Who I'm Following: Round Two

About a year ago I wrote a post dedicated to my biggest blog crushes at the moment and I am pretty sure it has been my most popular post to date, so I thought it was high time I write up an updated version! So here we go, my favorite blogs as of April 2014:

Beauty

Vivianna Does Makeup 

Lily Pebbles

I am going to lump my two beauty favorites together because I love them equally and for very similar reasons. The two lovely girls behind them, Lily and Anna, are both UK based beauty/fashion/lifestyle bloggers and vloggers with pretty massive followings. More than any of the other beauty blogs that I follow I know I can trust these two to constantly be on top of every single new trend or release that has come out in the beauty world, and because of how incredibly down-to-earth they both are I trust their recommendations completely. It probably doesn’t help that everything they feature is lit and photographed beautifully and that they are both able to churn out at least one new blog post every.single.day (it’s insane!). I would also highly recommend checking out their beauty videos, which are often linked in posts in their blogs, for more in-depth reviews, hauls, tutorials, and everything else - but beware, one can very easily fall down the rabbit hole and end up spending an entire friday night watching every single one of their videos. I can also vouch that these two are just as lovely in person as are they are online as I happened to run into them at a restaurant in London just a few weeks ago, let’s just say I was quite starstruck. 

Fashion

Kendi Everyday

One of my most recent follows is Kendi Everyday, which features the ever chic. modern, and just really cool Kendi. She is the queen of pattern mixing, loves a nude heal, and has seriously drool worthy hair - making her posts the ones I am most excited to read when scrolling through my bloglovin’ feed every morning. Ever since is starting following her I notice myself being drawn towards clean cut silhouettes, fresh ways of wearing bright colors, and an overall more effortless esthetic whenever I wander through the shops. Maybe someday I’ll be able to rock a pair of floral pants as well as she can….

Food

Hummingbird High

A baking blog….written by a Portlander…..inspired by a bakery in London that is just down my street? This blog is truly the best of every single world put together. The recipes are creative, beautifully photographed, and easy to follow - so pretty much perfect. On the top of my list of “Things I Am Going To Bake When I Don’t Share A Kitchen With 15 People” are the Dark Chocolate and Earl Grey Cookies, the Lemon Blackberry Tart, and the Wild Berry Cheesecake Bar - they all look so mouthwatering!! One of the things I love most about this blog is that the author, Michelle, writes in her own personal tips for each individual recipe which I think is just such a nice little personal touch and definitely makes tackling some of these seem a lot more doable. 

A Beautiful Mess

This is the blog than needs no introducing, the blog of all blogs that inspires everyone to blog. Seeing as I’m not the most crafty person (although I’m trying more and more to be) my favorite part is the food and drink section of A Beautiful Mess. This semester has been my first time cooking for myself 100% of the time so I do a lot of looking up easy, healthy, quick, and cheap recipes that I can make in the hopes of not eating frozen pizza every night. That is exactly where A Beautiful Mess comes in. Their posts include really great variety of food recipes and amazing looking drink ideas (I am getting excited to be 21 this fall so I can try out some of these cocktails!) that are all relatively easy to recreate and edit/make your own - all that I’ve tried have turned out wonderfully as well! 

And that wraps it up for this installment of my blog crushes, hopefully you got some inspiration and can come join the fan clubs with me! Who are your favorite bloggers at the moment?

Thank’s for stopping by!

- Eva

A Day In Brighton

What I Wore: [Sweater: Zara, Button-Up: Target, Pants: J. Crew, Shoes: Born, Earrings: Kate Spade New York]

Here are a few snaps of the outfit I wore on my little day trip down to Brighton today. Two of my friends and I took the train down and spent the day wandering Brighton’s many little streets, poking around in shops, and consuming a lot of really amazing food. Even though it was overcast all day the weather was warm enough where I didn’t have to wear a jacket and cover up my outfit all day (I’m really obsessed with the sparkles on this new sweater, so I wanted to show them off), which is always a good thing in my book! I can’t believe I’ve only got 16 days left in England before my time here is over, I’ll really miss being able to just hop on the train and take little day trips like this all of the time.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by!

-Eva

Pleats in Paris - Spring Break Part 2

What I Wore: [Dress: Topshop Sale, Necklace: Nordstrom Rack, Shoes: Born, Coat: Michael by Michael Kors, Lipstick: Bite Beauty Lip Crayon in “Rhubarb”]

For the second half of our spring break my friends and I got to spend 5 beautiful days in Paris, otherwise known as my favorite place in the world. The weather was beautiful everyday we were there, we ate Laduree, had tea at the original Chanel boutique (still cannot believe that happened), walked and walked and walked, drank champagne, took in as much amazing art as we could handle, and overall just fell in love with the city of light.

I brought this dress along because 1. I love it, it’s so cute, I nearly cried when I tried it on at Topshop because it’s so perfect and 2. It’s pretty visually interesting piece so it’s great for traveling when I have limited space for packing accessories and layering pieces. It also felt kind of Paris-y to me, so everything just worked out perfectly. I’m also now on navy-colored dress buying ban, because this girl has a few too many in her closet right now.

