Comfy Cardigans

             A trend that is great for fall this year is long cardigan sweaters. I have a lot of these and decided to share my favorites and what I usually pair with them to inspire you to create your own cardigan looks this season. 





             One of my favorite cardigans is this grey knitted cardigan mixed with black and white. Since the cardigan already kind of has a pattern to it I wouldn't pair it with a patterned shirt instead I would pair it with a plain black or white tank. My favorite thing to pair it with is this polyester loose fitting tank that is shorter in the front then the back. Sometimes when I'm feeling daring and decide to pair it with a patterned shirt I pair it with a loose black tank with white crosses across the front that way it still goes with the black and white in the sweater. For pants I usually wear medium colored skinny jeans with holes.

Grey/Black/White
Forever 21

Black Polyster Tank
TJ Maxx



 

            A sweater that's been hibernating in my closet for fall is this long blue sweater from Hollister. This sweater is probably my most versatile cardigan, because it goes with a lot of shirts in my closet. I've worn it with many tanks, but never completely fell in love with a match until I was digging through my closet and found this shirt with a cream shirt that is kind of an "ombre" of aztec pattern along the front of the shirt. Since the cardigan does go with many shirts I don't have to strict of suggestions of possible options, but my favorite are shirts that have hints of blue throughout it that way the cardigan brings out the cool patterns in the shirt



Aztec t-shirt
Target



Another one of my fall cardigans is this long beige cardigan from American Eagle and to add my own personal flare to this cardigan I roll up the sleeves a bit. I like this sweater, because it's just one of those cozy sweaters that you can dress up or down. I wear this with a paisley patterned shirt and I recommend wearing a pastel patterned tank/shirt since it is a light colored solid cardigan. I usually wear dark skinny jeans or capris with these depending on the weather.



Beige knitted cardigan
American Eagle



Cream shirt with paisley design
American Eagle







On a warm fall day when I feel like dressing up I will wear this colorful aztec dress with another one of my favorite cardigans. This cardigan is one of my favorites, because of all the detail in it. The fringe and the different designs throughout the sweater are really cool. Speaking of cool if the turns out to be chilly that particular day I was looking forward to wearing my cardigan I pair this cardigan up with a blue floral tank or shirt and some skinny light or dark skinny jeans. Since this is a solid color cardigan pairing it with a solid tank would make the look more boring that's why you want to pair it with a nice patterned tank or shirt, but not too bold of a pattern or color and the look clashes.  







         

Dance Moms

             Last Tuesday night on Lifetime I sat down grabbed some popcorn and watched Dance Moms since I didn't record it on my tv I had to wait a week to watch it. That week Nia, Kendall, and……… were given solos to see who would be “Maddie’s replacement” according to Abby. Kendall was given Maddie’s old solo which I think was unfair, because then Abby and all the other moms would be comparing her performance to Maddie’s and that’s unfair, because she shouldn’t dance like Maddie, because she is Kendall. Nia’s received a solo which was a tribute piece to Maya Angelou although Abby complained and took away her solo the week before. I really liked Nia’s solo, because they added a cool element to it which was spoken word where she talks on stage different parts in the dance. It was a cool element, because the spoken word was poetry, and it made the connection between Nia and Maya. Then there was the group dance. To me the group dance was very cheesy. All the girls represented one of the seven dwarves with a twist. Their names included slouchy, snobby, etc. The number was very sub-par and even childish to me. The person who can agree with that is Cathy from Candy Apple’s Dance Company who is Abby’s “evil” nemesis. Sometimes I like when Cathy comes, because it definitely adds more drama, and funny remarks exchanged between the dance companies on the show, but this time her team wasn’t even competing she just showed up to watch Abby Lee’s girls compete which was a little odd to me. In the end the group number one too which got me thinking, Did Abby place them at an easier competition where she knew they would win or do the judges know the show or know Abby and judge in her favor. I’m not sure, but many questions were left unanswered.

           

Dancing with the Stars

 

            Last night was the second week of the hit competition show Dancing with the Stars. The cast ranges from a 17 year old Sadie Robertson from the hit reality show Duck Dynasty all the way to 76 year old Tommy Chong who is from the hit movies Cheech and Chong and everywhere in between. I started watching it last week and overall agreed with the judges and the scores they gave the contestants.

