Star Style

The celebrities always look “great”, right? And they never look better than on the night of the Oscars, correct?

How do they do it? If you’re really craving to know the secret to their toned bodies and flawless makeup follow this link. Full details disclosed.

Anna

Treat Your Feet

I’m a runner. I use my feet to tread rough terrain week in and week out, and yet, while I reap the benefits of running and walking, do I thank my feet? I do not. I make them do all the work without a thought as to their relaxation after a 2 mile run.

Feet, here’s a thank you.

Use a pumice stone and rub the dead skin off your heels.

Fill up a bowl with warm, but not hot, water and let your feet soak for 10 minutes.

Clip your nails, push back the cuticles.

Remove the 2 week old toenail polish and rinse your feet under a blast of cold water.

Dry, and then smooth on a girly, sweet-smelling lotion. Rub it in and enjoy the feeling.

Pedicure in the color that looks best on your tootsies. There is no color that looks best on my tootsies right now so I leave them polish free.

Encourage your feet by letting them know that you won’t always make them wear dirty, stinky tennis shoes, and as a present you bought them these:

P.S. Don’t forget to let your feet breathe every once in a while by keeping all shoes, socks and slippers off.

Anna

J.Jill

Check out the J.Jill link in my blogroll. 

I’ve appreciated J.Jill’s mature, but feminine styles for a long time. Soft, and a bit earthy, their unpretentious looks are widely appealing for many different age and culture groups.

The dollar amount is a little steep. Let’s say $ is cheap. $$ is moderate. $$$ is stretching the budget a bit. $$$$ is far out of our price range. J.Jill is affordable for those who are looking for a particular item, though, and their sale page offers a fair variety for $$.

Anna

The Fab, and the Bad

Sorry; I’m in a little obsessed with Old Navy. Some of their shoes really caught my attention when I was browsing.

Here’s the fab:

Patent Wedges in beautiful colors and a wearable heel for $34.50 from Old Navy.

T-Strap Sandals in very cute and fresh colors for $16.50 from Old Navy.

Embellished Patent T-Strap Sandals for $19.50 from Old Navy. The lack of any sort of support for my foot would make me a little reticent about buying it, though.

Now for the Bad:

Toe-Strap Flip-FLops (with a twist). They should have left the twist on the drawing board. U.G.L.Y. $5.00 from Old Navy.

Canvas Ballet Flats in, ooh, tribal print. So haute, and trendy. So garish. Eeep. I kinda like the giraffe print, however.

Anna

Regret

I was too harsh on E.L.F.

I realize now, I shouldn’t reject them entirely just because my expectations were too high. It’s also my fault for buying some of the darkest eyeshadow shades. I should not have been so impulsive in what I bought.

After a few times of using E.L.F, I’m warming up to it. They aren’t the best quality beauty products on the line, but they are decent in their application and good for a to-go use. So, I’m just being cautious and using other products of mine to help the E.L.F ones along.

Next time I won’t be such an eager critic.

Anna

Dresses For Spring

My top picks for Spring dresses. Some are affordable, others are just cute.  

Swiss Dot Dress in Pink $9.99 from Target.

Cap-Sleeve Wrap Dress $24.50 from Old Navy.

American Living Empire Dress $100 from J.C. Penney.

Bateau-Neck Dress $69.99 from Target.

Thomasina Shirtdress $118 from Anthropologie.

Dinette Dress $128 from Anthropologie.

The tip with dresses this Spring is to wear bright colored accessories and sweaters with them! Think yellow, green, red, blue, even white.

Anna

February: The Month of Love

Anthropologie has new outfits up. I thought they was so-so. It seemed that they were the same old outfits and clothes, which makes them rather boring. They were cute, but they fell a little flat of being vibrantly fresh for Spring. The shoes featured in the outfits were also a little on the ugly side for me and weren’t much to look at.

I preferred the colors in the Color Happy section. The bright yellows, blues, greens, and reds appealed to me because I’m wishing for Spring and Summer so early. Probably too early.

