid clutch (for mermaid hair, get it? :p), cotton balls and makeup brushes in my cloud clutch, etc. And then once I unpack everything in my hotel I have tons of clutches to choose from to go out with, it’s the perfect double duty situation!

Do you remember your very first purse? Tell us about it!

Yes! I was so excited the day my mom took me purse shopping. We went to Dillards and I was so overwhelmed by the selection that I probably spent a few good hours deliberating. I finally decided on this SUPER bright chartreuse-green, frosted, jelly bag. I wore it every single day even though it matched absolutely nothing and there was a little hanging tag on the handle where you could write your name in contact info, so of course I filled that in right away (you know, in case I ever lost it and needed my very valuable contents back, aka one tube of Lip Smackers and a tin of tangerine Altoids, ha!)

You have such an awesome + distinct style now! How has it changed over the years? 

Oh gosh it’s been all over the place! In middle school I had a bit of a punk/emo phase (or at least I thought I was punk)! I wore these black fishnet fingerless gloves and lime green hair extensions, haha, but all of it was from Limited Too, so I probably wasn’t fooling anyone! In high school I got into thrifting, which I’m still all about now, and in college I worked retail at Gap and then later at Free People, so I had a preppy and then bohemian style respectively. As of the past year or so though, I think I’ve finally found my true style that really expresses who I am. It’s taken a while, but I’ve learned to stop caring about what other people think and about what’s trendy, and instead just have fun with fashion. Right now I’m on a huge gingham and ruffle kick, so my closet is totally full of that (along with lots of pink, of course!). I like to think of my personal style as my photography style in wearable form: bright, girly, poppy, and a dash of weird/quirky.

I’m loving gingham + ruffles right now, too! Do you have any other go-to’s that step up an outfit? 

I’ve recently gotten way into statement earrings- the bigger and crazier the better! Jennifer Loiselle makes my favorite pairs and I also find a lot of interesting ones on Etsy just searching for “lucite” or “novelty food earrings”.

Tell us a little about what you do! What were you doing before this? 

I’m a photographer and content creator, so I work with different brands to style their products in a unique and visually artistic way. I try to think of products as abstract objects, so it’s less about telling you to buy something and more about treating the product as part of a wider art piece. I also love to use humor in my photos so puns are a huge theme!

Before this though, I worked part-time at a creative agency for a few months right after college, working on logos and advertisements, usually four days a week. On weekends and my off-days I would mess around with my own photography and make silly puns to post on my Instagram– just as a creative outlet, nothing serious. After a little bit, it sort of snowballed into a more tangible career path and I was getting emails from brands (which was a total surprise!), so I left the agency to focus on what I really loved. It was scary leaving a steady job for something so new and unfamiliar, but I had this intense feeling that I’d regret it every day if I didn’t at least give this a shot. And I’m so glad I did!

Where do you find inspiration for all of your puns? They’re so clever + funny!

My favorite way to come up with puns is playing word association games! So, for instance, if I want to make an ice cream pun I write down everything that comes to mind when I think of the word “ice cream”: cones, cherries, sherbet, sprinkles, and so on. Then I look over the list and see what stands out, what rhymes with certain words, things like that. And then sometimes it happens more organically, just walking down the aisles of a grocery store! I think my all-time favorite pun is my balloon dog, hot dog because it forced me to learn a new skill: balloon twisting!

What do you when you hit a creative roadblock?

The most helpful thing I’ve found is to get up and start walking, whether it’s outside around the block or on a treadmill. There’s something about moving around and getting your blood flowing that really opens up your creativity. Also, if I’m really, truly stuck on something, I try not to overthink it and just focus on something else for a bit. Stressing just intensifies the block and sometimes your brain really just needs some good R&R!

What advice would you give to other women looking to start their own small business?

Find a good community of other business women you admire, which is so easy to do nowadays with social media! I would be so lost without my girl group of fellow content creators! Especially when you’re just starting out it’s so helpful to have that community of peers to bounce ideas off of, ask advice from, hold each other accountable, and really just learn and grow together, lifting each other up. Starting your own business can be scary and even isolating at times, so having people who are going through it or have been through the same thing who you can trust and vent to makes a world of difference! Also, keep at it! It sounds cliche but nothing happens overnight. If something isn’t happening as quickly as you wanted it to, don’t get discouraged, it’s just a part of the process!

Photos by Lizzie Darden

HUGE thank you to Lizzie for chatting with me and for these GORGEOUS photos! Be sure you’re following along with her on Instagram later today because she’s going to be giving away one of our Egg Clutches + the pin and keychain! Go, go go!

And if you want to make sure to secure your spot for the next available clutch, be sure to sign up for the waitlist here!

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