Going Out/Conference Formal/Social outing Look - Recycling Pieces to make the most of your Wardrobe

Happy Monday!

Today I'm bringing you a new outfit post featuring recycled pieces that you might have seen on the blog before (Ie. in this holiday outfit post HERE). Since I've spent a lot of traveling lately, my bank account is crying right now... so I decided to recycle pieces to create a whole different look!
In this outfit, I wore the bright red lace top I featured  before, with a black bandage mini skirt from Topshop from a few years ago! The outfit was simple and I wore my favorite Nine West heels that I have worn at conferences and are comfy enough to wear for a few hours. This is an outfit you can wear to a conference social (I wouldn't wear this to give a talk, but for getting drinks after the conference is over, I think it's fine!).
The accessories make the outfit shine, and I am rewearing one of my favorite bracelets, the Tassel Bracelet from the Yayoi Collection from Boyajian Trend Gallery, and a rhinestone bracelet from H&M I believe (given to me by my friend Samira!).
I used my little black pocketbook that doubles as a wallet from Express. and I curled my hair using my flat iron. If you are paying attention to my social media, I did cut my hair recently, so this was taken before I cut my hair (and I'm missing my long hair! T_T), but I will have some tutorials soon about styling short hair for the lab!
The best thing about this outfit? I didn't spend a dime, and I created a somewhat different look/look for a different occasion.

Spring has Sprung - Happy Friday!

Hello and Happy Friday!
I can't believe it is already March! This year is flying by already, and it will be summer before we know it!
I've been pretty busy the last few weeks with work and trying to figure out the last things I need to do before I graduate, and I have a never ending to-do list, and soooo many things going on, it has been hard to find time to blog! But I am still around, never fear! I am posting to instagram daily, so if you are ever wondering what I'm up to, follow me there :) My golden birthday came last week, and I had a great time celebrating with friends, and alsoI went to the Vanity Fair Social Club event for the Oscars, so it was fun and I got some free goodies which I will blog about soon :)
School has been super stressful and I have felt overwhelmed at times, but I need to start taking it one day at a time :)
I've been trying to come up with outfits that are work appropriate, as I am trying to focus really on professional dress. I got this blouse from a birthday care package from my aunt in Cyprus for my Birthday, and I love it! I love the color and I love the patterns! It also is pretty flattering, and it shows a little cleavage without being over exposed, which I loved! I never feel too comfortable with cleavage, and I was worried this top would be too much - but it was just right! I have been wearing leggings mostly to work - as I spend a lot of time running around lab some days, and some days I'm sitting at my desk the whole time - and jeans aren't as comfy! So this is a usual outfit you will find me in, something stylish and comfy! Matched with these sketchers heeled sneakers that I have worn before! I paired this pretty statement necklace from Minu Jewels, the Botswana Agate necklace! So gorgeous!

Fall Sunshine and new hair style - highlights and an ombre - Irresistible Me Extensions

Happy Monday!
The sun has been shining here in LA but it has gotten "cold," and I love crisp fall sunshine! Although I guess cold is relative because when I say cold I mean between 50-65F. Since there isn't much humidity here in LA, when the temperature drops and the wind picks up, it can get rather cold! I am definitely a California girl now, but the other day when it was 65 and everyone else was complaining about how cold it was, I was in short sleeves and was fine! haha!
Work has been no different, if anything I am more stressed, but I am looking forward to the holidays as I am going to take a week and a half off to go visit my parents in Boston! And the boy is coming with finally! :D
Well, anyway, to combat this cooler weather, I have been wearing lots of sweaters to work; sweaters are nice because in the morning it is cool and in the middle of the day if I am getting lunch on campus sometimes it reaches 70-75 degrees, and then at night time when I am leaving work (it gets dark at like 5 now, so anytime I leave work it is already cold and dark), it is so cold! I found this cute little sweater that I bought from Kaitlyn Clothing, a little boutique store near UCLA. I also just wore a simple white t-shirt with jeans from Zara and heeled boots that I have worn before on the blog! I forgot about these boots and I forgot about how much I love them!

