Today I feel the need to just vent and express my story. I'm being very vulnerable but I think this needs to come out, and I hope it helps even one person realize they aren't alone in whatever they are going through.
Hey guys!
Happy weekend!
I just wanted to share a quick video review I made for my new L'Oreal Ever Pure Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner I was sent to test out by Influenster - part of the #Freeyourhair campaign, but all opinions are my own!!! My hair felt soft and much better after air drying and not having to dry it with the hair dryer or style it! Check out the video below and let me know what you think!
I decided I am going to try to write a weekly health post series for the blog, discussing some science along with WHY its important for your health, so each week (or so I hope!) I will be discussing different issues!
This week I wanted to talk about sleep and how important it is for you to get the right amount of rest, especially to keep up with a busy schedule!
I am guilty of not sleeping enough. Sometimes I fee like I am an energizer bunny that just keeps going and going. The older I have gotten also I realized I can't function on less sleep like I used to. When I was in undergrad, I used to be able to sleep for 3-4 hours a night, go to lab or class, do my homework and studying, and then go out to hang out with friends, and do it all over again. If I even think about doing that now, I just get tired.
Hello!
Can't believe we are already halfway done with the month! Time is flying by!
The weather in LA has been rather up and down... we had some big storms, with much needed rain that helped our state come out of Extreme Drought, and then the sun popped out here and there for a beautiful clear day! This weekend it was rather nice, but still chilly.
Since I have been all covered up in lab and because of the cold weather, the first sign of clear weather I put on this really pretty Floral Print Scoop Neck A-line Dress from Make Me Chic. I adored the floral print, and I really loved that it was white with a blue pattern, it felt very classy and chic. The material was also really soft and comfortable, and I loved the sweetheart neckline, I feel like it is very flattering on my body type. It was also a sleeveless dress, which looked really pretty with the design of the dress - I really liked the shape of this dress! Hitting right above the knee, it was the perfect length for me, especially as a petite girl, and along with a pair of heels, made me look a lot taller! The dress also had an invisible zipper on the side, which made it easy to put on.
To keep warm when the sun went down and the temperature dropped, I wore a long black cardigan that you can easily wrap around yourself.
I'm back into my regular routine of lab work and working out/eating well and trying to find time to relax, but I just got back my paper reviews, so I have some work to do. I also have a committee meeting to discuss graduation/defense plans, and hopefully set a date... so I have a lot going on outside of the blog, and I'm trying to get my fitness business up and running... so you can say I am a bit stressed!
BUT, I have been doing some online window shopping (I can't really spend money right now, I am under a lot of financial stress with bills, if you saw my credit card bills you would be horrified!), and I have noticed certain trends that I like for going into Spring/Summer!
I am particularly fond of maxi dresses, even though I am petite (I stand at only 5' 2"!). Most maxi dresses I have tried on before and have bought are way too long and I have to get altered, otherwise I am stepping all over the bottom of the dress. Even heels sometimes don't do the trick!
A caveat - Maxi dresses/skirts are considered lab appropriate, as long as they cover the entire leg and are paired with shoes that cover the entire foot - I've worn maxis a couple of times to lab as they are more comfortable than pants, and when you have the right shoes, can be very stylish! A lot of times you can wear boots too, that's an easy and stylish fix!
Here are some tips I have come up with to help you pick out a maxi dress that is flattering, and some of the "trends" I am loving in terms of style of dress! I picked out these dresses from StyleWe's huge selection of Petite Maxi Dresses, so you can take a look at the variety of styles of maxis!
Hello everyone!
Hope you are having a great week so far, and hope it is a positive and peaceful one!
Today I wanted to share with you a review of a home teeth whitening kit that I've done and tested, with great results! I am a coffee addict, as every grad student is, and my teeth have gotten super stained. I used to drink only one cup of coffee a day but as I am in my 6th and final year, I have upped it to 2-3 cups a day...so you can only imagine the consequences on my teeth! So if your question is, does coffee stain your teeth, the answer is a big resounding YES. As a blogger and one who likes to take photos and selfies, yellow teeth can be a turn off. I was noticing my teeth were getting pretty yellow, and within the few weeks of starting the kit to when I actually started whitening, my teeth got so much more yellow, it was astounding!
