Brandy and Melville Lookbook

So I love the brand Brandy and Melville. The clothes are really on-trend, and the quality is really nice. My Brandy and Melville clothes have their own drawer, and every time I go to the Soho location (there are 2 now) I get really really excited. It's actually my favorite store and I get really stupidly happy every time I'm there. The clothes are just beautiful, and I love being around them. It's also even more fun now because one of my high school friends is working there, and it's lucky for me that I get to see her now when I go! <3 So these are a few of my Brandy and Melville outfits, and at the risk of making my blog look weird and deformed, I have uploaded them with a quite large picture size, just because I want you to see the clothes up-close. I know there are a lot of different and probably more stylish ways of rocking them, but this is just my own personal take. I'm a very basic girl, but I like to look cute. Hopefully I achieve that! :)

My drawer of Brandy:

Tank, shorts, gray long sleeve top Brandy and Melville. 

Sweater, ring Brandy and Melville. 

Tank, Brandy and Melville.

Top, ring Brandy and Melville.

Sweater, Brandy and Melville.

Do you really get what you pay for?

For a long time my answer was yes. You do get what you pay for. One object though has changed my mind. Recently my Babyliss Pro Nano Titanium Flat Iron finally blinked on for the last time, and went out forever. :( I had had that flat iron for three years, and towards the end of it's life it had become very unreliable, sometimes not even turning on when i pressed the on button, or turning on for a fleeting minute only for me to discover in the middle of styling my hair that it had turned off again. It would go from a hot working flat iron to a cold, heatless, non-functioning thing.

When it finally fizzled out for the last time I was heartbroken. I had known for weeks that I had to find a replacement because it was clearly on it's last days. But I didn't have the money to get what I really wanted- a GHD or a KQC flat iron. These irons are both around two hundred dollars. I didn't want me next flat iron after the Babyliss Pro to be a step down after all. However, life happens, and rarely is it convenient. When my flat iron finally died on me, I knew I would just have to get a cheap one until I could afford one I had saved up for and truly wanted. So I dragged myself to Target and picked out one I had seen good reviews on from the Target website. It was $20.99.

I went home and straightened my hair with it. I've never been a girl who can resist playing with the things she's just purchased. Plus I had to know how it worked.

I was surprised.
Very surprised.

The flat iron, the Remington Digital-Heat Ceramic 1" Flat Iron, was very, very good. Although I wasn't a fan of the purple color, I liked the digital display of the temperature and the simple functionality of it. There was an on/off button, an up button and a down button to adjust the heat. It heated up in about a minute, and I began straightening. This was when the surprise came. It straightened my hair in the same amount of time as my previous flat iron. It straightened it just as well as my previous flat iron. The only difference was this: it snagged my hair. I didn't realize hair could even snag really, and when flat iron companies boast that the flat iron passes through hair smoothly without tugging or pulling I didn't understand how that was a benefit because I had never had my hair really snag when using a hot tool. However, now I understood. This flat iron snags my hair, and is not as smooth as my old one. And believe me, snagging can hurt. Not really, but it's an ouch moment. I can't do really small sections with this flat iron because it just doesn't grip very smoothly on small sections and snags way more easily. But other then snagging and pulling, it straightens very nicely.

Allow me to demonstrate...

Before: Look at all that hair! It's sheer volume is astonishing.

Hair out to there, And yes... the damage is awful.

Ready for the after?

!!!!!!

Amazing right? It almost looks too thin compared to the mass I had before haha, but don't worry, it's definitely the straight bangs that make it look so drastic. I don't really keep my bangs like that. I just kept it that way so you could see the difference.

If I do show my bangs, I wear them like this (and I AM growing them out haha)

Or pin them up like this.

Bottom line: Will I still be purchasing an expensive flat iron? In the future, I think if I can afford to, I will. Because it's just nice to get yourself something high quality that looks beautiful and works beautifully too. And getting the best puts your mind at ease permanently because you never have to wonder what else is out there. You pay for the best, and you get the best. But it's definitely more of a nice luxury, then a necessity. In terms of this flat iron, I am happy and do not feel a pressing need to start saving for a new, expensive one. In this case, I got much more then what I paid for. :)

Hair Boredom

So it's Saturday and I'm in my room bored. So of course I randomly thought, let's play with my hot roller set, which I haven't used in months. I'll say straight off the bat, I liked my hair better before I put it in rollers. I started off with 2nd day natural hair, and naturally I have pretty wavy hair. The result surprised me, because I remember not loving this hot roller set even though it was way better then the horrible Conair More Big Curls one. But yeah, this gives you a quick really nicely done look. Lots of curls. Looks a little hollywood :) I still prefer my natural hair, because I like waves, and luckily I was born with them! My goal in a hot roller set is gorgeous big voluminous Victoria's Secret waves, so we'll see :) Maybe I'll ask for a hot roller set this Christmas with large sized rollers, because that's what really gives you that big look.