             My favorite competitors this season are Janel Parrish from one of my favorite shows Pretty Little Liars who is partnered up with Val and I don’t know if it was just me, but last week they seemed to be a little friendly, but maybe it’s nothing. I’m also rooting for Bethany Mota partnered with Derek Hough who is a beauty guru on YouTube, and she has her own clothing line in Aeropostale where I purchased my favorite cardigan. Bethany is only 18 and has accomplished so much in her life from having over 7,000,000 subscribers on YouTube to having her own clothing line she designed, but not only that, but she’s a great dancer. Lastly, I’m rooting for Alfonso from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He is obviously a fan favorite, because he has had experience dancing, and not only that, but he’s actually really good, and if people vote on who dances the best then he will make it far in the competition. There are many new professional dancers that I like so far, but a fourth judge has been added to the judges' table and that's former Dancing with the Stars pro Julianne Hough. So far I like her as a judge, and I'm sure she'll be the most fair, because she has been in the competition and knows what it's like week to week.

 Although, it was the first week of Dancing with the Stars a dancing couple still had to be eliminated and last week it was Lolo Jones. Based on her dance that week I will have to agree, but I still wanted her to stay and see her improve throughout the weeks. Also I liked her story which basically was that her prom date in high school said she was a bad dancer and she wanted to prove him wrong and I think many girls can relate to not being the best dancer. Last night the stars took to the stage again bringing back even more talent than the first week.

The second week some of the dancers improved, but for the most part they stayed the same and the scores showed that. As far as my favorite dancers they did really well. Janel Parrish's dance was amazing and it didn't surprise me when Len wanted to see them perform it again Tuesday night. Bethany also did really well despite being nervous about certain parts of the dance, because she had an injury, but you couldn't tell throughout her dance that she was hurt. While Alfonso still did really well he had some minor slip-ups throughout the dance, but still got a high score of 32 which I agreed with, because he is a strong dancer just lost connection with his partner.

With elimination night comes performances by singers, and one of my favorite songs and music videos Chandelier came to life when Sia and Maddie Ziegler performed. Maddie Ziegler from hit show Dance Moms and hit singer Sia created a music video that was amazing and when they were asked to perform one of the pros Allison danced with Maddie, and it brought a cool, new element to the performance that was very interesting. Although the show was entertaining and fun someone had to be eliminated. The bottom three were reality star Sadie Robertson and her partner Mark Ballas, talk show host Tavis Smiley, and his partner Sharna Burgess, and race car driver Michael Wartrip who's partnered with new pro Emma Slater. Based on their dancing and scores this week I agreed with the bottom three, and in the end one had to go. This week it was Tavis Smiley which I didn't really know much about coming into the show.

             Next week I predict that since 2/3 of my favorite dancers have been asked to perform again the next night Bethany will outshine the competition and I'm excited to see if I'm right.

 

Jamberry Nails

 

 

This week I decided to try out a product called Jamberry Nails. Jamberry Nails are stick on nails with different designs that are supposed to last up to weeks. I tried them couple of weeks ago and they didn’t work at all, but I was determined to have a stylish manicure so I tried once more. Each set comes with enough stickers to do two manicures and two pedicures. The pattern that I tried this time was Emerald Palm which is a pattern with an ombre backdrop of white, light green and dark green and palm trees.

 Before you start you have to remove any nail polish you have on and clean them off with rubbing alcohol which I didn’t do the first time around. Then you pick the sticker that best fits your finger  and the thing I didn’t like was that some of them didn’t always fit your finger perfectly not that I expected it to, and they were hard to cut to better fit your fingers, because they were stickers and they stuck to the scissors. After that you had to blow-dry the nail to make it soft and easier to apply. Applying them was the hardest part of the process last time because when you did apply them they would sometimes have wrinkles or air bubbles and once you put them on they were stuck so you couldn’t fix them. This time it was different I kind of knew what to expect and if they had an air bubble I would carefully take it off and place it again and it still stuck to my nail when I pulled it off many times to fix it. Once I had them applied I had to blow dry them again and apply pressure to make sure they stuck which was in the directions, but I clearly didn’t pay attention last time. Then I had to trim them up to meet the length of my original nail. You first have to cut it which can be difficult because the scissors don’t always cut it. Then, once you have it cut you have to file it down to your nail to smooth it out. Maybe I’m doing this step wrong I don’t know, but I always have trouble with this step with any stick on nails I’ve tried before. They don’t always file down right and leave the ends bumpy and rough.

