My Hair is Black!

I didn't think it would be a big deal, but my hair turned out a lot darker than I thought it would.  It's growing on me though.  It's kind of a big change.  It's hard to get used to.  I also have found that I have to experiment more with my wardrobe and makeup now that my hair's such a different color.  I used to wear a lot of dark boring colors since my hair was so bright and colorful, but now, I feel like I just look depressing when I wear black or brown or dark blue.  And I usually just wear black and gold makeup, but I feel I need more colors on my face now since my hair is so dark already.  So I have been looking through my clothes and found that I really like reds, purples, greens, yellows, and pinks with my new hair color.  And as far as makeup, metallic eyeliners look pretty cool and I like pinks a lot (blush, lip gloss, eyeshadow, etc.).  I am still in the process of experimentation though, so I might find things I like more.  I have read online that bronzers and dewy foundations look really good with dark complexions and dark hair, so i might invest in some of that.  We will see.  I do miss my red hair a lot though, so I don't know how much I should invest in my new hair color since I have no idea how long I will keep it haha.  It's fun for now though :)

My Halloween Costumes!

So I ended up wearing 3 different costumes this year.  All of which I already had in my closet :)  The first costume I decided on was a "Hipster Pirate" which I wore for our school's "Safe Trick or Treat" Event for kid's from the neighborhood. 

Then, I went to OSU's High Ball that Friday night before Halloween and I went as a school girl :)







And on Halloween, I just went to my friend's house to pass out candy and went as a hipster cowgirl by wearing a button-up flannel, pigtails, a mini skirt, boots, leggings, and plastic glasses frames and a little purple scarf.  Sadly, I didn't think to take a picture, so you will have to use your imagination for the most part.  It is very similar to what I wore to the Miley Cyrus concert 2 years ago though which I do have pictures of!  I wore a white skirt, grey boots, and no cowboy hat though.

Cheap Costume Ideas!

As a college student, I do not like spending a lot of money especially on something I will wear one night.  With Halloween right around the corner though, I have been trying to decide on a costume to wear while volunteering for the Safe-Trick-or-Treat hosted at my school.  We are planning to have a costume contest among the volunteers too, so I want to put a lot of thought into my costume without too much of the cost in COSTume (teehee I made a punny!). 

Obviously, one idea is to recycle an older costume from high school that people at college probably haven't seen me in.  Unfortunately, I only actually purchased one costume in high school and I am letting my sister borrow it.  The rest of the times I've dressed up, I've just made up costumes out of clothes and such I already had.  Some costumes I wore using my own everyday clothes and accessories over the years include:  cow girl, Native American, a boy, and Tinky Winky the teletubby.  I bought a FrenchMaid costume my freshman year of college, but I never got the chance to wear it and I decided it is not an appropriate costume to wear around little kids anyway lol.  It is actually pretty modest for a French Maid costume.  I just think the whole idea of it isn't very wholesome haha.  As a backup costume, I have the children's fairy costume I wore two years ago, but it is missing the wings, so I will need to transform it into a forest nymph costume or something instead I guess... haha.  But hopefully, I will come up with something cool as I brainstorm through this blog :)

One easy idea is the Princess.  To just be a generic princess, all you need is a fancy dress and a tiara to be honest.  I have lots of tiaras at home, but I didn't think to bring any to school, so I might go out and buy a plastic one if I decide to use this costume idea.  They can be found for as little as a dollar at party stores or Five Below.  Or if you want your costume to be a little more "legit" and don't mind spending the extra money, Claire's has some more "real"ish tiaras for under twenty dollars.

I could potentially go as a cowgirl again, but I think I left my straw cowboy hat at home also, but this costume is really simple if you have cowboy boots and some kind of flannel shirt and a cowgirl hat.  You could add a rope belt or carry a lasso around with you if you so choose for some more fun accessorizing.


I also noticed that Five Below has some pretty fun wigs for only five dollars which leads me to the following ideas:
(Insert profession) Barbie-  All you need is a blonde wig and you can pretty much wear whatever you want and call yourself Barbie.  For example, you could combine one of the previous costume ideas with a blonde wig and be "Princess Barbie" or "Cowgirl Barbie".  I highly recommend watching the movie Never Been Kissed if you need a good visual of what a Barbie costume could look like.  Here is a clip of the specific scene though if you don't feel like sitting through 2 hours of a great movie:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRpaEi3iKaE (You can skip to 4:22 to see the costumes!).

