Too Face Summer Eyes Tutorial

Check out my Too Face Summer Eyes Tutorial!

One of my favorite youtube beauty gurus Missglamorazzi or Ingrid started this tag and what better way to start off spring then mentioning my favs for the upcoming months ahead!

My first get ready with me video, just in time for Spring!

Hope you enjoy :-)

10 Things I Learned On My Honeymoon

Things I learned from my honeymoon in Hawaii:

1.     Nothing works better than calamine lotion for bug bites… NOTHING!

2.     If I brush on a bit of my Mary Kay lash primer over my brows, after I fill them in, my brows stay put and filled even through a down pour hike in the rain forest, snorkeling with the fishes, and laying out at the beach all day.

3.     I always pack too much stuff, but never everything I need.

4.     It’s okay to eat whatever I want on vacation, especially if you stay active.

5.     Wellnessformula and raw garlic does wonders for the immune system.

6.     Hotel shampoo and conditioner is just never the same, but it will do its job. Use the conditioner as a shaving lotion as well in a pinch.

7.     Having a washer and dryer in our hotel room is amazing and wonderful, now if only I had one in my apartment.

8.     Nothing is as good as a great skincare routine, it keeps your skin from looking exhausted and worn out from travel. I use Mary Kay’s Time wise Miracle set; it even comes in travel size!

9.     I love my Mary Kay travel bag, it has 4 removable compartments and a hanger, no unpacking toiletries ever, and it keeps the counter space clear.

10. I don’t care what people say, my roots travel bag (fanny pack) is the way to go on vacation. It’s actually stylish too! I have it in brown and black. 

You may notice I've listed a bunch of Mary Kay products, well it's because I started selling the products after I was introduced to it in June. While I was a huge skeptic at first, I became a fast fan after realizing how wonderful the products really are and how affordable it is, especially compared to the other products I was using. More on that later. 

What My Momma Taught Me

In honor of Mothers Day… a day late, here are some things my mamma taught me about fashion.

1.    You can never have enough shoes, especially if you got them on sale.

My mom is always buying shoes off the sale racks; she has small feet and always lucks out on the cutes flats.

Best memory is when we were in NYC and she was waiting at a Starbucks. While I walked around and came back, she had gone next door to buy a pair of clogs she saw on sale. This was on top of the leopard ballet flats she just bought a few days ago.

2.    Comfort is key.

No matter what, if you’re uncomfortable it’s not fashionable.  Plus you should wear your close, not the other way around.

3.    Less is more.

My mom rarely shoes off too much skin, she always looks cool and classy in any occasion. You won’t catch her with too much cleavage or her undies hanging out.

4.    Stick with what works.

Don’t follow trends unless it works on you. It’s always important to know what you like and what looks good on you and stick to it no matter what the fashion world is hot on this minute.

5.    Don’t be afraid of patterns

My mom is so brave with certain colors and patterns, but always manages to tame it down with a solid and look fashionable and fun.

Congrats to Another Happy Couple!

In honor of one of my besties getting engaged this past weekend, I am re- posting about my wedding dress experience and how to find a wedding dress. So if you've read it before, but suddenly find a ring on your left ring finger, read it again, before you set out for your journey to find a white dress! Congrats to all the happy couples out there!

photo by HCM

Two weekends ago, I tried on my wedding dress for the second time. When the seamstress called me to let me know that my dress was ready for my first fitting after alterations, I became incredibly nervous. For some reason, I had forgotten about the dress. This is probably because I was scared and had buried it in the back of my mind.  Let me start from the beginning of the hunt for my wedding dress.

After I became engaged, my sister made an appointment for me at a very nice, clean, and quite bridal boutique. I was welcomed with coffee, fresh baked cookies, and chandeliers. They even had a pedestal for me to stand on and view myself in each of the dresses. My sister is all things wedding. She loves weddings… and when I say love I mean LOOOOOVE! She took charge and pulled dresses and told the nice saleslady what to put me in. I figured the best part of the whole wedding planning process would be to try on all these dresses since I am all about fashion, well I was wrong.  I had no idea what I wanted in terms of a dress. So many options, so many designers, I was actually overwhelmed when it came to clothes! I knew my wedding was going to be a garden, vintagey theme and I thought I knew what type of dress I wanted. I tried on tons of dresses. The ones I thought I would like, I hated. The ones I thought I’d hate I kind of loved. I’m usually great at this but I was feeling overwhelmed.

