Autumn Makeup Must: A Bold Lip

Hello everyone, welcome back to Allison In Wonderland!  I’m so excited to share today’s post with you all!  Today, I’m going to be doing one of my first Fall-themed posts and it’s going to be about one of my absolute favorite trends: a bold lip.  A bold lip has always been something I’ve wanted to get into but never had the guts to do; but this year is going to be the year.  After finding a shade that I loved from a company called Lime Crime, I knew it was time to take the plunge!

The shade that I purchased is called Saint and it’s the perfect shade for Fall.  I’m pretty fair skinned, so it stands out against my skin-tone, but I think it would really hold it’s own against any.  It’s also the perfect shade to accompany a cute, Fall outfit!  With it being the color it is, you can easily pair it with neutrals such a black or white, or it could also be paired more seasonal colors like burgundy or forrest green!  It’s so pretty that I really couldn’t imagine a situation where it would look bad!

Just to add on to how much I’m loving this product, the packaging was extremely cute as well, coming in a little red box.  Before getting this product, I had never used a liquid lipstick before and was a little nervous when I went to apply it for the first time.  The application was super easy and it’s a good thing it was because I don’t have a lip liner in this shade to keep it all together!  It’s very pigmented, so I only needed one swipe across and I already had the color in the image above!  I was quite happy with that because sometimes you don’t always get the color that’s advertised on the package.  It actually dried relatively quickly too, so I didn’t have any problems with it smudging after I was done putting it on.

 

I’m so excited I have a go-to bold lip color to use now!  If you want to learn more about this brand, head over to Lime Crime’s Tumblr page. They’re vegan and cruelty free so you won’t have any guilt about your purchase!  I love to hear from you guys so be sure to leave your recommendations in the comments if you have another great Fall shade that I should check out.  Thanks for reading and see ya next week!

20 Years

Hi everyone and welcome to another blog post!  This week’s post is a little bit more special than usual because I turned 20 today!  That’s right, I have officially ended my teen years and entered into my twenties!  Stick around to hear some of the most important things I’ve learned in my 20 years.

1.  Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there – whether it’s in a relationship or a work-related opportunity.  I don’t regret many things I’ve done and actions I’ve taken in my life, but I do regret being so nervous of being bold in some situations.  I think I’ve played my life rather safe, and that’s not a bad thing at all, but sometimes I wonder how my life would’ve been different had I taken a chance.  Now that I realize that about myself and I have been putting myself out there more, I have been really, really pleased with the outcomes!

2.  Don’t care too much about what others think of what you’re doing.  Now, take this statement with a grain of salt because I take the thoughts of my loved ones very seriously. If someone that I trust is telling me not to do something or that it’s a bad idea, I’m going to take that to heart.  What I mean is don’t take the opinions of those who you don’t even know too seriously.  That’s something I’ve been learning in the past few years or so and it’s so, so freeing.  I used to be very caught up in what others thought of how I looked, or what kind of house I lived in, and so on, that I couldn’t completely focus on bettering myself.  I was in the mindset that if I looked a certain way, then I would be happier because people thought I was “cool” and I was so wrong.  If you focus on being the best you that you can be, that’s what will attract the right kind of people.

3.  Slow down.  I think this is the most important lesson I’m learning right now.  My whole life, I’ve rushed through everything because I’m so excited for the next step.  It’s not bad that I’m super excited, but in doing this, it’s been hard for me to live in the moment and focus on being present.  I have a life that I love and people that I love surrounding me and I need to fully appreciate that because I’m so grateful for the opportunities that I’ve been given!

That’s all the life advice I have for you right now, but let me know if you’d like me to do more posts like this in the future!  Have a great day!

 

Simple Jewelry for Everyday Wear

Hi everyone and welcome to this week’s post on Allison In Wonderland!  Today’s blog post is all about the jewelry that I wear on a day-to-day basis!  I keep it pretty simple and easy, so I thought it would be fun to share!

