Gossip Girl: Fashion Review of Blair Waldorf

For the second part of my Gossip Girl fashion review, I will be talking about the ever so dramatic, strong, passionate, shopaholic, stylish Blair Waldorf. Blair is one of my favorite characters on the show because she is determined and will always work hard towards her dreams. Though she may be a bit rude to her "minions" and a bit dramatic at times, she always has a caring heart and only wants for her friends to be happy together. Not only is she is a great person to watch on television, she has an amazing sense of style. As her famous quote goes, "Whoever said money didn't buy happiness didn't know where to shop", you can always find her shopping at the top notch stores, picking out what is in or out of season, and looking great even when she's not feeling so great. 

If I had to describe Blair's style in 3 words they would be, sophisticated, classy, and show-stopping. She always manages to look very classy New York in everything she wears, which describes her personality very well. One of my absolute favorite looks from Blair is when she wears the bright green peacoat with the neon yellow bag and heels. This outfit screams Blair. It shows her classy, sophisticated style with the structure of her pea coast and her bag, but the colors pop out making it a bright and "showy" look that would just attract attention. I also love the fact that the pea coat isn't just your average pea coat, it has cut off sleeves and flares out at the end making it very fashion forward, perfect for Blair! 

Another show stopping look from Blair is when she wears the gorgeous red gown paired with hot pink shoes and clutch when she's in Paris. This look showed that attention grabbing Blair style, but also that princess like style that makes Blair still seem more classier. At the very end of the episode she meets up with Chuck for the first time in a very long time and she wears this gown and walks across a bridge to meet up with him. It was an absolutely heart breaking moment, but this dress was the perfect finish for this romantic yet tear-jerking scene. 

Blair's school style is very similar to the style she wears outside of school. Though she still wears a tie, a blazer, and a skirt, she plays it up by wearing colorful tights, decorating her blazer, and wearing cute sweaters to make the uniform not so bland. The ever so famous headbands she wears make a statement to her fashion style, but also her social status at school! 

 Finally, let's talk about her wedding dress. She does get married two times on the show, but I'm going to be talking about the dress she wore in the last episode wedding with Chuck Bass. This dress was a gorgeous sky blue Elle Saab fitted gown that enhanced her whole body shape. This dress is not like most wedding dresses since it's blue instead of white, but Blair isn't your normal everyday person. This looked absolutely stunning on her and I finally got to see Blair and Chuck together at last!

Blair Waldorf is one of my favorite characters on a TV show. She's determined, organized, sassy, and has an amazing sense of style. Until next time upper east siders! XOXO

Miss America: Kira Kazantsev

I recently just wrote a blog post about the extreme stereotypes placed on pageantry and girls who compete in them, but I realized that I focused very broadly on the stereotypes and hatred on pageants as a whole. I would like to focus on the stereotypes and harassment made specifically on our new Miss America. When the new Miss America, Kira Kazanstev was crowned, I was ecstatic and so very happy for her and her year to come. Unfortunately, others were not as impressed. I saw news articles, Facebook posts, tweets, all bashing on our newly crowned queen. Every article, tweet, post, were all stating, "Miss America won by a cup song", "She isn't talented", "You shouldn't have another Miss America from New York" and so much more on top of that. All these stories kept stating all of her flaws, but never complimented her strengths.

Kira worked so hard to prep for the Miss America competition not only in getting fit, practicing interview, and her evening gown walk, but she did hours upon hours of community service events, helped out at the Children's Miracle Network, informed others about STEM, and promoted her platform throughout the entire state of New York. When all of her work was paid off when she won Miss America, so many people were complaining about her success, instead of celebrating it. She finally achieved her life long dream of becoming Miss America and yet she received so much backlash because she sat on the ground and sang? What's so bad about that? Not only did she work so hard to become Miss America, she already has the qualifications of a great Miss America. Did you know Kira's parents immigrated from Russia to America and now she is trilingual speaking English, Spanish, and Russian fluently? She also goes to Holstra University triple majoring in Political Science, Geography, and Global Studies, and is now going to law school. Her scholarship money she won from Miss America is granting her ability to be debt free when she goes to law school to become a lawyer. So no, she won't be using the cash she won to buy more shoes, but instead placing it towards her education. Her platform, Love Shouldn't Hurt: Protecting Women Against Domestic Violence promotes the issue of eliminating domestic violence, where she speaks about her story of abuse at various shelters and homes about this important issue. 

