Stylish Sundays: Pride Parade or The Heat

I mentioned that I was going to pride in my last blog post, so I thought I'd show you what I wore and tell you a bit about it. I took weather and comfort into major account when picking what I wore, and I decided that simple would be best.

  I wore a my sheer Oatmeal Colored Tee from H&M, Turquoise American Rag Shorts that I cut off and distressed myself, my Olsenboye Satchel, A Floral Headband I made myself (a picture tutorial here), and my Green Hunteress Hunter Rainboots.

Here's a close up of the Headband:

And my necklace which is from the now defunct Colorme.com.  On my nails are Lancôme's Noir Caviar and Deborah Lippmann's Across The Universe.

 

No close up but my makeup was my usual Chanel Mascara, Chanel Foundation, Benetint, Girl Meets Pearl, Makeup Forever HD Powder* 

I went to pride with my friend Ryan, who I've known for 10 years and he actually used to be my Boss. Since he's kinda spent the last several years moving all over the country, and has at least visited everywhere from Alaska to Amsterdam and a lot of places in between.

Here we are in the car on the way there looking awesome:

We actually didn't get to spend much time at Pride because I had a Panic Attack that turned into an Asthma Attack, and we ended up having to head home to get my emergency inhaler. Once that was taken care of we decided not to let that get us down and went to go see The Heat, which was awesome. Seriously go see it. On our way home one of the small towns we passed through was having a fireworks display so we pulled over and watched the fireworks. It was awesome, because what could have turned out to be a horrible day actually ended up being amazing.



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Festival Fashion or How To Survive The Heat

It's festival season right now, and everything from Pride (this weekend in most large cities) to Music Festivals and Summer Fairs are happening. Personally I'm going to a Pride celebration this weekend, and this is pretty close to what I plan on wearing. There are obviously going to be a few changes but you'll see those in the up coming pictures.

 

First I really recommend a light tank top, this one from Madewell would work perfectly, I have it in Navy and I adore it. Then I recommend some cutoffs, these from PacSun are pretty damn cute, plus bright colors are always a win. Then for shoes I recommend Converse, the more beat up the better so you don't have to worry about them being ruined. Alternatively Hunter boots are also a really good choice, especially if you'll be somewhere muddy. The Jewelry pictured is from H&M so no links there since you can't online shop in the states, but I do recommend hitting up your local H&M or F21 for some cheap and cheerful jewelry. The Bag is from Olsenboye, and is actually the bag I'll be carrying, but I bought it a few years ago. This one is very similar though.

Speaking of bags, I thought I'd show you really quick what will be in mine.

Smart Water, it's stupidly expensive for water, but I am obsessed. I'll be picking up some bottles the day of. Kate Somerville Protect SPF 55 Serum Sunscreen for my face, Alba Botanica Sunscreen for my body or I'll be cooked, Smith's Rosebud Salve Tube, it's necessary trust me. Hand Sanitizer, because do I need to explain public bathrooms to you? Emi-Jay Hair Ties, I adore these and must always have an extra, and snacks. 

Are you or Have you attended any Festivals or events this summer? I know my outfit is pretty tame, but it's merely a base to build off of.  

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Festival Fashion by fashionandhappythings featuring denim short shorts

Kate Somerville Review or Leaky Tubes Of Goo

Today I'm reviewing two of the products I picked up from Kate Somerville, The Gentle Daily Wash and the Clarifying Treatment Toner.

The only issue is I don't know if I can do a proper review on these products, because you see I'm already almost out of the Cleanser and halfway through the Toner. And I shouldn't be, because according to Sephora I purchased the Cleanser on the 4th of June and the Toner on the 9th of June. Frankly this makes me flat angry, because for $32 and $24 respectively I should not be running out of either product. This is why I'm "reviewing" them together. I just don't have enough to say about each for a full post on their own.

