Summer wardrobe.

Quite a while ago, i got a suggestion on Formspring to do a post on my favorite summer clothing items, i quickly got to making a little list, but never took the time to actually take photos.  (Sorry girly!)  Well, i finally got around to doing so.

I didn't exactly pick out my 'favorite summer clothing items' to show you guys, but i wanted to kind of give a little insight into what kind of clothes i've been wearing during these warmer months.  So i split this post into categories based on trends or types of pieces (ie. crop tops, sheer tops, etc.) and picked pieces that i thought did well reflecting each category.  I didn't include accessories or shoes, i might do accessories in a different post, but i didn't do shoes because i've literally been faithful to one or two pairs of shoes & i just wear flip flops by the pool/at the beach!  I did include bags though, because i view those as an essential, just like a shirt or bottoms. :)

My style is generally kind of 'effortless' & not incredibly dressy or anything, so this summer is no different.  I do like to dress up a bit don't get me wrong, but i don't like to look like i've tried too hard.  I also just feel more comfortable in generally more casual clothes.

With that being said, here is a little glimpse of what i've been wearing this summer. ♥

Crop tops

I've been quite liking wearing crop tops this summer, particularly with print or typography on them.  I generally wear longer crop tops as i don't think i can pull off shorter ones!  I typically wear a little cami or tank top under them, like if i'm going to work or something, so my belly's not hanging out (haha, problem area :P).

They look great thrown on with a pair of denim shorts & sandals or flats.

birdcage & 'weekend warrior' tops - Forever 21, triangle print top - thrifted

 Sheer tops

I like wearing sheer tops year round really, but i think they look particularly appropriate during the warmer months.  There's just a romantic and effortless feel to them, making them really easy & comfortable to wear.  For the summer, i like to stick to lighter shades - they just feel more summery & also don't absorb as much light/heat!  Again, these look great with shorts or even with dark wash jeans for cooler days or at night.

Peach long sleeve top - H&M, floral two-layer top - New Look, white pussybow blouse - H&M

Color & patterns

Summer is the one time of year i can wear super bright colors & bold patterns without making a spectacle of myself.  And with the sun shining & no clouds in the sky, who wants to wear dark or boring clothes anyway? ;)  If i'm wearing a top with a bold color or pattern, i like to keep everything else fairly neutral so that piece really gets the focus & it's not too overwhelming.

Bright yellow top - Primark, tribal print top - Forever 21, hot pink pussybow blouse - Primark

Dresses & rompers

If i'm going somewhere that i wouldn't be able to wear something casual (like jean shorts) to or if i just feel like it, i'll throw on a dress or romper like the ones above (they're all dresses, but rompers like the one in this post!).  I love anything floral, but mixing it up with tie-dye or another pattern is always nice & summery as well!  I typically like my dresses to be cotton dresses (one on the right) or a flowy material (one in middle), i find they're more suitable for the weather.  Again, they're something you can just throw on & go!

Both floral dresses - New Look, tie-dye dress - thrifted

Shorts

I'm definitely more of a shorts person than a skirt person as i feel more comfortable in them.  I ordered about four pairs of shorts from Forever 21 but have only really worn two pairs of them because i'm quite picky about the fit of them!  I think everyone needs a pair of denim shorts in her wardrobe, they're super versatile and always in style.  (I've been wanting a pair of studded ones for months now!  So edgy & 'cool').  Just as with skirts, it's fun to play with patterns & colors of shorts. :)

Jean boyfriend shorts - H&M, tribal print shorts & pinky/khaki shorts - Forever 21

Crochet/lace vests

If i feel a bit exposed & just want to cover up a bit or want to add a nice detail to an outfit, i'll throw on one of these.  I think they're really cute & add a bit of texture and interest to an outfit.  I've just realized within the past couple weeks how important texture is in an outfit - if you have a outfit where every piece is solid & flat, it's a bit boring really, and trust me, i've had plenty of outfits like this but just couldn't figure out why they were so uninteresting!  These offer a bit of coverage without compromising style and without making you really warm.

Crochet vest - Kohl's, lace vest - thrifted

Denim jackets

I love love love myself a denim jacket!  Something about them just shouts 'badass' to me.  They're perfect for summer nights as they aren't incredibly, incredibly thick & cozy, but they still offer a bit of warmth.  I've acquired four denim jackets just in the past few months in different washes, but the two above are my faves.  Love light to medium washed jackets, that are also a bit cropped, but not too much, and of course with the sleeves rolled up.  These look awesome over literally everything, and i think as long as the washes aren't too similar, you can pull off wearing them with jeans (for example, i'd wear one of these jackets with dark wash jeans).

