Category: Shopping and Style

shopping, sales, nordstrom, sephora vib sale, amazon, fashion, what i wore, clothing, wardrobe

Sephora VIB Sale What to Buy and What to Skip 2015

It’s almost here! Sephora’s biggest sale of the year (20% off all purchases) is the Sephora VIB sale and this year’s taking place Friday November 13-16, 2015 both online and in stores. Be sure to check out last year’s Sephora VIB Sale 2014 post with lot’s of reviews and recommendations of products that are still available. As a refresher in order to be VIB you must spend $500 in a calendar year. The good news is that if you spend more than that then it rolls over towards the next year. To find out your status you can log on to Sephora.com and click “(Your name)’s Account” in the top right corner. If it says “VIB Beauty Insider” you’re in! You can use VIB20 online during the sale and get 20% off your entire purchase. If you don’t have VIB you can ask one of your beauty obsessed friends to add a few things to their basket for you. If you don’t have VIB or even a Sephora account you’re not getting the discount, BUT they always offer the BEST gifts with purchase. This year you can pick 1 of 4, it includes 8 samples and a free clutch, and you only have to make a $25 purchase which is like half of 1 thing at Sephora. You can use the code “partypicks” to get in on that fine deal.

Let’s start off with updated reviews of last year’s purchases because liking a product an entire year later is a real testament to whether a product is truly worthy or not.

Sephora VIB Purchases 2014

 

Continue reading “Sephora VIB Sale What to Buy and What to Skip 2015”

Traveling in Style – What to Wear to the Airport and What to Pack

Bonjour! Just practicing my French because I’m headed to Paris for the first time ever in a week and a half!! While preparing for my trip I had to take a look at this book I have to see if it had any European travel tips. The book is Classy by Derek Blasberg and in it I learned a few VERY good tips that I still use this day:

Continue reading “Traveling in Style – What to Wear to the Airport and What to Pack”

Does This Thing Really Work? Ask Beautypedia

With all of the advertising and marketing in the beauty industry it’s very hard to tell what is going to work and what will not. This is so important because who wants to waste $$$ on a product that does not live up to it’s claims? So how do you research a products claims and find out if it contains ingredients that will actually make your skin better? This is where one of my favorite websites Beautypedia comes in. Beautypedia was started by Paula Begoun who is known as the cosmetics cop. For decades now she has been breaking down ingredient lists vs. manufacturer claims to de-mistify the (sometimes) fuzzy beauty science and to educate the masses. Whenever you sign on to Instagram, Youtube, open a magazine, see a commercial, etc. you’re constantly being bombarded with “This is the one! The product that will make you flawless and fix all of your skin’s problems! BUY NOW!!” and Paula helps you separate the BS from the truly beneficial products.

The other thing I like about her site is that you can choose how deeply you want to plunge into the scientific knowledge behind ingredients. You can find out if a product contains sodium hyaluronate acid and what the hell that means, or you can just find out if the MAC Pro Longwear Nourishing Waterproof Foundation lives up to it’s claims or not (PS it does according to beautypedia and now I really want to try it!).

How I use Beautypedia:

Continue reading “Does This Thing Really Work? Ask Beautypedia”

Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipstick Part Two

My Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipsticks post is one of the most popular posts on my blog so with all of that interest I thought it was time to do a Part Two!

Anastasia Beverly Hills Liquid Lipsticks

The last post was sparked by the massive launch of the Anastasia Beverly Hills liquid lipsticks ($20 each). I swear that woman is a marketing genius sending out free liquid lipsticks to all of the beauty influencers on the internet. Cheapest.PR.EVER. I still have only heard so-so reviews about these! My friend Annabelle (from the infamous Jeremy Piven post) has Pure Hollywood which is a nude shade and she said it’s super drying and crusts around the inner rim of your lips so she is not a fan. Anastasia has, however, come out with some gorgeous new colors my favorite being Unicorn which is described as a “luminescent lavender” and it’s gorgeous: Continue reading “Beauty Trends: Liquid Lipstick Part Two”

Makeup Made in the USA

I recently watched an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about Fashion that focused on where fast fashion aka inexpensive and trendy clothes are made, who makes them, and what kind of conditions they are made in (spoiler alert: they’re mostly made by children in developing countries in terrible and unsafe conditions for little pay). This inspired me to do a post about makeup and beauty products that are made in the USA. It was SO hard to find information about this!!