The Cleanser is what really baffles me, a little bit goes a long way, but the top of my package is leaky, so maybe that's where it's all going. It lathers well but isn't bubbly and is lovely to use with my Clarisonic. I really enjoy the way it smells. It's sort of gel like and I feel it's more like a medicinal type cleanser than a luxurious cleanser. Just a get the job done type thing, where as the Caudalie cleanser and the Liz Earle cleanser just feel amazing.

The toner however, I know exactly why I'm halfway through it. It says to use two pumps on a cotton ball or cotton round, and then swipe over your face. The problem with this is 2 pumps barely covers my forehead and I don't exactly have a big head or anything. I end up using 5 or 6 pumps on a cotton round. It's sort of a non-scent in that I don't really notice the smell of it. It does sting if you've got a sore bit or an open blemish. Other than that, I don't have anything else to say about it. I wish you didn't have to use so much of it so it would have last me longer, because I do like it.

Have you tried these Kate Somerville products? Am I judging them to harshly?

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Cover Your Ass or H&M Haul

Since it's Summer now it's officially hot here in Indiana. I don't really like hot weather clothes, not because I'm modest, but because I much prefer boots and tights and skinnies and oversize sweaters. But it got really hot last year and I only had 2 or 3 pairs of shorts no skirts and no casual dresses so I was completely unprepared, and thought I might die of heatstroke.

This year I decided I should be at least a bit more prepared so I of course went to H&M's Summer Sale.
I picked up a blue midwaisted skater skirt, well that's how it seems to sit on me. The material is very nice, a bit heavy, but since it's a skirt that's fine. I think I'll be able to wear this well into the fall. I also picked up a pair of light tan twill shorts, that fit me really well. Which is great because the other twill shorts I tried on in the same size just different color didn't fit me at all. Then I bought two of the same style of short, just different color/pattern. I got them in Black and in sort of a reptile print. I absolutely love these shorts and I wish I'd bought them in all 5 of the styles that they had. I've figured out with H&M if you love a style of something buy multiples right them because they'll be gone quick. Surprisingly nothing I bought was on sale. Even more surprising was that all the bottoms I bought were $12.95. I also picked up a really cute hat for $9.95.

Then from not H&M (read as Sephora, apparently I need to branch out where I shop at) I picked up a Nails Inc Polish in Notting Hill Gate, which is a neon pink, and the Kate Somerville Clearing Mask.

I'm really excited for the skirt, I have skirts that I bought to wear in the fall and winter, but I didn't wear them as much as I should have, and I only got one of them photographed for the blog. This skirt will definitely be appearing on the blog, and soon. Maybe this Sunday? Maybe next? I don't know because I haven't worn it outside of the dressing room yet, but it is lovely.

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She Inside Wishlist or Completely Obsessed

I don't know how I've managed not to spend hours on the She Inside website before, but I got completely lost on the site for several hours this morning. So I decided to share with you guys what was on my wishlist.


First up is my Summer Clothes Wishlist. As much as I'm not a fan of how hot it is outside, I do really like Summer clothes, and there was definitely some super cute stuff on SheInside.com.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7

I have been searching everywhere for shorts like that, and I'm so in love with that Tee that has the bus on it, I mean really how adorable is that?

Then we have my Fall wishlist. As you guys should know I'm completely obsessed with Fall and Sweaters and Leggings. Looking at this list makes me crazy happy.

 1,2,3,4,5,6

I'm a bit heartbroken that those leggings are out of stock, I thought they'd look amazing with that black star sweater and the studded loafers that I already own. And that Elbow patch stripey sweater is just the best sweater ever. So in love with how cozy it looks.

Next is the dresses. There were some majorly cute dresses, especially a few that looked very mod that I fell completely in love with.

 

 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9

 I really started to step out of my comfort zone here, but I'm in love with so many of these dresses. I could totally see me rocking the third, forth and ninth dress all summer long, they're so mod, I'm completely in love. I'm completely in love with the idea of the fifth dress with the sold out leggings from above, and finally that 6 dress with tights and my chelsea boots in the fall. Bonus that second dress, with the Kettles on it just screams 60's to me.

Finally I browsed around their Jewelry section and fell in love with way to many necklaces.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15

I just can't even they're all so awesome. My absolute favorites are 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12, 13 and 14.