Everything looked so pretty and special on. I was torn. I fell in love with 3 dresses by the time I left, but wasn’t willing to commit to any of them. I knew that once I bought my dress that was it. No returns. No going back. That is the only dress I get. For the first time in my life I didn’t know what I wanted in fashion. I had a headache. I was tired. I didn’t want to try on anything else.  I was bummed that my expectations of having this incredible time trying on beautiful gowns and knowing exactly what I wanted weren’t met.

My sister on the other hand didn’t want to give up. She wanted to take me to a sample sale. Really? I’m tired! We get to the sample sale and it’s the total opposite of what I just experienced. It was chaos, madness, brides gone crazy with racks and racks of bridal gowns in no particular order. Seeing the fear and annoyance in my eyes, my sister takes charge again, she starts pulling dresses.  I have no idea how she can even tell what would look good when everything is all enclosed in plastic garment bags and hanging all ugly and squished together. I tell her she can pull 3 dresses and I’ll wait in the corner to try them on. She brings me the 3 options and strategically puts me in the first dress. She dresses me better than the professionals at the store do. I’m shocked. She even made a space for me to step into the dress without having me step on the dress. She clamps me in because they are all sample sizes. I step out and look in the mirror. I’m staring at myself, not sure what I’m seeing. But it’s dirty. It’s got snags, it’s missing beads, and the corset is torn. It’s a size 12 dress and I’m a size 2. I hear my sister ask me if I like it in a little bit of a panicked voice. Long silence…. I absolutely love it. Despite everything…it’s perfect. It’s the one…AND my mom loves it! She never loves anything.

Then we find out it’s the last one. We can’t order this from the designer anymore because it’s been discontinued. So if I want this dress, I have to take it “as is”. My sister inspects the dress, trying to see what can be done with it. Meanwhile I see a gaggle of brides eyeing me in the dress, wanting to have me take it off so they can try it on themselves. I’m angry, I don’t want anyone to touch this dress. I refuse to take it off. We come to the conclusion that if I love the dress, we can spend the money to really have it cleaned up and fixed professionally. Can you even take it down 10 sizes? We were told it was possible. It’s also ridiculously discounted and way below the budget we had planned for my wedding dress. Okay we buy it. I’m REALLY NERVOUS. My mom says we can sell it and get me another dress.  But I love this one. What if it doesn’t work out?

So after lots of research and some refusals to work on my dress, we find a wonderful lady who says it’s no problem and that she could “make it like new.” This is where I panic again. I’m suppose to just trust this woman to take my dress, send it off to the cleaners in NYC, take it from a 12 to a 2, and fix everything?! Yes. So I did and I left scared. I made myself sick with worry.  Months went by and I forgot about my dress. Then came the phone call…my dress is ready for the first fitting. My sister is across the country and my mom can’t make it. My Matron of Honor has a gig and can’t come either. Thank God one of my bridesmaids could make it. It was also fitting that I was with her for her wedding gown purchase and we’ve known each other since kindergarten. She is supportive, helps me get dressed, and takes pictures, I’m not alone. I put the dress on, it’s beautiful and actually frames my body perfectly now. Well almost, we still have a few inches to take in. The dress is actually ivory and clean, not the dingy yellow it once was! The corset is perfect! I’m not scared anymore. I’m happy! It’s beautiful, it’s everything I wanted, and it’s mine.

I’m not sure why it was so hard for me to commit to one dress or why I had such anxiety over it, but in the end everything worked out. I knew the right dress when I had it on. It’s kind of like all things in my life, my gut instincts usually are right and I never end up regretting them. Being impulsive is good if you listen to your gut and heart.  You just kind of know when it’s right. It’s like when you find the right guy to marry, you just know. 