Anna

Blonde Brain

I’m so blonde, that I was wondering why my legs were looking a tad on the hairy side when I realized I hadn’t been shaving them! Silly me.

But really, in the Wintertime we end up shaving our legs less because, well, they are less exposed than in the Summertime! It’s easy to put off that task because we can hide behind jeans or tights, but Spring and Summer aren’t as far off as we think. Here are a few tips to achieving smooth, hair-free legs as easily as possible:

Start with a fresh, disposable razor. They always go dull on me within 2 weeks.

Smooth on a small amount of conditioner over your legs; it makes the going easier and your legs come out of it smoother.

Moisturize your legs with a body lotion after you step out of the shower. Just-shaved legs oftentimes have a dry, itchy feel; eliminate that by putting lotion on them first thing.

That feel better!

Anna

Magic Contrast

Sometimes, owning a piece of clothing, even if it is very cute, is just a pain when you try to incorporate it into an outfit.   

This morning, I was wracking my little brain to try and figure out what color top to wear with a white skirt. I have a zillion different t-shirts, all of them cute, but none of them seemed to go, no matter the color, with my skirt. How was I going to make two pretty, but different colors go together? I finally came up with the solution.

Layering. Since the sight of a very white skirt and a very black shirt was just too jarring on my eyes, I tried putting a white tank-top underneath my black shirt and presto! It magically tied the skirt and the shirt together in the sweetest way possible. The white tank-top relieved the white skirt from being overwhelmed by the black!

Now complete the outfit with a pair of high-heeled pumps and a dash of lip color.

Anna

Natural Eyes

Your eyes are an extremely important factor of your entire makeup composition and are a reflection of your feelings and thoughts.

Your eyes should be a clear and shining expression of who you are, but distractions and false impressions are sure to abound if you do not carefully apply your makeup to enhance your natural eyes.

This is not the natural look you want to achieve. In most cases, you shouldn’t hide your peepers beneath a thick layer of makeup. You want them to be sparkling and radiant, not dead and vampiric.

How to go about getting the natural look:

1. Start off by sweeping your eyelids with a light coating of a neutral colored powder, sweeping off the excess.

2. Choose your colors in 3 shades: light, medium, dark.

a. Blue eyes: browns, greys, khakis, violets, silvers. (I frequently use browns, dark greys, and khaki colors).
b. Green eyes: greens (particularly ivy colors), golds, apricots, purples.
c. Brown eyes: golds, browns, khakis, copper.

3. Pick up the medium shade on your applicator and sweep across your lid, from the base of your lashes to your crease.

4. On the other side of the applicator pick up a small amount of your dark shade and apply lightly from the middle of your crease to the outer corner of your eye, being careful not to go up to the brow bone.

5. Take your lightest shade and apply to the brow bone. If you don’t happen to have a white eyeliner pencil, take the tip of the applicator and apply the lightest shade just to the very inner corner of your eye, as well.

6. Using your eyeshadow brush, blend up and out, making sure to really blend where the different shades of eyeshadow meet.

7. Soft black or dark/coppery brown are the best colors for eyeliner. Take the lid off your eyeliner pencil and roll the tip of it gently on the back of your hand. Doing this warms it up and makes application easier.

8. Use your thumb to gently hold your eyelid at the outer corner and apply lightly on your bottom lid keeping it close to your lashes and following from where they start to where they end.

9. Holding your top lid in the same manner, apply as close as possible to the base of the lashes, again, following from the start of your lashes to the end, making the line a little more defined, but not too heavy.

10. Gently pull the mascara wand out of the tube and wipe the excess off on a kleenex, or paper towel.

11. Holding the wand at a slight angle and starting on your top lid in the middle of your lashes, close to the roots, but not right up against them, wiggle slightly from side to side, then gently slide straight out towards the roots. Do the same to the inner and outer lashes corners. Let dry carefully before blinking your eyes wildly.

Optional is using a eyelash curler.

Viola! Your eyes are ready for the day!

Anna