Blend in 2017

Published on January 6, 2017January 4, 2017 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

I have always struggled with bad skin since middle school so I have always worn foundation to cover my face flaws. Since switching to higher quality face moisturizers my skin tone has definitely improved from its previous splotchy and red face I was used to. Now I can wear makeup for fun and not because I am trying to hide my face! For work I do a 6 minute face and wear minimal makeup. What has changed my makeup routine dramatically is switching to a Beauty Blender. A lot of makeup vloggers and bloggers have talked about them for a few years now, but I thought it was silly to spend money on a sponge. A month ago I found one at TJ Maxx for $4 and thought I would try to see what the hype was all about. I tend to mix different shades of foundation, concealer and moisturizer so blending has always been tricky. Now with the beauty blender I no longer have awkward lines and my makeup looks more natural.

Here is how to use one

Rinse the Beauty Blender so it is damp
Put foundation on Blender and apply makeup to face

It seems easy, right?? I apply face moisturizer first on my face and let it dry a bit before I apply my foundation. Then I pour foundation onto my Beauty Blender and dot my forehead, cheeks and chin so there is foundation spots all over my face. Then I start to rub the foundation in with the pointed part of the Beauty Blender. I apply face powder with the applicator it came with and apply a highlighter and bronzer with my Beauty Blender. Previously when I would add bronzer or highlighter you could see the line of color, now with the Beauty Blender I can easily blend all of the products.

Start the new year with a new beauty tool in your makeup bag, I promise you won’t forget it!

cozy sweatshirt + pom poms

Published on January 4, 2017January 4, 2017 by blonde rosie1 Comment

wear-it-wednesday

A fellow blogger (PrepsterAnge) pointed out that lately I haven’t been blogging as much as I usually do. I feel like the last few months life has been so busy with the holidays and it getting dark outside so early I never had time to take photos for Blonde Rosie. I started this blog a few years ago because I was bored and needed a hobby. I didn’t care if no one read my posts or cared about what I was wearing, but I had so much fun doing it! Then I started to run into friends and family and they would compliment me on my blog or say that they looked forward to posts every week. I don’t plan to make money with Blonde Rosie, but I wear really cute outfits and feel it’s a shame not to share it with the world wide web! I hope to be more involved in my blog in 2017 and make some improvements. This started off with some cute outfits and some Post Grad Life advice, but now Blonde Rosie will be going in a new direction (TBD)! If you want to see certain things on Blonde Rosie definitely let me know! I love to do photoshoots and write, so let me know what you want to see!

For some reason I got the week off for both jobs and I have been doing a lot of lounging in bed catching up on my Netflix shows. I am in the process of doing another Netflix Recommendation post too because I am going through shows like crazy! I am a big Target fan, and I cut my spending budget once I switched jobs, so I had to stop my weekly trips to Target. In December, I broke my rule and did some Christmas shopping at Target and immediately fell in love with this fleece sweatshirt. I didn’t have the funds to spend money on another sweatshirt so I had to walk out without it. But luckily, Santa delivered it under the tree for me. I have been wearing this nonstop since I got it! Hurry up and go to Target because this is the most comfortable sweatshirt I own! And the pom poms are just too cute!!

Women’s Knit Fleece top – Xhilaration •
Wunder Under Pant (Hi-Rise) *Full-On Luon • Lululemon •

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The Perfect Holiday Look

Published on December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

The day after Thanksgiving I start dressing for Christmas everyday. Christmas has to be one of my favorite times of year and not just because it is the day after my birthday. With my house being on the towns annual house tour, Christmas has exploded all over my house. There are boxes of ornaments, fake trees in piles and pine needles everywhere! It is chaos, but I love to see the sight of Christmas in my house. With my work schedule lately we haven’t had time to get a Christmas tree as a family, but I woke up earlier on Sunday, grabbed breakfast and went to Holly Brook Nursery to pick out a tree before work. I am very picky about my trees every year, and now that we raised the ceilings in our living room by three feet… we were getting a bigger tree! My mom and I were looking at trees that were perfect from every angle… my dad was being the engineer trying to figure out how we would get the tree into our house. Some were too big… others too small.

But, we finally found the perfect tree! Measuring tape and sass were involved in the picking of our tree. I could have spent hours walking around the tree forest, but I had to get to work!

I woke up at 6am to curl my hair because I am crazy and on the weekends I try to dress up for work. Working retail during the holidays means that we dress for Christmas every day. I have been wearing all of my red, flannels and cute skirts that I would wear to a holiday party. I have also been wearing a red lip every day after I got a free Bite Beauty lipstick form Influenster and Sephora in November. It is a matte red lip crayon and when I put it on in the morning, it lasts the entire day! The color is Red Velvet.

If you have a holiday party you have to go to, I definitely suggest the plaid classic button down shirt in perfect fit. I wear it at least once a week to work and sell a lot of them at the store. It is the perfect classic, preppy look. Scroll to the bottom for the outfit details! We did a quick little photo shoot while the guys were putting the tree on our car. I love that my mom is now the person who suggests I take photos for the blog. She has been so supportive of my little hobby lately and I am so appreciative of it!

