Summer Blues

I, personally, love the blue embroidery look, so when I saw this dress in J.Crew Factory, I couldn't pass it up! Not only is it sleeveless and light-weight for those hot summer days, but I find it so easy to dress up or down depending on the occasion. It has beautiful detailing at the top and bottom which was the hook, line, and sinker for me!

Dress / Bracelets (1, 2) / Watch / Shoes (similar)

Charming Charleston

Hey guys! It's been too long since I've made a new post, but last year was killer busy for me. I was a junior in high school this past school year which is already very tough. I took challenging courses, and on top of all of that, I was a member of my school's student council and had a part-time job. So needless to say, I had very little free time. But, enough about school because IT'S SUMMER!

This summer has already been pretty busy, but luckily, things are starting to slow down a bit. My summer started a bit early because my family took a trip to Charleston to attend my (favorite) cousin's graduation - shout-out to you Colleen! We rented a beach house in Isle of Palms, and it was beautiful! Although it took us 30 minutes to get to downtown Charleston, we were able to walk to the beach which was well worth it for me!

On one of the first days of the trip, I went to the Children's Museum of Lowcountry with my mom, dad, sister, and nephew. It was precious, very interactive, and fun for the children (both big and small)! I will admit, I was caught playing with some of the exhibits as well. If you ever find yourself in Charleston with children and want something to do, I would highly recommend coming here! My nephew didn't want to leave, and frankly, neither did I!

That night, we went to dinner at Hominy Grill which was so delicious! I ordered the Charleston Nasty which was a chicken biscuit, and might I add, it was the best I have ever had! After we returned back home from dinner, we ate cupcakes from Sugar Bakeshop which were all as tasty as they were pretty which is hard to believe since they were the most beautiful cupcakes I have ever seen. As you can tell so far, we ate a lot on this trip.

The next day was Colleen's actual graduation, and to celebrate, we ate at Cypress that night. It is a nice restaurant downtown, and after we ate, we were able to walk and see the Pineapple Fountain. Unfortunately, the iPhone does not do the fountain lights justice at night, so I don't have any cool pictures to share, but if you ever visit Charleston, you must see the fountain!

The next few days were filled with exploration and shopping! We went to the Charleston Farmer's Market Saturday morning, and we spent the rest of the afternoon shopping on the legendary King Street and relaxing by the pool at our beach house. This trip was full of firsts for me! I stepped foot (for the first time) into a Kate Spade, Lilly Pulitzer, and Vineyard Vines which is quite surprising since my closet is full of all, but I'm no stranger to online shopping. All three stores met my expectations plus some! The staff was so friendly, and I loved being able to see everything in person! Now, I know that a lot of you will think I'm crazy after this, but I already purchased my graduation dress for next year. It is a gorgeous white lace dress from Kate Spade that I am obsessed with! And props to my mom for picking it out all on her own which surprised me the most! Unfortunately, I did not purchase anything from Palm Avenue because it was very busy, but at Vineyard Vines, I bought an "I Whale Charleston" tshirt, a whale koozie, and a 5-pack of whale stickers. So as you can tell, I'm all "whaled" out!

As my magnificent trip to Charleston came to a close, my family and I spent the last afternoon at the beach soaking up the sun and visiting with each other. I could not imagine a better way to end such an amazing trip, and I hope that I am able to visit Charleston again soon!

Normal vs Gel Manicures

I am completely guilty of going to the nail salon for a manicure instead of painting my nails myself. First and foremost, I am awful at painting my own nails. I am right-handed, so my right hand is practically covered in nail polish by the end of it because my left hand is so shaky. Also, the nail salon does such a great job of keeping your nails healthy and clean-cut, and once you go to the same salon as often as my sister and I do, the workers start to remember your name, family, and life story, and you do the same! But, I'm not writing this post to persuade you to go to the nail salon, I'm writing to give you guys my opinion on shellac/gel nail polish and regular nail polish.

I may ramble in this post, but bare with me. Nine out of the ten times my nails are painted, the color is gel. I am a "once you go shellac, you never go back" girl all the way because the color seems to stay on my nails for two weeks with no/minimal chipping. That is just unheard of with regular nail polish! The polish also has almost no drying time! I can leave the nail salon and go run errands, do chores, etc because my nails are dry immediately, but if I get a normal manicure, I feel like I can't do anything for the rest of the day because of the chance of ruining my freshly painted nails. So, I would definitely recommend a gel manicure next time you need one whether you go to the nail salon or use the gel polishes in stores like Sally Hansen and Essie which I also highly recommend. I've tried the Sally Hansen ones, and they seem to work very well!

Now if you decide to get a gel manicure in a nail salon, the different brands of polishes react differently on different nail beds, so it's best to figure out which polish works best for you. An example would be how Essie's gel polish stays on my nails for forever and is fabulous for me, but it does not stay on my sister's nails for long at all. Another example would be how CND's gel polish does not even dry when painted on my nails. No matter how long I put my hands under the dryer, the polish does not dry, but my sister swears by the polish! The workers at the nail salon said that it depends on the oil levels on your nail bed mixing with the polish. I don't know about all that, I just know what polish works with my nails and which don't. Don't get me wrong, I do use regular nail polish all the time (Essie is my fav!), but when in the nail salon, I prefer getting a gel manicure. I hope that this helped some of you guys!