Medium wash jacket - thrifted, light wash - Primark

 Cross-body bags

No one wants to lug around a big, heavy shoulder bag during the summer (at least i don't....), so a cross-body or messenger style bag is definitely suitable.  They'll hold all (or at least most ;) of your 'stuff' and are lightweight so they won't drag you down.  Most of them are smaller as well, so it'll force you to only take the essentials.  Most of the time i'll take the fringe bag on the left - definitely one of my favorite bags i own, but if i'm going to work or generally have to take more things & bigger things with me, i'll opt for the satchel on the right which has a much bigger capacity.  Both are fantastic!

Fringe bag - Primark, satchel - Target

♥

Day Five: Stratford & Oxford

So this was our fifth and final day in England... *sobs*.  Like day three when we took a little trip out to Stonehenge & Bath, this day we took another excursion to Stratford and then Oxford.  Stratford was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip, it was such a quaint, lovely city with a bunch of cute stands selling all sorts of things and streets with gorgeous houses & gardens.  By the time we got to Oxford, i was pretty tired as we had an early morning & we sat in a boiling hot bus for hours, so i didn't particularly have a spectacular time there, it was still really nice though.

The day was a bit of blur, so i don't have much to say about the places we visited.  We did a lot of touristy things, but got to explore a bit, which was nice.

Stratford

Shakespeare's birthplace - we did the tour thing here, pretty cool.

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Streets of Stratford, it was a nice day so everyone was out enjoying the day. :)

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Holy Trinity Church and Shakespeare's grave

Anne Hathaway's cottage - it was so gorgeous there!  The people & the surroundings were so lovely.  I signed Shakespeare's birthday card, was kinda cool to see all the other signatures on there - though one person did say "JK Rowling is better" -_-

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Lazying it up on the bus, on the way to Oxford.

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Oxford

Just have a random mish-mash of photos from Oxford, don't exactly remember what we all saw while we were there.  Just walked around the campus really & bought obligatory Oxford gear. ;)  I got a bright green hoodie & grabbed a cresant for lunch (wasn't the same without strawberry jam).

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We then went back to London for dinner and to see the musical Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre.  Wicked was ah-mazing.  I'm not much of a theatre person necessarily, but it was so good!  Defying Gravity definitely teared me up, the actors were all incredibly talented and the story was really interesting - would definitely recommend it. :)

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After Wicked, we all pretty much went back to the hotel and packed all our stuff up so we didn't have to do it in the morning.  The next morning we had a quick breakfast & headed to King's Cross St. Pancras station to take the train to Paris. ♥  So expect a post or two with pictures from Paris!

Previous posts

Days one & two: London

Day three: Stonehenge & Bath

Day four: London & Greenwich

♥

Monday.

About to pop out to the mall soon, but thought i'd do a quick bloggy blog.  I'm going to the mall in attempt to find something to wear for senior portraits tomorrow - just want to get them over with tbh!  Already know what i'm going to do with my hair & makeup (hair - straight w/ volume & ends curled in a bit, makeup - everyday neutrals), but i'm a bit confuzzled with what i should wear.  I'm going to keep it simple & timeless, nothing too trendy, but still cute obv. ;)

Today i'm just wearing a crop top with little birdcages on it from Forever 21, denim shorts from H&M, & my new favorite dream catcher earrings i found at the thrift store.  Haven't washed my hair in a few days so i just threw some dry shampoo in & fishtail braided it - looks decent to me!

Hope you're all doing well & having a nice start to the week. :)

♥

Currently loving...

I haven't done a 'products i'm loving' sort of post since my monthly favorites for May and i've been meaning to share/briefly review a few products on here, so i thought i'd do a 'currently loving' post!  These products are all really ones that have been in my collection for a while & i've rediscovered, or products i've just gotten in the past month or so and have become staples for me.  There's a mixture of hair, eyes, face, & lip products, so a bit of everything!  Hope you enjoy. :)

♥ CHI Silk Infusion - I typically wash my hair at night & let it air dry, but lately i've been washing my hair in the morning and blow drying it instead (usually too tired/lazy at night!).  So i've been putting in a little bit of this into my damp hair before i blow dry it, to protect it from the heat.  This makes my hair super soft and healthy-looking, and i noticed my hair dries faster with this in.

♥ Got 2 B Guardian Angel - My phase of wavy/beachy-hair loving has ended and i've really been enjoying wearing my hair poker-straight.  Once my hair is dry, i spritz a bit of this in before i straighten it.  It smells gorgeous and makes straightening my hair a breeze since it really does protect the hair well and makes it super soft and shiny.  This is probably my new holy grail heat protectant. :)

♥ L'Oreal Voluminous Carbon Black mascara - I've fallen in love with this mascara!  I was running out of my go-to Clinique High Impact mascara, but felt like trying something new and ended up trying this one, which is literally a third of the price of the Clinique one.  It's super black and makes my lashes look amazing, almost like falsies.  Just like the name implies, it's really volumizes the lashes.  Two coats of this and you have *the* perfect eyelashes.

