{This is the dress that I wore to a rehearsal dinner last weekend- it was featured on the blog last year in this post! Follow me on social media @miss_alk}
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Ramblings:
It's not goodbye, it's "see you later:" This has pretty much been the motto of my week! My moving date to New England is a mere five days away, and although this week is mainly filled with finishing packing and cleaning my old apartment, I'm also squeezing in many goodbyes with all of the amazing friends that I've made here in North Carolina over the last few years. My "official" going away party was last night (expect to hear more about that soon!), but I've had a few other smaller going away celebrations as well. Certainly a bittersweet time!
Missing Richard Simmons: Despite the fact that I attended broadcasting school this past year and we did a whole unit on podcasting, I've never been a big podcast person. There's a few that I listen to on occasion while doing household chores, but generally speaking I prefer my Spotify playlists to podcasts. While in Italy though I became 110% HOOKED on the Missing Richard Simmons podcast that's blowing up iTunes right now! It is six episodes long, and the episodes were the perfect length for the days that we were in the tour bus on our trip. Part of the reason that I was so fascinated with this story is because I had a friend in high school who really liked Richard Simmons... but since high school she has kind of "disappeared" (doesn't have social media anymore and none of my other high school friends know what she's up to these days). I realize of course this has no relation to Richard's story, but I did think it was an odd coincidence and it is what originally made me tune into the podcast. Anyways- it's a great storyline and now I have caught the podcast bug!
Podcast recs? Speaking of podcasts- I'm currently taking recommendations for them! I'll be driving solo up to Vermont next week, and I've never done a road trip that long by myself before. I know that I'll probably get very bored on the drive so I want some interesting things to listen to! I'm looking for podcasts similar to Missing Richard Simmons. I just started S Town this week while packing which I heard is similar- I'll let y'all know what I think of that one once it's done.
Purchases:
My big purchase of the week was a desk chair for my new apartment! I've had a desk all year but I never had a chair for it, so it was in my room as an awkward side table. That will thankfully be no more, and I'll finally have a blogging desk area! I found my desk chair at my local At Home, but this one is almost identical!
I have been in desperate need of a new iPhone case for almost a year! I previously had a Sonix case, and while they are ever popular, I didn't find mine to be that great, and the design started peeling off months ago. I decided to pick up a new iPhone case before the wedding that I was in this weekend (because wedding = lots of selfies + Snapchats), and I went with a totally new type of iPhone case! But I'm so in love with it- seriously have you ever seen a cuter case!?
Wishlist:
I'm breaking tradition and not getting a new Easter dress this year since I'll be moving into my new apartment in Vermont still over Easter weekend, but if I were to get one I really like this dress! It's very simple, but super classic and I think it would look amazing with a floppy sunhat!
How cute is this bathing suit? It won't be bathing suit weather in Vermont for a long time so I have no need to be ordering these anytime soon, but I still love this one.
I hope everyone is having a great week! Pray for me that I won't shed too many more sad tears during my last week here in Charlotte! 😉
I'm sure everyone is very familiar with the Christmas song "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year." Despite the fact that I'm not a very big fan of about 95% of Christmas music (a blog post for another day!), this song is one of the few that I actually really like. However- I totally think it should have been written about early springtime instead! This really is the most magical, beautiful and wonderful time of the year, and I hope today's photos by these beautiful blooming trees really convey that! 😉
Photography by Deeana Kourtney Photography
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This dress is definitely one of my best bargain finds in a long time! It's actually a gem that I found at Ross of all places, but this one linked here is almost identical and also at a great price. I bought it was my recent Italy travels in mind, but after seeing that the forecast there would be a bit colder than anticipated, I decided to save it for my last few weeks in Charlotte instead. The cold shoulder trend is so hot right now, and this is my first dress with this trend but I don't think it will be my last!
I always enjoy sharing the backstory behind some of my photoshoot locations- and today's is no exception! I was a nanny for all three years that I attended Queens University of Charlotte, and this year in broadcasting school I still worked twice a week for the one of the families that I had babysat for in college. While dropping the girls off at their tennis lessons last week, I spotted these unbelievable trees next to the courts that were perfectly in bloom! I texted a picture of them to Deeana, my photographer, and told her we needed to shoot there ASAP! My wish was able to come true and that's how these photos came to be. I'm always on the hunt for new locations for blog photos and I hope that will be the same in Vermont as well!
Speaking of the move- today is my last Monday as a Charlotte resident. Cue ALL the feels!
Sharing some of my other favorite cold shoulder dresses:
As much as I adore trying new beauty products, I'm also extremely loyal to my "tried and trues". I made a pretty big Ulta haul this week (Because #SOS there are no Ulta stores in Vermont so gotta stock up now!), and after getting home I realized that everything I bought was a replacement for a product that I've already used and loved. Sometimes you just have to stay true to what you love!
