Introducing Monday Morning Confidence Boosters!!!!

I had this idea yesterday to try something new on my blog weekly.  Since I have a lot of past posts about self esteem and confidence and often encourage ladies to love the skin they're in I thought it would be useful to incorporate confidence boosters weekly.  These confidence boosters will help anyone who wishes to boost his/her self-confidence with tips and self affirmations.  I'm going to try my hardest to post these weekly and as always, let me know what you think.  I'm always open to suggestions.  

Although it's Monday night, here's the first confidence booster just in time for the beginning of the work week:

Step away from the mirror.

As much as I love fashion and makeup sometimes it's important to step away from the mirror and reflect on things that you love about yourself that aren't based on physical aesthetics.  What makes the person behind the makeup, clothes, and beautiful face?  Create a list of things you love about yourself both physically and internally.  When you look at yourself in the mirror say to yourself the things you love about you.  Try not to spend more time on your outward appearance than internally.  Confidence comes from within and no amount of high-end makeup or the latest fashion trends can change that.  So theoretically speaking, step away from the mirror and focus on the things that matter most about you.  Until next week, create your list and practice telling yourself the things you love most about you!

Be confident. Be beautiful.  Be you.

♥

Comfy Chic!

One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing people, especially women, out in public looking thrown away.  If you never learn anything else about me it's evident that I take pride in my appearance and I never go anywhere, not even to the mail box, looking thrown away.  I just think it's tacky.  And if you disagree it's fine. (: I'm not saying that you need to put on a full face of makeup to check the mail but I figure even if I'm running around town the least I can do is put some effort into how I'm presenting myself to the world.  It's deeper than how people perceive you and how you present yourself to others.  The effort that you put into yourself speaks highly of what you think of yourself and baggy sweat pants and an oversized hoodie doesn't scream, "I'm confident!  I'm beautiful!  I love me!".  I know we've all been guilty of just throwing something on just to run a few errands and we all can do a little better.  As a kid my mom wouldn't let us go anywhere looking like we didn't belong with her.  If we were representing her and my dad and carrying the Womble name we had to look the part.  What can I say, it's deeply ingrained.  A lot of times people throw on sweat pants, basketball shorts, t-shirts, baggy pants, or anything else tacky in a rush.  But here's a NEWS FLASH you don't have to look thrown away to be comfortable.  Here's my version of comfy chic.  I wore this outfit out to pay a few bills and on an ice cream date.  These shorts were so comfortable I bought another pair the next day!

Enjoy!

Leopard Cardigan: Target

Black Sequin Top: Goody's (When it still existed)

Pink Shorts: Roses 

Turquoise Belt: Target

Gold Aviators: Gift

Sandals: Rue 21

Taking My Time & Doing Things My Way

My family and significant other often pick on me for being really headstrong.  I'm not sure where it came from or what caused it, but there's something exhilarating about going against the grail and doing things my own way. One of my old supervisors once bought me a gift that had a quote on it, "To thine own self be true", which has been my mantra (unknowingly) since I was a kid.  I've always been a trend setter who did things my own way.  In the 6th grade I didn't want my parents to buy me a lunch box to take to school and I decided to design my own.  In the 8th grade I got tired of wearing the same old boring jeans so I sewed sequins on mine to spice things up a bit- I even monogrammed the back pocket on one pair!  Even now as an adult I love fashion, but I don't let magazines and fashion experts dictate what I should wear.  I can decide that for myself.  So it takes a while for me to give into trends sometimes and it annoys me when people go out and purchase tons of things because they're "in".  Everyone knows that I'm a lover of fashion and I follow trends or not on my own time.  I've been mixing prints and colors for years, but apparently now it's a "hot, new trend".  It's my body, and I dress it how I want! (=

Take a look at what I wore to my mom's graduation and celebration last week.  The outfit is bright and colorful which is right up my alley.  I think this was a fun look for a very fun occasion!

What I'm Wearing

Dress: Ross

Black Belt: Target

Black Studded Pumps: Sam Edelman Boutique from DSW

Pink Flower Ring: Dillards

Earrings: A small boutique in Charlotte, NC

Sunglasses: Aldo

Tropical Hues Makeup Look

Today's makeup look was inspired by Beauty by Lee, a YouTube makeup guru that I've recently found.  She has lots of great looks and I decided to try this one first with my own little twist.  I decided to go with turquoise in the middle of my eyelid instead of kiwi green and I got the idea to line my lower eyelid with turquoise from a different video by Beauty by Lee.  I had fun creating this look and got lots of compliments when I wore it out on Saturday.  This makeup look may seem complicated in the pictures, however, it's all about using the right brushes and blending very VERY well.  You can check out one of my very first posts here about makeup brushes.  I hope you all enjoy the photos and keep reading for the products used and techniques!

Thanks for reading!

