flower power

Ladies, I know it is spring/summer and we want to wear cute prints and patterns, especially florals, but be careful! You don't want to go over board! A pair of white pants and a cute floral top is totally acceptable, and for those of you that are really brave you can try the floral pants with a solid top. Floral shirts you can find anyway from target to Nordstrom. Floral pants on the other hand are a little avant gard, therefore you might have a harder time to find them, I would try searching H&M (online), J.crew, or Gap.

fashiontoast.com

H&M

J.CREW

Courtenay's Key Beauty Tips

Hey, Hey there gorgeous people…

I'm going to do a series of blog posts about simple beauty tips that really make all the difference when it comes to looking and feeling great :) this is the first of many, but it's the one I believe is the most important. Enjoy Lovelies!!

BEAUTY TIP NUMERO UNO 

 Moisturize

This is such a no brainer, but you would be surprised how many of my friends and people I have done makeup for do not moisturize.

Aside from keeping your face soft and preventing dry red patches, moisturizer also prevents premature wrinkles, helps skin cell regeneration, and gives your makeup something to latch onto to last longer. Moisturizer is MAGICAL!!

I know, I know. Some of you are like Court I have oily acne prone skin…I don’t want moisturizer to make my skin oilier, but trust me you still need it. If you have acne you probably use strong facial cleansers with sulfur, Benzoyl peroxide, or Salicylic acid. These cleansers dry out your skin, and without the aid of a moisturizer your skin will compensate the dryness by producing extra natural oils…ewww. So, my suggestion would be to find a light moisturizer (a great one is CeraVe).

Personally, I have very dry skin, and moisturizer is a necessity for me to keep my face from looking like scary reptile skin. I also love the way my moisturizer gives me a subtle glow; it makes me feel more comfortable when I choose not to wear makeup.  ALSO, If you have dry skin, like me, it is worth it to spend the money on a good moisturizer. But hey, I feel yah if you don't want to spend all your hard earned cash on moisturzer… I am a college student! My suggestion would then be to double up a regular moisturizer (like Yes to Cucumbers Daily Facial Moisturizer) with a tinted moisturizer or BB Cream---you get the moisture and a good coverage.

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 My suggestions for each skin type: 

Oily and Acne Prone: 1. Simple Hydrating Face Lotion ($9.99 @ Target) 2. Eucerin Daily Protection Moisturizing Face Lotion ($9.99 @ Walgreens) 3. CeraVe Moisturizing Lotion ($12.97 @ WalMart)

 Dry: 1. AVEDA Botanical Kinetics Hydrating Lotion ($33.00 @AVEDA stores) 2. REVALESKIN Coffee Berry Day Cream ($110 @skinstore) 3. CLINIQUE Dramatically Different Moisturizing Lotion ($24.50 @ CLINQUE counters) 

Sensitive: 1. Olay Regenerist UV Regenerating Lotion ($22.99 @ Walgreens) 2. Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream ($10.77 @ WalMart) 3. Aveeno Positively Radiant Daily Moisturizer ($14.99 @ Target) 

My Favorite: Bliss Fabulous Face Lotion ($36.00)

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I HOPE THIS HELPED.  I have tried or know someone who uses all of these moisturizers, and I know about a million more great ones. SO, If you have any questions about a specific moisturizer I listed or if I missed your skin type please leave your question(s) in the comment box and I'll help you out!

                                           Toddles,

      NAY (courtenay)

Memorial day

    So for Memorial Day, instead of wearing the white, red, and blue I decided to wear my brand new dress. Nordstrom Rack is an amazing place for great finds, from designer goods to cute cheap clothes, the rack has it all. This is a Memorial Day Parade at Lake Forest, how cute eh?

Highlighting hues

   NEON is in! If DayGlo and Vegas had a baby it would like this: neon bracelets, necklaces, shoes, purses, etc. And of course all of our little stores at the mall have tried to adapt it! But utterly failed. Yesterday, I walked through the entire mall looking for just one piece of jewelry that I liked that was neon. I was thinking either a couple of little neon bracelets or a statement neon necklace. What do I find? Kid's toys. Little neon hair clips, little neon plastic necklaces, neon zipper necklaces, even neon nail polish. I understand if this was going on in just one store lets say Claire's (which I went into...), but every store I went in... same exact thing. H&M, Icing, Charming Charlie, Express, PacSun, Wet Seal...etc. If someone knows where to find cute neon jewelry, please send me an email! Nchagleva@gmail.com 

fashionsquad.com

Do the lazy Do

     Ladies, I don't know if you have noticed women walking around with half of their roots grown out, or half dyed a crazy color, but I sure have. I bet you are wondering to yourself  'why?', why would a woman actually leave her house looking like that? Too busy to go to the hair salon for a touch up? Too lazy?

    I would go more toward laziness. The name of the game is Ombre. First it was seen on Drew Barrymore, then its laziness spread and the lovely Khloe Kardashian caught wind of it. Many actresses and people (including myself) have tried this look. Some succeed and others miserably fail. Ladies, note of advice, either do it naturally, meaning dye your hair and then let it grow out for a year, as what I did (me being lazy), or get it PROFESSIONALLY done. No one wants to look like a clown, and with this tricky hair do that is a definite possibility.

ombre

Drew Barrymore

Khloe Kardashian

fashiontoast.com

Lucy Williams from Fashionmenow.blogspot.com

photos via google.com or specified blogs 

Research...

