Style Crush: Megan Mace

the other night i was scrolling through instagram (follow me @bhouhoulis) on the explore page and i saw a picture of megan and liz on @sugarnspicefashion instagram and went over to megans instagram (@meganmckinley) and realized that i have the biggest style crush on her. i have used to watch megan and liz's youtube videos so i knew who they are, and i hear their song on the radio which is extremely catchy. anywho... everything she wears is the exact type of style i want to have. she has somewhat of a grunge style that i adore. my wardrobe isn't as grunge as her style because i don't have the money for that nor do i ever have a reason to dress up. but most of my wardrobe is black, which is why my family calls me the goth. i for some reason attract to darker color clothing and i don't find anything wrong with that! if i could have one girls wardrobe i feel like it would be megans. of course after stalking megans instagram i went to her tumblr and she mentioned some of her favorite stores: nastygal, urbanoutfitters, brandy melville, jawbreaking, and forever 21. i feel an online shopping trip coming on! do any of you feel a certain type of style, if so what is it? what are some of your favorite stores?

January Favorites

As january is coming to a close i figured i would share some of my favorites for the month. I'm starting to think that I might share a few favorites at the end of each month or really whenever i feel like sharing some of my favorite things. i'm not going to limit it to just beauty or fashion, whatever i feel is a favorite is going in the picture! this months favorites include:

• cooperative boucle eternity scarf
• urban decay naked palette; buck and naked especially. i have been wearing a very subtle natural look for this month
• sigma e25 blending brush
• essie nail polish in beyond cozy; have been wearing this as an accent nail about every time i do my nails
• lush mint julips lip scrub; my lips have been so chapped this month! this really helps my lips feel brand new
• burberry brit eau de toilette perfume
• MAC mineralized skin finish in soft and gentle 
• washi tape
• special k pastry crisps; only 100 calories and they taste just like pop tarts perfect for the mornings

Lets Get Fit!

around this time last year I was a lot more fit and active than i am now. over the past year i have lost 21 lbs which is a huge deal for me. over the summer i kept active and eating right (thanks to weight watchers). once i went back to school this year i think i was so overwhelmed with going back to school i didnt work out as much or watch what i ate. so starting this today i'm going to start going to the gym before my class and eat better. first i need to stop eating junk food, i seem to snack a lot. which seems ridiculous since i just went to georgetown and bought a bunch of cupcakes, but since i'm such an air head i forgot them at home (i'm back at school). i also want to try to cut out most and if not all soda. last time i decided to do this i bought a new camelbak this time i bought those fresh new nike kicks. i went through nikeid and designed them myself, granite they don't arrive for another 4 weeks but i'll suffice for now. i'm actually really motivated this time to work out, i have noticed that i'm not as toned as i was when i actually went to the gym. i'll be honest here, i had a toned behind... now it looks like a pancake. time to get my ass in shape, literally and figuratively.

what are some of your workout tips and tricks? how do you keep motivated to keep going to the gym? i'm going to be working out every other day. luckily my monday wednesday classes dont start until 1:30 so thats plenty of time to get up and go to the gym! i used to use my nike app but seeing as i have zero space on my phone i had to delete the app. i was thinking that i may be posting less because i usually spend my days at school and then blogging and doing homework, so i may be taking some me time to get things done. but i do want to stay up to date on here so i will post as much as i can! i was thinking about maybe doing some fitness updates and goals and such, maybe it will help me stay on track. would you like to see it or just a waste? do any of you have a goal to get in shape? lets get fit together!

Georgetown Adventure

[urban renewal vintage french combat jacket, cooperative boucle eternity scarf, under armour EVO coldgear leggings, combat boots from nordstrom, aviators borrowed from bailey] 

I came home this weekend to pick up a few things i left at home and also to get my car fixed, poor marvin is getting old. so while at home i decided i wanted to take advantage of being home and do things that I didnt get the time to do while I was home on break. I knew the number one thing on my list was to go to georgetown and pick up my cupcakes at some of my favorite cupcake shops. I called up bailey (who is the wonderful photographer for this adventure) to see if she would like to take a trip to georgetown with me. I totally knew who to call because I know bailey would never pass up an adventure into georgetown. I wore my new "military inspired" jacket that i received for my birthday, it's a little big and makes me look large but i'm still in love with it. I paired that with my favorite scarf that i got for christmas, my roommate and I call it the poodle scarf. this jacket and scarf has become "my favorite outfit" and luckily for me since its a jacket and scarf i can wear it constantly! 

we went into urban outfitter because i have two gift cards there, i decided to save my gift cards until the season changes and i can get some really cute summer clothes. needless to say these urban outfitter gift cards are going to be burning a hole into my pocket. finally we walked to georgetown cupcakes and lucky for us i'm a regular and got to cut in front of the line, and by regular i mean i'm smart enough to order my cupcakes a day ahead so i get to pass the ridiculously long line! now you guys know my secret, always. order. ahead. 