So tell me readers, if you had no budget what would you buy from SheInside.com

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Stylish Sundays: Workin On My Fitness or Aerie Haul

I know it says Haul in the title, because it sort of is. I ordered some stuff last week when Aerie had a sale and I'm kinda obsessed with it all. I kinda got 2 "outfits" for the price of 1, which is exactly the kind of sale I adore. Normally I'll do a Haul post and then feature the items in Stylish Sundays as soon as I can, but I figured I'd go ahead and just combine it, all lazy like.



In this first outfit I'm wearing the Aerie Summer Love Tank in Hibiscus, Aerie Slim Gym Yoga Skinny Crop Pant in True Black,

a Danskin sports Bra, Emi-Jay Hair Tie,

 Under Armour Running Socks, Nike Duel Fusion St 2's.

This was a an incredibly comfortable outfit, I wore it to work out in. Well sort of work out, currently we've been taking Howl to our local running trail and we half run, half walk around the trail with him. He absolutely loves it, and it wears everybody out.

The Second Outfit I'm kinda wearing the exact same thing, just different colors. No, seriously look, I'm wearing a Aerie Summer Love Tank in Dark Heather Grey, a pink Danskin Sports Bra, Aerie Slim Gym Yoga Skinny Crop Pant in Silver, and not shown but I promise are there Under Armour Running Socks.

I bet your wondering why I'm just casually lounging on my couch in yoga pants with fabulous blown out hair. Well that's because that picture was taken today. Yep, and I'm having a lazy pampering day today. So I blew out my hair this morning, and I'll be trying out my Korres Sleeping Facial tonight, and at some point I'll probably be repainting my nails. Bonus you're getting a sneak peak of an upcoming post in this picture.

 

About why I bought two of just about the same outfit. When I find something that works, I beat it to death, and baby this WORKS. I want more from Aerie, I adore how comfortable everything is. I've been obsessed with Under Armour Socks for a while now, and Emi-Jay Hair Ties are honestly the only ones I willingly use. I'll use something else if I have to, but I flat out prefer the Emi-Jay ones. They're cute, they don't damage my hair and Emi-Jay supports things like Operation Smile, Project Knapsack and Step Up Women's Network, and they're supporting it with 20% of their proceeds. Plus if they get stretched out just toss them in a small Laundry bag and throw them in the dryer and they're good as new. The only things I don't 100% love are my shoes. I bought these because I needed them and they were available, but I plan to replace them with either these or these Asics very soon.

Now you see why I didn't bother with a Haul or 2 seperate posts. It seemed kinda wasteful to be posting 2 OOTD's with the exact same outfit, or if not wasteful then redundant.

I'm definitely planning on getting more workout gear, especially from Aerie. Actually to warn everyone who'll be shopping for me for my birthday this year (I'll be 27) expect to see workout gear on my list. I hope to loose 20 lbs before I turn 30. Since I've managed to only not gain anymore weight for the last 2 years, I  honestly don't know if I'll be able to do it.

Also, I really want/need a Jawbone Up. I live a pretty sedentary life, with poor sleep, and this is the perfect solution. It alerts you when you've been idle for too long, it tracks your sleep, your eating and how much you've moved and how many calories you've burned doing it. And you don't have to take it off to shower or snowball fight according to the site. I'm kinda in love and think this is something I'll be saving for (and adding to my birthday list!)

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DERMAdoctor AIN"T misbehavin Review or Was this just a waste of my Money?

In short, kinda. I used this for a while, as a mini mask in the morning. I'd wash my face, then dry it. I'd apply a thin layer of this and let sit for anywhere from 3 to 8 minutes. It would burn a lot when I put it on, and then that would kinda fade to not so bad of a burning feeling. I actually kind of hated that part. When I'd take it off my skin would feel a bit raw, but that went away after I used my toner and moisturizer.It did seem to help my acne. It didn't clear it up though, and after awhile my skin got very sensitive to it. Especially once I added in a retinol treatment. At first I just stopped using it like a mask and started using it like a wash, but then it no longer seemed like the product was doing anything for my skin. If I did leave it on for a few minutes it was excruciating.  Then I actually had to completely stop using it after that. My skin would burn no matter what I put on it and it just felt really raw and angry. I'm pretty sure this was just much to harsh for my face, considering I have insanely sensitive, allergy prone skin.