♥ Revlon Brow Fantasy Pencil/Gel in Dark Blonde - My Rimmel brow pencil was getting smaller & smaller so i went to go pick up a new one, but it was nowhere to be found!  So i ventured to find a new one & my mom actually spotted this one for me.  I was a bit hesitant to get this because i don't really like 'gimmicky' products like this, with two different products in one 'thing', but thought i'd try it anyway.  It's a lot less red toned than the Rimmel one (i used to one in Hazel) and goes with my hair color a lot more.  The gel is amazing as well.  Will be repurchasing this over & over!

♥ Urban Decay Primer Potion - I know i did a post on how i had converted to using Too Faced Shadow Insurance instead of UDPP, but i got another tube of the primer potion with the Naked palette and it just reminded me of how much i love this stuff.  I got comments on that post about how UD had started making the primer in tube form, so i think when i use up the Shadow Insurance, i will definitely be purchasing the tube form of UDPP instead!  Don't get me wrong, they're both great primers, i just find UDPP works better with my eyeshadows & my skin for some reason!

♥ Sephora Collection Professionnel Mineral Powder Brush #45 - I got this brush as a gift from my sister back in March and i can't believe i haven't blogged about this yet!  I use this to apply/buff in my Bare Minerals foundation and it makes doing so a dream.  It helps to build up the coverage and is super soft.  I know some people use this for liquid foundation as well, but i use it for powder.  It washes up really nicely as well & dries quickly!  Can't recommend this brush enough, it's hands down a must-have for me.

The flash washed out the color quite a bit, but it's deffo a bright coral. :D

♥ Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in 525 "Peachy Scene" - Kinda bought this on a whim on my first ever trip to CVS.  I've raved about this range of lipsticks so many times and they are definitely the best i've tried.  I added yet another shade to my collection and this isn't a color i'd usually go for.  I'd describe it as more of a bright coral than a peach, and it has a bit of a sheen to it.  It's so nice for summer & i've gotten lovely compliments on it!  If you don't want to do a full on red lip but want to venture out from nudes & pinks, i'd definitely recommend going for corals! :)  Really adds a bit of color & interest to an outfit.

♥

Day Four: London & Greenwich

I tried to edit down the photos that i was going to put in this post, but i felt like there was just too much i wanted to share with you guys to just abandon some of them!  So don't mind the mass amount of picture spam...  Since there were so many photos i tried to let the pictures speak for themselves, and i'm not in the mood to type a novel of a blog post to be honest.  As i said in the past two posts i did on this trip, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and i had a fantastic time.

The fourth day of our stay in London, we visited the Tower of London in the morning, took a ferry to Greenwich for the afternoon, and went back to London for dinner, a ride on the London Eye, and free time.  Greenwich was so lovely, it's definitely a nice place to go for a day trip imo, so many cute cafes, shops, and things to see/visit.

I put a few captions to the photos so for a bit more info, read those. :)

Our hotel room.  My bed's the one in the corner by the window...Don't worry, i tidied it up before i left. ;)

We went on the tube & got off at Tower Hill bright and early in the morning to visit the Tower of London.

Just a few photos around the Tower of London.  We saw the crown jewels and everything - my jaw was literally on the floor the entire time.  So worth the wait, everything was absolutely stunning.

Tower Bridge. :)

After exploring around the Tower of London for a few hours, we then took a ferry along the River Thames to Greenwich, which was about a thirty minute journey.

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Greenwich

Once we hopped off the ferry, we took a little walk over to the National Maritime Museum where we then had some free time to explore the museum, browse through the markets, grab a bit of lunch, etc.  My friends & i decided to take the hike (after much debate, the hill was MASSIVE) up to the Royal Observatory where you can stand on the Prime Meridian line (which you had to pay for, so we didn't haha) and have a really fantastic view of London - it was worth the trek.

Royal Observatory

View from the top... so lovely. :)

And there it is again, after we essentially rolled down the hill and had a walk through the field behind the museum!

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Back to London....

A monument i forget the name of...  #touristfail

Leadenhall Market, which i was told inspired our beloved Harry Potter's Diagon Alley.

Had to take some touristy shots of buildings on our walk to dinner.

Took a sneaky photo in the stairwell of the restaurant, as you do.  I just liked the chandelier/mirror/window combo.  I'm a loser. :D

My friends & i quick stopped back at the hotel and then made our way to the London Eye.  I have to say the area by the Eye is soo lovely!  I'm petrified of heights but made myself go on it anyway, i knew i'd regret it if i didn't.  None of my photos really turned out (darkness = low shutter speed = a blurry hot mess of a picture) except for the one i took of the metalbarsstructurewhatever, of course. :P

I think this was on the wall leading into a station or something, i thought it was sweet.

Previous posts on the trip:

Days one & two

Day three

Twitter / Formspring

♥