I have tried other at home whitening kits, like the white strips, but my teeth and gums are always too sensitive, and I end up super uncomfortable. I did look around at the different options for teeth whitening - here are some tips for things you should know before buying a certain kit (here).
I came across the Smile BrilliantHome teeth whitening kit, and I was sent a whole kit to test out!
I was really excited to get started, mainly because it seemed to be everything that was provided at my dentist, but much more affordable and could do it in the comfort of my own home. I don't have much time to be running to dentist appointments every other day, and I can't afford the expensive treatments they offer! In addition, they say its perfect for people with sensitive teeth, since they offer a desensitizing gel with their treatment to sooth your teeth. I did do some research on their services, and found some tips and causes for tooth sensitivity, that you can read about here.
When I received the kit, it was complete with everything I needed - base and catalyst putty along with the impression trays, to create my custom whitening trays (score! its seriously like the dentist protocol!). They even had a postage prepaid envelope to send back the impressions once they hardened! The kit also came with three syringes of whitening gel and three syringes of desensitizing gel!
I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year and Holiday Season!
I just got back from my trip to Jordan, and I had an amazing time! If you wanted to see my travel photos, take a look at my instagram (instagram.com/phd_fashionista). I will hopefully be doing a travel post soon featuring my highlights and also a video of some things :)
Hey guys!
Since I've been on a more healthy kick and really focused on my fitness, I have been really into cooking my own meals. Ive found that my stomach doesn't respond well at all anymore to processed and outside foods. Every time lately when I eat out with friends or get take out, I'm left with a very unhappy stomach.
With a little extra work, I've been able to find a meal plan and delicious recipes that work, and all are made by ME, so I know every ingredient and what exactly goes into my meals!
I have been following this color coded portion control meal plan, which has done wonders for me in keeping balanced macros and correct portions. Pairing up following the meal plan with my workout programs, I've seen greatly reduced bloat, feeling great, and great results.
On thanksgiving I didn't have a traditional Turkey meal, but instead had a really delicious Middle Eastern meal, and it was AMAZING. Although, I did feel sick after having my third slice of pumpkin cheese cake and my third glass of wine...
I had a lot of Rice, carbs, and the other night at dinner I had way too much bread.
After eliminating certain things like dairy and bread from my normal diet (not completely, but just very much smaller portions), now when I overeat these things, my body has a reaction. I never realized how your body can change and react to things you used to normally eat!
Happy Friday! Are any of you shopping today for Black Friday deals? I can't believe its already almost the end of November, and thanksgiving has come and gone! Now to the December holidays and the new year!
I am trying my best to not spend money, as I am on a graduate student budget and my credit card bills and utilities are through the roof, and I have to save money for my upcoming trip, but a girl can dream right?? So making a wishlist/gift guide is what I am doing instead!
I am gearing up for a trip to visit my boyfriend's family in two weeks, and I am flying to Jordan, my first time in the middle east! I am really excited because it is the first time I have ever not spent Christmas time with my family, but it will be worth it to explore new things and places! My wanderlust bug is in full effect!! And what better way to prep for a trip to the middle east than by indulging in some mediterranean inspired jewelry from Minu Jewels.
I was introduced to this brand by my good friend Chantal from Boyajian Trend Gallery, who curated a selection of jewelry from various designers, including Minu Jewels. I instantly fell in love with the various collections, handmade by the designer herself, Mina. And those of you who have been following me from the start, know about how much I LOVE statement jewelry and pieces; it is part of my identity at this point.
Here are some of my picks, for those of you who need gift ideas for that special fashionista, and not quite sure what to get. These are so pretty and fashionable, excellent statement pieces for any occasion, even wearing to the lab!
Hello!
Happy Thanksgiving! Here in the US this week is all about giving thanks, and appreciating what you have. And more importantly, its about taking some much needed time off from the lab!
