How to style a scarf as a main piece - Jordanian Scarf and Zara Jeans

Hello!

It's been a hectic week and weekend, super busy with work and a blogger event (recap post coming soon!) and hanging out with long lost friends (my college roommate was in town so I got to see her for a halloween party in hollywood!). It was so nice because I hadn't seen my friend in 3 years, so it was really convenient to see her! I went to a halloween party at a club in Hollywood hosted by IronMan Magazine, it was a rather busy day because I went to a blogging event #FabDILab in Santa Monica (outfit post to come!), got home, quickly changed into a makeshift halloween costume, and headed out! I managed to develop a small cold too, I think from constantly being on the go and not allowing my body to rest! So I took yesterday off and worked from home. It was a nice little break.

The weather in LA has recently gotten a little cooler, so I'm pretty happy we have somewhat of a fall (but I am still in shorts during the day). On one of the cooler days I decided to wear this outfit I wore to lab, with my Zara skinny jeans and a plain white tank top from Forever21. Since it was a little chilly, I covered up using this beautiful scarf I received as a gift from my boyfriend's wonderful mother from Jordan. It was gorgeous!!! I fell in love with it and the pattern, it is totally fall! Matched with my black ankle booties from Target (Brand: Sam & Libby), I thought it was the perfect fall outfit that could be worn to work or out to dinner, drinks, whatever! Sorry for the multiple photos, I loved this shoot and couldn't decide on just a few photos to post!

Mission Pink Event - Breast Cancer Awareness with Susan G. Komen and The Outlets at Orange

Happy Monday!

Last week I was invited by my blogger friend Samira from Stylemesamira.com to attend an event at the Outlets at Orange in Orange, CA (outside of LA, Orange county) to raise awareness and funds for Breast Cancer with the Susan G. Komen Foundation through out the entire month of October, called "Mission Pink" (#MissionPink). I'm sure you have heard that October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, and a lot of people have been donning pink (or some purple) in support.

Ever since I was in high school, I was taking part of "Team Walk for Cancer Care" in my hometown, and we would fundraise and walk every year for Cancer research and awareness. As a graduate student and scientist working on biochemistry research, I am fully supportive of raising awareness and funds for research for breast cancer - a particularly tough disease that affects more people than you would expect. Did you know that one case of breast cancer is diagnosed every two minutes?! The statistics are astonishing, and while I do not directly do breast cancer research, laboratories need funding in order to make the breakthroughs and finding cures! Basic research (and translational research) is so important in determining mechanisms and proteins involved in disease pathology, that government cuts in funding are only pushing us back in eventually finding cures.

Simon, the parent corporation for the Outlets at Orange, set up several events throughout the month to raise funds, with a guaranteed donation minimum of $250,000 (Score! Do you know how much research that can fund?!?! Amazing!) to fund research and "support women, men and families suffering from breast cancer, and move toward a world with no breast cancer," said Dr. Judy Salerno, Komen President and CEO.

The event I went to was a Mission Pink - Yelp Elite Combined event, with a cool fashion show in which models from various retailers at the Outlets displayed pops of pink color to show their support in Mission Pink. There was free food, music, open bar, and various raffles and contests to win free stuff! It was rather cool! There was also a "wall of strength," in which a $1 donation, survivors, families and friends wrote their message of strength on a laminated "brick" and posted their picture.

My New Glasses and Firmoo Giveaway!

Hi Loves!
I never had to wear glasses before, but with all the time I spend in front of the computer with blogging and work as well as being on my phone a lot, I have been getting a lot of headaches and migraines. I went to get my eyes checked because I noticed that my eyes would start to hurt and then I would have a cluster headache behind my eye. I went and got my eyes checked and I found out I have astigmatism and a very slight slight prescription, and also because of how much time I spend in front of a screen, the more tired my eyes get from having to focus constantly. So, I decided to get glasses to do the work for me when my eyes get tired, so my prescription is slight but it has drastically helped with my headaches and it is awesome!! Just goes to show you how slight changes in your lifestyle can affect you!

Well, anyway, a few months ago I was contacted by Firmoo Optics to test out a pair of their glasses and they gifted me a pair, and since I hadn't updated my prescription yet (I hadn't gotten my eyes checked then), I used an old prescription and while they still work for my eyes they are a little straining. You can see that post from April HERE. So with my updated prescription I bought a new pair (with my own money) and found an even more fashionable pair that I am in love with and am currently wearing as I type this post! The total cost was around $30 because there was a sale going on and they offer free lenses! Which is awesome because at the optometrist it was $60 for lenses and then super expensive frames! Firmoo gives free lenses and a couple of free add ons, or cheap add ons like glare removal, etc., and the frames are super stylish, durable and cheap!

Here is my look with these dark rimmed glasses with some gold accents! There is also a touch of purple on the frames which is awesome! Keep reading below for a chance to get your own pair from Firmoo for free (Giveaway!)

Conference Style Guide: What kind of Handbag to bring to a Conference

Hi loves!
Since I have been to so many conferences this past year (and still on planning on going to a few more before I graduate), I have become experienced with what kinds of bags work or don't work for carrying your things at conferences without sacrificing style!
I am coorganizing a symposium at the ASBMB 2016 Meeting in San Diego in April, and hopefully attending another conference or two by the summer - so there are a lot of opportunities to network but so many opportunities to be stylish as well!

What do you usually carry with you at a conference?

How to Style an Elegant Dress - LURAP Gown

Greetings!
The science gods are smiling at me and are bringing good research vibes to me, finally, after toiling and stressing about experiments not working all last month! So I am in a pretty good mood after a successful hump day :)
Today I bring you another outfit post on how I styled an elegant dress I received from LURAP.com - that stands for L-ove UR AP-pearance, which I think is pretty clever! It is a customizable outfit site, similarly to other sites I've come across and worked with, like eShakti. They have so many cute elegant and stylish dresses, and I was very pleased with the price range! I had a really hard time deciding what piece to review, because there were so many options! Since it is fall (although in LA it still feels like summer), I decided to go with a wine colored dress. I picked this "My All Time Fav Gown," (which you can check out HERE) that was originally displayed as a royal blue (which is gorgeous!!), but I already have a couple of blue dresses. I was really digging the high neck and sleeveless gathered bodice look of the dress, as it looks so flattering on the site. As you can see, the high neck has pleats that fall into a gathered waist bodice, and the rest of the dress just falls flowingly and beautiful! This dress and the gathered waist really accentuates my curves and I am in love!
Since I could customize the dress, I picked my size based on my measurements (they have a handy size guide), and I decided to not go with a floor length gown, but instead go for knee length style and gave them my height (5' 2") so they could more exactly tailor it to my height (which is awesome! YAY!). If you read my last post about maxi dresses for petite girls, you can tell I'm a little nervous to wear floor length dresses, at least elegant fancy dresses, so this dress length was just perfect! (Anyway, I don't think I would have anywhere fancy enough to wear a floor length gown, so the knee length is perfect to wear for a special occasion or a wedding!
The back of the dress zipped up all the way to the neck and can be hard to zip depending on the type of bra you are wearing. I was wearing a more padded Victoria's Secret Bra at first and realized it wouldn't zip up, but I switched to a normal type bra and it was completely fine! So as with all pieces of clothing, test them out with different types of bras! That's my one tip!

Lurap.com is a great site, and they have various deals like Buy two dresses get one free site wide, which is awesome! If you have a special event to go to definitely check out their dresses as you can get a great deal on a custom piece!