Time Doesn't Stand Still.

It's hard to believe that July is almost over! Summer always passes so quickly, and of course July flew by. Once you get to August it becomes a little hard to ignore that soon enough school will start again. This year though I'm thinking that August will be a very exciting month for me because I have lots of different things going on, all leading up to my senior year of high school!

On this Saturday, the last day of July, I'm going to get my haircut in order to prepare for my senior pictures which I'm taking on the 6th of August. I'm not making a huge production of the pictures like some people choose to, but I'm really in need of the haircut. I haven't quite decided what I'm going to do to my hair, I guess I'll spend the rest of my day looking for pictures of good hairstyles.

And now, this next thing is something I've been waiting for for a long time. I don't know to what extent I've expressed this on my blog, but I'm a very big Kris Allen fan. I loved him when he was on American Idol, and I still can't get enough of him! I'm going to see him in concert on the 8th when he's opening for the Bare Naked Ladies. I posted about attending my first concert in May, and that experience would be hard to top, but they could end up neck and neck.

All of that excitement will be followed by taking my drivers test this month! (I feel weird posting the actual day, because if I end up failing it will be terribly awkward. I'm sure you'll get to hear about how it works out though.) It will have been almost a year since I got my permit by the time I get around to taking the test, but it seems like just yesterday I was blogging about going in for my permit. This next thing doesn't have a date to accompany it either, but it could end up being a very important part of the month. I'm hoping to get a car this month, just something to drive until I go away to college, I'm definitely crossing my fingers that I find something.

After all of that I'll be going on vacation the week of the 16th. We're visiting family is Massachusetts, and then we're going to Maine. I've never been to Maine before, so it should be something new and interesting. I always like to post a little something about preparing for vacation, so I'm sure you can expect that in the future.

And lastly, on the very last day of August, I have to go back to school. In one way I'll be sad for summer to end, because I'll be spending the entire school year wanting it to come around again. But, in another way, I'm not dreading it quite as much because hey, I only have to survive one more year!

That pretty much maps out my month! Let me know what you'd like to see on Instinct in the month of August. I'd love to hear it.

(The picture is of Alyssa Miller and is from the July 2010 Italian Vogue. I just couldn't resist how summery it was and how great all the colors were. You can find the entire editorial, here.)

PS: Something happened and I went a little crazy and ended up linking to and referring to a ton of older posts!

Everyone Loves Odds and Ends.

I wanted to talk about a few random things today, so be prepared! I'm going to start off with an award.

Elizabeth Faraday awarded be with the very cute, Cherry on Top award.

The award comes with five rules which are as follows:
1. Thank the person that gave you award.
Thank you for the award! This is my first blog award and I was really excited to receive it.
2. Copy the award and put it on the blog.
Check!
3. List 3 things you love about yourself.
I love that I'm determined, I love that I am so ready for the future, and lastly, I love that I'm organized.
4. Post a picture you love.

5. Tag 5 people to pass the award on to
I haven't decided who I'm going to tag yet, so stay tuned!

Onto other random stuff!

This color is Essie's Funky Limelight, and it's the most neon yellow you could imagine. If you could get a good manicure using a highlighter, it would look like this. But if you have any experience with neon nail polishes, you'll know that they're a pain to get to look opaque and not be streaky. I wore this color a while ago and had to do too many coats to even count. But I'm wearing the color again now and it worked perfectly because I did two coats of white polish and then two coats or the neon yellow. And it's perfect. It's so bright and fun, especially for summer. Maybe not for everyone, but I love having fun with my nail polish.

I guess this is going to turn into a bit of a things I'm loving post, because I wanted to share this with you too. I've been a fan of the band Hedley for a while, but I think I've started a little obsession lately! This song is called Shelter and is my current favorite from them.

Let me know what you love today! And if you're wearing nail polish, what color is it, or what is your favorite for summer?

Down A Step.

I bought a pair of heeled oxford booties a few years ago and was head over heels in love with them. In fact, I still love my patent menswear inspired beauties. Unlike many people I've gotten opinions from, I'm quite the fan of wearing heels to high school. However, once I started attending my fashion program at school, I realized heels aren't always the most practical for standing around and practicing monotonous sewing techniques and what not. So, as much as I still love all my heels, I also have to consider that sometimes flats really are necessary. Which is why I decided I needed an update on the oxford front.

