Last Minute DIY Red Costume | Orange Is The New Black

In tue Ali fashion, I threw this costume just in the knick of time. As I keep saying, IT'S NOT TOO LATE!

For those of you who have not seen Orange Is The New Black.. Well you need to! I have yet to see a show with so many amazing female roles. And for those of you who have, then you know exactly who I am - RED!

Grey sweat pants, combat boots, a white nurses coat and a can of red hairspray pull this look together in minutes! 

My "Red" pocket was hand drawn and cut out on white paper - taped to my smock. (hey sometimes you have to improvise!)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN !

Bank Robber Costume || Last Minute DIY

So I hope I am not the only one who makes the decision to do things at the last second, and then runs around like a chicken with her head cut off trying to figure out what to be for Halloween. 

This costume took less than an hour to whip up and less than $10. Now thats my kind of costume. 

{Black Combat Boots, Tan Cross Body, Striped Shirt, Black Mask}

Now typically with a costume like this, I would have used a pillow case with a hand drawn dollar sign on it. However, since my plans are going to require me to keep my wallet and phone on me, and I don't want to risk setting down the bag, I opted for a cross body version. Basically, I improvised. I had this tan cross body already. I used the back and attached a felt dollar sign. 

First I sketched a dollar sign on a piece of black felt with chalk. I cut out the symbol and taped it to my bag. Easy as 1, 2, 3. 

{Lip Color: Maybelline Ruby Star 640}

I opted for a bright red lip to add a pop of color against all of the black. 

It's not too late to get your costume together. What are you being this halloween? Please tell me in the comments - Happy Trick-or-Treating! 

Most Importantly: BE SAFE

What's On My iPhone?

Like every other techie in the world, my heart skipped a beat when the new iPhone 6 came out. There's just something about the updated versions that get the buyers going nuts. It's kind of crazy if you think about it. Essentially a handheld computer that does everything but wipe my butt (okay maybe I am exaggerating). Nonetheless, it is super duper awesome. 

Prior to my iPhone 6 investment, I made the silly mistake of leaving team iPhone and joining team Android. Now I know this is a sensitive subject, and irrelevant to today's post, but worth mentioning in the event some may be interested to hear about my experience in a future post?! 

Anyways, back to business. 

Welcome to my home screen. This is where all the magic happens (literally), because I prefer to keep everything organized and on one page. Call me crazy but displaying everything on the home screen makes my heart happy. 

From left to right and top to bottom:

Settings, Calendar, Photos, Camera, Photo Editing, Music, Maps, Weather, App Store, Virtual Wallet, My Verizon, Notes, P Tracker (for all my ladies), iTrackBites, Restaurant Guide, Shopping, Snapchat, Youtube, LinkedIn, Blogging, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Phone, Messages, Email and Safari. 

Now that's a lot of apps! Which is why for the sake of your sanity I am only going to dive into detail about two (and probably my most used two) of the folders. 

From left to right and top to bottom:

CreamCam, Photo Editor +, Squareready, Rookie, and Pic Jointer. 

CreamCam - An awesome free app that helps give you that flawless looking skin you wish you had. 

Photo Editor+ - Also free and used to be my go to for everyday editing. That was before I got..

Rookie- My new favorite editing app for everyday photos. You can adjust lighting, color and skin perfection. It even has a ton of different font and stamp options to jazz up your photos for Instagram. 

Squareready- No more having to cut out half of your photo to be able to fit it to Instagram! This handy dandy little app sizes your picture accordingly without cropping. 

Pic Jointer- Collage central in this app. I really only use it for birthday posts, and the occasional "I took way to many awesome picture to only pick one!" 

From left to right and top to bottom:

Bloglovin, Blogger, and Hootsuite. 

Bloglovin - One of my favorite apps that allows me to follow some of my favorite bloggers like A Beautiful Mess, A Cup Of Jo, and Cupcakes and Cashmere.. just to name a few! Oh and feel free to follow me on Bloglovin as well - that'd be super awesome! 

Blogger- Now unfortunately, this app does not live up to its fullest potential. I keep it so that I can blog on the go (though I prefer to blog from home). It is very limited in features and could use a serious update. Sorry blogger! 