I also got my hair highlighted and cut on halloween - it had been 2 years since I did anything with my hair! I hadn't even gotten my hair cut! It was super long (longer than my waist), and super thick - the pony tail I would make would feel so heavy! So after talking with Samira, my blogger friend from Stylemesamira.com, I went to her hair stylist and got my hair done! I fell in love with it, even though it is fall my hair is lighter and seems super fun! I got a few colors in my hair to have it all blend and look lighter! At the same time I received my hair extensions from IrresistibleMe.com, and decided to put them in. I had never tried hair extensions before and have always had my eye on them, wanting to try them to make my hair even longer and fuller. I never could qualify buying them when my hair was already long and thick, but it was a great opportunity to try them finally! I have always wanted to dye extensions a different color as well so I could change my hair look without damaging my own hair! I ordered them in the Silky Touch Chocolate Brown, 20 inches, and I received them the day before I cut/dyed my hair! My natural hair was the same exact shade as the extensions, which I was amazed at how well it matched! And my hair was just as long if not longer than the extensions, which shocked me and was when I realized, yes, I need to cut my hair!!! After getting my hair done I added the extensions into my hair (they were clip in), and I curled my hair as I normally would, and I LOVED how the look came out! Since my hair was now a little lighter, when I added the darker extensions it looked like a reverse ombre, where the ends were darker! But it wasn't too drastic as it matched with the rest of my hair! It looked and felt so natural, you couldn't tell that it wasn't my hair! They also added a lot of volume to my hair, which was great since I could have the volume but not feel the heavy weight of my hair always! Before I got it cut, my hair just felt so heavy, so it was a breath of fresh air when I could add them in and take them out at the end of the day!

Take a look at the look below! I fell in love!

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!

Casual transitional outfit - Work to Going out - Earth tones!

Hello Loves! Happy almost Friday!

Today I bring to you an outfit that I frequently wear to work, as it is comfortable enough to wear to lab, and with just a change of shoes, I can easily wear this to go out after work without having to go home to change!

I LOVE earthy brown tones mixed with black. You would think they don't go well together, but in this outfit, I think they go very well! Accented with gold/black/brown/ivory accessories, I think it is a great outfit! 

I wore a black tanktop underneath this flowy blouse-type shirt that I can easily take in/have worn with a black skinny belt, and some plain black leggings. I got this blouse at a small local shop during my trip to Hawaii this past labor day. 

I have been itching to find an excuse to wear my leopard print heels, and this outfit was a perfect combination of colors for that! They were pretty comfortable to wear as well. 

I accessorized with some bangles that I have worn before in other outfits, a gold chunky necklace from Charlotte Russe, a Bisous white Mother of Pearl Ring from Boyajian Trend Gallery, a Yayoi Blanched Almond Bracelet also available from  Boyajian Trend Gallery, and a black clutch that doubles as a wallet from Franco Sarto. 

I also curled my hair quickly using my straightening iron, and did not add any hairspray -- and surprisingly my curls stayed for a while after taking these photos! I was shocked. Must be the humidity (or lack of ) in LA that made them last! Usually they fall out rather quickly!

As far as makeup, I went rather neutral, and just a nice pink lipgloss. I wanted to keep the focus on my outfit that I fell in love with! 

Updos, Hairstyles and more

I decided to do a different type of post today, with a little more substance than just my outfits for the day! Today I will be talking about appropriate and easy hair styles you can wear in the lab!
I want to try each of these each day this week and will post the pictures in next week's Monday post! Or if you can't wait I will be posting each hairstyle on my Twitter (@vanillaxcupcake, link on left ) so follow me there!

Since the strict lab safety rules have been implemented at UCLA this past year, we not only have to wear flame resistant lab coats, closed toe shoes, pants, gloves, and goggles, but our hair needs to be securely fastened out of our face, so it doesn't catch on fire, especially if you have long hair (like me!)! Whenever I don't tie up my hair I notice it is in my face, in the way, and since I am touching chemicals with my gloves I can't really move my hair out of my face without getting some chemicals on it!

The way to solve this problem? Tie your hair up! BUT, it doesn't have to be a boring pony tail (this is my fall back, and the quickest way to just get your hair up and out of your face, and what I usually end up doing because I'm lazy).

Here is my schedule of hair styles for this week:

Motel Rocks Skirt! Casual Weekend Outfit

Hey everyone!
Here is Part II of my Motel outfits from my recent purchase! Here is my styling of the Motel Antonia High Waisted Skirt in Huge Paisley Navy! I am in love with this skirt, and the print is amazing! It is perfect for a casual summer day out in Los Angeles! I also curled my hair with my PYT Iron, it is so handy!

Curly hair Tuesday!

Today I woke up feeling like I wanted curly flowy hair. So instead of going in to lab early to harvest my cells ( they can grow an extra hour or two) I curled my hair and had breakfast. I wanted to test out my Sexy Hair spray clay sample that I reviewed last week. So I curled my hair and used that and put it to the test!