Very recently, journalist found out that Kira Kazanstev was kicked out of her sorority for abusive hazing and it went viral. On Good Morning America and on Kira's blog, she states that she was only kicked out for sending an email that was "mean" and was only joking for the matter as well. While this is not a good reputation to have as Miss America, can we just all admit we all make mistakes? The great thing about Kira was that she owned up to her mistake (even though journalist blew it way out of proportions) and realized that she's going to make something positive out of it by informing young ladies today regarding the issue of hazing and overcoming her mistake. She took a crisis that could've ruined her reputation into something inspirational.

If you haven't realized already, Kira Kazanstev is pretty much superwomen. Not only is she drop dead gorgeous and maintains a healthy life style, she is intelligent and passionate about issues we are all facing today, she loves being an inspiration to others, and just having fun in life. Whatever comments, tweets, posts, that don't support Kira should all be deleted. This woman worked hard to be where she is at today, the least we could do is say congrats!

Gossip Girl: Fashion Review of Serena

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is Gossip Girl. One day I hope to be living on the streets of Manhattan just like Blair and Serena, but of course, without all the drama they face on a daily basis. Not only is the TV series a great drama to watch, the fashion sense on the show is defiantly on point. Each outfit is luxurious and sophisticated with a hit of the New York street style pulled in. Serena and Blair have styles so different from one another, but yet each of them looks fashionable and stylish. Today, I will be reviewing the fashion style of Serena by showing some of my favorite outfits from her ranging from everyday style, school style, to wedding dresses!

Serena Van der Woodsen, the female lead played by Blake Lively, is a sweet and outgoing girl who just wants to find her place in her life without making a huge fuss about everything. Her style also represents that as well. While she does dress classy and sophisticated, she also pulls in bohemian and beachy looks as well. Serena rocks the "I didn't try, but I still look like $100" look. 

One of my favorite looks from Serena is in Season 2, where she is seen in a gorgeous white maxi dress paired with all gold jewelry and shoes. This look not only makes her look like a Greek Goddess, it seems as if she didn’t even try at all to pull this off! 

Her school look is pretty relaxed as well, though she is required to wear a tie and a button up shirt for her prestigious school, she always manages to loosen the tie and put a cardigan or leather jacket over the shirt to display a more boho look to the sophisticated outfit. 

One of my favorite classier, chicer look from Serena is when she is in Paris and pulls of a sparkly gold blazer with a white shirt underneath with some gorgeous bright blue cropped pants. This not only makes her already long legs seem so much longer, but also shows off her broad shoulders. This defiantly is a more sophisticated look that Serena pulls off, but she looks stunning! 

Finally, lets talk about her wedding dress. In the final episode, she gets married to Dan (sorry guys, spoiler!) and looks absolutely show stopping in the gold and white ballgown. I didn’t expect such a poofy dress from Serena, but she totally rocked it! The gold pulls in the unique Serena style, but the classic ballgown style still maintains that “wedding dress” tradition.

 For Serena’s makeup, it’s always very natural. She rocks a winged eyeliner every so often, but keeps her eye shadow to a minimum. She looks great in nude or slightly pink lipsticks to complement her tan skin. For Serena’s hair, she usually wears her hair down in natural, beachy waves that give that boho, relaxed vibe. If she’s in a more sophisticated outfit, you can always find her hair pulled all the way back in pony to get all of her hair out of her face. Serena’s fashion sense is mix of boho and sophisticated New York Style, which seems like it would be very difficult to create, but every one of her outfits are gorgeous and put together. Next blog post, I’ll review Blair Waldorf! XOXO

The Secret to Makeup

Do you hate it when your foundation looks blotchy and smeared after a couple hours? Do you hate it when your eyeshadow fades away due to oil eyelids? Fear no more because there is a solution to this mid-life crisis we are all facing today. If you want your makeup to stay on all day and not smudge, use a primer. No, not a paint primer, but a makeup primer. Before you put on foundation, spray on a makeup setting spray or a foundation primer to ensure that your foundation can stay on all day. Before you apply your eyeshadow, be sure to first apply an eyeshadow primer to the eyeshadows can stick to your eyelids and not smudge.

