Friday, May 31, 2013

Friday's Fancies: Winning in White

Are four day weeks not the best? I can hardly believe it's Friday, but I'm certainly not complaining! This week's Friday's Fancies theme is very appropriate, as summer time weather has officially arrived in DC.


winning in white



Flower dress / Topshop leather shoes / Accessorize evening handbag / Kate Spade earrings / French Connection stainless steel jewelry, $145 / San Diego Hat Co. wide brim hat


Honestly I'm still way behind in my reader... so I haven't gotten to troll through as many posts as I would like, but I certainly still have some link love to share with you all.



Have a great one gals!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

Bar Cart Beauties

With only two months left as a Washingtonian I'm beginning to dream about what life in New Orleans will look like. I'm foreseeing some long nights in the library, lots of warm weather, late nights on Magazine Street, and cocktails on the porch of my new New Orleans abode (that I have yet to find). Sounds pretty good right?

Since I'm planning on living on my own for the first time I'm thrilled to get complete and total control over the decor. Yay!!! So in the coming weeks I want to get y'all's oppinions on a few decor options I'm considering. I've come to learn you folks have the best taste around. 

First up, the ever important bar. I'm not sure what it is about having a "bar" in my house that makes me so happy (beyond the obvious bottle collection), but I just love the sheer decadence and sophistication of devoting a chunk of your living space to pretty glasses, bottles and trays. Whatever it is, I've decided that a bar is a must in my new abode. 

Right now I'm using a massive Ikea bookshelf turned on it's side for storage/ bar wares, but I'm thinking of switching over to a pretty bar cart. 

via



I mean, come on. Don't you love them all? While I'm still debating if I want to go for a cart, ooh... or maybe a tray or two on top of a buffet? I'm pulling all of the elements together.

bar cart


What would you put on your bar car?

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

May Beauty Favorites

Holy Cow! How is it the last Wednesday in May? Seriously, when did that happen? After a wonderful long weekend and a very stressful start to the work week I'm feeling slightly dazed this lovely Wednesday. But you know what makes me feel better? Being able to share my May beauty favorites with you! Monthly favorites are some of my favorite posts to write, so I hope you enjoy reading them!

I have to say, this month was pretty epic. I did a little birthday shopping at Sephora, so I had lots of new goodies to play with!


May Favorites

1. Benefit They're Real Mascara- I am officially a believer in this mascara! If you want LONG and defined lashes you need to try this mascara. I will say the formula is probably the wettest one I've ever tried, but after a few coats I've never quite seen my lashes look as good as they do. I will say this isn't the most volumizing mascara (i.e. thickening), but my lashes are definitely longer and more defined than with any mascara I've used... ever.

2. Suave Dry Shampoo- I've gone back and forth on this product a lot since I've discovered dry shampoo, but I have finally decided this one is the best deal on the market. First of all, it's the least expensive one out there, it smells amazing and it works! I think that I have to use a little more of this product than some of the higher end dry shampoos I've tried, but for the price it's still worth it.

3. Simple Soothing Eye Balm- I have a full review of this and a few other simple products coming soon, but I am loving this eye balm after only a few days. When I turned 25 I decided it was time to start taking care of the skin around my eyes a little better and I can't tell y'all how much better my eye area looks already. If you're guilty of not taking off your eye makeup way too often every now and again, you need this product. It soothes the tired eyes you didn't know you had, plus it helps keep those dreaded bags at bay!

4. Benefit Watt's Up! Oh my goodness. Hands down the best highlighter I have ever used. I love this creamy little stick of glowing perfection. Mendi and Jayme of HLNC did a highlighter review recently and I couldn't agree with their assessment of this product more!

5. Juice Beauty CC cream- Okay, I'm eating my words a bit with this one. In my last birchbox review I didn't exactly give this product glowing reviews, but oh have I changed my mind. I guess it's something in the product but my skin has been absolutely glowing with this product! I stand by the fact that it's on the light to medium side coverage wise, but it has definitely improved the condition on my skin. PLUS my baby sample lasted me almost 4 whole weeks of daily use! Love that!

6. bare Minerals in Warmth: Remember when we all used bareMinerals for everything? I never used up that container of the matte warmth powder, but I'm loving it as a bronzer lately. Since I've switched to liquid foundations I've forgotten about how great this brand is. Definitely loving this as a bronzer to finish out spring.

7. Sephora Pro Lesson Palette: Blue Eyes in all honesty I quickly added this palette to my shopping cart so I could get the free shipping, but I'm so glad I did. First of all 6 shadows for $9? Great deal. Plus it comes with instructions for 2 different looks. On top of the good deal the shadows are extremely rich and very smooth. Only one is matte, with the rest shimmery, but no glitter. My favorite shade is the coppery color (they call it soft beige), it had such pretty pigmentation that is very build-able.


In other big beauty news I've decided to add another subscription box to my beauty buying regimen. I may be going a tad overboard but when I found out about Beauty Army I couldn't help it.  Unlike most subscription services you actually get to pick your products (love that)! You start by filling out a pretty extensive beauty profile then you get 9 options to pick from (you can order up to 6). If you don't like the options? Just re-take the survey! It's $12, but I have to say this month I'm getting 3 full size products and 3 more large samples. While I still haven't received the box, I have to say I'm loving it already! If you want to learn more or sign up yourself just click here

Alright girls. I think that's about it for my May beauty favorites! What have you been loving this month?  

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Instagram and Vine Blog Hop


Welcome to the Instagram + Vine Blog Hop! If you're new here, the Instagram + Vine Blog Hop is a party where you link up your Instagram and/or Vine accounts, find and follow new friends, and be continually inspired by what you see in your feeds! No need to have a blog, just an Instagram and/or Vine account!

How to PLAY:

1. Follow your HOSTS:

Kimberly | Instagram: @anightowlblog | Vine: anightowlblog 
Emily | Instagram: @mrsemshhh | Vine: emily emshwiller 
Angie | Instagram: @blogali | Vine: Little Inspiration

2. Follow your CO-HOSTS:

Jaime | Instagram: @momstestkitchen

Jaime

You can find Jaime here: 

 ***

Emily | Instagram: @empri88

Emily

 You can find Emily here: 

3. Link up your Instagram Web Profile:

Just link up your new Instagram Web Profile (http://instagram.com/username) -OR- your web viewer of choice in the linky below!
Note: this URL will not let you choose a profile pic from your feed, so be sure you have a picture you can upload from your computer if you use it! If you get a "Error: The requested URL returned error: 500" error that just means it can't find a picture to use NOT that your link is bad. Just click on "Direct Image URL" if you have one or "Upload from Computer". If you still have trouble, try sticking with Followgram or Webstagram to upload your profile.

4. NEW! Link up your Vine Username and/or Video!

Add your Vine username (so folks can find you) to the list below! Or link up a Vine video so we can see your cinematography at work! This is new, so there aren't web profiles just yet, but hopefully they'll be out soon! How do you find your video link? If you post your video on Facebook or Twitter, you will be given a URL that looks like this: "http://vine.co/v/bJegq22datT." Just link that up below with your username so we can find you! If you don't have a URL to one of your videos, simply link up your blog URL, but make sure the title is your Vine username so we can find you!

5. Check out and follow a few fellow Instagram or Vine friends.

Tell folks you follow that you found them through the Hop!

6. Spread the word!

Tweet about it, share it on Facebook or post about it on Instagram!

Now let's link up!

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