I realized on my way out the door it was ten minutes til the start of class. So I put on my helmet and jumped on my bike to speed to class. I made it to class in 10 min and whoa was I surprised my hair was not ruined! It worked! And now in the afternoon my hair is still curly! I am impressed! I am thinking of buying the full size! Love it!

Know of any other great hold hairsprays for girls with hair that doesn't hold curl?? 

Xoxo A

The suspect up for review!

Recent outfits!

So I've been bored lately wearing the same things - t-shirt and jeans, hair in regular pony tail. I decided to wear clothes from my monstrous closet.
Here I wore this lace top I bought from Bershka when I was in Cyprus this summer, it is really pretty. I braided my hair and used a bow clip from American Apparel. I don't like braiding my hair because since I have layers, there are always pieces that stick out of the braid before getting to the bottom of the braid. So it looks nice when I first did it but by the end of the day my braid fell apart/was very messy.
Also, my eyes were bothering me so I put on my glasses that I never wear. My vision is pretty good, I got these glasses a year ago for far away, and haven't needed them, but they helped me out last week.

Wedding fashion

So this past weekend I went to a wedding in San Diego. I had originally had been planning on wearing that black dress I bought from Guess a few months ago that I had blogged about (a short black dress). But then I realized black is really boring to wear, especially to a wedding.  The wedding I went to was a fusion of American and Hindu traditions, and it was a lot of fun! Before leaving for San Diego, I ransacked my closet looking for something to wear. I originally was going to wear a blue high low dress but it fit too tight for a wedding and it was too short in the front. I tried a high low skirt with a Motel Rocks body suit. Again, too revealing. I ended up wearing this blue skater dress from Forever21 with mesh top. I paired it with some black heels and I wore my hair in a side pony tail since it was a hot day. I originally was going to wear my hair down and straight, but I have been itching to curl it. My boyfriend was on his way to pick me up and I had only curled half of my hair! I was rushing and I used my PYT straightener to curl the rest of my hair! Took a total of about 20 minutes to curl! After curling my entire head of hair, I pulled it up and to the side, and I intertwined the curls to make it into a single long curl. I think it turned out great!

Summer holidays in Cyprus!

So for the last 3 weeks I have been on holidays in Cyprus visiting family and friends!! Reason for my lack of updates this month! I have been able to wear a lot of new clothes and shoes that I haven't been able to because of work! (YES no lab coat and gloves and goggles!) Here is a small snapshot of my many outfits and hairstyles!

Here I got my hair done at DryBar in Brentwood (still in LA) the day of my 20 hour trip. I fell in LOVE with my hair! I felt so fabulous at the airport, and It was the start of my vacation so I decided to pamper myself. At only 35$ for a styling, it was great! I walked in a few minutes early to my appointment, they made me coffee, washed my hair, blow dried it, and then curled! All in about 45 minutes! It was great! Sadly my hair didn't last my entire trip, but it was very understandable seeing as I was sitting on a plane for 10 hrs and was dead tired by the end of it. Nevermind the fact that when I finally got off the plane in Cyprus I had walked in to the land of humidity. My hair still had some curl in it though, and right after my cousin picked me up at the airport we went out in Limassol!

Going gaga!!

OMG best long weekend ever. and by long weekend I mean I still went in to work on Monday, even though here in the US it is considered a holiday. On Saturday I spent it with the boy, going for a swim in the pool and hot tub, and then heading to the beach in Santa Monica (see sunset below!). Sunday I went for a hike near Malibu, check out my cool "quad stretch" pic at the top of the overlook! It was an amazing view, after a 7 mile hike! We went to the Los Leones trail!

Bored!

I got bored with my hair last night as it is super long... I am getting highlights and a cut next Wednesday.. So I decided to curl my hair and when I woke up in the morning it looked just like it had before I went to bed (power of hairspray-- I use Suave extreme hold, in an aerosol can).
Well anyway, here is a picture of me bored in lab (note the blue lab coat and the goggles on top of my head..) true grad student..
I worked until 9pm tonight.. I had to take my boyfriend to the airport and let me tell you, traffic in Los angeles sucks. I got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half. For a drive that should only take 20 minutes. It was ok though because I was blasting music in the hot little Audi I had rented from zipcar.
But I was super stressed because I had a lot of work to do in lab.
Anyway, I should go to bed. More posts tomorrow. Follow and I'll follow back, lovelies!
xx

PS. omg ! look at those circles under my eyes!! from being too tired? How do I get rid of them?? anyone have any remedies or advice? Probably just need to get more sleep.

I think the goggles add a nice touch, no? hahah