What Pretty Little Liars Has Taught Me

As I sit here in anticipation for the midnight screening of The Hunger Games, I can’t help thinking about how movies and TV have influenced fashion.  For me, I have always gone to the extreme in inspiration. When I was obsessed with the movie, The Three Amigos, my brother drove down to Tijuana and got me an authentic Three Amigos outfit complete with a matching sombrero. You can bet I wore that thing out and about. When the movie Clueless came out, I went shopping with my sister and she decked me out in mini skirts, knee high socks, and matching tops, of course this was totally inappropriate for elementary school. 

Even today, I notice how I’ve been inspired by the movies and shows I’m watching. My latest inspiration…ABC Family’s Pretty Little Liars. I know this sounds like a silly teen girl soap, but it’s actually really good. You’d have to start from the beginning to know what’s going on, but there’s a reason this show is such a hit. There was even a blog about it on the Huffington Post about how Pretty Little Liars is a great feminist show that empowers young women. So in honor of my latest obsession, I’m wearing pure lacquer nail apps (instant nail polish with designs printed on them). I even started wearing more Aria type dresses. For those of you who don’t watch the show, Aria is the creative, artsy, funky type, who will mix prints, colors, and styles on any given day depending on her mood. In my fiancé’s words he describes her style as fun, youthful, and sometimes jailbait gothic.

If you follow the show you’d see that each girl has a very distinct style and personality. While I’m probably more of a “Hanna” girl, who obsesses about fashion and can tell you what designer everyone is wearing or where they got their clothes, I wish I were a little more artsy, creative, and bold like Aria. I also find it interesting that like Hanna, I always tried to fit in. I wore designers and clothes that were fashionable and popular, to be popular. While Aria, who marches to the beat of her own drum and isn’t afraid to take risks, always knows who she is and isn’t afraid to show it. I know that I have both girls in me. I started being an Aria, as a kid, with my costumes and dressing how I felt. In my teens, I became a Hanna, somewhere along the way, I turned into a little bit of the over-achieving, preppy Spencer, and now I’m trying to find my way back to Aria.

So, instead of the conservative burgundy or light pink nails I normally get, I opted for lace printed black nails. While I normally admire others with bold choices, I rarely make any myself. Usually I tend to stick to things I know that works on me. So even though I only changed my nails, which are completely temporary, it made me feel a little bolder, a little fearless. It’s funny how such a small thing can change your whole attitude about yourself and how you feel. This small gesture for myself even allowed me to explore my wardrobe a bit more. I had this red knitted tank dress that I never wore because it was completely see through. Well I found a black slip in the back of my closet and wore it under, then I found a cream woven belt and some matching thigh-high socks to go with my knee high biker boots. I made it work and it was completely appropriate and actually really fun to wear.

photo from ABC Family

So if a manicure can do this for me, what can it do for you this week?

Life's Too Short, Put on Your Good Jeans

It’s funny how some things that you were told as a kid stays with you for life. Then you spend your adult life trying to unlearn those things. I grew up with the idea that nice things should be saved for a special occasion.  Those pretty, new, shiny shoes shouldn’t be worn until it was a special occasion and even then, don’t get them dirty or god forbid a scratch on them. Yesterday when I woke up, I looked at my closet and thought, well I’m not doing anything but working from home and then meeting a friend at Starbucks before I go for my run, so I shouldn’t wear my nice jeans. I should put on my old jeans, that don’t fit well, are a little stiff, and make me feel a little fat. WHAT WAS I THINKING? This goes against everything I believe in, but it’s been so ingrained in me to save things. This stops now!

This isn’t living and it definitely isn’t fun. So what if I don’t have anything special going on for the day? I should still dress my best and I should definitely dress to make myself feel great. Why did I knowingly put on jeans that I don’t feel great in when I have 5 pairs that do? Because God forbid the ones I like fade or get dirty.  I take really good care of my things, but this is a little extreme. The jeans will most likely go out of style by the time they fade or get holes in them. Also if they do fade, it’s not the end of the world, I can drive my butt down to the mall and get another pair. Somehow this thing that my parents kept telling me or expected of me when I was growing up, has stuck and it keeps creeping back into my life.

If I look back, it goes all the way back to my grandmother and probably her mother. My grandmother would save cookies and candy for special occasions, but usually by the time she brought them out to enjoy, they had gone stale or expired completely. This is where I get my phobia of mold and food gone bad, I have no problem tossing food that is slightly old. I can’t stand mold and I will freak out if the sell by date has passed and the food is still in my fridge.

