You Are So Obvious.

The new Louis Vuitton ad's featuring Madonna have hit the internet, and I cannot quite decide what I think of them. On one hand I think they're a lot better than the last ads, where Madonna was straddling a chair. On the other hand it's obvious that someone went a little (a lot) overboard with the photoshop. Madonna almost looks unrecognizable, but at least her extremely muscular arms are disguised a bit. All in all, I'm not much of a Madonna fan, but I think that I do kind of like the ads. What do you think?

State Of My Mind.

I'm currently adoring wearing simple, maybe even bland outfits and then inserting little pops of neon colors. Neon nails, a neon purse, or neon shoes are all perfect accents to outfits that consist mostly of neutrals. Plus, bright/neon colors are fun and whenever I see them, I feel like they scream summer.

I'm getting a pedicure on Friday (before I leave for vacation) and you can bet I'll be getting a little pop of neon on my toes!

Things I Can't Live Without This Week.

I've always been a big fan of bows, nothing says feminine and screams girly like a bow can. However, this week my love for bows has been strengthened. The bow Emma Watson is wearing on the cover of Teen Vogue is gorgeous and definitely making me jealous. Besides the bow endowed flipflops I mentioned yesterday, I also got a swimsuit with a very cute bow. I can't live without them this week, but they are also a must have for the entire summer (and every other season).
I've been seeing this editorial everywhere, but surprisingly I have yet to tire of it. In fact, each time I see it I love it a little more. Each picture is really perfect, but this one in particular stands out to me.
I discovered the Teen Vogue Intern Blog last year and have been obsessed with it ever since. I'm comfortable saying that I've probably read every post on there. And I've probably read each of Stacey Farber's posts multiple times. However, during the summer my obsession always spikes. This probably has something to do with my dream of interning at Teen Vogue during the summer sometime in the future. And fun fact, the cover pictured above was the first issue I ever read. I actually read that issue while on the train on my way to New York to see Wicked when I was in middle school.
This week was the carnival which they have every year. There are lots of rides, bright lights, and sickeningly expensive cotton candy. Being that I live right near the firehouse (the carnival is held on the firehouse's grounds), I get to hear and experience all the excitement. This was actually the first year that I didn't attend, but I still enjoyed seeing all the fun and being able to hear the screams from my window.
This is the most immature thing I need at the moment, iced animal cookies. They're so cute and tasty, the perfect combination!

You Know I Love You.

Today I finally succumbed to bathing suit shopping. I went to the mall and was actually successful. I first bought a cute redish one piece, and then I headed to H&M to look for a bikini.

I was surprised to see that although the selection over at H&M wasn't great, they had a nice sized sale section with lots of tops and bottoms for just $5 a piece. My one piece (from Macys) was on sale for $33.00 and the bikini ended up being $10 in total. The bikini is pretty much adorable, which makes me wish that H&M had pictures of more of their products online.

I also got a pair of very cute flipflops for the beach. Usually I steer clear of flipflops, but these have an adorable little bow on the strap.

Tomorrow: Things I Can't Live Without This Week post.

Don't Say I'm Not.

Today, I saw He's Just Not That Into You for the second time. It was still very cute and in my opinion, a great romcom (romantic comedy).

More importantly though, how cute is Ginnifer Goodwin's outfit?

Pretty Yourself Up.

I'm already contemplating what I'll bring with me when I go on vacation in a little over a week. I guess it is good that I'm planning now because I have been known to over pack. I plan to simplify the clothes I pack this year. I seem to end up wearing my swimsuit, a pair of jean shorts, or a sundress most of the time. Hopefully I'll be able to approach packing with a level mind.

Besides clothing, I'm considering what I'll bring on vacation as far as makeup goes. Here is the plan (so far):
-MAC eyeshadow in Shroom
-Waterproof mascara (I need to buy one of these, all of my mascaras aren't waterproof. Suggestions?)
-Smith's Rosebud Salve
-L'oreal HIP Jelly Balm in Plush
-Estee Lauder bronzer in Bronze Goddess
-Maybelline Pure Makeup foundation in Porcelain Ivory

What are your makeup must haves during the summer?

This weekend I'm going swimsuit shopping for my vacation. Not something I will enjoy!

