Spending the Pennies

Once again i've found myself spending every last bit of my paycheck.... so much for saving up for college, a car, etc.  Le sigh.  So, my friends and i decided to take a little shopping trip to the local mall.  Now, i don't usually shop at this mall since it doesn't have a few of my favorite shops (Forever 21 and H&M mainly), but it does have two stores quite similar to Forever 21 - Charlotte Russe and Wet Seal.  I prefer Forever 21 to both of these stores since i find F21 has a bigger stock and it usually has a lot of on-trend pieces, whereas Charlotte Russe has the same type of clothing a lot and Wet Seal i find a bit trashy to be honest!

We just didn't feel like driving all the way out to the other malls, so we settled on going to the nearest one!  I was surprised to find a few really cute items that i can see myself wearing quite a bit.  Bear with me as i try to find the best way/location to photograph clothing, it can be quite a pain in the behind!

I've also linked all the items i got to the stores' websites, i could actually find them all (well, besides the rings) this time, wooo. :)

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Charlotte Russe

Floral romper - $19.99, floaty batwinged print top - $22.99

 Rings - 2 for $8

Satin bow flats in nude and black - $19.50 (buy one, get one for $10)

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Wet Seal

Open-back, studded pull-over - $21.80

I like to call these my old lady doily shoes! - $14.80

I also found the most amazing yoga pants from Wet Seal as well, and for only $12.50.  They're just the right length and everything!  A bit big in the waist, but nothing i can't handle. ;)

Hope you're having a lovely week!  I'm already starting to loose track of what day it is...if it wasn't for work, i'd be in pure oblivion for the next three months!  I'm out to go enjoy the sun and get ready for work.  Xoxo.

♥

Ombré Hair, Part II

As i've mentioned before, my hair and me have quite an up & down relationship.  I hate it one minute, love it the next, etc etc.  When i'm going through a phase where i'm really not pleased with it, i usually semi-permanently dye it or snip some bangs or something along those lines.  I've ombre'd my hair before (post on that here) but i suppose i just got sick of it and semi-permanently dyed my hair again, which i think stained the bleached part of my hair as it didn't go back to the way it was.

On a whim, i bought the same highlighting kit i used last time & ombre'd it again!  I'm so pleased with it and love it even more than before.  The main difference between bleaching it this time to last time was that i used aluminum foil to wrap the ends of my hair so the bleach would do it's magic a bit more.  I also tried to make it a bit more of a gradual fade rather than a stark contrast between the lighter and darker hair - i did this by putting more bleach by the crown of my head & around my face.

If you want to know how i did it exactly or you're thinking about doing it yourself, but you're a bit hesistant, watch this tutorial.  She's fab & her hair looks lovely, and the video is actually really insightful. :)

A lot of people in the ol' blogosphere are saying they're sick of ombre hair or that it's not as 'cool' anymore because everyone has it, but i don't care!  I love it and i think it's really nice for summer.  I haven't seen anyone around where i live with it, so i don't think it's a big deal... and even if a lot of people did have it by me, i don't think i would really care to be honest.

I'm quite proud of it and i don't think i'll be sick of it for a while. :)

♥

floral cutouts

Lately, i've grown quite tired of my shoe collection and with the sudden arrival of summer, i don't have much to choose from besides my old, battered black flats and flip flops (that i despise!).  I made a Forever 21 order about two weeks ago (and made another one soon after, tsk tsk) and in my order were these beauts.  They are a blush/nude color with pretty, little blue roses on them.  These sandals also have little cutouts on the sides, which i think are lovely.  They also lace up, so you can tie them in a little bow and make them look nice and girly. :)  Because of  the color, they don't cut off the line of the leg and they definitely add a bit of interest to an outfit.  I've worn these out twice already and they're super comfy & i've gotten a ton of compliments!

Was planning on posting a link to the F21 website where you could possibly order them for yourselves, but they aren't on there anymore! :P  These are oxfords/brogues but have the same pattern & i think they would look quite nice for summer.