our next stop was sprinkles cupcakes! we got side tracked by a random guy who all of a sudden started a conversation with us on the corner, totally threw us off our game but we somehow recovered and made it back down the main drive. once again were side tracked by the nike store because I just customized a pair of new running shoes and had to make sure i ordered the right size. Sprinkles was in our sight... but once again I got side tracked and i had to go into paper source to get some washi tape, might i add i picked up 2 adorable rolls. finally we were in route (and i mean walk next door) to sprinkles, i was so ready bailey kept raving about the s'mores cupcake and i was so ready for it! walk inside and they were currently out... it was a 30-45 minute wait and unfortunately it was not time we had to spend. I settled with getting a cinnamon sugar cupcake and a strawberry to go. they had the adorable vintage style coke bottles so of course i had to get one of those as well.

the day was a great success. i got my cupcakes (even though it wasn't s'mores. theres always april), got to try on my future shoes, got some washi tape that i have had my eye on for awhile, and might I add had an awesome parking spot in the heart of georgetown. ps. these are probably the last pictures taken with my hair ombred, its getting cut out this weekend. but don't fret, i'm probably going to do it again!

everyone should go check out baileys blog!

Maybelline Color Tattoo Metals: Barely Branded & Inked in Pink

I was wondering around target the other day when I saw these bad boys and I knew they had to be mine. I had no idea Maybelline was coming out with another color tattoo collection already. Maybelline has launched five new shades of Color Tattoo Metal Eyeshadow for Spring 2013. I only picked up two of the five new shades because these would be my most used colors. The five colors in this collection are barely branded, inked in pink, silver strike, gold rush, and electric blue. I have my eyes on silver strike and electric blue but I really would never have any real use for them... but if I ever see a buy on get one half off or any sort of deal you best believe they will be mine. 

I'm not sure why I got barely branded because I picked up the barely beige from the fall collection and they look pretty similar but I haven't swatched them side by side yet. I'm assuming since the collection is called "metal" that the colors are supposed to be metallic which I don't really get, more shimmery once its sheered out than metallic but its not a horrible thing. barely branded is a warm, creamy beige with a frosted and somewhat metallic finish. I can see it being a very versatile color for many people. Inked in pink is a dusty pink with a metallic finish. 

the maybelline color tattoos will continue to be one of my favorite items in the drug store. these two new color tattoos bring my collection to 8 color tattoos total. I got mine at target for $5.99 which is a heck of a deal if you ask me. The pots are deep so you're getting lots of product and the product is great as a base or on its own. I will continue to stick with the color tattoos as long as they keep bringing out more collections! 

January Birchbox - Best Year Ever

Feels like forever since i have done a birchbox box opening. I skipped the month of december because I have the boxes shipped to my apartment at school so I didn't get that box until the beginning of january, only a few weeks before I received this months! This month was a huge surprise for me, I didn't watch the video on youtube and i didn't log into birchbox online to see what my box was. So I went through this unboxing as I probably should with no spoilers. This months box weighed .4050 and contained 

• embryolisse lait-creme concentre - 24 hour miracle creme
• harvey prince skinny chic
• lashem double trouble lash mascara (lies, all lies. it was an eyelash/eyebrow enhancing serum)
• ojon rare blend oil total hair therapy
• theblam cosmetics hot mama

this months box wasn't a total fail but it wasn't my favorite. instead of the tissue packet they did a cute double ended box thing (no idea how to explain it) that had 2 samples in it. the box also came with a folded up packet, if you will, that had 25 ways to make 2013 awesome. As a graphic designer it was really cute and i liked the design element of it. the embryolisse miracle creme seems like it can come in handy because my skin has been breaking out over the past week, not sure if its the weather or what. of course i got another perfume same, this one i didnt hate as much as the other i have received because it was more on the fruity smell rather than the floral smell. when i read on my card a lash mascara with fibers i got really excited because i have yet to try a fiber mascara, when i found out thats not what i got i was super bummed! i'm not sure if i will ever use the lash serum... it makes me nervous sticking stuff like that really close to my eyes. the ojon hair therapy i guess could be good with my ends because they are so dead from all the dying i have done to it... so it wont be a complete waste. and the one thing i was so excited about was thebalm hot mama blush/eyeshadow! i have heard so many great things about this blush. the color is a blush color i would totally use! the one thing about this is that it is so small, but i guess thats what you get when you pay only $10 for a box. overall it was a good box, i'm going to keep my subscription to them because i love getting a package the mail every month, and let be honest... i love birchbox no matter what i get!

if you want to get a birchbox of your own click the link here. it will help you skip the waiting list!

insta moments

i know, i know... i have been mia for pretty much a month. so heres a little insta update to why i have been mia. since i have turned 21 i have been livin' it up, i had a birthday dinner with my high school friends, i went to the bars for my friends 21st, and have been spending lots of time with family over winter break. my family actually got a new car! its a nissan frontier and i'm in love with it, i named it gus. i have wanted a truck for ages now so i'm excited the family finally has one! for new years i went to pittsburgh with some of my friends and it was a rough weekend. i caught a cold right after christmas so new years i was sick but still partook in new years activities. once i finally got home i spent a few days in bed trying to get over this cold but failed, seeing i still have this cold. school started back up last week, syllabus week has been interesting. i have some classes i'm really excited for and others that i'm not excited about. and finally coming upon my last insta, i was in the hospital yesterday. i'm out now and feeling a little better. i have been given some strong medicine that actually makes me have blurred vision and drowsiness to the point that i just pass out. i'm probably skipping my class tomorrow and because of that i will be able to post my current birchbox i received today! i miss blogging a ton so hopefully i can begin to update more frequently.