Products Used in Order of Use

First I filled in my brows.  Check out this post for my brow tutorial

Next, I applied NYX Concealer in a jar in Fair as my base

Under Brow: White Shadow from Absolute! 18 Perfect Colors Palette (pictured below labeled U)

Inside Eyelid: A mixture of both yellow eyeshadows from the Absolute! 18 palette (pictured below labeled I)

Outer Corner of Eyelid: A mixture of dark greens from my Belk palette (pictured below labeled O)

Lastly, I applied my NYX eyeshadow pencil in Milk to the middle of my eyelid only and blended it out with my finger.

Then I applied a mixture of turquoise from both my Belk and Absolute palette to the middle of my eyelid over the NYX pencil.

Finally, I went back over the colors with a blending brush to blend them very well.  My favorite blending brush at the moment is my EcoTools blending brush from Ulta (pictured here)

To line the top of my eyelid I used old faithful, Wet'n'Wild Mega Liner in Black

On the bottom I used a retractable pencil liner, also Wet'n'Wild in Black

For the blue liner I first used E.L.F. cream eyeshadow in Candlelight (cream or off white) applied with an angled ELF eyeliner brush (from Target) followed by application of turquoise shadow from my Belk palette (pictured below on left) on top of the cream shadow

Finally, I used my L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Mascara

For my cheeks I applied ELF blush in pink passion followed by my highlight from Belk palette

On my lips I used Rimmel Moisture Rich Lipstick in Coral Shimmer

Happy Mother's Day!

In honor of Mother's Day and my mom's graduation this past Friday this post is dedicated to her.  I've posted about my mom before and my mom is truly one of my best friends.  She's a beautiful person inside and out and I'm not saying that because she's my mom.  This past Friday she graduated with her associates degree from the community college in our hometown.  This was an incredible feat for her.  Just as she has been my biggest cheerleader when I was working toward my bachelor's and master's degrees I've tried to be the same for her.  She thinks she's superwoman, and if she were real she'd be no comparison.  She's been featured on my blog before here and I wanted to feature her again today.  So for those of you who haven't met her you can meet her virtually here.  She's the greatest woman that I know.   My mom ♥

A collage of my fabulous mom on her graduation day

Me and my Mom

Wedding Bells

Before you get too excited, this blog post is about a wedding I attended.  Not one that I'm planning. lol Now that we've got that straight, my boyfriend and I attended a wedding over the weekend and I loved how my outfit came together and decided to share it here.  Since I missed Work It Wednesday yesterday, this will be this week's substitute. (= Back when I was looking for a graduation dress weeks ago I found three that I loved and decided to buy all three.  I figured that I would have plenty of events this Spring/Summer and over the years that I would have several opportunities to wear them.  I love wearing dresses more than anything and when I found these colorful flattering dresses I couldn't pass them up!  I very rarely find bright, flattering, and colorful pieces in stores that I fall in love with and I most often have to shop online for plus size flattering garments hoping that they look like I imagined.  I love this dress because it's very feminine and flattering and as in the photos it makes a bold statement without being too over-the-top.  I didn't go too wild with accessories and styling since the dress is so fun and I paired it with a statement shoe.  Everything else just fell into place.  I love this look and I'm looking forward to re-wearing it soon as a repeat contender.  I hope you all enjoy!

What I'm wearing

Dress: Ross

Black Blazer: Lane Bryant

Bow Pumps: DSW

Nude Clutch: Aldo

Earrings: Small Boutique in Charlotte, NC

Bracelet: Forever 21

Pearl Ring: A different, but small boutique in Charlotte, NC

Us at the wedding reception

An Ursula Inspired Look

Last week I went to a costume party and decided at the last minute to actually dress up.  The theme was under the sea and I decided to dress up as Ursula from The Little Mermaid.  I wanted to go as Ursula because of the dramatic makeup that she wears in the movie and it's only fitting since The Little Mermaid was my favorite movie as a kid.  I think the look was executed well and it was fun creating it!  I mostly used my Absolute 18 palettes to create the look since it has so many fun and vibrant colors.  Also, I bought a new Absolute 18 palette called Paparazzi that I wanted to try out.  I really like the Absolute palettes and have used them for a number of looks here and here.  I hope you lovelies enjoy the photos!

Products Used:

Under Brow: Almay Trio for Browns iColor (Champagne shade)

Inside Tear Duct and Under Eyelid: Absolute 18! Perfect Colors (labeled X)

Eyelid: Absolute 18! Perfect Colors in Paparazzi (labeled E)

Crease: Absolute 18 Perfect Colors (both palettes) (labeled O)
Eyeliner: Wet'n'Wild Mega Liner in Black (851) and Mac Glitter in Fuchsia
Mascara: L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes
Cheeks: E.L.F. Blush in Passion Pink
Lips: Rimmel Lipstick in In Vogue
Lip Liner: NYX Liner in Fuchsia
Fake Mole: Wet'n'Wild Mega Liner in Black (851)