For $19.80, i think these were such a bargain.  My summer shoe obsession has officially taken off!

♥

Monthly Favorites: May

Have quite a few favorites this month; this is probably because i have been spending way too much on cosmetics & hair products lately... i apologize, bank account.  I also haven't done one of these monthly favorites posts in a while, and that's probably for the same sort of reason, in months past i haven't splurged on anything really as i had been saving up for my trip.  (A little sidenote as i got a question about this on my last post: yes i will be doing a post on my trip eventually, it will just take a while to put together!  Sorry if you're a bit annoyed with me...)

This month i've been using a lot of products i got whilst in London, as well as two i got back here in the States.  If you are also from the US and are wondering where you can purchase brands like Barry M and Sleek Makeup that aren't available here, i suggest Googling them and going to the brands' official websites.  The shipping costs may be a bit horrendous, but in some cases i do think it is worth it!  On to what i've been loving in the past month. :)

♥ GOSH Eyeshadow Quad in Driftwood & Barry M Dazzle Dust in Tan.

The first time i tried this GOSH palette, i was actually really disappointed as the colors all tended to look the same on my eyes and it just didn't stand out to me at all, but now i've been using this most everyday!  I've found a combination of products to use in tandem with this palette to make a really lovely makeup look.  I use Benefit's RSVP as a base, then apply the Barry M Dazzle Dust in Tan all over the lid & slightly into the crease.  I then apply the medium brown shade (top, right) into the crease, the dark brown (bottom, left) into the outer v, and the highlight shade (top, left) in the inner corner and brow bone.

The Dazzle Dust in Tan is very similar to the famous MAC eyeshadow in All That Glitters, but you definitely get more product for your money with the Dazzle Dust!  This shadow is so versatile and i think it would look so lovely on just about every skin tone.

 ♥ Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Born With It.

The Color Sensational lipsticks are hands down my favorite lipsticks i've ever tried - yes, i even prefer these over MAC! *shock horror*  The formula, the color payoff, the longevity, everything is just spot on!  Well done Maybelline.  This shade in particular is a fairly new addition to my collection.  It's a super lovely nudey-pink shade, and leaves a bit of a sheen to the lips.  It's one of those lippies that would definitely be described as a "my lips, but better" shades.  It's so perfect and wearable, i think i will repurchase this until Maybelline stops making these (and probably even after...they shouldn't stop making these anyway! ;)

 ♥ Sleek Contour Kit in Light, Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candlelight, and GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Black Ink.

I talked about all three of these products in my "Gosh & Sleek Loving" post, so if you want to read my little review on these products, deffo have a looksie.  Thought they were worth mentioning again in this post. :)

(left to right: 264 Pink Iridescent Glitter, 309 Strawberry Ice Cream, 318 Peach Melba, 304 Mint Green)

♥ Barry M Nail Paints.

I have been absolutely loving the Barry M Nail Paints i got (yes, i did get nine... *slap on the wrist*).  I had a laugh at all the comments from some of you saying you literally giggled when you saw how many i bought, haha... i'm so pathetic, i know!  The four above are the ones i have already tried (besides the Nail Effects one) and have been looooooving.  These nail paints have made me actually enjoy painting my nails, they dry so quickly and the colors are so fun!

Swatches (top to bottom): Too Faced Shadow Insurance in Candlelight, Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Born With It (is lighter irl!), and GOSH Velvet Touch Eyeliner in Black Ink

♥ Charles Worthington Rough & Tough Front Row Salt Spray.

I've done a post on this showing how i style my hair using this product, which you can read here. :)

♥ Tangle Teezer - Original.

In my London haul post, i said i didn't really know my thoughts on this product, but after a bit more use i've grown to love it.  It's one of those products that you don't really realize how good it is until you've stopped using it.  For instance, i'd been using this for about two weeks and thought it was nothing special, but then i decided to use my regular paddle hair brush.  The regular hair brush made it incredibly painful to detangle my hair and it ended up just ripping my hair out, really!  Since then, i've been using the Tangle Teezer - on wet and dry hair.  I love this and would recommend it to anyone whose hair gets all mangled like mine.  Such a hair and pain saver!

