OOTD: Home brings out my #SmileStyle.

Top: Vestique || Jeggings: American Eagle Outfitters || Vest: American Eagle Outfitters || Socks: {old} || Boots: Tory Burch || Bracelet: Silpada Designs {old} || Suitcase: American Tourister || Lips: NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Sponge Cake 

     Since last spring, I have been a member of Lucky magazine's online fashion blogging community. This is a great way for me to share all of my fashion posts, and to also discover new fashion blogs to follow! Sometimes Lucky also sends out blogging challenges to their community members, and this blog post is my entry for their latest challenge: which is called #SmileStyle. 

     For the #SmileStyle challenge, each blogger participating was supposed to show off an outfit/lifestyle post that showcased holiday entertaining style.  Due to the fact that I am a junior in college who still lives in a dorm, I sadly won't be hosting many people at "my place" for this year's holiday season. ;-) (Goodness- I barely have friends over in my room now as it is! I'm one of those people who would rather hang out off campus with friends then in my dorm room.) 

     Anyways, I thought that #SmileStyle would be the perfect time to share these pictures that my mom captured of me in my childhood bedroom at home in Maine when I was home during October break last month. At the stage of life that I'm currently in, the holidays to me mean trips home (instead of entertaining- that will come later in life!). As cold and soon-to-be snowy as Maine gets during the winter months, there is no where else that I would rather be for the Christmas season! Getting the chance to come home to my dear Maine friends, family, and all of the things that I love about home like the beach, my favorite restaurants, and the adorable tourist town that I work in, is what will be making me smile this holiday season! 

     The outfit that I'm wearing in these pictures would be perfect for me to break-out again if I do get invited to any holiday parties while I'm here at school or once I do go back home for Christmas break! I am in love with this fun flowy sleeve top from one of my favorite Southern boutiques, Vestique, and I will definitely have to feature it on my blog again so that y'all can get a better glimpse of it! Also a note about my hair in these pictures: I had my hair trimmed for the first time in about a year and a half while I was home on this trip, and the stylist also gave me a mini blow-out with some loose curls. How amazing did that look?! I tried buying what I thought was a similar curling iron to what she used at Ulta recently and attempted to recreate it (since the curling wand that I usually use does tighter curls)... but I ended up almost burning the ends of my hair off. No joke. The curling iron was promptly returned to Ulta, and I have had no luck in recreating this gorgeous hair look.  *le sigh* 

     Hope that y'all will be having a fantastic weekend! I have a very busy and fun Saturday ahead- one of my best friends from my former college who I haven't seen since my birthday is coming to Charlotte to have lunch with me!! And Saturday night is my college's annual school-wide semi-formal event which is always fun. Plus I might try and sneak it attending a blogging event in the late afternoon on Saturday too! If only I didn't have a full night of homework planned for Friday night then it would be the perfect weekend! 

     xoxo Miss ALK

November Goals.

      One thing that I just love about the South is that my favorite season comes early, and my least favorite season comes much later! But I suppose fall cannot be all bad when the beautiful trees on my college campus look like this... :-) (Although secretly I am still counting down the days until spring!)


     Let's take a look back at what my goals were for the month of October, and how I did on them:


      1. Start trying more new beauty products again. Check! Read my October Beauty Favorites blog post here. And I'm already excited for November's favorites post!
      2. Actually celebrate Halloween this year. Fail...ish. When I wrote this as I goal, I meant buy a costume and go out with college friends on Halloween night. That didn't happen! I had a quiet night of going to Ulta, buying groceries, and then working on crafts for my Little since Big/Little crafts were due for ADPi the week after Halloween. But the afternoon of Halloween at my internship we hosted a Halloween carnival, and I did dress up for that! I was a crazy bunny lady (instead of the traditional crazy cat lady). And I ended up wearing that costume to Ulta and the grocery store... so if that counts for celebrating...
      3. Do a good job on my Little's crafts. Check! I think. ;-) Crafting is something that doesn't come easily to me, and it takes me a really long time to work on a craft project, so being honest I didn't get as much done for Julie as I hoped because I spent a ton of time working on the items that I did give her! But I am really pleased at how what I did make turned out! I will do a couple blog posts on this soon! (Including a tutorial for one of my crafts!)
      4. Make a LinkedIn profile. Check! Although I am still very much figuring out how to use it... I will probably finish filling it in over Christmas break. I have already connected with some blogging friends on there too which is great!


