Great Holiday Hair

Great hair really has an effect on your outfit. If your hair looks great, it just makes your outfit THAT much better. Sad to say, my hair usually looks pretty terrible. The only times it looks pretty decent, someone else did it for me! I always want a pretty up-do when I dress up.. here are some of my favorite holiday hair looks

I love Rosario Dawson's short pin-up updo.

Reese Witherspoon's elegant curls are gorgeous!

Scar Jo's soft curls with a crystal barrett is the perfect touch!

Lauren always wears a messy piecey up-do so prettily (see prev post).
She adds some braids to this one. Check out the Glamour How-to.

What are your plans for NYE?

F21 Love for The Hill's Lo Bosworth

For the season 4 finale of The Hills, everyone came dressed to impressed. Lauren looked lovely in a colorful sequined 3.1 Phillip Lim, Whitney repping her workplace, in a Diane von Furstenberg design with a flowered headband, and we've seen this look before from Audrina, but its a look she does well with an Alexander McQueen dress.

Lauren "Lo" Bosworth was looking cute in a sequined top and mustard skirt, and you might be wondering who she was wearing and you might be surprised to find out FOREVER 21! Sure she is looking cute, but when everyone else is showing off designer duds even Stephanie Pratt and Holly Montag wearing Alexander Wang and Prada, respectively, and here she is rocking Forever21... which is pretty much known for their cheap knock-offs! Don't get me wrong, I love finding a great cheap dress or skirt at F21, but for a big premiere where my co-stars are wearing the latest runway trends, wouldn't you want to step it up as well? Plus I think its interesting she is wearing the EXACT outfit shown on the website. What do you think? F21 for a budget conscious fashionista or she should have gone high fashion glam?

Is anyone excited for The City? I'm excited to see what Whitney will be wearing to work. I was never a huge Hills fan, but Whitney was my favorite out of the bunch... so drama free (would have been so much worse if the show was about Heidi and Spencer), so I'm happy she has her own show, hopefully it won't get to her head!

Goodbye Philly!

I hate goodbyes, Goodbyes seem so forever. but I know this isn't a final goodbye. Its been a long journey (long when you first start, short when you're at the end), one filled with intensely good memories. I will always remember the good times together, not so much the late night cram sessions and worrying over practicals & exams, but more the friendships developed. Its crazy how close I became with friends from all over, how much we learned from each other, how we were each others own family in the little niche created..but we are all departing our ways now, off to explore the world ourselves. I will miss it all. Surprisingly the city (yes I may have complained a lot but hey we ate at some good places and did some major shopping!), but most of all the people. Thanks to all who made my experience so memorable and good luck to everyone!

Eva Mendes in Bill Blass

Eva Mendes is absolutely GORGEOUS in this Bill Blass dress at the L.A. premiere of her new movie, The Spirit. She is such a ray of sunshine and exquisitely glam in this yellow dress.

Doesn't this make you just want to wear such a bright dress in the middle of winter?

I have a lot of upcoming holiday parties/events to wear dresses to. I'd love to wear something bright if I find something!

The next dress I'm wearing is a black and white polka dot halter dress that comes to my knees with tulle underneath to bring a lil pouf to the dress. I'm so excited. I got it for such a steal last weekend, I couldn't resist getting it.

Picture Day!

Omg, do you remember when it was your school picture day and you would be so happy to take your picture and give the small wallets to all your friends with a kick ass message on the back of it of course! My friends and I were reminiscing about our elementary school days of picture day with the cool laser backgrounds! Well today is Picture Day here at school! Not exactly the same, cap and gown photos, but you still wait in line, while they only spend 10 minutes on your photos. All you can do is say "cheese!" & hope for the best :P

I wish I could find some of my old ridiculous school pictures, that would make for good laughs. Oh my actual favorites were the class pictures. I was always in the front row... shorty! Anyway, I'll let you know how my grad photos come out.