To start off, I tend to go for gold jewelry over silver.  I think, in most cases, it suits my skin tone better and there’s something about it that just draws me in!  My favorite kind of jewelry to wear are rings.  I love wearing them!  They don’t move around on you, so you kinda forget they’re there, and are so easy to slip on in the morning.  Also, if you stick to more simple rings like I have, they pretty much go with any outfit!  The ring that I’m wearing in the picture below is from H&M.  I just got this ring a few weeks ago, in a pack of three, and they were only $7!  I love how it’s so beautiful (at least to me 🙂 ) but it’s not so big that it takes over your hand!  The other ring I’m wearing is a ring that I have worn everyday since I got it, I love it that much!  I don’t know where it’s from because it was a gift but you can find very similar ones on Etsy!

Another piece of jewelry that I wear everyday is the necklace that’s shown in the photo to the left.  I got it from Nordstrom a few years ago and am so glad that I did! Nordstrom is actually still selling the same necklace so I’ll link it right here.  This necklace is just a little pendant but it adds so much to whatever outfit you’re wearing!  It’s perfect for a casual day but it also spices up even a more formal-looking dress!  I would definitely recommend having something like this in your collection.

Those are the jewelry items that I wear on a regular basis, I hope it helped you out in figuring out your jewelry routine!  Let me know in the comments if you have any comments or suggestions for me!  Thanks for reading!

What’s On My iPhone

Hi!  Welcome back to Allison In Wonderland!  I am so excited to be doing a “What’s On My iPhone” post, I think it’s gonna be fun and different than the posts I usually do!  Let’s get started!

To begin, my lock screen is a photo that I’ve kept on there for a while.  It’s a nice little reminder to be able to see whenever I go on my phone.  It says, “May we look most like Jesus when the world needs Him most.”  I came across this print on Pinterest so I’m sure you’d be able to find it on there if you did a little digging!

Moving on, I’m going to go through my favorite apps that I couldn’t live without!  When I unlock my phone, the first page is full of all my social media.  I love, love, love Instagram, Snapchat, and Pinterest and I also just discovered that WordPress has an app!  It’s so convenient, I highly recommend getting it if you are a blog junkie like I am! 🙂

My second page is filled with the apps that come with your iPhone like the Calculator and Notes and such.  This is also the place where I keep my school email app and my GroupMe app.  GroupMe is an app that’s so great for college students!  It allows you to have a huge group message but makes it a lot easier for those without iPhones because all the messages can be on one message thread.  Another thing I store here is the one and only game I have on my iPhone!  I’m not a huge fan of playing games on my phone, I never have been.  But this summer, I found one that I just had to get; it’s called Panda Pop!  Basically, you shoot colored bubbles up into the air to pop other bubbles, but there’s little panda babies in them that you have to save.  It’s a very mindless game, but it’s nice for when you need a mental break!  Since this is the only one I keep on my phone, I’m open to any and all suggestions of any others I should get!

The third page of my apps is where it finally gets interesting!  This is where I keep all my photography editing apps.  I have about 10 on here, but I’m going to go through my two favorites!  The one I use to edit all my photos is VSCO.  I’ve been using VSCO since I graduated high school and I will probably use it forever!  No matter what look or Instagram theme you’re going for, VSCO can help you get there!  I definitely recommend this photo editing app over all others I’ve come across.  My second favorite app is called UNUM.  I found this one about a month or two ago and it’s so, so convenient.  All you have to do is log in using your Instagram log in info and it loads your feed into the UNUM grid.  From there, they give you about 20 open slots above where your feed starts so you can lay out and plan your future posts!  This makes it so much easier to create a feed that goes together and saves you from having to delete photos if they don’t look right next to each other.

That is the third and final page of the apps I have on my iPhone, I hope I was able to give you some fun ideas for new ones to try!  Let me know in the comments if you have any apps that you love or think would be helpful!  Have a great rest of your day and be sure to come back next Tuesday for a brand new fashion post!

