Arm Parties

Anyone who knows me could tell you about my love of bracelets. For as long as I could remember I have been a bracelet girl, everyone has their thing, my one friend Lisa only wore dainty necklace, my friend Carrie always had rings on and me it's always been bracelets upon bracelets. The more the merrier, I say stack, layer and try every combo each day. I love the term 'arm party' because each day when I look at my wrist I get excited to see some of my favorite pieces layered up.

Here are a few recent arm parties we featured at the store.

Are you a bracelet girl?

 

A Little Bit Of Love

For the past five days I have been on a much needed vacation with my mom, dad and animals. I packed up my most comfortable clothes, good books and every apple product I own.. bad I know, I can't live a day without my iPad or iPhone. But being on this little vacation has made me appreciate the little things again. Without all of the hustle and bustle of being at the store and working 24/7 I have had time to sit down and take a breather, read books and sleep! I feel refreshed, like I can hit the ground running when I head back to Chicago.

Wildfox Kids In America

My love of Wildfox is known, If I could live in baggy beach jumpers and Lennon Sweaters I would.

 Wildfox makes the most insanely comfy, quirky & cute clothes & on their facebook page today they had their spring / summer lookbook.. I died. Kids in America! Hello, 1995 amazing Cher Horowitz, white jeep wrangler, knee socks and huge flip phones. Every girl who grew up in the 90's needs at least one piece from this collection.. and Cher's rotating closet..

-side note ( one of my all time favorite movies is Clueless a close second after Almost famous. )

What's your favorite Cher moment? 

"As If"

"Isn't my house classic? The columns date all the way back to 1972"

"So, this flannel thing. Is that a nod to the crispy Seattle weather, or are you just trying to stay warm in front of the refrigerator?"

"Wasn't my mom a total Betty? She died when I was young. A freak accident during a routine liposuction."

Bedroom Nook

One of my favorite parts of my bedroom is this lingerie chest nook. I ended up using it to store Jewelry, but I love the way that it turned out. 

I found the mirrored chest at Home Goods & I loved that it has beveled mirrors instead of flat like you normally see, and it has vintage wood mixed in.

Accessorizing this chest was one of my favorite parts of re-doing my bedroom. It all started with my Chanel No 5 Print that I bought Off Etsy. After that I took a few of the pieces I had in my old room and mixed them in with a few new finds. Like the Crystal Art Deco table lamp. I fell in love with the clawed feet on the bottom and the lamp shade was the perfect compliment to the new wall color. The trinket box is an item from my old room that I knew had to come with me to this one, it has crystal and pearl accents and on top is a zipper bow, all of my favorite things wrapped into one cool piece. The coffee table books were gifts from my mom, my love of Chanel is very prominent in my room. The frame is something I had just added the other day I found it in a box in our garage, It has vintage pins and earrings on the top and I added a cream Love Letter paper in it to follow my black, cream and white theme. My new favorite hair accessory is out because I wore it last night, but I thought it went with what was going on so I think I will leave it there for awhile.

What's your favorite part of your bedroom?

Resolutions

2013! This past year has flown completely by, I know we all say that every year but I feel like I blinked and 2012 was over.  I have never really made resolutions before, they have never been something I put any thought into, but this year I want to accomplish so many things so I thought why don't I make resolutions and really try to stick to them.

1. Make Me Time - I find myself working 24/7 literally and I rarely will sit down and just do anything that doesn't in some way have something to do with work.

2. Read Books & Magazines - I have a stack of three months of magazines sitting on my dresser that I have neglected and a list of books I want to read.

3. Take Off Chipped Nail Polish - This is a big one for me because the day a nail would chip I used to take all my polish off and give myself a fresh coat, 2012 was filled with a week of fully chipped nails. NOT happening in 2013.

4. Blog - Make time to blog, on here and for the store. I always felt like I never had anything worth saying or anything time to do it.

5. Eat Good - Not even just eat healthy, but I find that if I'm busy during the day I will skip two meals, I want to be able to sit down and actually enjoy food not just stuff my face one time a day.

6. Enjoy The Little Things - The past year I think I took people, time and opportunities for granted. I do not want one moment to go by with out enjoying it. 

7. Take Pictures - I have so many cameras / devices that take pictures and I never take pictures, one day I am going to wish that I had pictures from those special days and now I am going to have them.

8. Keep Organized - I actually stuck to this pretty good the past year, so this is just a reminder to keep a clean room, closet and WRITE everything down (appointments, dates ..).