      And my goals for this second to last month in 2014:


      1. Have my biggest and best Black Friday experience yet! I am spending Thankgiving Break this year on campus. This year I only have a few final exams, and instead I have a lot of final projects and papers, many of which are due directly after Thanksgiving, instead of during actual exams week. I knew that if I went home to Maine (or even to a friend's house here in NC) I wouldn't get enough work done, so it just made sense for me to sadly stay on campus during break. But the good part about this is that I get to spend my second favorite day of the year, BLACK FRIDAY, in Charlotte!! Charlotte has four malls and a brand new outlet mall that just opened, and I would like to hit at least two of the malls and the outlets! I have been Black Friday shopping every year since I was 13 and I am obsessed to say the least. I will post more about this as it gets closer, but this will be the highlight of my busy Thanksgiving Break for sure!
      2.  Get my oil changed before Christmas Break begins. Technically I could do this in early December as well... but it would be great to do it in November! I haven't had an oil change in my car since summer and this is just something that I keep forgetting to do. I was supposed to get one in October but haven't really been outside of Charlotte in awhile (or had time to go on any long drives) so I keep forgetting to.
      3. Try to get A's or A-'s on both of my presentations that are next week. Next week I have oral projects to present in two of my communications classes. My goal is to get an A or A- (my college doesn't allow for A+'s on our grading scale) on both of them!
      4. Figure out affordable (but meaningful) Christmas presents for my college friends. I am a big Christmas gift-giver. I have a general idea of what I want to get for my girlfriends back home in Maine, and I also know what I am getting for my Little and for my roommate. But I am completely boggled as to what to get for the rest of my college friends! I don't have the type of finances to get everyone big gifts, but I still want to get everyone a little something. Normally I would try and craft everyone something, but I am a little bit "crafted out" since I was a Big in my sorority this semester, and also with my demanding class schedule that I have have currently I don't have much extra time to be crafting for everyone that I know. So it will probably have to be something purchased. I will keep y'all posted on what I end up doing! I like to get Christmas gifts in advance (usually Black Friday at the latest!).


     Do you have an goals for this month? Are you a Black Friday shopper?


     Don't forget to enter my giveaway to win a $50 gift certificate to Mimi's The Look For Less! Click here to enter!


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Fall Rompers are the LOOK {+ a giveaway with Mimi's the Look!}

Romper: c/o Mimi's The Look  || Tank top: Wet Seal || Hat: Target || Boots: Belk || Necklace: H&M || Purse: Michael Kors || Lipstick: Maybelline Color Sensational The Vivids in Neon Red || 

     Who says that rompers are only for summer?! When Mimi's The Look Boutique reached out to me about doing a product review and giveaway, I knew that the item that I wanted to style had to be this fun romper that was perfect for the cooler months. Here in Charlotte it is just starting to get cold, so up until now outfits like this could be worn almost everyday! (And we still have one or two warmer days each week... thank-goodness!) As y'all know, my personal style is very much based around fun prints and patterns, and that doesn't stop for me even in the cooler months. :-) The fun colors and pattern of this romper is just another thing that drew me to it! 

      For this look, I added a black tank underneath and a favorite pair of fall boots to make this romper appropriate for a day of classes at school. But throw on some fun heels, take away the tank top, and add some darker eye make-up and you have have a perfect outfit for a night out on the town! 

      Mimi's The Look Boutique has so many other cute items in their online shop, and an added bonus is that they offer weekly discount specials! On Mondays there are $20 clothing specials, Wednesdays have $20 purse specials, and $10 necklace specials on Fridays (talk about TGIF!). To help jump start the shopping, Mimi's is offering a discount code for Southern Belle in Training readers to shop with! The code is SOUTHERN BELLE and will get you 20% off your purchase from Mimi's The Look!

     And as an added bonus, and one lucky reader of mine will get to experience shopping at Mimi's with a $50 gift card that Mimi's is generously giving away! This giveaway will run until Monday, November 17th, 2014. Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget! Good luck! :-) 

a Rafflecopter giveaway


     P.S. In my Shop the Post link below, I have also linked up my Tory Burch Eloise riding boots! Even though I'm not wearing them in this particular post, they are on major sale right now, and this would be a great time to buy if you're thinking about purchasing Tory Burch riding boots! I know they're an investment but they are definitely the best fashion purchase that I've ever made. Just click on the picture of the boots below to shop! :-)

     xoxo Miss ALK

October Beauty Favorites!