Overall compared to other stick on nails these probably work the best and I like the designs a lot and there’s many to choose from compared to ones I’ve tried before. If they don’t work for you the first time don’t get discouraged just try again, because I believe that you need many trials and errors to execute them perfect and make sure you’re not like me and actually read the instructions, because they would have made the process a lot easier the first time around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Project Runway

           Last Thursday night was the half way point of Project Runway. I just started watching this show last season and I love it. Project Runway is a show where week to week the same designers design a look and one by one they are eliminated each week. When the show first started I didn't have a favorite, but it was clear to me that I had a least favorite and that is Korina. Week after week she conntinues to be negative and is the only designer who talks badly about everyone behind their backs.  This week they had to design a look for American Girl Doll's clothing line based on the look of an American Girl doll they were assigned to.

            This challenge brought back so many memories of me looking through the American Girl Doll magazines and wishing for one, and the magical day I finally got one. Overall I felt the designers had great looks, but in the end Sandhya was eliminated, but based on her look I agreed. I was still very upset because she was my favorite. All the clothes she designed had a symbolic meaning behind them, and not only that, but she was always positive, and caring to every person. She said soemthing when she was eliminated that inspired me. She said "This is for all the girls who were told they weren't good enough because they're a girl." That's why she was my favorite, because she inspired me that being a woman should never make you feel like you're not good enough.

            Although Sandhya left I'm excited for the second half of the show to continue and eager to find out who the next winner of Project Runway will be.

Kim of Queens

 

 



 

           Tuesday night was the season premiere of Kim of Queens: Kim of Queens is about Kim who owns the Pageant Place and all the girls that compete with it. I watched it last season and fell in love with Kim and her outrageous personality, but what I love most about her is no matter how much she yells she honestly cares about the girls and you can tell they're on big happy family. One thing i noticed that was different was the Anslee was gone. I think this was because she realized that doing pageants wasn't for her. Last season she started off winning, but as soon as she had to talk on stage she would freeze, and although she tried to fix it she never improved.

           Tuesday night some "pageant pros" returned such as Maura, Hannah, and Addis, but two new girls were introduced Rayven and Adia When Adia was first introduced I immediately liked her. She wasn't the typical size two pageant girl and that's why I liked her so much. She also has had a tough life, and when she went on stage for the pageant and said "I would like to be a famous singer so I can by my mom a house so I won't have to see her struggle anymore" my heart broke. I will proudly admit that I cried not a little bit, but a LOT. To see her out there confident after being through what she's been through and openly tell everyone changed her and boosted her self-esteem. The other girl Rayven I'm still not quite sure about yet. She has an amazing singing voice and knows how to answer interview questions perfectly, but I personally root for the underdogs, but I think she will do well in the pageants.

           At the end of the pageant Kim had a talk with one of the girls Maura and her mom Angie. This week to me Angie has been kind of annoying by continuously complaining about everything Kim who is the instructor was doing.  Also, to me Angie pushes her daughter way too hard, and does what most pageant moms do and that is living through their kids. Kim basically asked them to leave due to Angie's behavior. I am once again willing to admit I cried. I honestly don't know why I did because I usually don't cry because of movies and tv shows. Maura had so much potential to be something big such as Ms. America or Ms. USA, but that was ruined by her mom. When her mom stormed out after Kim broke the news Kim and Maura had a heart to heart. She told Maura she wished her the best as tears were streaming down both their faces. i think that's why I cried because Kim is truly there for these kids and treats them like her own. You can tell how hard it was for her to say goodbye. This season I believe there will be a lot of drama with Addison because she started this season off not really caring about pageants. So far that's all I can predict because this show is so unpredictable, but I guess that's why I like it because you never know what you're going to get each week.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 





Stylish Scarves

 