Five Below also has some fun colored wigs (pink, purple, green, etc.) which would be great for an ALIEN costume if you paired it with some crazy fun glittery and metallic makeup and shiny spacey-clothing. 

Long-haired wigs are great if you want to go as a hippie and pair it with bell-bottom jeans and tie-dye or bright floral prints and giant earrings and tinted sunglasses and flowers in your hair and maybe a nice flowy top or a fringed vest.  There's a lot you can work with here and you probably have stuff in your own wardrobe that you can use for this kind of costume.   

I also found this site which has a lot of really awesome costume ideas.  Some of them are really original and fun too!  I especially liked this section:  http://costumeideazone.com/A9eShopYourCloset.htm

Have fun with your costumes and make it your own!  I hope everyone has an awesome Halloween with some really fun costumes :)

Products I LOVE!

So I'm not typically a very brand-loyalty kinda gal.  I tend to just get whatever's the best deal and hope it works.  But some of those cheap things turned out to be amazing for me.  And I'd like to share a few with you :)

First of all, E.L.F (Eyes. Lips. Face) is a brand that can be found at Target and it is mostly makeup stuff, but it works very well and is extremely low price.  One of their products I am obsessed with is their E.L.F Zit Zapper.  It's only a dollar and it usually lasts me up to 4 or 5 months and works as an on-the-spot treatment for acne.  It's small enough to fit in your makeup bag and it usually reduces my pimples in only 2-3 days.  It works way better than I expected it to!  And I am so happy I found it!!

So I was a little weary of Suave at first.  I didn't believe it could actually work as well as a professional brand shampoo, but I actually like it more than my Garnier or John Frieda shampoo!  And you find it at a lot of places for only 2 dollars!  So if your hair is really frizzy like mine is in the summer, this is a really great bargain buy!  There's a matching conditioner too, but I prefer to use conditioner for color treated hair.  But this shampoo leaves my hair so smooth and soft.  I love it!  And highly recommend it!

Since I do have some icky acne, I always use concealer.  So I love Almays heals while it conceals makeup!  It's got salicylic acid in it, so that it fights acne and helps heal it while you conceal it just as it claims!  My acne hasn't gotten significant better since I started using it, but it hasn't gotten worse at all and it leaves my skin less oily than most liquid foundations and concealers do!  It's about 8 dollars I think and it lasts me 6-7 months on average.  I usually go with the light concealer and neutral 220 liquid foundation and the light loose powder.  Almay is definitely a brand I am loyal to for my skin/face.  And I've heard that most women tend to have total brand loyalty when it comes to makeup, so it makes sense!

So I was just recently introduced to this stuff when I read online that scrubs help a lot with acne.  I went to go buy one and this one was only 2.15 at Target, so I figured "why not?" If it doesn't work, I only wasted 2 dollars".  Well, it turns out, it was not a waste!! From the first time I washed my face with it, I knew I loved it.  My skin felt brand new and it smelled so good!  And I immediately saw a reduction in my blackheads.  I have really oily skin too, and this made it feel normal and got rid of a lot of the oily feeling.  I am obsessed with it.  My new regiment to cure my acne includes washing with this 3 times a week and following it up with alcohol as a toner.  At night, I wash with antibacterial handsoap to get my makeup off and kills bacteria in my face which has been working so well for me!  You don't have to do all of that though, but try the apricot scrub if you're looking to try something new on your face :)

Another great E.L.F product for only a dollar!  I was looking for peach blush, because I saw Rachel Bilson wearing it in a photo, but I didn't want to waste money on something I'd probably rarely wear.  So I was very excited to find these all-over color sticks in the ELF section at Target!  They can work as eye shadow sticks, blush, or lip gloss!! So if I decide I don't like the peach blush, it still makes a pretty shimmery shadow for my eyes.  I loved it as a blush though!  It looked really nice with my skin tone.  They also had a pink one for those of you who have more of a cool complexion.  It's only a dollar though, so if you're looking to experiment with new makeups, it's 3-in-1 for a dollar, so you can't really go wrong! :)