9. Buy Less Lip Products - Haha this is one totally for my mother and my wallet, I do not know why but it seems that ANY store I walk in whether it be Target, Sephora, Ulta, Walgreens, Jewel .. That I NEED to buy a new lipgloss or lipstick I do not have any more space in my vanity or handbags for them so I am really going to try to limit myself and use up some of the ones I have.. this will probably be the hardest to keep!

10. Sleep - I have had so many nights that I stay up staring at the ceiling or watching half a season of TV shows on netflix, I want to actually try to get a normal sleep schedule this year.

Now I know not many people keep up with their resolutions, but I am really going to try my hardest this year because these all seem so easy when I look at them, but I neglected each and everyone last year. So here is to an AMAZING 2013, filed with Happiness, Friends, Memories & of course some Glitter!

New Years Eve Makeup

Christmas has come and gone this year, but there is one last night to dress up, take LOADS of pictures and a last chance to make memories with your favorite people. 

If your anything like me you have had a dress in mind for a week or two now.. but your makeup is still in question, well I pulled out some of my favorites this morning and came up with a super fun Picture worthy look. That is the main thing with New Years Eve Makeup, you need it to last all night & have it look flawless in pictures. I pulled out all my beauty secrets and i'm going to share the look I plan on rocking tomorrow night.

The first step is the perfect base, I always go to my Makeup Forever HD Foundation for flawless coverage. I get so many compliments at work about my skin, and I promise I have far from perfect skin, but this makeup will give anyone the perfect complexion they are looking for. I apply it with a real techniques stippling brush for an airbrushed finish.

Another very important step is to make sure that your eye makeup will last all night and for that I always gravitate towards my Nars smudge proof eye shadow base.

For the eyes I chose a matte eye look. For that I took the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, my new found love for great matte eyeshadows. Take a fluffy eyeshadow brush like the Mac 224 and mix the shades Venus & Foxy together, apply the light colors to your lid, taking a tapered eyeshadow brush mix Naked 2 & Faint and apply it to your crease. This is a throw back of a Marilyn Monroe Makeup look, a classic pretty eye.

For the liner, I always love a good cat eye, so take your gel liner, I used Mac Fluid Line In Black Track & my angled 266 brush. Start from the center of your eye and flick out towards the end, making the line thicker.

Then for a fun New Years POP, Take Urban Decays Heavy Metal Liquid eyeliner in Midnight Cowboy (it's the perfect champagne gold) and dab it from your inner corner to the middle of your eye. Take your finger and smooth it out, every time you look down people will get a subtle hint of glitter!

Eyelashes are a big part of this look, you want them to be plush while not looking clumpy, so i always opt for my Loreal Voluminous Million Lashes to get the job done.

I like to keep the cheeks more of a neutral tone with a little bit of color & highlighter. So I use Benefit Dallas for a nude pink & Macs Soft & Gentle Mineralize Skin Finish For a Highlight.

For the lips I chose a bold burgundy, since the look is very neutral based. I love the Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain + Balm, because they will last you all night with out having to touch up. Crave is the prettiest wine / burgundy with a pink tone that I have used.

The most important step to finish your look is to set the entire look, and my all time favorite setting spray is Urban Decays De Slick. Once you spray this on your makeup isn't moving until you take a cleanser to your face at the end of the night, Spray three sprays across your face and dance the night away!

As a little bonus, To match the gold glittery eyes apply two coats of Butter Londons West End Wonderland for a truly Festive look! It's the perfect mega gold glitter polish.

Have a Happy New Years Filled with Glitter, Champagne, & Amazing Memories! 

Throw Back Thursday Prom 2008

I love the thought of throw back Thursdays! Picking my first one was a bit tough, but as I was looking through my external hard drive my senior prom seemed like a good place to start. So here is a little peek into my past.

The getting ready process, of course everyone was waiting on me as I was making last minute adjustments. 

Adding to us being late for group pictures we stopped by my house for some outside pictures. My friend Bryce, best friend Anna & date Jose.

Anna & I taking a break from group pictures to get a totally Cliche Prom Picture! We've been best friends since we were one, just seemed right.

As everyone was still taking group pictures a few of us decided it would be the perfect idea to go get chipotle before the limo came.. My mom told me not to spill on my dress so I wrapped myself up in napkins and enjoyed my prom burrito.

We were lucky enough that the prom was downtown Chicago, so we decided to go down by the water and get a few pictures.. low and behold the ten minute walk wasn't such a good idea. Because 5 minutes into taking the pictures it DOWN POURED. I'm talking we were running and you couldn't see five inches in front of your face, and prom hadn't even started yet. Hair & makeup was a lost cause after that.

Example A. Me and my friend Matt, notice the wet hair slung into a low side pony tail.

All in all this was a perfect way to start throw back Thursdays, it brought back so many fun memories & i have to admit I loved that dress.