Make Up Forever HD Invisible Cover Foundation

Today's new purchase instead of studying, I went out to get a new foundation. I haven't stuck with one foundation ever yet.. still on the search for the perfect one and I think I MIGHT have found my match! I've heard a lot about Make Up For Ever lately and I was pretty curious in trying it out. I'm all out of my Prescriptives Virtual Skin Foundation so I decided it was time to move on, plus I felt that it was too heavy. I really wanted something light weight but that also lasts most of the day... so I tried on Make Up Forever HD Invisible Cover Foundation. I love its feather-weight silky texture. It didn't feel heavy at all on my skin, plus they have 25 different shades so its easy to find your perfect match.

The lady at Sephora was pretty helpful in helping me pick out a shade and teaching me how to apply it with a foundation brush for an overall even texture. A brush also saves more of the foundation than using a sponge which soaks up all the product. Also, put the product on the back of your hand and then use the brush to pick up the color. The one she used was pretty pricey at $30 but the bristles did feel really nice and soft, I found this other one for a lot cheaper if I do decide to invest in one. She was a good seller. She also talked to me about this Make Up Forever product, Skin Transforming Powder, which seemed pretty tempting.. luckily I am very poor so I can only afford one $40 dollar foundation with a $15 dollar coupon for Beauty Insiders (you guys should totally sign up if you aren't one yet!). But so far, I am happy with my purchase. It beats out the Lorac, Clinique, Shiseido, Stila, and Benefit foundations I've tried before. I pretty much try a new brand every time my foundation runs out.. so hopefully this one is the winner. If not, I'm also interested in trying out the Laura Mercier.

Its ridiculous how many things I WANT from Sephora. I don't even need this many beauty products but I really can't help myself. AH, I love that store.. anyway, here are a few more things that I wouldn't mind acquiring besides the foundation brush:

Dior Addict Ultra Gloss Reflect in Red Stockings 757

Benefit Lipscription
I've talked about this product before but I don't own it yet!

Californication

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by.. I can't believe that its almost Thanksgiving already, and that pretty much means its almost time for externships! I just bought my ticket from BWI to SFO. It feels pretty much final I'm actually going!

I'm always about buying the cheapest tickets and looking around for the best prices. I usually use Kayak, AirfareWatchDog, and all the various usual sites to look for cheap tickets. I ended up buying one from Southwest. It was decent for a one-way, although if I could have gone a week after New Year's, it would have been $50 cheaper, but oh well, can't help that! Also, if you are part of their rapids rewards program, you can get a free flight after 8 RT flights. So, we'll see how much traveling I will be doing to be able to get a free ticket. haha.


I will be in the San Fran area for about 5 months starting right after New Year's, flying in on Jan 2nd, eeks! I can't wait although it'll be totally different since I'm so use to the East Coast life and even being so close to my family and friends. Being only 2.5 hours away from home from Philly isn't really that bad and I've always gone home about every month or so. It'll be a change not seeing my family for 5 months, but luckily I have relatives on the West Coast I'm staying with so it won't be lonely. I have a ton of things that I want to do while I'm over there. One thing is that I need to get better at snowboarding so I can take advantage of Lake Tahoe!


I've been watching a lot of Californication lately. Love that show. It's a little more adult since Hank sleeps around with everything that walks, but its pretty good. He's got a good heart & loves his daughter. I would definitely recommend it, watch a couple episodes to really get into it!

I guess I'm ready to move on! I will update you guys on my travels to the Sunny State!

Deals and Steals of the Week

UPDATED 11/21 4PM - the deals keep on coming!

Everyone is having a Friends & Family sale!! I guess with this slowing economy, stores are really trying to get consumers out there. Enjoy the sales :)

J. Crew - Extra 20% off on markdowns
Code: EXTRA20
Ends: Nov 24th

Martin & Osa - 30% off Friends & Family
Code: 20119061 . Print
Ends: Nov 23rd

Urban Outfitters - 25% off
Code: LUCKYBREAKS8
Ends: Nov 30th

Ann Taylor and Loft - 30% off Friends & Family
Code: FRIENDS08 . Print
Ends: Nov 23rd

Aeropostale - 30% off Friends & Family
Code: FRIENDS08 . Print
Ends: Nov 23rd

American Eagle - 20% off
Code: 36249027

Ralph Lauren - 30% off Friends & Family
Code: HOL2008 . Print
Ends: Dec 08

Sephora - Free Shipping off $25
Code: SHIPFREE25

Arden B. - $10 off $50, $25 off $100
Code: SHIMMER10, SHIMMER25
Ends: Nov 25th

On the Lookout for the Perfect Hair Straightener

I've been so busy lately. We're taking this study course for boards right now, which is taking up ALL my time. Its pretty much like 8 hours of a lot of information crammed in for 4 days.. so we have 2 more days to go. Its really good but its just so tiring! But in the mean time, I've been looking up hair straighteners to buy. I really want a new flat iron that curls your hair. My hair has been getting longer so I just want a bouncy head of curls! Haha.