My Summer Internship: A Summary

Hi everyone!  August has arrived and even though it’s only the first week of the month, unfortunately, it’s the last week of my summer internship.  I began this journey with 12 long weeks ahead of me that could’ve been extremely awful or extremely wonderful and I’m very blessed to say it’s been one of the best experiences of my life.

For the last few months, I’ve had the opportunity of being an intern at a marketing firm in Annapolis, Maryland.  They (whom will remain unnamed for privacy reasons) are a full-service marketing firm that services clients such as Duracell, Splenda, and Mars Drinks (plus many others).  I went into the job thinking I would mainly shadow and assist my co-workers with whatever small tasks they needed help with but I thought wrong.  From the moment I walked in the building on my first day, I have been working on things that I’ll actually be doing in my career.  How cool!  From the little meetings I’d had before beginning the summer, I knew my days wouldn’t usually be filled doing typical intern tasks such as doing coffee runs and making copies, but I had no idea the level of respect and kindness I would receive from the employees at this company.  Throughout this internship, I’ve been challenged more than I thought I ever could be in such a short amount of time.  In addition to being challenged design-wise, I feel like the classes I’ve taken at JMU helped prepare me for this summer, and I also feel that this internship will help me in my future classes and that’s a really neat feeling!

This internship has also greatly improved my design self-esteem.  One of the classes I took this past year was pretty much a class version of this internship.  I was designing invitations, infographics, logos, etc. and I hated it.  My professor didn’t like my style of design and the comments and grades I received made me rethink my future so much that I didn’t even have an interest in graphic design anymore.  So, when I got here this summer, I was secretly hoping I’d mostly work with employees in other positions such as the copy editors and trade marketing professionals.  However, I ended up falling into the design position and it couldn’t have turned out better!  Not only did I realize that what I originally wanted to do is still what I want to do, but I realized I have the drive and the talent to actually be able to do it.  This summer, one of my designs was actually chosen for a company’s new logo!  Your future does not depend on the opinions of one person and you should never forget that.

Ending this internship, I’m kind of in a state where I feel so ready and prepared and excited for my future that I just want to be in it already!  I want to be working full time at a job I love and traveling on the weekends, and I’m already doing that!  It’s definitely going to be difficult driving away from here on Friday and heading back to school at the end of the month but that just means I’m that much closer to being where I want to be.

Although I don’t think anyone from the company will ever read this, I’d like to thank them as a whole for maintaining such an open and friendly environment that was so inviting and comforting to me this summer.  Incredibly, I’ve been invited back to intern again over my winter break, so it won’t be long before I’m back at it and you can trust that I will be counting down the days until I return!

Thank you for reading this post and please let me know in the comments if you had a great summer internship as well!  See you next week! 🙂

What’s On My TV: Summer 2016

Hello and happy Tuesday!  Thanks for coming back to Allison in Wonderland!  This week, I’m excited to chat about my favorite TV shows of the season!  With being away at school, summer has become one of the only times I can watch particular shows on a weekly basis, so I can’t wait to share what I’ve been loving with you!

The first show I’ve been obsessed with for the last couple months is The Bachelorette.  I know this show isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and I can admit that it’s a silly concept, but I just love it!  It’s so nice to follow along week-to-week and take your guess at who’s going home!  During previous seasons, I’ve gone on a website (RealitySteve) to see who the “winner” is because I just couldn’t help myself, but this season I’ve held out and it’s totally worth it.  It gives it so much more suspense!  Jojo (this season’s Bachelorette) has a really great (and cute!) group of guys and I can’t wait to see who she picks in the end!  Let me know who your favorite guy is in the comments!

