By now, we all know you can mix any neutral and produce a sane result. Maybe it's all this sunshine and serotonin, but lately I've been all, "Whatever, neutral. You excite me not." I've been striving for more unexpected color combinations, bold primaries and secondaries and thirddaries mixed with each other, anchored by our old friend, the neutral, who only ever wanted a simple life in the country with a couple of dogs and an herb garden.

Today, I played with red and purple, a majestic color combination found in nature. Por ejemplo.

The solar system:

Pepper plants:

Leafy things:

And, of course, the lovable Red Hat Society:

Why not red and purple on a Monday? I picked up a purple skirt at Dillard's this weekend (tax-free!) for about $20. I liked it because it has a peplum, but it's fairly low-lying and understated. Peplums can get out of hand quickly when you already have plenty of hips with which to twerk. I paired it with a black sweater from Forever 21, and to achieve the looks found above in nature, red suede wedges from Charlotte Russe. It felt a little disjointed, so I added a red and black necklace from (where else?) Emily's mom's collection from Chico's, and a simple gold bangle from H&M.

I finished with red lipstick, a shade called "Barcelona" by Buxom, available at Sephora or Amazon. It lasts ALL DAY, you guys, and has a refreshing minty plumping sensation. I have to chip it off with a sandblaster after eight hours.

The shoes were scored on a last-chance sale months ago. They're mega-comfy, and they have a great detail in the back. Oh, shoes. Hate to see you go, but love to watch you leave. Yep, I just used a creepy pickup line on my own shoes.

Last week, I decided to pair pink and green, another fantastic combination oft found in nature.

Watermelon:

Tulips:

And, of course, this guy's hat:

I wore hot pink H&M pumps (so 80s) with a grey tweed pencil skirt from Dillard's and a green blouse from Forever 21. I don't love this picture, because my necklace was doing that horrible chest-straddling thing, which I think we can all agree is a plight women have endured since the Jazz Age. Also, I was eating lunch with some co-workers at Five Guys, which is definitely not the best thing to do while trying to avoid looking bloaty and shiny and generally well-cheesed.

Here are the shoes (in Instagram!). There are a TON still left at H&M , in pink, green, blue, beige, zebra and black. They're a mere $24.95.

What might tomorrow hold? Orange and yellow? Teal and fuchsia? Blue and gold? Maybe I'll just be like:

Deal Diva Stephanie

Photos: Times files, expert iPhone shots by Deal Diva Katie