Sunday, December 30, 2018

KIKO Cosmetics


I walked past Kiko Cosmetics every day in Dijon and I finally decided to stop in my last week in France to look for a new highlighter but ended up coming across the best lipsticks and lipliners while I was there! 

I have found the most long wearing lipsticks and lipliners at the most amazing prices at Kiko!

I get all my face makeup from Sephora, but Sephora is so expensive and overpriced.

I am a drugstore kind of lipstick gal, that’s why when I found Kiko, drug store prices but high-end quality I fell in love.

I think the lipliners are comparable to the Urban Decay 24/7 lip liners except for 1/10 of the price.

The lipsticks are so buttery and paired with the lipliners they last through hours of eating and drinking.
I wore them for Thanksgiving dinner in Dijon and Christmas dinner in New York.

HUGE fan and I will be purchasing them in the states, and so should you!






I am wearing the same lip pencil in 505 with the same lipstick in 107.

I also like to pair lip pencil 505 with the 103 lipstick for a very pretty nude color!



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Friday, December 28, 2018

Sweater Weather



I have been on the hunt for a new white cable knit sweater since last year.
I finally found the cutest one from J.Crew and I am so excited to share it with you all!

The first day I wore it, I wore it with jeans and my Vince Camuto brown boots and my Tiffany peal studs.
Today, I decided to jazz it up with my green American Eagle jeggings and some gold J.Crew tassel earrings!

I'm in love! Go get yourself one!


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Thursday, December 27, 2018

Study Abroad Capsule Collection with Outfit Ideas


One suitcase, four months, summer, winter and fall! Challenge accepted!

TOPS
2 wool turtlenecks
Wool sweater
3 cotton sweaters
White button down
Chambray shirt
Blue button down
2 knit shirts
Navy blue t-shirt
Striped t-shirt
White and black t-shirt
White t-shirt
White lace top
Navy blue tank top
Gray tank top
4 going out shirts

BOTTOMS
Leggings
3 pairs of shorts
Dark wash jeans
Medium wash jeans
Black jeans
Flare jeans
Maroon jeggings
Green jeggings
Wrap skirt
Printed skirt
White jeans

DRESSES
Denim dress
5 summer dresses
Long sleeve dress

JACKETS
Trench coast
Navy blue puffer vest
Denim jacket
Black quilted jacket
Winter parka
Black moto jacket

UNDERWEAR, PJS and WORKOUT CLOTHES
Satin pjs
All bras
All underwear
Fuzzy socks
Cotton socks
2 sports bras
3 short sleeve t-shirts
2 workout shorts
Long sleeve t-shirt
Sweatshirt

ACCESSORIES
Black belt
Cheetah belt
Baseball cap
Winter cap
Wool scarf
Blanket scarf/shall
Light weight scarf
Neck scarves
Jewelry
Sunglasses
Leather gloves

SHOES
Black boots
Sandals
Flip flops
Cheetah flats
Black flats
Sperry classic boat shoes
Sneakers
Black ankle booties

OTHER
Bathing suit

CAMERA

I ended up buying a turtleneck, navy blue sweater, long sleeve dress, flare jeans, ankle booties, and another sweater. I also bought a new neck scarf and a blanket scarf/shall while I was in France. But besides that, I didn’t buy many clothes. Rather, I saved my money for travel!

OUTFITS

SUMMER
Lavender dress with pink neck scarf
Pink shorts with stripped shirt
Printed skirt with white tee shirt
Stripped shirt with printed scarf
Stripped dress with printed scarf
Printed shorts with denim shirt
Denim shirt with pink shorts

FALL/WINTER
Striped shirt with flare jeans
Striped shirt with colored pants
White sweater with green pants
White sweater with red pants
White sweater with flare jeans
White sweater with black pants and black boots
White tee with red kerchief and flare pants
Chambray with blue sweater over it
Blue sweater with green pants
Blue sweater with red pants
Blue sweater with white pants
Gray turtleneck with white pants
Purple sweater with white pants
White tee with burgundy pants
White button down with red kerchief
White button down with green pants
White button down with red pants
White button down with black moto jacket
White button down with blanket scarf/shall
White button down with flare pants
Blanket Scarf/shall with denim shirt
Blanket Scarf/shall with blue sweater
Blanket Scarf/shall with all black
Blanket Scarf/shall with turtlenecks
Blanket Scarf/shall with brown sweater
Turtleneck with black moto jacket
Gray turtleneck with red pants
Gray turtleneck with green pants

I got really creative with my outfits this semester! I realized that I had so many basics that it was so easy to make simple and chic outfits. To spice it up, I would add a big statement necklace or a neck scarf!