Guilty Pleasure.

I secretly really crave a romper. I know a lot of the time they aren't flattering...but sometimes they are just so cute.

Dilemma Of All Dilemmas.

I've been craving these shoes for a while. I'm not sure the photo does them justice, but once I slipped them onto my feet, I was in love.

Here is where the dilemma came in. I went to try a different size of the shoe, already deeply enamored. I glanced up at the price. I had already looked up at the price once before, because I always check prices before I try something on. The only problem was...the price was different now. See, there were two pairs of the same shoe out on display. One pair in navy (pictured) and another pair in black. The black pair were the ones that I had tried on and the pair that I really loved. The navy pair was almost half the price of the black pair though. And sadly that was the price I had seen beforehand.

I figured that I would settle for the navy pair, but that pair wasn't in my size. So, it was the black (expensive) pair or nothing.

I figured I'd wait for the price to go down a little bit, but when I went back yesterday (the price really hadn't dropped much) and neither pair of shoes were available in my size anymore.

Sad, sad, sad. I guess I'll be on the prowl for a new pair of shoes to overwhelm my heart.

The Best Kind Of Genius.

Everyone recognizes that Louboutins are gorgeous and amazing, and I agree, but I consider Giambattista Valli to be a lesser recognized shoe genius (the best kind). His shoes are tall, gorgeous, and use bright and fun colors in great ways. I am a fan of the clothing as well but really, it is the shoes that always catch my eyes and what makes me really appreciate the Giambattista Valli runway shows.
All sorts of stars have been noted for wearing the shoes, everyone from Mary-Kate to Posh Spice. (Mary-Kate is wearing the same pair that were pictured at the top of the post.) Wikipedia claims other fans of Giambattista include; Penelope Cruz, Sarah Jessica Parker, Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman, Tilda Swinton, royals like Her Majesty Rania of Jordan or young swans Tatiana Santo Domingo, Chiara and Nina Clemente, Eugenie Niarchos, Coco and Bianca Brandolini d'Adda.

Really, there is just not that much that I can say because the shoes are just undoubtedly beautiful. I've been posting about Giambattista Valli's work with shoes for over a year, and if anything my love for the shoes has only grown.

It Is His Day.

I spent father's day in the city with my family. Me, my dad, my mother, my older brother, and my brother's roommate went and got brick oven pizza and then wandered through the shops. I got a very pretty bracelet (pictures soon) and did a lot of amusing people watching. Then we went and got ice-cream and it was delicious.

How did you spend the day?

Daddy Dearest.

Yesterday, my father returned home from a business trip with a magazine in hand. A magazine for me! This was particularly exciting because it was the first magazine from another country that I've ever gotten my hands on (hands currently sporting a brilliant coral polish). The magazine is entitled La Vie En Rose and is from the UK. It's bigger than your average magazine, and the cover (same picture as above) is one of the most fun and interesting covers I've seen in a long time.

The cover itself is pretty great, besides the great picture it has minimal headlines, which are all in one corner. This way they do not distract from the picture itself. The cover also has a quote on it, and you should know I'm a sucker for a good quote. This one is from Humphrey Bogart, "The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind".

Inside the magazine were lots of amazing ads I had yet to see online or in print, and a lot of pictures from amazing runway shows. There was also a very impressive interview with comedian, Russell Brand. It was probably one of the best interviews I've ever read.

Creative and different I would have gladly subscribed to this magazine, however there wasn't any information about subscribing inside. (Interesting to me considering American magazines are always crammed full of those little cards asking you to subscribe.) I guess I'll be hitting up the bookstore more often in search of the magazine. Or I'll just have to convince somebody to take me abroad. Sounds like a solid plan!

Ride The Lazy River.

There is something about the summer that makes me incredibly lazy. I stop doing my hair, wearing makeup (my skin thanks me for this), and sometimes I just spend the day in my pajamas or clothes to run in. Today however, when I thought about this, I decided I should try to make the day count at least somewhat. So, after my shower I put on sneakers and an outfit I could workout in and went on the treadmill. Then I straightened my hair and actually got dressed. Sometimes during the summer I need a little extra push to be productive because there is something about it that makes me want to laze around in my bed all day.

