4 Best Products for Looking Glamorous On Vacation

It's only been a few weeks since I came back from Puerto Rico, but I'm already daydreaming about where I'll go next. One problem with traveling is trying to reconcile the hyper-romantic image I have in my head of looking like a celebrity jetsetting around the globe in style with... y'know, reality.

All things considered though, the majority of my trip I felt satisfactorily glamorous without sacrificing too much comfort or practicality and it's all thanks to these few items I was savvy enough to bring with me. Take a look at what I couldn't have lived without on my vacation and let me know what you always pack for your trips!

1. A Big, Beautiful Bag

One of my most vivid memories of traveling as a child with my grandma was her giant blue totebag that she'd bring on the plane with her. As a kid, it seemed like that bag had everything you could possibly ever need on a trip; ways to keep me entertained, snacks, extra batteries, whatever I needed was loaded into that ugly wind-breaker material tote bag. For some reason I specifically remember finding a banana at the bottom during a long flight and being the happiest kid in the world.

I wanted to hold onto that feeling of being prepared for anything by getting my own huge bag, just a more stylish one. I found the perfect bag at Aldo. It's deceptively roomy, with a main storage area, a zipper pocket inside, cell phone pocket, and then two zipper compartments on the front and back which were perfect for keeping my magazines and electronics stored separately. The coral color was gorgeous in the tropical weather, and the damned thing took one Hell of a beating being dragged all across Puerto Rico with me but it's still holding up great! I cannot gush enough about how much I love this bag.

2. Blister Relief

I bought Dr. Scholl's Rub Relief Stick on a whim while doing some last minute shopping shopping before the big day. At only about $6 and knowing I was bringing a few pairs of shoes with me that had yet to be broken in, I figured it wouldn't hurt to give it a try.

I'm so glad I took the risk, because I don't want to imagine what my trip to Puerto Rico would have been like without this! I was able to wear a pair of brand new, strappy wedges for hours a time. The key with this product is to put it on before anything starts to hurt, though. I just put on my shoes, took a few steps around with them to figure out where the problem spots were going to be, applied the product where needed and I was A-okay -- no ugly sneakers for me. Definitely don't go sight seeing without this one!

3. Waterproof Mascara

The thing about going on a tropical vacation is the opportunity to go swimming could present itself at any minute and chances are you're not going to want to pass it up. Unfortunately, impromptu dips in the pool are out of the question if you did your makeup earlier and want to avoid looking like you walked off the set of The Crow.

Normally when I go on vacation I keep my makeup pretty minimal. I don't want to waste too much time getting ready in the morning, and mascara is one of those products that can instantly make you like 5 times better so I keep it as one of my morning routine priorities. Getting your favorite in waterproof or water resistant is a great compromise while on vacation. My personal favorite is Covergirl's Clump Crusher, I wore it every day of my trip (even when snorkeling!) and never had a problem.

4. Tinted Moisturizer

On the topic of keeping makeup simple, my second priority after mascara is foundation. Out in the sun, I don't want anything that's going to be heavy or feel sticky so a tinted moisturizer with SPF is a fantastic way to get a little extra coverage.

I got a sample of  this Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer on my last trip to Sephora. The small sample size was perfect for travel and the coverage was better than I expected from a tinted moisturizer and I felt like it layered well with sunblock.

What are your secrets for looking fabulous while traveling? Tell me in the comments! 

Time to Relax...

It may technically be the week before finals week, but I actually find that to be the most stressful part of the semester. This is the point where professors are scrambling to cram in everything that they had planned on doing, but didn't get the chance to.

So two papers, a project and a third of a three-day exam down and I'm already burnt out.

Saint Nick sent me some goodies today. I'm assuming he had to send it in the mail because my apartment doesn't have a fireplace. Winkwink.

My Week with Marilyn, a stunningly gorgeous YSL lipstick and some chocolate truffles. It's almost like the universe is saying

"Hey Lexi, it's alright. You can take a break."

And take a break I shall. Going to pop in this movie, sip some tea out of my nice teacup, light some candles and cozy up under a big fluffy blanket. Perfect. 

Also, if you happen to enjoy pictures of pretty pink and/or sparkly things as much as I do, follow me on Instagram.

PS. Tell me what you do to unwind! Maybe I'll get some ideas. 

Poison Ivy Halloween Costume

I love any excuse to get crafty and dress up, so it goes without saying that Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday. Every year I spend the entire month of October working on my costume, because it feels incredibly dull to buy something pre-packaged. Last year I went as a Splicer from Bioshock and painstakingly made a bloodied masquerade rabbit mask. All things considered, that was a relatively cheap costume. This year, I went a bit more extravagant.