Photography by Deeana Kourtney Photography
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With all that said, I do get so excited when I try a new beauty product and fall head over heels for it, and know that it will be apart of my daily routine. Even better (and rarer!) is when I try a whole new line and fall in love with just about everything. That's exactly what happened with me and IT Cosmetics last year! I had heard of IT previously, but had never tried any of their products. They were a sponsor at last summer's Blog Societies conference which I attended in Charleston, so I had the opportunity to meet members of their PR team and learn about the products firsthand. I came home with tons of products to try from their Bye Bye line, which was just about to debut at Sephora, and blown away by what I found after testing everything! Throughout this past year I've had the chance to try a lot more IT Cosmetics products, and I've fallen in love with many. The nine that I have featured in this post are now considered among my absolute ride or die beauty products, and I use them everyday that I wear a full face of makeup.
(Just an FYI- this post isn't sponsored! I wanted to share products that I have been using and genuinely love. However all products mentioned in this post are c/o IT Cosmetics)
*Superhero Volumizing Mascara - Like most girls, I love my mascara and am picky about which ones I like. I love the look of super dramatic lashes for everyday wear, basically I always want to look like I have false lashes on. 😉 I wear mascara primer and usually layer three different mascaras for my daily makeup routine- true story! This mascara pleasantly surprised me, and has become my #2 layer mascara, as it builds and lengthens really well. It's also awesome to wear on days when I don't do full makeup and just wear one mascara for a little bit of something. One note about this mascara- the tube is very messy. The product frequently smears out of the tube and all over it and onto my hands, which doesn't happen a lot with my other mascaras?! But it doesn't actually affect how it is on my eyes so therefore I'd keep wearing it!
*Superhero Eyeshadow Palette - This palette is actually sold out right now, but I linked to it anyways so that y'all can purchase it and bookmark it should it come back in stock. IT Cosmetics sent this to all of the bloggers who went to TBS Con a little bit before the conference, and I actually brought mine with me to Charleston since I liked it so much! I think it's what I've been wearing in most of my recent blog shoots also. This is an ideal eyeshadow palette because it's great for both everyday wear and fun nighttime looks as well. The eyeshadows last all day as long as you wear eyeshadow primer under them (this is my favorite primer).
*Je Ne Sais Quoi Complexion Perfection Palette - One of my favorite IT Cosmetics products!! This great palette is perfect for contouring and highlighting. It has a universally flattering bronzer, highlighter, blush and setting powder. LOVE this palette and would recommend it to anyone!
*Confidence in a Compact (SPF 50) - Out of everything I've tried from IT, this item surprised me the most and I absolutely adore it! This is a compact creme foundation- I'd never really used anything like this before. I've been blessed to generally have really great facial skin, but despite that, I've always preferred high coverage liquid foundation. I love makeup and really like wearing a "made up" look. So in the past I've never worn an compact foundations. But oh my gosh this product absolutely blew me away. It blends SO naturally with my skin (I wear shade "Light"), and gave me a perfect everyday look. I actually brought this to Italy instead of my liquid foundation since it was one less thing for my liquids bag on the plane, and it was a dream to fly and travel with. It's not the highest coverage foundation, but it makes me feel like my skin can breath a bit more while wearing it. I have tried the uber popular IT Cosmetics CC Cream before, but absolutely prefer this product to that.
*Brow Power Universal Brow Pencil - If I could only use one makeup product ever, it would be an eyebrow pencil. My eyebrows are actually my feature that I'm most insecure about- they're very full and bushy but also not super filled in if that makes sense. Everyday I fill them in with a pencil and shape them with gel to try and get them how I like. Previously I was using a drugstore pencil that was under $5 which I did like a lot, so it would take a lot for me to switch to something that was more money. But goodness- one try of this pencil and I was hooked! It's just great! I still go back and forth between this and my drugstore pencil but this one is real good.
*Bye Bye Under Eye Illumination Concealer - This concealer is good stuff!! I wish I had known about this concealer at this time two years ago when I was taking History of Journalism, aka the hardest class that I took in college, and the reason that I didn't get more than four hours of sleep most weeknights during spring semester of junior year. This product would have covered up all of the dark circles from late nights of paper writing! Seriously though, this concealer can cover up anything. A little goes a LONG way- I only have to use the tiniest amount. It actually works so well that it's not my everyday concealer, but I always reach for this if I have extra dark circles or a bad zit to cover up.
*Bye Bye Makeup Melting Cleansing Balm - This is probably one of my most favorite IT Cosmetics products! Good makeup removers are so hard to find- am I right? Especially finding ones that can take off waterproof eye makeup. This cleansing balm is absolutely amazing- you just rub a little bit on your eyes and face, follow up with a tissue, and then wash your face as normal, and the makeup is 100% gone! I've never seen anything that works so well. It is very pricy, but totally worth it in my opinion (and it lasts forever).
*Bye Bye Pores Primer - A great and lightweight foundation primer that gets the job done! I don't wear this every single day, but I usually wear it before blog photoshoots or going out/special occasions when my makeup is heavier.