I'm a bit sad about the fact that this didn't work for me, because it has amazing reviews, and it's not that expensive since a little bit really goes a long way. It did help,my acne wasn't gone, but it didn't seem as imbedded and painful as it was before. Maybe if I had been able to use it longer it would have cleared up my face, because I was only able to use it for a little more than a month.  So if your acne isn't as severe as mine, or if you don't have sensitive skin like I do then I say give it a go.

You'll probably see that most of the reviews I have of a product that aren't rave, end up with me having some kind of bad reaction to it. My skin is so insanely sensitive and it's really hard to find the right combination of products that doesn't for lack of a better phrase tick it off.

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Summer Haul or I've Been Shopping Again

This is actually a collective haul, all of this was purchased slowly since my last skincare haul. And actually one item was purchased before my last haul.

Here's the overview of what I've purchased:

And now a close up of what I bought.

First we have a bunch of Kate Somerville products, I'm not going to go into detail because their will be a review coming on these items soon.

From left to right there is the Gentle Daily Wash, Protect SPF 55 Serum Sunscreen, RetAsphere 2-in-1 Retinol Night Cream, Clarifying Treatment Toner, EradiKate Acne Treatment. I know I just bought a ton of Caudalìe Products, the only thing I didn't finish before purchasing something else was the Toner. I finished the cleanser, but I want to repurchase it for makeup removal because I love it. While I purchased a night cream I am still using the Caudalìe Moisturizing Sorbet every morning, sometimes at night on top of the RetAsphere, but more about that later. I was also given samples of the ExfoliKate and long story short I'm probably going to be purchasing the full size.

I also picked up this 500 pt perk of Benefits Girl Meets Pearl, Benetint and Bad Gal Lash. quick review is that I love it all.

 Then I finally listened to Maxwell and bought the Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer in Vanilla. This product deserves it's own post, so I won't say anything more about it, except Maxwell recommended it to me, so you can pretty much guess how that review is going to go.

 This was another 100 pt perk at some point in time, its the Korres Greek Yogurt Sleeping Facial which I haven't used yet but I really really want too. I actually got two of these and am going to give one to T because she just had a baby and deserves a bit of pampering.

 Then I got the Raspberry Sorbet Philosophy 3 in 1 wash. I love this brand for body washes (as I have said before). My skin got a little sensitive to the perfumes in the Love Sweet Love one, so I strayed a bit to the Caudalìe wash, but I ended up returning it because it left my skin feeling stripped. Switching scents is exactly what I needed, and I'll probably be able to go back to the other one soon.

Then finally, my largest purchase in a while, I finally bought a Clarisonic, specifically the Acne Clearing Collection Mia 2. I haven't used the wash that came with it, but I have been using it consistently. Once again this product will be getting it's very own review soon. This is actually the product that I bought before my last haul, but it somehow didn't get photographed in time to go into that haul.

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Bonus Note: I totally had to consult my mommy about my grammar in this post, if it's still off, don't judge, I'm exhausted.

Another Tag! or The Procrastinating Blogger Tag

You'll see me, every time a Tag is Posted

I got this tag from Touch Of Crimson, who's blog I only just discovered yesterday and became completely obsessed with. Since I love tags, and haven't been doing so well on the posting front, I decided this was completely necessary.

Name one beauty regime that you rarely do?

Plucking my eyebrows. I don't do it nearly as often as I should. As a matter of fact they're in dire need of plucking right now.

Is washing your makeup brushes something you do regularly?

Not exactly, I'm really great at spot cleaning them, but horrible at deep cleaning them. I just don't have the patience, or the space really to do it in.

How long will you last with chipped nails?

Maybe 2 days max, before they drive me crazy and I pick the polish off.