I've wanted to make a Poison Ivy costume for a long time -- she's my favorite villain, after all. However, I've put it off because I wasn't entirely satisfied with my body and didn't think I'd be able to pull it off. After losing 30 pounds, I decided I may as well finally go for it. (Though truth be told, I'm still not entirely satisfied with how I look in it. Oh well, we'll stick to the positives today.)

I didn't have a specific version of Poison Ivy in mind when I started fleshing out the costume. One of the cool things about her character is that the costume is pretty open to interpretation while still being easily recognizable. I knew I really liked the way Kim Kardashian wore it, so my silhouette was heavily inspired by her. I also knew I wanted to add a dash of my own personality, so I decided to go with a burlesque/showgirl inspiration for the details... which of course, meant lots of glitter. 

The skirt portion, admittedly, was thrown together rather quickly. I realized I didn't have the time I needed to make exactly what I had pictured, but I suppose it will do for Halloween purposes.

I would like to wear this costume to a convention at some point though, in which case I will definitely revise the skirt. I think a green bustle skirt in the same kind of fabric paired with a garter belt would look really interesting and add to the burlesque inspiration of the costume. And of course, more leaves!

The pieces that required the most work were the corset and the eye masks.

For the corset, I bought two branches of faux leaves, snipped them off into individual pieces and then used glitter spray paint on them. After they had dried, I hand sewed every single one onto the corset, taking extra special care with placement and to try to keep the colors contrasting against each other as much as I could. I've seen a lot of versions online where the leaves look plastered onto a body suit, and I wanted to avoid that as much as possible and allow for a more organic look.

I practically had a heart attack the first time I sat down with needle in hand ready to attach the first leaf to my brand-new $110 corset. Everything went much better than expected though, and I'm actually extremely satisfied with how that portion of the costume turned out.

For the eye masks, I followed this tutorial via The Deadly Garden. I had initially intended to attach them using spirit gum, but upon considering the possible (and likely) consequences that would have on my eyebrows I decided that eyelash glue would be a safer bet.

Total, I'm estimating that the costume cost me about $250 to complete. Though a large chunk of that was just the corset. The wig is this one from Gothic Lolita Wigs. It was actually my second choice wig, but I like the vintage feel of the one I ended up with a well. I also want to mention that I highly recommend Gothic Lolita Wigs -- this is the third wig I've ordered from them and they always have great service and insanely fast shipping. I got this one in two days!

If there is one thing I've learned from going all-in for Halloween this year, it's that as stressful as it can be sometimes I really love making costumes and I'd like to start being crafty all-year. I'm a cosplay admirer, but rarely ever actually participate outside of Halloween. I've been throwing around the idea of making a Qarth costume for Daenerys from Game of Thrones since I saw the perfect fabric at the store while shopping for this one!

What were you for Halloween this year? Have you ever made your own Halloween costume? Tell me in the comments!

This post was created as a submission for the IFB Project #70: Halloween Costume Challenge. Please take a look and give your support to the other entries! 

Leopard Maxi Dress

Last night, I went out to the Iron Horse in downtown Milwaukee to their outdoor dining patio. I absolutely could not have asked for a more beautiful Wisconsin night, it was mild while the sun was out and just cool enough for a light sweater once it went down.

I used to be terrified of maxi dresses, I assumed they would devour my 5'2" frame. Buuut, I fell in love with this leopard print number (from Target, no less) and it actually ended up looking a lot better than anticipated. I've since begun a tepid love affair with maxi dresses -- they're perfect for looking put together and glamorous when in reality I haven't shaved my legs for a month.

I normally wear this without anything over it, but since I was with my family I decided to tie off a long cardigan at my waist to cover up and keep myself from getting chilly near the lake.

This last shot presented too much temptation, it had to be done.

Stay classy, readers. 

A Touch of Class

I'm still missing a few things for my apartment... namely, a vanity and a nice bed set but I'm also on the lookout for anything that will add a little bit of personality to my otherwise standard issue college student living space.

While traversing the far reaches of the interwebs, I stumbled upon Touch of Class and ooh my gosh it's like someone purposefully sat down and decided to create a site with the sole intention of tempting me to spend every last cent that I own.

My plan for my bedroom is a white/pink/gold color scheme (check out my last post, you might start to sense a theme in my color palettes...) and I was looking for a comforter in those colors that hopefully also included roses.

Good news: Found it!  Bad news: Sort of our of my price range. 