Hootsuite- Every bloggers dream application. Being a college student, working multiple jobs and school full time, a boyfriend and OCD - this app helps me keep up with all of my social media. I can view multiple sights in one location and even schedule tweets or posts to go off without a glitch. 

DIY Sharpie Mugs

Halloween is right around the corner, and as soon as the candy is gone and the sugar coma wares off, before you know it, the holiday season is in full swing. Now I don't know about you, but I need to get all of my holiday ducks in a row before it sneaks up on me!

Whether this is a holiday craft, a creative gift, or a DIforYOURSELF, it couldn't get any easier. 

Necessary Supplies: 

White dishes of your choice (I got mine at the dollar store for.. you guessed it.. $1)
Large letter sticker
Colored sharpie markers

Step 1: Prewash any of the dishes you are going to be working with to ensure a clean and dry surface. 

Step 2: Get creative and layout your design. I used the stickers as an outline for my name, but you can do whatever you want! You don't even have to use the letters, if your artistic (unlike me) try a freehand design. 

Step 3: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for a full 20 minutes. Let them cool completely before handling. 

There you have it! Is this not the easiest craft, gift, DIforYOURSELF you've ever seen? 

Enjoy a hot cup of coffee  or hot coco out of your new mug!

Black Leather

{CJBanks Jacket (similar here), CJBanks Sweater, American Eagle Jeans, Black Combat Boots (similar here), Jcrew Aviators}

Skeleton Mask | DIY Halloween Tutorial

DIY Design | Sweet 16 Edition

Being known in the family as gifted in the crafts department, I am often recruited for party projects. This time around I was selected to assist in planning a sweet sixteen party! I currently have a list of pending projects for this party, but recently I decided to tackle what I am calling the "Court Cards". The idea was to design a laminated lanyard (cute enough for 16 year old girls) to be given when popped the question "will you be in my court?"

Though this could probably be done much easier in a more high tech program like InDesign, I worked with what I had, and what I had was good old Microsoft Word!

After opening the program to a new document, I inserted a rectangular shape. Simply click Insert > Shape and select from the menu of shape options. I formatted the rectangle to have no fill color and a thick black boarder.

I quickly inserted a text box and went to town with different fonts, weights, bolds, italics, you name it and I tried probably tried it. This is the part where you can get creative! The theme of this party was black and purple, which I knew all along. That's is why my text is solid black. 

I took a field trip to Michaels (but any craft store will do) and picked up some super sparkly purple paper from the scrapbook section. I only needed to make a handful of tags so two sheets was plenty for me. I was also able to pick up some clear laminate lanyard holders. I trimmed the purple paper to fit the inside of the holder, inserted my Microsoft design and voila! 

There you have it! An adorable way to ask your girls to be in your sweet sixteen! You can even use this tutorial for many other events (ie. vip passes, bridesmaids, save the dates, invitations?)

Don't be afraid to play around, and remember... practice makes perfect!

Check back for more DIY Design things for this awesome sweet sixteen! 

Unfortunate Event || Gray Hair

Please excuse the no make up, glasses, half asleep look I have going on here as this post is completely spur of the moment. I felt like this ordeal (and yes it was an ordeal) that took place today was so traumatic, that it warranted an entire post about it. 

Background: I am 21 years old. I repeat - I am 21 years old! Gray hair is hit or miss in my family. Some have been so blessed as to never have seen a single gray hair on their head, whereas others (like my mom) were completely gray by the time they were 18. 

My 18th birthday came and went and I thought I was in the clear - 19th, 20th- you catch my drift. Well today at 21 I found a gray hair! One single strand of hair glistening far more than the rest in the sun that caught my eye. I proceeded to spend 20 minutes trying to capture the little bugger in my slippery fingertip (ps. yanking out ONE strand of hair with your fingers is near impossible) and documenting the culprit. I ended up loosing a few hairs over this one gray hair. 

I sure hope that this little guy didn't make any friends while it was nesting in my scalp, because I do not want to see another one of them before I am 50!

I am off to bed to have nightmares about gray hair! xoxo 

Raisin The Bar | Sally Hansen

Photo from The Gallery for Sally 

I am known by my friends and family for constantly changing out my nail color. I just can't help it, it is in my DNA. Until now I have not been able to find a polish that gives me the color, no streaks and most importantly, no chips! well no more excuses for long, unkept, crazy looking nails for this gal. I have found the holy grail of nail polish. 