Right now Folica is having a sale with $20 bucks off $100 purchase, which is perfect since I want to spend only around $100 for a new flat iron. There are just so many brands out there, its hard to choose. I want something that is high quality/professional, that will curl/straighten well (that means my hair stays stick straight for most of the day), and something that will last. I've been looking at CHI, SEDU and SOLIA hair straighteners so far. GHD seems like the BEST out there, but its too pricey and out of my range.

The CHI straightener is a very well know hair straightener. Although some of my friends have Chi hair straighteners and had no problems, I've read online that many of them have broken easily, like within a year or less... which makes me a little uneasy about getting one, plus there isn't any temperature adjustment. My hair is fine-medium so I don't really need something that is super heated or anything so I would like the option of using a lesser setting.


SEDU seems like a pretty reputable brand. This one is the specifications that I'm looking for, 1" used to straighten and curl hair with adjustable temperature. The only thing is that it is a little pricer at $140. I wouldn't mind spending more if I knew it was worth it, but I'm not sure if it is. From the reviews I read, it was comparable to the SOLIA hair straightener.


The SOLIA brand is one that I wasn't too familiar with until I started researching what hair straightener to get. This one seemed very similar to the SEDU and from what I was getting, most people online were choosing between either the SEDU or SOLIA. I couldn't really tell much difference between the two except the SEDU is pricer and little more well known (one of their flat iron models was mentioned in numerous magazines such as Allure).



The last one I was deciding between was the Enzo Milano hair straightener. I'm only considering this one because my cousin has the same model and it works really well for her. It is also a professional iron, but I believe this brand is more well known for their curling irons.

All of these irons are tourmaline ceramic and all boast that they don't snag your hair and keeps it healthy (although you are frying your hair on like 350 degrees of heat but thats besides the point..) so I have no idea which flat iron I should go for! If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

Eyebrow Threading

I recently got my eyebrows threaded, which was a MUCH better experience then when I had my eyebrows waxed for the first time. The waxing was terrible, I was left with thin brows that I hated. I decided that I would never try that again. I was a little reluctant to try eyebrow threading, but with the push of my friend, I did it and it turned out really well!

Eyebrow threading originated in Middle East and Asia (sources vary). I first learned of it from my Indian friends. It is a procedure of hair removal, which uses a cotton string (the type you sew with) that is looped around each hair and is pulled from the follicle. Threading is not only used for the eyebrows, but can be used on the entire face, including upper lip, chin, sideburns and cheeks. Threading can define the eyebrows and keep them lasting longer. The lady who did mine said I didn't have to come back for 3 weeks! I could notice some hairs growing slightly by 1 week, but not enough to go back. I figure I would just keep the natural contour of the brows by plucking them myself with my good old tweezers.

I had my eyebrows threaded at a local mall stand, although I hear the Indian ladies who do it at their houses are much better.. but we were already at the mall and the ladies that were doing it seemed pretty good! My friends and I watched a few people go ahead of us, and everyone came out with really nice looking brows! I would recommend you watch a few people first to get a feel of how it is done. Threading takes years of experience so you want to make sure the person who is doing it knows what they are doing as well.

It wasn't really painful, but it did hurt a little bit because they pull out several hairs at once, plus my eyebrows were a little unruly so she probably had more work to do than for others. haha. Overall, I was really satisfied with the procedure and would definitely recommend it for anyone to try it. I really loved how they cleaned up my brows and gave me nice, natural arch. I would definitely recommend it!