How long will you put off buying/replacing a product, even if you need it?

I'm actually horrible at this, kinda. If it's Skincare, well I don't ever let that lapse. I repurchase before I'm out. Same with Foundation. But other makeup? Ages, I went 2 months without blush because I couldn't decide what I wanted.

What is your worst beauty habit?

I pick at my skin. I don't mean to, and I don't do it often, but I do it, and I hate it.

Name something non-beauty related you put off doing all the time.

Laundry, specifically folding it. I'll wash and dry load after load of Laundry, but I don't want to fold any of it. So then I end up not washing my Laundry because my clean clothes hampers are overflowing and I don't have anywhere to put it once it's washed.

When going out somewhere do you leave getting ready until the last minuet?
Not usually, normally I'm ready to go, except on Sundays when I head out to my parents. Somehow I'm always rushing around and still I end up late.

Can you commit to spending bans?
No, I keep trying, but it's skincare that gets me. I'm obsessed.

How organised is your makeup and nail polish collection?
BAH! It isn't, at all. It's all mostly contained in boxes and train cases, but there is no organization to it. Absolutely none.



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Broadway imPress Review or Those Are Not My Nails

 I received these nails in my Spring Vox Box from Influenster last month and while this is normally not my thing I decided to give it a go.

 I got the color Joyride which was sort of a purply fushica color. I really like this color, though I don't wear anything like it very often. The nails were easily to apply on the first hand because you just peel little stickers off the back. Because of this they were terrible to apply on the other hand and I had to get my Husband to help me peel the stickers. It was a bit hard finding the proper nail for each finger, and even thought they recommend to go smaller if need be, I ended up having to size up one to find anything remotely close to my middle fingers nail size. A mistake I may have made was trimming my nails since the glue on the back of the nail goes all the way up to the top of the nails. I ended up with crumbs stuck to them.

Now for the bad bit, I don't know if I didn't prep my nails properly, or what went wrong, maybe it was the trimming, but these nails didn't last on my own nails even over night. I lost 6 out of 10 nails when I went to sleep. Okay, I'll admit that I wasn't overly heartbroken about that, because while I had them on I hated them. Fake nails are just not my thing. I've only had acrylics twice in my life. Once I went with my friends sister, and the other time was when I got married and couldn't be fussed with my nails, so I needed something I knew would last. Since this was before Gel was really popular, it had to be acrylics. Both times it took me ages to relearn to do anything with them on, and even after I did, I just felt awkward. These gave me the same feeling.

The good news is the only real bad bit is that they didn't stay on my nails, but like I said, since this isn't usually my bag, I probably missed a step when I applied them. Either that or it's just my nails. If you'll look back to my Gel Nails Review you'd see that those didn't last on me as long as they should have either. They also definitely feel like fake nails, unlike the nail polish strips (review on those soon), but they give the same effect.

 Here's what they look like on my nails:

I'm holding my favorite candle from Anthropologie, Citrus Basil. It's divine and I completely recommend it.

Final verdict? I wouldn't buy them, but if I were given another pack of them I would try them again.


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Oops or back to our regularly sporadic programming

I'm sorry I missed Stylish Sundays, I usually shoot the photos for it at the end of the week. Usually on Saturday, which is what I planned to do this past week. That didn't happen because I injured my knee doing absolutely nothing late Friday night. Seriously, I was reheating something, and I leaned back to look at the time, instead of bending over like a normal person would, and I heard a very loud pop noise and then there was just pain in my knee. I've kinda always had issues with that knee, and expect to be told someday that I have to have surgery if I want to continue walking. Then add in that today was Fathers Day and it just couldn't happen.

If you're wondering where the rest of my normal posts have been, well my son is out of school for summer. Then add in that I've been trying to cram in 3 seasons of True Blood before this season started, I just didn't find the time to blog. But things will be back to normal soon. I swear, I have a Sephora Haul coming this week. The photos have already been taken, they're just waiting to be edited. Add in that I've got tons of reviews on all the things I've bought to do and I shouldn't be hurting for content for a while.