I am in love with this polish by the one and only Sally Hansen Salon Complete Manicure. I swear by this polish! I probably have it in about 10 colors (anyone interested in a collection post?!)

My go to colors for the fall season are darks, nudes and pinks. This is the perfect blend of the all! It is almost rosy but natural and still deeper than a pale pink. The best part is I am able to wear it for over a week WITHOUT a base OR top coat! How awesome is that?! 

Because of the "salon complete" formula, the base and top coat are already included within the polish, making this a one stop shop! 

What is your favorite nail polish brand or color? I would love to give them a shot. 

The Power of a Compliment

Happy Hump Day! We are halfway through the week and we can do it! (how are my motivational words working?) Well maybe not so much right now, but in the form of a compliment.. Boy is it powerful. 

So something happened to me yesterday that inspired me to write this post. A little background to get the ball rolling.. I am a student in college, where my class mates are not as mature as adults but not as immature as some high school students. A girl, who I would consider an class acquaintance walked in and had done something diffeeeent with her hair! I thought to myself "I really like her hair today!" As I was thinking internally, I realized.. Why don't I just tell her what I think of her hair?

Ones personal style, or what they choose to wear whether it be hair, makeup or clothes is a reflection of themselves! Obviously she took the time to do something different with her hair this day and I felt it only right to give her the compliment I thought it deserved. 

Just as the compliment came out of my mouth, I quickly found myself questioning whether or not I should have said anything.

I would've wanted someone to compliment me. Compliments make me feel good. They make me feel like the time I spend getting ready in the morning is worth it because somebody noticed.

And you know what? Sometimes, living in such a high pressured, not so nice society, all it takes is ONE complement to make someone's day.

Tell me about a time that you were complimented? What was it on and did it make you feel good?! 

Outfit of the Day | Fall Fashion

A brisk fall day calls for a comfortable pair of jeans, some cute boots and a cargo jacket! All of my basic fall staple pieces!

Easy DIY Pumpkin Decorating

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Halloween is my one of my favorite times of the year. I love the kid friendly version, which of course includes pumpkin carving/decorating. Now most years, I get elbow deep in pumpkin guts fishing out the seeds. It's a dirty, slimy, messy, and time consuming job that I dread doing!

This year, I skipped the razors, the stencils and the guts and took a more FUN and CREATIVE approach!  I decorated (fake) pumpkins with no fuss, and I am going to show you how!

Things I used :

Washi Tape

Pumpkin Decorating Kit - which I got from Target for $3.00 & they had several designs to choose from!

Black Sharpie

Fake Pumpkins

Then I got creative! There is no right or wrong way to decorate these pumpkins! It can literally be whatever you want.

The black chalkboard pumpkin I bought preprinted in chalkboard paint from target! (Talk about making it easy!) Then I simply wrote a phrase on it and topped it off with a spider web sticker from the decorating kit. I wanted to keep this pumpkin kind of plain so that you can frequently change the writing.

To make the washi tape pumpkin, I used two different washi tapes, alternating each time the length of the pumpkin. Then I stuck some gold tacks that came in the decorating kit throughout the empty spaces! Quick, easy, and super cute!

Lastly the mustache pumpkin! By far the easiest to make. I literally just freehanded a mustache and added some eyes. It's so easy a caveman could do it!

Have fun getting YOUR creative juices flowing!

My Lips But Better | Nude Lip Combo

So if you couldn't tell by the title of my blog, I am kinda simple. I lead a simple life, like simple things, and that holds true for my make up. With the Fall season in full swing, it's the perfect time for beauty gurus to break out all of their vampy (dark) lip colors. Well good thing I am not a beauty guru, because let me just be honest in saying.. DARK COLORED LIPS SCARE ME! Lately, I have been really trying to break out of my comfort zone by reaching for a light plum lip here and there. But my go to lip color is the "my lip but better" combination!

They're super soft, creamy, luxurious (incase you didn't get all that from their name) and long lasting! The best part is that they're DRUGSTORE!

Now everybody's "my lip but better" color is going to be different based on your skin tone and complexion, but for me.. this is the golden ticket!