Threading is more precise than waxing since they are taking each hair out and it can be more easily defined. It does hurt a bit, but only slightly more than plucking due to the quickness of the procedure. Your eyebrow area may be red for some time, but it will go down within an hour or so (the lady told us 15 minutes). Mine wasn't red at all, but my friend's eyebrows looked red and swollen, but that went away after some time. There are no chemicals used, so if your eye area is easily irritated by those products, this is a better way to go. The hair supposedly does not grow back as fast and grows back finer! Definitely give it a try if you encounter it.

Deals and Steals of the Week

SEPHORA - 20% off FRIENDS & FAMILY
Code: FF2008 (online only) Ends: 11/10/08
Free shipping over $50 + 3 free samples

LIMITED - 20% off Friends & Family (in stores and online)
Code: 585 Ends: 11/09/08

Old Navy, Gap, BR - 30% off Friends & Family
+5% donation to your favorite non profit organization
Code: D18FYQFTPKWY
Ends: 11/13-11/16

GAP - 25% off SALE items (in stores and online)
Code: EXTRA25 Ends: 11/11/08

Banana Republic - 20% off $125 or more (in stores and online)
Code: CELEBRATE Ends: 11/13/08

Nordstroms - 40% off Half Yearly Sale

Halloween Fun!

So for Halloween, Me and my friends dressed up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! This idea started after the last Halloween when we saw these TMNT shells on sale for like 75 cents each.. haha so of course we bought them and since we had so much fun dressing up like martians last year, we decided to dress up together again. We're missing our Michelangelo, but it was still so much fun. Everyone had such awesome costumes this year!

I was thinking of ideas to dress up for the celebrity party, but we decided to go with TMNT. But we did try to do a "Gossip Girl" theme for the other Halloween party we went to... but we pretty much dressed up like ourselves and pretended we were Gossip Girls! haha. I'll post a picture if I can find a good one later.



* CONGRATS to the new President of the United States!! Go Obama!

ROCK YOUR VOTE!

Tomorrow is a HUGE day, its finally ELECTION day!

Not only are you fulfilling your public duty tomorrow by voting, you can also receive some FREE yummy treats!

•FREE Coffee at STARBUCKS! Starbucks expects to hand out "hundreds of thousands" of free 12-ounce drip coffees (valued at about $1.75 each).

•FREE Patriotic Doughnuts at KRISPY KREME. Some 85 of Krispy Kreme's 231 locations in the U.S. will hand out star-shaped, red-white-and-blue sprinkled doughnuts "while supplies last". The chain will give out about 200,000 doughnuts valued at 99 cents each.

•FREE Ice cream at BEN & JERRYS. Between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. in each time zone, Ben & Jerry's ice cream shops will hand out single-scoop ice cream cones (a $3.40 value).

•FREE CHICK-FIL-A Chicken Sandwiches. In a local market promotion, several hundred of the nation's 1,400 Chick-fil-A stores will hand out $2.70 chicken sandwiches to those with proof they voted tomorrow

Just an added bonus for those of you who are voting today! Happy voting and we'll see who the next President of the United States will be, very soon!

JAK & JIL - featuring Melanie Huynh

I know this is old news to everyone else, but recently I found out about the website Jak & Jil and I absolutely love it!!! They have this great section on killer heels. It's amazing how by just looking at one's shoes, you want to know so much more about them! They basically take pictures of IT people in the fashion industry, the behind the scenes people and models as well.

Loving these gladiators although it is way too cold to wear these now. This shoe can spice up any outfit. Melanie Huynh, Assistant Stylist for Paris Vogue are sporting these. After seeing her great shoe selection, I googled her (yes I have way too much time on my hands..) I absolutely adore her style.. super chic yet not overdone. But then again, I would only expect someone who is the Junior editor for Vogue Paris to be super stylish. I just love how easy she makes the clothes look.

I also love Carine Roitfield's style..but thats for another entry!
Great combination of prepster cool but slightly edgy
The gladiators are the perfect pairing!

French Vogue's Fashion Dream Team

Don't you just want to find out more about who wears these heels!?
Shoes are a great way of expression!

Ebates & Rebates online

I was reading my usual fashion blogs and I came across to The Look 4 Less
which featured Ebates.com on their website. Its a site that pays you for shopping! All you have to do is go to their website and from there, you search for the website you want to make a purchase from like if you want to buy something from like Target and they give you a percentage back for what you spend, it ranges from 1-6% but every little bit counts right? I'm always buying random stuff online, so its nice getting a little bit of "tax" money back on your purchases even if its not that much, its better than nothing!