The second show I’ve been loving is Keeping Up with the Kardashians!  I know, the shows I’m recommending are more fluff than anything, but it’s nice to just be able to relax and not feel like you’re missing out if you can’t watch for a couple weeks.  The Kardashian’s always have things going on and it’s fun to, ya know, keep up! 🙂

The third show is Wheel of Fortune.  No, I’m not kidding!  It comes on at 7:30, right before The Bachelorette, and I’ve found myself starting to turn the TV on a little earlier to be able to watch!  It’s not that long of a show and it’s always nice to have a little friendly competition with your friends or family who are watching with you.  Give it a shot, you won’t regret it!

Thanks for reading today’s post and feel free to tell me what you’d like to read about next week in the comments!  Have a great week!

Summertime Nail Polish Color Combinations

Hi guys and welcome back to the blog!  Earlier this week, I was having trouble deciding what colors to paint my nails and toenails and I realized that, while it’s not a huge decision, it’s something I spend time thinking about every time I paint my nails – so why not write an article about it!?

The first combination I am excited to share is a pair of my go-to summer polishes; Essie’s “Fiji” and Sinful Color’s “No Text Red.”  “Fiji” is a beautiful light pink color (my favorite color to paint my nails year-round) and is especially perfect on top of a nice tan!  Usually I wouldn’t wear red nail polish during the summertime, but “No Text Red” is so vibrant, you can totally get away with it!  If I can’t decide what color I want, I always choose these!

“Fiji” & “No Text Red”

“Island Hopping” & “Sand Tropez”

The next two are a more neutral pairing.  Essie’s “Sand Tropez” and “Island Hopping” give your eyes a needed break from all the bright nail colors we see during this time of year.  Because “Sand Tropez” is made up of sandy tones (haha!), you can rock it all the way from a week on the job to a week on the beach!  “Island Hopping” is one of my favorites because it doesn’t look bad if it chips a little bit!  In the summer, I don’t always want to take the time to repaint my nails halfway through the week, so the subtleness of this color is not only refreshing, but a time-saver too.

The last colors I’m going to share today are the “coolest” pair of all. 🙂  Sinful Color’s “Snow Me White” and Sally Hansen’s Miracle Gel in “Blue Hue” are a nice change from all the warm tones!  While still being summery (who doesn’t love a white nail in the summertime), they give off a different vibe than the other colors.  Another plus is that color’s like these tend to wash you out in the winter when you don’t have as much color, and in the summer, we don’t have to worry about that!

“Snow Me White” & “Blue Hue”

That’s all for today’s post, thank you for reading!  Let me know in the comments if we have any of the same favorite nail polishes.  See you next week!

 

Summer Outfit of the Day

Hi guys, welcome back to Allison in Wonderland!  For this week’s post, I thought putting together a little outfit of the day would be fun, especially now that we’re finally getting into summertime weather!

Pictured above is an outfit that I wore for a photoshoot I planned for my sorority, Sigma Alpha Omega.  SAO is the Christian sorority at James Madison and we had such a good day doing this shoot!  It was fun to see everyone dressed up and being able to spend the day doing something different.

My outfit is from an assortment of stores so I’ll get right to it!  My dress is from Urban Outfitters, my favorite store!  It’s a white dress with some lace detailing and it’s perfect for summer.  I’d been eyeing this dress for a while and by the time I finally got around to going to the mall, they only had one left and it was my size!  Woohoo!  A bonus to this dress is it has a built in slip so you won’t be able to see through it!  My army green vest is from American Eagle and perfect to pair with almost any outfit.  You can wear it with a sundress, jeans and a t-shirt, anything!  It’s not the most summery color but I think it provides a nice contrast to an outfit.  Finally, my little brown booties are from Forever 21 (they were also pictured in my Things I’m Loving Right Now post from back in March).  I’ve had these booties for a couple years now and they’re still going strong – I wear them all the time and they’re so comfortable, even when I have to walk all over campus!