I didn't want anything that totally screamed, "I should be on the foot of a man." But I still wanted something menswear inspired, like my much loved booties. I had been a little wary of ditching the heel on the oxfords, because the heel definitely separates them from being a man's shoe. So, what better way to keep them feminine than to get metallic oxfords?

I think they'll be perfect! They're going to be comfortable enough for rushing to the bus (I'm hoping to drive by the time my senior year starts, but I'll probably end up driving to my regular school and taking the bus to and from the fashion program I attend) and plenty cute enough to wear with one of my favorite floral dresses.

Loving anything menswear inspired, or rocking a new pair of shoes? Hope your weeks are going great! And just in case they aren't, remember you've already surpassed the halfway mark.

Get Ready For Repitition.

It's hard to believe that I started blogging when I was a freshman in high school. I remember being a freshman and everyone had to make a presentation on the career they wanted. Mine was about a career in fashion. Now, it's hard to believe that I'm going to be a senior when school starts again at the end of August. I don't know how much everyone who reads my blog knows about me, but I'm still planning to pursue a career in fashion.

This year I'm sure you can expect to see lots of posts about college, the future, and all other important topics plaguing the mind of a high school senior. So, I thought I'd kick things off a little early, because college is definitely a topic on my mind.

I decided that it would be a good way to introduce you to where my mind is at when it comes to college if I talked a little about a few of the schools I'm considering. And if you'd like to give me any input, it's always much appreciated.


Fashion Institute of Technology
When I first started considering fashion as a career path I didn't have it narrowed down yet, so when I decided I wanted to study fashion merchandising and become a stylist, it knocked the art schools I had looked at out of the running. However, FIT I offers a variety of fashion related degrees, so it was one that I thought about early on. For a long time I had my mind totally set on going there, but as senior year approached I started to realize that I wanted to keep my options open and make sure I weighed all the different ones out there. FIT provides students with lots of great opportunities, and it's in NYC, which definitely helps to keep it at the top of my list. I read a lot about the school in a book from College Prowler that's part of their Off The Record series. It mostly seemed like a good match for me, but I've also started to consider that it doesn't provide a typical college experience. But then again, I don't know that the typical college experience would suit me! Lots to think about.


LIM College
I'd have to admit that I haven't known about LIM for all that long, and so I won't be surprised if not many of you know of it. I first heard about the school when I started in a fashion program at school. There was one girl who was graduating early and had already weighed all of her options. She mentioned the school, and I checked out their website online. It's a school that is solely focused on the business side of fashion. Not too long after that a representative from LIM came and talked to my class and I began thinking of it more seriously as an option. It's also in New York, and it has an awesome internship program.


Philadelphia University
This is the last school that I'm going to talk about today. I don't want to consider only schools that are exactly the same, so I think PU (bad initials) is pretty different. They do offer a fashion merchandising major, like both the other schools, but there are still plenty of differences. Philadelphia still provides plenty of fashion opportunities, but it's no New York. It would also be more of a 'typical' college experience, which I haven't really decided if I'd like or not!

That's it for my discussion of the future, for now! I'm proud of you if you read through all of this. I do want to specify that I haven't narrowed my choices down to just these three, I'm hoping to keep finding schools that I'm interested in over the next few months, these are just three that I have thought a good deal about!

A Successful Effort.

I don't do posts like these often, but they're ones that I enjoy. I love getting to see people's inspiration. What's behind a project or an outfit, whatever it may be. Inspiration is such an important part of fashion, just like inspiration is so important to good writing or good art, it's important to good style too.

So, I wanted to share some of my inspiration with you. Some of these are things that are just starting to inspire me recently, while others are things I've dug out of the inspiration folder archives.

Hopefully you'll find something new to inspire you, and I'd love to know or see what it is that is inspiring you! Also, let me know what you think of this collage. I used a website I'm unfamiliar with to create it, so I'm interested to see how it goes over.