Here are a few photos from our time in Paris:

A perfect example of the beautiful weather we had while in Paris, spend one day wandering around Montmartre, seeing Sacre Coeur, eating Creme Brûlée at the Amelie Cafe, and poking around vintage shops.

It was Kaylie’s 21st birthday the first day we were in the city which meant a trip to the huge Ladureé on the Champs Elysees (the excitement was so real and everything was amazing).

The last night in Paris my friends and I bit the bullet and stood in line for two hours so that we could go to the top of the Eiffel Tower at night, it was so worth the wait - I really couldn’t have imagined a more magical way to end an amazing spring break.

Everything is Nice in Nice - Spring Break Part 1

What I Wore: [Top: Forever 21, Skirt: American Apparel, Boots: Franco Sarto, Hat: H&M, Earrings: Anthropologie, Belt: Forever 21, Lipstick: Bite Beauty Lip Crayon in “Quince”]

I recently got back from spending a week exploring France with 4 of my friends for spring break. And let me tell you, it was an amazing experience. Like the title says, we spent the first part of our trip in Nice on the French Rivera. It felt so good to be able to get some fresh air, sunshine, and slow down from fast paced city life. Although I can’t say we slowed down too much, with such a short amount of time (only 4 days) there was a lot we wanted to see and do in the area, so pretty much everyday was packed. I took the two photos below on our first full day there from an amazing lookout point at the top of a huge hill - getting up there was definitely the most exercise like thing I’ve done since being abroad - but the view was so worth the hike. I was one of my most favorite things we did while in Nice.

The photos above were taken on our last day in Nice as my friends and I stopped for our final helping of the amazing locally made ice cream before we headed off to Paris (I went for the mango sorbet). As I have always had a big spot in my heart for stripes I made sure to fully embrace quintessential French style and pair my stripes with a big “I feel really cool when I wear this” hat.

A post from Paris should be up within the next few days, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by!

-Eva

Cambridge and a Cardigan

What I Wore: [Dress: Topshop, Sweater: Urban Outfitters (super old), Belt: Forever 21, Shoes: Born, Earrings: Kate Spade]

On Sunday myself and 9 others on my study abroad program woke up early and hopped on the train to spend the day in Cambridge. It was a simply lovely day full of punting on the Cam, pub food, gawking at all the amazing architecture/wondering what it would be like to go to school in such a beautiful place, and lots and lots of wandering around the cobble stone streets. I’m hoping to make more of these type of day trips around England while I am here in London, my list of places I want to see and explore is never ending!

I picked up this beautiful emerald dress in during the Topshop sale within my first two weeks here and I am so glad I did! I’m really loving the higher neckline trend right now, hence why the combination of the mock turtle neck, ultra flattering cut, and beautiful color/texture made it impossible for me to pass up. Paired with it I’m wearing two of my most beloved pieces, my quilted Born flats and this mauve cardigan, to help tie the whole look together.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Eva

Jewel Tones

What I Wore: [Top: Zara, Skirt: T. J. Maxx (love this one), Necklace: ASOS, Bag: Kate Spade New York, Booties: Franco Sarto]

I spent pretty much the entire day on Friday getting lost in the amazing world of Harrods. Seriously, if you ever go to London you HAVE to dedicate a few hours to checking it out, it’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before! Anyway, seeing as Harrods is an exceptionally fancy department store I tried to look extra put together so I could be taken a bit more seriously as I drooled over the Valentino and Alexander McQueen.

I am so glad I found this little quilted mini skirt at T.J. Maxx before I came to London because they’ve totally become to huge trend recently (and can go for a whole lot more than I would pay) and it can be paired with so many things - automatically adding a really cool different texture to any outfit. I’m looking forward to finding more ways to style it in the future!

Happy Friday and hope you all have a wonderful weekend :)

Until next time,

-Eva

Polka Dot Mini Dress

What I Wore: [Dress - Gap, Shoes - Franco Sarto, Necklace - Nordstrom Rack, Lips - Revlon Matte Balm Stain in “Sultry”]

My first outfit post from London! Sorry it’s a been a while, but there has been a lot to do in the process of adjusting to my new life across the pond! Today, Kaylie and I did a bit of exploring and spent some time in the V&A museum drooling over the displays in the fashion hall (vintage Dior and Chanel, need I say more?). We then stumbled across an adorable residential area (one of many in Kensington) and thought it would be a the perfect place to take some outfit photos.

I picked up this dress from Gap on black friday (for an amazing price) because of:

1. the polka dots (they are my favorite)

2. the cut, color combo, and ‘mod’ fit of it all felt very London to me

I’ve packed a lot of dark colors for this semester, which can get to feel kind of dreary and sad after a while, but I love that this dress has a cute pattern that makes it feel a bit less serious. I’ve also been wearing these ankle boots with EVERYTHING! They’re perfect.

Happy Friday, everyone!

until next time,

-Eva