♥

What I've Been Up To...

Just a quick little post for you all, but wanted to get something for you lovely ladies.  I thought i'd share what i've been up to lately and what's been keeping me from blogging.  It is quite a long post, but you know me - i tend to ramble a bit.  Please bear with the fact that these were all taken with the camera on my phone, have just been too lazy to take photos on my Canon!  Yes, i know i just got it a few months ago, but i'm just too lazy i suppose! ♥

♥ Animal print top from H&M - i have been loving H&M lately!

♥ A little OOTD.  Can you tell i've been obsessed with that floaty floral top?  It's from New Look. <3 Bracelet, Primark; floaty sheer top on top, H&M; jeans, Old Navy.

♥ I had a little incident with my straightner... so the straightner i brought to London with me kind of blew up (voltage fail!), so when i came home i had to buy a new one.  I bought basically the cheapest one i could find that looked okay and since it was sans auto-shut off, this is what happened!  It burnt my carpet.  Lovely.  Needless to say that straightner went back and i got one with auto-shut off.  It's better anyway. :)

♥ Strawberry Pop-tarts om nom.

♥ Crazy hair ftw.

♥ Saw this shirt in the men's section at work and it made me laugh for some reason... don't even know who those men are!  Must've been overly tired...

♥ My sister's graduation from college.  So proud of her. :)  Didn't even get half the people in the audience in the photo!  Insane.

♥ Workkkkkkkkk.  I went through the sections of the store, went through every single item to find the ones with pink tags, took the items off their hangers, and put them in a cart.  We donate these items (the ones we don't sell in a certain amount of time) to charity. :)

♥ Feeling like a badass in my New Look varsity jacket... haha, don't judge me. ;P

&heart; Went to Six Flags with school.  I do love my roller coasters!  The one in the photo is part of Superman: Ultimate Flight, which is brillllliant.

♥ So, i forgot to put on sunscreen the day i went to Six Flags and as i result, i got some pretty sexy tanlines  bad sunburn. D:

♥ See, this is why i don't wear geek glasses!  Just had to pick them up when i was in Primark though. ;)

♥ The lighting in my house is quite lovely at times, especially in this part of the year. :)

♥ We have this thing at work where all the employees make a Barbie version of themselves, so that's what's on the wall to the left of me!  Our shop is known as that "place with all the Barbies on the walls", so it's just a cute little thing that we do.  Yes, it's a bit odd, but i don't even notice all the Barbies anymore.. haha.

♥ To go along with the story above, this is mine!  Yes, she is too tan and her hair is a bit too lustrous, but it was impossible to find a Barbie with my color hair, blue eyes, and pale skin.

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Other little bits and bobs:

♥ Have been lacking the motivation to blog as of late.  I really want to actually, i'm just usually too lazy to take photos of the products/whatever i want to blog about, upload them to the computer, etc etc.  Will hopefully get around to blogging more once school ends!

♥ Bought tickets to see Bon Iver in July!  Justin Vernon is actually from my home state and i have some cousins up north where he's from. :)  It's just so cool to me that he's from my neck of the woods.  He seems so relatable and humble since he embraces where he's from and keeps that "small town" feeling in his music and.. yeah.  I'm a dork.  His music his beautiful as well, definitely check Bon Iver out if you haven't already. <3

♥ School ends on the 10th for me (that's the final day of exams) so that's been wrapping up.  Have so much to catch up on and so much to get done, i'm kind of drowning in my work, but the stress and anxiety hasn't hit me yet... Bring on the three month break, please!  Can't believe my peers & me will be seniors next year - the "top dogs" in high school, as it were. ;)  Haha.  WE'RE SO OLD.  As much as i hate high school, i kind of don't want to leave and move on with my life...

♥ Have been loving these Youtube ladies: Alexandra, Hannah, Zoe, and Barbara.

♥