I'm also thinking of expanding my subject matter a bit, to cover things like shows, books and food. I know I've touched on all those things in the past, but a lot of time I'm lazy in getting my 3 or 4 posts up a week because I'm flat out of ideas. This blog is meant to be about Fashion... And Happy Things. Food makes me happy, television makes me happy, and books make me really happy, but how do you guys feel about that?

From my Mother's Day Post: Howl Says BYE!

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Face Mask Review or Battle of the Face Masks!

I've mentioned loving two face masks in the past and today I'm going to pit them against each other to let you know which one gets the victors spoils.

The two masks that will be going up against each other are:

The Murad Clarifying Mask:

I lazily cropped this out of another picture,
 instead of taking a new picture of the empty bottle.
 You're Welcome.

and the Caudalìe Purifying Mask:

reusing images like a pro!

 If I were better at photography and photo shop, I would have taken a image of the two of these together and drawn little boxing gloves on each of them. Sadly I'm not so if you could just imagine the awesomeness that would have been that image, I'd appreciate it. 


Lets just get right into it, shall we? They're both Clay Masks, but the Murad Mask has Sulfur in it to help dry up your acne. Which is great if you have severe acne or oily skin, but can be a little drying and harsh if you don't. It also smells kinda awful to me. I'm almost certain that it's the Sulfur that makes it stink. You put this mask on dry skin and leave for 15 minutes according to the package. I've left this on as long as 30 minutes and that was a terrible idea, my skin felt crazy dry and sore when I took it off, but I didn't notice any ill effects while I had it on, no burning or anything like that unless I had an open spot. 15 minutes really is the maximum amount of time this should be on your skin. However I have used it as a spot treatment and applied it to a particularly terrible spot and left it over night and it dried the spot right up. It also dried out the area around it, so if you plan on using it for something like that I really recommend Kate Somerville's EradiKate or Mario Badescu's Drying Lotion. I hated having to remove this mask, because even with water it took a bit of scrubbing to get it off, which would leave my skin feeling extra sensitive. I finally settled on soaking one of my Liz Earle Muslin Cloths in warm water, letting it sit on my face for a minute or so and then using the cloth to remove it. While it did make it easier to take off, there was still scrubbing required around my eyebrows and hairline.  It doesn't make large or deep spots completely disappear, but no mask or drying lotion is going to do that completely. No matter how you use it, as long as you're putting it on your spots it is going to reduce them quite a bit. I do not recommend this mask for dry skin though.

However, the Caudalìe Mask has Zinc and Sage which while I don't know what those do for your skin exactly, this mask definitely isn't drying, while it still does it's job. Another difference is that you put this mask on wet skin. It feels very soft and soothing going on, and even when it dries it never seems to harden. My skin feels moisturized and soft when I take this mask off. It smells amazing, very herbal and spa like, which I'm certain is the sage. It comes off easy with minimal to no scrubbing, it does seem to get stuck in the fine hairs around my hair line, and in my eyebrows if I'm not careful when I apply it. There's no burning or stinging even if a spot is open when I apply it. Once again the recommended time is 15 minutes, but I've gotten distracted watching television before and left it on for over an hour with no ill effects. It didn't burn or dry my skin, and it wasn't any harder to remove. I did notice that it seemed to kinda disappear into my skin, but it still came off easy and there were no clogged pores. It does shrink your spots and blemishes and it has a bonus that the Murad mask doesn't, which is that it also takes out the Redness in my skin and around my spots. I'm kinda completely in love with this mask. It feels very luxurious and it actually works. Dare I say it? I think it might be my Holy Grail Mask.

I haven't tried the Ren Glycol Lactic Mask that is taking the Beauty Blogger World by storm right now. The Origins Charcoal Mask and the Kate Somerville Clearing Mask are also on my to try list. Lemme know in the comments below if you've tried any of these masks.

Stylish Sundays A Walk By The Park or More H&M

I know the phrase is "A Walk In The Park" but I wasn't walking in the park I was across the street from it. It's actually prettier than the park is. The camera's battery died before I got all my usual pictures so I'm sorry about that but it couldn't be helped.