Although an improvement, I was still too lazy to shave my legs (ew), so I'm wearing a pretty simple outfit. Just medium wash skinny jeans (cuffed at my ankle) and a floral top. If I go out later I'll add a few accessories, and shoes, but until then it works just fine for catching old episodes of Sabrina The Teenage Witch.

Now, I must figure out something to snack on. Sorry for the lame post today! Maybe I'll do another post tonight.

Time Traveling.

My favorite (and the only enjoyable part) of the AP United States History class that I took this year was our end of year project. We could pick any aspect or topic related to history prior to 2000. The topic I chose was women's fashion in the 1990's.
Researching this topic gave me a good opportunity to use Beverly Hills 90210 as homework. While researching I found these great photos over at whowhatwear.
The project ended up being quite simple, the majority of the research I had to do was just reading at and looking at trends. Which really, I'd be doing anyway. A few people asked me why I didn't choose something more fun like the seventies or eighties, or more elegant and gorgeous like the time period of Marie Antoinette's reign. However, the choice seemed pretty simple to me. I love the nineties. It's funny because I don't really see myself wearing many of the trends from that era. What I really love about the nineties are how closely linked the fashions and the pop culture; like music, movies, and television.
If you'd like to take a look at my project a portion of it is online, here.

Reel In That Bass.

I watch a lot of teen drama type shows (One Tree Hill, Beverly Hills 90210, etc) and of course Gossip Girl is among them. With those other shows I can't really make excuses for watching them. But with Gossip Girl I can always say that I'm watching for the clothes. The clothes are, of course, always great to see and I'd be lying if I said they hadn't influenced me from time to time. However, if the characters wore potato sacks in every episode I would still tune in, if only to catch a glimpse of Chuck Bass.

Ed Westwick looks pretty great in these photos from GQ. He looks good in all of them, I just found the one I included in the post to be particularly...stunning. Chace Crawford is kind of beautiful or pretty, but Ed is sexy. And he has a nice accent to match.

Shortcomings Of Technology.

I did a little bit of shopping with my mother yesterday and today I went to take pictures of all my purchases to then share with you all. But, my computer/camera failed me and something or another didn't work. So, we'll just have to make do with pictures I found online.

I bought these aviators from Forever21 for just $5.80. They probably won't last me very long but they'll be a fun accessory to don when I go to the beach in a few weeks. I also got an adorable owl necklace from Forever21 but it wasn't on the website. The necklace and owl pendant are gold and the owl's eyes are little green stones.

I also stopped by Sephora where I got Hope In A Jar because I was in need of a new moisturizer. It was a little pricey ($15 for half and ounce) but I used it before bed last night and it seemed to work well.

I also got two new nail polishes, a pretty pink coral shade and a neon orange to play around with. Hopefully I will have the time (and patience) to paint my nails tonight.

I got a few things from Victoria Secret and Bath and Body Works because they're having big sales. I picked up a new Sweet and Tart lotion (smells like grapefruit), a mini hand sanitizer, an aromatherapy orange ginger room spray, and matching shampoo and conditioner.

Trade The Foot Ache For a Headache.

In Britain they have a new kind of vending machine, one that dispenses a pair of flats for roughly $8.00 in American money. The vending machines are being used thus far at clubs for women who choose to wear stilettos and are about to keel over halfway through the night.

Sounds like a pretty neat idea, I know there are plenty of times I wish I had shoved a pair of flats into my purse or my school bag. If only my school had a vending machine filled with flats right next to the soda and candy.

I don't really see these vending machines making their way into America, but if they happened to, I'd definitely like to see them at all school dance locations. I don't think this happens at all schools, but at my school girls wear their heels for a few minutes and then take them off once entering the dancing area. This means the night ends with lots of dirty, sticky feet and a few lingering girls frantically searching for the shoes their mom lent them.

Would you make good use of a flat dispenser if they had them wear you live? (At clubs, at your place of work, your school, whatever.) And if you happen to live in Britain, have you tried it out?

The Things You Miss.