I realized I could totally live out of one suitcase. It is possible, even for this shopaholic. By the end of four months I was tired of wearing the clothes I had, and I was ready to go home to my big closet with lots of options.
But here is proof, that it is possible to create a capsule collection!

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Sunday, December 23, 2018

My Study Abroad Experience


34 cities, 9 countries in 4 months.

I just barely returned home from studying abroad! I lived in Dijon, France for the semester, but hardly.

I saw 25 cities in France and I traveled to 9 different countries.

It was the best four months of my life. An experience of a lifetime that I am going to try to summarize for you!

VISIT FRANCE

As you know, I studied abroad with the Wake Forest Dijon program. It was the absolute BEST study abroad program!
Like I said, we saw 25 cities just in France! It was AMAZING! I wouldn’t have seen the country otherwise. I got to visit Provence, Burgundy, Normandie, Val de Loire, Paris and Alsace all with my Wake Forest group.
All the trips were just about completely paid for; hotels, group meals, guided tours, and museums.

STUDYING

Sorry mom and dad, but we definitely traveled more than we studied! We took two classes from August 17-October 1 while we traveled around to the different regions of France and became fully immersed in the French language and culture.

University started in October at the University of Burgundy at the language institute. You can read all about my feelings on the classes at a French university HERE.
Long story short, university was so easy compared to Wake. I had little homework and I really just got to enjoy my time in France and in other countries because I didn’t have class on Fridays!

PEOPLE

I got to live with the sweetest host parents and the cutest kitty! You can read more about them HERE! I had a wonderful experience living with my host parents. They were so kind. The people all over France and all over Europe were generally very lovely.

$$$

Also, did I mention that with the Wake Forest Dijon program I got an allowance each week of €150?! Oh yea, there was that! Another amazing reason to go on this program!

Traveling and life abroad was expensive but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. But, save your money!

FRENCH LANGUAGE

I cannot speak (get it) more highly of the Wake Forest Dijon program.
The best part for me, and one of the main reasons that I studied abroad in France, was to improve my French: reading, writing and the most difficult, speaking.

I am confident to say that my French dramatically transformed over these past four months. I feel fluent in speaking. My grammar and writing have greatly improved, as well as my comprehension skills. I love the French language and cannot wait to continue to learn and improve.

FRENCH CULTURE

I cried when I left New York because I was nervous of the new culture and new country I was going to experience. But fortunately for me, I didn’t experience culture shock. I adapted so well to France. The culture isn’t as different as we think it is from the US. The biggest difference and difficulty for me was the language.
Maybe it was because I had already traveled to Europe before and was just there this summer, but I was really not surprised by the culture.
I was also not home sick, fortunately. I do go to school in North Carolina which is far away from home, so maybe that’s also why. And as my mom would say, “with technology these days” it is so easy to stay in contact with loved ones. The time difference was a bit hard at first, but once we figured it out, all was well.

FRENCH FOOD

I loved living in France because of the amazing food!
I love escargot! Beef Bourgogne was delicious.
I wasn’t a huge fan of red wine before coming to France, but now I am in love! Especially with 2015 Bourgogne Pinot Noir!

I love the food and the wine culture in France! I would love to take the style of drinking and eating for two hours every lunch and dinner every day back to the states with me. I learned that Europeans in general just love life more than Americans. They appreciate it more. They work to live and not live to work.

FRIENDS

I made the most amazing new friends and strengthened relationships with old ones! You will make friends that will last you a life time. Putting people into new and scary situations makes everyone’s true colors come out. My study abroad experience was especially sweet because I met a great guy.