I just finished some long days/late nights of just writing writing writing, and sent off a final draft to my labmates for revisions before sending off to the journal for *hopefully* acceptance for publication! So I left lab early on this pre-Thanksgiving afternoon, and I jumped right on to get some blog posts written for you that I have lined up!
I have a small holiday wishlist, and a lot of those things on my list are accessories, and pieces I can match with clothing and outfits I already own. A great way to spice up your outfits is by adding some extra bling and pizzazz with your accessories, including earrings and necklaces!
I am a big lover of dangly and sparkly earrings, in addition to pendant necklaces, so when I discovered Montana Silversmiths Jewelry, I was a huge fan of their selection of really pretty pieces. They have a lot of timeless, classy earrings and necklaces, and it was hard just choosing a few to style!
Here are a few of their pieces I was sent to style, and they are my favorite! I fell in love, and they are super affordable and great quality pieces that will last.
First, I styled these Retro Flair Open Fan Earringswith a casual outfit I wore to the lab, and they were super pretty and stylish. In addition, because they had some bling on them, they really stood out in contrast with my dark hair!
Things have been quite busy, and with the election yesterday, I was glued to the TV! I've been busy with lab and started writing my last chapter of my dissertation which will be submitted as a publication hopefully soon!
Since I am working at the computer mostly nowadays, I still want to look fashionable and cute, and I can wear cute pieces and not worry about them getting in the way or being uncomfortable in the lab! A pretty blouse with some light wash jeans and some booties is my go-to right now. I really love this Royal Blue Criss Cross Back Crochet Blouse I received from Shein.com, and I was obsessed with the lace detail! The top also has a really pretty crochet back detail, which you can see below. It is also very flowy, so perfect for those days I feel super bloated. This gave me the opportunity to wear something more form fitting on the lower part of my body, like these light wash jeans I bought from American Eagle Outfitters. The contrast of the dark blue top with the light blue of the denim was just classic! The top was comfy and soft, and it's definitely one of my staples this fall going into winter!
Hello lovely people!
I can't believe how fast time is flying.
I have been super busy with lab trying to finish up my projects so I can defend my dissertation, but I had to redo a lot of experiments and I can't believe it's already November! This year flew by! I was hoping to be done by December but still have so much to do... but hopefully I will be done by this coming Spring quarter the latest!
In the Spring I have 2 different weddings coming up, friends getting married, and then in September my cousin is getting married in Cyprus also. So next year I have a total of 3 weddings to attend, one of which I will be a bridesmaid.
When I went home for another wedding this past September, we went dress shopping with my friend Angela, the bride, and we tried on various styles of dresses, various colors, and we decided on a palette of light purple/lilac colors and chiffon style dresses. It was a tough choice because there were a LOT of dresses to choose from, every girl had a different body type, whatever it was, you name it!
And then you look at the prices... As a grad student on a budget, I reallyyyyyy didn't want to (nor did I have the funds to) drop 200$ on a dress I will wear once at a wedding! When you are living on a grad student budget where your rent is 65% of your stipend, every single dollar matters!
Hey guys!
Sorry for my disappearance here, I have been so stressed out with lab work and trying to finish up my project so I can finally defend my thesis, but I do have a lot of blog things in the works, including more youtube videos (continuing my Grad School series as well as more tutorials and reviews) in addition to more travel Diary and outfit looks and collaborations!! So I haven't forgotten, I just haven't had much time to sleep!!
I am also planning a couple of really cool trips so stay tuned and updated with whats going on!!
If you want to check out my daily goings on, I am posting daily to Instagram, so go give me a follow over there!!
I got invited to Fashion Week LA (FWLA) by Fi from the Nifty Fashion App, and I had mixed up the days... for some reason I thought today was the 16th, so when I looked at the invite, I was thinking its tomorrow and Wednesday, then I realized, shit, thats today!
I am currently running lots of samples in lab so I am unable to make it downtown to the Fashion Runway event, but I am going to be watching it live streaming here on the blog!! Someone I know has a friend who is presenting her collection today so I am really excited!
After much request over on Instagram, here is a new video tutorial of how I do my cat eye liner look.