     After a week away from blogging (due to all of the busy activities that come with Alpha Delta Pi's initiation week!), I am so happy to be catching up on blog posts! First things first, the return of monthly beauty favorites! I have been absolutely loved using these three products during the month of October (and into November ;-) ) and I can't wait to share them with y'all:


   
     eos Visibly Soft Lip Balm in Coconut Milk ($3.29, Drugstores, Target, Ulta) 

     Confession: I had never tried using an eos lip balm before this one!! When they first came out and were all the rage I thought that they were just a fad product and couldn't be better then traditional lip products. My former favorite lip product was from the Neutrogena Naturals line, but I believe it has sadly been discountinued. I tried a bunch of things over the past couple years from ChapStick, Nivea and Blistex, and nothing compared to my favorite Neutrogena Naturals stick! Anyways, last month I saw that eos has released some new flavors of their popular lip balms, and I decided I would finally give it a try. I have been so impressed and I'm only sad it took me this long to try an eos lip product! They do work very well to moisterize lips, and the coconut scent on this is amazing (I love all things coconut).


     Maybelline Volum' Express The Falsies Big Eyes Mascara ($9.49, Drugstores, Target, Ulta) 

     Please tell me that I'm not the only one who has a "Saturday mascara." What is a Saturday mascara you might ask? Well, during weekdays and Sundays (Sundays for me involve church and sorority chapter meetings so I'm always dressed up) I have a full on regular mascara routine which includes lash primer and combining two mascaras! But most Saturdays for me are relaxed, and I often go without make-up or wear very minimal. I like having a different mascara to wear on days when I have less make-up on that still allows my lashes to look great, but is a slight step down from my normal mascara routine. This mascara is perfect for that!! It packs in a great deal of volume in just a few coats, but does so in a natural and non-clumping way. It also has a separate brush for bottom lashes which is handy. Again- it doesn't quite provide the drama that I like for my usual lashes, but it's great for days when I want a more natural look!


     Sleek i-Divine Palette in Original ($11.99 online for US shoppers, £7.99 in the UK) 

     When I visited the UK over Christmas break last year. one of my favorite things to shop for while there was British make-up! There were so many different drugstore make-up brands that aren't sold in the US. Sleek is a British make-up brand that I got to check out at UK drugstore chain SuperDrug, and one great thing about the Sleek make-up line is that they sell many eye shadow palettes at drugstore prices! I bought the i-Divine palette in the Original color scheme, and had I known how much I would love this product I would have brought back many more of these in my suitcase! (I think Sleek makes about 20 different eyshadow palettes). The quality and pigmentation on these shadows for a drugstore make-up line is incredible, and the price can't be beat! I enjoyed playing with this product last winter, but I feel like I rediscovered it in my make-up collection (and how much I love it) during the month of October. Now if only this brand was sold in US stores! You can order Sleek products online though and have them shipped on the US. Below I have linked a video from one of my favorite Youtube beauty vloggers, emilynoel83, who did a haul of Sleek beauty products earlier in the year!

     What make-up products have you been loving lately? Please share with me!


     Stay tuned for many new posts soon, including a giveaway that you won't want to miss tomorrow!


     xoxo Miss ALK

OOTD: Last Call for Summer.

  Top: Marshall's || Jeans: American Eagle Outfitters || Cardigan: Forever 21 || Shoes: T.J. Maxx || Sunglasses: LOFT || Necklace: Talbots || Ring: c/o Soulful Ceramics || Agenda: Lilly Pulitzer || Nails: The New Black nail polish in Miami Vice || Toenails: Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Nail Paint in Guava {bought during my trip to the UK} || Lips: NYC Color Expert Last Lipstick in Forever Fuschia

     I cannot believe the weather lately! It snowed at home in Maine over the weekend, as well as in parts of the Carolinas. Thank goodness that Charlotte didn't get any snow (WAY too early for that!), but it was still quite frigid here in the Queens City! Yet not even a week ago it was in the 70s and 80s here, and it still felt like summer outside. I took advantage of that last little bit of warm weather and wore the outfit that's pictured here on one of the warmest days!

     I got this top while shopping on Newbury Street in Boston this summer during my trip there for the #BloggersTakeBoston meet-up. The beautiful pink color and fun floral pattern made it one of my favorite tops to wear this summer. Sadly though, no matter how I layer it, it's just not a winter appropriate top! So I knew that I had to wear it one last time for this season while I still had the chance. (I also was secretly giddy about how well it coordinated with my Lilly agenda! #girlprobs) And I am wearing my ring from Soulful Ceramics, which is one of my blog sponsors! This ring can match just about any outfit, and it's such a beautiful shade of blue. Be sure to click on the Soulful Ceramics ad on the homepage of my blog to visit their site and check out their other jewelry items!!

      I have a very busy week coming up! It is Diamond Days for Alpha Delta Pi, which is initiation week for our new members. I cannot believe that it has already been over a year since my own Diamond Days and when I went through initiation! Anyways, I am busy crafting and getting other gifts ready for my sweet Little. I also have a group debate project in one of my communications classes this week, and I am busy applying for new internships for next semester. Never a dull moment!

   

     xoxo Miss ALK