HELLO MY NAME IS NEDA, AND I AM ADDICTED TO FASHION.

I am finally getting to all my magazines that were at my house while I was away at college. That sounds rather drastic. It was only for months April, May, and June...of four different magazines. I am subscribed to Vogue (of course), Allure (best beauty tips), Baazar (best for updates on new designers), and Elle ( best celeb gossip and interviews). So, now that I have finished my research, I will soon share all my lovely findings.

HELLOO!!

Hi, hi, my name Courtenay (yes that is really how it is spelled). My birthday is December 30, 1991 (that means I turn 21 nine days after the world ends… really?). 

Neds convinced me to do this argh…actually she asked me once, and I said why not.  Her and I are really close; we met in college, and I traveled to Bulgaria to visit her last summer (which was actually amazinggggg).

Well anyway, she asked me because the kids at school treat me like I’m some beauty guru… I think they just say that because I’m so darn pretty (hah!). I do know a lot, a lot about make up and beauty products, thanks mom!

--When I was in junior high and I asked my mother if I could start wearing make up, and her response was to bring a professional make up artist to the house to teach me how to apply it… because (to quote) “She didn't want me looking like a hooker.”  I’ll always remember the makeup artist saying, “The best kind of makeup is when no one can tell you are wearing any.” And then she left in the night…. after slipping me a bright blue and pink eye shadow compact, as well as, violet mascara (kind of a contradiction to the natural beauty thing if you ask me) –

Anyhow, I know how to do basically any type of makeup look…mostly because of a tremendous amount of practice and experimentation. I’m crazy obsessed with beauty products (I’ve tried them all and have very strong opinions on each), and I just love hair (it’s so soft and beautiful and just great).

I’ll do my best to help everyone out—yayy!

Neda and I

Its Official !

It's official!!! Courtenay is joining THE BLOG!!! wooot!! Your beauty guru has arrived!! This is Court and I on our crazy adventure in Bulgaria (its in Europe).

British stud muffins anyone?

Falling for fall

Here are just a few pieces I love from certain Fall 2012 Ready To Wear collections. If I find more I will post!!

GUCCI FALL 2012 RTW (love the knife pleats on the shirt dress)

GUCCI FALL 2012 RTW (who doesn't love lace?)

CAROLINA HERRERA FALL 2012 RTW

CAROLINA HERRERA FALL 2012 RTW

CAROLINA HERRERA FALL 2012 RTW

CAROLINA HERRERA FALL 2012 RTW (geometric color blocking)

JIL SANDER FALL 2012 RTW (love the sweetheart neckline) 

photos via style.com

Newest trend.

Fall fashions newest trend I will call geometric color blocking. Lots of layering to create different edges, or just the patterns themselves are geometric. Here are a couple collections where I saw this...

CELINE FALL 2012 RTW 

CHANEL FALL 2012 RTW

PROENZA SCHOULER FALL 2012 RTW

BCBG FALL 2012 RTW

BCBG FALL 2012 RTW

BCBG FALL 2012 RTW

photos via style.com

At the Gardens

Right before finals I had a friend from Germany visit me. Her name is Lilo (like Lilo and Stitch) and she is hilarious. I took her around all of Chicago for a whole week in the gloomy and cold weather, and everywhere we went bad luck followed us. We went to John Hancock, and instead of going for free to the the cafe on the 96th floor, we had to pay $15 for the observatory on the 94th floor because they lady I ask for help was an idiot. Then, the next day we wanted to take the free trolley to Navy Pier, but we missed it and then waited 30 minutes until we gave up and went to Lincoln Park. I wanted to show her around the suburbs because Chicago has some of the most amazing and cool places to go in the towns near it. So, we want to go to Lincoln Park Zoo, and got an hour after the park had closed. The last day she was here we went to the Botanical Gardens, and it was a very gloomy and cold day because it had been raining the entire morning, but we still went :)

Back Home!

Hellloooo again my fellow bloggers! Sorry I haven't been posting lately, I had finals this whole past week, and I am still unpacking all of my clothes from boxes. The weather in Chicago is finally getting better so I finally got the chance to wear my new Jeffery Campbell shoes (and my safari dress)! I went out with my friend Sooji and Courtenay to this stand up comedy place in Schaumburg its called Laugh Out Loud (LOL). It is hilarious! If you are in the area you should definitely go and see it, its at the streets of Woodfield. In updated news! I am influencing my friend Courtenay to maybe join me here are ModaMe and do makeup styling and tips. She is amazing at it. She does the makeup for at least 50 sorority girls at my college. So, because makeup to me is like a foreign language, I think it would be for the best for her to join. Hopefully she will !!!!

oh my.

MINE.

I broke down yesterday and went shopping. Completely unnecessary, but I got me some goodies!! A new shirt, men's from Pac Sun, and a pair of brown leather slip-on platformed wedges from Jeffery Campbell. I will show soooon...

psycho-delic

How tripy are these fabrics? This is Peter Pilotto's spring 2012 collection. I can see these on some actress for a red carpet event.

pictures via http://www.peterpilotto.com/high.php#