Check it out and let me know your thoughts! There is a list of the products used over on the actual youtube video, so click thru and watch and leave me some comments or questions, or requests for new tutorials and videos!
Happy Monday!
Mondays are always a good day to start a new page in your fitness and health journey! Whenever I start a new training program, I always start on a Monday! If you haven't already noticed from my previous posts, I've been so into working out and living a healthy lifestyle lately. I literally have been living in my gym clothes, to the point where I have been wearing my workout leggings to work, because they are so comfy! When I did my laundry, I noticed 95% of my dirty clothes were all workout gear!! So I was really excited when I got the opportunity to check out another line of new workout clothing from BoohooFIT!
I was so excited when I received my items, a whole outfit that included a sports bra, top, and workout leggings for less than £30 (about $30)! Can you believe that?! I ordered the Saskia Rainbow elastic hem sports bra (HERE), the Malkah Neon highlight sports running leggings in pink/orange (HERE) and the Lara Fit Sweat Squad Running Vest (HERE). The shirt I LOVED the quote, I've been really into cute quote shirts, and I didn't realize that the back had a cute strap running up the back - and it's cut like a muscle tee, so you really have to wear something underneath it (like the sports bra!). The running leggings were so soft and comfortable! They were super flexible. The sports bra had enough support for me which is what I needed, and a cute rainbow band that I just loved! I loved the way the outfit looked and the bra peeked from underneath!
Hello!
I am back with Part 2 of my Travel Diary from my recent Euro trip and conference! This time I am talking and sharing about my travels to Nice, in the South of France, after the conference was over!
It has been on my list for some time to travel to the south of France. I had read article after article, photo after photo, about how wonderful and beautiful the beaches are in south France. I had always wanted to go to Nice/Monaco/St Tropez, but never did I think I would go so soon!
After my second year of grad school, I told myself when I graduate, I'm going to go on a euro trip for 6 weeks, and Nice, France was one of my top destinations. When I had the opportunity to go to Portugal for the conference, I said why not extend my trip and check out another city! I knew I wanted to go to France, but I wasn't sure if I should go by myself or not. I ended up convincing my friend to meet me there, and so off I went, to Nice for 3 days before my friend was to meet up with me, and we were going to then drive down the coast to St. Tropez and then take a train to Paris! It was like a dream come true!
One of the fun parts of being in France after the conference in June was that the Euro 2016 Football (Soccer) cup was going on, hosted IN France! It was soo much fun and the atmosphere was electrifying! There were fan zones set up in each city, and I found the fan zones when I was exploring around! The fan zone was basically a place to go watch the games on a super large screen, with lots of screaming fans, and there were little kiosks for food and beer - lots of entertainment. It would get really hot during the day, so at times it was scorching hot so I made sure to keep hydrated, and I had so much fun, even though I was alone. I was in Nice during the games that were hosted in Nice, in particular England was playing Iceland, and all of the English fans came to Nice just for the game, so the atmosphere was very cool. Unfortunately England lost, but it was still fun to be around!
Today I bring you Part I of my Travel Diary, Conference and Sightseeing in Lisbon, Portugal!
I was given the opportunity to attend a Biological Methylation Meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, where I was able to meet the experts in the field, whose papers and publications I have been reading since I started graduate school! It was such a great experience, and it was 5 days full of science, all directly related to my field of work! I've been to other conferences, that were more broad and general, and I didn't enjoy them as much as I enjoyed this conference! I was just putting up my poster during the first session (my session was the second one) and I got stopped immediately and was talking about my research the whole two hours, and then the whole two hours at my actual session! It was such a great feeling to have people who knew about my research and were genuinely interested - talking science for 4 hours and getting so many good ideas of things to try! I even won the poster award, along with a travel award, which gave me some funding to help with my travel expenses! Traveling to conferences is a BIG thing I would suggest to anyone who is in grad school. I have taken advantage of conferences to feed my travel bug, and it has opened up so many doors and networking opportunities! And if your boss/advisor can pay for you, it is a free ticket to travel (most of the time!). I have always taken advantage of vacation time after the conferences I've been to - Like last year I was in Barcelona for a conference and I traveled to visit my family in Cyprus afterwards, and this year I traveled to France after! So definitely a way to enjoy your time by having an international conference and using it as an excuse to travel around! Of course, any travel after a conference is on your dime, but compared to the full price of a plane ticket TO europe, its not too bad :) and I had some savings that I put aside especially for a european trip that I utilized to pay for this trip! It was amazing, because after I passed my candidacy exam, I told myself, when I graduate, I'm going to travel around europe, and I made a list of all of these cities I wanted to visit, and I made part of it happen! Graduation happened and I got to check off a few cities (not all of them, but a few is better than none!).