They are having a special promotion right now where they are giving a $10 giftcard if you sign up for stores such as everyone's fave, SEPHORA! so I would definitely recommend at least trying it out. You aren't losing anything by using this website and theres no type of obligations or anything. My email address for referral is Juliet03@gmail.com if you would be so kind! But no pressure or anything, I just figured I would share this website I recently found out about.

Use this Ebates link for $10 gift card

Use this Ebates link for $5 to get you started in your account

Also for you ebay-ers ... try using this site SavingsWatch because they give back 1.5% for ebay, which Ebates.com does not feature. If you sign up, they give you $5.00 in your account as well. Both the sites are similar, some giving more % than others. You have to reach a certain amount of money before they send you back a check so I would suggest thinking to one site or another if they offer both stores at each site. Its $10 in your account for SavingsWatch and $5 for Ebates before a check is sent to you. Here is a sample of what stores they offer



These sites also offer coupons so its a good way to check out the good deals out there.

Happy shopping! I'm already buying a whole bunch of stuff from Target right now!

Celebrity Halloween

This halloween, one of my friends is hosting a dress up like a celebrity or character party... which should be a lot of fun except not exactly sure what I'm dressing up as yet.

So ideas were thrown out and even InStyle had similar ideas!

The first idea was to be Jonas brothers! HAHA.. that would be funny, but I'm thinking on passing on that idea. We would really just need the hair if we could find a wig and wear a skinny tie with graphic tees and some slim jeans.



Next idea is to be GOSSIP GIRLS. I'm a huge fan of Blair and Serena so that would be a possibility, but only thing is the guys have NO idea who or what is Gossip Girl... but what matters is the girls know, right?? Its pretty much the whole school girl idea with an added headband with a bow.. so it seems pretty simple so I'm wondering if I should think of something more clever. But I do absolutely love the bow headbands and colored tights..



Third idea would be to do Sex in the City - typical Carrie outrageous outfits would be fun!
I actually really like Carrie's flower dress idea. She was totally known to start the flower trend and this one is totally over the top.. so this is a good possibility if I can just find a super huge flower (I'm thinking of hitting up Michaels) !!

I'll let you know what I end up deciding!

New layout

Hey guys!

My awesome friend Sy made me a banner for my blog so I'm trying out this new layout right now. Just wanted to know what you guys thought? Do you like the new banner or do you like the simplicity of the old layout? Thanks!

Deals and Steals of the Week

**UPDATED 10/23/08

Barnes and Nobles - Complimentary Cappuccino! & 15% off 1 item
Ends: Oct. 31st

Loehmann's - 15% off entire order
Oct 23th-Oct 26th

Victoria's Secret - $5 off $30 & more
Ends Oct 26th

Prescriptives 25% off and FREE shipping + free sample
Ends Oct 24th

Macys- 20% off entire order
Oct 22nd - Oct 26th

Steve Madden - FREE SHIPPING on all orders
Ends Oct 26th

Project Runway Season 5 Finale

Tonite is the Project Runway Season Finale! I'm so excited to find out who wins. I absolutely love watching Project Runway, I always watch the marathon re-run of all the current episodes on Bravo. I haven't been able to see the new recent episodes since I don't have cable here, but I'm going home this weekend so that means some good quality t.v. time.. & family time of course! haha. I'm really hoping that Leanne is going to win. Kenley started out as my favorite since I loved her girly sweeet style, but Leanne won my heart with her designs. They all had such beautifully designed pieces in their collections and yay for all girls being in the final 3.... so I can't be mad at whoever wins. Here are my favorites from their NY Fashion Week showing:

Leanne Marshall
The detailing is impeccable in her designs

Kenley Collins
She has a very signature style,
I love how she incorporates feathers and head/hair pieces.

Korto Momolu
I love colors and the safari theme of her outfits

So who do you want to win?

Well I have to get back to studying now, shouldn't even be blogging since I have a massive amount of things to read for my test tomorrow!
Wish me luck!