 

 See what I mean it's a brick path with these sort of wild overgrown flowers all around it, and this was only in one section of the path. The whole place is similar to this with all sorts of different flowers.

 For my makeup I actually changed things up a bit. Chanel Foundation, Nars concealer in Vanilla, Benetint, Girl Meets Pearl, and Bad Gal Lash.

My Outfit is a Grey Graphic Tee from Target with a Peach VS Pink Bralette underneath, and a Black Sheer Maxi Skirt with an underskirt for modesty and a side slit. I adore this skirt, and I have worn it several times since I got it and I'm already planning on how I can work it into my fall wardrobe.

I know this picture is the greatest shot of my shoes ever right? Sorry about that, but I'm just wearing my white Converse so it's not the end of the world that there's no closeup.

I wish I could have gotten a closeup of my jewelry, but like I said the battery died. I'm wearing my Tiny Owl Necklace that I got years ago from I think Forever 21, a Blue Dream Catcher Bracelet from the Friendship Festival, and a VeeV Acai Berry Bracelet. I love this Bracelet from VeeV and which I've worn to death and I'm really surprised this is it's first outing on the blog. If you're wondering what VeeV is it's an Alcohol that's made from Acai Berries and it can generally be used in place of anything you'd use Vodka for. I adore it. I'm usually get hung over after just one drink no matter the brand, but I've not ever had that problem from VeeV. 

Howl says Drink Responsibly and Don't Drink Underage.

Stylish Sundays: Body Image or Another Outfit From H&M

As you know I wear a lot of clothing from H&M. The prices are great and I love the clothing in there, but now I have one more reason to love H&M. Their recent swimsuit campaign with plus sized model Jennie Runk was a bit revolutionary to say the least. It shouldn't have been, but thanks to today's standards it was. When you consider the average women is a size 12 to 14, then that's who companies should be marketing to. Then their CEO admitted that they haven't always made the best choices when it comes to models and that from now on they're only going to be using healthy models. In the same interview he commented on how safe their factories are as well. You can read that interview here

I can't say I'm going to be exclusively shopping at H&M, because I do love Topshop, Asos,The Limited, Kate Spade and many other companies like that, but I can say that I will always try to find what I need at H&M first.  That said here's an outfit that features 3 of the above mentioned companies.

 This peach collared dress that I hauled from H&M a while ago is one of my favorite dresses. It reminds me of something Emma Stone would have worn as Ms. Skeeter in The Help.

 Which probably has a lot to do with why I curled my hair. Especially since I almost never use heat on my hair. If you want to know how I did this, I actually filmed how to ages ago when I was making YouTube videos. It's my Emma Watson Say You Don't Want It Hair Tutorial. My makeup is my bog standard, Chanel Foundation/Mascara, Nars Blush, Makeup Forever Setting Powder, and Julep Lipgloss.

 Accessories were my Kate Spade Bow Belt, and then a Rose Gold H&M barrette that I used as a bracelet by putting a black Emi-Jay Hair Tie through the clip. On my nails is Illamasqua's Mottle.

 My shoes were my new Asos Chelsea Boots. I think they went really well with this outfit.

I bet you're wondering where the body image bit comes into this outfit. Well like I mentioned above H&M recently used a plus sized model in their swimwear campaign and that was amazing and it made me a 1000% more likely to shop there. If you're wondering why it's because I'm a size 12. I know it's hard to judge someones size by images you see, so I'm telling you flat out what my size is. No speculation here. I'm happy, I'm healthy and that's really all that matters.

It's important to dress for your size, even if you're working to loose weight. A while ago I did a huge closet clear out and essentially had a break down that left me depressed for a few days. I wasn't upset about the actual clothing that I got rid of, I was heart broken about how few things I had left. It was at that moment I decided to stop yoyo dieting and to focus on being healthy.

So here I am today, with 90% of my clothing being from H&M and the most adorable puppy ever, and I'm doing just fine.