My hair natural, before rollers:

I should add that this is my hair on a good day. It's also second day hair that was tied up in a bun so it has nice texture. As you can see in my above post my hair can be CRAZY scary sometimes. Damaged and really curly.

Hair after rollers, which I let sit for 15 minutes:

 I was surprised as to how curly my hair was. I do kind of wish it was more bouncy with body as opposed to so set, but it does look kind of nice and Hollywoody. Hope you enjoyed looking at this randomness!

I combed through the hair a little and got a nice looser effect :)

5 Me's! 

Roller set I used:

BaByliss Pro BABCHV21 Ceramic Instant Heat 20-Roller Set, Varied

http://www.amazon.com/BaByliss-BABCHV21-Ceramic-Instant-20-Roller/dp/B002NGMEQC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1318721546&sr=8-2

Review: Kat Von D Lipsticks!

I own 3 Kat Von D Lipsticks and was waiting until I got more to do a review on them, but I'm not sure when that will be, so here goes! I own Kat Von D lipsticks in Hellbent, Backstage Bambi, and Lolita. They are all beautiful colors, and the lipsticks themselves are amazing. They are creamy, long-wearing (in my opinion), full-bodied, pigmented, and just gorgeous. The finish is matte but it definitely doesn't dull your lips. All the colors are pretty pow. Hellbent is a gorgeous dark red, Backstage Bambi is a vivid bright hot pink, and Lolita is a rusty dark browny-reddy-pink. Sounds confusing, but believe me it's the only way I can describe it. I reccommend these lipsticks wholeheartedly, but warn that they are drying after a couple of hours. The color also stains. Below are swatches, and pictures of me wearing it!

Hellbent:

 Backstage Bambi:

 Lolita:

 no flash

flash

*In this case the picture w/o flash is the truer picture. The pink looks too neon and cool-toned with flash. It is definitely closer to the swatch w/o flash.

Lolita:

Hellbent:

Backstage Bambi:

October Birchbox

Disappointment. Disappointment disappointment disappointment. I have nothing good to say about this month's Birchbox. Every single item in it is a disappointment to me. There's only one makeup item, three skincare items, and one hair conditioner sample. I hate when there are really little samples that are only good for one or two uses, and that's what the hair sample is. Everything about this Birchbox is blah, and there wasn't one thing I was excited about.

Sorry for the lack of pics of the products in their wrapping. I sort of just tore through it this time in excitement. Womp womp. Joke's on me.

BIRCHBOX                                                                PREP & FINISH| OCTOBER 2011

1. AHAVA | Mineral Hand Cream                                                                   3.4 oz| $20

A mineral-rich salve that softens and smoothes without any residue. It smells pretty darn fresh, too. + AHAVA| Dermud Foot Cream

2. Laura Geller | Spackle Tinted Under Makeup Primer in Bronze    2 oz| $25

This hydrating primer gives you a flawless foundation for makeup- plus a subtle glow. It works on all skin tones-we tested it!

3. Ouidad| Moisture Lock Leave-in Conditioner                                       6 oz| $18

This light treatment infuses hair with antioxidants and vitamins, then seals strands to keep moisture in and humidity out. 

4. Sunday Riley Modern Skincare | Juno Transformative Lipid Serum     30 ml | $125

Celebs and models wear by this luxe cocktail of 13 essential oils, which absorbs instantly to replenish, firm, and protect skin.

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So there you have it. I'll start with the hand cream.

• I really don't care about hand cream. My hands are soft enough and people aren't really touching them anyway so... I don't care. Plus I had an Ahava cream before and I really wasn't impressed by it.
• This is the one silver lining in the box. I like being given primer samples because a lot of primers just don't do much for my foundation and if I could find one that really made a difference, I would buy it. I don't like that this is brown though- or bronze as they call it. I'd prefer a colorless primer, and the bronze doesn't show up that much but it just makes me feel paranoid about the coloring of my makeup.
• I'm game for haircare because my hair is parched and disgustingly dry. But I'm not that excited about it. The packaging is kind of cute- looks like a bottle and even stands upright. 
• Meh. I have very very very sensitive skin and right now I'm sticking to a basic no-frills routine so I'm hesitant to add this to the mix. I will try it though and see if my skin looks/feels better. At the end of the day though unless it transforms my skin literally into a new skin I really won't feel much about this. Even if it did work there's no way in hell I would spend $125 for one skincare product. Not that I have the money to.       

Here's to hoping next month's Birchbox is better. For the first time I feel like I've wasted my money.