Free Boxes

This is just a short post to say how much I love free boxes. They are great places to find used things that you may have wanted before. Even though 80 percent of the free boxes you look in will have nothing interesting keep your eye open! one day you might find a real treasure. 

For example, in the middle of the summer when I was walking to a friends house i saw a free box and passed it by without much thought. Later, when I passed it on the way home I thought it would not hurt to have a look. In the box I found a Calvin Klein sweater that was as good as new! it was amazing. Then just a few weeks ago walking to school I spotted another free box but it was huge and mainly stuffed animals and since I was a little late I decided not to stop. On the way home i saw the edge of a book poking out through the stuffed animals and pulled it out to see what it was. I was very excited to find that it was the hard cover edition of Bobbi Browns Teenage Beauty which I was about to order on amazon. 

It also goes the other way. If you have old clothing, books, jewelry or anything instead of throwing it away, put it in a free box outside. One girls trash is another girls treasure.

Nighttime Makeup Tutorial

Making a Handbag

A few days ago I decided to do something I have never done before: Make a handbag. I sketched the bag I wanted to make which was a small shoulder bag. Then I went to the fabric store and chose a fake suede for the outside and hounds-tooth fabric for the lining. When I got home I drew a pattern cut my fabric and sewed it all together. This is how it turned out:

 Having just learned to sew on a machine about six months ago I was very happy with the way this bag turned out. I think its cute and It is strong enough that I will be able to use it. It was also very fun to make and now my mom is asking me to make her one for Christmas!

Lip Color Trends For Fall

The lip color trends for this Fall are very different than those for the summer. This summer orange, coral and gold lip gloss and lipstick was very popular. This fall we are looking at a darker more sophisticated collection of colors. Those of you who love red lipstick will be happy to know that crimson is a big color this year. We have already seen crimson lips on many of the Milan runways and I suspect we will be seeing many more before the season is out. For those people who don't like to wear red, I recommend dark deep pinks and dusty rose colored lips that will have the same drama as red while being a little more natural. Tarte LipSurgence matte lip tint in hope is a great red alternative.

Nude lips are also in this season. I like nude lips because I think is you want to draw more attention to your eye makeup they are perfect. they also go with anything. I like Hourglass extreme sheen high shine lip gloss in child which is an opaque peachy nude color, and Lorac couture shine liquid lipstick which is a very pale pink color.

Purple is by far the most hard to wear lip color this season and I think that it will mainly show up in high fashion events, not every day life. If you want to have a more purple lip I recommend more of a nude mauve color. Bite beauty has a beautiful mauve lip gloss that I love and recommend for any one wanting to try a more purple lip.

As for transitioning into fall from summer I like pink lip gloss with gold flecks. It is a fun color that is perfect for the warm end of summer weather but also works for a more fun lip in the winter time.

The Makeup Essentials

Recently I purchased a makeup set from Lorac that I am really excited about. It is called the Real Life to Red Carpet Natural to Dramatic Face Tutorial. It includes a baked eyeshadow trio with a light champagne color, a bronze color and a dark brown color, a liquid eyeliner pen, mascara, blush, and liquid lipstick. I love this set because it has most of the makeup essentials that any makeup wearer should have. This kit as well as a good foundation and concealer as well as a few lip glosses is really all the makeup you need. I love makeup because it is so fun, so I have much more makeup than just these essentials, but these are the things I use all the time. If you are a person who is confused about what makeup to wear or how to wear it I recommend you take a look at this kit. It has really helped me de-clutter my counter top and make my makeup routine a lot shorter.

Olympic Closing Ceremony Fashion Show

At the closing ceremony for the London Olympics there was a mini fashion show. Famous British models were driven into the stadium in huge trucks with fashion photographs of their outfits on the side. Then the pictures were ripped off the side of the trucks to reveal the models all wearing gold dresses from British designers like Paul Smith and Burberry. Some people loved that the famous models were featured, but others thought that it was bad to have the whole Olympics celebrating people who worked really hard to be successful, and then show models who starved themselves to become what they are. I loved all the dresses and I thought that it was cool that the closing ceremony featured fashion, but I also understand those people who did not like all the super models.

Fall and Winter Trends

Here in California it is much to hot to be thinking about fall and winter fashion, yet designers have already released their winter collections on the runways. This post is a review of some of my favorite and least favorite trends that popped up on the runway. 

One of the garments that appeared most in these collections was the over-sized coat. Coats that were long, had dropped shoulders or were padded like a pillow all appeared in runway shows for designers such as Chloe, Yves Saint Laurent, Diane Von Furstenberg and Stella McCartney. I personally love coats and jackets so I especially like this trend. I think it is a good mix between comfort and fashion, and will be a great opportunity for those fashionistas who aren't comfortable wearing form fitting clothes.

One of the trends which I was not so keen on was the layering of dresses and skirts over pants.  If the skirt was short and was worn with a coat of the same fabric so it looked like the skirt was an extension of the coat, it was possible for the outfit to be clean and polished, but when a knee length or longer skirt was worn with long loose trousers I thought it made the outfit look messy. I do think that if the designers had made the pants more fitted, the trend could have been one I liked.

I also did not like the neon orange, pink and yellow fur coats that appeared on the runways. I thought that the neon colors made the coats look cheap, While the coats in deeper red, orange, purple and pink along with the baby blue coats were just as eye catching as the neon ones and looked very expensive and fashionable. 

I loved the accessories trends that popped up on the runways. From the crazy funky heels, to the over-sized bags and the glitzy unusual clutches there was something for everyone to love. My favorite accessory trend was leather gloves. Coming in all different colors the gloves were like second skin and looked especially amazing topped with a glitzy bracelet or ring. The gloves were so elegant that they dresses up any outfit they were worn with.

With many more trends ranging from country style clothing to leather to prints made of optical illusions there really is a trend for everybody this winter.