 But what kind to use? My favorite foundation primer is the Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray. This setting spray is super easy to use, just spray it on your face 2-3 times and you are done. And since it’s a clear spray, it won’t change your foundation color in any way as well. What makes the All Nighter different from other primers is that you can also spray it on after you applied your makeup to ensure that your makeup will not budge, but also give your foundation a natural dewy finish and not a cakey, powdered finish. From my personal experience, this setting spray can make your foundation stay on day. I first spray a few spritz of the All Nighter before I apply foundation, then I conceal and powder to finish my foundation. Because some powders can make your face look extremely cakey, I then spray on All Nighter again to get a nice natural finish to your makeup. The only downside to the Urban Decay All Nighter Makeup Setting Spray is that it is on the expensive side (costs $30), but I think it’s a much better investment than buying more foundations and powders! For eyeshadow primers, I also recommend the Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion. This will not budge; I used it for Homecoming last night and my eyeshadow stayed in place even after being all hot and sweaty after the dance!

The secret to having makeup staying put all day is a good makeup primer. Test different kinds out to see which brands and types of primers work best for your skin. Once you find your favorite primer, you won’t ever have to worry about redoing or touching up your makeup because it won’t fade or smear off! 

Youtube Style Icons

Our generation is becoming more tech savvy than ever. With a new iPhone 6 out this week, schools having SMART boards or essentially huge iPads as whiteboards, and all the information in the world by entering google.com onto safari, we have the world on our fingertips. With new social media sites and technology, the beauty and fashion industry is working its way in as well. YouTube is one of the most popular sites on the Internet and popular videos receive up to millions of views each day. These videos aren't just music videos and How To's, some popular hits are created from normal people like us! YouTube stars are the new rising celebrities and you consistently see them at red carpet events, TV interviews, and even magazine covers. Though some YouTube stars are comedians and singers, many of the hottest YouTube stars are beauty and fashion YouTubers. Big names like Bethany Mota, Michelle Phan, Zoella, and Ingrid Nilsen were once just a small YouTube account and now have up to 8 million subscribers and 600 million views on each of their YouTube accounts. These YouTubers post videos of makeup tutorials, hair tutorials, fashion lookbooks, hauls, and everything in between. If you need any tips and tricks regarding beauty and fashion, just look it up on YouTube and you are guaranteed to find a helpful video.

Today, popular beauty and fashion YouTubers are rising up in the celebrity world. Bethany Mota has a huge fan base called the “Motavaters” and created her own clothing line in Aeropostale and now is on the cover of Seventeen Magazine! Michelle Phan created a makeup line in Lancome and now is the CEO of her own makeup line “Em Cosmetics”. Ingrid Nilsen is the new Covergirl “Glambassador” and Zoella just released her first book. Now you might ask, what makes them so famous? They just sit in their bedroom and make videos. While that is true, teens today look for those normal everyday girls who they can relate to, and seeing a girl in her bedroom talking about fashion or doing a makeup tutorial feels like home. These YouTubers not only can relate to the viewers watching, but also provide a little inspiration for them to, whether it’s fashion related or just for them.

For me, I began my love of fashion and makeup through YouTube. I instantly got hooked on watching tons of YouTube tutorials and fashion lookbooks. I started watching videos from Bethany Mota, Michelle Phan, and Ingrid Nilsen way back when they own had a few thousand subscribers. Now they are dominating our fashion and beauty world by just a simple click away!