*Vitality Blush Hydrating Gloss Stain (Shade: Je Ne Sais Quoi) - Fact about me: I am an eye makeup girl and not a lip girl. That doesn't mean that I don't have an enormous lipstick collection, but it just means that eyeshadows and mascaras will always be my main weakness, and that I never feel ready until my eye makeup is done, not my lips. Many days I actually forget to put lipstick on #badfashionblogger. However- I'm still 10000x more likely to wear lipstick than lip gloss! Blame it on the fact that I have really long hair, but most lip glosses are so sticky and get caught in either my hair, food, or other things. No thanks! Good news though: The Vitality Blush Hydrating Gloss Stains are changing my perspective on lip glosses! I've been wearing this all the time, and it's fairly non sticky and looks so beautiful naturally on my lips or layered over lipstick.
So there you have it- my favorite IT Cosmetics products! Have you tried anything from this brand before? If so, what are your favorites?
And please give me feedback on if you liked this type of blog post! Since my reader survey I have been trying to integrate more beauty content into my blog as well, but I want to make sure that y'all like these types of posts.
{This picture is a snap from dinner out in Charlotte last weekend - had to enjoy at least one more of my favorite milkshakes before the big move! Follow me on social media @miss_alk}
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training.
Ramblings:
Packing, packing, and (surprise) more packing: The majority of my first weekend back from Italy was filled with both unpacking my suitcase... and then a whole lot of packing! My moving date is just a week and a half away! In college, I was notorious each spring for doing a horrible job packing up my dorm room. My dad always flew down from Maine to help me load up and drive home, and I think each year he was a little more disappointed at how little I had done on my own. #MovingStressesMeOut I'm determined not to be that girl this time around, so pretty much the second that I got home I began packing. I might write a blog post next months about the order that I packed my apartment if y'all would find that helpful? Moving is never fun but I've been sticking to a room by room schedule this time and it seems to be making it a little easier.
Learning a foreign language: One of my minors in college was French, and I also studied abroad for part of Summer 2015 in France to continue learning the language. Despite all of that- I'm not fluent, and I haven't looked at any sort of French book in almost two years! My recent travels to Italy reminded me how useful a second language can be, and I hope that living so close to Quebec when I move to Vermont soon might motivate me to re-learn French again. This article that I found this week also got me thinking about foreign language learning!
Wedding Bells: Another reason that I've been on such a packing fury for the earlier part of this week is because this weekend I'm a bridesmaid in a wedding for the first time! My sorority sister Perrin is getting married here in Charlotte, and I'm so excited. Wedding festivities begin for the bridal party tomorrow! A lot of my good friends from college are attending the wedding, so I can't wait to have one last night with everyone before I move!
Testing Beauty Products: I've also received some fun PR beauty packages lately, so I've been testing lots of new makeup this week! Would y'all like to see a blog post review of everything soon?
Purchases:
Another purchase from Italy was this adorable (and very affordable!) off the shoulder dress. I just shot pictures for it so it should be on the blog within the next few weeks!
I also purchased a darling blush moto jacket from Zara while in Italy. This one is similar!
Wishlist:
I have so many trinket trays and ring holders and REALLY don't need another one...but how cute is this one! These also make such great gift items!
Since I'll be starting work soon I'm on the hunt for a great work tote. To start off I'll probably use a bag I already have, but how chic is this one?
I'm debating ordering some wall art for my new apartment to reflect my love for North Carolina. Maybe something like this print?
What are your plans for this weekend? I hope that you have something fun and exciting going on! 😊 Thanks so much as always for reading, and stay tuned on Friday for a fun beauty post.
Mint has always been one of my favorite colors for spring, and I love the way that today's look turned out! The blush accessories are a great finishing touch, and I'm also styling some new jewelry that I'm very excited about.
Photography by Deeana Kourtney Photography
This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting Southern Belle in Training!
I returned from my recent travels to find spring weather in full force here in Charlotte! Spring is my most favorite season, and I love the fashion that comes with it. As much as I love bright colors, pastels have their rightful place in my wardrobe as well, and this outfit definitely highlights that! I'm loving this mint and blush color combo paired with white jeans. So fresh and fun for this season!
I also wanted to quickly highlight the jewelry pieces that I'm wearing today! My tassel earrings are from the brand new Sugarfix by Baublebar line at Target. All of the pieces are inspired by the original Baublebar collection, but at an even cheaper price point. This cute pair that I'm wearing here is under $20! I actually won these earrings in an Instagram giveaway by my blogging friend Megan from Diamonds on Her Soul, and they were such a fun surprise to receive in the mail. I'll be sharing some of my other Sugarfix favorites below!
And lastly, some other new jewelry favorites are this darling bracelet set and layered necklace that I'm wearing here from Taudrey. I've worn Taudrey pieces before on my blog and always receive so many compliments on them! All of their jewelry is customizable, so you know that whatever you order is special just for you! Both these bracelets and the necklace that I'm wearing here have little "A"'s on them for my initial. 😊 I also get so many compliments whenever I wear my Taudrey pieces, and if you're looking for a great destination for meaningful jewelry I definitely recommend them.
In other news, I can't believe that my final weeks here in Charlotte have begun. Cue the tears and panic- lol! Less than two weeks until my moving date, so packing is occupying most of my free time right now.