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Sephora VIB Sale Wish List

I couldn’t help myself I had to do a little online “window shopping” and pick out all the items I’ve been dying to try from Sephora. If I had unlimited funds this is what my Sephora shopping cart would look like right now:

Continue reading “Sephora VIB Sale Wish List”

Sephora VIB Sale Spring 2015

The Sephora VIB sale is starting in 2 days on Thursday April 16th, 2015 and will go until Tuesday April 21, 2015 both online and in store. The sale is 15% off your entire order if you use the code VIBLOVE. There is a VIB event – VIB Early Access Day on Thursday April 16, 2015 all day at all stores and VIBs can bring a friend to share in early access to 15% savings, mini makeovers and new trends, personalized advice from brand ambassadors, and a free Sephora foldover clutch.  As a reminder- in order to become Very Important Beauty Insider (VIB) status at Sephora, you must be a registered Beauty Insider (which is free) and spend $350 on merchandise either online or in store during one calendar year (January-December). If you log-in on Sephora.com you will be able to see your status. There is also VIB Rouge for those that spend $1000 per calendar year, but there aren’t any additional perks during this VIB sale that Rouge members don’t already get everyday (like free 2-day shipping on every order and Rouge Only exclusive products). If you’re ordering online don’t forget to go through Ebates they’re offering 4% cash back bringing the VIB sale up to 19% savings! To do it just 1. Sign up with Ebates 2. Search for Sephora on Ebates and click the link 3. Order from that link in order to get your 4% cash back on PayPal! I can’t remember the last website I shopped on that didn’t have Ebates cash back it’s seriously the easiest website ever. You can even add all of the items to your cart on Sephora while logged into your account, then close the window, open it again through Ebates and all of your items will still be there and then you’ll get the discount! Here’s what my savings looks like so far:

Cash back from shopping through Ebates

Ok now on to the good stuff – for this very special occasion I thought I would show you 10 of my favorite/MUST try products from Sephora! Continue reading “Sephora VIB Sale Spring 2015”

What to Wear to Coachella

If you’re like me and always expending tons of energy trying to figure out what to bring on trips in order to be prepared for any weather/situation/temperature/activity then you’re probably wondering what the hell to wear to Coachella! If you don’t know, Coachella is a huge music festival that’s in Palm Springs aka the desert every spring.

Coachella is 3 days long and the fashion is almost as important to Coachella as the music. Coachella is one of those few rare times that you can dress in basically a costume in public and no one will judge you. I will warn you that at 28 I’m a pretty pragmatic young lady so if you’re one of those girls that has no problem wearing Louboutins all night, bold lips any day without worrying constantly that lipstick is on your teeth, or outfits that are basically taped to your naughty parts you probably have a much higher commitment to lookin’ fly than I do.

Here’s my tips are on what to wear to Coachella including affordable clothes and accessories. Be sure to check out my What to Bring to Coachella post.

Shoes for Coachella

Coachella is enormous I’d guess depending on how active your group is you will be walking up to 6-10+ miles per day in a grassy field. I wore flat boots when I went because my friend Meagan told me to wear boots that “don’t even have a 1 inch heel. Not even the littlest baby heel. Flat. On the ground.” And I think that was really good advice. If you wear heels you’ll probably hate yourself and end up barefoot. If you wear sandals they are going to get jacked up by all the dirt and your feet will be stepped on by fellow festival-goers. If you’re even more chill than I am you could wear sneakers and be comfortable as well.

What shoes to wear to Coachella 2015
Shoe ideas for Coachella 2015

From Left to Right: Forever 21 Knee-High Riding Boots // Target Women’s Z London Bobo Combat Lace Boot // Target Women’s Kaci Short Cowboy Boots // Forever 21 Embroidered Espadrilles

Coachella Outfit

Dresses and Skirts– Pick some that are long enough so that when you sit on the ground you’ll have a little bit of a fabric barrier. Also consider wearing shorts underneath for added comfort and because it can get super windy. Continue reading “What to Wear to Coachella”

Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty Sale

The Ulta 21 Days of Beauty Steals Events & Free Gifts is March 15th-April 4th, 2015 and I decided to look through the deals and let you know what I thought was worth checking out!

LORAC Champagne Dreams Palette 

lorac-champagne-dreams-palette-ulta

This is a great palette of neutral shades that could work day or night and would be great for someone who is just getting into makeup and doesn’t know what kind of eyeshadow to wear. It’s the Ulta Beauty Steal for 3/29/15, but it’s already on the website for $15 right now so I’m thinking you might not have to wait… You can also get a free deluxe sample of the LORAC Porefection Mattifying Face Primer with any $25 Lorac purchase between 3/15/15-4/4/15. Their Lorac PRO Mascara is also on sale right now for $11.50 so boom there’s your $25 purchase right there!

Skyn Iceland Hydro Cool Firming Eye & Face Gels

skyn-iceland-hydro-cool-firming-eye-gels Continue reading “Ulta’s 21 Days of Beauty Sale”

Last Minute Valentine’s Day Outfits

Not sure what you’re going to wear yet?? Here’s a few ideas:

I might be wearing this American Apparel Lace Print Nylon Tricot 3/4 Sleeve Dress in Red which is currently on sale for $27.

www.blushinginhollywood.com

 

Or I’m super tempted to pick up this American Apparel Belle De Jour Dress because it’s on sale for $33: Continue reading “Last Minute Valentine’s Day Outfits”