While on my blogging hiatus over the past few months I remember countless times where I saw photos or articles or something similar and knew that if I were blogging consistently it would've been something I had made a point to talk about. Among these things were mostly ads and photos. Now that time has passed since I've first seen these photos, many months in some of their cases, they might seem a little purposeless to mention. However, I figured that they still could inspire someone and I still thought they were worthy of being shared. So, here goes, today I am providing a feast for your eyes:










Tomorrow will be the first weekday since the school year ended and it will be the start of many things. For one it will be the start of my goal for this week, to clean out my (very messy) desk. I've organized my bedroom, closet, and dresser since deciding I wanted to become a more organized person. But there is something about the desk that has me worried. Probably because it hasn't been cleaned since Elementary school.

Breathe In And Be Inspired.

As a 'we're proud you made it through another year of high school' present my parents gave me these gorgeous flowers that are currently sitting on my dresser. The picture doesn't really do them justice but the colors are beautiful and there is quite an interesting mix of different flowers. Besides going on about pretty flowers this post does have a point. Inspiration. I'm going to talk about different ways I store and showcase things that inspire me, and maybe some of you will give me even better ideas.

First up is my bulletin board. I put everything on here. Ads, pictures of my dogs, movie ticket stubs, calender pages, magazine clippings, quotes, etc. A lot of my inspiration goes up there, and then when I get bored of one thing I just switch it out. There are other quotes and pictures scattered around my room, some on my computer and others on cabinets and mirrors and dressers. However, I'd say the majority is on the board. The bulletin board was one of the first things I put up in my room upon redoing it two Novembers ago.

A while after the bulletin board went up I got the idea to start doing an inspiration scrapbook of sorts. I've made two of these scrapbooks and flip through them from time to time. It's always interesting to see if I think I would have liked those same things if I had seen them for the first time today. The scrapbooking avenue to inspiration is a bit more time consuming than I'd like, so I more recently started storing my inspiration in another way.

Now, I've begun to store all my inspiration in plastic page holders in a binder. The inspiration in the scrapbooks and on the board were a bit more varied, whereas in the binder it is mostly ads from magazines and editorials that I liked.

I also, of course, have an inspiration folder on my computer where I store a large portion of my inspiration and from time to time I'll probably be creating an inspiration collage from the folder (to share with you all).

All the ways I've stored my inspiration have proved to work pretty well for me, and I enjoy having different things I can look at and flip through when I'm in need of a little inspiring. However, I'm always curious to know how you choose to store your inspiration? Also, what kind of things are included in this inspiration? (Quotes, magazines clippings, personal photos, etc.)

Enjoy your Saturdays!

Things I Can't Live Without This Week.

My new fringe bag, I bought it the other weekend and it is kind of gorgeous. It's a great shade of brown and is made out of suede. It doesn't look exactly like the ones shown above, but it is fairly similar, and the bag that I did get isn't online. During the school year I dress a little more prim and proper, and then summer hits and a little bit of bohemian seems to get into my blood. I'd say you can expect a lot of neon, fringe, and gladiators from me this summer.

Smith's Rosebud Salve has a million uses and has the perfect peachy color if you want to use it on your lips. It moisturizes for hours and really does seem to work wonders. I wear it at night and put a little on my lips before running out the door in the morning.

School being out! I'm done with school until the end of August. Today was my last day, I'm done with finals, waking up early in the morning, and worrying about my Algebra 2 grade. I don't know what summer will bring, other that lots of sleeping in. But, I do know I can't live without it.

Orange nail polish is the latest color I'm testing out. My nails aren't quite as long as Rihanna's because I like to keep mine short but the color is similar. If you're new to my blog(s) I am always trying new nail polishes out. Light, dark, bright, you name it. Currently though, I've had an itch to get a little bit of neon onto my nails.

And lastly, blogging. I'm extremely excited to be back to blogging. I wanted a fresh start and that is what I've created with Instinct. I hope it'll be just as fun and well received as Revolutionalized was. This isn't the traditional introduction post, which I wanted to avoid. (You can always read the clichéd first post on my last blog.) I thought it would be good to start things off by bringing back a type of post I enjoyed making on Revolutionalized.


PS- Feel free to let me know if there is anything from Revolutionalized that you would like to see continued, anything new you would like to see, or if you would like to see your blog added to the blog roll.