As summer is fading away scarves are appearing everywhere. Here are some of my favorite scarves for this fall that range from $5.00-$25.00


$5.00 Navy Blue and White Striped Scarf from my local grocery store in the novelty section
          Pair this with a plain white sweater or shirt or to add color a yellow shirt.
               Stay away from any patterned shirts

    

$10.00 White Crotched Infinity Scarf from a kiosk at my local shopping mall
         Pair with a patterned cotton long sleeved shirt of your choice or a plain colored shirt of your choice with a solid cardigan
              Stay away from white, cream, or light grey shirts
       

 

$15.00 Dark Grey Scarf with Fringe Detail from Target
         Pair with many colors, but best with light blue or light pink
              Stay away from grey, black, brown, and red shirts

$20.00 Patterned Scarf with Blue, Grey, White, , Black and Olive Detailing from Buckle
         Pair with blue or white shirt and looks great with a jean jacket
              Stay away from, pink. purple, red, orange, or any patterned shirts

 

$25.00 Patterned Scarf with Light Grey, Black, and Purple Detailing from Express
         Pair with white, black, plum, or grey shirts
              Stay away from orange,. red, green, blue or any patterned shirts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Total Divas Review

 

 

              Last Sunday night marked the season premiere of the third season of Total Divas. Total Divas is a reality show that follows a few female professional wrestlers outside of the ring. I've watched both seasons so far, and was starting to lose interest in the show hoping that the third season would get me interested in the show again...and it kind of did. A new wrestler appeared on the show with her big return after quitting wrestling to join rehab for a year. Her name is Rosa and so far I'm not a big fan. The show makes her seem so conceited and full of herself, and reality shows always need an antagonist so maybe their painting her to seem this way, but as of right now I'm not for sure. So far Summer Rae has yet to appear on the show, but i have a hunch that we have not seen all of Summer Rae. I think she'll be returning this year, and have a vengeance out for the other girls. Since it is Sunday Total Divas will be airing tonight. I haven't seen any previews for the episode yet, but I believe that John will find out about Nikki freezing her eggs and they will get into another fight. I believe we will also catch up with Trinity and Ariane, because they didn't appear on last week's episode, but I have a feeling they're still on the show. As for predictions of the season I believe that Nikki and John will get into fights as they figure out what they both want, and as a result I think he will propose to her since it is something she wants. I also believe that Summer Rae will be appearing sooner rather than later and when she does she will cause a lot of drama because I have a feeling she's been scheming plans for a while. Overall I'm excited for the season to continue and all the dram to unfold with it because we all know all reality shows bring out drama and drama on this show brings out "total divas."







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Cardigan Catastrophe

   Yesterday my mom and I decided to go to the mall and see if there were any new sales and I decided to go into Aeropostale which is now AeroNow after undergoing an image change. As we were walking through the store I spotted a gorgeous cardigan designed by the beauty guru Bethany Mota. It was a long cardigan that was white with a red and black tribal bring and some white fringe lining the edge. There were only two cardigans folded on the table a small and an extra small. I held up the extra small to see if it would fit and it didn’t and right as I said there’s a small here and went to pick it up a lady and her daughter grabbed it right from under the other one I was holding. Of course I was furious, but I kept my cool and had the brilliant idea to check the mannequin and luckily it was wearing a small. I took the cardigan off the mannequin and held it in my hands as if it was a precious gem, and it was. I found the perfect lace tank top to go under it, and wore it today. Although the cardigan catastrophe happened it was all worth it, because I now have a cool cardigan unlike anything else I have.