Scroll down to read more about the various photos I took (all with my iPhone 6!! Amazing camera for a phone!).
The conference even organized a wine tasting tour in the Marfa province, which was about a 45 min drive from where the conference was being held, and it was really great drinking wine in the countryside with professors and experts in my field! It was unreal and like a dream!
Today I'm bringing you the third episode in my "Survival Guide to Grad School" Series - this time I'm talking about 6 Tips to get through First Year!
First year was tough for me - from moving across the country away from my family and friends, to finally getting serious about research while taking classes and TAing... it can become a lot! So take some of my tips if you are in a grad program (or thinking about it), and save your sanity by learning from my mistakes!
Are there any other tips you have from when you went through grad school that you wish someone told you sooner?
Do you have any ideas for topics I should discuss next or any ideas for what you want to see next?
I'm really trying to produce more YouTube videos, so do let me know and if you fancy, subscribe to my channel to be updated when a new video posts! I will be doing some makeup looks next also :)
I'm finally back with a new post! Sorry for being MIA the last few weeks - but I have been active over on my social media, so if you aren't following me yet over on Instagram or Snapchat -- go do it now! I post daily over there!
Life has been so crazy lately, with TAing this Spring quarter, interviewing, graduation, my family visiting, attending a scientific conference in Portugal, traveling to France, and then trying to finish up a paper (one of the final chapters of my dissertation!), so I apologize!
But I am trying to get back a work/life balance and getting back to my blogging! I will hopefully be shooting some outfits this weekend, so I will be bringing you more posts!
I am also trying to get back into making YouTube videos, so go check out my channel and subscribe!
Today's post, I bring you a video review of some skin care products by Ole Henriksen I received through the Influencer App Voxbox! Since I was traveling and anything and everything I wanted, my skin was super upset at me, haha! Traveling, different weather conditions, drinking 3-5 coffees a day, irregular sleep schedule, jet lag, you name it, my whole routine was out of whack! It's amazing how your skin can react!
View the video below, and let me know if you have used any of these products before, if they've worked for you, or if you have used any other products that worked well!
(Isn't my thumbnail so flattering?! :D hahaha!)
Do let me know your thoughts about my first real youtube review below, and let me know if you prefer video or text post reviews!! I'm curious!
Take it easy!
Until next time,
Andrea
xo
* I was sent these products from Influenster Voxbox, but this does not affect my honest opinion on the products, opinions are 100% mine! *
Hey loves!
Sorry for the lack of posts this month but I am back! I've been so crazy busy with the end of TAing (finally finished grading and entered in my grades!), graduation, family visiting, doing research, and getting ready for an international conference that I'm leaving for tomorrow!
I'm so excited for the conference, I get to finally meet the experts in my field that I read their research papers all the time, and I get to be in an amazing location (secret right now, check my instagram for the reveal!!) , and I am traveling also afterwards (again, check my instagram to figure out where I'm going!).
My parents came for graduation, and I found out I won a dissertation research award at graduation, and I also won the dissertation year fellowship, which will give me funding for the next year if I choose to stay longer.... so I am "graduated" but not done completely yet!
Graduation was a great day, it was cloudy so I was worried it would rain, but it ended up being perfect weather and great lighting for photos. I expected to be more emotional about graduation but I think because I'm not technically 100% done, I was just plain happy to be celebrated. Such a wonderful and happy milestone, so much hard work and tears.