Life is too short. These clothes, shoes, and accessories are just material objects, if you can’t enjoy them, then what’s the point? Clothes should be worn and enjoyed. They should make you feel great when you put them on.  What is a special occasion anyways? My last special occasion that really mattered was when I was proposed to wearing sweats, no make up, and messy hair. The moments that are important to us aren’t defined by what we wear and it wasn’t like I told my fiancé to hold on while I go put on my cute sweats, but I can’t help imagining the situation where I allowed myself to wear my nice sweats that morning. This is a perfect example of why you should always dress your best and for yourself, you never know what’s going to happen. You don’t want all the important moments in life to happen while your wearing jeans that make you look fat or sweats full of holes and coffee stains, do you? 

A Feather Leads to Fun

The other day a good friend of mine told me how she found a giant bow and decided to put it on her head for fun at work. She did it for joy and she was having a good time. No one said anything about it, but she felt more playful all because of it.

Lately, she has also been wearing this bundle of feather earring in one ear. If you knew her, you would see that fit her true personality… natural, beautiful, fun, and free. When we went to try on bridesmaid dresses, even the sales clerk complemented her on her earring. She said how she liked the feathers and wish she could pull it off herself. Why can’t she? No one will judge you if you are confident in what you choose to put on. At the end of the day it’s not permanent, but it’s a way for you to explore and have fun.

Sometimes I will put in a much more conservative version of her earrings in my own ears, to try and channel the traits I love about her. It gives me a little more confidence and excitement. It lends me the strength that I admire in her.

Lots of people want “to put more effort in their appearance.” I say put more fun in it. Effort seams like work. A little joy can go a long way. Dress for yourself. Dress to put your best self out there. Dress to feel good from the outside in, most importantly, Dress Yourself to Happiness! 

Clowning and Life

This year I told myself I was going to take more action and do things that scare me or make me want to hide. One of these things is to take a clown class. Back in NYC when I first took the class, I use to dread it. I would love watching everyone else participating, but I hated it when it was my turn. I could never just let go, release and just have fun. It was a very dark time in my life. I had just failed out of the acting program in college and was told I was “not strong enough” to continue in the acting department. I did however; get into an intensive and prestigious 6-week summer program in NYC. So, completely lost, scared, and confused I moved to NYC for the summer.

I realized that these programs could be nurturing and safe again for me to explore and have fun, the problem was that I had completely lost that ability. I wasn’t able to allow myself to have fun. The clown class was the worst because at the time, I was too scared of messing up or failing again. I was told there was a right way and a wrong way in art. I forgot the whole reason why I loved acting and wanted to do it in the first place, for FUN. Somehow I completely lost sight of this aspect in creativity, art, and life.  I had never failed at anything before. I worked hard and got what I went after. Failure on this level was something new to me. Looking back, it was a good thing. It made me stronger. It made me fight and keep fighting for what I want. It’s made me who I am today.

So now, years later, I’m back taking the same class.  This time, the class is across the country in Los Angeles. This time, the difference is that I’m craving fun. I seek it out. I need it. Maybe because I’m ready for it, I’m able to learn the lessons that clowning teaches …joy. The whole purpose of clowning is to find the joy in what your doing. Sometimes you’ll fail miserably, but if you are able to share your failure with the audience and accept it, it’s really not a failure. It’s about committing fully and sharing. It’s really all about finding joy in everything you do. I’m not sure if it’s maturity or what, but while the class is structured exactly the same with the same exercises, I’m actually able to abandon my inhibitions and go for it. I hear the tiny voice of “don’t’ mess up, try this, try that, be funny, what if they don’t like you,” but this time I’m able to move past the voice and go. I choose to take the class, I choose to be here, I choose to try and have some fun.

I think if you try to have some fun in your life, including your clothes, make up, and style, you will always look your best. If you find the joy in making yourself look your best, it won’t be a chore, but it will be fun. Happiness from within always shines thru so does your beauty. I find the most beautiful people are happy inside and out. Life’s too serious, so lets find some joy in it.