Lorimer Woven Crochet Trim Tunic: $23.25 http://www.aeropostale.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=11327014&cp=3534618.3534619.3534623.3541050.3536151 (I prefer to loosely tuck in the tank top ) Ganado Hooded Cardigan:38.00 http://www.aeropostale.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=23753606&cp=3534618.3534619.3534623.3541049                Married At First Sight Season Finale: Tuesday night marked the season finale of Married At First Sight on FYI. Married At First Sight is a reality show where four experts pair together three couples and those three couples get married without knowing what the person looks like and even their name. It follows the couples on their five week journey of getting married, gong on their honeymoon, moving in together, and their daily life where in the end they decide if they want to stay married or get a divorce.             Throughout this review there are spoiler alerts for people who haven’t seen or finished the show. Out of all the couples I thought that Courtney and Jason were the most likely to stay together and they were my favorite couple. They were the most compatible and had similar values and interest, and in the end I was happy they decided to stay together. On the other hand there are Doug and Jamie who I thought were never going to last their wedding let alone the five weeks. Over the course of the five weeks I could tell that Jamie was opening up to Doug although she wasn’t attracted to him at first. I honestly didn’t know if they would stay married. I felt that Doug wanted to, but Jamie wasn’t sure at least that’s how the show made it seem. I wasn’t sure if Jamie would be able to open up as much as Doug given her horrific past. Then there’s Vaughn and Monet who I felt definitely weren’t right for each other. I personally wasn’t a fan of Vaughn because he seems like a very old fashioned guy who believes the wife should cook and clean. I also felt that he would say he didn’t like things about Monet or how she did things, but when they would seek help from the experts he would say he liked those things about her or they weren’t a problem so he seemed a little two faced to me. Monet I believed was the complete opposite. She was independent, and wasn’t afraid to voice her opinion and in this case opposites didn’t attract. They decided to get a divorce and I felt that was the best thing for them, because if they didn’t they just would have been a drama rollercoaster constantly fighting and then not, but I also feel like although they got a divorce they will still keep in contact with each other.  The show unlike most reality shows seemed very genuine and non-scripted. It showed them in their everyday lives and didn’t have constant drama, and the show was mostly focused on the experiment on the three couples finding love no trying to pin them against each other or only focus on the drama unlike some shows that seem to me more focused on drama then them finding love. Overall I enjoyed the show, and will be tuning in to the reunion show next week. I hope they continue the series with new couples and more happy outcomes.

 

 

Reality in Review:               The Kardashians are taking the world by storm in fashion, modeling and in their hit reality show Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Last Sunday was their part two season finale ending Season 9 with a glimpse of Kim’s road to the altar as she married her husband Kanye West. This will be the first Sunday an episode hasn’t aired since the season finale and I’m willing to admit I am actually upset. The finale was split into two parts as the Kardashian gang traveled to Paris and Italy for Kim’s wedding and I had mixed feelings about it. The show mainly focused on the wedding which was expected, but I would like to have seen more of the family daily interactions because I find that the most entertaining when they seem like an average family. Although they showed the wedding dress, which was gorgeous, the bridesmaid dresses, and the venue they didn’t show the wedding which I appreciated a lot. I appreciated it because to me it shows that Kim and Kanye really love each other and didn’t want to make their wedding completely public, and just wanted it to be a special moment between them and their family. Although the show has received mixed reviews I found the show thoroughly entertaining and allowed the average person to get a glimpse of the lavish lifestyle of the Kardashians as they traveled to Thailand, San Francisco where Kanye proposes to Kim, and as they traveled to France and Italy for Kim and Kanye’s wedding. What I like most about the show is that even though they live the high-end lifestyle they still go through the normal things such as fights between siblings that makes me feel somewhat connected to them. The season also ended with Scott and Kourtney deciding to spend the summer in the Hamptons do help Scott deal with the loss of his parents. With their new move comes a new show called Kourtney and Khloe take the Hamptons which premieres soon. I believe this show will show the two sisters as they open their new Dash store in the Hamptons. I also predict it will mainly focus on Kourtney and Scott’s family life as she deals with her third pregnancy and as he deals with his parents’ death which I believe will open doors back to his past of being an alcoholic. Even though the season ended last week I already have my popcorn popped eager for the new season to start and all the drama that will unfold with it.

 

 

Fad or Fail?

 

 

 

 

http://s3-media3.fl.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/TEQ93hmS33Mo7a8YwCnVHQ/348s.jpg

 This week’s fad or fail is taking the nail salons by storm and it’s the long pointed acrylic nails. My opinion on them is a thumb’s down. I’m a fan of fake nails, but this is taking it to a whole new level for me. To me not only do they look bad, but they don’t seem functional at all.

FAIL

 

Tip of the week:

 

Putting baby powder on your eyebrows before getting them waxed will make it less painful!