NIGHT LIFE

The night life in Dijon was eh, but bar hopping was a lot of fun! Being a legal age to drink was a lot of fun. I felt like a real adult. Clubbing was definitely the best in Barcelona!

TRAVEL

Traveling was so fun. Exhausting, but fun. I got to see so many cities in France but also in Europe! Once you are in Europe, travel is way easier than if you were to come from the states and go around Europe! That French Visa is magical! Three-day weekends were amazing and two full days was just enough time to get a feel for a new city.

But whoever said flights are dirt cheap in Europe is a liar!
Train tickets or bus tickets are way less expensive.
Flight tickets in Europe are the same prices as tickets in the states.

The one thing that I didn’t like about living in Dijon was that it was a little bit of a hassle to get to the airport.
We trained most places because it just made more sense time and money wise and the trains went straight out of Dijon! TGV trains are amazing! They need to bring them to the states.
We flew a couple of times out of CDG, but there aren’t that many direct trains to the airport, but we made it work!

LIFE LESSONS

Overall, I matured dramatically. I was legal to drink for the first time ever. I traveled around Europe with my friends. We made reservations at hotels and booked flights.
We were real adults, minus the cooking and cleaning and the work part. But real adults with complicated travel situations and life situations in general.

I also learned a lot about myself, like I do every year! I learned to go with the flow, and that I can’t control everything. I am such a planner and so type “A” but I realized you can’t plan everything and it is SO FUN being spontaneous! You can’t worry about things that are out of your control!!

I was sad to leave the US when I came in August and now I am sad that I left France.
One day we will meet again ma belle!

(Also, if this blog post didn’t make you want to study abroad or travel or go on the Wake Forest Dijon program, then you better re-read!)

Thanks for reading

Xoxo

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Dress up Your Hair




Dress up your hair and give your jewelry box a break!

Tired of just wearing a boring pony tail?
Me! Everyday!

I found this little baby in J Crew and I couldn’t be more in love.

Kate Middleton even wore a blue bow from J Crew in her hair!

High pony, low pony, half-up half-down, add the bow!


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Thursday, December 20, 2018

34 Hours in London, England


Tea with the queen?
Lunch with Kate Middleton?

I wish!

My last trip before heading home to the states was London, England with my best friend, Michelle!



We both landed Friday afternoon, checked into our Hilton London Olympia hotel and got ready for afternoon tea at Scoff & Banter tea room!
It was a huge and delicious spread.
Tea, crumpets, cake, finger sandwiches and a bottle of prosecco.
There was so much food it doubled as our lunch and dinner.

Stomach and hearts full we headed to Piccadilly Circus to see the The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. A very touching show that started on Broadway, won 5 Tony Awards and is now in London.
The tickets were £50! Way less expensive than Broadway tickets and the same quality show.













We had ONE full day in London and we had a long laundry list of places to see and things to do.

We started our first and only day in London at Kensington palace which was right next to our hotel.
Compared to the beautiful chateaux in France, (Click HERE to see for yourself) Kensington palace could not compare.
Except, Kensington palace did have beautiful diamond tiaras. And Kensington did have an exhibit all about Diana. Some of her dresses were displayed.




After Kensington palace we hopped on the Big Bus with our London Passes, highly worth it because every museum, palace, and church in London is extremely expensive. Kensington palace was £23 without the London Pass, and the London Pass was £65 for only one day! It’s definitely worth it.

Our first hop off the bus was at Trafalgar Square.




The next was Westminster Abbey. It closes on Saturday’s at 1pm, so we missed the cut off to enter and see the place where Kate Middleton, my LOVE, got married.



We walked past Parliament and Big Ben, which was under construction.



The Big Bus took us over the Tower Bridge and to the Tower of London where we saw the beautiful Crown Jewels of England.

Michelle and I had our annual Christmas dinner sadly without Giorgia at Ham Yard Bar and Restaurant. A very trendy restaurant with a huge bar scene in Soho.
It was not my favorite restaurant, but I would definitely return to go to the bar.








Sunday morning, we took the tube and explored Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park and Harrods very quickly before taking a car to the airport.

A very short trip but a very sweet one.
We got a taste for London.
It’s beautiful, I loved it and I will be back!

Au revoir, England and au revoir Europe!

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