Outfit Details

shirt / skirt (old from Marshalls, similar here) / shoes / watch / lipstick / coat

closet inVESTments

Published on November 30, 2016November 30, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

If you are looking to buy a statement piece this winter that will last for seasons to come, I have found it! Right now vests are taking over my closet. I have them in so many colors from black, brown, white and even fake fur! I love the way they make an outfit look, it’s warm but without the bulk! When I have to run errands I hate to wear a big puffy coat because then I start sweating in my big coat, so I always throw on a vest when I do a Target or Wegmans run.

one // two // three // four // five

Right now I am working at J.Crew part time to make extra money to hopefully move out of my parents house in the next few months. Getting my own place is a really big financial responsibility, and I know that I like to spend money. I am taking steps to grow my savings so when the time comes I can live the type of lifestyle that I want to. However, everyday I come home wanting to buy something or caving in and buying something at the store. My most recent purchase was two vests I have had my eyes on for a while.

These vests have become my new favorite pieces in my closet. The herringbone vest is a J. Crew staple and right now at J. Crew Factory it is sooo cheap it’s silly not to get it.

I normally would not buy a hot pink vest, but it was on clearance, and with my employee discount it was $20. I decided to wear it to work, but I wanted to dress it up a bit. I wore it with a J. Crew peplum top, black jeans, and black suede boots. I didn’t want to add too many accessories, but for work I need to wear a necklace for the store uniform, so I wore a hot pink necklace and my Kate Spade pink bracelet to keep the pink theme going.

You can’t go wrong with a classic black vest! I have an old one from Gap that I still wear every season, but the J. Crew Factory black vest with the gold detail has me wanting to donate mine and get a new one! I have vests in every single color and wear them regularly at work and running around doing errands. With a vest and a simple t shirt, an outfit can be casual or chic with some accessories and boots.

PS: I realllllly like Starbucks lately if you can’t already tell! 🙈

the power of accessories

Published on November 16, 2016November 19, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

wear it wednesday.jpg

It’s only Wednesday, but I am exhausted! It is not even the holidays yet, but I feel like the days are getting shorter and there is always more to do! I have been coming home from work and going straight to bed lately and it has turned into a bad habit. I’m skipping meals and missing out on sleep so I can get laundry done or clean around the house. As I type, there is a giant pile of clean and folded laundry that needs to be put away, but my feet refuse to cooperate!

At both jobs, I need to wear something corporate but also can be approved to wear at J. Crew. This whole balancing two jobs thing is e x h a u s t i n g. There are some days I get to the college at 9am and then close the store until 10pm. I have had to get creative when it comes to outfits because my cooperate clothes aren’t practical for either job. That is why I love to wear black and be creative with the accessories. Most of my outfits this week were the same black pants, a different black top and a vest or cardigan for a pop of color. Having a go to uniform makes mornings a lot easier.

I bought this cardigan back in college while shopping with my mom at Coldwater Creek and we got ourselves matching cardigans. If I could, I would wear this one everyday because the neutral color is flattering and it goes with everything! For this outfit, I wore black pants, a black t shirt, my favorite cardigan (similar here and here) and stole my moms leopard scarf (similar here).

I would love to know what your go to outfit it.
Let me know in the comments below!

Start your day with some Bite

Published on November 12, 2016November 14, 2016 by blonde rosieLeave a comment

After summer comes to a close, I lose my tan and become very pale. Only blush and bronzer can go so far to bring some life into my face again! The one thing I cannot leave the house without is lipstick. My work schedule lately has been crazy, either waking up before the sun to work my job at a college or working the night shift at J. Crew. Let’s just say, I am exhausted! To hide my exhaustion, I always wear a bold lip color to hide my sleep exhaustion. I am also that type of person who always looks put together even when I want to wear Uggs and leggings. Lipstick really is the secret trick to make you look put together. So I am always on the look out for a new color to try.

Luckily, Bite Beauty and Influenster saved me a trip to Sephora because they sent me three new lipcolors in the mail to review. I had never heard of Bite Beauty before, but if it is at Sephora, it has to be good, right?? Did I mention they are organic? Yeah like those organic bananas I buy at Whole Foods that go bad on my kitchen counter every week. LOL Here is a little information on the brand:

What goes on your lips should do more than
just color. It should be good for you, too!

Bite lip products are handcrafted one at a time
to provide nourishing, restorative
benefits. These lipsticks contain natural
and organic ingredients—moisturizers
and protective antioxidants like resveratrol,
organic fruit butters, and Manuka honey.

The end result? Edgy, edible innovation for lips.

THE POWER OF RESVERATROL

Each Bite lipstick is infused with the age-fighting
antioxidant resveratrol—the equivalent
of five glasses of wine.

-Sephora

I feel like we just buy makeup products trusting that they are made with the right ingredients. However, Bite Beauty is very upfront that they are a luxury and made with natural and organic ingredients. How cool is that??

Besides the gorgeous packaging, I love that the lip crayons have a pointed tip so the color glides on easily even when I am putting it on at red lights on my way to work!

I would compare them to the Nars Lip Pencils, but whenever I would use them my lips would be so dry after a few hours. The pricing is similar, a little less than Nars products, but reasonable for a Sephora product. It’s also a lot of product for the price so it makes it worth every penny.

Let me know if you use a Bite Beauty product and if you liked it! I have a feeling a lot of my friends will be getting one of these for Christmas!! Even Eddy loves them!!

**UPDATE**

On Sunday, I worked 9 hours and was running around the whole store ALL DAY! I came home exhausted, my hair was disheveled, clothes were wrinkled. However, my lipstick was still on from earlier that morning when I put it on! I even ate and drank coffee with it on! This stuff is the real deal! It did not smudge or dry my lips all day. I got so many compliments throughout the day on my lip color, I think I sent at least a dozen people to Sephora when they asked what color I was wearing!