Love It or Leave It

So, after reading about some great blogging techniques, one thing that continually came up was to incorporate a recurring theme in your blog's page. I have so many ideas floating around that I could easily post regularly about but for starters, I came up with "Love It or Leave It". I know I know, there are so many variations of posts like this in regards to beauty products. BUT, I am going to do it anyway! So on the FIRST day of each month (November 1st will be the first post), I will post about a product that I have been using, and whether I love it or I would leave it! It will not always be beauty, it could be ANYTHING! The sky is the limit, food, haircare, fashion, makeup, school related, you name it!

This month's Love it or Leave it is going to be on the NYC City Proof Twistable Intense Lip Color ! See you on November 1st !

Hour by Hour Photo Challenge

I was challenged by a friend to do the Hour by Hour Photo Challenge.. Now from what I understand this is supposed to be a 24 hour challenge! I don't know about you guys, but I am not even awake 24 hours to take photos so I did a 9 hour challenge.

Basically, every hour on the hour you have to snap a photo of whatever you're doing! Don't ask me the point of this, BUT I DID IT! Enjoy viewing 9 photos for 9 hours of my day!

I would like to challenge some of my fellow bloggers!

Ways To Save | 5 Easy Tips to Save $$$

AGH, This is my new to the blogging world sob story, begging my wonderful readers for forgiveness! I know its been too long since I have posted, and I have had some technical difficulties (no excuse) ! But I am back on it and ready to rock and roll will some consistent content! Now lets get into why you actually came to this post.. Okay so recently I have been pinching pennies to save for my future. With graduation looming and the "real world" right around the corner, every little bit helps! I am sure you can all relate, and besides, who doesn't like a little extra cash in their pocket!? I am going to go through 5 easy ways to save some money that you probably don't even realize you spend!

Tip #1: Make your coffee at home!

No more stopping at Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts or McDonalds for your morning cup of jo!
I was extremely guilting of doing this on my way to class, but not anymore! Did you know that the average american spends nearly $1,100 on coffee every year! That is just CRAZY! Save the money and drink from home! I love my Kureg machine because its quick and easy just like Dunkin Donuts, but it saves me a TON of money and I can get a TON of flavors.

Tip #2: Save your quarters!

This may seem silly, but trust me, it's not! Whenever you get loose change (especially quarters) put them directly into your handy dandy piggy bank and FORGET ABOUT IT! Quarters add up quickly, and before you know it, you will have a nice chunk of extra cash!

Tip #3: Give yourself an allowance!

Okay this is a good one because with technology at our fingertips it is SO easy to overspend. I know for myself, I rarely carry cash with me. I have a debit card and anytime I buy something, swipe and it's paid for. This makes it super hard for me to keep track of what I am spending. INSTEAD, at the beginning of each week, take yourself out an allowance in CASH. Go to the movies, buy a new top, splurge on the coffee I told you not to get! When the money is spent, it's spent! No if, ands or buts about it until the next week when you get another allowance!  

Tip #4: Plan your meals!

Being a full time college and working student myself, I know how difficult this can be. Fast food restaurants, and even quick service healthy alternatives are not only bad for your waistline, but worse for your wallet! Taking time to plan your meals from home will save you money in the long run. All too often I am on the go and stop to grab a bite to eat. This becomes extremely expensive and extremely unhealthy. Pack a lunch and snack and eat it in the park, or your car if you're in a rush! You're guaranteed to save some cash this way! And bonus jonas - you may even loose a few pounds!  

Tip #5: Do it yourself!

Lately, I have been going physically out of my way to avoid any potential shopping hazards. I go the long way to and from school so that I won't even be tempted to pull in! But anyone that knows anything about me, knows I have about as much will power as a kid with a candy bar! For those times that I DO see something that catches my eye, this tip always comes in handy. My initial thought is "oh my goodness, I love this, I need this, I am buying this!!", BUT WAIT, can I make this myself? A lot of the time, depending on your crafting skills and the item your looking at, the answer is YES! There have been so many times that I have rushed home, wiped the dust off my sewing machine and got to work from an in store inspiration. And most of the time the projects come out just as nice for HALF the price! Now that what I call a good buy!