And on a final note, I haven't been the best blogger lately! Which means, I apologize and I do have things planned and intend to be better about blogging regularly. If there is anything you'd like to see more of around here, let me know.

Something About The Office.

I searched high and low for the perfect picture for this most. A photo is supposed to be worth a thousand words, so I figured this one should be able to say just a few things for me. It needed to say, "I work in an office." Upon starting my search for the perfect photo, I realized that I should make what it needed to say a bit more specific. It needed to say, "I work in an office, and I do not arrive at work without a shirt on." It turns out finding a fashion editorial that says just one of these things is hard enough, but both appears to be nearly impossible. My search was unsuccessful, so here is a photo from an editorial about Americans in Paris. That's nice too.

The point of all of this was...Oh yeah, I got my first job. I was trying to think of what I should post about today, and I realized that I hadn't shared something with any of you. I got my first job for the summer. It isn't my ideal job, but it turns out it's really hard to get a job in retail when you have absolutely no experience and there are hardly any retail stores nearby. Pretty much, if you're in high school and you want a job around here, you have your choice of about three restaurants. I knew that wasn't for me, so I believe I've found the best option. I'm an office assistant. They don't need my help all the time, so I've just been putting in a few hours every week, which is fine by me. I have plenty of summer time to relax, but I'll still be making a little money.

Mostly my job entails doing those boring little time consuming tasks that nobody else wants to do. Putting brochure inserts into brochures, putting together folders, preparing postcards, etc. It's all pretty easy stuff, and occasionally I even get to put my organization skills to good use. The highlight so far has been when I got to use the label maker. It turns out I'm quite fond of label making, and sneaked a few for myself. It also doesn't hurt that they use Hershey kisses as part of their marketing and there always plenty around.

Anyway, I didn't really mean to detail the job for you, this was more of an update. I thought I'd share what is happening in my life so that if I ever do decide to post a work outfit or something, it won't be totally out of the blue.

I also thought this would be a good opportunity to share my current wish list. I haven't received my first paycheck yet, but it's coming up soon and I want to be prepared.

Chanel Rouge Coco lipstick

Beverly Hills, 90210 season 4

MAC Dazzleglass Creme from the Alice + Olivia collection

Michael Kors watch

I think I'll definitely end up purchasing something from the Alice + Olivia collection (unless they're terrible in person), but otherwise these are just a few things I've been thinking about. (My paycheck definitely wouldn't cover all of it anyway!)

Change Of Pace.

I've been trying to decide on the perfect amount of makeup and the perfect 'look' for summer. You know, nothing to heavy or overdone, but enough to enhance everything just a bit. I've worn the same look twice now, and usually I'm switching it up all the time, so I thought it was a good sign that this was a good summer option.

I guess I'll give a kind of mini-tutorial. I started by putting Urban Decay Primer Potion on my eyelids. Then I put a shimmery nude cream shadow on my lid. (A shimmery sand color works too, and be careful not to apply too much or it will crease.) The cream shadow I used was from the Revlon Creme Illuminance quad in Seashells. I also used the white color from this quad, which I put under my brow bone and down to my crease. Then I put MAC's pigment in Naked on just my lid. I blended it just enough to soften the edges but not enough to make the color travel too much. Next, I put on black mascara, the one I'm using currently is Rimmel's Sexy Curves. After that I put on just enough of a dark grey eyeliner, I'm a fan of Revlon's Colorstay eyeliners. The one I used was in Charcoal. Then, for the face I dotted just a little bit of the NYC Creme Blush in Big Apple Blush on the apples of my cheeks and blended it up towards my cheekbones. I put concealer on a few places just to brighten up my face (under my eyes, around my nose.) I also swept a little bit of a pressed powder over my face. I didn't include it in the picture because I'm really not happy with the one I'm using! This step isn't totally necessary, but I like to set everything with a powder. Lastly I like to add a little lip gloss. I'm still loving the Maybelline Shine Sensational one in Freshly Sliced which I mentioned a few weeks ago.

I hope that wasn't terribly confusing! This isn't my normal type of post and I thought it would be fun to share.

How much makeup do you wear for summer?

PS: Why do all of my pictures turn out like this? Suggestions?