That wraps up today’s “Outfit of the Day” post!  Thanks for visiting my blog and be sure to come back next Tuesday for another post!  Have a great week! 🙂

My Week in Review: May 17th – 24th

Hi everyone and welcome back to Allison In Wonderland!  For today’s post, I had an idea that I thought would be kind of cool to do; a review of my week!  My main reason for writing this blog is to be able to document what’s going on in my life so I can look back on it later, so I thought this would be a different and fun way to write – I hope you like it!

This past week was a very exciting week because I began my summer internship!  This is my first internship/job in the field that I’m hoping to work in one day so I didn’t quite know what to expect right off the bat.  I had toured the office twice before starting and loved the atmosphere and vibes of the office, but going for a tour and going for your first day of work felt a bit different!  The place I’m working at is a marketing firm and, since I’m an advertising major, it’s very relevant to where I want to go with my career.  So far, I’ve worked alongside the Creative Services team, which are the graphic designers and the copyeditor, and it’s been amazing!  I feel very respected by everyone at the company and that’s something that a lot of interns wouldn’t be able to say, so I feel very grateful I’m working with these particular people.  I’ve already been given the opportunity to actually design logos and invitations and such and I’ve only been there for one week!  I’m very much looking forward to the rest of the summer and can’t wait to keep you guys updated!  Let me know in the comment section if you have any ideas for other internship related blog post ideas!

The next exciting thing that happened this week was that I attended a wedding!  I’ve only been to two weddings in my whole life (before this one) and I was very young when I went to both of them, so I don’t remember much.  Because of that, I was really excited to go to this one!  I went with my boyfriend, so I didn’t know the bride and groom and didn’t know too many people there, but I could still feel how much love the couple has for one another and the great group of people that they were able to bring together on their special day.  I wish them the best in their marriage and can’t wait to see where this incredible journey takes them!

Overall, it was such a great week and I can’t wait to do more posts like this in the future – it’s going to be an exciting summer!  Also, The Bachelorette started last night and I already have my final four in mind!  Let me know if you’d like to see some Bachelorette posts on this site!  Thanks for reading!

My Favorite Music: Spring 2016

Hi everyone!  I’m really excited about today’s post because I get to share some music I’ve been loving for the past couple of months!  I love listening to music and spending time finding new artists and bands so keep reading to find out who I’ve been listening to!

The first artist I want to talk about it Halsey.  Halsey is an electropop, American singer/songwriter and has been killing it, recently, at festivals and on tour.  You’ve probably heard of some of her songs, they’re all over the radio!  Her debut album, Badlands, was released in 2015 and is rightfully winning her crazy publicity.  My favorites from the album are Colors, Gasoline, and Hurricane – they’re so, so good.  Her sound is so unique and I love it!  She’s touring from now until August in the US, Canada, and the UK so definitely check to see if she’s coming to a venue near you.

The second artist I want to talk about is the band MisterWives!  I first heard about MisterWives when they performed at Madipalooza, a music festival James Madison University puts on every year.  They were the headliners of the festival and put on such a great show!  They perform with so much energy and heart that you can’t help but love them.  Their first album Reflections came out in 2014 and is still so relevant.  My favorite songs from that album are Hurricane, Queens, and Our Own House.  The personalities of everyone in the band comes out through their music and their album art is amazing as well!  Definitely check out their tour dates to see if you can go see them, they put on a show like no one else can!

The next thing I want to talk about is a Pandora station!  Lately, I’ve had to drive all around and have needed a station that I can just put on and not have to worry about skipping/changing the songs.  That has been the Dan + Shay Pandora station.  I’ve had this station for a while, so I’ve kind of molded it into my personalized, ideal country music playlist, but honestly, it wasn’t that bad from the beginning.  The artist they play are fantastic and it’s always up-to-date, so I definitely recommend checking this one out for long car rides or background music!

That’s all for today but I’m going to see Halsey perform at a festival in just a few weeks, so make sure you check back to see an upcoming post about my experience!  Thanks for reading! 🙂