But seriously, look how gorgeous this is. Please someone tell me I'm not crazy for actually considering saving up $320 for this? I mean, it comes with the comforter, a bed skirt and pillow shams so I'd be getting a bit more bang for my buck than just a comforter.

Now, please join me in oogling a few other gorgeous albeit unnecessary pieces.

{Victoria Rose Wall Teester Bed Crown, $149}

{Countess Scroll Area Rug, $89.99}

{Rose Vine Candleholders, $66.99}

Uhgn, everything is so pretty. I guess once I'm more settled in and can stop running to the store every other day because I realized I'm missing something I'll be able to start saving up for some nicer, more decorative pieces. 

Note: I am in no way associated with Touch of Class. My intention in this post is simply to share a store I found with readers who may have similar aesthetic tastes. 

Current Obsession

Swan, $8.80 (Forever 21) Dragonfly, $20 (1928) Red Parrot, $20 (Avalaya London) Blue Gems, $30 (Macy's) Butterfly, $29 (Alilyang Fashion) Black Lips, $205 (Sonia Rykiel Vintage) Chameleon, $20 (Alilyang Fashion) Crystal Cluster, $30 (Juicy Couture)  Roses, $182 (Forzieri)

I did some research on the toucan brooch that mysteriously came into my possession a few months ago, and discovered that it's a vintage piece by Kenneth J Lane, which certainly adds some value to it. And while traversing the Google trying to find my exact piece, I stumbled upon so many gorgeous brooches and I got to thinking about how they aren't really in style anymore. I suppose brooch conjures up images of old stuffy ladies going to church, but I can't help thinking how easy it would be to add interest to an otherwise boring outfit just by adding a statement pin.

Von Follies by Dita Von Teese for Target

In case you didn't notice my update on this post, as it turns out (and would have been a good idea to look into ahead of time) the closet Target to me that received the Jason Wu collection is in Green Bay, which is about two hours away so I will most likely not be getting anything from that collection. That's alright, I wasn't lusting over anything from the collection anyway. 

To add to the list of things Target is releasing that I will not be able to get my hands on, today Target Australia launched their lingerie collection Von Follies by Dita Von Teese. I am a ginormous Dita Von Teese fan, I would say she's probably my biggest inspiration. You could slap her name on anything and I'd gobble it up. 

However, after looking at the small collection on the Target Australia website, the collection just srikes me as... lackluster, to say the least. Nothing about it seems to ooze glamour and sex appeal like anything Dita inspired ought to. It doesn't feel distinguished enough from any of the lingerie that I normally see being sold at Target to really deserve a special label. I look forward to seeing what Australian bloggers who do pick up some pieces have to say about the collection in person, but the photos on the website leaves me largely unimpressed. 

On a side note, I do like the fact that they used two different sized models. 

What do you think of the Von Follies by Dita Von Teese collection? Tell me in the comments!

On Glamour and Public Perception

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Okay, so this advice is probably going to seem as counterintutive as it gets, but when it comes to wanting to be perceived as glamorous do not worry about the opinions of the people you know personally. No one that you're close to is ever going to view you as glamorous because the notion of glamour itself has an implied air of mystery and a lifestyle that is unobtainable to onlookers, and chances are if someone is your friend or family member, your lifestyle neither unobtainable nor mysterious to them. Especially  not if they regularly see you in your sweat pants eating a bowl of popcorn on the couch. (Not that any truly glamorous people would ever do that, right?) They can think you're beautiful, or stylish, or fabulous, but they will never think that you're glamorous. So, if being a gorgeous bombshell with a killer sense of style is the public image that you want to portray, your target audience is the people you interact with on a daily basis but who do not know you personally because that is the group of people who is most likely to notice, admire, and talk about you.

I've always loved to get dressed up. It makes me feel beautiful and confident, and when I have those two charges running through my system I can do just about anything. However, for a long time, especially in High School, I had a mindset that prevented me from putting too much effort into my appearance. "I don't care what any of these people think of me." I would tell myself and my family, "... so why bother trying to look nice for them?" But you're not trying to look nice for them, you're trying to look nice because it's something that you enjoy, and garner admiration for the amount of effort that you're willing to put in to your personal appearance, likely much more effort than a good portion of the people that you see daily. Everyone likes to be recognized for their hard work, and there is nothing wrong in taking pride in being known as someone who is fabulous.

As a general rule though, I advocate outward appearance as a supplement to internal awesomeness. From my experience, being beautiful or unique looking is only a way of catching others' interest. You have to have more to give than just a pretty face and gorgeous dress for anyone to remain interested. Unless you're a celebrity. But you're probably not.