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!

Lee Stafford Ubuntun Oils from Africa Hair Product Review

Hello loves!
Hope you had a lovely weekend!
I had the opportunity to go to a Vanity Fair Social Club (#VFSC) Two Day event over the weekend in celebration of and leading up to a viewing party for the Emmy Awards, so I have lots to post about that coming up soon! It was a lot of fun and I got some freebies, if you have been following my Instagram or Twitter feeds! (If you aren't, you should! Go click the links above and to the left!!)
But more on that later this week!

 

20 Conference Essentials: A packing list!

Hello everyone!

Today I bring to you a Conference Essentials packing list!

After attending and blogging for the recent conference in Boston, I decided to come up with a packing list to help you prepare for a conference or meeting, for whatever topic it may be, scientific, educational, blogging, etc.! 

I decided to check my bag, so I could fit all of this in a big bag, but you can always scale down for a carry on bag!

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! 

What I'm wearing right now!

Who loves curly hair?? Who loves spending the time curling their hair? Not me.... I'm so lazy when it comes to curling my hair because my hair is so think it takes some time to do my entire head. But today, I was in the mood to curl my hair. I used my hair straightener that I have posted about before and I got these amazing curls! I sectioned off my hair and did each part and then the look came together after about half an hour. Sprayed with some Suave Extreme hold aerosol hair spray and I was off to work. 12 hours later, I leave work and my hair still looks exactly the same! This hairspray is amazing, especially since yesterday I lazily rules curled the ends of my hair to flip it out and give some volume and didn't use any hairspray. It looked great but fell out within an hour and by noon my hair was stick straight again, haha! So this hairspray really works if you have hard to curl hair! 

Bow earrings I bought at a small shop while I was in Hawaii :) I'm in love with them! 

via Instagram http://ift.tt/1rLqorD October 17, 2014 at 09:45PM

Xo Andrea 

Blogging and Vlogging conference - FABDILab

This past Tuesday I was able to attend a Blogging/Vlogging Digital Influencer conference in Santa Monica, hosted by FAB Counsel! It was an amazing day of talks about how to improve your blog, networking with fellow fashion bloggers, and just overall a great experience! I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was on a rooftop of a building in Santa Monica that you could see the beach! And being in LA, the weather was perfect. Much nicer to spend it there than cooped up in lab!

Here are some pictures from the event! 

Feeling pretty at the event! 

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!

Recent style haul and hair cut!

This weekend I spent most of my time at a conference at the UCLA campus. It was pretty fun, with a lot of science being shared! I wore this pink lace top I got from Express, with some black dress pants I bought at New York and Company (Got them in size petite! perfect length for me, short legs! hehe). This top was so pretty, I really like the lace detail on the back too! I covered it with a black sweater I got in England a couple of years ago.

Recent hairstyles

So I am obsessed with doing a braided headband! I posted the pic in "What I'm wearing right now" post from my instagram but I wore it again at another night out with my hair down! It worked pretty well! Although at first I had a hard time getting it to stay pinned to the side.
So what I did was I took a thick, long piece of hair from behind my ear and braided it. I then twisted it upward behind my ear, across my head and pinned it behind my other ear with bobby pins! It was super easy! My hair was very slippery though so I had to put some hairspray to hold it in place. But it looked so good! Like a real headband! I used my "Be a bombshell" Lip crayon from my Ipsy Glambag and I am in love with the color!

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!

Curly hair!

Curled my hair for the first time since I cut it! I think it looks really cute! There is a lot more volume and the curls last a lot longer since they aren't being weighed down!! I still miss my long hair but this makes me like my hair a little better!!
And I'm wearing goggles, haha, the scientist! Fashionable huh?

I still have to post my Ipsy march bag review... My April bag is on its way! Yikes I need to catch up!

And also! Last Friday I completed my 12 week fitness challenge! I was basically just working out 5 days a week with 2 days rest, and eating clean for about 3 weeks now!! So proud and accomplished! But I am continuing it for another 6 weeks! (Basically I'm going to keep doing it til my vacation in Cyprus in August, and it has become a habit so I'm used to it and want to do it now!!!) if you set your mind to it, you can do it!! Do something for 6 weeks and it becomes habit!!

February styles!

Aloha readers!
I went to Forever 21 today in Santa Monica and I bought a few goodies. Firstly, I bought this neon yellow work out shirt that I thought was really cute. I'm so into the bright workout gear, I need to invest in more brightly colored things for working out! Second, I bought this cheetah print top with mesh sleeves -- I thought it was really cute! And lastly I also bought this lacey crotchet top! I'm going to wear it underneath some brightly colored tank tops I received from Abercrombie! Super cute!

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!

New PYT hair styling tool!

Soooo... I went christmas shopping today for my last gifts I had to get.... and I came home with a $200 straightener for myself.... But I got a 50% off deal for it! It was awesome. I got dragged in to see how my hair would look and the sales person Chelsea showed me a comparison of this new PYT hair straightener with the Chi straightener, and this PYT made it so much smoother and silkier. I automatically fell in love. Especially since I highlighted my hair with the ombre, I feel like the ends of my hair are very dry. This took care of it! Chelsea then went on to start curling my hair with this iron, and she curled my entire head of hair (that will take me 1hr with a traditional curling iron or curling wand) in about 10 minutes! and the curls last (see picture below!) The curls look really great as well. The original price she was trying to sell me at was $140, and then I got her to give me a better deal if I said I would tell people about it. I got it in this electric blue color, and its just amazing. I'm wearing my hair out like this tonight, and hoping it stays all night, without hairspray! (they guaranteed me they would last all night...).
Also, they said I can go get my hair styled by them 5 times for free. So going there to get my hair done for new years eve!
Well anyway, thought I'd blog about this new buy... and I am no longer buying anything for myself for a while (or so I tell myself!). This Straightener/styling tool is on sale at the Pheasant Lane Mall in Nashua, NH, or at any PYT authorized seller. For more info, check out pythair.com :) I highly recommend it.

Back from vaca🌟

Finally back after 2 weeks... I am back from vacation in Hawaii!

Need to get back into updating!

I have posted some pics, below I am wearing a black tank top with a tribal print skirt from H&M. 

My ombre highlights at Rum Fire bar in Waikiki!

Back from a mini vaca!

So I had a mini vacation to San Francisco this past weekend! It was rather nice and relaxing I gotta say!